SlickEdit Tools v1.1

[FULL DISCLOSURE: The team at SlickEdit sent me a NFR copy of SlickEdit Tools v1.1 and some trade show swag. I'm using this NFR copy at home and basing my comments on that NFR version...]

I've been using SlickEdit Tools v 1.1 for a couple weeks now and I have to say it's a keeper.

The install was smooth and easy and I had no problems or issues. I've also had no problems SINCE the install...

One thing to note, at the start of the setup they strongly recommend you backup/export your VS settings prior installing. I didn't have any problems with my settings, but their strong recommendation makes me think they've learned from past experience/problems, so that's one setup warning I'd listen too...

While there are a number of cool features (See Product Page and advertorials A Story About Bob and How He Saved the Day with SlickEdit® Tools for Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2005, How We Use SlickEdit® Tools for Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2005) I think the coolest feature so far (and one that as already saved me hours of work) is the Backup History feature.

They've hooked into the VS events and every time you save a file, a delta/diff is done and that diff saved. Then later that day/week/etc you can see all the saves you've made for a given file and roll back to an older version. Or do a Diff (using the included Diffzilla) and see the changes between those saves. Think of this as a "pre-source control check-in" thing.

For example, say you're editing a file. You makes changes to try something out, run (thereby saving), make more changes, run, make more changes, run, etc. Finally you realize that the stuff you're trying just isn't working and you want to get the code from 15 saves ago... Backup History will let you see all the saves for a given file (not project level, but file-by-file, for now. They are working on improving this feature, and are looking at adding "file set" like features..) and roll back to that save you made XX minutes/hours/days ago. So much easier than trying to remember all those changes you made and now have to manually undo.

It's nice to see they've built this feature intelligently. They don't just save off a copy of a file, they save the differences/deltas between the current file and the last one saved, saving a great deal of drive space. And of course, how many saves (the default is 20) and max file size that should be backed up are user configurable.

Oh yeah, and it works just fine for VB.Net files...

And that's just one of the features I'm interested in. The next one I want to check out is the Quick Profiling.

But in my opinion, a product is only as good as the company's customer service and support.

And there, so far, SlickEdit gets an A+. All my emails to them have been very promptly responded to (lol... Almost too promptly... Sometimes you fire off an email, hoping they don't respond too quickly so you can context switch to something else... but these guys respond to quickly for that... ;). Questions have been forwarded on, deeper into the company (i.e. to the devs) who also responded very promptly. And guess what? They not only ask for suggestions but actually take action on them! (lol... Everyone asks for suggestions, but seeing someone actually execute on them... well, sometimes it feels that doesn't happen enough, you know what I mean? )

I LOVE good customer service. I've dealt with software companies who, while providing a good product, provided such crappy customer service that I've returned the product and gone with another (we're talking about ten's of thousands of dollars in lost sales). I spend big bucks with a company, I expect good customer service.

And that's what I like about SlickEdit. I didn't have to spend big bucks to get big bucks customer service.

Also in my emails with them, I get the feeling that they really care about their company and products. That they get excited about their work. That it's not just job... I dig that. I dig someone who gets excited about what they do...

 

Okay, okay... enough for now...  ;)

At $149 (there's a $50 discount offer going on, so it's currently only $99, plus there's a free trial version available) it's not all that expensive and if you find that killer feature (like I have with the Backup History), it can easily be worth it.

Here are some SlickEdit related links:
SlickEdit Tools v1.1
SlickEdit Tools Support Forum
A Story About Bob and How He Saved the Day with SlickEdit® Tools for Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2005 
How We Use SlickEdit® Tools for Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2005

 

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