Is Visual Studio 2010 Express for MVC development? - asp.net-mvc

I'm a little behind the curve and want to do my first serious ASP.NET MVC project.
Are there any significant limitations or drawbacks in using VS 2010 Express for asp.net mvc development?

No there are no limitations. Feel free to use the VS2010 Express version for ASP.NET MVC development. The only thing is that you cannot use the MS Test framework for unit tests and you have to go for something like NUnit which is not necessary a bad thing :-) It's just that you would probably get a little less integration into the IDE with things like Unit Tests, Code Coverage, ... you will have to use third party tools.
There's just one thing to consider and which is of utmost importance before starting a big project: is the time your developers spend on configuring third party tools cheaper than the paid versions of VS2010? In other words how much is your developers time worth? See point 9 of Joel's test.

One disadvantage is that VS Express doesn't support extensions. I use ankhsvn for version control, which can't be used in VS express. However, why don't you just start with Express? You can always switch to a paid version in case you really need it.

The express editions don't support the StartAction for Start External Program should you need it. See MSDN How to: Change the Start Action for Application Debugging.
I've not found an alternative for that case.
Update: Try http://www2.wealth-lab.com/Wiki/kbDebugExpress.ashx step 13 for a suggestion on making MSVC think its debugging your code directly. - Untried.

Related

Is it possible to develop f# using Visual Studio Express 2015 for Desktop?

I have been doing some programming in VB.NET on Visual Studio Express 2015 for Desktop. I recently started looking into F# and like the functional paradigm. As a result I have been trying to find a way to use VSE2015 as my IDE for F#. However, I have hit some problems. First of all, it has been difficult to find out if it is officially supported. The .NET blog suggests that it is (at least version 3.1.1, and the announcement for 4.0 RTM does not mention otherwise), but when I try to install F# Tools (4.0) it seems to choke on some components called VWD and WD(?). 3.1.1 seems to install OK, but then I still can't open any F# projects (fsproj). When I try to install FSharpVSPowerTools, it tells me that my platform is not supported.
Am I trying to do something that is not possible? Have I missed some steps? Any pointers would be appreciated. Thanks.
(Incidentally, I can't use the Community edition because of the licensing restrictions)
Edit: I have tried VS Code, but it works differently from VSE, and I would have to do a whole more learning. In addition, I want to use the VS template for creating XLL's. Edit 2: it has been pointed out that you can reference excel-dna in VS Code, but setting it up is not as straightforward as in VSE2015 (at least for VB.NET and C#.NET.

Anyone would like to share their experience using TFS for Application life cycle management

we are developing white label web and mobile healthcare application for our clients. our product is evolving rapidly and we are supporting existing clients and going to support new clients.
current development workflow involves SVN for source code, requirement documents tracking and mantis for defect tracking.
We are considering VS TFS 2010 based Application life cycle management for our organization. we are hoping that VS TFS 2010 will help us streamline the following
1) Requirements Management
2) Source code Version control
3) Build automation
4) Test management
just wondering is anybody have experience using VS TFS 2010 and would like to share their experiences? is there any worthwhile alternatives to VS TeamSystem?
Preface: This is a personal opinion and I have no ties to Microsoft other than that I develop with their tools for their platform, even though I come across as a Microsoft lover in this answer. (which I am - I love .NET development)
I haven't used TFS 2010, but I HAVE used the 2005 Team Suite including TFS and the Visual Studio versions supported. We didn't move forward to 2008 or 1020 because of how extraordinarily difficult the 2005 version was to install. However, once we got it installed... Loved it. The project management tools were intuitive, and worked well. Setting up builds was a breeze, and it did everything I wanted it to do simply and efficiently.
Since then, however, we've adopted open source tools to do the same type of stuff. As I said, the install of 2005 was a NIGHTMARE and even though the 2010 version of Team Foundation Server installs VERY easily (I tested it myself and demonstrated it to the poor team who helped with the 2005 version just to show them how much better it is), I was unable to convince my team to give it a second chance. They chose to stick with tools that didn't need to be upgraded as often, and that were easier to upgrade when it did need to be done.
If it were just me, I'd be using it. This is one of those things where things just work right, and work together seamlessly. And the available documentation (MSDN, videos, etc) is exhaustive. I doubt any other set of tools is as well-documented.
It's just too bad that the experience with the older version was so bad that nobody else here will give the newer version a fair shake.
As for alternatives - it's not open source, but Atlassian has a nice set of tools. They work well for Java and we're using some of them in our .NET shop. We're using SVN for source control. That's about the only thing I like better about our new environment than I did the Team System.
I started at a new company 2 months back that uses TFS 2010 exclusively (for source control and issue/task tracking), and I haven't been able to get comfortable with it. Previously, I've mainly used SVN for source control and either OnTime (by Axosoft) or Fogbugz (Joel Spolsky) and have loved them both.
I don't know if it's the way they're using TFS (branching is nothing as nice as it was in SVN... and they have Product Backlog Items, Sprint Backlog Items, Bugs, Impediments, and god knows what else to keep track of) but I find it way too convoluted.
I think the tools a developer uses should assist the dev, not get in the way of. If I have to stop and think about how to branch code or assign an issue, then something's wrong with my tools (or I just need to spend more time learning them... which doesn't make sense to me either).

Group project via Team Foundation 2010

We will be doing a database driven logistics system for our Software Analysis and Design course. What we want to do is to work on the project simultaneously so that we can finish the project earlier. Is TFS the right tool for this? If yes, how do we start? What are the steps to set up the TFS? We use VS 2010.
Thanks.
This is a very broad question. TFS is an excellent code repository that does allow for multiple developers to have a centralised code base (which sounds like what you are after).
The first thing you will need of course is the TFS 2010 installation disk and ideally a separate box to install it on. Although the installation and set up can differ slightly on differing OS, i would recommend following the installation guide here and posting any specific and more detailed questions as you come across issues.
Is TFS the right tool for this: Maybe. It may be a bit much overhead to use for a course.
How do you start: If you have Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate, TFS should be included. Everything is installation wizard based, and the install (can) give you everything you need. For what you want, a stand-alone installation using SQL Server Express should be fine.
If you're looking for something lightweight that you all could use for source control, you might want to consider some of the git/svn hosting services (e.g. http://unfuddle.com). There's no direct integration with Visual Studio without a third-party tool, but it will give you the basics of being able to share source code among your team.

Any experiences using SharpDevelop to build an ASP.NET MVC app?

I've always used VS for .NET development, but am just wondering about the alternatives around now. I'm especially interested in use for ASP.NET MVC development. I'm not bothered about any of the visual design aspects of vs, but of course love intellisense and the debugging features.
So, for anyone who has tried SharpDevelop when doing ASP.NET MVC:
How did you get on?
What are the main disadvantages and pain points?
Thanks
By the looks of it, SharpDevelop won't have any problems compiling the project and editing the source...you just won't get any tooling support. From what I've read, that includes aspx files.
Having said that, there does seem to be some movement around an ASP.NET plug-in editor for SharpDevelop here.
Source: http://community.sharpdevelop.net/forums/t/7872.aspx
As an aside, it might to nice to update this question with your experiences if you go down that route... (:
I have used SharpDevelop to create an ASP.Net WebForms project - didn't have too many issues with it. The lack of a visual designer is certainly annoying, but it forces you to think about the source directly, which is a good thing...
I haven't done anything with MVC yet - though from the sounds of things the only thing that's stopping SD at the moment is the tooling. The core developers might have no plans for that, but it's an open source project, so there's nothing stopping an independent effort.
I've gone a very limited amount of work (bug investigation) with the SD code - it seems to me that once you understand their classes it's not bad code... Their failing as a project has been (as it is with most open source efforts) that everyone wants to code, so the documentation gets ignored. No-one likes writing documentation, but clear documentation might have led to far greater participation...
It's a great project, but their decision to ignore the web is madness.
As Kieron said, you'll be able to compile and you'll lack tooling. Unfortunately, #Develop's forum says that they don't plan to directly support it:
ASP.NET support is not planned for SharpDevelop.
The lack of tooling and knowing that it's not coming anytime soon would be the major pain point for me.

Delphi: Moving away from VSS

We are team of few Delphi developers who have been using VSS since years (I know it's a pity), but we don't use any of the advanced features of VCS, so it was working fine in many cases (but some times it was driving me crazy :( ).
The good thing that we have with VSS that we use third-party plug-ins to integrate VSS with Delphi, which is working great, but now when our projects becomes larger, and we would like to move a way from VSS.
I have looked at few other VCS (free and commercial) and found most of them seems be made for Linux guys, and you have to use command line for many admin work(I know I'm windows guy :P).
What I'm looking for the new Version control that it should be easy to use and to maintain and Integrated nicely with Delphi IDE (D2007), or at least have a good UI for the Admins an developers.
Just use SVN and an excellent TortoiseSVN client which integrates with the Windows Explorer.
P.S. Found this question: What is the best set of tools to develop Win32 Delphi applications? and this Delphi IDE/TortoiseSVN integration tools in one of the answers: http://delphiaddinfortortoisesvn.tigris.org/
You should at least take a look at JVCS. It integrates with the Delphi IDE, it's written in Delphi and is open source, and you can choose from a number of databases including Firebird to store your archive in.
There is Team Coherence (http://www.teamcoherence.com/) which is written in Delphi and integrates with the IDE very well. We still use it. Support is patchy though.
Most people seem to be moving to SubVersion though.
Team Coherence is a good choice. They just released a new client, so it looks like support is alive and well.
Unless you are directly heading to SVN (which I wouldn't recommend, if you're thinking on something free go to Git or Mercurial) check Plastic SCM. Find a couple of Delphi specific tutorials here:
http://codicesoftware.blogspot.com/2008/06/branching-and-merging-with-delphi-part.html
http://codicesoftware.blogspot.com/2008/06/branching-and-merging-with-delphi-part_02.html
Our Delphi team recently (last year ) upgraded from VSS to Perforce which is an absolute joy to work with. It is expensive but is well worth it. It makes source code control one of the tools of your trade rather than a chore or a hinderance. It has good GUI tools, a great commandline when required and there is a free Delphi IDE integration available online.
It does take a bit of getting used to, but is worth putting in the effort when you get to the point where you can create branches with abandon and merge changes knowing you dont ever have to worry about losing any changes ever. Its fast, efficient and a pleasure to use.

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