GhostDoc 1.3.0 Final Released

It took longer than expected, but the final of GhostDoc 1.3.0 has just been released (download on the GhostDoc homepage). Now that it’s out the door, I’m ready to move on to work on a VS2005 version.

What’s new in 1.3.0

Final compared to beta 2:

• Added: Some more "of the" trigger words and adjectives.
• Added: Command "RebuildDocumentation". It works like the "DocumentThis" command, but always creates the documentation from scratch. Note: The command was added pretty late in the release process; to minimize impact on the release date, it does not appear in any menu and can only be assigned to a hotkey via the Visual Studio options dialog.
• Added: Minor additions to the documentation.

1.3.0 beta 2 compared to beta 1:

• Added: New options for determining what should be the representation of the C# language keywords "true", "false" and "null" in a documentation comment.
• Added: New Macros $(True), $(False) and $(Null) to be used in text templates.
• Added: New Macros for the current date, the name of the current user, etc. ("environment macros").
• Added: New custom text that will be added once to a newly added documentation comment. As this text will not be updated, can be used for e.g. marking the date and time when a class member was added.
• Added: New summary template for default property rule (text generation was hard-coded in previous versions).
• Added: Template for methods with parameters for SingleWordMethodRule (text generation was hard-coded in previous versions).
• Added: Preliminary documentation for the dialogs.
• Changed: Default textual representation of "null", "true" and "false" back to the values of version 1.2.1 (<c>null</c>, <c>true</c> and <c>false</c>)
• Changed: Value text of the default property rule is no longer empty by default.
• Changed: Macros: Words.AsSentence -> Words.AllAsSentence
• Fixed: Various bugs related to customization features.

1.3.0 Beta 1 compared to 1.2.1:

• Added: New rules for using "inherited" documentation, including base class members and members of implemented interfaces. The inherited documentation will be cleaned from single <para> tags and the texts will be tweaked (e.g. when the summary for an interface method starts with "When implemented by a class....", and the summary is inherited by the method that is an implementation).
• Added: GhostDoc updates existing documentation. Empty tags (<summary>, <returns>, <param>) will be filled according to the generation rules, existing text remains unchanged. The update reorders the parameter documentation if the order of the parameter changes, and removes documentation for parameters that no longer exist.
• Added: User defined ("custom") rules using e.g. regular expressions for matching names and/or types.
• Added: New rule for "On..." methods -- no more "Ons the click" ;-)
• Added: Rule for static constructors.
• Added: Rule for the Finalize method (destructor syntax in C#).
• Added: Rule for event handler methods as they are created by the WinForms designer.
• Added: Rule for boolean properties.
• Added: Rules (both custom and built-in) can now be customized by editing templates that are used by the text generation rules.
• Added: Export of partial configurations is now possible (e.g. for exporting only a single custom rule).
• Changed: Summary text of the default constructor rule is now 'Initializes a new instance of the <see cref="ClassName" /> class.', i.e. uses the wording in the Microsoft documentation. The old "Creates a new <see cref="ClassName" /> instance" is debatable - is it the constructor that actually creates the instance, or is the constructor called when the instance is created? Thus the Microsoft wording is preferable.
• Changed: The configuration is now stored in the ApplicationData\Weigelt\GhostDoc directory. Old configurations in the installation directory (versions before 1.3.0) will be upgraded and stored in the new location.
• Fixed: <returns> tag no longer disappears if the return type is an array.
• Fixed: Overall handling of array types.