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The Newest Fiddle Sibling : .NET Fiddle!

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3 Dec 2013CPOL5 min read 27.1K   4   10
The newest Fiddle sibling: .NET Fiddle!

Earlier this year, I wrote a short post that covered different tools that you can use from the comfort of your favorite browser to help create examples, prototypes and just tinker in general. This post serves to introduce the newest member of the Fiddle family of tools (which surprisingly are only related by their name); .NET Fiddle.

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.NET Fiddle is an online sandbox that was recently released by ENTech Solutions and allows you to easily write both C# and Visual Basic code within your browser and see how the output looks. It currently only supports Console applications, but it is a great start in the right direction and is incredibly easy to use to help hammer out simple algorithms or approaches that you are stuck on and sharing it with others (a feature common of all of the “fiddles”).

This post will cover some of the major features found in .NET Fiddle and set you on the path to coding from the comfort of your browser:

Sharing with Ease

.NET Fiddle features a bevy of ways to actually share code that you have written with others : through a traditional URL link, through Twitter, through Email and even through Facebook (in case you want to show Grandma how to write a bubble-sort)

.NET Fiddle features a bevy of ways to actually share code that you have written with others: through a traditional URL link, through Twitter, through Email and even through Facebook (in case you want to show Grandma how to write a bubble-sort)

.NET Fiddle like most members of the “fiddle” family offers an easily link-based approach to share your code with others, however it provides a few other ways to share through as well (primarily email and social media like Facebook and Twitter). In addition to just simply showing someone your code, .NET Fiddle extends this in a way that many other “fiddles’ have not: through collaboration!

Stop. Collaborate and Even Listen!

The collaboration features available in .NET Fiddle allow you to not only share your code with others, but actively work on it together in a real-time environment through TogetherJS with multiple users and it’s so easy!

With just a few clicks, you can send a link to your friend:

Began a collaboration Session in just a few clicks through TogetherJS.

Began a collaboration Session in just a few clicks through TogetherJS.

When they log in, they will be prompted to join your existing Session:

Within just two short clicks, you'll be collaborating over code in real time.

Within just two short clicks, you’ll be collaborating over code in real time.

You’ll then be provided with a shared view of their code and you should see their cursor moving across the screen along with any changes that they make in real time:

You'll see any changes that your team members make in real-time.

You’ll see any changes that your team members make in real-time.

Communication is also such an important aspect of collaboration and writing messages within the code itself could be tedious. This is why .NET Fiddle provides a simple chat interface so that you can interact with your peers while coding:

An example of a chat between two developers.

An example of a chat between two developers.

If you think typing anything besides code is a waste of time however, you can use the other available Microphone option (if your browser supports it) which is an experimental feature that aims to allow “hands-free” collaboration (aside from the hands typing actual code):

Experimental Audio support is also in the works for when the caps lock key isn't getting the job done.

Experimental Audio support is also in the works for when the caps lock key isn’t getting the job done and yelling is a requirement.

The Editor: Intellisense, Validation and more!

The editor itself and the environment also has something that has been carefully designed to make actually writing the code much easier than using a simple text editor. It features a basic set of Intellisense features that provide all of the available methods and properties as soon as you make it to the “.” character:

.NET Fiddle provides a basic level of Intellisense to bring about the familiarity of your favorite IDE.

.NET Fiddle provides a basic level of Intellisense to bring about the familiarity of your favorite IDE.

The Editor will also validate on the fly and let you know when you (or one of your fellow collaborators) makes a mistake :

The Editor's built-in validation will also assist you and let you know when you have made mistakes in your code as well.

The Editor’s built-in validation will also assist you and let you know when you have made mistakes in your code as well.

Finally, you will be able to access all of your output as well as basic metrics regarding the execution of your program within the output area:

Example output from a .NET Fiddle that has been executed.

Example output from a .NET Fiddle that has been executed.

This will allow you to fine tune your programs or at least provide some feedback to make the necessary changes within your program (and see if it affects these statistics at all).

Check It Out

.NET Fiddle is completely free to use and it is obviously a very “new” technology so I am sure there are still a few bugs out there, but it's certainly a great step in the right direction. I’m sure it will continue to expand feature-wise and possibly incorporate the addition of other third party libraries or other possible project types (or languages) as well. I would encourage you to check it out if this has interested you at all or get with a friend and play around with the real-time collaboration functionality.

You can get started by following the link below:

If you are looking for a few other tools to mess around within the “Fiddle” family, I would recommend checking out all of the following:

  • JS FiddleHandles Javascript, CoffeeScript, jQuery, HTML, CSS and a boatload of libraries
  • JS Bin - Very similar to JS Fiddle with a slightly different interface
  • SQL Fiddle - Handles just about every flavor of SQL and allows you to define schema and execute queries from your browser

Filed under: CodeProject, Development
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License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)


Written By
Software Developer (Senior)
United States United States
An experienced Software Developer and Graphic Designer with an extensive knowledge of object-oriented programming, software architecture, design methodologies and database design principles. Specializing in Microsoft Technologies and focused on leveraging a strong technical background and a creative skill-set to create meaningful and successful applications.

Well versed in all aspects of the software development life-cycle and passionate about embracing emerging development technologies and standards, building intuitive interfaces and providing clean, maintainable solutions for even the most complex of problems.

Comments and Discussions

 
Questionjsfiddle lover Pin
Beginner Luck5-Aug-15 18:36
professionalBeginner Luck5-Aug-15 18:36 
QuestionCould only run once, then an error Pin
gregsohl4-Dec-13 8:30
gregsohl4-Dec-13 8:30 
AnswerRe: Could only run once, then an error Pin
Eric Popivker4-Dec-13 18:08
Eric Popivker4-Dec-13 18:08 
GeneralRe: Could only run once, then an error Pin
gregsohl9-Dec-13 18:00
gregsohl9-Dec-13 18:00 
GeneralRe: Could only run once, then an error Pin
Eric Popivker1-Jan-14 23:44
Eric Popivker1-Jan-14 23:44 
GeneralRe: Could only run once, then an error Pin
Eric Popivker17-Feb-14 3:48
Eric Popivker17-Feb-14 3:48 
GeneralVery cool! Pin
ryanoc3334-Dec-13 4:47
ryanoc3334-Dec-13 4:47 
Thanks, this is very useful to me. I'm sure there are other things that could make it even better, but its a great start.

GeneralWhen they add an option to reference additional assemblies + NuGet support, this might be useful. Pin
DannyVarod3-Dec-13 20:35
DannyVarod3-Dec-13 20:35 
GeneralRe: When they add an option to reference additional assemblies + NuGet support, this might be useful. Pin
Eric Popivker17-Feb-14 3:48
Eric Popivker17-Feb-14 3:48 

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