Addin Suggestions for Analyzing An Inherited ASP.net Website Solution

Question

Hi All,

I have "inherited" an ASP.net 2.0 VB project and have been given a list of items the customer wants changed. This is not my original work, I've "inherited" it from another coder who went AWOL. The customer just wants the site to work, but has found a few issues that need to be changed. Unfortunately, the project is over budget and is about a year overdue. Thus, there's no time to update it to .Net 3.5.

Can anyone suggest to me some (Hopefully Free) addins you use in VS 2008 that would assist me in understanding the codebase. I started using Reflector and have a fair understanding of the classes and methods defined. What techniques have you used when modifying an existing codebase? Do you re-create according to your practices and methodology, or try to adhere to what the previous coder did?

Thanks so much for your help! Sid

Answer 1

Personally, I like to create some class diagrams and try to get my head around that first. Then I like to isolate the areas that need to be changed and depending on the severity of complexity in the code (or my lack of understanding of what is happening) I go through the site/application flow with a debugger to understand what is happening.

As for whether or not I would refactor it to my practices or methodology, my run of thumb is if something is new functionality that stands alone from the rest of the code, then I create/refactor it using my practices or methodology, however, if I'm refactoring a piece of code that belongs with other things that arent' getting refactored, then I try to follow what the previous coder has done. This way the code follows a similar style throughout and the next person that comes along doesn't have to try to understand two different coding styles.

HTH and good luck!