VSColorOutput

VSColorOutput is an extension built for Visual Studio 2010 or 2011 that was designed to help users include color highlighting to the Build and Debug Output windows, thus helping them identify certain components in an easier way.

Developers can keep track of various elements of their code as this plugin uses different color codes for each event. Errors are displayed using a red highlight, the warning texts are yellow and the color for build headers is green.

It is possible for advanced users to customize the capabilities of VSColorOutput according to their needs. For instance, adding custom match patterns can be easily achieved, as well as modifying the default color values for certain elements, thus providing users with a wide range of possibilities.

The concept behind this extension is that it hooks to Visual Studio's classifier chain, thus monitoring each line that is sent to the output window while checking a list of regular expressions and classifications. Based on the first matching expression, the classification is defined. In case no matching pattern is available, the analyzed line is classified as a BuildText one.

After classifying each line, the extension maps each classification to a different color, based on an external configuration file on the computer.

When attempting to build a project, VSColorOutput automatically stops the build after the first error occurs, thus saving developers significant amounts of time. Also, if users choose to build from the command line, it displays the elapsed build time, as opposed to building from Visual Studio.