I recently discovered GhostDoc which is a free add-in for Visual Studio .NET (2003 & 2005). It’s a handy tool that generates XML documentation comments. This tool was written for C# developers but has extended beta support for VB.NET. What’s nice about it is that it reinforces the idea of using full descriptive names when creating methods, properties, parameters, etc. It will create a descriptive summary by dissecting the member name and formulating a sentence. It’s about as hands free as it gets!

I’ve been using it in my VB.NET projects with much success. While it doesn’t always get it 100% right, it does get you 95% of the way there. Definitely a time saver.

If you want to use it within VB.NET you’ll need to enable this feature in the configuration dialog. Go to Tools | GhostDoc | Configure GhostDoc and select the Options tab. There you’ll find a checkbox for this feature.

I’ve barely scratched the surface of this tools capabilities. You can set it up to add the username or timestamp when documenting members. Lot’s more too! So have a look.