VS2010 SP1: T4 Improvements Summary

Over the last few posts, I’ve talked about the exciting improvements we’ve made to T4 Text Templating in Service Pack 1 for Visual Studio 2010.

Here’s a quick roundup:

Firstly, T4 no longer locks referenced assemblies in memory, meaning it’s much easier to use reflection in T4 templates and to use compiled helper libraries.

Then I posted a series explaining how to use template inheritance for greater template reuse and easier template customization

In Part I, I started by setting the scene of why you’d want inheritance and setting up some metadata to drive an example template from.

In Part II, I put together a T4 preprocessed template that’s designed to be reusable and customizable with natural override points.

In Part III, I showed how to exploit the customization points to produce code that’s specific to a new project reusing a base template.

In Part IV, I wrapped up by showing how to use a helper class to apply the same technique used in preprocessed templates with regular T4 templates.

I hope you’re as excited as we are about these improvements – we really think they make working with T4 a smoother experience.

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