July 2008 - Posts

• Calculating Return on Investment for Any Developer Tool

  I just finished work on a spreadsheet to calculate the ROI for developer tools. I've got it pre-configured to calculate ROI for a $249 CodeRush and Refactor! Pro purchase (with a corresponding 25% increase in coding speed), but you should be able to use it for any dev tool on which you're trying to get buy-in from management. Just change the red values to something more applicable to your situation, and you can get a sense of how much product usage time would pass before you saw a return on your investment. Here's a screen shot of the spreadsheet: One neat feature of this spreadsheet is that it's flexible in how you measure productivity. In the example above, we're measuring productivity in methods written per hour (that's the value of the "Unit of Code" field. If you would prefer to calculate this based on lines of code per hour, or some other metric that feels more comfortable, it's easy to adapt. UPDATE: Revised spreadsheet and post is here. Posted Jul 30 2008, 04:26 PM by Mark Miller (Developer Express) with 9 comment(s) Filed under: CodeRush, Refactor

• Woah! Earthquake hits the DevExpress offices

  Hey kids, A 5.4 earthquake just rocked L.A., with the epicenter only a few blocks away from the office. Cell phones and text messages are not getting through, no doubt due to there being too much demand (everyone is trying to call out at once), but the internet is apparently still working. Skype is apparently your friend during natural disasters. The cool thing is that we were shooting a video when the earthquake struck, and the camera guy says we have some pretty exciting stuff. As soon as we have it up we'll let you know. Posted Jul 29 2008, 02:47 PM by Mark Miller (Developer Express) with 6 comment(s)

• New Video: Refactoring Lambda Expressions and Anonymous Methods

  New Refactor! Pro video is up, showing refactorings that work with anonymous methods and lambda expresssions. Refactorings covered in this video include: Compress to Lambda Expression Expand Lambda Expression Inline Delegate Name Anonymous Method   So far we've published ten videos, demonstrating a total of 87 refactorings: Changing Signatures Conditionals Declarations & Initialization Dead Code Expressions Formatting and Structure Lambda Expressions and Anonymous Methods Loops and Blocks Properties and Fields Strings   Posted Jul 29 2008, 01:10 PM by Mark Miller (Developer Express) with no comments Filed under: Refactor

• New Video: Refactorings that Change Method Signatures

  New Refactor! Pro video is up, showing refactorings that change method signatures. Refactorings covered in this video include: Add Parameter Create Overload Decompose Parameter Introduce Parameter Object Make Member Static Promote to Parameter Reorder Parameters Safe Rename So far we've published nine videos, demonstrating a total of 83 refactorings: Changing Signatures Conditionals Declarations & Initialization Dead Code Expressions Formatting and Structure Loops and Blocks Properties and Fields Strings   Posted Jul 28 2008, 10:53 AM by Mark Miller (Developer Express) with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Refactor

• Next Week: IDE Productivity Tools in the Labs, CodeRush & Refactor! Pro

  Hey kids, Here's a preview of what's coming next week.You'll see two powerful & fun new features that will ship in the next releases of CodeRush and Refactor! Pro. First, one of my favorite new refactorings, Extract to Type, moves a block of code located in the wrong class over to the right class. You know the kind of code I'm talking about: It usually sits inside a helper method and operates on locals of an instance type declared somewhere else in your solution, setting properties and/or calling methods on those locals of the other type. The UI for this refactoring is both smart and efficient. I think you'll like it. :-) I'll also show one of my favorite new code providers, Add Missing Constructors. This code provider does exactly what the name implies, and saves time when you need to add one or more missing inherited construction code in descendant classes. For devs on the bleeding edge, both of these new features are available right now in the latest daily builds (CodeRush and Refactor! Pro customers can get these from support@devexpress.com). Oh, and we'll also post more videos showing more refactorings in action. See you next week! Posted Jul 24 2008, 02:43 PM by Mark Miller (Developer Express) with no comments

• New Refactoring Video: Properties and Fields

  New Refactor! Pro video is up, showing refactorings that work on properties and fields. Refactorings covered in this video include: Collapse Accessors Convert to Auto-implemented Property Convert to Auto-implemented Property (convert all) Create Backing Store Create Setter Method Encapsulate Field Encapsulate Field (read-only) Expand Accessors Introduce Setter Guard Clause* Method to Property Property to Method Remove Setter Guard Clause* *Feature may change program behavior. So far we've published eight videos, demonstrating a total of 75 refactorings: Conditionals Declarations & Initialization Dead Code Expressions Formatting and Structure Loops and Blocks Properties and Fields Strings   Posted Jul 16 2008, 12:34 PM by Mark Miller (Developer Express) with no comments Filed under: Refactor

• So, what's up with that keyboard, Miller?

  Hey Kids, Sometimes people ask why I carry around that big keyboard wherever I go. Here's a short video showing off a few special bindings as well as the somewhat controversial  (just one of many undocumented features built into my custom input device).   Posted Jul 15 2008, 06:12 PM by Mark Miller (Developer Express) with 4 comment(s)

• New Refactoring Video: Strings

  New Refactor! Pro video is up, showing refactorings that work on strings. Refactorings covered in this video include: Inline Format Item Introduce Format Item Use IsNullOrEmpty Use String.Compare Use String.Format Use StringBuilder So far we've published seven videos, demonstrating a total of 63 refactorings: Conditionals Declarations & Initialization Dead Code Expressions Formatting and Structure Loops and Blocks Strings Posted Jul 15 2008, 03:51 PM by Mark Miller (Developer Express) with no comments Filed under: Refactor

• New Refactoring Video: Declarations and Initialization

  New Refactor! Pro video is up, showing refactorings that work on declarations and initialization. So far we've published six videos, demonstrating a total of 57 refactorings: Conditionals Declarations & Initialization Dead Code Expressions Formatting and Structure Loops and Blocks Posted Jul 14 2008, 02:36 PM by Mark Miller (Developer Express) with 4 comment(s) Filed under: Refactor

• Adding Emphasis to Control Text

  Julian just posted about new text formatting technology coming out in the v2008 vol 2 release of our controls. However, the "ransom note screen shots" posted there don't reveal just how incredible this feature is. With great power comes great responsibility, so let's keep the emphasis subtle for striking effects. For example, take a look at this screen shot, where important words are elegantly emphasized with bold text: Nice, isn't it? And interfaces like this improve user efficiency as well. We're looking forward to see what you do with this. Posted Jul 11 2008, 02:46 PM by Mark Miller (Developer Express) with 5 comment(s) Filed under: v2008.2

• New Refactoring Video: Dead Code

  New Refactor! Pro video is up, showing refactorings that work on dead code. So far we've published five videos, demonstrating a total of 47 refactorings: Conditionals Dead Code Expressions Formatting and Structure Loops and Blocks   Refactorings, by category. are below:   ASP.NET Add AssociatedControlID Attribute* Add RunAt Attribute* Add Validator* Convert Color to HEX Convert Color to Named Color Convert Color to RGB Convert to Pixels Convert to Points Convert to Skin Extract ContentPlaceHolder (and create master page) Extract ContentPlaceHolder Extract Script Extract Style (Class) Extract Style (id) Extract UserControl Make ID Unique Merge Styles Move Style Attributes to CSS Move Style Attributes to External CSS Move Style Attributes to Theme (use SkinID) Move Style Attributes to Theme Move to Code-behind Set CssClass* Split Style Surround with Update Panel* Toggle ViewState* Changing Signatures Add Parameter Create Overload Decompose Parameter Introduce Parameter Object Make Member Static Promote to Parameter Reorder Parameters Safe Rename Conditionals Case to Conditional Combine Conditionals Compress to Null Coalescing Operation Compress to Ternary Expression Conditional to Case Expand Null Coalescing Operation Expand Ternary Expression Flatten Conditional Initialize Conditionally Reverse Conditional Split Conditional Dead Code Remove Empty Handler Remove Parameter Remove Private Setter Remove Redundant Constructor Remove Redundant Delegate Creation Declaration and Initialization Convert to Initializer Decompose Initializer Move Declaration near Reference Move Initialization to Declaration Make Explicit Make Explicit (and Name Anonymous Type) Make Implicit Name Anonymous Type Split Initialization from Declaration Split Temporary Variable Expressions Convert to Is Nothing Inline Constant Introduce Constant Introduce Constant (local) Inline Recent Assignment Inline Result Inline Temp Introduce Local Introduce Local (replace all) Introduce Result Variable Replace with Constant Replace with Local Simplify Expression Formatting and Structure Break Apart Arguments Break Apart Parameters Create Multi-variable Declaration Line-up Arguments Line-up Parameters Split Multi-variable Declaration Interfaces Add to Interface* Extract Interface Lambda Expressions and Anonymous Methods Compress to Lambda Expression Expand Lambda Expression Inline Delegate Name Anonymous Method Loops and Blocks Add Block Delimiters Consolidate Using Statements Create With Statement For to ForEach ForEach to For Inline With Statement Introduce ForEach Action Introduce Using Statement Lock to Try/Finally Remove Block Delimiters Split With Statement Using to Try/Finally Macros Use Const Use typedef Moving/Extracting Methods Extract Function (outside of class) Extract Method Extract Property Move Method to Header Move Method to Source File Replace Temp with Query Properties and Fields Collapse Accessors Convert to Auto-implemented Property Convert to Auto-implemented Property (convert all) Create Backing Store Create Setter Method Encapsulate Field Encapsulate Field (read-only) Expand Accessors Introduce Setter Guard Clause* Method to Property Property to Method Remove Setter Guard Clause* Resource Files Extract String to Resource Extract to XAML Resource (replace all) Extract to XAML Resource Extract XML Literal to Resource Replace with XAML Resource Strings Inline Format Item Introduce Format Item Use IsNullOrEmpty Use String.Compare Use String.Format Use StringBuilder Types, Typecasting and Namespace References Boolean to Enum Convert to Built-in Type Convert to System Type Encapsulate Downcast Inline Alias Introduce Alias Introduce Alias (replace all) Move Type to File Move Type to Namespace Optimize Namespace References Remove Type Qualifier Remove Type Qualifier (replace all) Rename File to Match Type Rename Type to Match File Replace with Alias Renaming Rename Visibility Reduce Visibility Widen Scope Widen Scope (promote constant) Widen Scope (promote to field) XML, HTML, and XAML Add End Tag Change Tag* Remove Attribute* Remove End Tag Remove Tag* Reorder Attributes Surround with Tag*  *Feature may change program behavior.   Posted Jul 09 2008, 03:18 PM by Mark Miller (Developer Express) with no comments Filed under: Refactor

• New Refactoring Video - Conditionals

  New Refactor! Pro video is up, showing refactorings that work on conditional statements. So far we've published four videos, demonstrating a total of 42 refactorings: Conditionals Expressions Formatting and Structure Loops and Blocks Refactorings, by category. are below: ASP.NET Add AssociatedControlID Attribute* Add RunAt Attribute* Add Validator* Convert Color to HEX Convert Color to Named Color Convert Color to RGB Convert to Pixels Convert to Points Convert to Skin Extract ContentPlaceHolder (and create master page) Extract ContentPlaceHolder Extract Script Extract Style (Class) Extract Style (id) Extract UserControl Make ID Unique Merge Styles Move Style Attributes to CSS Move Style Attributes to External CSS Move Style Attributes to Theme (use SkinID) Move Style Attributes to Theme Move to Code-behind Set CssClass* Split Style Surround with Update Panel* Toggle ViewState* Changing Signatures Add Parameter Create Overload Decompose Parameter Introduce Parameter Object Make Member Static Promote to Parameter Reorder Parameters Safe Rename Conditionals Case to Conditional Combine Conditionals Compress to Null Coalescing Operation Compress to Ternary Expression Conditional to Case Expand Null Coalescing Operation Expand Ternary Expression Flatten Conditional Initialize Conditionally Reverse Conditional Split Conditional Dead Code Remove Empty Handler Remove Parameter Remove Private Setter Remove Redundant Constructor Remove Redundant Delegate Creation Declaration and Initialization Convert to Initializer Decompose Initializer Move Declaration near Reference Move Initialization to Declaration Make Explicit Make Explicit (and Name Anonymous Type) Make Implicit Name Anonymous Type Split Initialization from Declaration Split Temporary Variable Expressions Convert to Is Nothing Inline Constant Introduce Constant Introduce Constant (local) Inline Recent Assignment Inline Result Inline Temp Introduce Local Introduce Local (replace all) Introduce Result Variable Replace with Constant Replace with Local Simplify Expression Formatting and Structure Break Apart Arguments Break Apart Parameters Create Multi-variable Declaration Line-up Arguments Line-up Parameters Split Multi-variable Declaration Interfaces Add to Interface* Extract Interface Lambda Expressions and Anonymous Methods Compress to Lambda Expression Expand Lambda Expression Inline Delegate Name Anonymous Method Loops and Blocks Add Block Delimiters Consolidate Using Statements Create With Statement For to ForEach ForEach to For Inline With Statement Introduce ForEach Action Introduce Using Statement Lock to Try/Finally Remove Block Delimiters Split With Statement Using to Try/Finally Macros Use Const Use typedef Moving/Extracting Methods Extract Function (outside of class) Extract Method Extract Property Move Method to Header Move Method to Source File Replace Temp with Query Properties and Fields Collapse Accessors Convert to Auto-implemented Property Convert to Auto-implemented Property (convert all) Create Backing Store Create Setter Method Encapsulate Field Encapsulate Field (read-only) Expand Accessors Introduce Setter Guard Clause* Method to Property Property to Method Remove Setter Guard Clause* Resource Files Extract String to Resource Extract to XAML Resource (replace all) Extract to XAML Resource Extract XML Literal to Resource Replace with XAML Resource Strings Inline Format Item Introduce Format Item Use IsNullOrEmpty Use String.Compare Use String.Format Use StringBuilder Types, Typecasting and Namespace References Boolean to Enum Convert to Built-in Type Convert to System Type Encapsulate Downcast Inline Alias Introduce Alias Introduce Alias (replace all) Move Type to File Move Type to Namespace Optimize Namespace References Remove Type Qualifier Remove Type Qualifier (replace all) Rename File to Match Type Rename Type to Match File Replace with Alias Renaming Rename Visibility Reduce Visibility Widen Scope Widen Scope (promote constant) Widen Scope (promote to field) XML, HTML, and XAML Add End Tag Change Tag* Remove Attribute* Remove End Tag Remove Tag* Reorder Attributes Surround with Tag*  *Feature may change program behavior. Posted Jul 09 2008, 09:27 AM by Mark Miller (Developer Express) with no comments Filed under: Refactor

• New Video: Refactorings that work on Expressions

  New video is up -- this one shows refactorings that work on expressions.  Refactorings by category appear below, with links to available videos (three so far, more to come) appearing in the category text: ASP.NET Add AssociatedControlID Attribute* Add RunAt Attribute* Add Validator* Convert Color to HEX Convert Color to Named Color Convert Color to RGB Convert to Pixels Convert to Points Convert to Skin Extract ContentPlaceHolder (and create master page) Extract ContentPlaceHolder Extract Script Extract Style (Class) Extract Style (id) Extract UserControl Make ID Unique Merge Styles Move Style Attributes to CSS Move Style Attributes to External CSS Move Style Attributes to Theme (use SkinID) Move Style Attributes to Theme Move to Code-behind Set CssClass* Split Style Surround with Update Panel* Toggle ViewState* Changing Signatures Add Parameter Create Overload Decompose Parameter Introduce Parameter Object