.NET Reflector

.NET Reflector
.NET Reflector
Type of	Developer Utility
Developers	Lutz Roeder, Red Gate Software
operating system	Windows
Latest version	10.1.0 (October 25, 2018)
Site	reflector.net

.NET Reflector is a paid utility for Microsoft .NET that combines a class browser , a static analyzer and a decompiler , originally written by Lutz Roeder. On August 20, 2008, Red Gate Software announced that they are taking responsibility for the further development of the program ^[1] . MSDN Magazine called it one of ten “Must-Have” utilities for developers ^[2] , Scott Hanselman included it in his “Big Ten Life and Work-Changing Utilities” (an approximate translation: a dozen of utilities that change life and work) ^{[3 ]} .

Content

Opportunities

The program can be used to navigate, search and analyze the contents of .NET-components, as well as assemblies and translate binary data into a form suitable for human reading. Reflector allows you to decompile .NET assemblies into C # , Visual Basic .NET and MSIL languages . Reflector also includes a call tree ( English Call Tree ), which can be used to navigate deep into IL methods to determine which methods they call. The program displays metadata , resources and XML documentation. The .NET Reflector can be used by .NET developers to understand the inner workings of the code libraries, to visualize the differences between the two versions of the assembly, and how the different parts of the .NET applications interact with each other.

.NET Reflector can be used to find places that have performance problems and search for bugs . It can also be used to search for assembly dependencies. The program can be used to effectively convert code between C # and VB.NET.

Additions

.NET Reflector allows you to use add-ons ( born add-ins ), extending its functionality, many of which are open source . Some of the additions provide other languages that can be disassembled, such as Windows PowerShell , Delphi, and Managed C ++ . Others analyze assemblies in various ways, providing quality metrics, sequence diagrams, class diagrams, a dependency structure matrix, or dependency graphs. Add-ons can be used to search for text, save disassembled code to disk, export assemblies to XMI / UML, and compare different versions. Other add-ons allow you to debug processes. Some additions are designed to facilitate testing by creating blanks and wrappers .

Notes

↑ Cramblitt, Bob The Future of .NET Reflector (Neopr.) (August 20, 2008). The appeal date is November 21, 2009. Archived April 11, 2012.
Very Avery, James Ten Must-Have Tools Every Developer Should Download Now . MSDN Magazine (July 1, 2004). The appeal date is November 21, 2009. Archived April 11, 2012.
Sel Hanselman, Scott Scott Hanselman's 2007 Ultimate Developer and Power Users Toolkit for Windows (Undefined) (August 23, 2007). The appeal date is November 21, 2009. Archived April 11, 2012.

Links

Download Reflector (eng.)
Reflector Add-Ins (eng.)
.NET Reflector FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) (English)
Instructions for creating add-ons with examples (English)

[1] Cramblitt, Bob The Future of .NET Reflector (Neopr.) (August 20, 2008). The appeal date is November 21, 2009. Archived April 11, 2012.

[2] Very Avery, James Ten Must-Have Tools Every Developer Should Download Now . MSDN Magazine (July 1, 2004). The appeal date is November 21, 2009. Archived April 11, 2012.

[3] Sel Hanselman, Scott Scott Hanselman's 2007 Ultimate Developer and Power Users Toolkit for Windows (Undefined) (August 23, 2007). The appeal date is November 21, 2009. Archived April 11, 2012.