I'm developing an application using Visual C# Express Edition - what is the downside to using the express editions? Are there any limitations on what I can build and release? Will my users be able to tell I'm using the Express Edition?
It won't impact your users, other than by making you less productive by prohibiting add-ons such as ReSharper, TestDriven.NET, etc. and not having some of the built-in features of the commercial editions.
To put it another way: if a word processor didn't have a spell checker, you could still make sure that your documents were spelled correctly, so readers wouldn't know - but it's a lot quicker (usually!) if the tool has it built in...
Here is a huge comparison chart of all versions of Visual Studio, from Express until Team System.
Visual Studio 2008 Product Comparison Guide
No AddIns whatsoever - no ReSharper, no TestDriven.net, no VisualSVN, no nothing
Server Explorer does not support remote databases
No support for solution folders
Express targets only a single Framework - Express 2008 targets .net 3.5 only. (Edit: I was wrong, Express 2008 indeed supports multi-targeting)
Reinstalling Express may require re-registration which is free, but can be shut down any time from Microsoft
Apart from that, it's fine. It uses the same compiler to generate the same code, you just don't get all the Time-Saving tools that VS Professional offers.
The Express debugger does not allow Attach to Process:
The ability to attach the debugger to
an already-running process has also
been removed, hindering scenarios such
as writing Windows services and
re-attaching a debugger under ASP.NET
when errors under the original
debugging session cause breakpoints to
be ignored.
I can live with everything else but that.
Only one language is supported. You can't have an application in C# and a library in C++ in the same solution, for instance.
Also, third party ADO.NET providers are not supported in the designers
See features and tools available with Express editions, Visual Studio Standard and Professional editions, and Visual Studio Tools for Office.
It has no mobile device support - one of the most important features, for me :o)
No MFC visual gui builder for C++.
EDIT
Oops - just read the C# tag. I'll leave this up though in case it comes up in a search for anyone else who might also be using c++
Visual Studio Express can do "most" of what the higher editions can do until you start getting into more advanced things such as trying to install third-party components and get full integration, adding database projects, integration into third-party systems, etc. On that note even Visual Studio Standard lacks several of these features so you'd be looking at Professional (at a minimum) to get a fully robust and feature-rich edition.
The current version of VS Express (I'm writing in 2014) has no diagnostics. No assert method and things like stat monitoring. For me this means I'll use a different version to finish a site because it limits testing and validation. No point in making a sub-par .NET site to be actually used.
Related
I've seen the express edition of visual studio and it looks great, something you wouldn't expect to be free. I'm curious, however, if as a professional developer (C# mostly) can you work with just the express edition ? Is it worth investing the money in the professional or ultimate edition?
Thank you.
As a professional developer is it a must to have a paid version of Visual Studio ?
No.
There's SharpDevelop and there's MonoDevelop which are great and sometimes even greater then VS. You can use whatever you want, as long as you get the job done.
Yes you can work with the Express edition. Nothing in the EULA forbids you to do so.
No, the Express edition is perfectly fine for professional development - both legally and technically. However, you might soon miss some of the features of the professional and higher versions - especially if you're used to them. ;-) Things that come to mind are refactoring (only very basic in VS2010 Express) and the lack of solution folders in project explorer (for solutions consisting of more than a few projects).
Here you can see the difference :
http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/products
In any case framework is the same. The difference is additional product features across different VS versions.
If you are home developer, Express may be good enough. For a company it a must to have something better.
I wanted to do Windows Mobile development but discovered it is not possible in VS Express version. So you must pay for VS if you want to do Windows Mobile development.
I want to start using version control properly for my own personal projects written using Visual Studio 2008 Express Editions. I'm using both Visual C# Express Edition and Visual Web Developer Express Edition.
I'm almost always the only developer on these projects.
I've previously used Subversion with Windows Explorer integration provided by Tortoise SVN and it worked well, but obviously source control and development were two separate operations.
Is there a better version control system for my situation?
Unfortunately, the express edition does not let you use Ankh SVN, which is integrated right into the visual studio interface. I find Tortoise SVN/Subversion to be easiest with express edition.
I've been using the free, single-user version of SourceGear Vault, which works fine as a local repository. Obviously you still need to run the stand-alone client since Express doesn't support add-ins, but it does the job.
Ideally the Express SKUs would support Codeplex natively!
Sign up for a personal Beanstalk account and use that. I've done it and never regretted it. Reliable SVN hosting for a cheap price.
But no, SVN and Tortoise make a pretty great solution for an individual developer.
VisualSVN server offers an easy way into SVN, and is free. Mix that with TortoiseSVN client and you're sorted.
Interestingly, TFS2010 may be interesting to single-devs/small-teams, but we'll see how it unfolds.
I downloaded the team explorer 2005 and when I tried to open the application from source control , I am getting the error .csproj applicaion type is not installed.
How can I resolve this ?
In order to open a .csproj you will need to install a version of Visual Studio that supports .csproj`s. There are free versions, called express SKU's, of Visual Studio that should help you out here. It, and the other express SKU's, are available at the following link
http://www.microsoft.com/express/Windows/
You need a CAL (Client Access License) to run just team explorer and access the TFS functionality to check in and check out and other things. If you're wanting to open the projects and make changes you'll need a license for visual studio. There are many different options there. I don't believe you can use the free one in your situation. Using VS professional you'll still need to get the CAL as well to access TFS but if you get one of the team editions of VS you will have the TFS CAL included.
That's how I understand the licensing for TFS/VS but I'm not an expert and it would probably be best to ask your supplier or microsoft about licensing.
I believe Team Explorer allows one to interface with TFS which includes accessing project documentation, filing bugs, and possibly retrieving source code. However, I believe you need Visual Studio to open up project/solution files (i.e. a developer task).
This might be different with Visual Studio 2010 but that's the sales pitch we heard regarding 2008.
In summary, although you need the specific module that loads C# projects. When you installed Team Explorer, although you have the basic IDE, that module is not loaded (is similar to when you install SQL Server client - you have the Visual Studio IDE, but the only module loaded is the SQL Server management Studio). As some of the other guys suggested, try to install Visual Studio C# Express (you can find more information here - http://www.microsoft.com/express/Windows/ - click on Microsoft® Visual C#® 2008 Express Edition). Notice that later on if you want to use web application, you will need to install the web edition and so forth.
When you install Visual Studio Professional (or Team Suite) most of those modules are installed by default.
I hope this info helps.
Is mono the only route , any specific visual studio like editors that you recommend?
Without meaning to state the obvious and miss the point, if you mean a Mac computer rather than a Mac OS, you could install bootcamp or use parallels to run windows on the Mac and then use Visual Studio (there are also free versions of Visual Studio)
Yeah, mono is really your only option, unless some undergrad somewhere has developed some very experimental thing I don't know about. As for an IDE, well I believe the only thing half way stable that will work right now on Mac OS X is Monodevelop:
http://tirania.org/blog/archive/2008/Feb-07-2.html
I mean, you could run Parallels and develop your code on a Windows VM with Visual Studio and as long as you follow certain guidelines about portability, you could use VS to develop your mono apps. Although, you probably might as well get familiar with Monodevelop. It would be interesting to see if SharpDevelop ever gets ported.
Well, you could also try Silverlight...
Pro:
It is an official Microsoft implementation, so it is more likely to work
Its support for recent stuff like C# 3.0 is much better
Con:
It is browser-only, Silverlight apps do not run standalone
You won't get the whole .NET Class Library, only a subset, so it is somewhat limited
You won't get Visual Studio on a Mac
For IDE, I suggest Eclipse Tools for Microsoft Silverlight (apparently it is Windows-only at the moment) you should use MonoDevelop or SharpDevelop or something like that.
Use Xamarin Studio IDE.
https://xamarin.com/mac
Uses Mono and C#. It has any features you might expect from a modern IDE and combines with XCode for GUI.
Mono is pretty much your only route right now, though there are incessant rumours (I wouldn't give much thought to them, though) that Microsoft is planning to port C# to Mac in the future. I'd be very surprised if that happened, though.
As for IDEs, I can't help there... If I want C#, I stick to Visual Studio (run it through Parallels or BootCamp, if you really want to use VS).
Edit: As Graham points out, there is Cocoa#, but I'd caution that simply because the project has stalled, and there's unlikely to be much future for it. :(
I would go the virtualization route, either Parallels or VMware Fusion. Both will run Windows XP and Visual Studio very well on a modern Mac. Windows has the best tools for .NET and C# development and it only makes to use them, especially when you're just starting out.
Virtual Box is my new favorite and open source (means free) VM software. Don't pay for Parallels. Also, with BootCamp, you have to reboot the machine to switch between Windows and OS X, so Virtual Box is the way to go.
I am trying to write a web application using ASP.NET MVC. I prefer C# as the programming language.
Which IDE is better to use for this purpose? Visual Studio or Visual Web Developer?
What are the features of the IDEs? What are the benefits of using one over the other?
Thanks in advance.
As far as I understand, Visual Web Developer (VWD) is simply a free version of the Visual Studio components necessary to develop web based solutions.
Here is a list of features missing from VWD that you get in a Professional edition of Visual Studio 2008 (VS2008). In short, VWD Express 2005
is Not Extensibile with other add-ons or third party tools
Only supports Web site projects (2005). You cannot add a Class
Library project or a Web Controls
Library project to the solution.
UPDATED - VWD 2008 SP1 also allows Web Application and Class Library Projects in the solution.
Lacks the ability to combine Source Code Control
has no Accessibility checker
Lacks ability for automatic generation of resources for
localization
Cannot attach debugger to a process
has no Native code debugging
The obvious advantage of VWD over VS2008 is that it is free and if you can work smart with it given the missing features, it may be the more pragmatic option for you. If those are features that you can't live without, VS2008 may be a wise investment - you also get all of the features missing from other Express products (Visual Basic 2008, Visual C# 2008, etc).
Take a look at MSDN's comparison chart for Visual Studio 2005. I can't find 2008's but would suspect it to be very similar.
Visual Studio will allow you to integerate with Source control and attached debugging to IIS processes.
As a lone developer knocking up some pure ASP.NET-MVC application then Web Developer would do, for serious work you really need studio.
I think you also lack the ability to publish a site without visual studio, you can certainly run a website, but it won't build the binaries for release, with web developer you have to publish the source to iis.