I am close to releasing CodeHelper, a template-based code generator for the .NET platform. This tool allows you to quickly generate source code for classes, functions and procedures in both VB.NET and C-Sharp. It also has code generation capabilities for JavaScript and SQL.

This project started out of a frustrating habit I had developed when creating new code blocks. I typically cut and past a header-comments block from another procuedure and paste it into the new section. Then I need to edit out all of the old comments, parameters, return values, date created, etc. and insert new code for the comment header. I do this often enough that I felt a tool would be helpful in this area. Strangely enough, there were none out there. Of course, there were some higher priced code generators such as CodeSmith, but for what I needed this was overkill. All I needed was a way to enter a few peices of information and have the tool generate the function, procedure or class template for me.

Hence, the birth of CodeHelper! Code helper is simple-to use and you can create templates for each language that you develop in. You can create as many different templates as you need.

Below is a screen shot of CodeHelper in action.

In this view you can see that a new function is to be generated. The template window shows the currently loaded template. After entering the information shown, click the Generate button and the code will be generated. All you need to do from there is to copy the code to the clipboard and then paste it into your application.

Stay tuned here for more information on the release of CodeHelper. I'm hoping to have this available by the end of this month.