New ASP.NET C#/VB.NET forms and Code Generator
I've just completed work on my latest product called CodeSpark. It's a ASP.NET Web forms and code generation utility. I was inspired to write this tool after years of not being able to find a code generation tool that suited my needs. There are some tools that claim to generate forms as well as code, but I was never happy with the results - the generated code always seemed hard to edit, as it was tightly bound to the authors programming idioms (if that makes sense).
I've written code generation tools before - one that converts Access applications to VB.NET, and an Access form generator which worked really well (I might also make that available soon, as a freebie). It's been in the back of my mind to write an ASP.NET forms generator for a few years, but with all of the other work I have had to do, and the stress of leaving my previously dreadful company, I've never had the time or energy until now. We've had a quiet period at Pendragon, so I decided to finally get down to the job of building my code generator.
The generator works by reading table definitions from a given SQL database, and converting those definitions into required ASP form fields, labels, and validators, plus update and retrieval code for each form, along with data classes and control classes (ADO.NET). The actual code documents are created using the CodeDOM - a very powerful library in .NET that allows you to generate code in any .NET language, given a set of definitions. The usage of the CodeDOM classes is very clunky, and not easy to learn, but once you have grasped it, it really opens your programming world up.
I've spent a lot of time refining this tool, so that the generated code can be imported straight into a Visual Studio project (C# or VB.NET), and will show no syntax errors. I will also be adding new features along the way - possible support for Linq, Windows forms generation etc. If you purchase the software now, future updates will be free - so let me know if you have any ideas for new features. You can download it from our new website - Redbrook Technology
I've written code generation tools before - one that converts Access applications to VB.NET, and an Access form generator which worked really well (I might also make that available soon, as a freebie). It's been in the back of my mind to write an ASP.NET forms generator for a few years, but with all of the other work I have had to do, and the stress of leaving my previously dreadful company, I've never had the time or energy until now. We've had a quiet period at Pendragon, so I decided to finally get down to the job of building my code generator.
The generator works by reading table definitions from a given SQL database, and converting those definitions into required ASP form fields, labels, and validators, plus update and retrieval code for each form, along with data classes and control classes (ADO.NET). The actual code documents are created using the CodeDOM - a very powerful library in .NET that allows you to generate code in any .NET language, given a set of definitions. The usage of the CodeDOM classes is very clunky, and not easy to learn, but once you have grasped it, it really opens your programming world up.
I've spent a lot of time refining this tool, so that the generated code can be imported straight into a Visual Studio project (C# or VB.NET), and will show no syntax errors. I will also be adding new features along the way - possible support for Linq, Windows forms generation etc. If you purchase the software now, future updates will be free - so let me know if you have any ideas for new features. You can download it from our new website - Redbrook Technology
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