Someone who was looking at my Visual studio the other day asked me why i didnt have any IDE productivity tools installed
(as if there was something wrong with me), I did explain that I was using Ghost doc a while back, but have since re-installed
My PC, and didnt bother installing that application again.
Now, for some back story. I come from an older school of programming, where its considered cool to write everything yourself.
"More control", I would say, lying to myself. Its taken years for me to appreciate doing things the "drag-and-drop" way.
So this friend suggested I use Code Rush, by devExpress. Ive used a Devexpress product before, so I know that they are quite a reputable bunch.
A quick surf to the site (https://www.devexpress.com/ClientCenter/Downloads/#Trials) to get a trial version.
52Mb, not too bad, downloads quickly...good.
Once downloaded, you double click the installer.
I just clicked "next" "accept", "next", but It did ask me to close my Visual Studio, so you might want to close it beforehand.
Then it installs, takes a few minutes, but pops up when its done.
The fun starts when I open my Visual Studio. A welcome screen appears, and asks me a pivotal question.
Am I a new user? or Am I an expert user?
Well, I guess, Im a new user. I choose that, and Click next.
Nothing...wait! I see a new menu item at the top, "DevExpress"....
Well, regardless, I start a new project, so I can test drive this baby.
A few minutes later......
OK, so, it seems the learning curve is a steep one.
First thing I realised is that there are a lot of funny things all over my code. And some messages to tell me things.
Wait....Let me hit the books, Clearly this tool is a little too fine and intricate for my big sausage fingers.
Brilliant!, they have a nice little video on the website.
A few more minutes later.....
Right!....It makes a little more sense now.
First things first, Open the top menu labelled "DevExpress" and open the "Tool Windows" section and click on "Code Rush".
This gives you a window with some possible code rush commands. drag this into your Visual Studio left dock position. Resize it so you can still work.
This will be your "crib sheet" until you learn all the short-hand. and there is quite a lot to learn.
From what i can gather, I have actually installed more than one tool. The Code Rush tool, is a short-hand coding tool, that allows you to create structures and declarations using short-hand commands.
as an example, you type "ifb" and press space, and it will create a whole "if(){ }" block for you, and put your caret into the brackets, so that you can type the condition into it. While doing this, its also put a funny little blue triangle, into the braces section. This is where you will logically want to go next. so after typing "intMyAge > 21" into the the condition, you can press Esc, and the caret will move to the triangle. Awesome! no moe using arrow keys, or reaching for the mouse.
I must admit, this is all too reminiscent of using vim in linux/unix (showing my age here).
The other tool I seem to find, is a refactoring tool, that makes suggestions about things in the code. Things like unused declarations etc...
I can ramble on all day about all the cool little commands you can use, but I havent had the time to play around with all of them.
I think, the bottom line with this tool, is that if you learn to use it, it will make your life much easier.
But, you have to learn to use it. and there is a lot to learn. For now, Im going to try to use it fully and see what happens.
One thing someone pointed out though, is that after using this for a while, Im going to start typing "ifb" and expecting an "if" block to magically appear. It might take a while to un-learn the shorthand :D
So, my opinion....very very powerful tool, steep learning curve, but if you work it out, it could prove to be a valuable time saver.