.NET Documentation Tool Version History
 Download
the .NET Documentation Tool Evaluation Version (2980K ZIP file).
15 July 2008: 9.2 Release
- Improved the documentation of namespaces.
- There is a new DisplayParentFolderName configuration option (shown as "Display Parent Folder Name" in the GUI). If selected, this option causes the .NET Documentation Tool to include the folder name of files being documented in the documentation. This option improves the display of documentation for projects that span multiple folder locations. For example, if a project was located in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\SalesWebsite and C:\components\Web\CommonComponents, the .NET Documentation Tool will create top level folder names of "SalesWebsite" and "CommonComponents" within the documentation. This is particularly beneficial for the HTML Help formatted output. It also makes it more straightforward to document your entire code library and compile it into a single, searchable HTML Help file.
- Improved regular expression pattern matching error handling.
- Improved spacing of links in bottom right hand frame of HTML report.
- Revised help: added SQL Server 2005 sample connection string, added DisplayMethods to table of contents, added DisplayParentFolderName to the list of configuration options.
5 March 2008: 9.1 Release
- The GUI in the registered version now has the ability to check to see if any product
updates are available.
25 February 2008: 9.0 Release
- There is now some provisional support for XAML files used in WPF/Silverlight
applications. Note that this technology is still in the early stages of development by
Microsoft and may be subject to change. XAML files are documented as XML. VB.NET or C#
code behind files associated with the XAML files are automatically detected.
- C# 3.0 is now supported.
- Work to add .NET Framework 3.0, .NET Framework 3.5 and C# 3.0 support to the .NET
Documentation Tool has started.
15 February 2008: 8.8 Release
- Added a better SQL Server 2005 connection string to the help file.
- HTTP Handler (also known as web handler) files are now documented (these normally have
the file extension .ashx). This change improves the documentation of ASP.NET web
applications.
3 February 2008: 8.7 Release
- The handling of the .NET Framework 2.0's partial classes has been improved. The .NET
Documentation Tool will now show partial classes as a single class with its entities
spread across different file locations.
- Constructor arguments in VB.NET are now being displayed properly.
- Fixed erroneous alt tag on Components link in bottom right hand frame of HTML format
report.
- Detection of C# classes has been improved.
- User control detection in source code is now logged to the project's log file.
- The code documentor's detection of ASP.NET controls (web and validation controls) has
been improved.
- Hyperlink spacing in bottom right hand frame of HTML format documentation has been
improved.
- Reworked the way a project's number of classes are calculated - it now takes partial
classes into account.
- More .NET Framework 2.0 sample code added to the sample project.
25 January 2008: 8.6 Release
- If the .NET Documentation Tool is run using the graphical user interface, the console
window now appears for longer if there is an error, making it easier to resolve the issue.
Most errors are caused by the specified input or output folders not existing.
- The OutputDir option is no longer saved to the configuration file - the correct option
is OutputFolder.
- The LogFileDir option is no longer saved to the configuration file as the option is not
required.
- Saving the configuration file now shows the filename of the configuration file that is
being overwritten.
- The installer has been changed. The default installation folder has also been changed
from ".NET Documentation Tool" to "DotNet Documentation Tool" as the
former was causing security alert issues on some machines.
20 November 2007: 8.5 Release
- The Frequently Asked Questions help page has been updated.
- Improved the detection of VB.NET functions.
- Improved the detection of C# classes.
- Fixed a broken link issue in the documentation that was affecting enumerators.
2 November 2007: 8.4 Release
- Multiple databases associated with the .NET project are now documented properly.
- It is now possible to document a database with the same name that exists on more than
one server.
- The SQL Server 2005 system table sysdiagrams is now excluded from SQL Server database
reports.
- The following SQL Server 2005 system stored procedures are no longer documented:
'sp_alterdiagram', 'sp_creatediagram', 'sp_dropdiagram', 'sp_helpdiagramdefinition',
'sp_helpdiagrams', 'sp_renamediagram', 'sp_upgraddiagrams' and 'fn_diagramobjects'.
- SQL Server 2005 table columns are now correctly extracted from certain databases.
- Triggers are now detected in SQL Server 2005 databases that use Schemas.
- Relationships are now detected in SQL Server 2005 databases using Schemas.
- Relationships are now correctly detected if a previous database error was encountered.
15 March 2007: 8.3 Release
Added the following new features:
- In response to user requests, it is now possible to specify a string of HTML that can be
added to the <head> portion of the HTML files created by the .NET Documentation
Tool. An example use of this is to allow a Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) file to be
specified [remember to copy the .css file to the output folder!). Example usage: [HeadHTML]
= <link REL="stylesheet" HREF="SkyBlue.css"
TYPE="text/css">. As of yet, there is no GUI option for adding this line
of HTML, but it may be added to the defaultconfiguration.ini file. Remember if using CSS
to copy the CSS file to the output folder!
- Improved the detection of C# and VB.NET properties.
- Improved the detection of C# and VB.NET items.
- Improved the detection of C# and VB.NET subroutines.
8 March 2007: 8.2 Release
Added the following new features:
- C# Properties are now detected and documented.
- .NET Framework 2.0 generic classes are now recognised.
Resolved the following issues:
- Improved table spacing within function and subroutine details pages, making argument's
XML comments easier to read.
- List of constructors now correctly points to appropriate VB.NET or C# constructors list
page.
3 March 2007: 8.1 Release
Added the following new features:
- Enumerators now listed in page details pages.
- Enumerators now listed in class details pages.
- More code added to sample project.
- Improved detection of VB.NET enumerators.
22 February 2007: 8.0 Release
Added the following new features:
- VB.NET Properties are now documented.
- Improved the detection of VB.NET functions and subroutines.
- The Value XML Comment tag is now supported (it is used to document Properties).
- XML Comment detection has been improved.
22 February 2007: 7.9 Release
Added the following new features:
- Detection of component files has been improved.
- In response to user requests, it is now possible to add a copyright string to pages
within the documentation (this feature is not customisable in the evaluation version).
- Improved the colour coding of XML files.
- Improved the detection of VB.NET functions.
Resolved the following issues:
- Stopped files in App_Code folders being detected multiple times.
- Javascript Pages heading now omitted from documentation if there are no JavaScript files
in the project.
20 January 2007: 7.8 Release
Added the following new features:
- The XML Comment parsing routine has been rewritten, allowing more tags to be supported.
- The XML Comment exception, paramref, see and seealso tags
are now supported.
- The XML Comment list tag is now supported. This tag allows bulleted or numbered
lists as well as tables to be incorporated into the XML Comment documentation.
- Subroutine argument XML Comments are now extracted from source code.
- HTML in functions and subroutines pages has been improved.
10 January 2007: 7.7 Release
Added the following new features:
- XML Comments in Visual Studio 2005 format are now optionally extracted
from VB.NET code (C# had XML Comments in prior versions). See the section
Documenting
Your Code with XML (Visual Basic) in the Visual Studio 2005 documentation for
information on using these comments in your code.
- Code behind files with spaces in the filenames are now correctly identified.
Resolved the following issue:
- Removed / weird characters from source code files.
04 December 2006: 7.6 Release
Added the following new feature:
- The .NET Documentation Tool now supports Constructors in both VB.NET
and C#.
23 November 2006: 7.5 Release
Added the following new features:
- Improved the detection of C# Windows Forms.
- Improved the detection of C# Classes.
- Improved the detection of C# enumerator types.
- If the output folder does not exist the .NET Documentation Tool attempts to create it.
- Improved the display of C# function arguments.
Resolved the following issue:
- Fixed an issue whereby pages were not getting properly linked to their code behind
equivalents.
13 November 2006: 7.4 Release
Added the following new feature:
- Page details pages have been enhanced to show which database stored procedures are used
on that page.
Resolved the following issue:
- SyntaxHighlightSourceCode configuration option now works correctly for all types of
files.
03 November 2006: 7.3 Release
Added the following new feature:
- Code behind source code pages now have a link to their equivalent HTML view page.
Resolved the following issue:
- Fixed an issue whereby pages were not getting properly linked to their code behind
equivalents.
23 October 2006: 7.2 Release
Added the following new feature:
- C# and VB.NET enumerators are now documented. If an enumerator's
property value is not defined an attempt is made to determine the assigned value.
14 October 2006: 7.1 Release
Added the following new feature:
- Improved the detection of Windows Forms files in both VB.NET and C# projects.
29 September 2006: 7.0 Release
Added the following new features:
- Renamed product from ASP.NET Documentation Tool to .NET
Documentation Tool to reflect the ability to document VB.NET/C# Windows Forms and
Console applications as well as ASP.NET web applications.
- Improved recognition of C# Windows Forms code files.
- Improved detection of C# Classes.
- HTML Help table of contents will now be created up to 10 sub-folders deep.
- A few minor updates made to the GUI.
29 August 2006: 6.2 Release
Resolved the following issues:
- Guess Stored Procedure Calls In Code checkbox in GUI renamed to Guess Code
Stored Procedure Calls.
- Decreased the height of the GUI so that the bottom buttons are visible!
24 August 2006: 6.1 Release [first public release since 4.2]
Resolved the following issues:
- Corrected HTML Help index entries for VB.NET functions and subroutines.
- All VB.NET Functions are now correctly listed in HTML Help table of contents.
- GUI no longer crashes if View Log button is clicked when there is no log file on disk.
6.0 Release
Added the following new features:
- Documentation reviewed and updated.
- There is a new ProjectType configuration option. The settings for this option can be
either Web for ASP.NET projects, or Windows for Windows Forms or Console
Applications (or any .NET Framework project that does not contain ASP.NET pages).
- Graphical User Interface allows user to select between ASP.NET and Windows projects.
Improved the detection of VB.NET functions.
- Changed entity names from "pages" to "files" for non-web projects.
- Changes made to allow Windows Console Application projects to be documented.
5.9 Release
Added the following new features:
- Web Methods and ASP.NET controls sections removed from text report for non-ASP.NET
projects.
- WEB METHODS (WITH ARGUMENTS) section of text output file now shows if there were
no web methods in the project.
- STORED PROCEDURE CALLS FROM CODE section of text output file now shows if there
were no code stored procedure calls detected.
Resolved the following issues:
- Prevented a spurious No namespaces used message appearing on the namespaces
report page even if there are namespaces used within the project.
- Improved the detection of email addresses within C# commented code.
- Improved the detection of C# Classes.
- Bottom right hand frame of report now contains a link to the project's namespaces even
if there are no custom namespaces used in the project.
5.8 Release
Resolved the following issues:
- Classes no longer identified if they are VB.NET or C# keywords.
- Improved the detection of VB.NET functions.
5.7 Release
Resolved the following issues:
- Improved detection of VB.NET and C# functions and subroutines that use the delegate
keyword.
- Improved the detection of VB.NET Namespaces.
- Improved the detection of VB.NET Classes.
- Improved the detection of email addresses within VB.NET commented code.
5.6 Release
Resolved the following issues:
- Improved the detection of C# classes.
- Improved the detection of VB.NET classes.
Added the following new feature:
- Added line numbers to multi-line definitions of classes, functions and subroutines that
are written to the log file.
5.5 Release
Resolved the following issues:
- Improved the detection of C# namespaces and functions.
- Source code syntax highlighting routines made more robust.
5.4 Release
Added the following new features:
- Modifications made to eventually allow C# Windows Forms projects to be documented.
5.3 Release
- Changed ASP.NET specific command line output.
- Windows Form files are automatically reclassified as Component files if they aren't
actually Forms.
5.2 Release
Added the following new features:
- The log file contains more information about the files it has associated with the
project.
- VB.NET and C# component files are now automatically detected.
- Any file with a .vb or .cs file extension that has not already been identified as a
code-behind page is now assumed to be a component. This change makes it much easier to
document projects that use a mixture of both ASP.NET pages and components.
- Extensive modifications made to eventually allow VB.NET Windows Forms projects to be
documented.
5.1 Release
Added the following new features:
- The js file in the sampleweb.net has been updated.
- The sample project has been updated.
- The defaultconfiguration.ini file has been updated.
5.0 Release
Resolved the following issue:
Line numbers are now correctly calculated for email addresses extracted from web.config
and JavaScript files.
20 April 2006: 4.2 Release
Added the following new feature:
- SQL Server tables, views, triggers and stored procedures extraction routines now have
much more robust error handling. Error details are output to the project's log file and
also to the console window if the verbose output selection option has been selected.
10 April 2006: 4.1 Release
Added the following new feature:
- Modifications made to allow SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2005 Express databases to be
documented.
2 January 2006: 4.0 Release
Added the following new features:
- Added support for additional Validator Web Controls.
- Starting adding support for ASP.NET 2.0. The following features have been added so far
[note that this version is still able to document .NET 1.0 and .NET 1.1 projects]:
- The ASP.NET 2.0 code behind CodeFile directive is now supported.
- Master pages are now documented - the ASP.NET Documentation Tool has been configured to
look for these if they have the .master file extension.
- The ASP.NET Documentation Tool now automatically detects component files in an App_Code
folder within any of the specified input folders.
- The new VB.NET keywords are now colour coded in the source code pages.
- C# contextual keywords are now colour coded in the source code pages.
- Site Map files are now included in the documentation. By default these are assumed to
have a .sitemap file extension.
Resolved the following issue:
- The Verbose configuration option now works correctly.
27 November 2005: 3.5 Release
Added the following new features:
- Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) files are now added to reports, making it easier to work
with ASP.NET applications that use CSS.
- Added Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) file to SampleWeb.NET ASP.NET sample project.
18 June 2005: 3.4 Release
Added the following new features:
- Stored Procedure parameters should now be listed in the order the stored procedure
specifies them.
- Added the logging facility to the HTML Help creation routines - the log file is created
in the output folder and is in the name format <ProjectName>_HTMLHelpLog.txt.
- SOAP/XML Web Services (i.e. files with .asmx file extensions) are now included in the
documentation.
- Web Methods (i.e. functions and subroutines within Web Services) are now included in the
documentation.
- The documentation of C# XML Comments has been improved - if the main class in the page
(or associated code behind page) has a comment then it is used as the page's summary
in the documentation.
- Added two web services pages to the SampleWeb.NET sample project.
12 March 2005: 3.3 Release
Added the following new features:
- Added the GuessStoredProcedureCalls configuration option. The option may also be
configured using the Guess Stored Procedure Calls In Code option in the GUI.
- Added extra page to SampleWeb.NET sample project.
4 December 2004: 3.2 Release
Resolved the following issue:
- The Namespace reports for imported Namspaces are now displayed even if there are no
user-defined Namespaces within the project. This improves the documentation of VB.NET
projects created in Visual Studio.NET.
20 November 2004: 3.1 Release
Added the following new features:
- There is a new Nullable column in the SQL Server tables report to show if a
specified column can contain null values.
- There is a new Relationships column in the SQL Server tables report to show if
there are any primary key/foreign key relationships between a specific database column and
any other columns in the database. Note that you must set up the relationships in the SQL
Server database for this part of the report to work.
- The SampleWeb SQL Server database has been updated.
- All Namespaces are now listed in the class browser HTML Help file.
20 September 2004: 3.0 Release
Added the following new features:
- There is now a graphical user interface [see
screenshot].
- There is a new DatabaseTypes configuration option.
- SQL Server Triggers are now documented.
- Each SQL Server View is now documented in a separate HTML page.
- SQL Server View documentation now includes the SQL code for that View.
- The ASP.NET Documentation Tool is now able to document most Microsoft Access databases
(tested with Access 95, Access 97, Access 2000). Documentation will display Access:
- Tables,
- Table columns,
- Views (i.e. SELECT Queries),
- Stored Procedures (i.e. Queries that aren't considered Views).
- The documentation contains more information about documenting databases.
- Added <asp:PlaceHolder> to Web Controls and <asp:RequiredFieldValidator> to
Validation Controls
- The Namespace reports now show where Namespaces are instantiated using the Imports
(VB.NET) or using (C#) keywords. This makes it possible to determine which pages use for
example the System.Data.OleDb Namespace.
- Classes are now listed alphabetically by namespace in the HTML Report (if they are
contained in a Namespace.)
- Detection of VB.NET Subroutines has been improved.
- Detection of C# Functions has been improved.
8 October 2003: 2.2 Release
Resolved the following issues:
- </script> tags are ignored when looking for closing ASP sections within Code
Behind Pages and Component source code.
- </script> tags are ignored when color coding and syntax highlighting code in Code
Behind Pages and Component source code.
- ASP Directives within comments are no longer colored in yellow.
Added the following new features:
- The SampleWeb.NET example project has been enlarged.
- The bottom right hand frame of the HTML version report now contains a link to the HTML
Help and text versions of the documentation (if they were created).
- The evaluation version
now has much more functionality.
- Stored procedure calls are now detected in VB.NET and C# source code if they are
preceeded by the EXEC SQL keyword or have the sp_ prefix. See sp_GetProducts in the
SampleWeb.NET project documentation for an example of this.
- The text report now shows which pages stored procedures are called from.
- The ASP.NET Documentation Tool now reports time taken to the command line window (if the
Verbose configuration option is selected).
- The DisplayMethods configuration option now hides the common methods OnInit and
InitializeComponent.
- C# and VB.NET namespace detection has been improved.
- C# subroutine detection has been improved.
- VB.NET and C# namespaces are now hyperlinked or color coded in the source code if the
HyperlinkInSourceCode or ColorCodeInSourceCode configuration options are used
respectively.
- C# XML Comments are now supported through the use of the UseXMLComments configuration
option.
15 April 2003: 2.1 Release
Resolved the following issues:
- The Internal keyword is now supported for C# subroutines
Added the following new features:
- For the first time, the ASP.NET Documentation Tool has now been compiled into a
standalone executable file called ASPNetDocumentationTool.exe. It retains the same command
line options as the Perl script. Perl is not required to use this version. There is no
significant performance difference between using ASPNetDocumentationTool.exe and
ASPNetDocumentationTool.pl.
- The Premium Edition of the ASP.NET Documentation Tool is now available. This version
contains the full source code.
- VB.NET and C# functions are now hyperlinked or color coded in the source code if the
HyperlinkInSourceCode or ColorCodeInSourceCode configuration options are used
respectively.
- VB.NET and C# subroutines are now hyperlinked or color coded in the source code if the
HyperlinkInSourceCode or ColorCodeInSourceCode configuration options are used
respectively.
- The values of more configuration options are entered into the log file.
- The MustNotHave configuration option has been added.
- The ASPNetFileExtensions, ComponentFileExtensions, UserControlFileExtensions and
WebConfigFileExtensions configuration options have been added.
20 February 2003: 2.0 Release
Resolved the following issues:
- A problem with the ComponentPath configuration option has been resolved so that ASP.NET
component folders are now identified correctly.
- Fixed a few minor issues with the application documentation and sample files.
- Resolved an issue with Classes not being listed under the associated Namespace in the
HTML version of the report.
- Fixed an issue with the documentation of certain stored procedures.
- Detection of C# Namespace names has been improved.
- Single line C# comments such as //***** do something *****
are no longer mistaken for multi line comments (i.e. /* */).
- C# component files are no longer parsed twice!
Added the following new features:
- The HTML Help output option now creates a new comprehensive project report as well as
the existing "Class Browser" HTML Help file.
- More files have been added to the SampleWeb.NET project, including an example C#
component.
- Code behind pages are not longer assumed to use the same language as the ASP.NET page
making use of them.
- Email addresses found in the source code are now displayed in the HTML and text reports.
Email addresses are also extracted from web.config files.
- The params keyword is now accounted for when extracting details of C# functions and
subroutines.
- C# functions and subroutines now show whether each argument was passed by reference, or
by value (the default in C#).
- Database reports now include SQL Server Views.
- Class report page makes it more obvious if the class is in a code behind page or a
component.
- Added Integration With Visual Studio.NET information to documentation.
2 November 2002: 1.0 Release
First commercial version release.
Download
the .NET Documentation Tool Evaluation Version (2980K ZIP file). |
