Does anyone know of a free tool to integrate Reflector with Visual Studio, besides TestDriven.NET?

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+4 Q:

Does anyone know of a free tool to integrate Reflector with Visual Studio, besides TestDriven.NET?

Dear ladies and sirs.

I love the Go to Reflector menu option installed by TD.NET. However, TD.NET is not free for commercial use and so I do not have it at work.

I am wondering if there is another tool out there that does just that - allows to jump to Reflector from the source code in VS and which is totally free.

I know it is possible to develop a VS add-in that does it, but, alas, I have no time for it, so if anyone has already developed something like this - feel free to share.

Regards,

One parial solution might be for you to do the following:

Make sure you have Reflector registered so it shows on your context menu in windows explorer.
In visual studio, make sure the "Show all Files" button is clicked in your solution explorer
Go to the bin/Debug directory folder and right click on the directory
Choose "Open Folder in Windows Explorer"
Once windows explorer comes up, right click on your assembly and choose "Browse with Reflector"

This won't get you to the exact code you were looking at (like the TD.Net addin) but it will get you into reflector in a couple of clicks, just leaving you to use find to locate the code.

Jason Haley 2009-08-27 12:22:59

I have already an external VS tool that opens reflector on the target path of the currently open item. I still wonder if that is the best we can hope to achieve without TD.NET.

mark 2009-08-28 19:07:57

What's the external VS tool?

Cheeso 2009-10-25 15:10:44

One can define external tools in VS - go to Tools|External Tools...Specify the path to Reflector.exe and in the command line arguments one can give the path of the target exe/dll. Name the tool "Open Reflector". Running it will open the current exe/dll in Reflector. Using reflector url format you can even navigate to the source code of the currently open file. But, TD.NET allows to navigate to the source code of the current frame in the call stack, something which cannot be done via external tools facility.

mark 2009-10-26 08:41:48

Dupe?

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/234043/how-to-make-reflector-an-addin-for-visual-studios

orip 2009-09-09 21:44:01

Not quite. I am not talking about Reflector plug-in for VS, but for a tool to integrate Go To Reflector menu option in VS like TD.NET does. Only free and without the unit test stuff.

mark 2009-09-10 03:02:05

+1 A:

My understanding from the author of TD.NET is it is very difficult to intergrate Reflector with Visual Studio. He use to provide a free Reflector Add-in but (I don't remember his reason) decided to roll it up into newer versions of TD.NET. ~~I believe the source code (ReflectorVsAddin.zip) for the original add-in is still out there.~~ (Found the old .NET 1.1 / Visual Studio 2003 souce code, see Update below.) Someone probably has the original zip file.

To use with older versions of Visual Studio, I still have either all or some of the files included in ReflectorVsAddin.zip. I am sure some hardy soul could disassemble them and create an add-in based on the techniques. Yet, searching on "Reflector Hosting" resulted in numerous articles on how to integrate Reflector with your own application. I believe it would be easier to start from scratch. I personally, find using .NET Reflector externally outside of Visual Studio easier to use.

Update

Building the Reflector Add-In
By Jamie Cansdale
Making Reflector into a Visual Studio.NET Add-In
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/macros/reflectoraddin.aspx

Update

How to: Load Assemblies into the Reflection-Only Context at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms172331.aspx.

AMissico 2009-10-26 07:03:33

I would like to have the source code. Where can I found it and whether Jamie Cansdale (the author of the original plugin and TD.NET) allows to reuse it?

mark 2009-10-26 08:37:55

Thanks, I have downloaded it. Hope I get some free time to examine it, though I doubt. Thanks anyway.

mark 2009-10-26 10:06:27

All I have are the originl binaries that I kept around for earlier versions of Visual Studio. ftp://missico.net/Reflector.VisualStudio.zip

AMissico 2009-10-29 04:29:35

Unfortunately, the codeproject article is irrelevant for VS2005 or VS2008.

mark 2009-11-12 11:10:52

True, but it is a start and helps flush out the answer.

AMissico 2009-11-13 05:07:13

The latest version of Reflector have the Visual Studio add-in that you mention bundled with it for free.

Mel Harbour 2010-04-14 08:39:58

ansaurus

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Does anyone know of a free tool to integrate Reflector with Visual Studio, besides TestDriven.NET?

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