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.NET Documentation Tool

The .NET Documentation Tool is a utility I created to automate the creation of technical documentation for .NET Framework applications.

When developing applications using Java and Perl, I've always been impressed with the JavaDoc and PerlDoc code documentor utilities these languages support. When producing work for a client, these utilities take a lot of the hard work out of the mundane (but critically important) work involved with documenting the project. Following the success of the ASP™ Documentation Tool which I released in May 2002, I decided to release a .NET Framework version. The .NET Documentation Tool creates documentation for both Visual Basic.NET (VB.NET) and C#, and supports all types of .NET code (the code documentor has additional functionality for documenting ASP.NET web applications).

Features

The .NET Documentation Tool code documentor scans all the following files of a project or solution, and outputs a report based on what it finds within the files. It contains the following features:

• Supports both VB.NET and C#.

• Supports the following project types:
  • ASP.NET
  • Windows Forms
  • Console Applications
  • Class libraries

• Compatible with .NET Framework 1.0, 1.1 and 2.0 code.

• Supports most XML Comments used by Visual Studio.NET and other code editors.

• For ASP.NET projects, the file parser extracts content from files written in either VB.NET or C#. Supported file types are:
  • ASP.NET files (.aspx, .asax).
  • User Controls (.ascx).
  • Master pages (.master).
  • Web Services (.asmx).
  • Code Behind Files containing the code associated with ASP.NET files and User Controls.
  • Custom components (.vb and .cs).
  • Web.config files.
  • Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) files.
  • ASP.NET 2.0 site map files.

• For Windows Forms projects and other non-ASP.NET projects, the file parser extracts content from files written in either VB.NET or C#. Supported file types are:
  • Windows Forms (.vb, .cs).
  • Custom components/classes (.vb and .cs).
  • App.config files.

• Reports show the following for both VB.NET and C# (see samples):
  • Namespaces: What namespaces are in the project, and which classes are in each namespace.
  • Classes: What classes are in the project, which namespace they belong to and what constructors, functions and subroutines are defined within each class.
  • Enumerators and their properties.
  • Properties.
  • Constructors: Where they are defined, and which arguments they use.
  • Functions: Where they are defined, and which arguments they use.
  • Subroutines: Where they are defined, and which arguments they use.
  • Additionally for ASP.NET projects:
    • Where Application and Session variables are used.
    • Which User Controls are used in the project.
    • Which Web Controls are used in the project.
    • Which Validation Controls are used in the project.
    • What web.config files are used on the project.
  • For Windows projects:
    • What app.config files are used on the project.
    • What controls are used on Windows Forms.
  • Where email addresses are located in the project.

Sample Documentation

Documentation samples created using the .NET Documentation Tool:

• SampleWeb.NET (An ASP.NET project written in both VB.NET & C#): [HTML] [Text] [HTML Help].

• SQL Documentation Tool (A Visual Basic.NET Windows Form project): [HTML] [Text] [HTML Help].

• DBCommander (A C# Windows Form project) [HTML] [Text] [HTML Help].

Problems viewing the documentation?

• The HTML and HTML Help documentation will function better if you have JavaScript enabled in your web browser.
• If you have problems viewing .chm files on Windows XP SP2 or greater, right click on the file, select properties, then click Unlock.

System Requirements

The .NET Documentation Tool requires Windows 95 or above, although Windows 2000, XP or Vista is recommended. The .NET Framework is not required.

If you want the .NET Documentation Tool to create a report in HTML Help format then you will need to download and install Microsoft's HTML Help Workshop. This is a free download from the Microsoft.com website.

Obtaining the .NET Documentation Tool

The evaluation version of the .NET Documentation Tool is available here:

• .NET Documentation Tool Evaluation Version.

The full version of the .NET Documentation Tool is available for online purchase. Specially discounted offers are available when purchasing my other products (the ASP Documentation Tool™, VB Documentation Tool, SQL Documentation Tool) at the same time.

Downloads

• Download the .NET Documentation Tool Evaluation Version.

• Purchase the .NET Documentation Tool.

Further Reading

• The ASP Documentation Tool creates technical documentation for ASP web applications written in VBScript or JScript.

• To document Visual Basic 6.0 source code, try the VB Documentation Tool.

Useful Development Tools

ASP Documentation Tool™

Automatically creates developer documentation for ASP 2.0 and 3.0 web applications written in VBScript and JScript. Documentation for Microsoft Access, SQL Server 7/2000 databases and Visual Basic 6.0 components associated with the web application can also be incorporated into the reports. Documentation is created in HTML, HTML Help and plain text formats.

View Sample Output (HTML Help format).     View Sample Output (HTML Format).     Download Trial Version (5.2Mb ZIP file).

.NET Documentation Tool

Automatically creates technical documentation for .NET Framework Windows and ASP.NET applications written in C# or VB.NET and SQL Server 7/2000/2005 or Microsoft Access databases associated with the application. Documentation is created in HTML, HTML Help and plain text formats.

View Sample Output (HTML Help format).     View Sample Output (HTML Format).     Download Trial Version (5Mb ZIP file).

SQL Documentation Tool

The SQL Documentation Tool creates technical documentation for Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 and 2000 databases. Technical documentation is created in HTML and HTML Help formats. The HTML Help format documentation is fully searchable and cross referenced. The SQL Documentation Tool documents SQL Server Tables, Views, Stored Procedures, Triggers and Table Relationships.

View Sample Output (HTML Help format).     View Sample Output (HTML Format).     Download Trial Version (10.3Mb ZIP file).

VB Documentation Tool

The VB Documentation Tool creates technical documentation for Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 projects. Technical documentation is created in HTML and HTML Help formats. The HTML Help format documentation is fully searchable and cross referenced.

View Sample Output (HTML Help format).     View Sample Output (HTML Format).     Download Trial Version (1Mb ZIP file).

Indexing Service Companion

The Indexing Service Companion is a Windows application that extends the functionality of the Microsoft Windows Indexing Service so that it is able to index content from remote websites and also from ODBC databases. As such it can be used as a low cost alternative to Sharepoint Portal Search Services.

Try Sample Search Facility.     Download Trial Version (1.7Mb ZIP file).

The Website Utility

The Website Utility examines websites for errors and areas that need to be optimised for search engines by using a built in web crawling engine. Errors checked for include broken or moved hyperlinks, missing page titles and missing meta tags. It also generates HTML for use in creating website site maps (table of contents pages - like this one), and is able to create both client-side JavaScript Search Engines and server-side ASP Search Engines for a website.

View Sample Output (HTML Format).     Download Trial Version (3Mb ZIP file).

PHP Documentation Tool™

Automatically creates developer documentation for PHP web applications. Documentation is created in HTML, HTML Help and plain text formats.

View Sample Output (HTML Help format).     View Sample Output (HTML Format).     Download Trial Version (1.0Mb ZIP file).