Do you have your own 'utils' dll and what do you keep there?

I can start with my own .NET dll. I have a dll I use in all my web projects (around 10) and I have util classes for FTP, zip, imageresizing, extensionmethods and a generic singleton class.

I think it is a common practice and I just thought it would be interesting to hear what people put in their 'Utils' dlls

EDIT: What small code gems do you have that have made you much more productive with lesser code?

These extension methods are pretty useful for me when parsing nullable form input before putting into the database

        public static int? ToInt(this string input) 
        {
            int val;
            if (int.TryParse(input, out val))
                return val;
            return null;
        }

        public static DateTime? ToDate(this string input)
        {
            DateTime val;
            if (DateTime.TryParse(input, out val))
                return val;
            return null;
        }

        public static decimal? ToDecimal(this string input)
        {
            decimal val;
            if (decimal.TryParse(input, out val))
                return val;
            return null;
        }

From stackoverflow

• I have only just really started mine but at the moment it mostly contains just common extension methods that I use all the time. Stuff like "ThrowIfNull()" so I don't have to do heaps of if statements every time I want to check for nulls.

  I also have a playground project which just has any ideas that I am toying around with but I'm not 100% sure that they will even work.

  Chris Lively : Just an observation, but why bother with ThrowIfNull() when simply attempting to access members of a null object will throw an exception automatically?

  Nathan W : its mainly just so that I can throw any exception I want if the member is null with custom messages rather then letting the go on and then throw with a argunullexception with no description.

• I've been collecting for years. This started out as a set of VBScript routines which I have since converted to VB6. This is a COM DLL, so I can use it almost anywhere in almost any language. I've spared you the boredom of all the enums.

  EDIT: I agree in principle with Chris Lively's comment on a previous posting in this section. However, as I said in the comments, if the work I am doing was .NET related, I'd certainly be tossing my stuff for what, I assume, is best of breed. However, in my case, .NET is too readily decompiled (making it a kind of ersatz open source) and my employer wants to protect his intellectual property.

  (Autogenerated by TLViewer, © Mark Pryor 2000-2003) 
  
  Library: Std
   P:\other\StdLib\StdLib.dll 
   Description: Std 
  
  coclass Drives
  
  Function DriveType(ByVal sDrv As String) As String
  
  
  coclass Arrays
  
  Function AAdd(aToThis ,ByVal xAddThis ) As Integer
  
  Function AAdd_PostIncrement(a , ByVal X ) As Variant
  
  Function AAdd_PreIncrement(a , ByVal X ) As Variant
  
  Function AMax(aVec ) As Variant
  
  Function AMin(aVec ) As Variant
  
  Sub DeleteFirst(anArray )
  
  Sub DeleteLast(anArray )
  
  Sub DeleteNth(anArray , ByVal nElement As Long)
  
  Function GenerateRange(nBot As Double, nTop As Double, [nStep As Double = 1]) As Variant
  
  Function GenerateRangeFromString(sRange ) As Variant
  
  Function InArray(sItem , aList ) As Boolean
  
  Function Reverse1DArray(aInput ) As Variant
  
  Function ShowStructure(vToShow ) As String
  
  Function StrInArray(sItem , aList , [bCaseInsens As Boolean = True]) As String
  
  
  coclass CmdLine
  
  Property AppExeName([BaseOnly As Boolean = False]) As String [Get/o]
  
  Property AppPath As String [Get/o]
  
  Property Argument(ByVal Which As Long) As String [Get/o]
  
  Property Arguments As Long [Get/o]
  
  Property CaseSensitive As Boolean [Get/Let]
  
  Function FlaggedArg(ByVal Flag As String) As String
  
  Function FlagPresent(ByVal Flag As String) As Long
  
  Function FlagPresentFromList(Flags () As Variant) As Boolean
  
  Sub Refresh()
  
  Function ToString() As String
  
  
  coclass BigString
  
  Sub ClearStr()
  
  Function GetStr([ByVal vJoiner = ]) As String
  
  Function GetStrArray() As Variant
  
  Sub PutStr(ByVal vString )
  
  
  coclass Config
  
  Sub Define(sKey , sValue )
  
  Property gsFilename As String [Get/Let]
  
  Function List(sFilter ) As String
  
  Function Load(sFile ) As Boolean
  
  Function LoadW(sFile ) As Boolean
  
  Function Recall(sKey ) As Variant
  
  Function RecallElse(sKey , sDefault ) As Variant
  
  Sub Save([sFile = ], [bAsAnsi = False])
  
  Sub SaveW([sFile = ], [bAsAnsi = False])
  
  
  coclass Collections
  
  Function Add(vData , [sKey ]) As _Variable 
  
  Property AddOnly As Boolean [Get/Let]
  
  Function Count() As Long
  
  Function Exists(vntIndexKey ) As Boolean
  
  Property Item(vntIndexKey ) As _Variable  [Get/o]
  
  Function Items() As Variant
  
  Function Keys() As Variant
  
  Sub Modify(sValue , sKey )
  
  Property NewEnum As stdole.IUnknown  [Get/o]
  
  Sub Remove(vntIndexKey )
  
  
  coclass Computers
  
  Function ComputerName() As String
  
  Function ExistsFolder(sComputer As String, sDir As String) As Boolean
  
  Function GetComputers(sDomain As String)() As Variant
  
  Function GetDomainComputers(ByVal strDomain As String)() As Variant
  
  Function GetNBT(sComputer As String) As String
  
  Function GetNBTA(sIPAddr As String) As String
  
  Function GetNetView(sDomain As String) As String
  
  Function GetOnlineComputers(sDomain As String)() As Variant
  
  Function GetRemoteEnvironment(sComputer )() As Variant
  
  Function GetSpecs(sComputer As String) As String
  
  Function GetTheComputerName() As String
  
  Function ResolveIP(sName As String) As String
  
  
  coclass Logic
  
  Function IIF(bCondition As Boolean, vTrue , vFalse ) As Variant
  
  
  coclass Decimals
  
  Property Dec As Variant [Get/Let]
  
  
  coclass Domains
  
  Function GetAvailableNTDomains()() As Variant
  
  
  coclass Database
  
  Sub CreateDatabase(sFile As String)
  
  Sub CreateIndex(ByVal oDb  As ADODB.Connection, sSpec As String)
  
  Sub CreateStructure(ByVal oDb  As ADODB.Connection, sSpec As String)
  
  Function OpenDatabase(theFile As String) As ADODB._Connection 
  
  Function OpenRecordSet(ByVal oDb  As ADODB.Connection, sQuery As String) As ADODB._Recordset 
  
  
  coclass DateTime
  
  Function dbDate(vDate ) As String
  
  Function GetGmtTime([StartingDate ]) As Date
  
  Function GetTimeDifference() As Long
  
  Function GetTimeHere(gmtTime As Date) As Date
  
  Function InternetTimeToVbLocalTime(ByVal DateString As String) As Date
  
  
  coclass Wallpaper
  
  Function ActiveDesktopSetWallpaper(ByVal strFile As String) As Boolean
  
  Sub At(ByVal nX As Integer, ByVal nY As Integer)
  
  Sub AtSay(ByVal nX As Integer, ByVal nY As Integer, ByVal sText As String)
  
  Sub Attributes(ByVal sAttribList As String)
  
  Sub Colour(ByVal iFGColour As Long, ByVal iBGColour As Long)
  
  Sub Dimensions(ByVal nHeight As Integer, ByVal nWidth As Integer)
  
  Sub Font(ByVal sName As String, ByVal iSize As Integer)
  
  Function LoadPic(sFilename As String, [nDestX As Integer = ], [nDestY As Integer = ]) As Variant
  
  Property Picture As Object [Get/Set]
  
  Sub SavePic(sFilename As String, [iType As Integer = 1])
  
  Sub Say(ByVal sText As String)
  
  Sub ScaleMode(ByVal iMode As Integer)
  
  Function TextHeight(ByVal sText As String) As Integer
  
  Function TextWidth(ByVal sText As String) As Integer
  
  
  coclass Excel
  
  Sub ExcelColumnNames(aHeadings () As Variant, [bBold As Boolean = True])
  
  Sub ExcelNewSheet()
  
  Sub ExcelStart([bHidden As Boolean = False])
  
  
  coclass StopWatch
  
  Sub Finish()
  
  Function FinishTime() As Date
  
  Function LapTime() As String
  
  Function Seconds() As Integer
  
  Sub Start()
  
  Function StartTime() As Date
  
  
  coclass Environments
  
  Function GetProcessEnv(strEnvVar As String) As String
  
  Function GetSystemEnv(strEnvVar As String) As String
  
  Function GetUserEnv(strEnvVar As String) As String
  
  Function GetVolatileEnv(strEnvVar As String) As String
  
  
  coclass Schedule
  
  Function AddTask(strTime , strCommand , [enDaysInWeek As ENUM_WEEKDAYS  = ], [strDaysInMonth = ], [RunInteractive As Boolean = True], [ReOccuring As Boolean = True]) As Long
  
  Function DeleteTask(lngID As Long) As Boolean
  
  Function GetNameOfComputer() As String
  
  
  coclass SymbolTable
  
  Function Append(sName , sValue ) As String
  
  Sub Clear()
  
  Function Increment(sName ) As Integer
  
  Function IsSym(sName ) As Boolean
  
  Function Keys()() As Variant
  
  Sub Parse(sData , sSep )
  
  Function Recall(sName ) As Variant
  
  Sub Remove(sData )
  
  Sub Store(sName , vValue )
  
  Sub StoreDup(sName , xValue )
  
  Sub StoreDup2(sName , xValue )
  
  Function SymList() As Variant
  
  Function SymListText() As String
  
  
  coclass Files
  
  Function CollectFiles(sDirectory , sFileType ) As Variant
  
  Sub DeleteFile(ByVal cFilename )
  
  Function Exists(sFile ) As Boolean
  
  Function FileHasBeenModified(sFile As String, dThen As Date) As Boolean
  
  Function FileModificationDate(sFile As String) As Date
  
  Function IsUTF16LE(sFile As String) As Boolean
  
  Function RandomInputFile(sExt As String) As String
  
  Function RandomOutputFile(sRandomInputFile As String, sExt As String) As String
  
  Function ReadFileA(FileName ) As String
  
  Function ReadFileE(FileName ) As String
  
  Function ReadFileU(FileName ) As String
  
  Function ReadFirstLineA(FileName ) As Variant
  
  Function ReadFirstLineE(FileName ) As String
  
  Function ReadFirstLineU(FileName ) As String
  
  Sub WriteFileA(sFilename , sContents , nMode As Long)
  
  Sub WriteFileB(sFilename , nOffset As Long, vData )
  
  Sub WriteFileU(sFilename , sContents , nMode As Long)
  
  
  coclass System
  
  Function AvailableDesktopDimensions() As Variant
  
  Function CaptureDOS(sCommand , [bSynch As Boolean = True]) As Variant
  
  Function ConsoleWrite(sText As String) As Long
  
  Function ConsoleWriteLine(sText As String) As Long
  
  Function CreateGUID() As String
  
  Function DesktopDimensions() As Variant
  
  Function DoEventsSeconds(nSeconds As Integer) As Integer
  
  Sub DoEventsSeconds2(iSeconds As Integer)
  
  Function GetTheWindowsDirectory() As String
  
  Function GetUUID(sUuid As String) As Boolean
  
  Function KillProcess(ProcessName As String) As Boolean
  
  Sub Navigate(ByVal NavTo As String)
  
  Function SetProcessPriority(sProcess As String, nPriority As EPROCESS_PRIORITY ) As Boolean
  
  Function ShellEx(ByVal sFile As String, [eShowCmd As EShellShowConstants  = essSW_SHOWDEFAULT], [ByVal sParameters As String = ], [ByVal sDefaultDir As String = ], [sOperation As String = "open"], [Owner As Long = ]) As Boolean
  
  Sub Sleep(nMilli As Integer)
  
  Function SystemDefaultUILanguage() As Long
  
  Function ThreadLocale() As Long
  
  
  coclass Groups
  
  Function GetComputerGroups(ByVal strComputerName As String)() As Variant
  
  Function GetDefaultNamingContext() As String
  
  Function GetGroups()() As Variant
  
  
  coclass Help
  
  Function HHDisplayHeadTopic(ByVal lHwnd As Long) As Long
  
  Function HHDisplaySearch(ByVal lHwnd As Long, [toSearch As String = ]) As Long
  
  Function HHHelpContents(ByVal lHwnd As Long) As Long
  
  Function HHHelpIndex(ByVal lHwnd As Long, [toSearch As String = ]) As Long
  
  Sub HHInitialize()
  
  Function HHKeywordLookup(ByVal lHwnd As Long, [sKeyword As String = ]) As Long
  
  Sub HHUninitialize()
  
  Property sHelpFile As String [Get/Let]
  
  
  coclass Number
  
  Function IntegerToUnsigned(Value As Integer) As Long
  
  Function LongToUnsigned(Value As Long) As Double
  
  Function UnsignedToInteger(Value As Long) As Integer
  
  Function UnsignedToLong(Value As Double) As Long
  
  
  coclass IEDisplay
  
  Sub Display(sMsg As String, nMillisec As Integer)
  
  Sub Init(sPosition )
  
  Property sName As String [Get/Let]
  
  
  coclass Temp
  
  Function GetTempFileName([sSeed As String = ]) As String
  
  Function LocGetFilePath(ByVal iCFName As String) As String
  
  Function TempDir() As String
  
  Function TempDirWide() As String
  
  Function TempFile(Create As Boolean, [lpPrefixString ], [lpszPath ]) As String
  
  Function UnicodeTempFile(ByVal iFileName As String) As String
  
  
  coclass INI
  
  Sub Clear()
  
  Function GetValue(sSection As String, sKey As String, strDefault As String) As String
  
  Function HasSection(sSection As String) As Boolean
  
  Function Load(sIniName As String) As Boolean
  
  Function ReadINIA(sSection , sKeyName , sINIFileName ) As String
  
  Function ReadINIU(sSection As String, sKeyName As String, sINIFileName As String) As String
  
  Function WriteINIA(sSection , sKeyName , sNewString , sINIFileName ) As Boolean
  
  Function WriteINIU(sSection As String, sKeyName As String, sNewString As String, sINIFileName As String) As Boolean
  
  
  coclass Variable
  
  Property Name As Variant [Get/Let/Set]
  
  Property Value As Variant [Get/Let/Set]
  
  
  coclass Mouse
  
  Function Between(ByVal nNumber As Integer, ByVal nLowerBound As Integer, ByVal nUpperBound As Integer) As Boolean
  
  Function MouseX([ByVal hWnd As Long = ]) As Long
  
  Function MouseY([ByVal hWnd As Long = ]) As Long
  
  
  coclass Traces
  
  Sub ClearTrace()
  
  Sub Trace([ByVal sTag = "!@#$%^&*()_"])
  
  Property TraceFile As String [Get/Let]
  
  Property Tracing As Boolean [Get/Let]
  
  
  coclass Registry
  
  Property ClassKey As ERegistryClassConstants  [Get/Let]
  
  Sub CreateAdditionalEXEAssociations(ByVal sClassName As String, vItems () As Variant)
  
  Sub CreateEXEAssociation(ByVal sExePath As String, ByVal sClassName As String, ByVal sClassDescription As String, ByVal sAssociation As String, [ByVal sOpenMenuText As String = "&Open"], [ByVal bSupportPrint As Boolean = False], [ByVal sPrintMenuText As String = "&Print"], [ByVal bSupportNew As Boolean = False], [ByVal sNewMenuText As String = "&New"], [ByVal bSupportInstall As Boolean = False], [ByVal sInstallMenuText As String = ], [ByVal lDefaultIconIndex As Long = -1])
  
  Function CreateKey() As Boolean
  
  Property Default As Variant [Get/Let]
  
  Function DeleteKey() As Boolean
  
  Function DeleteValue() As Boolean
  
  Function EnumerateSections(sSect () As String, iSectCount As Long) As Boolean
  
  Function EnumerateValues(sKeyNames () As String, iKeyCount As Long) As Boolean
  
  Property KeyExists As Boolean [Get/o]
  
  Property Machine As String [Get/Let]
  
  Property SectionKey As String [Get/Let]
  
  Property Value As Variant [Get/Let]
  
  Property ValueEx(ClassKey As ERegistryClassConstants , SectionKey As String, ValueKey As String, ValueType As ERegistryValueTypes , Default ) As Variant [Get/Let]
  
  Property ValueKey As String [Get/Let]
  
  Property ValueType As ERegistryValueTypes  [Get/Let]
  
  
  coclass Users
  
  Function GetComputerUsers(ByVal strComputerName As String)() As Variant
  
  Function GetComputerUsers2(ByVal strComputerName )() As Variant
  
  Function GetDomainUser(sComputer As String) As String
  
  Function GetLoginProfiles(sComputer )() As Variant
  
  Function GetMac(sDevice ) As String
  
  Function GetNameAndDescription(spDomain As String, sUsername As String) As String
  
  Function GetOUofUser(sDomain As String, sUsername As String) As String
  
  
  coclass Sort
  
  Sub heapsort(aVec )
  
  Sub quicksort(aVec )
  
  Sub shellsort(a0 , [bAscending As Boolean = True])
  
  Sub shellSortOnField(aVec , ByVal nField As Integer, ByVal sFieldSep , [nComparisonType As SSOF_COMPARISON  = SSOF_NUMERICAL])
  
  Function sorted()() As Variant
  
  
  coclass Strings
  
  Function AnyOf(sText , nOperator As AO_COMPARATORS , sChar ) As Boolean
  
  Function AnyOfList(sText , nOperator As AO_COMPARATORS , aChar ) As Boolean
  
  Function AsString(X ) As String
  
  Function BeginsWith(sText , sBeginning , [bCaseInsensitive As Boolean = True]) As Boolean
  
  Function Between(sText , sBegin , sEnd ) As String
  
  Function ByteArrayToString(aBytes () As Byte) As String
  
  Function ComprehendCSV(sText ) As Variant
  
  Function Contains(sText , sChunk , [bCaseInsensitive As Boolean = True]) As Boolean
  
  Function CountFields(strText , strDelim ) As Integer
  
  Function DQ(s ) As String
  
  Function EndsWith(sText , sEnding , [bCaseInsensitive As Boolean = True]) As Boolean
  
  Function EndsWithSet(sText , vEnding , [bCaseInsensitive As Boolean = True]) As Boolean
  
  Function FirstLineOf(sData ) As String
  
  Function FirstWord(sText ) As String
  
  Function ForceExtension(sFilename , sExtension ) As String
  
  Function HexDump(sData ) As String
  
  Function HTMLWrap(sTag , sContent ) As String
  
  Function LastLineOf(sData ) As String
  
  Function LeftFill(sText , nLen , sFill ) As String
  
  Function LeftOf(sText , sItem ) As String
  
  Function LeftOfLast(sText , sItem ) As String
  
  Function NthField(sText , sDelimiter , nReqdField ) As String
  
  Function NthLineOf(n As Integer, sData ) As String
  
  Function RemoveSpaces(sText ) As String
  
  Function Reverse(sText ) As String
  
  Function RightFill(sText , nLen , sFill ) As String
  
  Function RightOf(sText , sItem ) As String
  
  Function RightOfLast(sText , sItem ) As String
  
  Function SplitSet(ByVal sString , ByVal sSet ) As Variant
  
  Function StringConversion(s , n As Integer) As String
  
  Function StringMap(sText , aFrom , vTo ) As String
  
  Function StringToByteArray(ByVal sString )() As Byte
  
  Function Subst(sText , paArgList () As Variant) As String
  
  Function Subst2(sText , paArgList () As Variant) As String
  
  Function ZeroFill(nNum , nWidth ) As String
  
  Function Zerofill2(nNum ) As String
  

• I think carrying utility assemblies beyond the current version of your language does more harm than good.

  The main reason is that as the language grows new methods and better ways of doing things are built in. By carrying around a utilities assembly, you will quickly end up with a lot of dead weight which may expose security problems.

  A prime example is boosts list of functions. A quick glance will show that .Net (just like most other languages) already cover at least 75% of that code.

  TT : That is a good point and I always try to remove or upgrade my Utils dll if a built in version of my code comes with the next .net library, but I also think many people have code that could be candidates for the next .net framework and it would be interesting to see examples of that.

  boost : It IS a good point. If the work I am doing was .NET related, I'd certainly be tossing my stuff for what, I assume, is best of breed. However, in my case, .NET is too readily decompiled (making it a kind of ersatz open source) and my employer wants to protect his intellectual property.

  Chris Lively : Anything can be reverse engineered. All you can do is try and make it difficult which is what obfuscation is all about and why professional products have been available in that era since way before .net and java.

• I group my utilities by functionality. As a result, I don't have one utility DLL but rather a folder that contains several such assemblies, each one encapsulating one task (which usually includes more than just one class, in fact it usually includes a whole hierarchy).

  In the extreme case, this means that I have a DLL containing one declaration, namely the following one (plus documentation):

  namespace madrat.Common {
      public interface ICopyable<T> {
          T Copy();
      }
  }
  

  Notice that unlike the System.ICloneable interface, this one has well-defined semantics (deep copy) specified in the documentation.

  So why an extra DLL for this tiny declaration? Because it makes interoperability between other assemblies much easier.