| VMWare |
Take your pick of virtualization tools; I've used Microsoft's, as well - though not much recently. I really like how VMWare handles networking specifically; I've found it easier to configure than Virtual PC/Server. |
| Visual Studio 2005/2008 |
This one's not too tough to guess. |
| Visual Studio 2005 Extensions for .NET Framework 3.0 |
Required for workflow projects. |
| Visual Studio 2005 Extensions for WSS 3.0 |
Base extensions for WSS projects within Visual Studio. |
| SharePoint Designer 2007 |
I have a love/hate relationship with SPD. There are some tasks, though, that it simply makes easier (page layout creation, anyone). Burt is working on a series of posts (the first one's here) about this very topic. |
| Application Pool Recycle Utility |
Spencer Harbar put this slick utility out, and it's excellent for a quick recycle of SharePoint app pools and then warming up your specified sites. Takes some of the pain out of SharePoint's initial JIT compile. |
| WSPBuilder |
This command-line utility takes files from a local folder structure and creates a SharePoint solution. I always reserve the right to change my mind <grin>, but this is my preferred method for creating SharePoint solutions right now. I know you can create your own manifest.xml and DDF file and use makecab.exe for nice granular control -- or you can use one of the Visual Studio templates that compiles directly to a solution for you. I personally like this middle ground: not as much manual work as creating everything yourself, but still room to wiggle around that VS makes tougher. |
| NotePad++ |
My current favorite more-functional-than-Notepad-but-still-lightweight text editor. |
| U2U CAML Query Builder |
It's not the end-all for CAML, but it's a pretty handy utility for building out a basic CAML query, testing results, etc. |
| SharePoint 2007 Features Project |
This CodePlex project contains a number of handy features -- including the debugger feature that allows easy attachment of Visual Studio to SharePoint for debugging and a log viewer feature. |
| IE Developer Toolbar |
Worth its weight in gold when you have to start changing the CSS in SharePoint. |
| Fiddler |
Great tool for analyzing web traffic between client and server. You did remember that SharePoint is just a web application, right? :-) |
| Andrew Connell's custom stsadm commands |
WCM-centric commands -- the one to generate XML from a site's content types or site columns is clutch. You can create a content type or site column using the admin UI, then generate the XML for it from the command line. Saves a ton of time over hand-coding all of the requisite XML. |
| Lutz Roeder's Reflector for .NET |
This one applies more to .NET development in general -- but I use it to reflect the unobfuscated parts of SharePoint, too. |
| CodeKeep Add-In for VS |
I blogged about this here. Why write the same code over and over? |