I have been using Visual Studio Express versions. I used to use the full Pro VS 2005. I can't figure out what I am missing with the Express version. What benefits will I get if I buy the full version of VS?
Here you go. This link is vs2005 specific rather than the more-recent 2008, but that's the version you asked about.
Some highlights:
No Mobile Device support
No Object Test Bench
No Extensions
No built-in source control support (they should really change this)
No remote debugging
No Office Development support
No 64-bit compiler support
No Visual Studio Package support
No profiler
No SQL Server debugging integration
Limited deployment options
This list is actually quite lengthy, but with the notable exception of source control they are mostly things you might be able to do without as a single developer, if you really have to. Even the source control can be handled by a file-system-only tool like Tortoise.
Obviously if you're building something like a smart phone app or VS extension it's a non-starter, so you'll need to evaluate what you're really doing. Some of the other missing features like object test bench or the profiler can be partially replaced by third-party tools.
Here's a link to a downloadable Visual Studio 2008 Product Comparison Guide from Microsoft.
The full version of Visual studio supports some extra features and tools.
One of the big differences is more debugging options (You can specify break conditions for debugging, unlike the express version). That feature alone is probably worth it.
You can also install 3rd party addons to add extra featues.
No Resharper.
also, you can add addins like VisualSVN and Resharper into pro. You can't into express.
Matze might be right - MS needs the money - 5K people layed off today, and only 4.7b profit! :(
Depends on what you do. Look at the product matrix to see what features you gain with higher SKUs. Testing, Smart Devices, etc may or may not be relevant for you.
This really just requires a bit of Googling.
You can view a comparison of the paid versions here and an overview of the Express versions here
Have a look at this:
http://blogshare.members.winisp.net/docs/VisualStudio2008-ProductComparison-v1.02-Revisions.xps
If you are doign any sort of professional development with Visual Studio you should buy the Standard edition at a bare minimum. Without it you will loose Source Control integration which IMHO is vital absolute must no questions asked must have for professional development.
I used VS2003 for a while, and am currently using VS2008 C# Express.
Personally, I miss the ability to set a conditional breakpoint instead of simply breaking when a line is hit, and the Threads window.
Support for code version systems is a feature that is real essential.
And Microsoft needs your money to go on implementing new, hot stuff.
Related
I am looking in to using sharpDevelop to develop Windows (.NET) applications over using Visual Studio. I'm just wondering if there are any serious limitations to using SharpDevelop over VS? The price is certainly right and at first glance it seems like a pretty decent IDE. I'm just wondering if it is compatible with VS. I mean if I am collaborating with other developers that are using VS, can we seamlessly pass projects/solutions back and forth and work on them? Just wondering what people's opinions are.
Past year I start using SharpDevelop to develop a large application.
Based on my experience, I can say these are some advantages in using it:
It's faster than Visual Studio; if your project is pretty large, you have to spend less time waiting for the project to compile
It's free
One important disadvantage I've found is the lack of a good refactoring system, in Visual Studio I used Jetbrains Resharper for its great refactoring support.
Now I've returned to use Visual Studio, just for the facilities offered by Resharper.
SharpDevelop 4.0 Beta 4 (as the most current version) is pretty stable as for a Beta. Besides being free it has some pretty features which can be extended via AddIn (a sort of plugin system). A large number of project templates for the most popular languages supporting the .NET Framework. A possible limitation is the support for ASP.NET which still lags behind VS.
Surely you can bet that the top versions of Visual Studio may have some better tools, options, better integration and so on.
Please consider comparing SharpDevelop to the Express Editions of VS. Then it will be obvious that SD is a big win if you don't have to pay. Consider it also as a different product, not only a copy of VS (just not to say 'option X is called here Y, opposed to VS').
This feature by feature comparison list for SharpDevelop vs. VS Express might be helpful.
I'm working on a project that was started using Visual Studio 2010. Although according to a special engine we've created the number of code lines is not very high, the project builds very slowly. I tested sharpdevelop, and it was about an order of magnitude faster!! The only problem we faced was that we could not debug our server and client together, something that VS does like a charm (well, that charm requires some patience), and shows the stack trace of the server, on top of the client, which is very useful.
My suggestion: use sharpdevelop unless you absolutely need a feature it lacks.
SharpDevelop 4.0 Beta does not support the default Visual Studio installer projects. However, since these are going to be deprecated after VS2010 by Microsoft, this is probably not a main issue for you.
With the general public release of Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 today, this latest version has created a lot of hype and interest.
Indeed, the opinion I've gauged is that VS 2010 has resolved a great deal of the minor flaws left over from previous versions, as well as added some particularly useful new code editor and project development tools (in particular the Premium/Ultimate versions).
My question here is: what are you favourite new features in VS 2010 that have really got you excited? Or similarly, what are the flaws of VS 2008 that you are most glad to have resolved?
There is a wealth of changes in VS 2010, of course, but these are some of the ones that have interested me most (about which I know!).
Integrated support for F# (with multi-targeting for .NET 2.0 - 4.0)/
Much improved WPF designer. The VS 2008 was more than a bit buggy at times.
Great improvements to the code editor, such as call hierarchy viewing.
A decent add-in framework.
A greatly expanded testing framework (now capable of database testing, for example) in Premium/Ultimate.
Project planning and modelling features in Premium/Ultimate.
If I could request one point/feature per post, I think that would be best, so we could vote them individually.
Visual Studio 2010's true Multi-Monitor Support sounds pretty fantastic.
The feature I'm most looking forward to having a decent play with is actually more .net 4 than visual studio. Parallel Extensions looks like it will be very interesting.
The new, clean web.config should make my managers happy.
"Just change the option in the web.config"
"Where is it?"
"Under 'AppSettings.'"
"Ugh ... there's so much junk in that file."
The built in profiler and historical debugger!
The 'Navigate To' window (Ctrl+,) is fantastic. Eclipse has something similar, and I've always thought Visual Studio needed it. Now if they would just add a 'Collapse All' button to the Solution Explorer...
One-click web publishing will be handy.
Favorite feature? Requiring 4 gigs of RAM to run it's bloat.
I liked many features
Deployment
Gated checkin
Parallel Programming
Faster debugging
Separate debugger for x86 and x64
These are just few.... The more you explore VS2010 the more you will get. Try to go through the videos by microsoft.
Thanks,
Sunil Agarwal
My dev environment now consists of:
vc# express / v web dev express
NUnit
Tortoise for Subversion
SqlYog for MySql
Custom automated copy/paste deployment
I'd like to use:
TestDriven.NET (looked at pex too and it seems interesting)
VisualSVN or AnkhSVN
Not sure if VS will have integrated control of mysql.
Deployment projects
Just to make things quicker and easier on myself... but is it worth it to pay out the $250 for a VS license (note: my employer is footing the bill, but try not to let that alter your judgement too much).
Visual Studio 2008 Standard has everything a traditional developer needs.
I use Professional at work and Standard at home (which I bought with the Expression Studio package - damn good deal). Unless you're wanting multi-process stuff, Std is perfectly adequate. I have mine using Silverlight Tools, and it "talks to" Blend and VisualSVN (MUCH better than AnkhSVN) perfectly well. It works with database servers (but doesn't debug MS-SQL), I imagine you'd have to get a MySQL provider for this element to work - which I guess you'd need anyway if you're working in MySQL on .NET.
Since your employer is paying for it, I assume this is for business purposes. Therefore, the question is whether you're more valuable to him with VS 2008 standard or $250?
Assuming you're spending a lot of time developing, the answer is almost certainly yes. If you make $50,000 a year, spend half your time developing, and the standard version improves your efficiency by 1%, that's a one-year break-even. (Actually better than that; if you make $50K a year you cost your employer more like $70K-$100K, depending on circumstances and accounting.)
It's almost always worthwhile to buy good tools for your workers, and software development tools are usually very inexpensive compared to software tools for other professions.
If you were developing at home, it would be a more difficult and subjective question, but since you're programming to generate revenue for somebody it's a question of dollars, and the dollars are overwhelmingly in favor of spending the money.
Bear in mind that you can buy 'upgrade' editions of VS and upgrade from the Express versions (or even Eclipse). So the list price you'd be looking at is USD199, with the real price more like USD160.
Given that it's a price vs features trade-off, this might be useful.
My personal advice would be not to mess about with toy freebie editions if you're trying to earn money for yourself or anyone else.
It depends on the application you'll create. The express edition won't let you combine different projects of different type in one solution. With a Visual Studio Professional you'll be able to debug an assembly from a C# class with another project within your web application.
If your project need only to be in one type of language than express is ok.
But I agree, if you will make money, a license is the way to go.
Yes. Without at least VS Standard, you can't use all the cool add-ins that make Visual Studio so powerful.
The express versions also do not allow you to create windows services - I changed to professional and now I can do that. You can still do it in express, however, you have to set up the project manually and know a little bit more about what you are doing.
I'd suggest that you wait until VS 2010 comes out, as there are so many new improvements, like context sensitive help... was completely revamped. Hold in there!
I would suggest going the route of purchasing the VS license and then going out and getting reshaper from jetbrains.com
Reshaper has built in unit test, refactoring, code completion, templates, ...
along with that you could use AnkhSVN as it is free, personally I have not found Visual SVN is worth the cost at even $50.
Basically what the title says. I am looking to install the Visual Studio 2010 Beta for compiling personal C++ projects. I haven't made it through the tutorial for setting things up, but do I need the Server part of the program if I don't plan on doing any team projects?
Thanks.
Edit: Well it looks like I can't install the Team Foundation Server anyways without downloading a bunch of other crap. Will the rest of it install without it?
Team Foundation Server is for source control, data collection, reporting, and project tracking. To connect to the server you need the Team Explorer extension installed on your Visual Studio and get a client access license.
I guess you don't need to connect to a server to develop personal projects. For a comparison of Visual C++ 2010 editions, see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hs24szh9(VS.100).aspx.
You don't need TFS 2010 for your personal projects.
1) No, you don't need it.
Unless you really want all the TFS features, you'll be installing masses of stuff for no real gain. Having said that, if you want to use source control, profiling, code analysis and those sort of handy things, it would be one way to achieve this - though you'd probably still be better off with a couple of specific third party tools than the whole TFS install if you only want a few of these tools.
2) No, you don't need to install all the bits to make it work.
Unless something has changed a lot with 2010, the basic VSTS install is more or less the same as the Pro version of VS - and then you install the Team Explorer on top to gain the TFS specific client-side extensions.
In fact, you can go much further by doing a custom install and turning off a lot of stuff that you don't want (VS includes a load of stuff for targetting platforms you will probably never see with languages you may not have even heard of :-). That said, unless disk space is a major concern, it's easier and safer to just go for a standard install, because that is always going to be the best tested configuration - once you start removing bits there is a tendency for odd little things to stop working properly.
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Closed 10 years ago.
Can anyone recommend any good add-ons or plugins for Microsoft Visual Studio?
Freebies are preferred, but if it is worth the cost then that's fine.
SmartPaster - (FREE) Copy/Paste code generator for strings
AnkhSvn - (FREE) SVN Source Control Integration for VS.NET
VisualSVN Server - (FREE) Source Control
ReSharper - IDE enhancement that helps with refactoring and productivity
CodeRush - Code gen macros on steroids
Refactor - Code refactoring aid
CodeMaid (FREE) - Code cleanup, organization and complexity analysis
CodeSmith - Code Generator
GhostDoc - (FREE) Simple code commenting tool
DXCore (FREE) and its many awesome plugins: DxCore Community Plugins, CR_Documentor, CodeStyleEnforcer, RedGreen
TestDriven.Net - (FREE/PAY) Unit Testing Aid
Reflector - (PAY) Feature rich .Net Disassembler Reflector AddIn's
Web Deployment Projects - Provides additional functionality to build and deploy Web sites and Web applications (source).
StudioTools - (FREE) Navigation assistant, code metrics tool, incremental search, file explorer in visual studio and tear off editor windows. Moved from old site (archive.org) to new site and discontinued.
Not free, but ReSharper is definitely one recommendation.
Whole Tomato's Visual Assist X. I absolutely swear by it. I would like to see a better plug in for Lint than Visual Lint by Riverblade, but since that will eventually be moved onto the build server I don't mind running it every couple of days manually.
PowerCommands is a Microsoft-created plugin that offers a variety of new features that one would think probably should have been in Visual Studio in the first place.
These include
Copying/Pasting project references!
"Open Containing Folder" to jump straight to the hard-drive location of a file or project
Automatic reorganizig and sorting of using statements
"Open Command Prompt Here" to open a command prompt in any of your project folders.
Collapse Projects
RockScroll is awesome, and free.
Addendum
As #Andrei points out, MetalScroll is a better alternative. It's Open Source, and corrects some annoying things about RS.
I'm a big fan of CodeRush and Refactor! Pro by DevExpress. I've been using them for a number of years, and without a doubt it makes me a faster developer. Also, both are built on a free framework called DXCore that allows you to develop your own plug-ins for Visual Studio, and the sky is the limit there...
Resharper
Resharper MbUnit Test Runner Add-On
SQL Prompt for Database Projects (works inside your SQL Management Studio as well)
Ankh SVN 2.0+ for free SVN support (v1.x pales in comparison)
TeamCity plug-in to monitor your builds, personal builds, and bug tracking
I find Ghost Doc to be very useful.
GhostDoc is a free add-in for Visual Studio that automatically generates XML
documentation comments for C#. Either by using existing documentation inherited
from base classes or implemented interfaces, or by deducing comments from
name and type of e.g. methods, properties or parameters.
If you use SVN for source control, definitely get VisualSVN. It enables TortoiseSVN interactions from within the Visual Studio IDE.
I also echo the Resharper comment. Retail price is a little steep, but if you're a student or otherwise educationally affiliated, it's actually pretty cheap.
+1 Visual Assist.
It's unfortunate that you need a plugin to get really good intellisense but it's definitely worth paying for.
LinqPad is great for testing linq to objects/xml/sql. Free download.
What about IncrediBuild? This is a nice distributed build system with visual studio integration.
Clipboard Manager
Maintains your clipboard data through removal of lines, a few other nice items but that one alone makes me happy.
Regionerate
While some have problems with regions I think if you use them, this tool is for you. Automatically region'izes your code into appropriate region blocks. Fully configurable for custom items etc.
VSCommands 2010
from the website:
Latest version supports:
Manage Reference Paths
Prevent accidental Drag & Drop in Solution Explorer
Prevent accidental linked file delete
Apply Fix (automatically fix build errors/warnings)
Open PowerShell
Show Assembly Details
Create Code Contract
Cancel Build when first project fails
Debug Output - custom formatting
Build Output - custom formatting
Search Output - custom formatting
Configure WPF Rendering
Configure Fusion Logs
Configure IE for debugging
Locate Source File
Thumbnails in IDE Navigator
Extended support for xaml, aspx, css, js and html files
Disable Ctrl + Mouse Wheel Zoom
Zoom to Mouse Pointer
Configurability
Attach to local IIS
Copy Full Path
Build Startup Projects
Open Command Prompt
Search Online
Build Statistics
Group linked items
Copy/Paste Reference
Copy/Paste as Link
Collapse Solution
Group items directly from user interface (DependantUpon)
Open In Expression Blend
Locate in Solution
Edit Project File
Edit Solution File
Show All Files
and others, so try it now!
http://trolltech.com/products/qt/">Qt Cross-Platform Application Framework
Qt is a cross-platform application framework for desktop and embedded development. It includes an intuitive API and a rich C++ class library, integrated tools for GUI development and internationalization, and support for Java™ and C++ development
They have a plug-in for Visual Studio that costs a bit of money, but it is worth every penny.
I've been using Visual Assist X for nearly two years now, and I find it so useful I can honestly say that if my employer didn't provide it, I'd have to pay for it myself.
I also use Cool Commands and SlickEdit (the free version), whose File Explorer and Command Spy tools are quite useful.
+1 for Visual Assist
And I will add VLH (Visual Local History) which provides a kind of local source control system. Every time you save a file, the plugin add a copy in the local repository.
ViEmu
vi/vim support inside VS
I found this site called Visual Studio Gallery - it has a lot of visual studio add-ins. I'm browsing it right now and I recommend everyone to visit it.
Consolas font
Free font from MS designed for reading code.
Try MetalScroll!! It's better than Rockscroll
Sonic File Finder for when you have loads of files in your solutions and searching for them in the solution explorer becomes a pain in the wrist.
You might also find DPack interesting. Several tools and enhancements rolled into one neat package.
MZTools is great too.
+1 for CodeRush & Refactor Pro. I've been using CodeRush since its Delphi incarnations, and it's utterly wonderful. The mantra of "Code at the speed of thought" is very close to reality ;)
Microsoft StyleCop provides code style checking for C#, we use it all the time and love it (free)
Axialis IconWorkshop has a Visual Studio add-in which is now free for VS2008 users.
Resharper Yes another vote, because I can't upvote everyone who suggests it :)
Workspace Whiz for C++, I used to live by Workspace Whiz but haven't used it in VS2008 as I hadn't realised there was an update. Will have to give it a try again.
If you're doing C++ coding, hands down Visual Assist.
I love CopySourceAsToHTML as a cool little addin. It's great if you want to copy code blocks for blogging and the like while maintaining your syntax formatting.
I think this is still the url.. you have to do some manual work to set it up with 08.
http://www.jtleigh.com/people/colin/software/CopySourceAsHtml/
For the laptop bound or for those with vi/vim key bindings burned into the brain I would recommend ViEmu.
If you have not tried editing with vi key bindings here is why you may want to try "Why, oh WHY, do those #?#! nutheads use vi?"
AtomineerUtils Pro Documentation - automatic DocXml/Doxygen/JavaDoc/Qt doc-comment generation/updating (similar to GhostDoc, but more powerful & flexible, and supports C#, C++, C++/CLI, C, Java and Visual Basic code).
The style of the generated comments is very configurable, and automatic re-formatting (such as whitespace control and word wrapping) can be optionally applied to keep the comments as readable as possible. It also has many helpers to allow users to read and convert most legacy doc-comments into any of the above formats.
(I'm the author, but I believe the above is an accurate and objective description. This add-in was free when this answer was first added, but to cover the costs of hosting, supporting, and continuing to improve the addin in monthly releases, it is now $10 with a 30-day free trial)
I'm always amazed that more people don't know about/use NDepend - it shows all dependencies at every level of your code, and will even draw pretty box and arrow pictures showing how confused your architecture really is :) Together with TestDriven.Net, I can't imagine working without it any more. Free/cheap.