CKS : Developer Tools – A tool for your toolbox

This article introduces CKS:Dev (Community Kit for SharePoint Developer Tools), a free extension for Visual Studio 2010 that enhances SharePoint development. It highlights features like a SharePoint tab in the References dialog, extended SharePoint Explorer, feature activation/deactivation, Developer Dashboard control, entity class generation, and new project templates (basic page, master page, custom actions). It also covers quick deployment commands (Copy to SharePointRoot, Copy to Bin, Copy to GAC, recycle app pools, attach to worker process). The author recommends these tools for SharePoint developers, noting that many developers are unaware of them. The article is a technical guide aimed at IT professionals working with SharePoint.