SharePoint Development tools list

By Hristo Yankov

SharePoint development is not always as straight-forward as we all want it to be. However, there are a lot of tools which can make our job easier. Here is a list of some of our favorite tools for SharePoint development:


SharePoint Manager 2007
"The SharePoint Manager 2007 is a SharePoint object model explorer. It enables you to browse every site on the local farm and view every property. It also enables you to change the properties (at your own risk). This is a very powerfull tool for developers that like to know what the SharePoint holds of secrets. "

STSDEV: Simple Tools for SharePoint 2007 Development
"STSDEV is a proof-of-concept utility application which demonstrates how to generate Visual Studio project files and solution files to facilitate the development and deployment of templates and components for the SharePoint 2007 platform including Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (WSS) and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS)."

WSPBuilder
"A SharePoint Solution Package (WSP) creation tool for WSS 3.0 & MOSS 2007"

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Tools: Visual Studio 2008 Extensions, Version 1.2
"Tools for developing custom SharePoint applications: Visual Studio project templates for Web Parts, site definitions, and list definitions; and a stand-alone utility program, the SharePoint Solution Generator."

U2U CAML Query Builder
"CAML (Collaborative Application Markup Language) is an XML-based query language that helps you querying, building and customizing Web sites based on Windows SharePoint Services. The XML elements define various aspects of a WSS site. The tool will help you build, test and execute your CAML Queries. "

I don't think anybody wants to write CAML Queries 'by hand'

SharePoint Timer Scheduler
"Sharepoint Timer Scheduler gives you a way of running your Timer Job from a list in the Root Web of your Sharepoint site. Excellent way of giving Site Administrators access to Timer Jobs so they can be run immediately or rescheduled. No need to code custom SPJobDefinition classes."

Basically, this is a 'tool' which allows you to reschedule timer jobs without the need to redeploy a solution! Great!

Pako Simeonov's Tool
Pako Simeonov wrote a great tool which fixes errors of the kind 'Feature {Guid} for list template is not installed in this farm. The operation could not be completed'

What are your favorite tools?