Instant gratification for developers
If you’re a developer, you know the feeling - and if you’re not, I’m sure you can imagine it: you have just written the most amazing little piece of code, and nobody is there to kiss your feet, praise some deity for your existence and generally worship you in the way you deserve.
I set out to solve this problem by creating a DXCore plugin for Visual Studio. DXCore is a fantastic product to help you bring round Visual Studio to your point of view, in this case by making it a substitute worshipper of your computer programming intellect. With this plugin installed, every time you build a project successfully, Visual Studio will sing your praise, perhaps like this:
Or maybe like this:
Now, while I was working on bending Visual Studio to my will, I found I had to make certain concessions. So I gave VS the right to swear at me when I get something wrong - that way everybody is happy! So when your build fails, VS might show you one of these messages:
Great, isn’t it? Instant gratification! Ah, okay, the odd swear word as well, but then you’re not supposed to make mistakes after all.
If you want this, here’s what you do:
- If you don’t have DXCore yet, download it here and install it: http://www.devexpress.com/dxcore (oh yeah - it’s free!)
- Download the plugin here: OS_CompilationResult-1.0.0.0.dll
- Drop the plugin dll into this folder (adjust if your installation path is different): C:\Program Files\Developer Express Inc\DXCore for Visual Studio .NET\2.0\Bin\Plugins
- Restart Visual Studio
- If you want to configure the lists of things the plugin says (or you even want to switch it off - what made me say that?), go to the Options dialog (DevExpress menu, Options) and find the page Hinting/Compilation Result
If you have other great ideas what the plugin should do or say, let me know!
You may want to mention that Hinting | Billboard Messages must be enabled. I had mine disabled and I could not see the message after a compile.
Comment by Robert Kozak — 16/10/2008 @ 7:41 pm - 2 months, 3 weeks ago
Oliver,
How do I adjust the size? Looks too small on my monitor. I tried adjusting the size and color of the Billboard Message but it didnt seem to matter.
Comment by Robert Kozak — 16/10/2008 @ 7:46 pm - 2 months, 3 weeks ago
Hi Robert,
Good point about the billboard messages - of course they are on by default
Adjusting the size isn’t currently implemented. The message always tries to be almost as large as your editor window. As a result, the font is smaller for longer pieces of text and larger for shorter ones. Would you say that the behavior you’re seeing doesn’t fit this description? Perhaps there’s something else amiss…
Thanks
Oliver
Comment by Oliver Sturm — 16/10/2008 @ 7:50 pm - 2 months, 3 weeks ago
Wasn’t sure if I can send screen shots through here so I send it along in an email to you.
Comment by Robert Kozak — 16/10/2008 @ 7:55 pm - 2 months, 3 weeks ago
LOL, You Rule!
Comment by Kim — 16/10/2008 @ 8:24 pm - 2 months, 3 weeks ago
This is great!
What do you think of adding a feature to get related sounds played? I mean it would kick me of my chair if "Compiled, baby" also bangs out of the speakers.
Thanks for this motivating plugin.
Cheers
Comment by Soeren — 17/10/2008 @ 10:34 am - 2 months, 2 weeks ago
This rocks Oliver! Thanks.
Comment by Mehul Harry — 23/10/2008 @ 9:53 pm - 2 months, 2 weeks ago
Great stuff - though now I always check twice before compiling
Comment by Bruce — 27/11/2008 @ 6:02 pm - 1 month, 1 week ago