Hi All and apologies if this has been asked already, but I can't find a comprehensive answer anywhere.
I require the ability to develop Desktop applications as well as ASP.NET web projects, I have tried the express versions of the Desktop and Web versions but would like to deploy these projects in a business environment and I am aware that the express licence does not permit this.
So my question is, Does Visual studio 2013 professional allow the development of both Desktop and Web applications or do I need to buy two versions of Visual Studio 2013?
Thanks for taking the time to read this post.
If you look at the Feature Comparison chart for the various editions of Visual Studio, it shows that the Ultimate, Premium and Professional editions of Visual Studio all support development for web and various types of desktop applications. The entire list is in the 'Development Platform Support' section.
This feature comparison will also show you all the features that you may or not need in your development practice.
http://www.visualstudio.com/products/compare-visual-studio-products-vs
Related
My question is What is difference between Visual Studio Express Edition for Desktop and
Visual Studio Community version?
I want use VS to create Desktop apps, currently I have ultimate version of VS2013, but I think mentioned versions are lighter and faster and FULL FREE for me because I don't use most of developing features like Team server or Testing tools or IntelliTrace, .... I want know the mentioned versions have full Windows API Support (Header files definition) like Ultimate/Enterprise versions?
Don't forget my first question: VS Express for Desktop vs Community, because both are FREE.
Community edition is the full fledged software, but you can't use it on enterprise (>5 users)
On the other hand, Express editions can be used in enterprise environments, but does not let you use plugins.
So in the end, as far as I can tell the choice is between plugins and enterprise. If it's just a product you are developing yourself, or an open source software, Community edition would be your best bet. On the other hand, if you want to try out the latest version at your work for free, then Express edition is for you.
Here is from the "source" :)
Differences between Visual Studio Community Edition and Express Editions
Here is a quote from that MSDN blog:
There are two main differences between Visual Studio Community Edition
and the Express Editions
1) Visual Studio Express Editions do not allow users to use extensions
(aka. plugins). There are over 5000 great plugins for Visual Studio
in Visual Studio Gallery. Plugins such as Developer Assistant can
boost developers’ productivity. Unfortunately, they are not available
to Visual Studio Express users. With Visual Studio Community
Edition, you can access and use All of them!
2) Visual Studio Express Editions are targeting specific platforms:
Express for Web allows you to develop Web apps; Express for Windows
allows you to develop Windows apps; Express for Windows Desktop allows
you to develop desktop apps. But with Visual Studio Community
Edition, you can develop projects targeting cross-platforms.
Community is like a full version of Visual Studio Professional, only they don't allow you to develop for commercial purposes (through the licence agreement). With the exception for developing apps that you sell in the Windows Store.
Why you would want Community (dito for VS Professional):
You can develop a mix of different projects in the same solution on the same IDE. With Express you develop asp.net and other web apps (Express for Web) in different IDE's than you would developing a Windows Forms applicaiton (Express for Win Forms).
You get full access to plugins that enhance the IDE, like code optimisation tools.
Other than Professional, Community is integrated with a lot of online collaboration sites. Like integration to GIT repos and Windows Azure hosting.
Express is like the old school express versions, if you used to use the old school express versions, you probably want to stick to it. It allows for commercial development, but they restrict the features of the IDE. And they make it harder to use by splitting the IDE to only handle Web Applications (like ASP.Net) in one IDE and a different IDE for handling Windows Forms. (In the past they also split the Win Forms IDEs to only handle one coding language like C# or VB).
Here is the official comparison
I think IntelliTrace is the most important part missing in the community edition. Cloning the repo some similar things are missing. but I don't think those are any real problems.
For past express editions, I've been able to find a "compare editions" page that shows what features are available in express, professional, ultimate, etc. Something like this.
However, every comparison table I've seen so far omits the express editions. Surely Microsoft must have a list of things you get by upgrading to Visual Studio Professional from an Express Edition--after all, it's a free product, and they would like you to upgrade to a paid product! So, where have they hidden this feature comparison table, or "reasons to upgrade to Professional" list?
As far as I know there is no single table with a summary.
It depends on which version of express your talking about. Express is split up into a lot of different SKUs based on the type of product you're building; Web, Phone etc. Which is probably why there isn't an entry on this table for Express. 2013 was a point release to 2012 and there is a comparison of Express Web 2012 to Pro on MSDN.
The biggest single difference is that you cannot run plugins in Express. This means no Resharper, Test Driven .NET etc. This also applies to some plugins that you might consider to be written my Microsoft because they were not part of the official Microsoft release, for example plugins written my various other groups. This is a long-standing gripe for users of Express and looks like it is still the case for 2013, How to install Nunit plugin in Visual Studio 2013 Express?.
I was very surprised when I downloaded Visual Studio 2013 Express Edition for web development on my new Windows 8.1 machine, and it was starkly different from what I believe is the identical product that I have been using for a while on a Windows 7 machine.
For example, when creating a very small demo app using Web API (from the asp.net website), the "New ASP.Net Project" wizard did not offer Web API. And the new project did not include the App_Start folder, which would include code for things like routing.
I tried to use NuGet to add the essential features, but no luck. That tutorial only took a few minutes on Windows 7, but was a miserable failure and an hour I will never get back on Windows 8. I don't really understand Microsoft's strategy here.
From what I observed Visual Studio Express 2013 doesn't come with a 64-bit compiler.
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC>vcvarsall.bat x64
The specified configuration type is missing. The tools for the
configuration might not be installed.
And since the Win 8 SDK doesn't provide compilers anymore either, it appears like you must pay for Visual Studio 2013 Pro or you won't be compiling 64-bit binaries.
"The Windows SDK no longer ships with a complete command-line build
environment"
https://dev.windows.com/en-us/downloads/windows-8-sdk
I'm in the process of deciding whether or not to use Visual Studio 2012 Express for Desktop or purchase a retail copy of Visual Studio 2012 Professional for my desktop program. The program is built using C# though portions of it may include F#.
From what I've gathered so far, the express edition supports NuGet, Unit Testing, and Code Analysis. It mentions a subset of Code Analysis rules are used but I'm unsure how they compare to the professional edition as well as FxCop/StyleCop.
I'm assuming the express edition lacks extension support but the only extension I really cared about was NuGet. I also assume it doesn't include a TFS CAL despite having the ability to connect to TFS. This again isn't an issue as I'm using Perforce for source control. I also understand that this version is limited to desktop style applications only, but have so far only seen mention C++ and C#. Does it support F#?
Can someone clue me in as to any other limitations of 2012 Express for Desktop? Are there any license limitations for developing a commercial application?
In the past, MS included express editions as part of their version comparison. But when they updated their site for 2012, they separated out the express editions and offer little to no detail.
There are few limitation I can gather :
First of all there are different IDE's for different use
Visual Studio Express 2012 for Web.
Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows 8
Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Desktop.
Visual Studio Team Foundation Server Express 2012
Express editions of the IDE omit the following features included in the Professional editions
Multi-unit testing framework and refactoring support
Static code analysis, profiling, and HLSL editing and debugging
Third-party extensibility support (though the Extension Manager feature is still present)
OpenMP support
But there are few positives I explore in 2012 :
Unlike previous version
Solution is allowed, you can create multiple projects in a single solutions.
64bit compilations support is there.
If working in single or less than 5 person team, express is the way to go.
It definitely bring much more new and unlock features than it predecessors.
As you receive a product key if you register I think it confirms that you then are free to use VS 2012 Express as you like.
http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/eng/downloads#d-2010-express say:
"After installation, you can try this product for up to 30 days. You
must register to obtain a free product key for ongoing use after 30
days."
"Productivity Power Tools 2012" cannot be installed on VS2012 Express edition, hence such features like "Entity Framework Reverse Engineer Code First" won't be available, which is critical to migrate existing apps's DB into Model's classes.
Portable Class Libraries are not supported in express versions. (You can reference PCL dlls, you just can't work with PCL projects.)
F# is available for VS Express 2012 for Web
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/fsharpteam/archive/2012/09/12/announcing-the-release-of-f-tools-for-visual-studio-express-2012-for-web.aspx
Looks like NuGet worked with VS 2010 Express Web so I would expect it to work with 2012
http://docs.nuget.org/docs/start-here/nuget-faq
Professional gives you a lot of the profiling and static analysis tools. I couldn't find out how the FxCop rules differ.
What are the limitations of VS2010 C# Express Edition compared with the paid for versions? I was mostly looking into what sort of applications I can build, in VS Express I only have the option of Console, Winform and DLL, etc. I read that you can build services and add - ins for office programs, is this functionality available in Professional/Ultimate etc versions? Thanks.
There's a comparison chart here - You'll need VS Professional to develop Office Plugins.
Although previous version, there is a definitive overview of the VS2008 Express limitations in in this SO Question
Wikipedia also explains the differences.
Edit
The comparison chart link is dead. For 2012:
Visual Studio 2012 (Web Only) comparison is here, and in this Programmer's post
This SO post addresses the Desktop comparison.
The Express edition does not come with, nor does it grant you permission to distribute, the Microsoft C++ runtime redistributable packages. So the users of the software you build with the Express edition will have to download & run the installers themselves.
Where can I find a bug-tracking system that integrates with Visual Studio 2010 as an addin, and supports online support (so that anonymous people can add bugs to the buglist)?
You could use TFS and write a simple web frontend utilizing the TFS webservices. Perhaps there are bugtrackers that support TFS integration.
Unfortunately, I do not know of other solutions integrated into VS.
I ended up building my own system based on a database and a webserver. I then created a Visual Studio Package (add-in) through the Visual Studio 2010 SDK for managing bugs that were synced live from the website.
Way better for my needs, and only took 1 week of development.