In an earlier blog entry I mentioned a new Web site I had created, ASP.NET Toolbox, and asked for feedback, suggestions, help, and reviews. While no one has yet volunteered to write any reviews <hint, hint! :-)>, I was surprised by the number of excellent pieces of feedback many of you sent.
For example, Erik Porter suggested adding search capabilities, something I had completely overlooked. This will get added soon, Erik, I promise! :-) Another stellar suggestion came from James Avery, who suggested that I enlarge the focus of the site to include .NET tools in general, not just ASP.NET tools. James also advised that I broaden the scope to include both free and non-free tools. I have decided, at this point in time, to take James' first bit of advice, but to hold of (for now) on the second bit. Assuming your ISP's DNS server has been updated recently, you can hit the site now at http://DotNetToolbox.com.
I spent parts of yesterday and today cleaning up the insanely ugly code I had written on Friday. On Friday, I just hammered out the code to get the site working. Yesterday and today I “did it right,” building an object model, a DAL that utilizes the Microsoft Data Access Application Block, and so on. I still need to add a gaggle of features - like searching, most recent reviews added, list of all reviewers, most recent comments, etc. - but for now, at least, the code is a lot easier to work with. The end plan is to eventually get the site's code up on the GotDotNet Workspaces so others who have expressed interest in helping out on the project , such as Erik Porter, Steve Smith, and others, will be able to do so if they are still interested.
I hate to beg, but let me reiterate, the most helpful thing that one could do is to take the time to write up a review for a free .NET tool that they find indispensible. There are a number of such tools that would be worthwhile, and I'm hoping someone will step up to the plate and offer to take charge. Some of the tools I'd like to see reviews for include:
And, of course, others I might not know about. Thanks for those who help in any way. :-)