With the upcoming release of Visual Studio 2010, and all the lovely new features in C# 4.0, I would really love to update from 2008. However, over the last few years, I've managed to get student pricing, or even free versions via the MSDN Academic Alliance.
Now I am no longer a student.
I can't seem to justify the $AU500 pricetag of even the Standard version for what is at the moment, essentially a hobby. As much as I may like for it to be, it just isn't paying the bills.
So, I've read on the Microsoft site that there's no non-commercial clause in the Express version EULA which is good because I do the occasional bit of paid work in it. How much is missing from the Express version though, compared to Professional (what I use currently, and what the 2010 beta is)? Am I likely to go through withdrawal pains as I reach for something that just isn't there?
As far as addons go, the only one I've really played with is VisualSVN, and I can live with just using TortoiseSVN manually. Anything else I should be aware of?
Version comparisons can be found here: (For 2008) (Edit: A far more in depth document can be downloaded from here)
The things that leap out to me as features I wouldn't want to be without are:
Extensibility (no plugins like VisualSVN or Resharper)
Source Code Control
Remote debugging
64-bit compiler support (x64) (from the first link, though the document implies you can make 64bit apps...)
SQL Server 2005 integration
No setup projects (for making MSI installers)
Limited refactoring
Some missing debugging tools (especially the threads window)
If you can live without those (and the other limitations that wouldn't bother me personally) then I guess that you'll get by with Express just fine.
Final thought: Express isn't your only option for free .net development, there is also SharpDevelop which has some advantages (SVN integration, compact framework support) over Express. Though I'm sure it has many limitations too.
Do you do any entrepreneurial work? If you're building the next killer app, check out BizSpark: http://www.microsoft.com/bizspark/
There is new program now available from Microsoft to allow web developers to access the Microsoft Stack similar to the BizSpark program.
It is called Website Spark. VS 2008 Professional Edition and SQL Server 2008 Web Editon are some of the tools available through the program.
Of all things I would probably miss the ability to install extensions. Especially tools like AnkhSVN and TestDriven.NET have grown invaluable to me...
I would seriously consider investing some money in purchasing VS especially if you can get some of that back by using it for jobs.
Maybe switching to Eclipse and Java is an option for you?
EDIT:
By the way, investing a few hundred dollars is common among ex-students. If you were a designer you would probably have to invest $1000 on Adobe software.
You won't be able to have solutions with multiple project types (so no mixed language solutions), or solution folders either.
The main thing that is missing is the ability to build an installer for a solution.
The work-around is to build the installer using some open source installer for .NET, e.g. WiX.
And multi-language solutions are more cumbersome (e.g. mixed C# and VB.NET).
I use the Professional version, but I didn't experience any problems with opening and building my project/solution in the Express Edition.
Related
What is the best process of moving a 200+ MB DotNetNuke site from Professional to Community edition? I am asking the Stackoverflow community since DotNetNuke's standard line is "there is no supported option to switch from PE to CE", or to contact their customer support. However DNN support told a fellow team member tell us that it was not possible to go from Professional to Community, so that was a waste of time.
Based on research there are a couple possibilities for doing this:
Create a new Community Install and then module by module going through and moving it piecemeal. Here - http://www.dnnsoftware.com/forums/forumid/0/threadid/427840/scope/posts
Make backups of the Professional and then install the Community Edition over it, and then go through the web.config and verify that each piece is correct. Here - http://fl2rs.com/downgrading-dotnetnuke-from-professional-to-community-edition/
Which one has the most success of converting DotNetNuke Professional Edition to Community Edition? Also, if you know of a better method please share. Thank you for your time.
Edit
Looking back at this question the only real way to convert a complicated site is to basically rebuild it which I did successfully. And if you are trying to switch from an older version of Professional to a newer version of Community even more so. I would also like to note that going to Community was the correct decision since none of the extra functionality we even used, and their support was never helpful anyway.
I don't think there's a built-in downgrade feature from Professional to Community Edition. As it was noted here in this question, DNN professional and DNN Community Edition share the same codebase. In other words, DNN Pro is DNN CE with some extra built-in extensions such as document manager, impersonate user, different caching, etc. That means 99.9% of modules and skins will run fine in either edition.
Option 1: Seems tedious but would surely work.
Option 2: I would make a backup copy of the site on a development machine and try to do it there before attempting it on the production server. Please post the results for this if you try it.
Good luck.
Option 1 would work, but I'm not sure about Option 2.
I've heard that this is not supported by DNN, but if you open a support ticket, they can walk you through the process.
This is what I found in their support forum: http://www.dnnsoftware.com/answers/cid/414288
If you have troubles with this, I've found DNN on Social Media (G+ and their forums) are more responsive. Sometimes a little prodding is needed.
Late to the party on this one - another option might be to do a portal/site export and then import it into a CE version. It has its own problems with modules that do not support this but if you are HTML content heavy then you can do it.
I'm starting a new project that'd involve using several SDK's including:
Intel Atom Developer SDK
text to speech SDK (Suggestions?)
webcam and augmented reality support of some sort (Suggestions?)
I currently have 2008, but I can also install 2010. Is there any reason to use 2010 for this project?
Visual Studio 2010 offers many C++0x features (auto, decltype, nullptr, lambda, rvalue, static_assert), which is a huge improvement on 2008 which only offered TR1. In addition, there's a strong native ConcRT added in VS2010 that uses all the new features as well, which makes parallel programming on the native side much easier.
The Express editions (being free) don't allow you to run plugins/extensions whereas the paid for versions (of which Ultimate is the top option) do.
The SVOX Text-To-Speech SDK is of very high quality. It's quite expensive though.
From what you write I don't see a reason to upgrade to VS2010.
Sounds like the IDE enhancements will not much matter. What you should look at is whether there are any new features in .NET 4.0 and/or language enhancements that might be useful to you. For example, you might find the expanded support for parallel processing useful.
That would be the only reason to upgrade, IMO.
I really want to upgrade to Visual Studio 2010. But since I do a lot of development for the Pocket PC version of Windows Mobile I cannot. (I develop for a Symbol device that does not support Windows Phone 7, so that is not a option.)
Does any one know any kind of time frame of when Microsoft plans to add support for Smart Device Projects into Visual Studio 2010?
Update: Since this is looking less and less likely without intervention from the users, Please go here and vote for this feature.
Microsoft's current public statement says that, apart from Windows Phone 7 development, there will not be Smart Device Application Development added to Visual Studio 2010.
This obviously raises concerns and has implications for a lot of people, and there are more than a few of us lobbying Microsoft very hard to change that plan and to get them to include some sort of support for Smart Device programming outside of Windows Phone.
I'm hopeful, maybe even optimistic, that their stance will change and that we will get something - even if it's only CF 3.5 targeting actual hardware (i.e. no emulator support) - at some point down the road. Right now they've got all hands on deck trying to get Windows Phone out the door, and until that happens, I wouldn't expect much for resource allocation toward other device features.
So what does that actually mean? In my mind I wouldn't postpone installing VS2010 until they have device support. My guess is it won't happen until early next year at the absolute earliest and realistically I would say mid to late next year if it happens at all. Again, I'm optimistic that it will, but I'm also a realist, so I'm not going to base my business decisions and future on it happening.
Add your support to the following Microsoft Connect Item, it's had quite a bit of interest being the 3rd highest voted suggestion so far.
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/595712/no-support-for-windows-ce-and-compact-framework-development-in-vs2010
Through private conversations I've had with the Customer Advocacy Team at MS it would appear that they are really digging their heels in over this. MS reneged on promises to include Smart Device Framework support in VS2010 early on in the product life cycle.
It is really frustrating because at some point the development tools will fragment and you'll end up with having to maintain separate development, source control and build systems for targeting Windows CE. Who is to say that the tools will even work on future versions of Windows either or even if they will live side by side with future versions of VS. Remember this lack of support also hurts people doing unmanaged code on CE too.
MS is doing a great job of remaining silent here, the silence is already causing people to look at alternative platforms. Without a statement of intent no business is going to invest in Windows CE development without knowing the future of the OS and the tools to develop on it.
All recent Visual Studio versions can be installed side by side. You could upgrade now for desktop development, then when smart device support is rolled out, migrate your projects to VS2010.
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/setupprerelease/thread/fce95ec7-728d-41d1-ab13-74a2fd3a4136
I am forced to have two VS installations side by side. However, another issue - that is causing me more pain is that TFS 2010 doesn't work with VS 2008 - there is a plugin, of course, but there are many issues with it which make it unusable.
So to have source control, I have installed SVN on my machine.
Microsoft once again, has proven that they have no concern for the devs at all. Their tools don't work together, backward compatibility is not there, all of which makes their dev tools a big load of crap.
MS replied to that connect issue:
Hi folks,
In the first quarter of 2013, we plan to provide tooling for Visual
Studio 2012 to create apps for Windows Embedded Compact v.Next. We’ll
be announcing more details in September, including the roadmap for
.NET CF. You can find more details this Fall in the Windows Embedded
Compact website at http://www.windowsembedded.com.
thanks, Doug Turnure Visual Studio PM
How can I create a setup file in visual basic 6 after completion of my programming work?
Front End language is Visual Basic 6,
Backend : MS Access 2003 and
Report Tools : Crystal Report 8.5. Operating System Windows XP.
You need to be a little clearer about some of this.
"Front end/back end" is really terminology and a thought pattern from the MS Access world. It doesn't really apply to VB6 development in any meaningful way unless you're doing something really odd like automating instances of MS Access.
That's about the only place where any "MS Access runtime" comes in as well. If you're actually using Access Reporting you might be doing this though - which seems odd but anything is possible.
See Deploying Complex Microsoft Office Access Runtime-Based Solutions.
Much more likely what you are trying to say is that you have a VB6 program that is using a Jet MDB as an embedded database, and using Crystal Reports 8.5 for reporting.
There should be no issue about any "runtime" for Jet on Windows XP, since Jet 4.0 is shipped as part of the OS even as far back as XP RTM (gold). It is also extremely unlikely that XP will have an MDAC release any older than 2.7 (see Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) release history).
So this leaves you looking for a way to package your VB6 program, any immediate dependencies such as possibly the VB6 runtime components, and the Crystal Reports 8.5 runtime components. You may also have INI files, etc. to bundle in there.
A long, long time ago (1998?) the PDWizard was replaced for most purposes by Visual Studio 6.0 Installer 1.0, and shortly after VSI 1.1 was released (1999?) which made up for a number of ills. This is a pretty basic tool for authoring Windows Installer packages, but it should meet your needs.
Along with this you'll want the recent merge modules for your dependencies: Merge Modules for Service Pack 6 for Visual Basic 6.0 and Visual C++ 6.0.
Then of course you need a merge module for Crystal Reports 8.5, and for this we have to turn to the community because BO didn't start releasing them until CR9. One place to look for this is InstallSite: Seagate Crystal Reports 8. Your real problem is that CR8.5 is ancient.
If this doesn't work out for you, you can always hope that CR8.5 Dev installed on your machine with a "good enough" set of .DEP files (which tell setup authoring tools what subdependencies each dependency has, among other things). This may still let you use VSI 1.1 to succesfully package your application with CR8.5.
You might also look at for-pay packaging tools as already suggested. If desperate enough you might look at some legacy installer technologies too, just in case their communities have addressed your issues.
If I misunderstood and you really do use your VB6 program to automate an instance of the "MS Access 2003 Runtime" you'll probably have to build some hybrid package.
But normal VB programs do not use Access or Access Runtimes to open and work with Jet databases.
You can search google for package and deployment vb6
and you will find millions of links showing in steps how to do that.
The Package & Deployment Wizard is quite primitive and not well-suited to distributing things like the MS Access runtime and Crystal Reports. You'd be better off using one of the more powerful commercial products like InstallShield or Setup Factory. However, these can be pricey (especially InstallShield).
There are also free products like Inno Setup and Nullsoft, but these may not be as easy to use or may lack some important features.
Bob's suggestion of using Visual Studio Installer 1.1 for a Visual Basic 6 application is sound but the Microsoft link he has given for the download does not work. I guess MS thinks nobody needs VB6 anymore. After searching a little I found a 2008 snapshot of MSDN page in web.archive.org complete with setup files:
http://web.archive.org/web/20080513102621/http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/aa718352.aspx
Good suggestions above.
While it might seem unlikely that VB6 app could possibly be in use, there are those of us in the public sector that keep VB6-like apps and even Access apps alive because public dollars are not in a hurry to replace app that still work. A frequent mantra heard in many places is that you leave it alone if it is not broken. Broken enough that is--otherwise baling wire works just fine as long as VB/VBA developers can still found.
I'm afraid my trial of VS 2008 is running out soon, and unless a client pays for it, I might be shelling out some cash for it. I've been looking through the comparison chart to compare VS Professional to Standard, and so far I think I'm safe. I wanted to hear from you on what the most important features are that I would be missing.
Of course, you don't know all the details of my situation - but please just answer based on what you perceive as most important.
Developing Windows Mobile Applications and availability of Database Projects are the showstoppers for me (this applies to Visual Studio 2008).
That's it really. This was a dealbreaker for me though since I wanted to join this mobile application programming contest and was floored when I found out I couldn't do it with Standard.
Otherwise you're fine with Standard edition.
The major downside of the Express Edition is they don't support addons - so you have to make sure your Source Control software has a standalone client.
Remote Debugging, Server Explorer, Compact Development (With Device Emulator). It really does depend on your situation but I don't think you'll be without a paddle in general.
"Attach to remote process" is a must. It lets you debug your application in several virtual (or physical) machines running different versions of Windows without installing Visual Studio on each such machine: you would run Visual Studio on your main development computer and attach it to the instance of your application running on another machine, and debug it that way. That's the only way I debug my applications, I never debug them on the development computer. HTH.
Very little difference between the two. The only one I can think of is remote debugging is not available in standard.
You may want to look into the VS 2008 Express editions. Install them and see if you can do everything you need to using the Express editions. Most things that you need/use are in the Express editions, and they're Free. Also, you can use them for commercial use all you want.
For me OMP support in "standard" is what's nice to have, if your into that