After a few weeks of working with Sitecore Rocks, the Visual Studio extension for developers working with the ASP.NET CMS, I found it worth adding to this series of blog posts describing Sitecore Differentiating Factors.
The more I use the Sitecore Rocks product, the more impressed I am. I don't know of any CMS product that provides this level of integration with any development IDE, and I think using Sitecore Rocks may be the easiest way to extend Visual Studio (whether the function is specific to Sitecore or not). And to think that it will always be free software...Sitecore is definitely doing everything it can to make learning and using Sitecore as easy as possible, and to maximize developer productivity. I think @therocksguy should be @therocksstar.
To avoid repeating the details that convinced me to add Sitecore Rocks to this series, you might be interested in reading one or more of my blog posts about Sitecore Rocks:
Even after these ten posts, I feel like I haven't even had a chance to start covering everything - there is so much functionality in this software and numerous significant new features appear in every build. I highly recommend that all Sitecore developers begin using Sitecore Rocks as soon as possible.
See also Rocksharper (JetBrains Resharper plugin for Sitecore Rocks): nuget.org/.../Sitecore.Rocks.Rocksharper
www.sitecore.net/.../28-Days-of-Sitecore-Rocks-Intro.aspx
marketplace.sitecore.net/.../Sitecore_PowerShell_Console_for_Sitecore_Rocks.aspx
hi john, i am trying to install sitecore rocks in ms visual web developer express 2010 but am am getting an error. does sr only work in a vs full version?
@Carlos: I don't believe anyone at Sitecore has ever tried installing Rocks over Visual Web Developer Express, so I would have to consider that unsupported. I emailed @therocksguy to try to get confirmation, but he's out of the office until at least the end of this week, sorry.
@therocksguy responded that Microsoft does not support extensions in the Express editions, sorry.
Sitecore Rocks tutorials by Sen: www.youtube.com/playlist