When working in WPF, Silverlight or XNA, there are a number of tools
I've used over the years. I've also reached out to the community to
see what tools and libraries you all like to use. Ones with an
asterisk I actually use in my personal and professional work.
Of course, we have the staples: Visual Studio, Expression Blend,
but I was interested in all the little third-party bits we use as
well. Here's the list from my own personal toolbox as well as what
the community uses. Comment below if you have tools to add.
Developer and Debugging Tools
There are tons of tools that will help you out with regular
development. These, however, are ones that are especially useful to
or optimized for WPF, Silverlight and XNA developers.
| Name |
Description |
Silverlight |
WPF |
XNA |
License |
| Snoop * |
WPF debugging tool I've used quite a
bit |
|
X |
|
free |
| Silverlight Spy |
Silverlight debugging tool |
X |
|
|
commercial |
| Fiddler * |
Fiddler is indispensable for any
connected application, especially Silverlight and Ajax apps. If you
need to look at the messages between the client and server, this is
the tool to use. |
X |
X |
X |
free |
| Shazzam |
Walt's pixel shader utility for
WPF |
? |
X |
? |
free |
| .NET Reflector * |
Formerly by Lutz Roeder, and now owned
by red-gate. This is one of the single most useful .NET tools out
there. Works for Silverlight and full .NET. |
X |
X |
X |
free and commercial |
| Eqatec
Profiler |
A community recommendation. Claims to
speed up .NET apps including Silverlight/WPF - cool |
X |
X |
X |
commercial |
| Notepad++ * |
The ultimate notepad replacement that
is really a pretty decent IDE |
X |
X |
|
free |
| Mole |
Karl's tool for WPF development. Karl
and folks are working on a new version of this to support VS2010
and WPF 4. Stay tuned. |
|
X |
|
free |
| XapOptimizer |
ComponentOne Tool to shrink the size
of Silverlight .xap files |
X |
|
|
commercial |
Designer and Xaml Tools
Designers and design-oriented developers use lots of different
tools. I've included some of the more common ones here.
| Name |
Description |
Silverlight |
WPF |
XNA |
License |
| Kaxaml |
A great lightweight Xaml editor |
X |
X |
|
free |
| Rooler * |
I turn to this every time I need to
measure something on-screen, or sample a color. |
X |
X |
X |
free |
| Kuler * |
If you need help with color schemes,
or just some inspiration, this is a great choice. There's even an
add-in
for Expression Blend and Expression Design. |
X |
X |
X |
free |
| Inkscape |
I hadn't used this one before, but
some other folks have. Looks like a good vector graphics
editor. |
X |
X |
|
free |
| Photoshop / Illustrator * |
The favorites for doing the initial
visual design, before bringing into Blend or exporting to
Xaml. |
X |
X |
X |
commercial |
| Paint .NET |
An awesome free photoshop
alternative |
X |
X |
X |
free |
| Convexion |
Another community recommendation.
Converts powerpoint to Xaml. |
X |
X |
|
commercial |
| Sketchbook Pro |
Community folks recommended this along
with a wacom pen. Great drawing program. |
X |
X |
|
commercial |
| Blender * |
This 3d design tool has been around
forever. I've personally used older versions of it. Great stuff; it
has come a LONG way. |
|
X |
X |
free |
| Google SketchUp Pro |
Inexpensive 3d tool that will export
.x files |
|
X |
X |
commercial |
Testing Tools
Have others you really like? Let me know in the comments below
and if it's a good tool. I'll add it to the list.