I recently had a requirement to convert a VB6 project to VB 2008.    Although this initially caused me a lot of problems, I was fortunate to discover an outstanding product for converting VB6 projects to VB.NET which helped me get over some difficult hurdles.

To help developers write high-quality .NET code Red-Gate Software has released Exception Hunter. Exception Hunter is a compile-time tool that analyzes .NET code and identifies what unhandled exceptions the code can throw.

Preventing application exceptions that can be prevented and handling application exceptions that can not be prevented – are important aspects of a writing high-quality .NET code.

                Gurock Software has released version 2.0 of their SmartInspect product.  SmartInspect is a full logging utility for Dot Net.  I had the opportunity to review version 1.0 for DevCity.Net.  You can check out that review here.  In this review we’ll check out the new features that have been added to 2.0 and see what it offers.

                There are over one hundred new features in version 2 of SmartInspect.  I suggest you check out their what’s new page for a list of all of them.  I’m going to concentrate on several of the top ones, including the watches graph, memory and text protocols and the new view enhancements like markers and the new filters they added.

I took a look at some cool Dot Net controls this past week that help you create a full featured explorer clone and make working with some of the shell functions in Windows much easier.  Sky Software's Shell MegaPack 8 is much easier to use than trying to do it yourself with the Windows API.  They have made it as simple as some drop on components!

I recently had the opportunity to check out a software package that does logging for several platforms, .NET, Delphi and Java.  The software is called SmartInspect and it’s by Gurock Software (www.gurock.com).  SmartInspect adds a very flexible methodology to carry out logging in your software.  Being a full time .NET programmer, I examined their API for logging in this platform only.

     I’ve been looking for a good 100% native Dot Net reporting tool for a while.Reports are key elements to most business software packages today, so finding a powerful and easy to use reporting package is a must.In reviewing packages, I was offered the chance to look at StimulReport by StimulSoft (http://www.stimulsoft.com).It’s a fully managed reporting package that works both in Windows Forms projects as well as the Web.

Always being interested in products which promise to take some of the the drudgery out of software production, Phil Eakins investigated the features of Axtool's CodeSMART version G2 for Visual Studio, which promised nine sets of tools and commands to make life easier.

  The ComponentOne team have been producing good quality components for several years, covering the needs of developers in both Classic VB  and .NET.       The latest edition of their comprehensive components package is Studio Enterprise 2006 v1, now been updated for the 2005 version of .NET

  Ged Mead took a tour of the overall package and trial tested some of the components in detail

Introduction

   In my many years of software development, one comment I have often heard from my clients’ upper management is “I don’t want to see details.  Show me a picture”.  A well designed chart or graph can provide management with a clearer picture of the company’s status than any number of reports.   The VBChart Graphing Tool For .NET  can provide that picture from existing data with surprising ease.  

   During the review process I was able to produce a number of aesthetically pleasing charts and graphs with minimal coding.  It’s hard to imagine a product that would be easier to use. For this review, I used a Windows Forms application in VB.NET.  Additionally, the product supports ASP.NET for Web applications