Developer's Toolkit

Let's face it, as robust and feature rich as most IDEs are nowadays, it is still difficult to have an "all in one" package for developing your applications. The database tool might be missing that handy view or export for the data. The graphics editor doesn't handle layering. You just need a place to store that code snippet you found in that forum thread until you're ready to paste it into your method.

I have been in this boat for the past 7 years or so as a software engineer. During this time, I have kept my eye out on the Internet for quality tools that fill these needs without emptying my wallet. That said, I present to you my "Developers Toolkit" to help fill the gaps you may have during your development process. This Toolkit that is completely free and can fit on a USB key or iPod partition with minimal hassle. Here are the tools involved:

http://www.v-com.com/product/PowerDesk_free.html
I use PowerDesk in place of Windows Explorer for two primary reasons. The first is the split pane view that allows me to easily transfer my files from my local development machine to wherever the test environment lies. The second is the built in ZIP support it provides. Other great features of PowerDesk include the right click support while using Windows explorer to move/copy/zip/unzip files and its file finding tool.

http://www.zhornsoftware.co.uk/stickies
I use Stickies to pull off code snippets, e-mail details, and practically anything else I need to keep in note format during my coding/debugging process. Stickies will allow you to hide or place your note always on top, sleep for a designated period of time, and a myriad of handy features. You can even skin your stickies or synchronize them with your PocketPC or Palm device.

http://www.toadsoft.com
If you're not familar with Toad, they have established themselves as the premiere Oracle development/management tool. The interface is crisp, the tools are feature rich, and the install size isn't too intense. The best thing is that the makers decided to release a freeware model that is lacking a few features, but nothing that interrupts your day to day tasks. They currently have an Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, and DB2 compatible version for you to use. As an added bonus, they have released a free version of their data modeling tool which will give you a great resource to design/document your database schema in ERP format and have the DDL auto-generated for your database.

http://www.pspad.com
Sometimes you need to tweak up that XML or web.config file and don't want to go through the hassle of opening up Visual Studio. PSPad is an excellent text editor that has code highlighting features for a wide variety of common formats. It allows for multiple tabs, large file sizes, code formatting, spell checking, and a lot more. There is a mini FTP client and file explorer built in to the sidebar for added use. I actually drafted this article in PSPad before posting. 8^D I use PSPad all the time for comparing log file dumps, tweaking my web.config files, or just as a storehouse for some of my SQL code so that I can take advantage of the syntax highlighting.

http://www.getpaint.net
Paint.NET is my most recent addition to my toolkit, and it has been immensely helpful. I have a Macromedia Fireworks license, but I am unable to use it at work due to company policy. Paint.NET gives you all of the tools you need for graphics development (plenty of export formats, layering, effects plug-ins, etc.) and is completely free. I use it for tweaking up some of my web images or creating new ones from scratch.

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/60 - Web Developer Toolbar
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/249 - TINY Validator
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1419 - IE Tab
 I primary do web application development. I need to be able to see and debug the final product that my end users are experiencing. Visual Studio won't suffice for this since a lot of controls and other HTML elements are being rendered at run-time. The web developer toolbar allows me to see what CSS tags and other "under the hood" work is going on. The TINY Validator allows for a quick verification against many HTML standards, which is great for older browsers. The IE tab allows me to see what IE users are viewing without having to start up Internet Explorer. All three of these tools merge nicely into Firefox and don't' clutter up any space in your browser.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/TcpView.mspx - TCP View
http://www.networkchemistry.com/products/packetyzer.php - Packetyzer
 Are you wondering if your application is actually sustaining a connection with the database? If the connection is properly established, is the parameterized query being constructed and executed properly? I use TCP View and Packetyzer to validate these issues at a very granular level. TCP View will allow me to view which Internet connection I have open in real-time. If I really need to get to the minute details and/or verify that the communication between application and database is valid, Packetyzer (the Windows GUI around the Ethereal program) provides me with a excellent packet sniffer that has searching capabilities and the ability to retrace an entire communication between two endpoints by tapping into one packet.

Armed with this arsenal, I can accomplish anything I need to do with my applications in a short amount of time. My productivity increases dramatically and I don't have to dig my way through help files trying to see if a given feature is available for use. If you haven't used these tools already, give them a try. I'm sure you'll be quite happy you have them at your disposal.