This post is continued HERE.
Looking for the VS 2010 extensions ? Go to extensions for VS 2010. Looking for links to the test adapters, go to this blog post.
UPDATE Apr 12th 2013: Updates: Code Contracts, Code Contract Editor Extensions, T4 Toolbox
UPDATE Apr 4th 2013: Updates: Visual Studio 2012 Update 2 ,TFS 2012 with Update 2, and Productivity Power Tools 2012
UPDATE Apr 2th 2013: Visual Studio 2012 Update 2 CTP 4, added T4 Toolbox, Code Contract Editor Extensions, updated Visual Studio Tools for Git , TypeScript, ReSharper, NuGet Manager, Wix Toolset (Version 3.7), Productivity Power Tools, Code Contracts, Slow Cheetah, Web Essentials
UPDATE Feb 5th 2013: Hotfix for TFS 2012 Update 1, update of Slow Cheetah
UPDATE Jan 31th 2013: Visual Studio 2012 Update 2 CTP 2, VS 2012 extension for Gitsupport, small update of Community Build Manager , updated NDepend and ReSharper
UPDATE Dec 17th 2012: Added Productivity Power Tools, remove Power Commands. Update of NDepend, NuGet.
UPDATE Dec 10th 2012: Visual Studio 2012 Update 1, TFS 2012 with Update 1, and LinqPad added, updates on ReSharper, TypeScript, TFS Power Tools, Build Manager, Code Contracts,Visualization and Modeling SDK, Slow Cheetah, Web Essentials, Just Decompile and tangible T4 editor
UPDATE Oct 31th 2012: Typescript added, Visual Studio Update 1 CTP4 added, NuGet updated
UPDATE Sept 16th 2012: New TFS Power Tools, NuGet updated
UPDATE Sept 12th 2012: New version of Code Contracts
UPDATE Sept 10th 2012: Added Slow Cheetah, WiX 3.6 released
UPDATE Aug 31th 2012: Updated for RTM
UPDATE June 17th 2012: New versions of Feedback Tool and SDK for the RC.
UPDATE May 30th 2012: Visual Studio 2012 and TFS 2012 RC released. Updated names to 2012.
UPDATE April 8th 2012: April Update of Visual Studio 11 Beta. Added Code Contracts - released for Dev 11. New version of NuGet Manager
This post is a list of the extensions I recommend for use with Visual Studio 2012. It’s coming up all the time – what to install, where are the download sites, last version, etc etc, and thus I thought it better to post it here and keep it updated. The basics are Visual Studio 2012 connected to a Team Foundation Server 2012.
Many live in a side-by-side environment with Visual Studio 2010. The side-by-side is supported by VS 2012. However, if you installed a component supporting VS2012 before you installed VS2012, then you need to reinstall it. The VSIX installer will understand that it is to apply those only for VS2012, and will not touch – nor remove – the same for VS2010. A good example here is the Power Commands.
The list is more or less in priority order.
The focus is to get a setup which can be used for a complete coding experience for the whole ALM process.
The list of course reflects what I use for my work , so it is by no means complete, and for some of the tools there are equally useful alternatives. Many components have not yet arrived with VS2012 support. I will add them as they arrive.
The components directly associated with Visual Studio from Microsoft should be common, see the Microsoft column.
If you want to use the same set of extensions on multiple computers, you might like to share them easily. Lars Wilhelmsen has a great blog post about how to use Dropbox to share extensions and common settings.
Components ready for VS 2012, both upgrades and new ones
| Product | Notes | Latest Version | License | Applicable to | Microsoft |
| Visual Studio Tools for Git1 | See Brian Harry’s blogpost | 0.8.0.0 | Pre-release | Visual Studio | Yes |
| TypeScript | See info here, and B.Harry’s blogpost. Codeplex here | 0.8.3.1 | Free | Coding | Yes |
| ReSharper3 | | 7.1.25.234 (.2000.1478) | Licensed | Coding & Quality | No |
| NuGet Manager1 3 | Initial install included with VS 2012. Updates through extension gallery | 2.2.40116.9051 | Free | Visual Studio | Yes |
| TFS Power Tools1 | See Brian Harry’s blog post for more info
(Side-by-side with TFS 2010 should work, but remove the Shell Extension from the TFS 2010 power tool first.), and this post for info on Update 1
(Link to RTM Power tools here if you need this) | Nov 2012(11.0.51126.0) | Free | TFS integration | Yes |
| NDepend3 | Info on updates here. Trial available. | 4.1.0.6871 | Licensed | Quality | No |
| Build Manager1 | Community Build Manager. Info here from Jakob | 1.4.0.9 | Free | TFS Integration | No |
| Visual Studio 2012 SDK | Required for using Wix | Published 2.Aug.2012 | Free | Visual Studio | Yes |
| Wix Toolset | | 3.7 | Free | Coding/Installers | No |
| Visual Studio 11 Feedback tool1 | Use this to really ease the process of sending bugs back to Microsoft. | 1.2.3 | Free | Visual Studio | Yes |
| Productivity Power Tools1 | Re-added with new features, now also includes Power Commands, which can be uninstalled. | 11.0.60403.0 | Free | Visual Studio | Yes |
Power Commands1 3 | Just reinstall, even if you already have it for VS2010. The reinstall will then apply it to VS 2012
Install Productivity Power Tools which includes Power Commands | 1.0.2.3 | Free | Coding | Yes |
| Code Contracts1 3 | Now on gallery too. Info here and follow the forum here
| 1.4.60409.11 | Free | Coding | Yes |
| Code Contract Editor Extensions1 | | 1.5.60409.11 | Free | Coding | Yes |
| Visualization and Modeling SDK | Requires VS 2012 SDK
| RTM (Sept. 29th 2012) | Free now, otherwise Part of MSDN Subscription | Modeling, DSL, UML extensions | Yes |
| Slow Cheetah1 | Tool for transforming XML files, like config files. | 2.5.5 | Free | Coding | No |
| Web Essentials1 | | 2.6 | Free | Coding | Yes |
| ILSpy | Decompiler. Can also export assembly as C# project | 2.1.0.1603 | Free | Coding/Investigation | No |
| DotPeek | | 1.0.0.8644 | Free | Coding/Investigation | No |
| Just Decompile | | 2012.3.1016 | Free | Coding/Investigation | No |
| T4 Toolbox1 | | 11.5.0 | Free | Coding (T4 templates) | No (Author now MSFT) |
| tangible T4 editor1 | | 2.1.1 | Lite version Free (Good enough) | Coding (T4 templates) | No |
| LinqPad | Info here | 4.43.06 | Free and licensed versions | Coding | No |
#1 Get via Visual Studio’s Tools | Extension Manager (or The Code Gallery). (From Adam : All these are auto updated by the Extension Manager in Visual Studio)
#2 Works with ultimate only
#3 Also works with VS 2010
Components we wait for, not yet in a VS 2012 version
| Product | Notes | Latest Version | License | Applicable to | Microsoft |
| Inmeta Build Explorer | | | Free | TFS integration | No |
Components which are now integrated into VS 2012
| Product | Notes |
| Fakes | Was Moles in 2010. Fakes is improved and made into a product. |
| NuGet Manager | Included in the install, but still an extension package. Info here. So it is updated through the extension manager. Initial version is 1.6.30117.9648 |
Product installation, upgrades and patches for VS/TFS 2012
#1: MSDN Subscription download site, require login) v
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