news

IntelliCommands 2.5 in the making

• Site news
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• 19 August 2010

As the news title suggests the next major release of IntelliCommands will be 2.5. I would like to discuss the IntelliCommands project development with both existing IntelliCommands users and those who are not too sure what IntelliCommands project is about.

A short history

In late 2007 I announced a project called Smarties 2008 and launched mojabsoftware.com. Smarties 2008 main goal was to add significant functionality for handling #region directives in both C# and VB.Net. As much as one can love #region directives in Microsoft Visual Studio others would hate to see them in code files. Smarties 2008 had functionality to satisfy both type of users. The same functionality still can be found in IntelliCommands.

Not long after I released Smarties 2008 1.0 I started building commands to Smarties 2008 that had nothing to do with #region directives. It was then I decided to rename Smarties 2008 to IntelliCommands. The name was inspired by Eziriz’s product called IntelliLock. Eziriz has been sponsoring IntelliCommands (since Smarties 2008) project by providing their products free of charge to me.

My goal with Smarties 2008 was to develop a product that offers functionality that are not found in Microsoft Visual Studio or functionality that significantly makes the life of developers easier. It happened I put my focus on #region directives first.

I can recall of two other projects in the market that had same goal as the initial release of Smarties 2008. One was regionerate an open-source project that still is active and has a good community support. If you found #region directives useful then I would highly recommend giving regionerate a try. Unfortunately, I do not recall the name of the commercial product. The product was discontinued due to the lack of interest by developers who were willing to pay for the functionality. At the time of publishing this news I am not aware if the product was ever re-launched or not.

Smarties 2008 wasn't immune from the lack of interests either even though I spent thousands of hours on #region directive commands only and to improve things further I have to spend hundreds of hours more.

IntelliCommands as it stands

Within a short period of time I managed to add significant number of commands to IntelliCommands. The development almost stopped the entire 2009 year due to over working for a long time.

A good part of IntelliCommands needed to be re-written from scratch to run under Microsoft Visual Studio 2010. The job was completed recently, in 2010, which this job kicked started the development of IntelliCommands again.

As IntelliCommands stands today, it offers significant functionality to the developers. Significant Functionality can mean differently to different developers. For instance ASP.Net developers who develop the business logics layer into UI layer has very little use for IntelliCommands or any productivity tools for that matter. On the other hand, developers who mainly work with the middle tier components i.e. Class Library projects would find IntelliCommands very useful.

Currently it is not possible to add new commands to IntelliCommands painlessly. This is due to the transition IntelliCommands went through from Smarties 2008 project to what it is today. This issue will be rectified by the release of version 2.5.

IntelliCommands 2.5 & 3.0

I can’t talk much or anything at all about the features IntelliCommands 2.5 will have at this stage. One reason is that I am focusing all my efforts on completing the new engine(s) for IntelliCommands. I’m pleased to report a little over half of the job has already been done.

IntelliCommands 2.5 will be released with new commands that you would find useful. By the release of IntelliCommands 3.0 all bugs in 2.5 will be fixed and new commands that couldn’t be built in time to version 2.5 will be added. IntelliCommands 3.0 will have a new licensing model which will be based on annual subscription model.

A feedback form has been added to IntelliCommands’ product page that I would like to invite all existing users as well as the trial users to use it. I would like to hear what you don’t like about IntelliCommands and what you like about IntelliCommands to ensure I wouldn’t make changes for worse.

I will be reproducing all the video demos in time for the release of IntelliCommands 2.5. Even though I was told by users the video demos work better than reading online help I will be writing a complete online help for IntelliCommands 2.5.

Base on my current development progress IntelliCommands 2.5 would be released towards the end of 2010 and IntelliCommands 3.0 in Q1 2011. However, things could speed up significantly once the new engine(s) are completed.

IntelliCommands 2.0.1.1 released

• Product news
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• 18 August 2010

This release fixes a bug that significantly slowed down the "Code View" context menu with large code files. Please see Version History for more details.

The bug was known since version 2.0.1.0 and was fixed immediately however due to the development to IntelliCommands I was unable to release a fix for the bug soon enough. Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience that it may have caused you.

The trial version of IntelliCommands has been reset so it can be used for another 30 days free of charge. If you have installed the trial version of IntelliCommands before you should be able to reinstall it again.

IntelliCommands 2.0.1 released *Important*

• Product news
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• 10 June 2010

This release fixes a bug that Smart Interface Commands may crash Microsoft Visual Studio© even if you hover over the menus. Please upgrade as soon as possible to avoid any inconvenience. Please see Version History for more details.

Stopped Blogging

• Site news
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• 07 June 2010

I have to admit, blogging as it is known never appealed to me. I found posting a blog very painful and unnecessary difficult. 2010 is going to be a very busy year for me working on IntelliCommands 3.0 and other projects. Since I am not going to have the time to manage my blog site I have decided to take it down. I like to take this opportunity to thank those who visited my blog.

MojabSoftware.com's new look

• Site news
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• 07 June 2010

I don't consider myself a web designer as I don't have the same skills and experience an accomplished web designer has. For my third attempt I had to give up the table based design and approach <div> based design instead.

The job is not entirely done yet as web sites often need constant updates and improvements. I sincerely hope you like the new look better than my previous attempts.

IntelliCommands 2.0 released

• Product news
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• 06 June 2010

The biggest change in IntelliCommands 2.0 is the whole rewrite of wiring code to Microsoft Visual Studio© plugin architecture. This change has made IntelliCommands Microsoft Visual Studio 2010© ready now. This release also includes many enhancements and fixes. Please see Version History for more details.

Price Changes from 1st of June

• Site news
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• 09 May 2010

As before I would like to announce the upcoming price changes in advance. The Single Developer License will be increased to $99.00 from 01 June, 2010.

IntelliCommands 1.9.6.0 released

• Product news
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• 09 May 2010

This release contains bug fixes, enhancements and new feature. Please see Version History for more details.

IntelliCommands 1.9.5.0 released

• Product news
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• 05 May 2010

This release is all about the enhancements made to the Extract related commands. Please see Version History for more details.

IntelliCommands 1.9.1.0 released

• Product news
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• 25 April 2010

Added Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 support to the setup program. Enhaced 'Default Constructor' and 'Constructor' commands. Please see Version History for more details.

Fixed the bugs in the License Management page

• Site news
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• 25 April 2010

It took a long time to notice them then to fix them. Some other pages on the site also needed some attentions and all are fixed now. My sincere apology for the delay.

IntelliCommands 1.9.0.2 released

• Product news
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• 12 May 2009

Fixed a problem with "Extract Collection From Type" refactor command with Sort feature enabled in C# language. The Sort() method was generated with a missing opening "{" brace.

IntelliCommands 1.9.0.1 released

• Product news
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• 11 May 2009

Fixed a problem where under Windows Vista and Windows 7 the configuration file could not be saved. The configuration file now is saved under Common Application Data folder.

Smarties 2008 is IntelliCommands now

• Product news
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• 24 July 2008

We are pleased to announce "Smarties 2008" now is called IntelliCommands. Some of you might have already guessed that at one point we would rename "Smarties 2008" to something else. It was a good timing for us to make the change now rather than later.

IntelliCommands stands for Intelligent Commands. We hope you would find the new name more appropriate for what our product do.

If you are existing user and wish to switch to IntelliCommands instead then please login to your account and download the setup program from the Client Home page. Smarties 2008 can co-exists with IntelliCommands and the current version of IntelliCommands offers exactly the same commands.

If you wish to keep your existing settings from Smarties 2008 then you must copy the MojabSoftware.Addins.Smarties2008.xml file to the installed directory of IntelliCommands and rename it to MojabSoftware.Addins.IntelliCommands.xml.

Further price changes from August 2008

• Product news
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• 11 June 2008

We have previously announced about the price changes to IntelliCommands from 1st of August. After the re-evaluation and seeking professional advice we will make significant changes to the licensing model that also reflect further changes to IntelliCommands pricing.

Since we have enabled the ordering process back in March 2008 it has been proven to us that low prices is a bad thing in the eyes of most customers and of course damaging to our business. Our existing clients clearly took advantage of that, good for them, but we believe the rest assumed differently without even giving our product a try. We can’t change user behaviour but we can certainly adopt our business to the circumstances relatively at ease.

We have decided to change the licensing model similar to other software vendors that our potential clients are custom to. Here are the changes we are about to make from August 2008;

Single Developer License will be restricted to a single machine and will cost $75.

Team License 3 – This license will allow you to install up to 3 machines within your company and will cost $149.

Team License 5 – This license will allow you to install up to 5 machines within your company and will cost $199.

Corporate License 10 – This license will allow you to install up to 10 machines and will cost $300.

Corporate License 20 – This license will allow you to install up to 20 machines and will cost $500.

We still have the policy of not charging for minor/major updates but will increase prices from time to time to reflect the value of IntelliCommands. New Licenses shown in above can be purchased from today and we will honour existing prices until 1 August, 2008.

IntelliCommands 1.9.0 released

• Product news
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• 27 May 2008

In this release you would find five new commands, few enhancements, and four fixes. The main focus of this release was the sorting features in .Net. Now you can create sortable collections and implement IComparable and/or generic IComparable interfaces effortlessly. These commands are part of creating rich classes using IntelliCommands.

The Extract Collection From Type has been enhanced to take advantage of sorting features in IntelliCommands. There have been some enhancements to the Code View menu to make it easier to work with dialog less commands. Also moved attribute related commands to a designated sub-menu called 'Attribute' to reduce the number of commands listed under the Refactor sub-menu.

For a complete list of changes in this release please visit the Version History page.

Price changes from August 2008

• Product news
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• 10 May 2008

From 1st of August the Single Developer License will cost $60 and the number of installation will remain unchanged. The Corporate License pricing will remain unchanged but the number of installations will be reduced to ten machines.

MojabSoftware does not charge for major/minor upgrades therefore we would increase the license fees according to the value of IntelliCommands. The development is still very much on going therefore we would increase the value of your investment in IntelliCommands.

IntelliCommands 1.3.6 has been released

• Product news
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• 17 April 2008

In this release you would find a couple of fixes and few enhancements to IntelliCommands. For a complete list of changes in this release please visit the Version History page.

IntelliCommands 1.3.5 has been released

• Product news
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• 13 April 2008

In this release you would find a fix in Smart Interface command once again. The enhancements I've done to this command introduced few bugs in the past releases. Please accept my sincere apologies for this one.

For a complete list of changes in this release please visit the Version History page.

IntelliCommands 1.3.0 has been released

• Product news
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• 7 April 2008

In this release you would find eight more database engines added to BO/VBO Generator feature of IntelliCommands. To compliment BO/VBO Generator a new timesaver command called Extract DTO Class has also been added. Please see the command in action. This new feature would also serve you for creating similar classes using the concept of DTO. Eight enhancements have been made to IntelliCommands as well plus few bug fixes.

We have decided not to include DAO as part of BO/VBO Generator even though we worked on it for a few days to see what we could do about it without thinking OR/M. As we have stated before IntelliCommands is not going to be an OR/M but quickly we found that touching DAO would force us to go all the way to OR/M. I'll blog about this more but for now I would like share this with you. Not everyone uses OR/M even though an OR/M's entity generator can do the bulk of work for you by creating the entity classes as well as collection types and so on. What about the developers who don't wish to use OR/M? This is where IntelliCommands comes to your rescue by generating the flat entities and the collection types with various timesavers options such as Smart Interfaces very qucikly within VS IDE. With a total of nine database engines supported in IntelliCommands it should make many developers happy to have the capability at their feet.

We would like to hear more about your expriences with IntelliCommands and we know for fact IntelliCommands can bring new ideas when you have so many new capabilities at your disposal. Here an example to what I mean, there was a new technology called Mobile Phone and the SMS was thought out soon after.

Site Updates

• Product news
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• 13 March 2008

We have just added 24 more video presentations of IntelliCommands commands to the site. Each command has now direct link to its video presentations making it easier for you to see the commands in action. The issue with the video quality when viewed online has been resolved as well. The video presentation can be far more beneficial than the best online help that we can write to understand the commands in IntelliCommands.

The Screenshot page has been removed from the site and the large images have been incorporated with the Core Features page instead. Now each command has direct link to its screenshot images.

Site Updates

• Product news
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• 10 March 2008

A new version of IntelliCommands (1.1.0) has just been released. The new release is available from the Client Area. The trial version of IntelliCommands has also been updated to 1.1.0 now.

The good news is that the work on Online help has already started and the completed pages have been uploaded to the site. I'll be adding more pages on frequent basis now. Thank you for you patience.

The Road Map page has been removed from the site. As you may have followed the progress on IntelliCommands we've been adding features to IntelliCommands so quickly. Since we are making good progress on IntelliCommands the Road Map page has become a distraction to us.

I have also added a couple of new videos showing the new features in action. You may find the new videos at the bottom of Screencasts Page.

IntelliCommands 1.1.0 is released

• Product news
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• 10 March 2008

Once again we've been busy adding more features to IntelliCommands. In this release you would find new time-saving features that any developers should have in his/hers toolbox and few enhancements to increase usability. To make IntelliCommands even more useful for you we have added features for creating Flat Business Objects and Virtual Business Objects from within the VS IDE at ease.

We have rushed to make this release available to you while we complete the rest of the development. In the next release that is 1.2.0 Oracle will be supported as well as the DAO objects that we've been working on already. The DAO objects are very challenging since IntelliCommands does not distribute any base types to have a smarter design therefore our goal with DAO would be slightly different. The focus would be to give you something practical and at same time powerful enough if you intend not to use OR/M approach or any other methods that would create dependencies in your project.

The evaluation version of IntelliCommands has been updated to 1.1.0 so that you can test-drive the new features and enhancements.

Is IntelliCommands becoming an OR/M?

No, IntelliCommands focus is on Flat BO/VBO objects only. There will be limited functionality in DAO (Data Access Object) too since IntelliCommands wouldn't touch FK and PK, if it did then it would become an OR/M.

Why then offering BO/VBO generation capability?

We have had few requests well before RC6 for the exact features where developers wanted to have the ability to generate Flat BO/VBO within VS IDE on the fly. There are few successful commercial and open-source OR/M tools out there. All OR/M tools have their own entity generators that suits the underlying framework they distribute. That means you cannot port the generated entities without porting the framework with them too.

What is Flat BO/VBO?

Entites or Business Objects that represent Database Tables or Views that may or may not have direct interaction with the data store and have no knowledge of FKs or PKs in the database.

Please visit the Version History page for a complete list of changes in version 1.1.0.

Site Updates

• Site news
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• 27 Feb 2008

Added seven more flash presentations covering more commands in IntelliCommands.

IntelliCommands 1.0.1 has been uploaded to the Client Area. The trial version of IntelliCommands wouldn't be updated as frequently as the Full Version. Please visit the Version History page for a list of fixes in this release.

IntelliCommands 1.0.0 is unleashed

• Product news
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• 26 Feb 2008

It truly gives me a great pleasure to announce the release of first final version of IntelliCommands.

You only need to use IntelliCommands for a short period of time to realise how code development life becomes easier when IntelliCommands is installed on your machine.

IntelliCommands's focus is to speed up your project developments by reducing the amount of coding you need to do. We have aleady covered many of the tedious tasks that you would use in your project developments. With IntelliCommands you can design your classes in such way that you only could wish for in the past. Imagine this one thing you can do with IntelliCommands... Every single class in your project can be Serializable, Cloneable, and Disposable. These are the most fundemental and common interfaces a class should/can implement as part of the services it exposes to its consumer. You can do this now within 2-3 minutes for each class using IntelliCommands.

Code organisation can tremendously increase your productivity. Once you realise this then you would know why Microsoft introuduced #region directives and why MojabSoftware made every effort to bring this underestimated feature of VS IDE to life. Did you know when you use Regionize Control Block feature of IntelliCommands it can help you to spot that bug quicker? The concept has already been proven to us many times where we could see the code logic better hence spotted the bug far more quicker.

IntelliCommands is very unique product that comes with a fresh approach to code orgnisation and packed with productivity features for die hard coders with a price tag of $50USD that entitles you to install up to two machines for single concurrent use. If you could find a product today that matches what IntelliCommands can do and cost less to install on two machines I would personally give you a free license of IntelliCommands.

Don't just take my word for it just download a fully functional trial version of IntelliCommands now and see what it can do for you. If you never used similar tools before you will kick yourself for coding all that routine by hand when you could do it with a couple of clicks instead.

Alan Mojab
MojabSoftware's Principal

See IntelliCommands in action

• Product news
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• 24 Feb 2008

I just uploaded nine flash screencasts to the site that you can see IntelliCommands in action. More presentations coming soon. You can download the presentations from download page.

Please accept my sincere apologies for being late on the presentation side of IntelliCommands.

Buy Now!

• Site news
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• 22 Feb 2008

IntelliCommands has been in development for over a year now. The current release RC8.17.02.2008 is packed with features that only a mature software product would have and very stable. The development is still ongoing on fulltime basis and we intend to add several new features for version 1.0 that would be our next release soon. However in between we will be doing other things such as making screen casts to show IntelliCommands in action and write online tutorials for the commands that may be hard to understand at first glance.

We just enabled the Buy Now links so that you can purchase your licenses prior to version 1.0 if you wish to do so. Since your license purchase is not product version dependant you can take advantage by using IntelliCommands now and be assured you can upgrade to the latest version as long as you have demands for using IntelliCommands. We are sure you will unless you have hired robots to do your coding :-)

Great News on Licensing Pricing Changes

• Product news
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• 17 Feb 2008

One of our goals has always been to make IntelliCommands as affordable as possible to make it accessible to any budgets.

Now that we are very close to finalize IntelliCommands we have just updated the pricing model as well as the licensing that you would be very happy to read about.

We took into the consideration that many individual developers would most likely have a laptop along with a Desktop PC that they wish to install IntelliCommands on both. We have also taken into the considerations that most companies may have already invested into other tools by now. However, we do know you would want IntelliCommands for its capabilities that cannot be found in other tools hence, we have introduced a new licensing model for companies that they cannot resist it for its value.

The Single Developer License may appear to rise by $4USD but in fact it has been reduced by nearly 50% now that you can install up to two machines.

We have also updated the items included in our pricing. Things can only get better at MojabSoftware :-) Please visit the Pricing page if you don't believe us.

Site Updates

• Site news
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• 17 Feb 2008

Most of the past month development has gone into developing the Licensing Management of IntelliCommands, luckily I don't have to do the same development again, hopefully. I have still found the time in between to add new features to IntelliCommands too.

The Client Area will be used by those who have purchased licenses. You can login to your account and get direct access to the download links and to activate or unlock your licenses. Your account credentials will be emailed to you once I have completed the final tests.

Two new pages have been added to the site. The Links page that lists links that we would like you to know about and the Testimonials page that shows what others have been saying about IntelliCommands or any other products that we may have in the future. We would like to hear about you if you have blogged about IntelliCommands.

The Core Feature page has been updated for easier navigation for the large number of commands being listed. I have also added more description to some of the commands and revised the badly written command descriptions, I couldn't understand them either :-(

IntelliCommands RC8.17.02.2008

• Product news
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• 17 Feb 2008

The latest version of IntelliCommands containing new features, enhancements, and few bug fixes has been released. Please visit Version History page for more details.

New Sponsorship from Eziriz.com

• Site news
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• 17 Feb 2008

We are pleased to announce Eziriz the developer of .Net Reactor has sponsored IntelliCommands project.

IntelliCommands RC8 Evaluation Version

• Product news
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• 23 Jan 2008

We have finally released a fully functional evaluation version of IntelliCommands based on RC8. Please download your free evaluation copy of Smaties 2008 from here.

IntelliCommands RC8 Evaluation Version

• Product news
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• 23 Jan 2008

We have finally released a fully functional evaluation version of IntelliCommands based on RC8. Please download your free evaluation copy of Smaties 2008 from here.

IntelliCommands RC7 development completed

• Product news
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• 12 Jan 2008

All the features that were planed out for RC7 have been completed now. We have added few more features, fixed more bugs, and made enhancements to IntelliCommands. Please visit the IntelliCommands Version History page for more details.

With this news, we have also stopped building more features for the upcoming first production release of IntelliCommands. The remaining time till to the production release will be spent to write the online help, to produce screen casts, to fix the reported bugs, and to do further testing.

IntelliCommands RC7

• Product news
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• 21 December 2007

IntelliCommands RC7 is here. We have added four major refactor commands and also added few more features to make IntelliCommands even more useful. Please visit the IntelliCommands Version History page for more details.

IntelliCommands RC6

• Product news
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• 30 November 2007

Nine months of development later IntelliCommands an Add-in for Microsoft Visual Studio 2005-2008 is ready to be introduced to the world.

IntelliCommands has already been used by local based clients for months. The development of IntelliCommands has been so intensive that I never had the time to write anything about it on the net before until now.

Please visit IntelliCommands page to read more about it.

Launch of MojabSoftware.com

• Site news
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• 30 November 2007

MojabSoftware.com has been launched. The site is still far from complete but it would be updated on regular basis. Please be patient while all the changes are being completed.