Specflow with Visual Studio express - visual-studio-2010

I have used Specflow in Visual Studio 2010 Pro at work but would like to use it on my personal projects. Unfortunately I only have VS210 Express.
I have not managed to get Specflow working in VS2010 Express. has anyone done this or is it even possible.
thanks,


I have managed to do this, and I have written a blog post on how to do this entitled: "C# ATDD on a shoestring (or the complete guide to SpecFlow & NUnit in VS2010 Express)"


The main idea is: SpecFlow generates fixtures for one of the common Unit-Test-Frameworks. More information you can find here.
I suppose that you loose some Item templates that appear in the Visual Studio Professional but disappear for Visual Studio Express versions. To overcome this problem you should take all templates files from SpecFlow application folder on computer where you have Professional version installed. On my computer it is located here:
C:\Program Files (x86)\TechTalk\SpecFlow\ItemTemplates
There should be the files like: SpecFlowFeature.zip and etc, all with *.zip extension. Then you should copy its to your computer for this place:
C:\Users\[User name]\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Templates\ItemTemplates\Visual C#
And finally, open Microsoft Visual C# 2010 Express. Create console application, for example. And choose Project -> Add new item. There is only possible to open these templates with Microsoft Visual C# 2010 Express. Because inside template files it was defined that templates could be open only with C# project type.


You can't use 3rd party add ons (like Specflow, ReSharper etc.) with the Express editions of Visual Studio. I can't find the reference right now, but this will be why you can't integrate Specflow.

Related

webtest file opens as xml in visual studio

I am using Visual Studio 2015 Community. I am doing GettingStartedWithLoadTesting. I am trying to open the SampleWebTest.webtest file but it opens as xml. It does not open how it did on the school computer. I think the school computer has Visual Studio Enterprise. I tried "open with" but there was no option available for Load Testing Editor.
Any help appreciated.

If you install Visual Studio by WebInstaller, you can miss "test components". You can always add it. Just start the installer again and pick "change" for your version of visual studio.

Visual Studio community does not support Web Performance and Load tests. For those you need the "Ultimate" or "Enterprise" versions.
The trial version of Visual Studio Enterprise can open .webtest and .loadtest files, but there are restrictions on the run-time features of these test types.

Can I use Visual Studio Community 2015 without .NET?

I'm looking for a new html/jquery/css IDE to edit and publish existing websites. Can I use Visual Studio Community 2015 to edit a website that doesn't use .NET and publish it to a server using ftp?

Yes you can use Visual Studio as your main editor. Select any ASP.NET project as your starting point, delete everything in the project and you're good to go. You can add a Publish Profile to enable web deployment (which supports FTP).
It will require the concept of a "Project File" for most features to work well. There is the old Web Site project which just works on any folder, but that hasn't seen much love in the past years. It's new cousin is being introduced with Visual Studio 15 (which will likely be Visual Studio 2016 or 2017).
As an alternative you may want to look at Visual Studio Code as well, it's the light weight cousin of Visual Studio Community Edition and is suited perfectly for the kind of work you're planning it seems.

visual studio 2012 gadgeteer

I need to program some .Net Gadgeteer modules for a big project on visual studio 2012.
Unfortunately I can't find the templates for Gadgeteer.
All the tutorial I have found says I have to use visual c# or visual studio 2012.
Do you know if some suitable templates exist?

The templates can be found at the codeplex project. https://gadgeteer.codeplex.com/
Here is a detailed tutorial of setting up the environment. http://gadgeteerguy.com/Tutorials/TutorialView/tabid/147/ArticleId/23/Getting-Started-Guide.aspx

Create MSI or setup project with Visual Studio 2012

I create a small application and I would like to create one MSI file.
In Visual Studio 2010 you have this project type under:
Other Project Types -> Setup and Deployment -> Visual studio Installer -> Setup Project
But the only thing you got in Visual Studio 2012 is "Enable InstallShield Limited Edition".
You can change the .NET Framework, but nothing changes.
Why is it not there any more? And how can I get it back? Is there a new way to do this?

Please see:
Visual Studio setup projects (vdproj) will not ship with future versions of VS
Windows Installer Deployment
It was announced 1 1/2 years ago that the project types were being killed. Alternatives are:
Use A VS2008/2010 Solution to build your installer
Switch to another tool such as InstallShield or Windows Installer XML

To create setup projects in Visual Studio 2012 with InstallShield Limited Edition, watch this video.
The InstallShield limited edition that cannot install services.
"ISLE is by far the worst installer option and the upgraded, read -
paid for, version is cumbersome to use at best and impossible in most
situations. InnoSetup, Nullsoft, Advanced, WiX, or just about any
other installer is better. If you did a survey you would see that
nobody is using ISLE. I don't know why you guys continue to associate
with InstallShield. It damages your credibility. Any developer worth
half his weight in salt knows ISLE is worthless and when you stand
behind it we have to question Microsoft's judgment."
By Edward Miller (comments in Visual Studio Installer Projects Extension).
The WiX Toolset, which, while powerful is exceeding user-unfriendly and has a steep learning curve. There is even a downloadable template for installing Windows services (ref. VS2012: Installer for Windows services?).
For Visual Studio 2013, see blog post Creating installers with Visual Studio.

Have you tried the "Publish" method? You just right click on the project file in the solution explorer and select "Publish" from the pop-up menu. This creates an installer in a few very simple steps.
You can do more configuration of the installer from the Publish tab in the project properties window.
NB: This method only works for WPF & Windows Forms apps.

Microsoft has listened to the cry for supporting installers (MSI) in Visual Studio and released the Visual Studio Installer Projects Extension. You can now create installers in Visual Studio 2013; download the extension here from the visualstudiogallery.

ISLE (InstallShield Limited Edition) is the "replacement" of the Visual Studio Setup and Deploy project, but many users think Microsoft took wrong step with removing .vdproj support from Visual Studio 2012 (and later ones) and supporting third-party company software.
Many people asked for returning it back (Bring back the basic setup and deployment project type Visual Studio Installer), but Microsoft is deaf to our voices... really sad.
As WiX is really complicated, I think it is worth to try some free installation systems - NSIS or Inno Setup. Both are scriptable and easy to learn - but powerful as original SADP.
I have created a really nice Visual Studio extension for NSIS and Inno Setup with many features (intellisense, syntax highlighting, navigation bars, compilation directly from Visual Studio, etc.). You can try it at www.visual-installer.com (sorry for self promo :)
Download Inno Setup (jrsoftware.org/isdl.php) or NSIS (nsis.sourceforge.net/Download) and install V&I (unsigned-softworks.sk/visual-installer/downloads.html).
All installers are simple Next/Next/Next...
In Visual Studio, select menu File -> New -> Project, choose NSISProject or Inno Setup, and a new project will be created (with full sources).

There is some progress for Visual studio 2013 developers :-D woot woot! See blog post Visual Studio Installer Projects Extension.
Link and information were retrieved from Brian Harry's blog post Creating installers with Visual Studio.

Have a look at the article Visual Studio Installer Deployment. It will surely help you.
You can choose the correct version of .NET framework on the page.
So for you, make it .NET 4.5. I guess that would be there for Visual Studio 2012.

I think that Deploying an Office Solution by Using ClickOnce (MSDN) can be useful.
After creating an Outlook plugin for Office 2010 the problem was to install it on the customer's computer, without using ISLE or other complex tools (or expensive).
The solution was to use the publish instrument of the Visual Studio project, as described in the link. Just two things to be done before the setup will work:
Install the PIA (Primary Interop Assembly) of Office 2010
Install the VSTO 2010 runtime

"Visual Studio Integration Package" vs "Visual Studio Add-in": what is the difference?

When creating a new extension for visual studio, there are two project options: "Visual Studio Integration Package" and "Visual Studio Add-in". What is the difference between the two project types and when would you use one over the other?

Ok, you can find a full detailed comparison here (there are also links to the previous parts in the series).
But basically, add-ins were available as the VS extension type from the very first versions of the VS and built as the COM components. Later on, some limitations were discovered in that approach, so the new extensibility feature was created -- namely VS SDK package.
Probably, if you are building an extension for VS 2008+ you should target the VS SDK package as the newer technology. Another strong point of the VS package is better integration with the Visual Studio.
Whatever you do, add-ins are an
external thing for Visual Studio while
VSPackages are a completely integrated
part of the IDE.
You still might consider building an add-in, if
you need access to high-level extensibility API, as opposed to low-level fundamental API available from a VS package;
you develop in Visual Basic (templates for VS Package are available only in C# / Visual C++);
you want to automate a simple task / common scenario, then add-in will probably require less development effort.

Important point on Visual Studio Add-in vs Package, Add-ins are deprecated in VS 2013 and will not be available in VS "14"
Add-ins Deprecated in Visual Studio 2013
Visual Studio "14" CTP: add-ins are gone
"Official" guidance from How to: Create an Add-In is "Visual Studio add-ins are deprecated in Visual Studio 2013. You should upgrade your add-ins to VSPackage extensions...."

An integration package is something that can be chosen when you start a new project (like how you pick C# or VB).
See http://www.bitwisemag.com/copy/features/dev/visual_studio/vs2005_integration_1.html.
Add-ins work just like they would for MS Office applications. You can add your own custom buttons and menu items. Here is an example: http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/UploadFile/mgold/AddIns11292005015631AM/AddIns.aspx.

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