Microsoft Visual Studio
Encyclopedia
Microsoft Visual Studio is an integrated development environment
(IDE) from Microsoft
. It is used to develop console
and graphical user interface
application
s along with Windows Forms
applications, web sites, web application
s, and web service
s in both native code together with managed code
for all platforms supported by Microsoft Windows
, Windows Mobile
, Windows CE
, .NET Framework
, .NET Compact Framework
and Microsoft Silverlight
.
Visual Studio includes a code editor supporting IntelliSense
as well as code refactoring. The integrated debugger
works both as a source-level debugger and a machine-level debugger. Other built-in tools include a forms designer for building GUI
applications, web designer, class designer, and database schema
designer. It accepts plug-ins that enhance the functionality at almost every level—including adding support for source-control systems (like Subversion and Visual SourceSafe) and adding new toolsets like editors and visual designers for domain-specific languages or toolsets for other aspects of the software development lifecycle (like the Team Foundation Server
client: Team Explorer).
Visual Studio supports different programming language
s by means of language services, which allow the code editor and debugger to support (to varying degrees) nearly any programming language, provided a language-specific service exists. Built-in languages include C
/C++
(via Visual C++
), VB.NET (via Visual Basic .NET
), C# (via Visual C#), and F# (as of Visual Studio 2010). Support for other languages such as M
, Python
, and Ruby
among others is available via language services installed separately. It also supports XML
/XSLT
, HTML
/XHTML
, JavaScript
and CSS
. Individual language-specific versions of Visual Studio also exist which provide more limited language services to the user: Microsoft Visual Basic, Visual J#, Visual C#, and Visual C++.
Microsoft provides "Express" editions of its Visual Studio 2010 components Visual Basic, Visual C#, Visual C++, and Visual Web Developer at no cost. Visual Studio 2010, 2008 and 2005 Professional Editions, along with language-specific versions (Visual Basic, C++, C#, J#) of Visual Studio Express 2010 are available for free to students as downloads via Microsoft's DreamSpark
program.
to access the VSPackages. The Visual Studio SDK
also includes the Managed Package Framework (MPF), which is a set of managed
wrappers around the COM-interfaces that allow the Packages to be written in any CLI compliant language. However, MPF does not provide all the functionality exposed by the Visual Studio COM interfaces.
The services can then be consumed for creation of other packages, which add functionality to the Visual Studio IDE.
Support for programming languages is added by using a specific VSPackage called a Language Service. A language service defines various interfaces which the VSPackage implementation can implement to add support for various functionalities. Functionalities that can be added this way include syntax coloring, statement completion, brace matching, parameter information tooltips, member lists and error markers for background compilation. If the interface is implemented, the functionality will be available for the language. Language services are to be implemented on a per-language basis. The implementations can reuse code from the parser or the compiler for the language. Language services can be implemented either in native code or managed code
. For native code, either the native COM interfaces or the Babel Framework (part of Visual Studio SDK) can be used. For managed code, the MPF includes wrappers for writing managed language services.
Visual Studio does not include any source control support built in but it defines two alternative ways for source control systems to integrate with the IDE. A Source Control VSPackage can provide its own customised user interface. In contrast, a source control plugin using the MSSCCI (Microsoft Source Code Control Interface) provides a set of functions that are used to implement various source control functionality, with a standard Visual Studio user interface. MSSCCI was first used to integrate Visual SourceSafe with Visual Studio 6.0 but was later opened up via the Visual Studio SDK. Visual Studio .NET 2002 used MSSCCI 1.1, and Visual Studio .NET 2003 used MSSCCI 1.2. Visual Studio 2005, 2008 and 2010 use MSSCCI Version 1.3, which adds support for rename and delete propagation as well as asynchronous opening.
Visual Studio supports running multiple instances of the environment (each with its own set of VSPackages). The instances use different registry hives
(see MSDN's definition of the term "registry hive" in the sense used here) to store their configuration state and are differentiated by their AppId (Application ID). The instances are launched by an AppId-specific .exe that selects the AppId, sets the root hive and launches the IDE. VSPackages registered for one AppId are integrated with other VSPackages for that AppId. The various product editions of Visual Studio are created using the different AppIds. The Visual Studio Express edition products are installed with their own AppIds, but the Standard, Professional and Team Suite
products share the same AppId. Consequently, one can install the Express editions side-by-side with other editions, unlike the other editions which update the same installation. The professional edition includes a superset of the VSPackages in the standard edition and the team suite includes a superset of the VSPackages in both other editions. The AppId system is leveraged by the Visual Studio Shell in Visual Studio 2008.
, includes a code editor that supports syntax highlighting
and code completion
using IntelliSense
for not only variables
, functions
and methods
but also language constructs like loops and queries
. IntelliSense is supported for the included languages, as well as for XML
and for Cascading Style Sheets
and JavaScript
when developing web sites and web application
s. Autocomplete suggestions are popped up in a modeless list box, overlaid on top of the code editor. In Visual Studio 2008 onwards, it can be made temporarily semi-transparent to see the code obstructed by it. The code editor is used for all supported languages.
The Visual Studio code editor also supports setting bookmarks in code for quick navigation. Other navigational aids include collapsing code blocks and incremental search, in addition to normal text search and regex
search. The code editor also includes a multi-item clipboard
and a task list. The code editor supports code snippets, which are saved templates for repetitive code and can be inserted into code and customized for the project being worked on. A management tool for code snippets is built in as well. These tools are surfaced as floating windows which can be set to automatically hide when unused or docked to the side of the screen. The Visual Studio code editor also supports code refactoring including parameter reordering, variable and method renaming, interface extraction and encapsulation of class members inside properties, among others.
Visual Studio features background compilation (also called incremental compilation). As code is being written, Visual Studio compiles it in the background in order to provide feedback about syntax and compilation errors, which are flagged with a red wavy underline. Warnings are marked with a green underline. Background compilation does not generate executable code, since it requires a different compiler than the one used to generate executable code. Background compilation was initially introduced with Microsoft Visual Basic but has now been expanded for all included languages.
that works both as a source-level debugger and as a machine-level debugger. It works with both managed code
as well as native code and can be used for debugging applications written in any language supported by Visual Studio. In addition, it can also attach to running processes and monitor and debug those processes. If source code for the running process is available, it displays the code as it is being run. If source code is not available, it can show the disassembly. The Visual Studio debugger can also create memory dumps as well as load them later for debugging. Multi-threaded programs are also supported. The debugger can be configured to be launched when an application running outside the Visual Studio environment crashes.
The debugger allows setting breakpoints
(which allow execution to be stopped temporarily at a certain position) and watches (which monitor the values of variables as the execution progresses). Breakpoints can be conditional, meaning they get triggered when the condition is met. Code can be stepped over
, i.e., run one line (of source code) at a time. It can either step into functions to debug inside it, or step over it, i.e., the execution of the function body isn't available for manual inspection. The debugger supports Edit and Continue, i.e., it allows code to be edited as it is being debugged (32 bit only; not supported in 64 bit). When debugging, if the mouse pointer hovers over any variable, its current value is displayed in a tooltip ("data tooltips"), where it can also be modified if desired. During coding, the Visual Studio debugger lets certain functions be invoked manually from the
Windows Forms Designer: The Windows Forms designer is used to build GUI
applications using Windows Forms. Layout can be controlled by housing the controls inside other containers or locking them to the side of the form. Controls that display data (like textbox, list box, grid view, etc.) can be bound
to data sources like database
s or queries
. Data-bound controls can be created by dragging items from the Data Sources window onto a design surface. The UI is linked with code using an event-driven programming
model. The designer generates either C# or VB.NET code for the application.
WPF Designer: The WPF designer, codenamed Cider, was introduced with Visual Studio 2008. Like the Windows Forms designer it supports the drag and drop metaphor. It is used to author user interface
s targeting Windows Presentation Foundation
. It supports all WPF functionality including data binding
and automatic layout management. It generates XAML
code for the UI. The generated XAML
file is compatible with Microsoft Expression Design
, the designer-oriented product. The XAML code is linked with code using a code-behind model.
Web designer/development: Visual Studio also includes a web-site editor and designer that allows web pages to be authored by dragging and dropping widgets. It is used for developing ASP.NET
applications and supports HTML
, CSS
and JavaScript
. It uses a code-behind model to link with ASP.NET code. From Visual Studio 2008 onwards, the layout engine used by the web designer is shared with Microsoft Expression Web
. There is also ASP.NET MVC support for MVC technology as a separate download and ASP.NET Dynamic Data
project available from Microsoft
Class designer: The Class Designer is used to author and edit the classes (including its members and their access) using UML
modeling. The Class Designer can generate C# and VB.NET code outlines for the classes and methods. It can also generate class diagrams from hand-written classes.
Data designer: The data designer can be used to graphically edit database schema
s, including typed tables, primary and foreign keys and constraints. It can also be used to design queries from the graphical view.
Mapping designer: From Visual Studio 2008 onwards, the mapping designer is used by LINQ to SQL
to design the mapping
between database schema
s and the classes that encapsulate the data. The new solution from ORM approach, ADO.NET Entity Framework
, replaces and improves the old technology.
Properties Editor: The Properties Editor tool is used to edit properties in a GUI pane inside Visual Studio. It lists all available properties (both read-only and those which can be set) for all objects including classes, forms, web pages and other items.
Object Browser: The Object Browser is a namespace
and class library browser for Microsoft .NET. It can be used to browse the namespaces (which are arranged hierarchically) in managed
assemblies
. The hierarchy may or may not reflect the organization in the file system.
Solution Explorer: In Visual Studio parlance, a solution is a set of code files and other resources that are used to build an application. The files in a solution are arranged hierarchically, which might or might not reflect the organization in the file system. The Solution Explorer is used to manage and browse the files in a solution.
Team Explorer: Team Explorer is used to integrate the capabilities of Team Foundation Server
, the Revision Control System
into the IDE (and the basis for Microsoft's CodePlex hosting environment for open source projects). In addition to source control it provides the ability to view and manage individual work items (including bugs, tasks and other documents) and to browse TFS
statistics. It is included as part of a TFS install and is also available as a download for Visual Studio separately Team Explorer is also available as a stand-alone environment solely to access TFS services.
Data Explorer: Data Explorer is used to manage databases on Microsoft SQL Server
instances. It allows creation and alteration of database tables (either by issuing T-SQL commands or by using the Data designer). It can also be used to create queries and stored procedure
s, with the latter in either T-SQL or in managed code
via SQL CLR
. Debugging and IntelliSense
support is available as well.
Server Explorer: The Server Explorer tool is used to manage database connections on an accessible computer. It is also used to browse running Windows Service
s, performance counters, Windows Event Log and message queue
s and use them as a datasource.
Dotfuscator Software Services Community Edition: Visual Studio includes a free 'light' version of PreEmptive Solutions' Dotfuscator
product for code obfuscation and application-size reduction. Starting with Visual Studio 2010, this version of Dotfuscator will include Runtime Intelligence
capabilities that allow authors to gather end-user usage, performance, and stability information from their applications running in production.
Text Generation Framework: Visual Studio includes a full text generation framework called T4
which enables Visual Studio to generate text files from templates either in the IDE or via code.
Visual Studio allows developers to write extensions for Visual Studio to extend its capabilities. These extensions "plug into" Visual Studio and extend its functionality. Extensions come in the form of macros, add-ins, and packages. Macros represent repeatable tasks and actions that developers can record programmatically for saving, replaying, and distributing. Macros, however, cannot implement new commands or create tool windows. They are written using Visual Basic
and are not compiled. Add-Ins provide access to the Visual Studio object model and can interact with the IDE tools. Add-Ins can be used to implement new functionality and can add new tool windows. Add-Ins are plugged in to the IDE via COM
and can be created in any COM-compliant languages. Packages are created using the Visual Studio SDK
and provide the highest level of extensibility. They can create designers and other tools, as well as integrate other programming languages. The Visual Studio SDK provides unmanaged APIs as well as a managed API to accomplish these tasks. However, the managed API isn't as comprehensive as the unmanaged one. Extensions are supported in the Standard (and higher) versions of Visual Studio 2005. Express Editions do not support hosting extensions.
Visual Studio 2008 introduced the Visual Studio Shell that allows for development of a customized version of the IDE. The Visual Studio Shell defines a set of VSPackages that provide the functionality required in any IDE. On top of that, other packages can be added to customize the installation. The Isolated mode of the shell creates a new AppId where the packages are installed. These are to be started with a different executable. It is aimed for development of custom development environments, either for a specific language or a specific scenario. The Integrated mode installs the packages into the AppId of the Professional/Standard/Team System editions, so that the tools integrate into these editions. The Visual Studio Shell is available as a free download.
After the release of Visual Studio 2008, Microsoft created the Visual Studio Gallery. It serves as the central location for posting information about extensions to Visual Studio. Community developers as well as commercial developers can upload information about their extensions to Visual Studio .NET 2002 through Visual Studio 2010. Users of the site can rate and review the extensions to help assess the quality of extensions being posted. RSS feeds to notify users on updates to the site and tagging features are also planned.
: Microsoft Visual C++ is Microsoft
's implementation of the C
and C++
compiler
and associated languages-services and specific tools for integration with the Visual Studio IDE. It can compile either in C mode or C++ mode. For C, it follows the ISO C standard with parts of C99
spec along with MS-specific additions in the form of libraries. For C++, it follows the ANSI C++ spec along with a few C++0x
features. It also supports the C++/CLI
spec to write managed code
, as well as mixed-mode code (a mix of native and managed code
). Microsoft positions Visual C++ for development in native code or in code that contains both native as well as managed components. Visual C++ supports COM
as well as the MFC library. For MFC development, it provides a set of wizards for creating and customizing MFC boilerplate code, and creating GUI applications using MFC. Visual C++ can also use the Visual Studio forms designer to design UI graphically. Visual C++ can also be used with the Windows API
. It also supports the use of intrinsic functions, which are functions recognized by the compiler itself and not implemented as a library. Intrinsic functions are used to expose the SSE
instruction set of modern CPUs. Visual C++ also includes the OpenMP
(version 2.0) spec.
Microsoft Visual C#: Microsoft Visual C#, Microsoft
's implementation of the C# language, targets the .NET Framework, along with the language services that lets the Visual Studio IDE support C# projects. While the language services are a part of Visual Studio, the compiler is available separately as a part of the .NET Framework. The Visual C# 2008 and 2010 compilers support versions 3.0 and 4.0 of the C# language specifications, respectively. Visual C# supports the Visual Studio Class designer, Forms designer, and Data designer among others.
Microsoft Visual Basic
: Microsoft Visual Basic is Microsoft
's implementation of the VB.NET language and associated tools and language services. It was introduced with Visual Studio .NET (2002). Microsoft has positioned Visual Basic for Rapid Application Development
. Visual Basic can be used to author both console applications as well as GUI applications. Like Visual C#, Visual Basic also supports the Visual Studio Class designer, Forms designer, and Data designer among others. Like C#, the VB.NET compiler is also available as a part of .NET Framework, but the language services that let VB.NET projects be developed with Visual Studio, are available as a part of the latter.
Microsoft Visual Web Developer: Microsoft Visual Web Developer is used to create web sites, web application
s and web service
s using ASP.NET. Either C# or VB.NET languages can be used. Visual Web Developer can use the Visual Studio Web Designer to graphically design web page layouts.
Team Foundation Server
: Included only with Visual Studio Team System
, Team Foundation Server is intended for collaborative software development
projects and acts as the server-side backend providing source control, data collection, reporting, and project-tracking functionality. It also includes the Team Explorer, the client tool for TFS services, which is integrated inside Visual Studio Team System.
: Visual FoxPro is a data-centric object-oriented and procedural
programming language
produced by Microsoft
. It derives from FoxPro
(originally known as FoxBASE) which was developed by Fox Software beginning in 1984. Visual FoxPro is tightly integrated with its own relational database engine, which extends FoxPro's xBase capabilities to support SQL
queries and data manipulation. Visual FoxPro is a full-featured, dynamic programming language
that does not require the use of an additional general-purpose programming environment. Microsoft announced in 2007 that Visual FoxPro has been discontinued after version 9 Service Pack 2, but will remain supported until 2015.
Visual SourceSafe: Microsoft Visual SourceSafe is a source control software package oriented towards small software-development projects. The SourceSafe database is a multi-user, multi-process file-system database, using the Windows file system database primitives to provide locking and sharing support. All versions are multi-user, using SMB
(file server) networking. However, with Visual SourceSafe 2005, other client–server modes were added, Lan Booster and VSS Internet (which used HTTP/HTTPS
). Visual SourceSafe 6.0 was available as a stand-alone product and was included with Visual Studio 6.0, and other products such as Office Developer Edition. Visual SourceSafe 2005 was available as a stand-alone product and included with the 2005 Team Suite. Team Foundation Server
has superseded VSS as Microsoft's recommended platform for source control.
Microsoft Visual J++
/Microsoft Visual J#: Microsoft Visual J++ was Microsoft
's implementation of the Java
language (with Microsoft-specific extensions) and associated language services. It was discontinued as a result of litigation from Sun Microsystems
, and the technology was recycled into Visual J#, Microsoft's Java compiler for .NET Framework. J# was available with Visual Studio 2005 but has been discontinued in Visual Studio 2008.
Visual InterDev
: Visual InterDev was used to create web applications using Microsoft Active Server Pages
(ASP) technologies. It supports code completion and includes database
server management tools. It has been replaced with Microsoft Visual Web Developer.
are a set of free lightweight individual IDEs which are provided as stripped-down versions of the Visual Studio IDE on a per-platform basis or per-language basis, i.e., it installs the development tools for the supported platforms (web, Windows, phone) or supported development languages (VB, C#) onto individual Visual Studio Shell AppIds. It includes only a small set of tools as compared to the other systems. It does not include support for plug-ins. x64
compilers are not included in the Visual Studio Express edition IDEs, but are available as part of a Windows Software Development Kit that can be installed separately. Microsoft targets the Express IDEs at students and hobbyists. Express editions do not use the full MSDN Library
but use the MSDN Essentials Library. The languages available as part of the Express IDEs are:
: the user interface runs on Microsoft Silverlight; the logic and data-access tier is built on WCF RIA Services and Entity Framework, hosted in ASP.NET; and the primary data storage supports Microsoft SQL Server Express
, Microsoft SQL Server
and Microsoft SQL Azure. LightSwitch also supports other data sources including Microsoft SharePoint. LightSwitch includes graphical designers for designing entities and entity relationships, entity queries, and UI screens. Business logic may be written in either Visual Basic
or Visual C#. The tool can be installed as a stand-alone SKU or as an integrated add-in to Visual Studio 2010 Professional and higher.
and XSLT
editing, and can create deployment packages that only use ClickOnce
and MSI
. It includes tools like Server Explorer and integration with Microsoft SQL Server
also. Windows Mobile development support was included in Visual Studio 2005 Standard, however, with Visual Studio 2008, it is only available in Professional and higher editions. Windows Phone 7 development support was added to all editions in Visual Studio 2010. Development for Windows Mobile
is no longer supported in Visual Studio 2010; it is superseded by Windows Phone 7
.
is an SDK and an add-in for Visual Studio that includes tools for developing for the Microsoft Office
suite. Previously (for Visual Studio .NET 2003 and Visual Studio 2005) it was a separate SKU that supported only Visual C# and Visual Basic
languages or was included in the Team Suite. With Visual Studio 2008, it is no longer a separate SKU but is included with Professional and higher editions. A separate runtime is required when deploying VSTO solutions.
(ALM) role it is being used for.
provided four role-specific editions are:
The combined functionality of the four Team System Editions is provided in a Team Suite Edition. The Database Edition, codenamed "DataDude", was initially released as a separate edition after Visual Studio 2005's initial release. It is included with Visual Studio 2008 as a separate edition, but Microsoft did roll its functionality into the Premium Edition with Visual Studio 2010.
, thus beginning the VS codenames related to places) in 1997, bundling many of its programming tools together for the first time. Visual Studio 97 came in two editions: Visual Studio Professional and Visual Studio Enterprise, the professional edition has 3 CDs, and the enterprise on 4 CDs. It included Visual Basic 5.0, Visual C++ 5.0 -primarily for Windows programming; Visual J++ 1.1 for Java programming; Visual FoxPro 5.0 for database programming. It introduced Visual InterDev for creating dynamically generated web sites using Active Server Pages. There were two companion CDs that contained the Microsoft Developer Network library
.
Visual Studio 97 was Microsoft's first attempt at using the same development environment for multiple languages. Visual J++, InterDev, and the MSDN Library
had all been using same 'environment', called Developer Studio. Visual C++, Visual Basic and Visual FoxPro used separate environments.
VIsual Studio 97 had further low budget CD versions targeting only one specific programming language at a time, such as Visual C++ v5, or Visual Basic v5.0. Each single programming language included the same Environment and lacked MSDN.
in Colorado), was released in June 1998 and is the last version to run on the Windows 9x
platform. Each version of each language in part also settled to v6.0, including Visual J++ which was prior v1.1, and Visual InterDev at the 1st release. The v6 edition of Microsoft was the core environment for the next four releases to provide programmers with an integrated look-a-like platform. This led Microsoft to transition the development on the platform independent .NET Framework
.
Visual Studio 6.0 was the last version to include the COM-based version of plain Visual Basic language; subsequent 2002 version (in 'Visual Studio 2002' package) included Basic language using the .NET platform. It did not include Visual J++, which Microsoft removed as part of a settlement with Sun Microsystems
that required Microsoft Internet Explorer to not provide support for the Java Virtual Machine Environment
.
Visual Studio 6.0 came in two editions: Professional and Enterprise. The Enterprise edition contained extra features not found in Professional edition, including:
), in February 2002 (the beta version was released via Microsoft Developer Network
in 2001). The biggest change was the introduction of a managed code
development environment using the .NET Framework. Programs developed using .NET are not compiled to machine language (like C++ is, for example) but instead to a format called Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL) or Common Intermediate Language
(CIL). When an CIL application executes, it is compiled while being executed
into the appropriate machine language for the platform it is being executed on, thereby making code portable across several platforms. Programs compiled into CIL can be executed only on platforms which have an implementation of Common Language Infrastructure
. It is possible to run CIL programs in Linux
or Mac OS X
using non-Microsoft .NET implementations like Mono
and DotGNU
.
This was the first version of Visual Studio to require an NT
-based Windows platform. The installer enforces this requirement.
Visual Studio .NET 2002 shipped in four editions: Academic, Professional, Enterprise Developer, and Enterprise Architect. Microsoft introduced C# (C-sharp), a new programming language, that targets .NET. It also introduced the successor to Visual J++ called Visual J#. Visual J# programs use Java's language-syntax. However, unlike Visual J++ programs, Visual J# programs can only target the .NET Framework, not the Java Virtual Machine
that all other Java tools target.
Visual Basic changed drastically to fit the new framework, and the new version was called Visual Basic .NET. Microsoft also added extensions to C++, called Managed Extensions for C++
, so that C++ programmers could create .NET programs.
Visual Studio .NET can produce applications targeting Windows (using the Windows Forms part of the .NET Framework), the Web (using ASP.NET and Web Services) and, with an add-in, portable devices (using the .NET Compact Framework).
The Visual Studio .NET environment was rewritten to partially use .NET. All languages are versions of Visual Studio, it has a cleaner interface and greater cohesiveness. It is also more customizable with tool windows that automatically hide when not in use. While Visual FoxPro 7 started out as part of Visual Studio .NET 2002, and early VS betas allowed debugging inside VFP-based DLLs, it was removed before release to follow its own development track.
The internal version number of Visual Studio .NET 2002 is version 7.0. Microsoft released Service Pack 1 for Visual Studio .NET 2002 in March, 2005.
). It includes an upgrade to the .NET Framework, version 1.1, and is the first release to support developing programs for mobile devices, using ASP.NET or the .NET Compact Framework. The Visual C++ compiler's standards-compliance improved, especially in the area of partial template specialization
. Visual C++ Toolkit 2003 is a free version of the same C++ compiler shipped with Visual Studio .NET 2003 without the IDE, though it is no longer available and the Express Editions have superseded it. The internal version number of Visual Studio .NET 2003 is version 7.1 while the file format version is 8.0.
Visual Studio .NET 2003 shipped in four editions: Academic, Professional, Enterprise Developer, and Enterprise Architect. The Visual Studio .NET 2003 Enterprise Architect edition includes an implementation of Microsoft Visio
2002's modeling technologies, including tools for creating Unified Modeling Language
-based visual representations of an application's architecture, and a powerful Object-Role Modeling (ORM)
and logical database-modeling solution. "Enterprise Templates" were also introduced, to help larger development teams standardize coding styles and enforce policies around component usage and property settings.
Service Pack 1 was released September 13, 2006.
in Puget Sound
), was released online in October 2005 and to retail stores a few weeks later. Microsoft removed the ".NET" moniker from Visual Studio 2005 (as well as every other product with .NET in its name), but it still primarily targets the .NET Framework, which was upgraded to version 2.0. It is the last version available for Windows 2000
and also the last version to be able to target Windows 98
, Windows Me
and Windows NT 4.0
for C++ applications.
Visual Studio 2005's internal version number is 8.0 while the file format version is 9.0. Microsoft released Service Pack 1 for Visual Studio 2005 on 14 December 2006. An additional update for Service Pack 1 that offers Windows Vista compatibility was made available on 3 June 2007.
Visual Studio 2005 was upgraded to support all the new features introduced in .NET Framework 2.0, including generics and ASP.NET 2.0. The IntelliSense
feature in Visual Studio was upgraded for generics and new project types were added to support ASP.NET web services. Visual Studio 2005 also includes a local web server, separate from IIS
, that can host ASP.NET applications during development and testing. It also supports all SQL Server
2005 databases. Database designers were upgraded to support the ADO.NET 2.0
, which is included with .NET Framework 2.0. C++ also got a similar upgrade with the addition of C++/CLI
which is slated to replace the use of Managed C++
. Other new features of Visual Studio 2005 include the "Deployment Designer" which allows application designs to be validated before deployments, an improved environment for web publishing when combined with ASP.NET 2.0 and load testing to see application performance under various sorts of user loads. Starting with the 2005 edition, Visual Studio also added extensive 64-bit support. While the host development environment itself is only available as a 32-bit application, Visual C++ 2005 supports compiling for x86-64
(AMD64 and Intel 64) as well as IA-64 (Itanium
). The Platform SDK included 64-bit compilers and 64-bit versions of the libraries.
Microsoft also announced Visual Studio Tools for Applications
as the successor to Visual Basic for Applications
(VBA) and VSA (Visual Studio for Applications). VSTA 1.0 was released to manufacturing along with Office 2007. It is included with Office 2007 and is also part of the Visual Studio 2005 SDK. VSTA consists of a customized IDE, based on the Visual Studio 2005 IDE, and a runtime that can be embedded in applications to expose its features via the .NET object model. Office 2007 applications continue to integrate with VBA, except for InfoPath 2007 which integrates with VSTA. Version 2.0 of VSTA ( based on Visual Studio 2008) was released in April, 2008. It is significantly different from the first version, including features such as dynamic programming and support for WPF
, WCF
, WF
, LINQ
, and .NET 3.5 Framework.
, also an island in Puget Sound
, like Whidbey for the previous 2005 release), were released to MSDN subscribers on 19 November 2007 alongside .NET Framework 3.5. The source code for the Visual Studio 2008 IDE is available under a shared source
license to some of Microsoft
's partners and ISVs
. Microsoft released Service Pack 1 for Visual Studio 2008 on 11 August 2008. The internal version number of Visual Studio 2008 is version 9.0 while the file format version is 10.0. Visual Studio 2008 is the last version to support targeting Windows 2000
for C++ applications.
Visual Studio 2008 is focused on development of Windows Vista
, 2007 Office system, and Web applications. For visual design, a new Windows Presentation Foundation
visual designer and a new HTML
/CSS
editor influenced by Microsoft Expression Web
are included. J#
is not included. Visual Studio 2008 requires .NET 3.5 Framework and by default configures compiled assemblies to run on .NET Framework 3.5, but it also supports multi-targeting which lets the developers choose which version of the .NET Framework (out of 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, Silverlight CoreCLR or .NET Compact Framework) the assembly runs on. Visual Studio 2008 also includes new code analysis tools, including the new Code Metrics
tool (only in Team Edition and Team Suite Edition). For Visual C++
, Visual Studio adds a new version of Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC 9.0) that adds support for the visual styles and UI controls introduced with Windows Vista
. For native and managed code interoperability, Visual C++ introduces the STL/CLR, which is a port of the C++
Standard Template Library
(STL) containers and algorithms to managed code
. STL/CLR defines STL-like containers, iterator
s and algorithms that work on C++/CLI
managed
objects.
Visual Studio 2008 features include an XAML
-based designer (codenamed Cider), workflow designer, LINQ
to SQL
designer (for defining the type mappings and object encapsulation for SQL Server data), XSLT
debugger, JavaScript
Intellisense
support, JavaScript Debugging support, support for UAC
manifests
, a concurrent build system, among others. It ships with an enhanced set of UI widgets, both for Windows Forms and WPF
. It also includes a multithreaded build engine (MSBuild) to compile multiple source files (and build the executable file) in a project across multiple threads simultaneously. It also includes support for compiling PNG compressed icon
resources
introduced in Windows Vista. An updated XML Schema designer will ship separately some time after the release of Visual Studio 2008.
The Visual Studio debugger
includes features targeting easier debugging of multi-threaded applications. In debugging mode, in the Threads window, which lists all the threads, hovering over a thread will display the stack trace of that thread in tooltips. The threads can directly be named and flagged for easier identification from that window itself. In addition, in the code window, along with indicating the location of the currently executing instruction in the current thread, the currently executing instructions in other threads are also pointed out. The Visual Studio debugger
supports integrated debugging of the .NET 3.5 Framework Base Class Library
(BCL) which can dynamically download the BCL source code and debug symbol
s and allow stepping into the BCL source during debugging. a limited subset of the BCL source is available, with more library support planned for later.
Visual Studio 2010 IDE
has been redesigned which, according to Microsoft
, clears the UI organization and "reduces clutter and complexity." The new IDE better supports multiple document windows and floating tool windows, while offering better multi-monitor support. The IDE shell has been rewritten using the Windows Presentation Foundation
(WPF), whereas the internals have been redesigned using Managed Extensibility Framework
(MEF) that offers more extensibility points than previous versions of the IDE that enabled add-ins to modify the behavior of the IDE.
The new multi-paradigm
ML-variant F#
forms part of Visual Studio 2010; as do M
, the textual modeling language, and Quadrant, the visual model designer, which are a part of the Oslo initiative.
Visual Studio 2010 comes with .NET Framework 4 and supports developing applications targeting Windows 7. It supports IBM DB2
and Oracle
databases, in addition to Microsoft SQL Server
. It has integrated support for developing Microsoft Silverlight
applications, including an interactive designer. Visual Studio 2010 offers several tools to make parallel programming simpler: in addition to the Parallel Extensions for the .NET Framework and the Parallel Patterns Library for native code, Visual Studio 2010 includes tools for debugging parallel applications. The new tools allow the visualization of parallel Tasks and their runtime stack
s. Tools for profiling parallel applications can be used for visualization of thread wait-times and thread migrations across processor cores. Intel and Microsoft have jointly pledged support for a new Concurrency Runtime in Visual Studio 2010
and Intel has launched parallelism support in Parallel Studio as an add-on for Visual Studio.
The Visual Studio 2010 code editor now highlights references; whenever a symbol is selected, all other usages of the symbol are highlighted. It also offers a Quick Search feature to incrementally search
across all symbols in C++, C# and VB.NET projects. Quick Search supports substring matches and camelCase
searches. The Call Hierarchy feature allows the developer to see all the methods that are called from a current method as well as the methods that call the current one. IntelliSense
in Visual Studio supports a consume-first mode which developers can opt into. In this mode, IntelliSense will not auto-complete identifiers; this allows the developer to use undefined identifiers (like variable or method names) and define those later. Visual Studio 2010 can also help in this by automatically defining them, if it can infer their types from usage. Current versions of Visual Studio have a known bug which makes IntelliSense unusable for projects using pure C (not C++).
Visual Studio 2010 features a new Help System replacing the MSDN Library
viewer. The Help System is no longer based on Microsoft Help 2
and does not use Microsoft Document Explorer. Dynamic help containing links to related help topics based on where the developer was in the IDE has been removed in the shipping product, but can be added back using a download from Microsoft.
Visual Studio 2010 no longer supports development for Windows Mobile prior to Windows Phone 7
.
It supports UML
activity diagram, component diagram, (logical) class diagram, sequence diagram, and use case diagram. Visual Studio Ultimate 2010 also includes Test Impact Analysis which provides hints on which test cases are impacted by modifications to the source code, without actually running the test cases. This speeds up testing by avoiding running unnecessary test cases.
Visual Studio Ultimate 2010 also includes a Historical Debugger for managed code
called IntelliTrace. Unlike the current debugger, that records only the currently-active stack, IntelliTrace records all events like prior function calls, method parameters, events, exceptions etc. This allows the code execution to be rewound in case a breakpoint wasn't set where the error occurred. IntelliTrace will cause the application to run slower than the current debugger, and will use more memory as additional data needs to be recorded. Microsoft allows configuration of how much data should be recorded, in effect allowing developers to balance speed of execution and resource usage. The Lab Management component of Visual Studio Ultimate 2010 uses virtualization to create a similar execution environment for testers and developers. The virtual machine
s are tagged with checkpoints which can later be investigated for issues, as well as to reproduce the issue. Visual Studio Ultimate 2010 also includes the capability to record test runs that capture the specific state of the operating environment as well as the precise steps used to run the test. These steps can then be played back to reproduce issues.
(MFC) and C runtime (CRT) included with this release cannot produce software that is compatible with Windows XP except by using native multi-targeting and foregoing the newest libraries, compilers, and headers.
On the 24 August 2011, a blog post by Sumit Kumar, a Program Manager on the Visual C++ team listed some of the features of the upcoming version of the Visual Studio C++ IDE:
. These tools include IDEs, source control, work items, collaboration, metrics, and reporting tools.
Visual Studio Application Lifecycle Management consists of four products:
format for trial use.
Microsoft Visual Studio is an integrated development environment
(IDE) from Microsoft
. It is used to develop console
and graphical user interface
application
s along with Windows Forms
applications, web sites, web application
s, and web service
s in both native code together with managed code
for all platforms supported by Microsoft Windows
, Windows Mobile
, Windows CE
, .NET Framework
, .NET Compact Framework
and Microsoft Silverlight
.
Visual Studio includes a code editor supporting IntelliSense
as well as code refactoring. The integrated debugger
works both as a source-level debugger and a machine-level debugger. Other built-in tools include a forms designer for building GUI
applications, web designer, class designer, and database schema
designer. It accepts plug-ins that enhance the functionality at almost every level—including adding support for source-control systems (like Subversion and Visual SourceSafe) and adding new toolsets like editors and visual designers for domain-specific languages or toolsets for other aspects of the software development lifecycle (like the Team Foundation Server
client: Team Explorer).
Visual Studio supports different programming language
s by means of language services, which allow the code editor and debugger to support (to varying degrees) nearly any programming language, provided a language-specific service exists. Built-in languages include C
/C++
(via Visual C++
), VB.NET (via Visual Basic .NET
), C# (via Visual C#), and F# (as of Visual Studio 2010). Support for other languages such as M
, Python
, and Ruby
among others is available via language services installed separately. It also supports XML
/XSLT
, HTML
/XHTML
, JavaScript
and CSS
. Individual language-specific versions of Visual Studio also exist which provide more limited language services to the user: Microsoft Visual Basic, Visual J#, Visual C#, and Visual C++.
Microsoft provides "Express" editions of its Visual Studio 2010 components Visual Basic, Visual C#, Visual C++, and Visual Web Developer at no cost. Visual Studio 2010, 2008 and 2005 Professional Editions, along with language-specific versions (Visual Basic, C++, C#, J#) of Visual Studio Express 2010 are available for free to students as downloads via Microsoft's DreamSpark
program.
to access the VSPackages. The Visual Studio SDK
also includes the Managed Package Framework (MPF), which is a set of managed
wrappers around the COM-interfaces that allow the Packages to be written in any CLI compliant language. However, MPF does not provide all the functionality exposed by the Visual Studio COM interfaces.
The services can then be consumed for creation of other packages, which add functionality to the Visual Studio IDE.
Support for programming languages is added by using a specific VSPackage called a Language Service. A language service defines various interfaces which the VSPackage implementation can implement to add support for various functionalities. Functionalities that can be added this way include syntax coloring, statement completion, brace matching, parameter information tooltips, member lists and error markers for background compilation. If the interface is implemented, the functionality will be available for the language. Language services are to be implemented on a per-language basis. The implementations can reuse code from the parser or the compiler for the language. Language services can be implemented either in native code or managed code
. For native code, either the native COM interfaces or the Babel Framework (part of Visual Studio SDK) can be used. For managed code, the MPF includes wrappers for writing managed language services.
Visual Studio does not include any source control support built in but it defines two alternative ways for source control systems to integrate with the IDE. A Source Control VSPackage can provide its own customised user interface. In contrast, a source control plugin using the MSSCCI (Microsoft Source Code Control Interface) provides a set of functions that are used to implement various source control functionality, with a standard Visual Studio user interface. MSSCCI was first used to integrate Visual SourceSafe with Visual Studio 6.0 but was later opened up via the Visual Studio SDK. Visual Studio .NET 2002 used MSSCCI 1.1, and Visual Studio .NET 2003 used MSSCCI 1.2. Visual Studio 2005, 2008 and 2010 use MSSCCI Version 1.3, which adds support for rename and delete propagation as well as asynchronous opening.
Visual Studio supports running multiple instances of the environment (each with its own set of VSPackages). The instances use different registry hives
(see MSDN's definition of the term "registry hive" in the sense used here) to store their configuration state and are differentiated by their AppId (Application ID). The instances are launched by an AppId-specific .exe that selects the AppId, sets the root hive and launches the IDE. VSPackages registered for one AppId are integrated with other VSPackages for that AppId. The various product editions of Visual Studio are created using the different AppIds. The Visual Studio Express edition products are installed with their own AppIds, but the Standard, Professional and Team Suite
products share the same AppId. Consequently, one can install the Express editions side-by-side with other editions, unlike the other editions which update the same installation. The professional edition includes a superset of the VSPackages in the standard edition and the team suite includes a superset of the VSPackages in both other editions. The AppId system is leveraged by the Visual Studio Shell in Visual Studio 2008.
, includes a code editor that supports syntax highlighting
and code completion
using IntelliSense
for not only variables
, functions
and methods
but also language constructs like loops and queries
. IntelliSense is supported for the included languages, as well as for XML
and for Cascading Style Sheets
and JavaScript
when developing web sites and web application
s. Autocomplete suggestions are popped up in a modeless list box, overlaid on top of the code editor. In Visual Studio 2008 onwards, it can be made temporarily semi-transparent to see the code obstructed by it. The code editor is used for all supported languages.
The Visual Studio code editor also supports setting bookmarks in code for quick navigation. Other navigational aids include collapsing code blocks and incremental search, in addition to normal text search and regex
search. The code editor also includes a multi-item clipboard
and a task list. The code editor supports code snippets, which are saved templates for repetitive code and can be inserted into code and customized for the project being worked on. A management tool for code snippets is built in as well. These tools are surfaced as floating windows which can be set to automatically hide when unused or docked to the side of the screen. The Visual Studio code editor also supports code refactoring including parameter reordering, variable and method renaming, interface extraction and encapsulation of class members inside properties, among others.
Visual Studio features background compilation (also called incremental compilation). As code is being written, Visual Studio compiles it in the background in order to provide feedback about syntax and compilation errors, which are flagged with a red wavy underline. Warnings are marked with a green underline. Background compilation does not generate executable code, since it requires a different compiler than the one used to generate executable code. Background compilation was initially introduced with Microsoft Visual Basic but has now been expanded for all included languages.
that works both as a source-level debugger and as a machine-level debugger. It works with both managed code
as well as native code and can be used for debugging applications written in any language supported by Visual Studio. In addition, it can also attach to running processes and monitor and debug those processes. If source code for the running process is available, it displays the code as it is being run. If source code is not available, it can show the disassembly. The Visual Studio debugger can also create memory dumps as well as load them later for debugging. Multi-threaded programs are also supported. The debugger can be configured to be launched when an application running outside the Visual Studio environment crashes.
The debugger allows setting breakpoints
(which allow execution to be stopped temporarily at a certain position) and watches (which monitor the values of variables as the execution progresses). Breakpoints can be conditional, meaning they get triggered when the condition is met. Code can be stepped over
, i.e., run one line (of source code) at a time. It can either step into functions to debug inside it, or step over it, i.e., the execution of the function body isn't available for manual inspection. The debugger supports Edit and Continue, i.e., it allows code to be edited as it is being debugged (32 bit only; not supported in 64 bit). When debugging, if the mouse pointer hovers over any variable, its current value is displayed in a tooltip ("data tooltips"), where it can also be modified if desired. During coding, the Visual Studio debugger lets certain functions be invoked manually from the
Windows Forms Designer: The Windows Forms designer is used to build GUI
applications using Windows Forms. Layout can be controlled by housing the controls inside other containers or locking them to the side of the form. Controls that display data (like textbox, list box, grid view, etc.) can be bound
to data sources like database
s or queries
. Data-bound controls can be created by dragging items from the Data Sources window onto a design surface. The UI is linked with code using an event-driven programming
model. The designer generates either C# or VB.NET code for the application.
WPF Designer: The WPF designer, codenamed Cider, was introduced with Visual Studio 2008. Like the Windows Forms designer it supports the drag and drop metaphor. It is used to author user interface
s targeting Windows Presentation Foundation
. It supports all WPF functionality including data binding
and automatic layout management. It generates XAML
code for the UI. The generated XAML
file is compatible with Microsoft Expression Design
, the designer-oriented product. The XAML code is linked with code using a code-behind model.
Web designer/development: Visual Studio also includes a web-site editor and designer that allows web pages to be authored by dragging and dropping widgets. It is used for developing ASP.NET
applications and supports HTML
, CSS
and JavaScript
. It uses a code-behind model to link with ASP.NET code. From Visual Studio 2008 onwards, the layout engine used by the web designer is shared with Microsoft Expression Web
. There is also ASP.NET MVC support for MVC technology as a separate download and ASP.NET Dynamic Data
project available from Microsoft
Class designer: The Class Designer is used to author and edit the classes (including its members and their access) using UML
modeling. The Class Designer can generate C# and VB.NET code outlines for the classes and methods. It can also generate class diagrams from hand-written classes.
Data designer: The data designer can be used to graphically edit database schema
s, including typed tables, primary and foreign keys and constraints. It can also be used to design queries from the graphical view.
Mapping designer: From Visual Studio 2008 onwards, the mapping designer is used by LINQ to SQL
to design the mapping
between database schema
s and the classes that encapsulate the data. The new solution from ORM approach, ADO.NET Entity Framework
, replaces and improves the old technology.
Properties Editor: The Properties Editor tool is used to edit properties in a GUI pane inside Visual Studio. It lists all available properties (both read-only and those which can be set) for all objects including classes, forms, web pages and other items.
Object Browser: The Object Browser is a namespace
and class library browser for Microsoft .NET. It can be used to browse the namespaces (which are arranged hierarchically) in managed
assemblies
. The hierarchy may or may not reflect the organization in the file system.
Solution Explorer: In Visual Studio parlance, a solution is a set of code files and other resources that are used to build an application. The files in a solution are arranged hierarchically, which might or might not reflect the organization in the file system. The Solution Explorer is used to manage and browse the files in a solution.
Team Explorer: Team Explorer is used to integrate the capabilities of Team Foundation Server
, the Revision Control System
into the IDE (and the basis for Microsoft's CodePlex hosting environment for open source projects). In addition to source control it provides the ability to view and manage individual work items (including bugs, tasks and other documents) and to browse TFS
statistics. It is included as part of a TFS install and is also available as a download for Visual Studio separately Team Explorer is also available as a stand-alone environment solely to access TFS services.
Data Explorer: Data Explorer is used to manage databases on Microsoft SQL Server
instances. It allows creation and alteration of database tables (either by issuing T-SQL commands or by using the Data designer). It can also be used to create queries and stored procedure
s, with the latter in either T-SQL or in managed code
via SQL CLR
. Debugging and IntelliSense
support is available as well.
Server Explorer: The Server Explorer tool is used to manage database connections on an accessible computer. It is also used to browse running Windows Service
s, performance counters, Windows Event Log and message queue
s and use them as a datasource.
Dotfuscator Software Services Community Edition: Visual Studio includes a free 'light' version of PreEmptive Solutions' Dotfuscator
product for code obfuscation and application-size reduction. Starting with Visual Studio 2010, this version of Dotfuscator will include Runtime Intelligence
capabilities that allow authors to gather end-user usage, performance, and stability information from their applications running in production.
Text Generation Framework: Visual Studio includes a full text generation framework called T4
which enables Visual Studio to generate text files from templates either in the IDE or via code.
Visual Studio allows developers to write extensions for Visual Studio to extend its capabilities. These extensions "plug into" Visual Studio and extend its functionality. Extensions come in the form of macros, add-ins, and packages. Macros represent repeatable tasks and actions that developers can record programmatically for saving, replaying, and distributing. Macros, however, cannot implement new commands or create tool windows. They are written using Visual Basic
and are not compiled. Add-Ins provide access to the Visual Studio object model and can interact with the IDE tools. Add-Ins can be used to implement new functionality and can add new tool windows. Add-Ins are plugged in to the IDE via COM
and can be created in any COM-compliant languages. Packages are created using the Visual Studio SDK
and provide the highest level of extensibility. They can create designers and other tools, as well as integrate other programming languages. The Visual Studio SDK provides unmanaged APIs as well as a managed API to accomplish these tasks. However, the managed API isn't as comprehensive as the unmanaged one. Extensions are supported in the Standard (and higher) versions of Visual Studio 2005. Express Editions do not support hosting extensions.
Visual Studio 2008 introduced the Visual Studio Shell that allows for development of a customized version of the IDE. The Visual Studio Shell defines a set of VSPackages that provide the functionality required in any IDE. On top of that, other packages can be added to customize the installation. The Isolated mode of the shell creates a new AppId where the packages are installed. These are to be started with a different executable. It is aimed for development of custom development environments, either for a specific language or a specific scenario. The Integrated mode installs the packages into the AppId of the Professional/Standard/Team System editions, so that the tools integrate into these editions. The Visual Studio Shell is available as a free download.
After the release of Visual Studio 2008, Microsoft created the Visual Studio Gallery. It serves as the central location for posting information about extensions to Visual Studio. Community developers as well as commercial developers can upload information about their extensions to Visual Studio .NET 2002 through Visual Studio 2010. Users of the site can rate and review the extensions to help assess the quality of extensions being posted. RSS feeds to notify users on updates to the site and tagging features are also planned.
: Microsoft Visual C++ is Microsoft
's implementation of the C
and C++
compiler
and associated languages-services and specific tools for integration with the Visual Studio IDE. It can compile either in C mode or C++ mode. For C, it follows the ISO C standard with parts of C99
spec along with MS-specific additions in the form of libraries. For C++, it follows the ANSI C++ spec along with a few C++0x
features. It also supports the C++/CLI
spec to write managed code
, as well as mixed-mode code (a mix of native and managed code
). Microsoft positions Visual C++ for development in native code or in code that contains both native as well as managed components. Visual C++ supports COM
as well as the MFC library. For MFC development, it provides a set of wizards for creating and customizing MFC boilerplate code, and creating GUI applications using MFC. Visual C++ can also use the Visual Studio forms designer to design UI graphically. Visual C++ can also be used with the Windows API
. It also supports the use of intrinsic functions, which are functions recognized by the compiler itself and not implemented as a library. Intrinsic functions are used to expose the SSE
instruction set of modern CPUs. Visual C++ also includes the OpenMP
(version 2.0) spec.
Microsoft Visual C#: Microsoft Visual C#, Microsoft
's implementation of the C# language, targets the .NET Framework, along with the language services that lets the Visual Studio IDE support C# projects. While the language services are a part of Visual Studio, the compiler is available separately as a part of the .NET Framework. The Visual C# 2008 and 2010 compilers support versions 3.0 and 4.0 of the C# language specifications, respectively. Visual C# supports the Visual Studio Class designer, Forms designer, and Data designer among others.
Microsoft Visual Basic
: Microsoft Visual Basic is Microsoft
's implementation of the VB.NET language and associated tools and language services. It was introduced with Visual Studio .NET (2002). Microsoft has positioned Visual Basic for Rapid Application Development
. Visual Basic can be used to author both console applications as well as GUI applications. Like Visual C#, Visual Basic also supports the Visual Studio Class designer, Forms designer, and Data designer among others. Like C#, the VB.NET compiler is also available as a part of .NET Framework, but the language services that let VB.NET projects be developed with Visual Studio, are available as a part of the latter.
Microsoft Visual Web Developer: Microsoft Visual Web Developer is used to create web sites, web application
s and web service
s using ASP.NET. Either C# or VB.NET languages can be used. Visual Web Developer can use the Visual Studio Web Designer to graphically design web page layouts.
Team Foundation Server
: Included only with Visual Studio Team System
, Team Foundation Server is intended for collaborative software development
projects and acts as the server-side backend providing source control, data collection, reporting, and project-tracking functionality. It also includes the Team Explorer, the client tool for TFS services, which is integrated inside Visual Studio Team System.
: Visual FoxPro is a data-centric object-oriented and procedural
programming language
produced by Microsoft
. It derives from FoxPro
(originally known as FoxBASE) which was developed by Fox Software beginning in 1984. Visual FoxPro is tightly integrated with its own relational database engine, which extends FoxPro's xBase capabilities to support SQL
queries and data manipulation. Visual FoxPro is a full-featured, dynamic programming language
that does not require the use of an additional general-purpose programming environment. Microsoft announced in 2007 that Visual FoxPro has been discontinued after version 9 Service Pack 2, but will remain supported until 2015.
Visual SourceSafe: Microsoft Visual SourceSafe is a source control software package oriented towards small software-development projects. The SourceSafe database is a multi-user, multi-process file-system database, using the Windows file system database primitives to provide locking and sharing support. All versions are multi-user, using SMB
(file server) networking. However, with Visual SourceSafe 2005, other client–server modes were added, Lan Booster and VSS Internet (which used HTTP/HTTPS
). Visual SourceSafe 6.0 was available as a stand-alone product and was included with Visual Studio 6.0, and other products such as Office Developer Edition. Visual SourceSafe 2005 was available as a stand-alone product and included with the 2005 Team Suite. Team Foundation Server
has superseded VSS as Microsoft's recommended platform for source control.
Microsoft Visual J++
/Microsoft Visual J#: Microsoft Visual J++ was Microsoft
's implementation of the Java
language (with Microsoft-specific extensions) and associated language services. It was discontinued as a result of litigation from Sun Microsystems
, and the technology was recycled into Visual J#, Microsoft's Java compiler for .NET Framework. J# was available with Visual Studio 2005 but has been discontinued in Visual Studio 2008.
Visual InterDev
: Visual InterDev was used to create web applications using Microsoft Active Server Pages
(ASP) technologies. It supports code completion and includes database
server management tools. It has been replaced with Microsoft Visual Web Developer.
are a set of free lightweight individual IDEs which are provided as stripped-down versions of the Visual Studio IDE on a per-platform basis or per-language basis, i.e., it installs the development tools for the supported platforms (web, Windows, phone) or supported development languages (VB, C#) onto individual Visual Studio Shell AppIds. It includes only a small set of tools as compared to the other systems. It does not include support for plug-ins. x64
compilers are not included in the Visual Studio Express edition IDEs, but are available as part of a Windows Software Development Kit that can be installed separately. Microsoft targets the Express IDEs at students and hobbyists. Express editions do not use the full MSDN Library
but use the MSDN Essentials Library. The languages available as part of the Express IDEs are:
: the user interface runs on Microsoft Silverlight; the logic and data-access tier is built on WCF RIA Services and Entity Framework, hosted in ASP.NET; and the primary data storage supports Microsoft SQL Server Express
, Microsoft SQL Server
and Microsoft SQL Azure. LightSwitch also supports other data sources including Microsoft SharePoint. LightSwitch includes graphical designers for designing entities and entity relationships, entity queries, and UI screens. Business logic may be written in either Visual Basic
or Visual C#. The tool can be installed as a stand-alone SKU or as an integrated add-in to Visual Studio 2010 Professional and higher.
and XSLT
editing, and can create deployment packages that only use ClickOnce
and MSI
. It includes tools like Server Explorer and integration with Microsoft SQL Server
also. Windows Mobile development support was included in Visual Studio 2005 Standard, however, with Visual Studio 2008, it is only available in Professional and higher editions. Windows Phone 7 development support was added to all editions in Visual Studio 2010. Development for Windows Mobile
is no longer supported in Visual Studio 2010; it is superseded by Windows Phone 7
.
is an SDK and an add-in for Visual Studio that includes tools for developing for the Microsoft Office
suite. Previously (for Visual Studio .NET 2003 and Visual Studio 2005) it was a separate SKU that supported only Visual C# and Visual Basic
languages or was included in the Team Suite. With Visual Studio 2008, it is no longer a separate SKU but is included with Professional and higher editions. A separate runtime is required when deploying VSTO solutions.
(ALM) role it is being used for.
provided four role-specific editions are:
The combined functionality of the four Team System Editions is provided in a Team Suite Edition. The Database Edition, codenamed "DataDude", was initially released as a separate edition after Visual Studio 2005's initial release. It is included with Visual Studio 2008 as a separate edition, but Microsoft did roll its functionality into the Premium Edition with Visual Studio 2010.
Microsoft first released Visual Studio (codenamed Boston, for the city of the same name
, thus beginning the VS codenames related to places) in 1997, bundling many of its programming tools together for the first time. Visual Studio 97 came in two editions: Visual Studio Professional and Visual Studio Enterprise, the professional edition has 3 CDs, and the enterprise on 4 CDs. It included Visual Basic 5.0, Visual C++ 5.0 -primarily for Windows programming; Visual J++ 1.1 for Java programming; Visual FoxPro 5.0 for database programming. It introduced Visual InterDev for creating dynamically generated web sites using Active Server Pages. There were two companion CDs that contained the Microsoft Developer Network library
.
Visual Studio 97 was Microsoft's first attempt at using the same development environment for multiple languages. Visual J++, InterDev, and the MSDN Library
had all been using same 'environment', called Developer Studio. Visual C++, Visual Basic and Visual FoxPro used separate environments.
VIsual Studio 97 had further low budget CD versions targeting only one specific programming language at a time, such as Visual C++ v5, or Visual Basic v5.0. Each single programming language included the same Environment and lacked MSDN.
in Colorado), was released in June 1998 and is the last version to run on the Windows 9x
platform. Each version of each language in part also settled to v6.0, including Visual J++ which was prior v1.1, and Visual InterDev at the 1st release. The v6 edition of Microsoft was the core environment for the next four releases to provide programmers with an integrated look-a-like platform. This led Microsoft to transition the development on the platform independent .NET Framework
.
Visual Studio 6.0 was the last version to include the COM-based version of plain Visual Basic language; subsequent 2002 version (in 'Visual Studio 2002' package) included Basic language using the .NET platform. It did not include Visual J++, which Microsoft removed as part of a settlement with Sun Microsystems
that required Microsoft Internet Explorer to not provide support for the Java Virtual Machine Environment
.
Visual Studio 6.0 came in two editions: Professional and Enterprise. The Enterprise edition contained extra features not found in Professional edition, including:
), in February 2002 (the beta version was released via Microsoft Developer Network
in 2001). The biggest change was the introduction of a managed code
development environment using the .NET Framework. Programs developed using .NET are not compiled to machine language (like C++ is, for example) but instead to a format called Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL) or Common Intermediate Language
(CIL). When an CIL application executes, it is compiled while being executed
into the appropriate machine language for the platform it is being executed on, thereby making code portable across several platforms. Programs compiled into CIL can be executed only on platforms which have an implementation of Common Language Infrastructure
. It is possible to run CIL programs in Linux
or Mac OS X
using non-Microsoft .NET implementations like Mono
and DotGNU
.
This was the first version of Visual Studio to require an NT
-based Windows platform. The installer enforces this requirement.
Visual Studio .NET 2002 shipped in four editions: Academic, Professional, Enterprise Developer, and Enterprise Architect. Microsoft introduced C# (C-sharp), a new programming language, that targets .NET. It also introduced the successor to Visual J++ called Visual J#. Visual J# programs use Java's language-syntax. However, unlike Visual J++ programs, Visual J# programs can only target the .NET Framework, not the Java Virtual Machine
that all other Java tools target.
Visual Basic changed drastically to fit the new framework, and the new version was called Visual Basic .NET. Microsoft also added extensions to C++, called Managed Extensions for C++
, so that C++ programmers could create .NET programs.
Visual Studio .NET can produce applications targeting Windows (using the Windows Forms part of the .NET Framework), the Web (using ASP.NET and Web Services) and, with an add-in, portable devices (using the .NET Compact Framework).
The Visual Studio .NET environment was rewritten to partially use .NET. All languages are versions of Visual Studio, it has a cleaner interface and greater cohesiveness. It is also more customizable with tool windows that automatically hide when not in use. While Visual FoxPro 7 started out as part of Visual Studio .NET 2002, and early VS betas allowed debugging inside VFP-based DLLs, it was removed before release to follow its own development track.
The internal version number of Visual Studio .NET 2002 is version 7.0. Microsoft released Service Pack 1 for Visual Studio .NET 2002 in March, 2005.
). It includes an upgrade to the .NET Framework, version 1.1, and is the first release to support developing programs for mobile devices, using ASP.NET or the .NET Compact Framework. The Visual C++ compiler's standards-compliance improved, especially in the area of partial template specialization
. Visual C++ Toolkit 2003 is a free version of the same C++ compiler shipped with Visual Studio .NET 2003 without the IDE, though it is no longer available and the Express Editions have superseded it. The internal version number of Visual Studio .NET 2003 is version 7.1 while the file format version is 8.0.
Visual Studio .NET 2003 shipped in four editions: Academic, Professional, Enterprise Developer, and Enterprise Architect. The Visual Studio .NET 2003 Enterprise Architect edition includes an implementation of Microsoft Visio
2002's modeling technologies, including tools for creating Unified Modeling Language
-based visual representations of an application's architecture, and a powerful Object-Role Modeling (ORM)
and logical database-modeling solution. "Enterprise Templates" were also introduced, to help larger development teams standardize coding styles and enforce policies around component usage and property settings.
Service Pack 1 was released September 13, 2006.
in Puget Sound
), was released online in October 2005 and to retail stores a few weeks later. Microsoft removed the ".NET" moniker from Visual Studio 2005 (as well as every other product with .NET in its name), but it still primarily targets the .NET Framework, which was upgraded to version 2.0. It is the last version available for Windows 2000
and also the last version to be able to target Windows 98
, Windows Me
and Windows NT 4.0
for C++ applications.
Visual Studio 2005's internal version number is 8.0 while the file format version is 9.0. Microsoft released Service Pack 1 for Visual Studio 2005 on 14 December 2006. An additional update for Service Pack 1 that offers Windows Vista compatibility was made available on 3 June 2007.
Visual Studio 2005 was upgraded to support all the new features introduced in .NET Framework 2.0, including generics and ASP.NET 2.0. The IntelliSense
feature in Visual Studio was upgraded for generics and new project types were added to support ASP.NET web services. Visual Studio 2005 also includes a local web server, separate from IIS
, that can host ASP.NET applications during development and testing. It also supports all SQL Server
2005 databases. Database designers were upgraded to support the ADO.NET 2.0
, which is included with .NET Framework 2.0. C++ also got a similar upgrade with the addition of C++/CLI
which is slated to replace the use of Managed C++
. Other new features of Visual Studio 2005 include the "Deployment Designer" which allows application designs to be validated before deployments, an improved environment for web publishing when combined with ASP.NET 2.0 and load testing to see application performance under various sorts of user loads. Starting with the 2005 edition, Visual Studio also added extensive 64-bit support. While the host development environment itself is only available as a 32-bit application, Visual C++ 2005 supports compiling for x86-64
(AMD64 and Intel 64) as well as IA-64 (Itanium
). The Platform SDK included 64-bit compilers and 64-bit versions of the libraries.
Microsoft also announced Visual Studio Tools for Applications
as the successor to Visual Basic for Applications
(VBA) and VSA (Visual Studio for Applications). VSTA 1.0 was released to manufacturing along with Office 2007. It is included with Office 2007 and is also part of the Visual Studio 2005 SDK. VSTA consists of a customized IDE, based on the Visual Studio 2005 IDE, and a runtime that can be embedded in applications to expose its features via the .NET object model. Office 2007 applications continue to integrate with VBA, except for InfoPath 2007 which integrates with VSTA. Version 2.0 of VSTA ( based on Visual Studio 2008) was released in April, 2008. It is significantly different from the first version, including features such as dynamic programming and support for WPF
, WCF
, WF
, LINQ
, and .NET 3.5 Framework.
, also an island in Puget Sound
, like Whidbey for the previous 2005 release), were released to MSDN subscribers on 19 November 2007 alongside .NET Framework 3.5. The source code for the Visual Studio 2008 IDE is available under a shared source
license to some of Microsoft
's partners and ISVs
. Microsoft released Service Pack 1 for Visual Studio 2008 on 11 August 2008. The internal version number of Visual Studio 2008 is version 9.0 while the file format version is 10.0. Visual Studio 2008 is the last version to support targeting Windows 2000
for C++ applications.
Visual Studio 2008 is focused on development of Windows Vista
, 2007 Office system, and Web applications. For visual design, a new Windows Presentation Foundation
visual designer and a new HTML
/CSS
editor influenced by Microsoft Expression Web
are included. J#
is not included. Visual Studio 2008 requires .NET 3.5 Framework and by default configures compiled assemblies to run on .NET Framework 3.5, but it also supports multi-targeting which lets the developers choose which version of the .NET Framework (out of 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, Silverlight CoreCLR or .NET Compact Framework) the assembly runs on. Visual Studio 2008 also includes new code analysis tools, including the new Code Metrics
tool (only in Team Edition and Team Suite Edition). For Visual C++
, Visual Studio adds a new version of Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC 9.0) that adds support for the visual styles and UI controls introduced with Windows Vista
. For native and managed code interoperability, Visual C++ introduces the STL/CLR, which is a port of the C++
Standard Template Library
(STL) containers and algorithms to managed code
. STL/CLR defines STL-like containers, iterator
s and algorithms that work on C++/CLI
managed
objects.
Visual Studio 2008 features include an XAML
-based designer (codenamed Cider), workflow designer, LINQ
to SQL
designer (for defining the type mappings and object encapsulation for SQL Server data), XSLT
debugger, JavaScript
Intellisense
support, JavaScript Debugging support, support for UAC
manifests
, a concurrent build system, among others. It ships with an enhanced set of UI widgets, both for Windows Forms and WPF
. It also includes a multithreaded build engine (MSBuild) to compile multiple source files (and build the executable file) in a project across multiple threads simultaneously. It also includes support for compiling PNG compressed icon
resources
introduced in Windows Vista. An updated XML Schema designer will ship separately some time after the release of Visual Studio 2008.
The Visual Studio debugger
includes features targeting easier debugging of multi-threaded applications. In debugging mode, in the Threads window, which lists all the threads, hovering over a thread will display the stack trace of that thread in tooltips. The threads can directly be named and flagged for easier identification from that window itself. In addition, in the code window, along with indicating the location of the currently executing instruction in the current thread, the currently executing instructions in other threads are also pointed out. The Visual Studio debugger
supports integrated debugging of the .NET 3.5 Framework Base Class Library
(BCL) which can dynamically download the BCL source code and debug symbol
s and allow stepping into the BCL source during debugging. a limited subset of the BCL source is available, with more library support planned for later.
Visual Studio 2010 IDE
has been redesigned which, according to Microsoft
, clears the UI organization and "reduces clutter and complexity." The new IDE better supports multiple document windows and floating tool windows, while offering better multi-monitor support. The IDE shell has been rewritten using the Windows Presentation Foundation
(WPF), whereas the internals have been redesigned using Managed Extensibility Framework
(MEF) that offers more extensibility points than previous versions of the IDE that enabled add-ins to modify the behavior of the IDE.
The new multi-paradigm
ML-variant F#
forms part of Visual Studio 2010; as do M
, the textual modeling language, and Quadrant, the visual model designer, which are a part of the Oslo initiative.
Visual Studio 2010 comes with .NET Framework 4 and supports developing applications targeting Windows 7. It supports IBM DB2
and Oracle
databases, in addition to Microsoft SQL Server
. It has integrated support for developing Microsoft Silverlight
applications, including an interactive designer. Visual Studio 2010 offers several tools to make parallel programming simpler: in addition to the Parallel Extensions for the .NET Framework and the Parallel Patterns Library for native code, Visual Studio 2010 includes tools for debugging parallel applications. The new tools allow the visualization of parallel Tasks and their runtime stack
s. Tools for profiling parallel applications can be used for visualization of thread wait-times and thread migrations across processor cores. Intel and Microsoft have jointly pledged support for a new Concurrency Runtime in Visual Studio 2010
and Intel has launched parallelism support in Parallel Studio as an add-on for Visual Studio.
The Visual Studio 2010 code editor now highlights references; whenever a symbol is selected, all other usages of the symbol are highlighted. It also offers a Quick Search feature to incrementally search
across all symbols in C++, C# and VB.NET projects. Quick Search supports substring matches and camelCase
searches. The Call Hierarchy feature allows the developer to see all the methods that are called from a current method as well as the methods that call the current one. IntelliSense
in Visual Studio supports a consume-first mode which developers can opt into. In this mode, IntelliSense will not auto-complete identifiers; this allows the developer to use undefined identifiers (like variable or method names) and define those later. Visual Studio 2010 can also help in this by automatically defining them, if it can infer their types from usage. Current versions of Visual Studio have a known bug which makes IntelliSense unusable for projects using pure C (not C++).
Visual Studio 2010 features a new Help System replacing the MSDN Library
viewer. The Help System is no longer based on Microsoft Help 2
and does not use Microsoft Document Explorer. Dynamic help containing links to related help topics based on where the developer was in the IDE has been removed in the shipping product, but can be added back using a download from Microsoft.
Visual Studio 2010 no longer supports development for Windows Mobile prior to Windows Phone 7
.
It supports UML
activity diagram, component diagram, (logical) class diagram, sequence diagram, and use case diagram. Visual Studio Ultimate 2010 also includes Test Impact Analysis which provides hints on which test cases are impacted by modifications to the source code, without actually running the test cases. This speeds up testing by avoiding running unnecessary test cases.
Visual Studio Ultimate 2010 also includes a Historical Debugger for managed code
called IntelliTrace. Unlike the current debugger, that records only the currently-active stack, IntelliTrace records all events like prior function calls, method parameters, events, exceptions etc. This allows the code execution to be rewound in case a breakpoint wasn't set where the error occurred. IntelliTrace will cause the application to run slower than the current debugger, and will use more memory as additional data needs to be recorded. Microsoft allows configuration of how much data should be recorded, in effect allowing developers to balance speed of execution and resource usage. The Lab Management component of Visual Studio Ultimate 2010 uses virtualization to create a similar execution environment for testers and developers. The virtual machine
s are tagged with checkpoints which can later be investigated for issues, as well as to reproduce the issue. Visual Studio Ultimate 2010 also includes the capability to record test runs that capture the specific state of the operating environment as well as the precise steps used to run the test. These steps can then be played back to reproduce issues.
(MFC) and C runtime (CRT) included with this release cannot produce software that is compatible with Windows XP except by using native multi-targeting and foregoing the newest libraries, compilers, and headers.
On the 24 August 2011, a blog post by Sumit Kumar, a Program Manager on the Visual C++ team listed some of the features of the upcoming version of the Visual Studio C++ IDE:
. These tools include IDEs, source control, work items, collaboration, metrics, and reporting tools.
Visual Studio Application Lifecycle Management consists of four products:
format for trial use.
Microsoft Visual Studio is an integrated development environment
(IDE) from Microsoft
. It is used to develop console
and graphical user interface
application
s along with Windows Forms
applications, web sites, web application
s, and web service
s in both native code together with managed code
for all platforms supported by Microsoft Windows
, Windows Mobile
, Windows CE
, .NET Framework
, .NET Compact Framework
and Microsoft Silverlight
.
Visual Studio includes a code editor supporting IntelliSense
as well as code refactoring. The integrated debugger
works both as a source-level debugger and a machine-level debugger. Other built-in tools include a forms designer for building GUI
applications, web designer, class designer, and database schema
designer. It accepts plug-ins that enhance the functionality at almost every level—including adding support for source-control systems (like Subversion and Visual SourceSafe) and adding new toolsets like editors and visual designers for domain-specific languages or toolsets for other aspects of the software development lifecycle (like the Team Foundation Server
client: Team Explorer).
Visual Studio supports different programming language
s by means of language services, which allow the code editor and debugger to support (to varying degrees) nearly any programming language, provided a language-specific service exists. Built-in languages include C
/C++
(via Visual C++
), VB.NET (via Visual Basic .NET
), C# (via Visual C#), and F# (as of Visual Studio 2010). Support for other languages such as M
, Python
, and Ruby
among others is available via language services installed separately. It also supports XML
/XSLT
, HTML
/XHTML
, JavaScript
and CSS
. Individual language-specific versions of Visual Studio also exist which provide more limited language services to the user: Microsoft Visual Basic, Visual J#, Visual C#, and Visual C++.
Microsoft provides "Express" editions of its Visual Studio 2010 components Visual Basic, Visual C#, Visual C++, and Visual Web Developer at no cost. Visual Studio 2010, 2008 and 2005 Professional Editions, along with language-specific versions (Visual Basic, C++, C#, J#) of Visual Studio Express 2010 are available for free to students as downloads via Microsoft's DreamSpark
program.
to access the VSPackages. The Visual Studio SDK
also includes the Managed Package Framework (MPF), which is a set of managed
wrappers around the COM-interfaces that allow the Packages to be written in any CLI compliant language. However, MPF does not provide all the functionality exposed by the Visual Studio COM interfaces.
The services can then be consumed for creation of other packages, which add functionality to the Visual Studio IDE.
Support for programming languages is added by using a specific VSPackage called a Language Service. A language service defines various interfaces which the VSPackage implementation can implement to add support for various functionalities. Functionalities that can be added this way include syntax coloring, statement completion, brace matching, parameter information tooltips, member lists and error markers for background compilation. If the interface is implemented, the functionality will be available for the language. Language services are to be implemented on a per-language basis. The implementations can reuse code from the parser or the compiler for the language. Language services can be implemented either in native code or managed code
. For native code, either the native COM interfaces or the Babel Framework (part of Visual Studio SDK) can be used. For managed code, the MPF includes wrappers for writing managed language services.
Visual Studio does not include any source control support built in but it defines two alternative ways for source control systems to integrate with the IDE. A Source Control VSPackage can provide its own customised user interface. In contrast, a source control plugin using the MSSCCI (Microsoft Source Code Control Interface) provides a set of functions that are used to implement various source control functionality, with a standard Visual Studio user interface. MSSCCI was first used to integrate Visual SourceSafe with Visual Studio 6.0 but was later opened up via the Visual Studio SDK. Visual Studio .NET 2002 used MSSCCI 1.1, and Visual Studio .NET 2003 used MSSCCI 1.2. Visual Studio 2005, 2008 and 2010 use MSSCCI Version 1.3, which adds support for rename and delete propagation as well as asynchronous opening.
Visual Studio supports running multiple instances of the environment (each with its own set of VSPackages). The instances use different registry hives
(see MSDN's definition of the term "registry hive" in the sense used here) to store their configuration state and are differentiated by their AppId (Application ID). The instances are launched by an AppId-specific .exe that selects the AppId, sets the root hive and launches the IDE. VSPackages registered for one AppId are integrated with other VSPackages for that AppId. The various product editions of Visual Studio are created using the different AppIds. The Visual Studio Express edition products are installed with their own AppIds, but the Standard, Professional and Team Suite
products share the same AppId. Consequently, one can install the Express editions side-by-side with other editions, unlike the other editions which update the same installation. The professional edition includes a superset of the VSPackages in the standard edition and the team suite includes a superset of the VSPackages in both other editions. The AppId system is leveraged by the Visual Studio Shell in Visual Studio 2008.
, includes a code editor that supports syntax highlighting
and code completion
using IntelliSense
for not only variables
, functions
and methods
but also language constructs like loops and queries
. IntelliSense is supported for the included languages, as well as for XML
and for Cascading Style Sheets
and JavaScript
when developing web sites and web application
s. Autocomplete suggestions are popped up in a modeless list box, overlaid on top of the code editor. In Visual Studio 2008 onwards, it can be made temporarily semi-transparent to see the code obstructed by it. The code editor is used for all supported languages.
The Visual Studio code editor also supports setting bookmarks in code for quick navigation. Other navigational aids include collapsing code blocks and incremental search, in addition to normal text search and regex
search. The code editor also includes a multi-item clipboard
and a task list. The code editor supports code snippets, which are saved templates for repetitive code and can be inserted into code and customized for the project being worked on. A management tool for code snippets is built in as well. These tools are surfaced as floating windows which can be set to automatically hide when unused or docked to the side of the screen. The Visual Studio code editor also supports code refactoring including parameter reordering, variable and method renaming, interface extraction and encapsulation of class members inside properties, among others.
Visual Studio features background compilation (also called incremental compilation). As code is being written, Visual Studio compiles it in the background in order to provide feedback about syntax and compilation errors, which are flagged with a red wavy underline. Warnings are marked with a green underline. Background compilation does not generate executable code, since it requires a different compiler than the one used to generate executable code. Background compilation was initially introduced with Microsoft Visual Basic but has now been expanded for all included languages.
that works both as a source-level debugger and as a machine-level debugger. It works with both managed code
as well as native code and can be used for debugging applications written in any language supported by Visual Studio. In addition, it can also attach to running processes and monitor and debug those processes. If source code for the running process is available, it displays the code as it is being run. If source code is not available, it can show the disassembly. The Visual Studio debugger can also create memory dumps as well as load them later for debugging. Multi-threaded programs are also supported. The debugger can be configured to be launched when an application running outside the Visual Studio environment crashes.
The debugger allows setting breakpoints
(which allow execution to be stopped temporarily at a certain position) and watches (which monitor the values of variables as the execution progresses). Breakpoints can be conditional, meaning they get triggered when the condition is met. Code can be stepped over
, i.e., run one line (of source code) at a time. It can either step into functions to debug inside it, or step over it, i.e., the execution of the function body isn't available for manual inspection. The debugger supports Edit and Continue, i.e., it allows code to be edited as it is being debugged (32 bit only; not supported in 64 bit). When debugging, if the mouse pointer hovers over any variable, its current value is displayed in a tooltip ("data tooltips"), where it can also be modified if desired. During coding, the Visual Studio debugger lets certain functions be invoked manually from the
Windows Forms Designer: The Windows Forms designer is used to build GUI
applications using Windows Forms. Layout can be controlled by housing the controls inside other containers or locking them to the side of the form. Controls that display data (like textbox, list box, grid view, etc.) can be bound
to data sources like database
s or queries
. Data-bound controls can be created by dragging items from the Data Sources window onto a design surface. The UI is linked with code using an event-driven programming
model. The designer generates either C# or VB.NET code for the application.
WPF Designer: The WPF designer, codenamed Cider, was introduced with Visual Studio 2008. Like the Windows Forms designer it supports the drag and drop metaphor. It is used to author user interface
s targeting Windows Presentation Foundation
. It supports all WPF functionality including data binding
and automatic layout management. It generates XAML
code for the UI. The generated XAML
file is compatible with Microsoft Expression Design
, the designer-oriented product. The XAML code is linked with code using a code-behind model.
Web designer/development: Visual Studio also includes a web-site editor and designer that allows web pages to be authored by dragging and dropping widgets. It is used for developing ASP.NET
applications and supports HTML
, CSS
and JavaScript
. It uses a code-behind model to link with ASP.NET code. From Visual Studio 2008 onwards, the layout engine used by the web designer is shared with Microsoft Expression Web
. There is also ASP.NET MVC support for MVC technology as a separate download and ASP.NET Dynamic Data
project available from Microsoft
Class designer: The Class Designer is used to author and edit the classes (including its members and their access) using UML
modeling. The Class Designer can generate C# and VB.NET code outlines for the classes and methods. It can also generate class diagrams from hand-written classes.
Data designer: The data designer can be used to graphically edit database schema
s, including typed tables, primary and foreign keys and constraints. It can also be used to design queries from the graphical view.
Mapping designer: From Visual Studio 2008 onwards, the mapping designer is used by LINQ to SQL
to design the mapping
between database schema
s and the classes that encapsulate the data. The new solution from ORM approach, ADO.NET Entity Framework
, replaces and improves the old technology.
Properties Editor: The Properties Editor tool is used to edit properties in a GUI pane inside Visual Studio. It lists all available properties (both read-only and those which can be set) for all objects including classes, forms, web pages and other items.
Object Browser: The Object Browser is a namespace
and class library browser for Microsoft .NET. It can be used to browse the namespaces (which are arranged hierarchically) in managed
assemblies
. The hierarchy may or may not reflect the organization in the file system.
Solution Explorer: In Visual Studio parlance, a solution is a set of code files and other resources that are used to build an application. The files in a solution are arranged hierarchically, which might or might not reflect the organization in the file system. The Solution Explorer is used to manage and browse the files in a solution.
Team Explorer: Team Explorer is used to integrate the capabilities of Team Foundation Server
, the Revision Control System
into the IDE (and the basis for Microsoft's CodePlex hosting environment for open source projects). In addition to source control it provides the ability to view and manage individual work items (including bugs, tasks and other documents) and to browse TFS
statistics. It is included as part of a TFS install and is also available as a download for Visual Studio separately Team Explorer is also available as a stand-alone environment solely to access TFS services.
Data Explorer: Data Explorer is used to manage databases on Microsoft SQL Server
instances. It allows creation and alteration of database tables (either by issuing T-SQL commands or by using the Data designer). It can also be used to create queries and stored procedure
s, with the latter in either T-SQL or in managed code
via SQL CLR
. Debugging and IntelliSense
support is available as well.
Server Explorer: The Server Explorer tool is used to manage database connections on an accessible computer. It is also used to browse running Windows Service
s, performance counters, Windows Event Log and message queue
s and use them as a datasource.
Dotfuscator Software Services Community Edition: Visual Studio includes a free 'light' version of PreEmptive Solutions' Dotfuscator
product for code obfuscation and application-size reduction. Starting with Visual Studio 2010, this version of Dotfuscator will include Runtime Intelligence
capabilities that allow authors to gather end-user usage, performance, and stability information from their applications running in production.
Text Generation Framework: Visual Studio includes a full text generation framework called T4
which enables Visual Studio to generate text files from templates either in the IDE or via code.
Visual Studio allows developers to write extensions for Visual Studio to extend its capabilities. These extensions "plug into" Visual Studio and extend its functionality. Extensions come in the form of macros, add-ins, and packages. Macros represent repeatable tasks and actions that developers can record programmatically for saving, replaying, and distributing. Macros, however, cannot implement new commands or create tool windows. They are written using Visual Basic
and are not compiled. Add-Ins provide access to the Visual Studio object model and can interact with the IDE tools. Add-Ins can be used to implement new functionality and can add new tool windows. Add-Ins are plugged in to the IDE via COM
and can be created in any COM-compliant languages. Packages are created using the Visual Studio SDK
and provide the highest level of extensibility. They can create designers and other tools, as well as integrate other programming languages. The Visual Studio SDK provides unmanaged APIs as well as a managed API to accomplish these tasks. However, the managed API isn't as comprehensive as the unmanaged one. Extensions are supported in the Standard (and higher) versions of Visual Studio 2005. Express Editions do not support hosting extensions.
Visual Studio 2008 introduced the Visual Studio Shell that allows for development of a customized version of the IDE. The Visual Studio Shell defines a set of VSPackages that provide the functionality required in any IDE. On top of that, other packages can be added to customize the installation. The Isolated mode of the shell creates a new AppId where the packages are installed. These are to be started with a different executable. It is aimed for development of custom development environments, either for a specific language or a specific scenario. The Integrated mode installs the packages into the AppId of the Professional/Standard/Team System editions, so that the tools integrate into these editions. The Visual Studio Shell is available as a free download.
After the release of Visual Studio 2008, Microsoft created the Visual Studio Gallery. It serves as the central location for posting information about extensions to Visual Studio. Community developers as well as commercial developers can upload information about their extensions to Visual Studio .NET 2002 through Visual Studio 2010. Users of the site can rate and review the extensions to help assess the quality of extensions being posted. RSS feeds to notify users on updates to the site and tagging features are also planned.
: Microsoft Visual C++ is Microsoft
's implementation of the C
and C++
compiler
and associated languages-services and specific tools for integration with the Visual Studio IDE. It can compile either in C mode or C++ mode. For C, it follows the ISO C standard with parts of C99
spec along with MS-specific additions in the form of libraries. For C++, it follows the ANSI C++ spec along with a few C++0x
features. It also supports the C++/CLI
spec to write managed code
, as well as mixed-mode code (a mix of native and managed code
). Microsoft positions Visual C++ for development in native code or in code that contains both native as well as managed components. Visual C++ supports COM
as well as the MFC library. For MFC development, it provides a set of wizards for creating and customizing MFC boilerplate code, and creating GUI applications using MFC. Visual C++ can also use the Visual Studio forms designer to design UI graphically. Visual C++ can also be used with the Windows API
. It also supports the use of intrinsic functions, which are functions recognized by the compiler itself and not implemented as a library. Intrinsic functions are used to expose the SSE
instruction set of modern CPUs. Visual C++ also includes the OpenMP
(version 2.0) spec.
Microsoft Visual C#: Microsoft Visual C#, Microsoft
's implementation of the C# language, targets the .NET Framework, along with the language services that lets the Visual Studio IDE support C# projects. While the language services are a part of Visual Studio, the compiler is available separately as a part of the .NET Framework. The Visual C# 2008 and 2010 compilers support versions 3.0 and 4.0 of the C# language specifications, respectively. Visual C# supports the Visual Studio Class designer, Forms designer, and Data designer among others.
Microsoft Visual Basic
: Microsoft Visual Basic is Microsoft
's implementation of the VB.NET language and associated tools and language services. It was introduced with Visual Studio .NET (2002). Microsoft has positioned Visual Basic for Rapid Application Development
. Visual Basic can be used to author both console applications as well as GUI applications. Like Visual C#, Visual Basic also supports the Visual Studio Class designer, Forms designer, and Data designer among others. Like C#, the VB.NET compiler is also available as a part of .NET Framework, but the language services that let VB.NET projects be developed with Visual Studio, are available as a part of the latter.
Microsoft Visual Web Developer: Microsoft Visual Web Developer is used to create web sites, web application
s and web service
s using ASP.NET. Either C# or VB.NET languages can be used. Visual Web Developer can use the Visual Studio Web Designer to graphically design web page layouts.
Team Foundation Server
: Included only with Visual Studio Team System
, Team Foundation Server is intended for collaborative software development
projects and acts as the server-side backend providing source control, data collection, reporting, and project-tracking functionality. It also includes the Team Explorer, the client tool for TFS services, which is integrated inside Visual Studio Team System.
: Visual FoxPro is a data-centric object-oriented and procedural
programming language
produced by Microsoft
. It derives from FoxPro
(originally known as FoxBASE) which was developed by Fox Software beginning in 1984. Visual FoxPro is tightly integrated with its own relational database engine, which extends FoxPro's xBase capabilities to support SQL
queries and data manipulation. Visual FoxPro is a full-featured, dynamic programming language
that does not require the use of an additional general-purpose programming environment. Microsoft announced in 2007 that Visual FoxPro has been discontinued after version 9 Service Pack 2, but will remain supported until 2015.
Visual SourceSafe: Microsoft Visual SourceSafe is a source control software package oriented towards small software-development projects. The SourceSafe database is a multi-user, multi-process file-system database, using the Windows file system database primitives to provide locking and sharing support. All versions are multi-user, using SMB
(file server) networking. However, with Visual SourceSafe 2005, other client–server modes were added, Lan Booster and VSS Internet (which used HTTP/HTTPS
). Visual SourceSafe 6.0 was available as a stand-alone product and was included with Visual Studio 6.0, and other products such as Office Developer Edition. Visual SourceSafe 2005 was available as a stand-alone product and included with the 2005 Team Suite. Team Foundation Server
has superseded VSS as Microsoft's recommended platform for source control.
Microsoft Visual J++
/Microsoft Visual J#: Microsoft Visual J++ was Microsoft
's implementation of the Java
language (with Microsoft-specific extensions) and associated language services. It was discontinued as a result of litigation from Sun Microsystems
, and the technology was recycled into Visual J#, Microsoft's Java compiler for .NET Framework. J# was available with Visual Studio 2005 but has been discontinued in Visual Studio 2008.
Visual InterDev
: Visual InterDev was used to create web applications using Microsoft Active Server Pages
(ASP) technologies. It supports code completion and includes database
server management tools. It has been replaced with Microsoft Visual Web Developer.
are a set of free lightweight individual IDEs which are provided as stripped-down versions of the Visual Studio IDE on a per-platform basis or per-language basis, i.e., it installs the development tools for the supported platforms (web, Windows, phone) or supported development languages (VB, C#) onto individual Visual Studio Shell AppIds. It includes only a small set of tools as compared to the other systems. It does not include support for plug-ins. x64
compilers are not included in the Visual Studio Express edition IDEs, but are available as part of a Windows Software Development Kit that can be installed separately. Microsoft targets the Express IDEs at students and hobbyists. Express editions do not use the full MSDN Library
but use the MSDN Essentials Library. The languages available as part of the Express IDEs are:
: the user interface runs on Microsoft Silverlight; the logic and data-access tier is built on WCF RIA Services and Entity Framework, hosted in ASP.NET; and the primary data storage supports Microsoft SQL Server Express
, Microsoft SQL Server
and Microsoft SQL Azure. LightSwitch also supports other data sources including Microsoft SharePoint. LightSwitch includes graphical designers for designing entities and entity relationships, entity queries, and UI screens. Business logic may be written in either Visual Basic
or Visual C#. The tool can be installed as a stand-alone SKU or as an integrated add-in to Visual Studio 2010 Professional and higher.
and XSLT
editing, and can create deployment packages that only use ClickOnce
and MSI
. It includes tools like Server Explorer and integration with Microsoft SQL Server
also. Windows Mobile development support was included in Visual Studio 2005 Standard, however, with Visual Studio 2008, it is only available in Professional and higher editions. Windows Phone 7 development support was added to all editions in Visual Studio 2010. Development for Windows Mobile
is no longer supported in Visual Studio 2010; it is superseded by Windows Phone 7
.
is an SDK and an add-in for Visual Studio that includes tools for developing for the Microsoft Office
suite. Previously (for Visual Studio .NET 2003 and Visual Studio 2005) it was a separate SKU that supported only Visual C# and Visual Basic
languages or was included in the Team Suite. With Visual Studio 2008, it is no longer a separate SKU but is included with Professional and higher editions. A separate runtime is required when deploying VSTO solutions.
(ALM) role it is being used for.
provided four role-specific editions are:
The combined functionality of the four Team System Editions is provided in a Team Suite Edition. The Database Edition, codenamed "DataDude", was initially released as a separate edition after Visual Studio 2005's initial release. It is included with Visual Studio 2008 as a separate edition, but Microsoft did roll its functionality into the Premium Edition with Visual Studio 2010.
Microsoft first released Visual Studio (codenamed Boston, for the city of the same name
, thus beginning the VS codenames related to places) in 1997, bundling many of its programming tools together for the first time. Visual Studio 97 came in two editions: Visual Studio Professional and Visual Studio Enterprise, the professional edition has 3 CDs, and the enterprise on 4 CDs. It included Visual Basic 5.0, Visual C++ 5.0 -primarily for Windows programming; Visual J++ 1.1 for Java programming; Visual FoxPro 5.0 for database programming. It introduced Visual InterDev for creating dynamically generated web sites using Active Server Pages. There were two companion CDs that contained the Microsoft Developer Network library
.
Visual Studio 97 was Microsoft's first attempt at using the same development environment for multiple languages. Visual J++, InterDev, and the MSDN Library
had all been using same 'environment', called Developer Studio. Visual C++, Visual Basic and Visual FoxPro used separate environments.
VIsual Studio 97 had further low budget CD versions targeting only one specific programming language at a time, such as Visual C++ v5, or Visual Basic v5.0. Each single programming language included the same Environment and lacked MSDN.
in Colorado), was released in June 1998 and is the last version to run on the Windows 9x
platform. Each version of each language in part also settled to v6.0, including Visual J++ which was prior v1.1, and Visual InterDev at the 1st release. The v6 edition of Microsoft was the core environment for the next four releases to provide programmers with an integrated look-a-like platform. This led Microsoft to transition the development on the platform independent .NET Framework
.
Visual Studio 6.0 was the last version to include the COM-based version of plain Visual Basic language; subsequent 2002 version (in 'Visual Studio 2002' package) included Basic language using the .NET platform. It did not include Visual J++, which Microsoft removed as part of a settlement with Sun Microsystems
that required Microsoft Internet Explorer to not provide support for the Java Virtual Machine Environment
.
Visual Studio 6.0 came in two editions: Professional and Enterprise. The Enterprise edition contained extra features not found in Professional edition, including:
), in February 2002 (the beta version was released via Microsoft Developer Network
in 2001). The biggest change was the introduction of a managed code
development environment using the .NET Framework. Programs developed using .NET are not compiled to machine language (like C++ is, for example) but instead to a format called Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL) or Common Intermediate Language
(CIL). When an CIL application executes, it is compiled while being executed
into the appropriate machine language for the platform it is being executed on, thereby making code portable across several platforms. Programs compiled into CIL can be executed only on platforms which have an implementation of Common Language Infrastructure
. It is possible to run CIL programs in Linux
or Mac OS X
using non-Microsoft .NET implementations like Mono
and DotGNU
.
This was the first version of Visual Studio to require an NT
-based Windows platform. The installer enforces this requirement.
Visual Studio .NET 2002 shipped in four editions: Academic, Professional, Enterprise Developer, and Enterprise Architect. Microsoft introduced C# (C-sharp), a new programming language, that targets .NET. It also introduced the successor to Visual J++ called Visual J#. Visual J# programs use Java's language-syntax. However, unlike Visual J++ programs, Visual J# programs can only target the .NET Framework, not the Java Virtual Machine
that all other Java tools target.
Visual Basic changed drastically to fit the new framework, and the new version was called Visual Basic .NET. Microsoft also added extensions to C++, called Managed Extensions for C++
, so that C++ programmers could create .NET programs.
Visual Studio .NET can produce applications targeting Windows (using the Windows Forms part of the .NET Framework), the Web (using ASP.NET and Web Services) and, with an add-in, portable devices (using the .NET Compact Framework).
The Visual Studio .NET environment was rewritten to partially use .NET. All languages are versions of Visual Studio, it has a cleaner interface and greater cohesiveness. It is also more customizable with tool windows that automatically hide when not in use. While Visual FoxPro 7 started out as part of Visual Studio .NET 2002, and early VS betas allowed debugging inside VFP-based DLLs, it was removed before release to follow its own development track.
The internal version number of Visual Studio .NET 2002 is version 7.0. Microsoft released Service Pack 1 for Visual Studio .NET 2002 in March, 2005.
). It includes an upgrade to the .NET Framework, version 1.1, and is the first release to support developing programs for mobile devices, using ASP.NET or the .NET Compact Framework. The Visual C++ compiler's standards-compliance improved, especially in the area of partial template specialization
. Visual C++ Toolkit 2003 is a free version of the same C++ compiler shipped with Visual Studio .NET 2003 without the IDE, though it is no longer available and the Express Editions have superseded it. The internal version number of Visual Studio .NET 2003 is version 7.1 while the file format version is 8.0.
Visual Studio .NET 2003 shipped in four editions: Academic, Professional, Enterprise Developer, and Enterprise Architect. The Visual Studio .NET 2003 Enterprise Architect edition includes an implementation of Microsoft Visio
2002's modeling technologies, including tools for creating Unified Modeling Language
-based visual representations of an application's architecture, and a powerful Object-Role Modeling (ORM)
and logical database-modeling solution. "Enterprise Templates" were also introduced, to help larger development teams standardize coding styles and enforce policies around component usage and property settings.
Service Pack 1 was released September 13, 2006.
in Puget Sound
), was released online in October 2005 and to retail stores a few weeks later. Microsoft removed the ".NET" moniker from Visual Studio 2005 (as well as every other product with .NET in its name), but it still primarily targets the .NET Framework, which was upgraded to version 2.0. It is the last version available for Windows 2000
and also the last version to be able to target Windows 98
, Windows Me
and Windows NT 4.0
for C++ applications.
Visual Studio 2005's internal version number is 8.0 while the file format version is 9.0. Microsoft released Service Pack 1 for Visual Studio 2005 on 14 December 2006. An additional update for Service Pack 1 that offers Windows Vista compatibility was made available on 3 June 2007.
Visual Studio 2005 was upgraded to support all the new features introduced in .NET Framework 2.0, including generics and ASP.NET 2.0. The IntelliSense
feature in Visual Studio was upgraded for generics and new project types were added to support ASP.NET web services. Visual Studio 2005 also includes a local web server, separate from IIS
, that can host ASP.NET applications during development and testing. It also supports all SQL Server
2005 databases. Database designers were upgraded to support the ADO.NET 2.0
, which is included with .NET Framework 2.0. C++ also got a similar upgrade with the addition of C++/CLI
which is slated to replace the use of Managed C++
. Other new features of Visual Studio 2005 include the "Deployment Designer" which allows application designs to be validated before deployments, an improved environment for web publishing when combined with ASP.NET 2.0 and load testing to see application performance under various sorts of user loads. Starting with the 2005 edition, Visual Studio also added extensive 64-bit support. While the host development environment itself is only available as a 32-bit application, Visual C++ 2005 supports compiling for x86-64
(AMD64 and Intel 64) as well as IA-64 (Itanium
). The Platform SDK included 64-bit compilers and 64-bit versions of the libraries.
Microsoft also announced Visual Studio Tools for Applications
as the successor to Visual Basic for Applications
(VBA) and VSA (Visual Studio for Applications). VSTA 1.0 was released to manufacturing along with Office 2007. It is included with Office 2007 and is also part of the Visual Studio 2005 SDK. VSTA consists of a customized IDE, based on the Visual Studio 2005 IDE, and a runtime that can be embedded in applications to expose its features via the .NET object model. Office 2007 applications continue to integrate with VBA, except for InfoPath 2007 which integrates with VSTA. Version 2.0 of VSTA ( based on Visual Studio 2008) was released in April, 2008. It is significantly different from the first version, including features such as dynamic programming and support for WPF
, WCF
, WF
, LINQ
, and .NET 3.5 Framework.
, also an island in Puget Sound
, like Whidbey for the previous 2005 release), were released to MSDN subscribers on 19 November 2007 alongside .NET Framework 3.5. The source code for the Visual Studio 2008 IDE is available under a shared source
license to some of Microsoft
's partners and ISVs
. Microsoft released Service Pack 1 for Visual Studio 2008 on 11 August 2008. The internal version number of Visual Studio 2008 is version 9.0 while the file format version is 10.0. Visual Studio 2008 is the last version to support targeting Windows 2000
for C++ applications.
Visual Studio 2008 is focused on development of Windows Vista
, 2007 Office system, and Web applications. For visual design, a new Windows Presentation Foundation
visual designer and a new HTML
/CSS
editor influenced by Microsoft Expression Web
are included. J#
is not included. Visual Studio 2008 requires .NET 3.5 Framework and by default configures compiled assemblies to run on .NET Framework 3.5, but it also supports multi-targeting which lets the developers choose which version of the .NET Framework (out of 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, Silverlight CoreCLR or .NET Compact Framework) the assembly runs on. Visual Studio 2008 also includes new code analysis tools, including the new Code Metrics
tool (only in Team Edition and Team Suite Edition). For Visual C++
, Visual Studio adds a new version of Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC 9.0) that adds support for the visual styles and UI controls introduced with Windows Vista
. For native and managed code interoperability, Visual C++ introduces the STL/CLR, which is a port of the C++
Standard Template Library
(STL) containers and algorithms to managed code
. STL/CLR defines STL-like containers, iterator
s and algorithms that work on C++/CLI
managed
objects.
Visual Studio 2008 features include an XAML
-based designer (codenamed Cider), workflow designer, LINQ
to SQL
designer (for defining the type mappings and object encapsulation for SQL Server data), XSLT
debugger, JavaScript
Intellisense
support, JavaScript Debugging support, support for UAC
manifests
, a concurrent build system, among others. It ships with an enhanced set of UI widgets, both for Windows Forms and WPF
. It also includes a multithreaded build engine (MSBuild) to compile multiple source files (and build the executable file) in a project across multiple threads simultaneously. It also includes support for compiling PNG compressed icon
resources
introduced in Windows Vista. An updated XML Schema designer will ship separately some time after the release of Visual Studio 2008.
The Visual Studio debugger
includes features targeting easier debugging of multi-threaded applications. In debugging mode, in the Threads window, which lists all the threads, hovering over a thread will display the stack trace of that thread in tooltips. The threads can directly be named and flagged for easier identification from that window itself. In addition, in the code window, along with indicating the location of the currently executing instruction in the current thread, the currently executing instructions in other threads are also pointed out. The Visual Studio debugger
supports integrated debugging of the .NET 3.5 Framework Base Class Library
(BCL) which can dynamically download the BCL source code and debug symbol
s and allow stepping into the BCL source during debugging. a limited subset of the BCL source is available, with more library support planned for later.
Visual Studio 2010 IDE
has been redesigned which, according to Microsoft
, clears the UI organization and "reduces clutter and complexity." The new IDE better supports multiple document windows and floating tool windows, while offering better multi-monitor support. The IDE shell has been rewritten using the Windows Presentation Foundation
(WPF), whereas the internals have been redesigned using Managed Extensibility Framework
(MEF) that offers more extensibility points than previous versions of the IDE that enabled add-ins to modify the behavior of the IDE.
The new multi-paradigm
ML-variant F#
forms part of Visual Studio 2010; as do M
, the textual modeling language, and Quadrant, the visual model designer, which are a part of the Oslo initiative.
Visual Studio 2010 comes with .NET Framework 4 and supports developing applications targeting Windows 7. It supports IBM DB2
and Oracle
databases, in addition to Microsoft SQL Server
. It has integrated support for developing Microsoft Silverlight
applications, including an interactive designer. Visual Studio 2010 offers several tools to make parallel programming simpler: in addition to the Parallel Extensions for the .NET Framework and the Parallel Patterns Library for native code, Visual Studio 2010 includes tools for debugging parallel applications. The new tools allow the visualization of parallel Tasks and their runtime stack
s. Tools for profiling parallel applications can be used for visualization of thread wait-times and thread migrations across processor cores. Intel and Microsoft have jointly pledged support for a new Concurrency Runtime in Visual Studio 2010
and Intel has launched parallelism support in Parallel Studio as an add-on for Visual Studio.
The Visual Studio 2010 code editor now highlights references; whenever a symbol is selected, all other usages of the symbol are highlighted. It also offers a Quick Search feature to incrementally search
across all symbols in C++, C# and VB.NET projects. Quick Search supports substring matches and camelCase
searches. The Call Hierarchy feature allows the developer to see all the methods that are called from a current method as well as the methods that call the current one. IntelliSense
in Visual Studio supports a consume-first mode which developers can opt into. In this mode, IntelliSense will not auto-complete identifiers; this allows the developer to use undefined identifiers (like variable or method names) and define those later. Visual Studio 2010 can also help in this by automatically defining them, if it can infer their types from usage. Current versions of Visual Studio have a known bug which makes IntelliSense unusable for projects using pure C (not C++).
Visual Studio 2010 features a new Help System replacing the MSDN Library
viewer. The Help System is no longer based on Microsoft Help 2
and does not use Microsoft Document Explorer. Dynamic help containing links to related help topics based on where the developer was in the IDE has been removed in the shipping product, but can be added back using a download from Microsoft.
Visual Studio 2010 no longer supports development for Windows Mobile prior to Windows Phone 7
.
It supports UML
activity diagram, component diagram, (logical) class diagram, sequence diagram, and use case diagram. Visual Studio Ultimate 2010 also includes Test Impact Analysis which provides hints on which test cases are impacted by modifications to the source code, without actually running the test cases. This speeds up testing by avoiding running unnecessary test cases.
Visual Studio Ultimate 2010 also includes a Historical Debugger for managed code
called IntelliTrace. Unlike the current debugger, that records only the currently-active stack, IntelliTrace records all events like prior function calls, method parameters, events, exceptions etc. This allows the code execution to be rewound in case a breakpoint wasn't set where the error occurred. IntelliTrace will cause the application to run slower than the current debugger, and will use more memory as additional data needs to be recorded. Microsoft allows configuration of how much data should be recorded, in effect allowing developers to balance speed of execution and resource usage. The Lab Management component of Visual Studio Ultimate 2010 uses virtualization to create a similar execution environment for testers and developers. The virtual machine
s are tagged with checkpoints which can later be investigated for issues, as well as to reproduce the issue. Visual Studio Ultimate 2010 also includes the capability to record test runs that capture the specific state of the operating environment as well as the precise steps used to run the test. These steps can then be played back to reproduce issues.
(MFC) and C runtime (CRT) included with this release cannot produce software that is compatible with Windows XP except by using native multi-targeting and foregoing the newest libraries, compilers, and headers.
On the 24 August 2011, a blog post by Sumit Kumar, a Program Manager on the Visual C++ team listed some of the features of the upcoming version of the Visual Studio C++ IDE:
. These tools include IDEs, source control, work items, collaboration, metrics, and reporting tools.
Visual Studio Application Lifecycle Management consists of four products:
format for trial use.
Integrated development environment
An integrated development environment is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development...
(IDE) from Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
. It is used to develop console
Console application
A console application is a computer program designed to be used via a text-only computer interface, such as a text terminal, the command line interface of some operating systems or the text-based interface included with most Graphical User Interface operating systems, such as the Win32 console in...
and graphical user interface
Graphical user interface
In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...
application
Application software
Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...
s along with Windows Forms
Windows Forms
Windows Forms is the name given to the graphical application programming interface included as a part of Microsoft .NET Framework, providing access to native Microsoft Windows interface elements by wrapping the extant Windows API in managed code...
applications, web sites, web application
Web application
A web application is an application that is accessed over a network such as the Internet or an intranet. The term may also mean a computer software application that is coded in a browser-supported language and reliant on a common web browser to render the application executable.Web applications are...
s, and web service
Web service
A Web service is a method of communication between two electronic devices over the web.The W3C defines a "Web service" as "a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network". It has an interface described in a machine-processable format...
s in both native code together with managed code
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
for all platforms supported by Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft that was used in smartphones and Pocket PCs, but by 2011 was rarely supplied on new phones. The last version is "Windows Mobile 6.5.5"; it is superseded by Windows Phone, which does not run Windows Mobile software.Windows Mobile is...
, Windows CE
Windows CE
Microsoft Windows CE is an operating system developed by Microsoft for embedded systems. Windows CE is a distinct operating system and kernel, rather than a trimmed-down version of desktop Windows...
, .NET Framework
.NET Framework
The .NET Framework is a software framework that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It includes a large library and supports several programming languages which allows language interoperability...
, .NET Compact Framework
.NET Compact Framework
The Microsoft .NET Compact Framework is a version of the .NET Framework that is designed to run on resource constrained mobile/embedded devices such as personal digital assistants , mobile phones, factory controllers, set-top boxes, etc...
and Microsoft Silverlight
Microsoft Silverlight
Microsoft Silverlight is an application framework for writing and running rich Internet applications, with features and purposes similar to those of Adobe Flash. The run-time environment for Silverlight is available as a plug-in for web browsers running under Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X...
.
Visual Studio includes a code editor supporting IntelliSense
IntelliSense
IntelliSense is Microsoft's implementation of autocompletion, best known for its use in the Microsoft Visual Studio integrated development environment...
as well as code refactoring. The integrated debugger
Microsoft Visual Studio Debugger
The Microsoft Visual Studio Debugger is a debugger that ships along with all versions of Microsoft Visual Studio. This debugger owes much of its feel and functionality to CodeView, a standalone, text-based debugger that shipped with Microsoft Visual C++ version 1.5 and earlier.More advanced...
works both as a source-level debugger and a machine-level debugger. Other built-in tools include a forms designer for building GUI
Gui
Gui or guee is a generic term to refer to grilled dishes in Korean cuisine. These most commonly have meat or fish as their primary ingredient, but may in some cases also comprise grilled vegetables or other vegetarian ingredients. The term derives from the verb, "gupda" in Korean, which literally...
applications, web designer, class designer, and database schema
Database schema
A database schema of a database system is its structure described in a formal language supported by the database management system and refers to the organization of data to create a blueprint of how a database will be constructed...
designer. It accepts plug-ins that enhance the functionality at almost every level—including adding support for source-control systems (like Subversion and Visual SourceSafe) and adding new toolsets like editors and visual designers for domain-specific languages or toolsets for other aspects of the software development lifecycle (like the Team Foundation Server
Team Foundation Server
Team Foundation Server is a Microsoft product offering source control, data collection, reporting, and project tracking, and is intended for collaborative software development projects...
client: Team Explorer).
Visual Studio supports different programming language
Programming language
A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine and/or to express algorithms precisely....
s by means of language services, which allow the code editor and debugger to support (to varying degrees) nearly any programming language, provided a language-specific service exists. Built-in languages include C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
/C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
(via Visual C++
Visual C++
Microsoft Visual C++ is a commercial , integrated development environment product from Microsoft for the C, C++, and C++/CLI programming languages...
), VB.NET (via Visual Basic .NET
Visual Basic .NET
Visual Basic .NET , is an object-oriented computer programming language that can be viewed as an evolution of the classic Visual Basic , which is implemented on the .NET Framework...
), C# (via Visual C#), and F# (as of Visual Studio 2010). Support for other languages such as M
M (programming language)
M is a programming language developed by Microsoft. The language is designed specifically for building textual domain-specific languages and software models with XAML....
, Python
IronPython
IronPython is an implementation of the Python programming language targeting the .NET Framework and Mono. Jim Hugunin created the project and actively contributed to it up until Version 1.0 which was released on September 5, 2006. Thereafter, it was maintained by a small team at Microsoft until...
, and Ruby
IronRuby
IronRuby is an implementation of the Ruby programming language targeting Microsoft .NET framework. It is implemented on top of the Dynamic Language Runtime , a library running on top of the Common Language Infrastructure that provides dynamic typing and dynamic method dispatch, among other things,...
among others is available via language services installed separately. It also supports XML
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
/XSLT
XSLT
XSLT is a declarative, XML-based language used for the transformation of XML documents. The original document is not changed; rather, a new document is created based on the content of an existing one. The new document may be serialized by the processor in standard XML syntax or in another format,...
, HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
/XHTML
XHTML
XHTML is a family of XML markup languages that mirror or extend versions of the widely-used Hypertext Markup Language , the language in which web pages are written....
, JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
and CSS
Cascading Style Sheets
Cascading Style Sheets is a style sheet language used to describe the presentation semantics of a document written in a markup language...
. Individual language-specific versions of Visual Studio also exist which provide more limited language services to the user: Microsoft Visual Basic, Visual J#, Visual C#, and Visual C++.
Microsoft provides "Express" editions of its Visual Studio 2010 components Visual Basic, Visual C#, Visual C++, and Visual Web Developer at no cost. Visual Studio 2010, 2008 and 2005 Professional Editions, along with language-specific versions (Visual Basic, C++, C#, J#) of Visual Studio Express 2010 are available for free to students as downloads via Microsoft's DreamSpark
DreamSpark
DreamSpark is a program set up by Microsoft to provide students with software design and development tools at no charge. The program was originally available for university/college students in Belarus, Belgium, China, Finland, France, Germany, India, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, the U.K....
program.
Architecture
Visual Studio does not support any programming language, solution or tool intrinsically, instead allows the plugging of functionality coded as a VSPackage. When installed, the functionality is available as a Service. The IDE provides three services: SVsSolution, which provides the ability to enumerate projects and solutions; SVsUIShell, which provides windowing and UI functionality (including tabs, toolbars and tool windows); and SVsShell, which deals with registration of VSPackages. In addition, the IDE is also responsible for coordinating and enabling communication between services. All editors, designers, project types and other tools are implemented as VSPackages. Visual Studio uses COMComponent Object Model
Component Object Model is a binary-interface standard for software componentry introduced by Microsoft in 1993. It is used to enable interprocess communication and dynamic object creation in a large range of programming languages...
to access the VSPackages. The Visual Studio SDK
Software development kit
A software development kit is typically a set of software development tools that allows for the creation of applications for a certain software package, software framework, hardware platform, computer system, video game console, operating system, or similar platform.It may be something as simple...
also includes the Managed Package Framework (MPF), which is a set of managed
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
wrappers around the COM-interfaces that allow the Packages to be written in any CLI compliant language. However, MPF does not provide all the functionality exposed by the Visual Studio COM interfaces.
The services can then be consumed for creation of other packages, which add functionality to the Visual Studio IDE.
Support for programming languages is added by using a specific VSPackage called a Language Service. A language service defines various interfaces which the VSPackage implementation can implement to add support for various functionalities. Functionalities that can be added this way include syntax coloring, statement completion, brace matching, parameter information tooltips, member lists and error markers for background compilation. If the interface is implemented, the functionality will be available for the language. Language services are to be implemented on a per-language basis. The implementations can reuse code from the parser or the compiler for the language. Language services can be implemented either in native code or managed code
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
. For native code, either the native COM interfaces or the Babel Framework (part of Visual Studio SDK) can be used. For managed code, the MPF includes wrappers for writing managed language services.
Visual Studio does not include any source control support built in but it defines two alternative ways for source control systems to integrate with the IDE. A Source Control VSPackage can provide its own customised user interface. In contrast, a source control plugin using the MSSCCI (Microsoft Source Code Control Interface) provides a set of functions that are used to implement various source control functionality, with a standard Visual Studio user interface. MSSCCI was first used to integrate Visual SourceSafe with Visual Studio 6.0 but was later opened up via the Visual Studio SDK. Visual Studio .NET 2002 used MSSCCI 1.1, and Visual Studio .NET 2003 used MSSCCI 1.2. Visual Studio 2005, 2008 and 2010 use MSSCCI Version 1.3, which adds support for rename and delete propagation as well as asynchronous opening.
Visual Studio supports running multiple instances of the environment (each with its own set of VSPackages). The instances use different registry hives
Windows registry
The Windows Registry is a hierarchical database that stores configuration settings and options on Microsoft Windows operating systems. It contains settings for low-level operating system components as well as the applications running on the platform: the kernel, device drivers, services, SAM, user...
(see MSDN's definition of the term "registry hive" in the sense used here) to store their configuration state and are differentiated by their AppId (Application ID). The instances are launched by an AppId-specific .exe that selects the AppId, sets the root hive and launches the IDE. VSPackages registered for one AppId are integrated with other VSPackages for that AppId. The various product editions of Visual Studio are created using the different AppIds. The Visual Studio Express edition products are installed with their own AppIds, but the Standard, Professional and Team Suite
Visual Studio Team System
Visual Studio Application Lifecycle Management is a collection of integrated software development tools developed by Microsoft. These tools include IDEs, source control, work items, collaboration, metrics, and reporting tools.-Platform:...
products share the same AppId. Consequently, one can install the Express editions side-by-side with other editions, unlike the other editions which update the same installation. The professional edition includes a superset of the VSPackages in the standard edition and the team suite includes a superset of the VSPackages in both other editions. The AppId system is leveraged by the Visual Studio Shell in Visual Studio 2008.
Code editor
Visual Studio, like any other IDEIntegrated development environment
An integrated development environment is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development...
, includes a code editor that supports syntax highlighting
Syntax highlighting
Syntax highlighting is a feature of some text editors that display text—especially source code—in different colors and fonts according to the category of terms. This feature eases writing in a structured language such as a programming language or a markup language as both structures and...
and code completion
Autocomplete
Autocomplete is a feature provided by many web browsers, e-mail programs, search engine interfaces, source code editors, database query tools, word processors, and command line interpreters. Autocomplete involves the program predicting a word or phrase that the user wants to type in without the...
using IntelliSense
IntelliSense
IntelliSense is Microsoft's implementation of autocompletion, best known for its use in the Microsoft Visual Studio integrated development environment...
for not only variables
Variable (programming)
In computer programming, a variable is a symbolic name given to some known or unknown quantity or information, for the purpose of allowing the name to be used independently of the information it represents...
, functions
Subroutine
In computer science, a subroutine is a portion of code within a larger program that performs a specific task and is relatively independent of the remaining code....
and methods
Method (computer science)
In object-oriented programming, a method is a subroutine associated with a class. Methods define the behavior to be exhibited by instances of the associated class at program run time...
but also language constructs like loops and queries
LINQ
Linq is a word-based card game from Endless Games, introduced at the American International Toy Fair in 2005.Game play requires at least four players, two of whom are dealt cards with the same word, while the others receive blanks. The goal is to gain points by correctly naming the players with...
. IntelliSense is supported for the included languages, as well as for XML
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
and for Cascading Style Sheets
Cascading Style Sheets
Cascading Style Sheets is a style sheet language used to describe the presentation semantics of a document written in a markup language...
and JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
when developing web sites and web application
Web application
A web application is an application that is accessed over a network such as the Internet or an intranet. The term may also mean a computer software application that is coded in a browser-supported language and reliant on a common web browser to render the application executable.Web applications are...
s. Autocomplete suggestions are popped up in a modeless list box, overlaid on top of the code editor. In Visual Studio 2008 onwards, it can be made temporarily semi-transparent to see the code obstructed by it. The code editor is used for all supported languages.
The Visual Studio code editor also supports setting bookmarks in code for quick navigation. Other navigational aids include collapsing code blocks and incremental search, in addition to normal text search and regex
Regular expression
In computing, a regular expression provides a concise and flexible means for "matching" strings of text, such as particular characters, words, or patterns of characters. Abbreviations for "regular expression" include "regex" and "regexp"...
search. The code editor also includes a multi-item clipboard
Clipboard
A clipboard is a thin, rigid board with a clip at the top for holding paper in place. A clipboard is typically used to support paper with one hand while writing on it with the other, especially when other writing surfaces are not available.-Other uses:...
and a task list. The code editor supports code snippets, which are saved templates for repetitive code and can be inserted into code and customized for the project being worked on. A management tool for code snippets is built in as well. These tools are surfaced as floating windows which can be set to automatically hide when unused or docked to the side of the screen. The Visual Studio code editor also supports code refactoring including parameter reordering, variable and method renaming, interface extraction and encapsulation of class members inside properties, among others.
Visual Studio features background compilation (also called incremental compilation). As code is being written, Visual Studio compiles it in the background in order to provide feedback about syntax and compilation errors, which are flagged with a red wavy underline. Warnings are marked with a green underline. Background compilation does not generate executable code, since it requires a different compiler than the one used to generate executable code. Background compilation was initially introduced with Microsoft Visual Basic but has now been expanded for all included languages.
Debugger
Visual Studio includes a debuggerDebugger
A debugger or debugging tool is a computer program that is used to test and debug other programs . The code to be examined might alternatively be running on an instruction set simulator , a technique that allows great power in its ability to halt when specific conditions are encountered but which...
that works both as a source-level debugger and as a machine-level debugger. It works with both managed code
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
as well as native code and can be used for debugging applications written in any language supported by Visual Studio. In addition, it can also attach to running processes and monitor and debug those processes. If source code for the running process is available, it displays the code as it is being run. If source code is not available, it can show the disassembly. The Visual Studio debugger can also create memory dumps as well as load them later for debugging. Multi-threaded programs are also supported. The debugger can be configured to be launched when an application running outside the Visual Studio environment crashes.
The debugger allows setting breakpoints
Breakpoint
In software development, a breakpoint is an intentional stopping or pausing place in a program, put in place for debugging purposes. It is also sometimes simply referred to as a pause....
(which allow execution to be stopped temporarily at a certain position) and watches (which monitor the values of variables as the execution progresses). Breakpoints can be conditional, meaning they get triggered when the condition is met. Code can be stepped over
Program animation
Program animation or Stepping refers to the very common debugging method of executing code one "line" at a time. The programmer may examine the state of the program, machine, and related data before and after execution of a particular line of code...
, i.e., run one line (of source code) at a time. It can either step into functions to debug inside it, or step over it, i.e., the execution of the function body isn't available for manual inspection. The debugger supports Edit and Continue, i.e., it allows code to be edited as it is being debugged (32 bit only; not supported in 64 bit). When debugging, if the mouse pointer hovers over any variable, its current value is displayed in a tooltip ("data tooltips"), where it can also be modified if desired. During coding, the Visual Studio debugger lets certain functions be invoked manually from the
Immediate tool window. The parameters to the method are supplied at the Immediate window.Designer
Visual Studio includes a host of visual designers to aid in the development of applications. These tools include:Windows Forms Designer: The Windows Forms designer is used to build GUI
Gui
Gui or guee is a generic term to refer to grilled dishes in Korean cuisine. These most commonly have meat or fish as their primary ingredient, but may in some cases also comprise grilled vegetables or other vegetarian ingredients. The term derives from the verb, "gupda" in Korean, which literally...
applications using Windows Forms. Layout can be controlled by housing the controls inside other containers or locking them to the side of the form. Controls that display data (like textbox, list box, grid view, etc.) can be bound
Data binding
Data binding is a general technique that binds two data/information sources together and maintains synchronization of data. This is usually done with two data/information sources with different types as in XML data binding. However, in UI data binding, data and information objects of the same type...
to data sources like database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
s or queries
LINQ
Linq is a word-based card game from Endless Games, introduced at the American International Toy Fair in 2005.Game play requires at least four players, two of whom are dealt cards with the same word, while the others receive blanks. The goal is to gain points by correctly naming the players with...
. Data-bound controls can be created by dragging items from the Data Sources window onto a design surface. The UI is linked with code using an event-driven programming
Event-driven programming
In computer programming, event-driven programming or event-based programming is a programming paradigm in which the flow of the program is determined by events—i.e., sensor outputs or user actions or messages from other programs or threads.Event-driven programming can also be defined as an...
model. The designer generates either C# or VB.NET code for the application.
WPF Designer: The WPF designer, codenamed Cider, was introduced with Visual Studio 2008. Like the Windows Forms designer it supports the drag and drop metaphor. It is used to author user interface
User interface
The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...
s targeting Windows Presentation Foundation
Windows Presentation Foundation
Developed by Microsoft, the Windows Presentation Foundation is a computer-software graphical subsystem for rendering user interfaces in Windows-based applications. WPF, previously known as "Avalon", was initially released as part of .NET Framework 3.0. Rather than relying on the older GDI...
. It supports all WPF functionality including data binding
Data binding
Data binding is a general technique that binds two data/information sources together and maintains synchronization of data. This is usually done with two data/information sources with different types as in XML data binding. However, in UI data binding, data and information objects of the same type...
and automatic layout management. It generates XAML
XAML
Extensible Application Markup Language is a declarative XML-based language created by Microsoft used for initializing structured values and objects. It is available under Microsoft's Open Specification Promise...
code for the UI. The generated XAML
XAML
Extensible Application Markup Language is a declarative XML-based language created by Microsoft used for initializing structured values and objects. It is available under Microsoft's Open Specification Promise...
file is compatible with Microsoft Expression Design
Microsoft Expression Design
Microsoft Expression Design is Microsoft's commercial professional illustration vector and raster graphic design tool for web images based on Creature House Expression, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2003. It is part of the Microsoft Expression Studio suite...
, the designer-oriented product. The XAML code is linked with code using a code-behind model.
Web designer/development: Visual Studio also includes a web-site editor and designer that allows web pages to be authored by dragging and dropping widgets. It is used for developing ASP.NET
ASP.NET
ASP.NET is a Web application framework developed and marketed by Microsoft to allow programmers to build dynamic Web sites, Web applications and Web services. It was first released in January 2002 with version 1.0 of the .NET Framework, and is the successor to Microsoft's Active Server Pages ...
applications and supports HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
, CSS
CSS
-Computing:*Cascading Style Sheets, a language used to describe the style of document presentations in web development*Central Structure Store in the PHIGS 3D API*Closed source software, software that is not distributed with source code...
and JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
. It uses a code-behind model to link with ASP.NET code. From Visual Studio 2008 onwards, the layout engine used by the web designer is shared with Microsoft Expression Web
Microsoft Expression Web
Microsoft Expression Web, code-named Quartz, is an HTML editor and general web design software product by Microsoft. It is part of the Expression Studio suite....
. There is also ASP.NET MVC support for MVC technology as a separate download and ASP.NET Dynamic Data
ASP.NET Dynamic Data
ASP.NET Dynamic Data is a Ruby on Rails-inspired web application scaffolding framework from Microsoft, shipped as an extension to ASP.NET, that can be used to build data driven web applications. It exposes tables in a database by encoding it in the URI of the ASP.NET web service, and the data in...
project available from Microsoft
Class designer: The Class Designer is used to author and edit the classes (including its members and their access) using UML
Unified Modeling Language
Unified Modeling Language is a standardized general-purpose modeling language in the field of object-oriented software engineering. The standard is managed, and was created, by the Object Management Group...
modeling. The Class Designer can generate C# and VB.NET code outlines for the classes and methods. It can also generate class diagrams from hand-written classes.
Data designer: The data designer can be used to graphically edit database schema
Database schema
A database schema of a database system is its structure described in a formal language supported by the database management system and refers to the organization of data to create a blueprint of how a database will be constructed...
s, including typed tables, primary and foreign keys and constraints. It can also be used to design queries from the graphical view.
Mapping designer: From Visual Studio 2008 onwards, the mapping designer is used by LINQ to SQL
Language Integrated Query
Language Integrated Query is a Microsoft .NET Framework component that adds native data querying capabilities to .NET languages, although ports exist for Java, PHP and JavaScript....
to design the mapping
Object-relational mapping
Object-relational mapping in computer software is a programming technique for converting data between incompatible type systems in object-oriented programming languages. This creates, in effect, a "virtual object database" that can be used from within the programming language...
between database schema
Database schema
A database schema of a database system is its structure described in a formal language supported by the database management system and refers to the organization of data to create a blueprint of how a database will be constructed...
s and the classes that encapsulate the data. The new solution from ORM approach, ADO.NET Entity Framework
ADO.NET Entity Framework
ADO.NET Entity Framework is an object-relational mapping framework for the .NET Framework.-Overview:ADO.NET Entity Framework abstracts the relational schema of the data that is stored in a database and presents its conceptual schema to the application...
, replaces and improves the old technology.
Other tools
Open Tabs Browser: The open tabs browser is used to list all open tabs and to switch between them. It is invoked usingCTRL+TAB.Properties Editor: The Properties Editor tool is used to edit properties in a GUI pane inside Visual Studio. It lists all available properties (both read-only and those which can be set) for all objects including classes, forms, web pages and other items.
Object Browser: The Object Browser is a namespace
Namespace
In general, a namespace is a container that provides context for the identifiers it holds, and allows the disambiguation of homonym identifiers residing in different namespaces....
and class library browser for Microsoft .NET. It can be used to browse the namespaces (which are arranged hierarchically) in managed
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
assemblies
.NET assembly
In the .NET framework, an assembly is a compiled code library used for deployment, versioning, and security. There are two types: process assemblies and library assemblies . A process assembly represents a process that will use classes defined in library assemblies...
. The hierarchy may or may not reflect the organization in the file system.
Solution Explorer: In Visual Studio parlance, a solution is a set of code files and other resources that are used to build an application. The files in a solution are arranged hierarchically, which might or might not reflect the organization in the file system. The Solution Explorer is used to manage and browse the files in a solution.
Team Explorer: Team Explorer is used to integrate the capabilities of Team Foundation Server
Team Foundation Server
Team Foundation Server is a Microsoft product offering source control, data collection, reporting, and project tracking, and is intended for collaborative software development projects...
, the Revision Control System
Revision Control System
The Revision Control System is a software implementation of revision control that automates the storing, retrieval, logging, identification, and merging of revisions. RCS is useful for text that is revised frequently, for example programs, documentation, procedural graphics, papers, and form...
into the IDE (and the basis for Microsoft's CodePlex hosting environment for open source projects). In addition to source control it provides the ability to view and manage individual work items (including bugs, tasks and other documents) and to browse TFS
Team Foundation Server
Team Foundation Server is a Microsoft product offering source control, data collection, reporting, and project tracking, and is intended for collaborative software development projects...
statistics. It is included as part of a TFS install and is also available as a download for Visual Studio separately Team Explorer is also available as a stand-alone environment solely to access TFS services.
Data Explorer: Data Explorer is used to manage databases on Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database server, developed by Microsoft: It is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data as requested by other software applications, be it those on the same computer or those running on another computer across a network...
instances. It allows creation and alteration of database tables (either by issuing T-SQL commands or by using the Data designer). It can also be used to create queries and stored procedure
Stored procedure
A stored procedure is a subroutine available to applications that access a relational database system. A stored procedure is actually stored in the database data dictionary.Typical uses for stored procedures include data validation or access control mechanisms...
s, with the latter in either T-SQL or in managed code
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
via SQL CLR
SQL CLR
SQL CLR or SQLCLR is technology for hosting of the Microsoft .NET common language runtime engine within SQL Server...
. Debugging and IntelliSense
IntelliSense
IntelliSense is Microsoft's implementation of autocompletion, best known for its use in the Microsoft Visual Studio integrated development environment...
support is available as well.
Server Explorer: The Server Explorer tool is used to manage database connections on an accessible computer. It is also used to browse running Windows Service
Windows Service
On Microsoft Windows operating systems, a Windows service is a long-running executable that performs specific functions and which is designed not to require user intervention. Windows services can be configured to start when the operating system is booted and run in the background as long as...
s, performance counters, Windows Event Log and message queue
Message queue
In computer science, message queues and mailboxes are software-engineering components used for interprocess communication, or for inter-thread communication within the same process. They use a queue for messaging – the passing of control or of content...
s and use them as a datasource.
Dotfuscator Software Services Community Edition: Visual Studio includes a free 'light' version of PreEmptive Solutions' Dotfuscator
Dotfuscator
Dotfuscator is software used for obfuscation of .NET assemblies. Among its abilities are mangling of identifier names into unreadable characters, but also changing control flow into being more unreadable at the IL-level for a human and other relatively advanced changes.Note that name mangling...
product for code obfuscation and application-size reduction. Starting with Visual Studio 2010, this version of Dotfuscator will include Runtime Intelligence
Runtime intelligence
-Introduction:The term runtime intelligence refers to technologies, managed services and practices for the collection, integration, analysis, and presentation of application usage levels, patterns and practices...
capabilities that allow authors to gather end-user usage, performance, and stability information from their applications running in production.
Text Generation Framework: Visual Studio includes a full text generation framework called T4
Text Template Transformation Toolkit
Microsoft's Text Template Transformation Toolkit is a template based text generation framework included with Visual Studio. T4 source files are usually denoted by the file extension ".tt"....
which enables Visual Studio to generate text files from templates either in the IDE or via code.
Extensibility
Visual Studio allows developers to write extensions for Visual Studio to extend its capabilities. These extensions "plug into" Visual Studio and extend its functionality. Extensions come in the form of macros, add-ins, and packages. Macros represent repeatable tasks and actions that developers can record programmatically for saving, replaying, and distributing. Macros, however, cannot implement new commands or create tool windows. They are written using Visual Basic
Visual Basic
Visual Basic is the third-generation event-driven programming language and integrated development environment from Microsoft for its COM programming model...
and are not compiled. Add-Ins provide access to the Visual Studio object model and can interact with the IDE tools. Add-Ins can be used to implement new functionality and can add new tool windows. Add-Ins are plugged in to the IDE via COM
Component Object Model
Component Object Model is a binary-interface standard for software componentry introduced by Microsoft in 1993. It is used to enable interprocess communication and dynamic object creation in a large range of programming languages...
and can be created in any COM-compliant languages. Packages are created using the Visual Studio SDK
Software development kit
A software development kit is typically a set of software development tools that allows for the creation of applications for a certain software package, software framework, hardware platform, computer system, video game console, operating system, or similar platform.It may be something as simple...
and provide the highest level of extensibility. They can create designers and other tools, as well as integrate other programming languages. The Visual Studio SDK provides unmanaged APIs as well as a managed API to accomplish these tasks. However, the managed API isn't as comprehensive as the unmanaged one. Extensions are supported in the Standard (and higher) versions of Visual Studio 2005. Express Editions do not support hosting extensions.
Visual Studio 2008 introduced the Visual Studio Shell that allows for development of a customized version of the IDE. The Visual Studio Shell defines a set of VSPackages that provide the functionality required in any IDE. On top of that, other packages can be added to customize the installation. The Isolated mode of the shell creates a new AppId where the packages are installed. These are to be started with a different executable. It is aimed for development of custom development environments, either for a specific language or a specific scenario. The Integrated mode installs the packages into the AppId of the Professional/Standard/Team System editions, so that the tools integrate into these editions. The Visual Studio Shell is available as a free download.
After the release of Visual Studio 2008, Microsoft created the Visual Studio Gallery. It serves as the central location for posting information about extensions to Visual Studio. Community developers as well as commercial developers can upload information about their extensions to Visual Studio .NET 2002 through Visual Studio 2010. Users of the site can rate and review the extensions to help assess the quality of extensions being posted. RSS feeds to notify users on updates to the site and tagging features are also planned.
Included products
Microsoft Visual C++Visual C++
Microsoft Visual C++ is a commercial , integrated development environment product from Microsoft for the C, C++, and C++/CLI programming languages...
: Microsoft Visual C++ is Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's implementation of the C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
and C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
compiler
Compiler
A compiler is a computer program that transforms source code written in a programming language into another computer language...
and associated languages-services and specific tools for integration with the Visual Studio IDE. It can compile either in C mode or C++ mode. For C, it follows the ISO C standard with parts of C99
C99
C99 is a modern dialect of the C programming language. It extends the previous version with new linguistic and library features, and helps implementations make better use of available computer hardware and compiler technology.-History:...
spec along with MS-specific additions in the form of libraries. For C++, it follows the ANSI C++ spec along with a few C++0x
C++0x
C++11, also formerly known as C++0x, is the name of the most recent iteration of the C++ programming language, replacing C++03, approved by the ISO as of 12 August 2011...
features. It also supports the C++/CLI
C++/CLI
C++/CLI is Microsoft's language specification intended to supersede Managed Extensions for C++. It is a complete revision that aims to simplify the older Managed C++ syntax . C++/CLI is standardized by Ecma as ECMA-372...
spec to write managed code
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
, as well as mixed-mode code (a mix of native and managed code
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
). Microsoft positions Visual C++ for development in native code or in code that contains both native as well as managed components. Visual C++ supports COM
Component Object Model
Component Object Model is a binary-interface standard for software componentry introduced by Microsoft in 1993. It is used to enable interprocess communication and dynamic object creation in a large range of programming languages...
as well as the MFC library. For MFC development, it provides a set of wizards for creating and customizing MFC boilerplate code, and creating GUI applications using MFC. Visual C++ can also use the Visual Studio forms designer to design UI graphically. Visual C++ can also be used with the Windows API
Windows API
The Windows API, informally WinAPI, is Microsoft's core set of application programming interfaces available in the Microsoft Windows operating systems. It was formerly called the Win32 API; however, the name "Windows API" more accurately reflects its roots in 16-bit Windows and its support on...
. It also supports the use of intrinsic functions, which are functions recognized by the compiler itself and not implemented as a library. Intrinsic functions are used to expose the SSE
Streaming SIMD Extensions
In computing, Streaming SIMD Extensions is a SIMD instruction set extension to the x86 architecture, designed by Intel and introduced in 1999 in their Pentium III series processors as a reply to AMD's 3DNow! . SSE contains 70 new instructions, most of which work on single precision floating point...
instruction set of modern CPUs. Visual C++ also includes the OpenMP
OpenMP
OpenMP is an API that supports multi-platform shared memory multiprocessing programming in C, C++, and Fortran, on most processor architectures and operating systems, including Linux, Unix, AIX, Solaris, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows platforms...
(version 2.0) spec.
Microsoft Visual C#: Microsoft Visual C#, Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's implementation of the C# language, targets the .NET Framework, along with the language services that lets the Visual Studio IDE support C# projects. While the language services are a part of Visual Studio, the compiler is available separately as a part of the .NET Framework. The Visual C# 2008 and 2010 compilers support versions 3.0 and 4.0 of the C# language specifications, respectively. Visual C# supports the Visual Studio Class designer, Forms designer, and Data designer among others.
Microsoft Visual Basic
Visual Basic .NET
Visual Basic .NET , is an object-oriented computer programming language that can be viewed as an evolution of the classic Visual Basic , which is implemented on the .NET Framework...
: Microsoft Visual Basic is Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's implementation of the VB.NET language and associated tools and language services. It was introduced with Visual Studio .NET (2002). Microsoft has positioned Visual Basic for Rapid Application Development
Rapid application development
Rapid application development is a software development methodology that uses minimal planning in favor of rapid prototyping. The "planning" of software developed using RAD is interleaved with writing the software itself...
. Visual Basic can be used to author both console applications as well as GUI applications. Like Visual C#, Visual Basic also supports the Visual Studio Class designer, Forms designer, and Data designer among others. Like C#, the VB.NET compiler is also available as a part of .NET Framework, but the language services that let VB.NET projects be developed with Visual Studio, are available as a part of the latter.
Microsoft Visual Web Developer: Microsoft Visual Web Developer is used to create web sites, web application
Web application
A web application is an application that is accessed over a network such as the Internet or an intranet. The term may also mean a computer software application that is coded in a browser-supported language and reliant on a common web browser to render the application executable.Web applications are...
s and web service
Web service
A Web service is a method of communication between two electronic devices over the web.The W3C defines a "Web service" as "a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network". It has an interface described in a machine-processable format...
s using ASP.NET. Either C# or VB.NET languages can be used. Visual Web Developer can use the Visual Studio Web Designer to graphically design web page layouts.
Team Foundation Server
Team Foundation Server
Team Foundation Server is a Microsoft product offering source control, data collection, reporting, and project tracking, and is intended for collaborative software development projects...
: Included only with Visual Studio Team System
Visual Studio Team System
Visual Studio Application Lifecycle Management is a collection of integrated software development tools developed by Microsoft. These tools include IDEs, source control, work items, collaboration, metrics, and reporting tools.-Platform:...
, Team Foundation Server is intended for collaborative software development
Software development
Software development is the development of a software product...
projects and acts as the server-side backend providing source control, data collection, reporting, and project-tracking functionality. It also includes the Team Explorer, the client tool for TFS services, which is integrated inside Visual Studio Team System.
Previous products
Visual FoxProVisual FoxPro
Visual FoxPro is a data-centric object-oriented and procedural programming language produced by Microsoft. It is derived from FoxPro which was developed by Fox Software beginning in 1984. Fox Technologies merged with Microsoft in 1992, after which the software acquired further features and the...
: Visual FoxPro is a data-centric object-oriented and procedural
Procedural programming
Procedural programming can sometimes be used as a synonym for imperative programming , but can also refer to a programming paradigm, derived from structured programming, based upon the concept of the procedure call...
programming language
Programming language
A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine and/or to express algorithms precisely....
produced by Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
. It derives from FoxPro
FoxPro 2
FoxPro is a text-based procedurally-oriented programming language and DBMS, originally published by Fox Software and later by Microsoft, for MS-DOS, MS Windows, Apple Macintosh, and UNIX....
(originally known as FoxBASE) which was developed by Fox Software beginning in 1984. Visual FoxPro is tightly integrated with its own relational database engine, which extends FoxPro's xBase capabilities to support SQL
SQL
SQL is a programming language designed for managing data in relational database management systems ....
queries and data manipulation. Visual FoxPro is a full-featured, dynamic programming language
Dynamic programming language
Dynamic programming language is a term used broadly in computer science to describe a class of high-level programming languages that execute at runtime many common behaviors that other languages might perform during compilation, if at all...
that does not require the use of an additional general-purpose programming environment. Microsoft announced in 2007 that Visual FoxPro has been discontinued after version 9 Service Pack 2, but will remain supported until 2015.
Visual SourceSafe: Microsoft Visual SourceSafe is a source control software package oriented towards small software-development projects. The SourceSafe database is a multi-user, multi-process file-system database, using the Windows file system database primitives to provide locking and sharing support. All versions are multi-user, using SMB
Server Message Block
In computer networking, Server Message Block , also known as Common Internet File System operates as an application-layer network protocol mainly used to provide shared access to files, printers, serial ports, and miscellaneous communications between nodes on a network. It also provides an...
(file server) networking. However, with Visual SourceSafe 2005, other client–server modes were added, Lan Booster and VSS Internet (which used HTTP/HTTPS
Https
Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure is a combination of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol with SSL/TLS protocol to provide encrypted communication and secure identification of a network web server...
). Visual SourceSafe 6.0 was available as a stand-alone product and was included with Visual Studio 6.0, and other products such as Office Developer Edition. Visual SourceSafe 2005 was available as a stand-alone product and included with the 2005 Team Suite. Team Foundation Server
Team Foundation Server
Team Foundation Server is a Microsoft product offering source control, data collection, reporting, and project tracking, and is intended for collaborative software development projects...
has superseded VSS as Microsoft's recommended platform for source control.
Microsoft Visual J++
Visual J++
Visual J++ was Microsoft's specific implementation of Java. Syntax, keywords, and grammatical conventions were the same as Java's. Microsoft discontinued support of J++ in January 2004, replacing it to a certain extent with J# and C#....
/Microsoft Visual J#: Microsoft Visual J++ was Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's implementation of the Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
language (with Microsoft-specific extensions) and associated language services. It was discontinued as a result of litigation from Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
, and the technology was recycled into Visual J#, Microsoft's Java compiler for .NET Framework. J# was available with Visual Studio 2005 but has been discontinued in Visual Studio 2008.
Visual InterDev
Visual InterDev
Microsoft Visual InterDev, part of Microsoft Visual Studio 97 and 6.0, is an IDE used to create web applications using Microsoft Active Server Pages technologies. It has code completion, database server management tools, and an integrated debugger....
: Visual InterDev was used to create web applications using Microsoft Active Server Pages
Active Server Pages
Active Server Pages , also known as Classic ASP or ASP Classic, was Microsoft's first server-side script engine for dynamically-generated Web pages. Initially released as an add-on to Internet Information Services via the Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack Active Server Pages (ASP), also known as Classic...
(ASP) technologies. It supports code completion and includes database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
server management tools. It has been replaced with Microsoft Visual Web Developer.
Editions
Microsoft Visual Studio is available in the following editions or SKUs:Visual Studio Express
Visual Studio Express EditionsMicrosoft Visual Studio Express
Microsoft Visual Studio Express is a set of freeware integrated development environments developed by Microsoft that are lightweight versions of the Microsoft Visual Studio product line. Express Editions were conceived beginning with Visual Studio 2005...
are a set of free lightweight individual IDEs which are provided as stripped-down versions of the Visual Studio IDE on a per-platform basis or per-language basis, i.e., it installs the development tools for the supported platforms (web, Windows, phone) or supported development languages (VB, C#) onto individual Visual Studio Shell AppIds. It includes only a small set of tools as compared to the other systems. It does not include support for plug-ins. x64
X86-64
x86-64 is an extension of the x86 instruction set. It supports vastly larger virtual and physical address spaces than are possible on x86, thereby allowing programmers to conveniently work with much larger data sets. x86-64 also provides 64-bit general purpose registers and numerous other...
compilers are not included in the Visual Studio Express edition IDEs, but are available as part of a Windows Software Development Kit that can be installed separately. Microsoft targets the Express IDEs at students and hobbyists. Express editions do not use the full MSDN Library
MSDN Library
MSDN Library is a library of official technical documentation content intended for developers developing for Microsoft Windows. MSDN stands for the Microsoft Developer Network. The MSDN Library documents the APIs that ship with Microsoft products and also includes sample code, technical articles,...
but use the MSDN Essentials Library. The languages available as part of the Express IDEs are:
- Visual Basic Express
- Visual C++ Express
- Visual C# Express
- Visual Web Developer Express
- Express for Windows Phone
Visual Studio LightSwitch
Microsoft Visual Studio LightSwitch is an IDE specifically tailored for creating line-of-business applications built on existing .NET technologies and Microsoft platforms. The applications produced are architecturally 3-tierMultitier architecture
In software engineering, multi-tier architecture is a client–server architecture in which the presentation, the application processing, and the data management are logically separate processes. For example, an application that uses middleware to service data requests between a user and a database...
: the user interface runs on Microsoft Silverlight; the logic and data-access tier is built on WCF RIA Services and Entity Framework, hosted in ASP.NET; and the primary data storage supports Microsoft SQL Server Express
SQL Server Express
Microsoft SQL Server Express, a freely downloadable and distributable version of Microsoft's SQL Server relational database management system, comprises a database specifically targeted for embedded and smaller-scale applications.- Capabilities :...
, Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database server, developed by Microsoft: It is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data as requested by other software applications, be it those on the same computer or those running on another computer across a network...
and Microsoft SQL Azure. LightSwitch also supports other data sources including Microsoft SharePoint. LightSwitch includes graphical designers for designing entities and entity relationships, entity queries, and UI screens. Business logic may be written in either Visual Basic
Visual Basic .NET
Visual Basic .NET , is an object-oriented computer programming language that can be viewed as an evolution of the classic Visual Basic , which is implemented on the .NET Framework...
or Visual C#. The tool can be installed as a stand-alone SKU or as an integrated add-in to Visual Studio 2010 Professional and higher.
Visual Studio Professional
Visual Studio Professional Edition provides an IDE for all supported development languages. As of Visual Studio 2010, the Standard edition was dropped. MSDN support is available as MSDN Essentials or the full MSDN library depending on licensing. It supports XMLXML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
and XSLT
XSLT
XSLT is a declarative, XML-based language used for the transformation of XML documents. The original document is not changed; rather, a new document is created based on the content of an existing one. The new document may be serialized by the processor in standard XML syntax or in another format,...
editing, and can create deployment packages that only use ClickOnce
ClickOnce
ClickOnce is a Microsoft technology that enables the user to install and run a Windows application by clicking a link in a web page. ClickOnce is a component of Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 and later, supports deploying applications made with Windows Forms or Windows Presentation Foundation...
and MSI
Windows Installer
The Windows Installer is a software component used for the installation, maintenance, and removal of software on modern Microsoft Windows systems...
. It includes tools like Server Explorer and integration with Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database server, developed by Microsoft: It is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data as requested by other software applications, be it those on the same computer or those running on another computer across a network...
also. Windows Mobile development support was included in Visual Studio 2005 Standard, however, with Visual Studio 2008, it is only available in Professional and higher editions. Windows Phone 7 development support was added to all editions in Visual Studio 2010. Development for Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft that was used in smartphones and Pocket PCs, but by 2011 was rarely supplied on new phones. The last version is "Windows Mobile 6.5.5"; it is superseded by Windows Phone, which does not run Windows Mobile software.Windows Mobile is...
is no longer supported in Visual Studio 2010; it is superseded by Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...
.
Visual Studio Premium
Visual Studio Premium Edition includes all of the tools in Visual Studio Professional and adds additional functionality such as code metrics, profiling, static code analysis, and database unit testing.Visual Studio Tools for Office
Visual Studio Tools for OfficeVisual Studio Tools for Office
Visual Studio Tools for Office is a set of development tools available in the form of a Visual Studio add-in and a runtime that allows Microsoft Office 2003 and later versions of Office applications to host the .NET Framework Common Language Runtime to expose their functionality via the .NET...
is an SDK and an add-in for Visual Studio that includes tools for developing for the Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office is a non-free commercial office suite of inter-related desktop applications, servers and services for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, introduced by Microsoft in August 1, 1989. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of...
suite. Previously (for Visual Studio .NET 2003 and Visual Studio 2005) it was a separate SKU that supported only Visual C# and Visual Basic
Visual Basic .NET
Visual Basic .NET , is an object-oriented computer programming language that can be viewed as an evolution of the classic Visual Basic , which is implemented on the .NET Framework...
languages or was included in the Team Suite. With Visual Studio 2008, it is no longer a separate SKU but is included with Professional and higher editions. A separate runtime is required when deploying VSTO solutions.
Visual Studio Ultimate
Visual Studio Ultimate provides set of software and database development, collaboration, metrics, architecture, testing and reporting tools in addition to the features provided by Visual Studio Premium. As of Visual Studio 2010, the Team Suite edition was renamed to the Ultimate edition. Visual Studio Ultimate offers a superset of toolsets based on the Application Lifecycle ManagementApplication Lifecycle Management
Application Lifecycle Management is a continuous process of managing the life of an application through governance, development and maintenance...
(ALM) role it is being used for.
Visual Studio Team System
Prior to Visual Studio 2010, Visual Studio Team SystemVisual Studio Team System
Visual Studio Application Lifecycle Management is a collection of integrated software development tools developed by Microsoft. These tools include IDEs, source control, work items, collaboration, metrics, and reporting tools.-Platform:...
provided four role-specific editions are:
- Team Explorer (basic TFS client)
- Architecture Edition
- Database Edition
- Development Edition
- Test Edition
The combined functionality of the four Team System Editions is provided in a Team Suite Edition. The Database Edition, codenamed "DataDude", was initially released as a separate edition after Visual Studio 2005's initial release. It is included with Visual Studio 2008 as a separate edition, but Microsoft did roll its functionality into the Premium Edition with Visual Studio 2010.
Test Professional
Visual Studio Test Professional is an edition which was introduced with Visual Studio 2010. Its focus is aimed at the dedicated tester role and includes support for the management of test environments, the ability to start and report on tests and to connect to Team Foundation Server. It does not include support for development or authoring of tests.Editions feature grid
| Product | Extensions | Setup Projects | MSDN Integration | Debugging | Profiling | Static Analysis | IntelliTrace | Unit Test | Code Coverage | Coded UI Test | Test Impact Analysis | Load Testing | Lab Management | Architecture and Modelling | Mobile Development |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Express | |||||||||||||||
| Professional | |||||||||||||||
| Premium | |||||||||||||||
| Ultimate | |||||||||||||||
| Test Professional |
Version history
Prior to Visual Studio Version 4.0 there were Visual Basic 3, Visual C++, Visual FoxPro and Sources Safe as separate products.| Product name | Codename | Internal version | Supported .NET Framework versions | Release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Visual Studio | 4.0 | Spring 1995 | ||
| Visual Studio 97 | Boston | 5.0 | 1997 | |
| Visual Studio 6.0 | Aspen | 6.0 | 1998-06 | |
| Visual Studio .NET (2002) | Rainier | 7.0 | 1.0 | 2002-02-13 |
| Visual Studio .NET 2003 | Everett | 7.1 | 1.1 | 2003-04-24 |
| Visual Studio 2005 | Whidbey | 8.0 | 2.0, 3.0 | 2005-11-07 |
| Visual Studio 2008 | Orcas | 9.0 | 2.0, 3.0, 3.5 | 2007-11-19 |
| Visual Studio 2010 /Ultimate 2010 | Dev10/Rosario | 10.0 | 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0 | 2010-04-12 |
Visual Studio 97
Microsoft first released Visual Studio (codenamed Boston, for the city of the same nameBoston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, thus beginning the VS codenames related to places) in 1997, bundling many of its programming tools together for the first time. Visual Studio 97 came in two editions: Visual Studio Professional and Visual Studio Enterprise, the professional edition has 3 CDs, and the enterprise on 4 CDs. It included Visual Basic 5.0, Visual C++ 5.0 -primarily for Windows programming; Visual J++ 1.1 for Java programming; Visual FoxPro 5.0 for database programming. It introduced Visual InterDev for creating dynamically generated web sites using Active Server Pages. There were two companion CDs that contained the Microsoft Developer Network library
Microsoft Developer Network
The Microsoft Developer Network is the portion of Microsoft responsible for managing the firm's relationship with developers and testers: hardware developers interested in the operating system , developers standing on the various OS platforms, developers using the API and scripting languages of...
.
Visual Studio 97 was Microsoft's first attempt at using the same development environment for multiple languages. Visual J++, InterDev, and the MSDN Library
Microsoft Developer Network
The Microsoft Developer Network is the portion of Microsoft responsible for managing the firm's relationship with developers and testers: hardware developers interested in the operating system , developers standing on the various OS platforms, developers using the API and scripting languages of...
had all been using same 'environment', called Developer Studio. Visual C++, Visual Basic and Visual FoxPro used separate environments.
VIsual Studio 97 had further low budget CD versions targeting only one specific programming language at a time, such as Visual C++ v5, or Visual Basic v5.0. Each single programming language included the same Environment and lacked MSDN.
Visual Studio 6.0 (1998)
The next version, version 6.0 (codenamed Aspen, after the ski resortAspen, Colorado
The City of Aspen is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the city population was 5,804 in 2005...
in Colorado), was released in June 1998 and is the last version to run on the Windows 9x
Windows 9x
Windows 9x is a generic term referring to a series of Microsoft Windows computer operating systems produced since 1995, which were based on the original and later modified Windows 95 kernel...
platform. Each version of each language in part also settled to v6.0, including Visual J++ which was prior v1.1, and Visual InterDev at the 1st release. The v6 edition of Microsoft was the core environment for the next four releases to provide programmers with an integrated look-a-like platform. This led Microsoft to transition the development on the platform independent .NET Framework
.NET Framework
The .NET Framework is a software framework that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It includes a large library and supports several programming languages which allows language interoperability...
.
Visual Studio 6.0 was the last version to include the COM-based version of plain Visual Basic language; subsequent 2002 version (in 'Visual Studio 2002' package) included Basic language using the .NET platform. It did not include Visual J++, which Microsoft removed as part of a settlement with Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
that required Microsoft Internet Explorer to not provide support for the Java Virtual Machine Environment
Virtual machine
A virtual machine is a "completely isolated guest operating system installation within a normal host operating system". Modern virtual machines are implemented with either software emulation or hardware virtualization or both together.-VM Definitions:A virtual machine is a software...
.
Visual Studio 6.0 came in two editions: Professional and Enterprise. The Enterprise edition contained extra features not found in Professional edition, including:
- Application Performance Explorer
- Automation Manager
- Microsoft Visual Modeler
- RemAuto Connection Manager
- Visual Studio Analyzer
Visual Studio .NET (2002)
Microsoft released Visual Studio .NET (VS.NET), codenamed Rainier (for Washington's Mount RainierMount Rainier
Mount Rainier is a massive stratovolcano located southeast of Seattle in the state of Washington, United States. It is the most topographically prominent mountain in the contiguous United States and the Cascade Volcanic Arc, with a summit elevation of . Mt. Rainier is considered one of the most...
), in February 2002 (the beta version was released via Microsoft Developer Network
Microsoft Developer Network
The Microsoft Developer Network is the portion of Microsoft responsible for managing the firm's relationship with developers and testers: hardware developers interested in the operating system , developers standing on the various OS platforms, developers using the API and scripting languages of...
in 2001). The biggest change was the introduction of a managed code
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
development environment using the .NET Framework. Programs developed using .NET are not compiled to machine language (like C++ is, for example) but instead to a format called Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL) or Common Intermediate Language
Common Intermediate Language
Common Intermediate Language is the lowest-level human-readable programming language defined by the Common Language Infrastructure specification and is used by the .NET Framework and Mono...
(CIL). When an CIL application executes, it is compiled while being executed
Just-in-time compilation
In computing, just-in-time compilation , also known as dynamic translation, is a method to improve the runtime performance of computer programs. Historically, computer programs had two modes of runtime operation, either interpreted or static compilation...
into the appropriate machine language for the platform it is being executed on, thereby making code portable across several platforms. Programs compiled into CIL can be executed only on platforms which have an implementation of Common Language Infrastructure
Common Language Infrastructure
The Common Language Infrastructure is an open specification developed by Microsoft and standardized by ISO and ECMA that describes the executable code and runtime environment that form the core of the Microsoft .NET Framework and the free and open source implementations Mono and Portable.NET...
. It is possible to run CIL programs in Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
or Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
using non-Microsoft .NET implementations like Mono
Mono (software)
Mono, pronounced , is a free and open source project led by Xamarin to create an Ecma standard compliant .NET-compatible set of tools including, among others, a C# compiler and a Common Language Runtime....
and DotGNU
DotGNU
DotGNU is a part of the GNU Project that aims to provide a free software replacement for Microsoft's .NET Framework by Free Software Foundation...
.
This was the first version of Visual Studio to require an NT
Windows NT
Windows NT is a family of operating systems produced by Microsoft, the first version of which was released in July 1993. It was a powerful high-level-language-based, processor-independent, multiprocessing, multiuser operating system with features comparable to Unix. It was intended to complement...
-based Windows platform. The installer enforces this requirement.
Visual Studio .NET 2002 shipped in four editions: Academic, Professional, Enterprise Developer, and Enterprise Architect. Microsoft introduced C# (C-sharp), a new programming language, that targets .NET. It also introduced the successor to Visual J++ called Visual J#. Visual J# programs use Java's language-syntax. However, unlike Visual J++ programs, Visual J# programs can only target the .NET Framework, not the Java Virtual Machine
Java Virtual Machine
A Java virtual machine is a virtual machine capable of executing Java bytecode. It is the code execution component of the Java software platform. Sun Microsystems stated that there are over 4.5 billion JVM-enabled devices.-Overview:...
that all other Java tools target.
Visual Basic changed drastically to fit the new framework, and the new version was called Visual Basic .NET. Microsoft also added extensions to C++, called Managed Extensions for C++
Managed Extensions for C++
Managed Extensions for C++ or just Managed C++ is a now deprecated Microsoft set of deviations from C++, including grammatical and syntactic extensions, keywords and attributes, to bring the C++ syntax and language to the .NET Framework...
, so that C++ programmers could create .NET programs.
Visual Studio .NET can produce applications targeting Windows (using the Windows Forms part of the .NET Framework), the Web (using ASP.NET and Web Services) and, with an add-in, portable devices (using the .NET Compact Framework).
The Visual Studio .NET environment was rewritten to partially use .NET. All languages are versions of Visual Studio, it has a cleaner interface and greater cohesiveness. It is also more customizable with tool windows that automatically hide when not in use. While Visual FoxPro 7 started out as part of Visual Studio .NET 2002, and early VS betas allowed debugging inside VFP-based DLLs, it was removed before release to follow its own development track.
The internal version number of Visual Studio .NET 2002 is version 7.0. Microsoft released Service Pack 1 for Visual Studio .NET 2002 in March, 2005.
Visual Studio .NET 2003
In April 2003, Microsoft introduced a minor upgrade to Visual Studio .NET called Visual Studio .NET 2003, codenamed Everett (for the city of the same nameEverett, Washington
Everett is the county seat of and the largest city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. Named for Everett Colby, son of founder Charles L. Colby, it lies north of Seattle. The city had a total population of 103,019 at the 2010 census, making it the 6th largest in the state and...
). It includes an upgrade to the .NET Framework, version 1.1, and is the first release to support developing programs for mobile devices, using ASP.NET or the .NET Compact Framework. The Visual C++ compiler's standards-compliance improved, especially in the area of partial template specialization
Partial template specialization
Partial template specialization is a particular form of class template specialization. Usually used in reference to the C++ programming language, it allows the programmer to specialize only some arguments of a class template, as opposed to explicit specialization, where all the template arguments...
. Visual C++ Toolkit 2003 is a free version of the same C++ compiler shipped with Visual Studio .NET 2003 without the IDE, though it is no longer available and the Express Editions have superseded it. The internal version number of Visual Studio .NET 2003 is version 7.1 while the file format version is 8.0.
Visual Studio .NET 2003 shipped in four editions: Academic, Professional, Enterprise Developer, and Enterprise Architect. The Visual Studio .NET 2003 Enterprise Architect edition includes an implementation of Microsoft Visio
Microsoft Visio
Microsoft Visio , formerly known as Microsoft Office Visio, is a commercial diagramming program for Microsoft Windows that uses vector graphics to create diagrams.- Features :...
2002's modeling technologies, including tools for creating Unified Modeling Language
Unified Modeling Language
Unified Modeling Language is a standardized general-purpose modeling language in the field of object-oriented software engineering. The standard is managed, and was created, by the Object Management Group...
-based visual representations of an application's architecture, and a powerful Object-Role Modeling (ORM)
Object role modeling
Object Role Modeling is a method for conceptual modeling, and can be used as a tool for information and rules analysis, ontological analysis, and data modeling in the field of software engineering.- Overview :...
and logical database-modeling solution. "Enterprise Templates" were also introduced, to help larger development teams standardize coding styles and enforce policies around component usage and property settings.
Service Pack 1 was released September 13, 2006.
Visual Studio 2005
Visual Studio 2005, codenamed Whidbey (a reference to Whidbey IslandWhidbey Island
Whidbey Island is one of nine islands located in Island County, Washington, in the United States. Whidbey is located about north of Seattle, and lies between the Olympic Peninsula and the I-5 corridor of western Washington...
in Puget Sound
Puget Sound
Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...
), was released online in October 2005 and to retail stores a few weeks later. Microsoft removed the ".NET" moniker from Visual Studio 2005 (as well as every other product with .NET in its name), but it still primarily targets the .NET Framework, which was upgraded to version 2.0. It is the last version available for Windows 2000
Windows 2000
Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, business desktops, laptops, and servers. Windows 2000 was released to manufacturing on 15 December 1999 and launched to retail on 17 February 2000. It is the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the...
and also the last version to be able to target Windows 98
Windows 98
Windows 98 is a graphical operating system by Microsoft. It is the second major release in the Windows 9x line of operating systems. It was released to manufacturing on 15 May 1998 and to retail on 25 June 1998. Windows 98 is the successor to Windows 95. Like its predecessor, it is a hybrid...
, Windows Me
Windows Me
Windows Millennium Edition, or Windows Me , is a graphical operating system released on September 14, 2000 by Microsoft, and was the last operating system released in the Windows 9x series. Support for Windows Me ended on July 11, 2006....
and Windows NT 4.0
Windows NT 4.0
Windows NT 4.0 is a preemptive, graphical and business-oriented operating system designed to work with either uniprocessor or symmetric multi-processor computers. It was the next release of Microsoft's Windows NT line of operating systems and was released to manufacturing on 31 July 1996...
for C++ applications.
Visual Studio 2005's internal version number is 8.0 while the file format version is 9.0. Microsoft released Service Pack 1 for Visual Studio 2005 on 14 December 2006. An additional update for Service Pack 1 that offers Windows Vista compatibility was made available on 3 June 2007.
Visual Studio 2005 was upgraded to support all the new features introduced in .NET Framework 2.0, including generics and ASP.NET 2.0. The IntelliSense
IntelliSense
IntelliSense is Microsoft's implementation of autocompletion, best known for its use in the Microsoft Visual Studio integrated development environment...
feature in Visual Studio was upgraded for generics and new project types were added to support ASP.NET web services. Visual Studio 2005 also includes a local web server, separate from IIS
Internet Information Services
Internet Information Services – formerly called Internet Information Server – is a web server application and set of feature extension modules created by Microsoft for use with Microsoft Windows. It is the most used web server after Apache HTTP Server. IIS 7.5 supports HTTP, HTTPS,...
, that can host ASP.NET applications during development and testing. It also supports all SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database server, developed by Microsoft: It is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data as requested by other software applications, be it those on the same computer or those running on another computer across a network...
2005 databases. Database designers were upgraded to support the ADO.NET 2.0
ADO.NET
ADO.NET is a set of computer software components that programmers can use to access data and data services. It is a part of the base class library that is included with the Microsoft .NET Framework. It is commonly used by programmers to access and modify data stored in relational database systems,...
, which is included with .NET Framework 2.0. C++ also got a similar upgrade with the addition of C++/CLI
C++/CLI
C++/CLI is Microsoft's language specification intended to supersede Managed Extensions for C++. It is a complete revision that aims to simplify the older Managed C++ syntax . C++/CLI is standardized by Ecma as ECMA-372...
which is slated to replace the use of Managed C++
Managed Extensions for C++
Managed Extensions for C++ or just Managed C++ is a now deprecated Microsoft set of deviations from C++, including grammatical and syntactic extensions, keywords and attributes, to bring the C++ syntax and language to the .NET Framework...
. Other new features of Visual Studio 2005 include the "Deployment Designer" which allows application designs to be validated before deployments, an improved environment for web publishing when combined with ASP.NET 2.0 and load testing to see application performance under various sorts of user loads. Starting with the 2005 edition, Visual Studio also added extensive 64-bit support. While the host development environment itself is only available as a 32-bit application, Visual C++ 2005 supports compiling for x86-64
X86-64
x86-64 is an extension of the x86 instruction set. It supports vastly larger virtual and physical address spaces than are possible on x86, thereby allowing programmers to conveniently work with much larger data sets. x86-64 also provides 64-bit general purpose registers and numerous other...
(AMD64 and Intel 64) as well as IA-64 (Itanium
Itanium
Itanium is a family of 64-bit Intel microprocessors that implement the Intel Itanium architecture . Intel markets the processors for enterprise servers and high-performance computing systems...
). The Platform SDK included 64-bit compilers and 64-bit versions of the libraries.
Microsoft also announced Visual Studio Tools for Applications
Visual Studio Tools for Applications
Visual Studio Tools for Applications is a set of tools that independent software vendors can use to build customization abilities into their applications for both automation and extensibility...
as the successor to Visual Basic for Applications
Visual Basic for Applications
Visual Basic for Applications is an implementation of Microsoft's event-driven programming language Visual Basic 6 and its associated integrated development environment , which are built into most Microsoft Office applications...
(VBA) and VSA (Visual Studio for Applications). VSTA 1.0 was released to manufacturing along with Office 2007. It is included with Office 2007 and is also part of the Visual Studio 2005 SDK. VSTA consists of a customized IDE, based on the Visual Studio 2005 IDE, and a runtime that can be embedded in applications to expose its features via the .NET object model. Office 2007 applications continue to integrate with VBA, except for InfoPath 2007 which integrates with VSTA. Version 2.0 of VSTA ( based on Visual Studio 2008) was released in April, 2008. It is significantly different from the first version, including features such as dynamic programming and support for WPF
Windows Presentation Foundation
Developed by Microsoft, the Windows Presentation Foundation is a computer-software graphical subsystem for rendering user interfaces in Windows-based applications. WPF, previously known as "Avalon", was initially released as part of .NET Framework 3.0. Rather than relying on the older GDI...
, WCF
Windows Communication Foundation
The Windows Communication Foundation , previously known as "Indigo", is an application programming interface in the .NET Framework for building connected, service-oriented applications.-The architectures:...
, WF
Windows Workflow Foundation
Windows Workflow Foundation is a Microsoft technology that provides an API, an in-process workflow engine, and a rehostable designer to implement long-running processes as workflows within .NET applications...
, LINQ
Language Integrated Query
Language Integrated Query is a Microsoft .NET Framework component that adds native data querying capabilities to .NET languages, although ports exist for Java, PHP and JavaScript....
, and .NET 3.5 Framework.
Visual Studio 2008
Visual Studio 2008, and Visual Studio Team System 2008 codenamed Orcas (a reference to Orcas IslandOrcas Island
Orcas Island is the largest of the San Juan Islands, which are located in the northwestern corner of Washington state in San Juan County, Washington.-History:...
, also an island in Puget Sound
Puget Sound
Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...
, like Whidbey for the previous 2005 release), were released to MSDN subscribers on 19 November 2007 alongside .NET Framework 3.5. The source code for the Visual Studio 2008 IDE is available under a shared source
Shared source
Shared source is an umbrella term covering some of Microsoft's legal mechanisms for software source code distribution. Microsoft's Shared Source Initiative, launched in May 2001, includes a spectrum of technologies and licenses...
license to some of Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's partners and ISVs
Independent software vendor
Independent software vendor is a business term for companies specializing in making or selling software, designed for mass marketing or for niche markets...
. Microsoft released Service Pack 1 for Visual Studio 2008 on 11 August 2008. The internal version number of Visual Studio 2008 is version 9.0 while the file format version is 10.0. Visual Studio 2008 is the last version to support targeting Windows 2000
Windows 2000
Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, business desktops, laptops, and servers. Windows 2000 was released to manufacturing on 15 December 1999 and launched to retail on 17 February 2000. It is the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the...
for C++ applications.
Visual Studio 2008 is focused on development of Windows Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
, 2007 Office system, and Web applications. For visual design, a new Windows Presentation Foundation
Windows Presentation Foundation
Developed by Microsoft, the Windows Presentation Foundation is a computer-software graphical subsystem for rendering user interfaces in Windows-based applications. WPF, previously known as "Avalon", was initially released as part of .NET Framework 3.0. Rather than relying on the older GDI...
visual designer and a new HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
/CSS
CSS
-Computing:*Cascading Style Sheets, a language used to describe the style of document presentations in web development*Central Structure Store in the PHIGS 3D API*Closed source software, software that is not distributed with source code...
editor influenced by Microsoft Expression Web
Microsoft Expression Web
Microsoft Expression Web, code-named Quartz, is an HTML editor and general web design software product by Microsoft. It is part of the Expression Studio suite....
are included. J#
J Sharp
Visual J# |sharp]]') programming language is a discontinued transitional language for programmers of Java and Visual J++ languages, so they may use their existing knowledge and applications on .NET Framework....
is not included. Visual Studio 2008 requires .NET 3.5 Framework and by default configures compiled assemblies to run on .NET Framework 3.5, but it also supports multi-targeting which lets the developers choose which version of the .NET Framework (out of 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, Silverlight CoreCLR or .NET Compact Framework) the assembly runs on. Visual Studio 2008 also includes new code analysis tools, including the new Code Metrics
Code Metrics
Code Metrics is the analysis of code by gathering statistics such as inheritance depth, lines of code , number of classes etc. and computes a maintainability index based on the gathered information. There are multiple tools and plugins available to obtain this information...
tool (only in Team Edition and Team Suite Edition). For Visual C++
Visual C++
Microsoft Visual C++ is a commercial , integrated development environment product from Microsoft for the C, C++, and C++/CLI programming languages...
, Visual Studio adds a new version of Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC 9.0) that adds support for the visual styles and UI controls introduced with Windows Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
. For native and managed code interoperability, Visual C++ introduces the STL/CLR, which is a port of the C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
Standard Template Library
Standard Template Library
The Standard Template Library is a C++ software library which later evolved into the C++ Standard Library. It provides four components called algorithms, containers, functors, and iterators. More specifically, the C++ Standard Library is based on the STL published by SGI. Both include some...
(STL) containers and algorithms to managed code
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
. STL/CLR defines STL-like containers, iterator
Iterator
In computer programming, an iterator is an object that enables a programmer to traverse a container. Various types of iterators are often provided via a container's interface...
s and algorithms that work on C++/CLI
C++/CLI
C++/CLI is Microsoft's language specification intended to supersede Managed Extensions for C++. It is a complete revision that aims to simplify the older Managed C++ syntax . C++/CLI is standardized by Ecma as ECMA-372...
managed
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
objects.
Visual Studio 2008 features include an XAML
XAML
Extensible Application Markup Language is a declarative XML-based language created by Microsoft used for initializing structured values and objects. It is available under Microsoft's Open Specification Promise...
-based designer (codenamed Cider), workflow designer, LINQ
Language Integrated Query
Language Integrated Query is a Microsoft .NET Framework component that adds native data querying capabilities to .NET languages, although ports exist for Java, PHP and JavaScript....
to SQL
SQL
SQL is a programming language designed for managing data in relational database management systems ....
designer (for defining the type mappings and object encapsulation for SQL Server data), XSLT
XSLT
XSLT is a declarative, XML-based language used for the transformation of XML documents. The original document is not changed; rather, a new document is created based on the content of an existing one. The new document may be serialized by the processor in standard XML syntax or in another format,...
debugger, JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
Intellisense
IntelliSense
IntelliSense is Microsoft's implementation of autocompletion, best known for its use in the Microsoft Visual Studio integrated development environment...
support, JavaScript Debugging support, support for UAC
User Account Control
User Account Control is a technology and security infrastructure introduced with Microsoft's Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 operating systems, with a more relaxed version also present in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2...
manifests
Manifest (.NET Framework)
An assembly manifest is a text file containing metadata about .NET assemblies. It describes the relationship and dependencies of the components in the assembly, versioning information, scope information and the security permissions required by the assembly....
, a concurrent build system, among others. It ships with an enhanced set of UI widgets, both for Windows Forms and WPF
Windows Presentation Foundation
Developed by Microsoft, the Windows Presentation Foundation is a computer-software graphical subsystem for rendering user interfaces in Windows-based applications. WPF, previously known as "Avalon", was initially released as part of .NET Framework 3.0. Rather than relying on the older GDI...
. It also includes a multithreaded build engine (MSBuild) to compile multiple source files (and build the executable file) in a project across multiple threads simultaneously. It also includes support for compiling PNG compressed icon
Icon (computing)
A computer icon is a pictogram displayed on a computer screen and used to navigate a computer system or mobile device. The icon itself is a small picture or symbol serving as a quick, intuitive representation of a software tool, function or a data file accessible on the system. It functions as an...
resources
Resource (Windows)
In Microsoft Windows, resources are read-only data embedded in EXE, DLL, CPL or MUI files.The Windows API provides for easy access to all applications' resources.-Types:...
introduced in Windows Vista. An updated XML Schema designer will ship separately some time after the release of Visual Studio 2008.
The Visual Studio debugger
Microsoft Visual Studio Debugger
The Microsoft Visual Studio Debugger is a debugger that ships along with all versions of Microsoft Visual Studio. This debugger owes much of its feel and functionality to CodeView, a standalone, text-based debugger that shipped with Microsoft Visual C++ version 1.5 and earlier.More advanced...
includes features targeting easier debugging of multi-threaded applications. In debugging mode, in the Threads window, which lists all the threads, hovering over a thread will display the stack trace of that thread in tooltips. The threads can directly be named and flagged for easier identification from that window itself. In addition, in the code window, along with indicating the location of the currently executing instruction in the current thread, the currently executing instructions in other threads are also pointed out. The Visual Studio debugger
Microsoft Visual Studio Debugger
The Microsoft Visual Studio Debugger is a debugger that ships along with all versions of Microsoft Visual Studio. This debugger owes much of its feel and functionality to CodeView, a standalone, text-based debugger that shipped with Microsoft Visual C++ version 1.5 and earlier.More advanced...
supports integrated debugging of the .NET 3.5 Framework Base Class Library
Base Class Library
The Base Class Library is a standard library available to all languages using the .NET Framework. .NET includes the BCL in order to encapsulate a large number of common functions, such as file reading and writing, graphic rendering, database interaction, and XML document manipulation, which makes...
(BCL) which can dynamically download the BCL source code and debug symbol
Debug symbol
A debug symbol is information that expresses which programming-language constructs generated a specific piece of machine code in a given executable module. Sometimes the symbolic information is compiled together with the module's binary file, or distributed in separate file, or simply discarded...
s and allow stepping into the BCL source during debugging. a limited subset of the BCL source is available, with more library support planned for later.
Visual Studio 2010
On April 12, 2010, Microsoft released Visual Studio 2010, codenamed Dev10, and .NET Framework 4.Visual Studio 2010 IDE
Integrated development environment
An integrated development environment is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development...
has been redesigned which, according to Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
, clears the UI organization and "reduces clutter and complexity." The new IDE better supports multiple document windows and floating tool windows, while offering better multi-monitor support. The IDE shell has been rewritten using the Windows Presentation Foundation
Windows Presentation Foundation
Developed by Microsoft, the Windows Presentation Foundation is a computer-software graphical subsystem for rendering user interfaces in Windows-based applications. WPF, previously known as "Avalon", was initially released as part of .NET Framework 3.0. Rather than relying on the older GDI...
(WPF), whereas the internals have been redesigned using Managed Extensibility Framework
Managed Extensibility Framework
Managed Extensibility Framework is a component of .NET Framework 4.0 for creating lightweight, extensible applications. It allows application developers to discover and use extensions with no configuration required. It also lets extension developers easily encapsulate code and avoid fragile hard...
(MEF) that offers more extensibility points than previous versions of the IDE that enabled add-ins to modify the behavior of the IDE.
The new multi-paradigm
Multi-paradigm programming language
Programming languages can be grouped by the number and types of paradigms supported.-Paradigm summaries:A concise reference for the programming paradigms listed in this article....
ML-variant F#
F Sharp programming language
F# is a multi-paradigm programming language, targeting the .NET Framework, that encompasses functional programming as well as imperative and object-oriented programming disciplines. It is a variant of ML and is largely compatible with the OCaml implementation...
forms part of Visual Studio 2010; as do M
M (programming language)
M is a programming language developed by Microsoft. The language is designed specifically for building textual domain-specific languages and software models with XAML....
, the textual modeling language, and Quadrant, the visual model designer, which are a part of the Oslo initiative.
Visual Studio 2010 comes with .NET Framework 4 and supports developing applications targeting Windows 7. It supports IBM DB2
IBM DB2
The IBM DB2 Enterprise Server Edition is a relational model database server developed by IBM. It primarily runs on Unix , Linux, IBM i , z/OS and Windows servers. DB2 also powers the different IBM InfoSphere Warehouse editions...
and Oracle
Oracle Database
The Oracle Database is an object-relational database management system produced and marketed by Oracle Corporation....
databases, in addition to Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database server, developed by Microsoft: It is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data as requested by other software applications, be it those on the same computer or those running on another computer across a network...
. It has integrated support for developing Microsoft Silverlight
Microsoft Silverlight
Microsoft Silverlight is an application framework for writing and running rich Internet applications, with features and purposes similar to those of Adobe Flash. The run-time environment for Silverlight is available as a plug-in for web browsers running under Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X...
applications, including an interactive designer. Visual Studio 2010 offers several tools to make parallel programming simpler: in addition to the Parallel Extensions for the .NET Framework and the Parallel Patterns Library for native code, Visual Studio 2010 includes tools for debugging parallel applications. The new tools allow the visualization of parallel Tasks and their runtime stack
Call stack
In computer science, a call stack is a stack data structure that stores information about the active subroutines of a computer program. This kind of stack is also known as an execution stack, control stack, run-time stack, or machine stack, and is often shortened to just "the stack"...
s. Tools for profiling parallel applications can be used for visualization of thread wait-times and thread migrations across processor cores. Intel and Microsoft have jointly pledged support for a new Concurrency Runtime in Visual Studio 2010
and Intel has launched parallelism support in Parallel Studio as an add-on for Visual Studio.
The Visual Studio 2010 code editor now highlights references; whenever a symbol is selected, all other usages of the symbol are highlighted. It also offers a Quick Search feature to incrementally search
Incremental find
In computing, incremental search, incremental find or real-time suggestions is a user interface interaction method to progressively search for and filter through text. As the user types text, one or more possible matches for the text are found and immediately presented to the user...
across all symbols in C++, C# and VB.NET projects. Quick Search supports substring matches and camelCase
CamelCase
CamelCase , also known as medial capitals, is the practice of writing compound words or phrases in which the elements are joined without spaces, with each element's initial letter capitalized within the compound and the first letter either upper or lower case—as in "LaBelle", "BackColor",...
searches. The Call Hierarchy feature allows the developer to see all the methods that are called from a current method as well as the methods that call the current one. IntelliSense
IntelliSense
IntelliSense is Microsoft's implementation of autocompletion, best known for its use in the Microsoft Visual Studio integrated development environment...
in Visual Studio supports a consume-first mode which developers can opt into. In this mode, IntelliSense will not auto-complete identifiers; this allows the developer to use undefined identifiers (like variable or method names) and define those later. Visual Studio 2010 can also help in this by automatically defining them, if it can infer their types from usage. Current versions of Visual Studio have a known bug which makes IntelliSense unusable for projects using pure C (not C++).
Visual Studio 2010 features a new Help System replacing the MSDN Library
MSDN Library
MSDN Library is a library of official technical documentation content intended for developers developing for Microsoft Windows. MSDN stands for the Microsoft Developer Network. The MSDN Library documents the APIs that ship with Microsoft products and also includes sample code, technical articles,...
viewer. The Help System is no longer based on Microsoft Help 2
Microsoft Help 2
Microsoft Help 2.x is a proprietary format for online help files, developed by Microsoft and first released in 2001 as a help system for Visual Studio .NET and MSDN Library....
and does not use Microsoft Document Explorer. Dynamic help containing links to related help topics based on where the developer was in the IDE has been removed in the shipping product, but can be added back using a download from Microsoft.
Visual Studio 2010 no longer supports development for Windows Mobile prior to Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...
.
Visual Studio Ultimate 2010
Visual Studio Ultimate 2010 (formerly Team System or Team Suite), codenamed Rosario. It includes new modeling tools, such as the Architecture Explorer, which graphically displays projects and classes and the relationships between them.It supports UML
Unified Modeling Language
Unified Modeling Language is a standardized general-purpose modeling language in the field of object-oriented software engineering. The standard is managed, and was created, by the Object Management Group...
activity diagram, component diagram, (logical) class diagram, sequence diagram, and use case diagram. Visual Studio Ultimate 2010 also includes Test Impact Analysis which provides hints on which test cases are impacted by modifications to the source code, without actually running the test cases. This speeds up testing by avoiding running unnecessary test cases.
Visual Studio Ultimate 2010 also includes a Historical Debugger for managed code
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
called IntelliTrace. Unlike the current debugger, that records only the currently-active stack, IntelliTrace records all events like prior function calls, method parameters, events, exceptions etc. This allows the code execution to be rewound in case a breakpoint wasn't set where the error occurred. IntelliTrace will cause the application to run slower than the current debugger, and will use more memory as additional data needs to be recorded. Microsoft allows configuration of how much data should be recorded, in effect allowing developers to balance speed of execution and resource usage. The Lab Management component of Visual Studio Ultimate 2010 uses virtualization to create a similar execution environment for testers and developers. The virtual machine
Virtual machine
A virtual machine is a "completely isolated guest operating system installation within a normal host operating system". Modern virtual machines are implemented with either software emulation or hardware virtualization or both together.-VM Definitions:A virtual machine is a software...
s are tagged with checkpoints which can later be investigated for issues, as well as to reproduce the issue. Visual Studio Ultimate 2010 also includes the capability to record test runs that capture the specific state of the operating environment as well as the precise steps used to run the test. These steps can then be played back to reproduce issues.
Upcoming version
Information about the upcoming version of Visual Studio was revealed at TechEd 2011. On 16 September 2011 a complete 'Developer Preview' of Visual Studio 11 was published on Microsoft's website. Visual Studio 11 Developer Preview requires Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 8, or later operating systems. Versions of Microsoft Foundation Class LibraryMicrosoft Foundation Class Library
The Microsoft Foundation Class Library is a library that wraps portions of the Windows API in C++ classes, including functionality that enables them to use a default application framework...
(MFC) and C runtime (CRT) included with this release cannot produce software that is compatible with Windows XP except by using native multi-targeting and foregoing the newest libraries, compilers, and headers.
On the 24 August 2011, a blog post by Sumit Kumar, a Program Manager on the Visual C++ team listed some of the features of the upcoming version of the Visual Studio C++ IDE:
- Semantic Colorization: Improved syntax coloring, various user-defined or default colors for C++ syntax such as macros, enumerations, typenames, functions etc.
- Reference Highlighting: Selection of a symbol highlights all of the references to that symbol within scope.
- New Solution Explorer: New solution explorer allows for visualization of class and file hierarchies within a solution/project. Searching for calls to functions and uses of classes will be supported.
- Automatic Display of IntelliSense list: IntelliSense will automatically be displayed whilst typing code, as opposed to previous versions where it had to be explicitly invoked through use of certain operators (i.e. the scope operator (::)) or shortcut keys (Ctrl-Space or Ctrl-J).
- Member List Filtering: IntelliSense uses fuzzy logicFuzzy logicFuzzy logic is a form of many-valued logic; it deals with reasoning that is approximate rather than fixed and exact. In contrast with traditional logic theory, where binary sets have two-valued logic: true or false, fuzzy logic variables may have a truth value that ranges in degree between 0 and 1...
to determine which functions/variables/types to display in the list. - Code Snippets: Code snippets are included in IntelliSense to automatically generate relevant code based on the user's parameters, custom code snippets can be created.
Visual Studio Application Lifecycle Management
Visual Studio Application Lifecycle Management is a collection of integrated software development tools developed by MicrosoftMicrosoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
. These tools include IDEs, source control, work items, collaboration, metrics, and reporting tools.
Visual Studio Application Lifecycle Management consists of four products:
- Visual Studio, which provides an IDE (Integrated Development Environment) for development and client side interfaces for the other products.
- Visual Studio Test ProfessionalVisual Studio Test ProfessionalVisual Studio Test Professional is an integrated testing toolset developed by Microsoft that delivers a complete plan-test-track workflow for in-context collaboration between testers and developers, in order to increase testers’ visibility to the overall project.-Testing Tools:* Manual...
, which provides an IDE for software testers to create and execute tests. - Team Foundation ServerTeam Foundation ServerTeam Foundation Server is a Microsoft product offering source control, data collection, reporting, and project tracking, and is intended for collaborative software development projects...
, which provides Source Code collaboration and data storage. - Visual Studio Lab ManagementVisual Studio Lab ManagementVisual Studio Lab Management is a software development tool developed by Microsoft for software testers to create and manage virtual environments. Lab Management extends the existing Visual Studio Application Lifecycle Management platform to enable an integrated Hyper-V based test lab.-Virtual...
, which provides a way for software testers to create and manage virtual environments.
Pre-installed virtual machines
Microsoft was (but no longer is) offering virtual machines with Visual Studio Team System 2008 and 2005 pre-installed in the documented Virtual Hard DiskVHD (file format)
A Virtual Hard Disk is a virtual hard disk file format, meaning it can contain what is found on a physical hard disk drive, such as disk partitions and a file system, which in turn can contain files and folders. It is typically used as the hard disk of a virtual machine...
format for trial use.
External links
Microsoft Visual Studio is an integrated development environment
Integrated development environment
An integrated development environment is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development...
(IDE) from Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
. It is used to develop console
Console application
A console application is a computer program designed to be used via a text-only computer interface, such as a text terminal, the command line interface of some operating systems or the text-based interface included with most Graphical User Interface operating systems, such as the Win32 console in...
and graphical user interface
Graphical user interface
In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...
application
Application software
Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...
s along with Windows Forms
Windows Forms
Windows Forms is the name given to the graphical application programming interface included as a part of Microsoft .NET Framework, providing access to native Microsoft Windows interface elements by wrapping the extant Windows API in managed code...
applications, web sites, web application
Web application
A web application is an application that is accessed over a network such as the Internet or an intranet. The term may also mean a computer software application that is coded in a browser-supported language and reliant on a common web browser to render the application executable.Web applications are...
s, and web service
Web service
A Web service is a method of communication between two electronic devices over the web.The W3C defines a "Web service" as "a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network". It has an interface described in a machine-processable format...
s in both native code together with managed code
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
for all platforms supported by Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft that was used in smartphones and Pocket PCs, but by 2011 was rarely supplied on new phones. The last version is "Windows Mobile 6.5.5"; it is superseded by Windows Phone, which does not run Windows Mobile software.Windows Mobile is...
, Windows CE
Windows CE
Microsoft Windows CE is an operating system developed by Microsoft for embedded systems. Windows CE is a distinct operating system and kernel, rather than a trimmed-down version of desktop Windows...
, .NET Framework
.NET Framework
The .NET Framework is a software framework that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It includes a large library and supports several programming languages which allows language interoperability...
, .NET Compact Framework
.NET Compact Framework
The Microsoft .NET Compact Framework is a version of the .NET Framework that is designed to run on resource constrained mobile/embedded devices such as personal digital assistants , mobile phones, factory controllers, set-top boxes, etc...
and Microsoft Silverlight
Microsoft Silverlight
Microsoft Silverlight is an application framework for writing and running rich Internet applications, with features and purposes similar to those of Adobe Flash. The run-time environment for Silverlight is available as a plug-in for web browsers running under Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X...
.
Visual Studio includes a code editor supporting IntelliSense
IntelliSense
IntelliSense is Microsoft's implementation of autocompletion, best known for its use in the Microsoft Visual Studio integrated development environment...
as well as code refactoring. The integrated debugger
Microsoft Visual Studio Debugger
The Microsoft Visual Studio Debugger is a debugger that ships along with all versions of Microsoft Visual Studio. This debugger owes much of its feel and functionality to CodeView, a standalone, text-based debugger that shipped with Microsoft Visual C++ version 1.5 and earlier.More advanced...
works both as a source-level debugger and a machine-level debugger. Other built-in tools include a forms designer for building GUI
Gui
Gui or guee is a generic term to refer to grilled dishes in Korean cuisine. These most commonly have meat or fish as their primary ingredient, but may in some cases also comprise grilled vegetables or other vegetarian ingredients. The term derives from the verb, "gupda" in Korean, which literally...
applications, web designer, class designer, and database schema
Database schema
A database schema of a database system is its structure described in a formal language supported by the database management system and refers to the organization of data to create a blueprint of how a database will be constructed...
designer. It accepts plug-ins that enhance the functionality at almost every level—including adding support for source-control systems (like Subversion and Visual SourceSafe) and adding new toolsets like editors and visual designers for domain-specific languages or toolsets for other aspects of the software development lifecycle (like the Team Foundation Server
Team Foundation Server
Team Foundation Server is a Microsoft product offering source control, data collection, reporting, and project tracking, and is intended for collaborative software development projects...
client: Team Explorer).
Visual Studio supports different programming language
Programming language
A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine and/or to express algorithms precisely....
s by means of language services, which allow the code editor and debugger to support (to varying degrees) nearly any programming language, provided a language-specific service exists. Built-in languages include C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
/C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
(via Visual C++
Visual C++
Microsoft Visual C++ is a commercial , integrated development environment product from Microsoft for the C, C++, and C++/CLI programming languages...
), VB.NET (via Visual Basic .NET
Visual Basic .NET
Visual Basic .NET , is an object-oriented computer programming language that can be viewed as an evolution of the classic Visual Basic , which is implemented on the .NET Framework...
), C# (via Visual C#), and F# (as of Visual Studio 2010). Support for other languages such as M
M (programming language)
M is a programming language developed by Microsoft. The language is designed specifically for building textual domain-specific languages and software models with XAML....
, Python
IronPython
IronPython is an implementation of the Python programming language targeting the .NET Framework and Mono. Jim Hugunin created the project and actively contributed to it up until Version 1.0 which was released on September 5, 2006. Thereafter, it was maintained by a small team at Microsoft until...
, and Ruby
IronRuby
IronRuby is an implementation of the Ruby programming language targeting Microsoft .NET framework. It is implemented on top of the Dynamic Language Runtime , a library running on top of the Common Language Infrastructure that provides dynamic typing and dynamic method dispatch, among other things,...
among others is available via language services installed separately. It also supports XML
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
/XSLT
XSLT
XSLT is a declarative, XML-based language used for the transformation of XML documents. The original document is not changed; rather, a new document is created based on the content of an existing one. The new document may be serialized by the processor in standard XML syntax or in another format,...
, HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
/XHTML
XHTML
XHTML is a family of XML markup languages that mirror or extend versions of the widely-used Hypertext Markup Language , the language in which web pages are written....
, JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
and CSS
Cascading Style Sheets
Cascading Style Sheets is a style sheet language used to describe the presentation semantics of a document written in a markup language...
. Individual language-specific versions of Visual Studio also exist which provide more limited language services to the user: Microsoft Visual Basic, Visual J#, Visual C#, and Visual C++.
Microsoft provides "Express" editions of its Visual Studio 2010 components Visual Basic, Visual C#, Visual C++, and Visual Web Developer at no cost. Visual Studio 2010, 2008 and 2005 Professional Editions, along with language-specific versions (Visual Basic, C++, C#, J#) of Visual Studio Express 2010 are available for free to students as downloads via Microsoft's DreamSpark
DreamSpark
DreamSpark is a program set up by Microsoft to provide students with software design and development tools at no charge. The program was originally available for university/college students in Belarus, Belgium, China, Finland, France, Germany, India, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, the U.K....
program.
Architecture
Visual Studio does not support any programming language, solution or tool intrinsically, instead allows the plugging of functionality coded as a VSPackage. When installed, the functionality is available as a Service. The IDE provides three services: SVsSolution, which provides the ability to enumerate projects and solutions; SVsUIShell, which provides windowing and UI functionality (including tabs, toolbars and tool windows); and SVsShell, which deals with registration of VSPackages. In addition, the IDE is also responsible for coordinating and enabling communication between services. All editors, designers, project types and other tools are implemented as VSPackages. Visual Studio uses COMComponent Object Model
Component Object Model is a binary-interface standard for software componentry introduced by Microsoft in 1993. It is used to enable interprocess communication and dynamic object creation in a large range of programming languages...
to access the VSPackages. The Visual Studio SDK
Software development kit
A software development kit is typically a set of software development tools that allows for the creation of applications for a certain software package, software framework, hardware platform, computer system, video game console, operating system, or similar platform.It may be something as simple...
also includes the Managed Package Framework (MPF), which is a set of managed
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
wrappers around the COM-interfaces that allow the Packages to be written in any CLI compliant language. However, MPF does not provide all the functionality exposed by the Visual Studio COM interfaces.
The services can then be consumed for creation of other packages, which add functionality to the Visual Studio IDE.
Support for programming languages is added by using a specific VSPackage called a Language Service. A language service defines various interfaces which the VSPackage implementation can implement to add support for various functionalities. Functionalities that can be added this way include syntax coloring, statement completion, brace matching, parameter information tooltips, member lists and error markers for background compilation. If the interface is implemented, the functionality will be available for the language. Language services are to be implemented on a per-language basis. The implementations can reuse code from the parser or the compiler for the language. Language services can be implemented either in native code or managed code
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
. For native code, either the native COM interfaces or the Babel Framework (part of Visual Studio SDK) can be used. For managed code, the MPF includes wrappers for writing managed language services.
Visual Studio does not include any source control support built in but it defines two alternative ways for source control systems to integrate with the IDE. A Source Control VSPackage can provide its own customised user interface. In contrast, a source control plugin using the MSSCCI (Microsoft Source Code Control Interface) provides a set of functions that are used to implement various source control functionality, with a standard Visual Studio user interface. MSSCCI was first used to integrate Visual SourceSafe with Visual Studio 6.0 but was later opened up via the Visual Studio SDK. Visual Studio .NET 2002 used MSSCCI 1.1, and Visual Studio .NET 2003 used MSSCCI 1.2. Visual Studio 2005, 2008 and 2010 use MSSCCI Version 1.3, which adds support for rename and delete propagation as well as asynchronous opening.
Visual Studio supports running multiple instances of the environment (each with its own set of VSPackages). The instances use different registry hives
Windows registry
The Windows Registry is a hierarchical database that stores configuration settings and options on Microsoft Windows operating systems. It contains settings for low-level operating system components as well as the applications running on the platform: the kernel, device drivers, services, SAM, user...
(see MSDN's definition of the term "registry hive" in the sense used here) to store their configuration state and are differentiated by their AppId (Application ID). The instances are launched by an AppId-specific .exe that selects the AppId, sets the root hive and launches the IDE. VSPackages registered for one AppId are integrated with other VSPackages for that AppId. The various product editions of Visual Studio are created using the different AppIds. The Visual Studio Express edition products are installed with their own AppIds, but the Standard, Professional and Team Suite
Visual Studio Team System
Visual Studio Application Lifecycle Management is a collection of integrated software development tools developed by Microsoft. These tools include IDEs, source control, work items, collaboration, metrics, and reporting tools.-Platform:...
products share the same AppId. Consequently, one can install the Express editions side-by-side with other editions, unlike the other editions which update the same installation. The professional edition includes a superset of the VSPackages in the standard edition and the team suite includes a superset of the VSPackages in both other editions. The AppId system is leveraged by the Visual Studio Shell in Visual Studio 2008.
Code editor
Visual Studio, like any other IDEIntegrated development environment
An integrated development environment is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development...
, includes a code editor that supports syntax highlighting
Syntax highlighting
Syntax highlighting is a feature of some text editors that display text—especially source code—in different colors and fonts according to the category of terms. This feature eases writing in a structured language such as a programming language or a markup language as both structures and...
and code completion
Autocomplete
Autocomplete is a feature provided by many web browsers, e-mail programs, search engine interfaces, source code editors, database query tools, word processors, and command line interpreters. Autocomplete involves the program predicting a word or phrase that the user wants to type in without the...
using IntelliSense
IntelliSense
IntelliSense is Microsoft's implementation of autocompletion, best known for its use in the Microsoft Visual Studio integrated development environment...
for not only variables
Variable (programming)
In computer programming, a variable is a symbolic name given to some known or unknown quantity or information, for the purpose of allowing the name to be used independently of the information it represents...
, functions
Subroutine
In computer science, a subroutine is a portion of code within a larger program that performs a specific task and is relatively independent of the remaining code....
and methods
Method (computer science)
In object-oriented programming, a method is a subroutine associated with a class. Methods define the behavior to be exhibited by instances of the associated class at program run time...
but also language constructs like loops and queries
LINQ
Linq is a word-based card game from Endless Games, introduced at the American International Toy Fair in 2005.Game play requires at least four players, two of whom are dealt cards with the same word, while the others receive blanks. The goal is to gain points by correctly naming the players with...
. IntelliSense is supported for the included languages, as well as for XML
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
and for Cascading Style Sheets
Cascading Style Sheets
Cascading Style Sheets is a style sheet language used to describe the presentation semantics of a document written in a markup language...
and JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
when developing web sites and web application
Web application
A web application is an application that is accessed over a network such as the Internet or an intranet. The term may also mean a computer software application that is coded in a browser-supported language and reliant on a common web browser to render the application executable.Web applications are...
s. Autocomplete suggestions are popped up in a modeless list box, overlaid on top of the code editor. In Visual Studio 2008 onwards, it can be made temporarily semi-transparent to see the code obstructed by it. The code editor is used for all supported languages.
The Visual Studio code editor also supports setting bookmarks in code for quick navigation. Other navigational aids include collapsing code blocks and incremental search, in addition to normal text search and regex
Regular expression
In computing, a regular expression provides a concise and flexible means for "matching" strings of text, such as particular characters, words, or patterns of characters. Abbreviations for "regular expression" include "regex" and "regexp"...
search. The code editor also includes a multi-item clipboard
Clipboard
A clipboard is a thin, rigid board with a clip at the top for holding paper in place. A clipboard is typically used to support paper with one hand while writing on it with the other, especially when other writing surfaces are not available.-Other uses:...
and a task list. The code editor supports code snippets, which are saved templates for repetitive code and can be inserted into code and customized for the project being worked on. A management tool for code snippets is built in as well. These tools are surfaced as floating windows which can be set to automatically hide when unused or docked to the side of the screen. The Visual Studio code editor also supports code refactoring including parameter reordering, variable and method renaming, interface extraction and encapsulation of class members inside properties, among others.
Visual Studio features background compilation (also called incremental compilation). As code is being written, Visual Studio compiles it in the background in order to provide feedback about syntax and compilation errors, which are flagged with a red wavy underline. Warnings are marked with a green underline. Background compilation does not generate executable code, since it requires a different compiler than the one used to generate executable code. Background compilation was initially introduced with Microsoft Visual Basic but has now been expanded for all included languages.
Debugger
Visual Studio includes a debuggerDebugger
A debugger or debugging tool is a computer program that is used to test and debug other programs . The code to be examined might alternatively be running on an instruction set simulator , a technique that allows great power in its ability to halt when specific conditions are encountered but which...
that works both as a source-level debugger and as a machine-level debugger. It works with both managed code
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
as well as native code and can be used for debugging applications written in any language supported by Visual Studio. In addition, it can also attach to running processes and monitor and debug those processes. If source code for the running process is available, it displays the code as it is being run. If source code is not available, it can show the disassembly. The Visual Studio debugger can also create memory dumps as well as load them later for debugging. Multi-threaded programs are also supported. The debugger can be configured to be launched when an application running outside the Visual Studio environment crashes.
The debugger allows setting breakpoints
Breakpoint
In software development, a breakpoint is an intentional stopping or pausing place in a program, put in place for debugging purposes. It is also sometimes simply referred to as a pause....
(which allow execution to be stopped temporarily at a certain position) and watches (which monitor the values of variables as the execution progresses). Breakpoints can be conditional, meaning they get triggered when the condition is met. Code can be stepped over
Program animation
Program animation or Stepping refers to the very common debugging method of executing code one "line" at a time. The programmer may examine the state of the program, machine, and related data before and after execution of a particular line of code...
, i.e., run one line (of source code) at a time. It can either step into functions to debug inside it, or step over it, i.e., the execution of the function body isn't available for manual inspection. The debugger supports Edit and Continue, i.e., it allows code to be edited as it is being debugged (32 bit only; not supported in 64 bit). When debugging, if the mouse pointer hovers over any variable, its current value is displayed in a tooltip ("data tooltips"), where it can also be modified if desired. During coding, the Visual Studio debugger lets certain functions be invoked manually from the
Immediate tool window. The parameters to the method are supplied at the Immediate window.Designer
Visual Studio includes a host of visual designers to aid in the development of applications. These tools include:Windows Forms Designer: The Windows Forms designer is used to build GUI
Gui
Gui or guee is a generic term to refer to grilled dishes in Korean cuisine. These most commonly have meat or fish as their primary ingredient, but may in some cases also comprise grilled vegetables or other vegetarian ingredients. The term derives from the verb, "gupda" in Korean, which literally...
applications using Windows Forms. Layout can be controlled by housing the controls inside other containers or locking them to the side of the form. Controls that display data (like textbox, list box, grid view, etc.) can be bound
Data binding
Data binding is a general technique that binds two data/information sources together and maintains synchronization of data. This is usually done with two data/information sources with different types as in XML data binding. However, in UI data binding, data and information objects of the same type...
to data sources like database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
s or queries
LINQ
Linq is a word-based card game from Endless Games, introduced at the American International Toy Fair in 2005.Game play requires at least four players, two of whom are dealt cards with the same word, while the others receive blanks. The goal is to gain points by correctly naming the players with...
. Data-bound controls can be created by dragging items from the Data Sources window onto a design surface. The UI is linked with code using an event-driven programming
Event-driven programming
In computer programming, event-driven programming or event-based programming is a programming paradigm in which the flow of the program is determined by events—i.e., sensor outputs or user actions or messages from other programs or threads.Event-driven programming can also be defined as an...
model. The designer generates either C# or VB.NET code for the application.
WPF Designer: The WPF designer, codenamed Cider, was introduced with Visual Studio 2008. Like the Windows Forms designer it supports the drag and drop metaphor. It is used to author user interface
User interface
The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...
s targeting Windows Presentation Foundation
Windows Presentation Foundation
Developed by Microsoft, the Windows Presentation Foundation is a computer-software graphical subsystem for rendering user interfaces in Windows-based applications. WPF, previously known as "Avalon", was initially released as part of .NET Framework 3.0. Rather than relying on the older GDI...
. It supports all WPF functionality including data binding
Data binding
Data binding is a general technique that binds two data/information sources together and maintains synchronization of data. This is usually done with two data/information sources with different types as in XML data binding. However, in UI data binding, data and information objects of the same type...
and automatic layout management. It generates XAML
XAML
Extensible Application Markup Language is a declarative XML-based language created by Microsoft used for initializing structured values and objects. It is available under Microsoft's Open Specification Promise...
code for the UI. The generated XAML
XAML
Extensible Application Markup Language is a declarative XML-based language created by Microsoft used for initializing structured values and objects. It is available under Microsoft's Open Specification Promise...
file is compatible with Microsoft Expression Design
Microsoft Expression Design
Microsoft Expression Design is Microsoft's commercial professional illustration vector and raster graphic design tool for web images based on Creature House Expression, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2003. It is part of the Microsoft Expression Studio suite...
, the designer-oriented product. The XAML code is linked with code using a code-behind model.
Web designer/development: Visual Studio also includes a web-site editor and designer that allows web pages to be authored by dragging and dropping widgets. It is used for developing ASP.NET
ASP.NET
ASP.NET is a Web application framework developed and marketed by Microsoft to allow programmers to build dynamic Web sites, Web applications and Web services. It was first released in January 2002 with version 1.0 of the .NET Framework, and is the successor to Microsoft's Active Server Pages ...
applications and supports HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
, CSS
CSS
-Computing:*Cascading Style Sheets, a language used to describe the style of document presentations in web development*Central Structure Store in the PHIGS 3D API*Closed source software, software that is not distributed with source code...
and JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
. It uses a code-behind model to link with ASP.NET code. From Visual Studio 2008 onwards, the layout engine used by the web designer is shared with Microsoft Expression Web
Microsoft Expression Web
Microsoft Expression Web, code-named Quartz, is an HTML editor and general web design software product by Microsoft. It is part of the Expression Studio suite....
. There is also ASP.NET MVC support for MVC technology as a separate download and ASP.NET Dynamic Data
ASP.NET Dynamic Data
ASP.NET Dynamic Data is a Ruby on Rails-inspired web application scaffolding framework from Microsoft, shipped as an extension to ASP.NET, that can be used to build data driven web applications. It exposes tables in a database by encoding it in the URI of the ASP.NET web service, and the data in...
project available from Microsoft
Class designer: The Class Designer is used to author and edit the classes (including its members and their access) using UML
Unified Modeling Language
Unified Modeling Language is a standardized general-purpose modeling language in the field of object-oriented software engineering. The standard is managed, and was created, by the Object Management Group...
modeling. The Class Designer can generate C# and VB.NET code outlines for the classes and methods. It can also generate class diagrams from hand-written classes.
Data designer: The data designer can be used to graphically edit database schema
Database schema
A database schema of a database system is its structure described in a formal language supported by the database management system and refers to the organization of data to create a blueprint of how a database will be constructed...
s, including typed tables, primary and foreign keys and constraints. It can also be used to design queries from the graphical view.
Mapping designer: From Visual Studio 2008 onwards, the mapping designer is used by LINQ to SQL
Language Integrated Query
Language Integrated Query is a Microsoft .NET Framework component that adds native data querying capabilities to .NET languages, although ports exist for Java, PHP and JavaScript....
to design the mapping
Object-relational mapping
Object-relational mapping in computer software is a programming technique for converting data between incompatible type systems in object-oriented programming languages. This creates, in effect, a "virtual object database" that can be used from within the programming language...
between database schema
Database schema
A database schema of a database system is its structure described in a formal language supported by the database management system and refers to the organization of data to create a blueprint of how a database will be constructed...
s and the classes that encapsulate the data. The new solution from ORM approach, ADO.NET Entity Framework
ADO.NET Entity Framework
ADO.NET Entity Framework is an object-relational mapping framework for the .NET Framework.-Overview:ADO.NET Entity Framework abstracts the relational schema of the data that is stored in a database and presents its conceptual schema to the application...
, replaces and improves the old technology.
Other tools
Open Tabs Browser: The open tabs browser is used to list all open tabs and to switch between them. It is invoked usingCTRL+TAB.Properties Editor: The Properties Editor tool is used to edit properties in a GUI pane inside Visual Studio. It lists all available properties (both read-only and those which can be set) for all objects including classes, forms, web pages and other items.
Object Browser: The Object Browser is a namespace
Namespace
In general, a namespace is a container that provides context for the identifiers it holds, and allows the disambiguation of homonym identifiers residing in different namespaces....
and class library browser for Microsoft .NET. It can be used to browse the namespaces (which are arranged hierarchically) in managed
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
assemblies
.NET assembly
In the .NET framework, an assembly is a compiled code library used for deployment, versioning, and security. There are two types: process assemblies and library assemblies . A process assembly represents a process that will use classes defined in library assemblies...
. The hierarchy may or may not reflect the organization in the file system.
Solution Explorer: In Visual Studio parlance, a solution is a set of code files and other resources that are used to build an application. The files in a solution are arranged hierarchically, which might or might not reflect the organization in the file system. The Solution Explorer is used to manage and browse the files in a solution.
Team Explorer: Team Explorer is used to integrate the capabilities of Team Foundation Server
Team Foundation Server
Team Foundation Server is a Microsoft product offering source control, data collection, reporting, and project tracking, and is intended for collaborative software development projects...
, the Revision Control System
Revision Control System
The Revision Control System is a software implementation of revision control that automates the storing, retrieval, logging, identification, and merging of revisions. RCS is useful for text that is revised frequently, for example programs, documentation, procedural graphics, papers, and form...
into the IDE (and the basis for Microsoft's CodePlex hosting environment for open source projects). In addition to source control it provides the ability to view and manage individual work items (including bugs, tasks and other documents) and to browse TFS
Team Foundation Server
Team Foundation Server is a Microsoft product offering source control, data collection, reporting, and project tracking, and is intended for collaborative software development projects...
statistics. It is included as part of a TFS install and is also available as a download for Visual Studio separately Team Explorer is also available as a stand-alone environment solely to access TFS services.
Data Explorer: Data Explorer is used to manage databases on Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database server, developed by Microsoft: It is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data as requested by other software applications, be it those on the same computer or those running on another computer across a network...
instances. It allows creation and alteration of database tables (either by issuing T-SQL commands or by using the Data designer). It can also be used to create queries and stored procedure
Stored procedure
A stored procedure is a subroutine available to applications that access a relational database system. A stored procedure is actually stored in the database data dictionary.Typical uses for stored procedures include data validation or access control mechanisms...
s, with the latter in either T-SQL or in managed code
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
via SQL CLR
SQL CLR
SQL CLR or SQLCLR is technology for hosting of the Microsoft .NET common language runtime engine within SQL Server...
. Debugging and IntelliSense
IntelliSense
IntelliSense is Microsoft's implementation of autocompletion, best known for its use in the Microsoft Visual Studio integrated development environment...
support is available as well.
Server Explorer: The Server Explorer tool is used to manage database connections on an accessible computer. It is also used to browse running Windows Service
Windows Service
On Microsoft Windows operating systems, a Windows service is a long-running executable that performs specific functions and which is designed not to require user intervention. Windows services can be configured to start when the operating system is booted and run in the background as long as...
s, performance counters, Windows Event Log and message queue
Message queue
In computer science, message queues and mailboxes are software-engineering components used for interprocess communication, or for inter-thread communication within the same process. They use a queue for messaging – the passing of control or of content...
s and use them as a datasource.
Dotfuscator Software Services Community Edition: Visual Studio includes a free 'light' version of PreEmptive Solutions' Dotfuscator
Dotfuscator
Dotfuscator is software used for obfuscation of .NET assemblies. Among its abilities are mangling of identifier names into unreadable characters, but also changing control flow into being more unreadable at the IL-level for a human and other relatively advanced changes.Note that name mangling...
product for code obfuscation and application-size reduction. Starting with Visual Studio 2010, this version of Dotfuscator will include Runtime Intelligence
Runtime intelligence
-Introduction:The term runtime intelligence refers to technologies, managed services and practices for the collection, integration, analysis, and presentation of application usage levels, patterns and practices...
capabilities that allow authors to gather end-user usage, performance, and stability information from their applications running in production.
Text Generation Framework: Visual Studio includes a full text generation framework called T4
Text Template Transformation Toolkit
Microsoft's Text Template Transformation Toolkit is a template based text generation framework included with Visual Studio. T4 source files are usually denoted by the file extension ".tt"....
which enables Visual Studio to generate text files from templates either in the IDE or via code.
Extensibility
Visual Studio allows developers to write extensions for Visual Studio to extend its capabilities. These extensions "plug into" Visual Studio and extend its functionality. Extensions come in the form of macros, add-ins, and packages. Macros represent repeatable tasks and actions that developers can record programmatically for saving, replaying, and distributing. Macros, however, cannot implement new commands or create tool windows. They are written using Visual Basic
Visual Basic
Visual Basic is the third-generation event-driven programming language and integrated development environment from Microsoft for its COM programming model...
and are not compiled. Add-Ins provide access to the Visual Studio object model and can interact with the IDE tools. Add-Ins can be used to implement new functionality and can add new tool windows. Add-Ins are plugged in to the IDE via COM
Component Object Model
Component Object Model is a binary-interface standard for software componentry introduced by Microsoft in 1993. It is used to enable interprocess communication and dynamic object creation in a large range of programming languages...
and can be created in any COM-compliant languages. Packages are created using the Visual Studio SDK
Software development kit
A software development kit is typically a set of software development tools that allows for the creation of applications for a certain software package, software framework, hardware platform, computer system, video game console, operating system, or similar platform.It may be something as simple...
and provide the highest level of extensibility. They can create designers and other tools, as well as integrate other programming languages. The Visual Studio SDK provides unmanaged APIs as well as a managed API to accomplish these tasks. However, the managed API isn't as comprehensive as the unmanaged one. Extensions are supported in the Standard (and higher) versions of Visual Studio 2005. Express Editions do not support hosting extensions.
Visual Studio 2008 introduced the Visual Studio Shell that allows for development of a customized version of the IDE. The Visual Studio Shell defines a set of VSPackages that provide the functionality required in any IDE. On top of that, other packages can be added to customize the installation. The Isolated mode of the shell creates a new AppId where the packages are installed. These are to be started with a different executable. It is aimed for development of custom development environments, either for a specific language or a specific scenario. The Integrated mode installs the packages into the AppId of the Professional/Standard/Team System editions, so that the tools integrate into these editions. The Visual Studio Shell is available as a free download.
After the release of Visual Studio 2008, Microsoft created the Visual Studio Gallery. It serves as the central location for posting information about extensions to Visual Studio. Community developers as well as commercial developers can upload information about their extensions to Visual Studio .NET 2002 through Visual Studio 2010. Users of the site can rate and review the extensions to help assess the quality of extensions being posted. RSS feeds to notify users on updates to the site and tagging features are also planned.
Included products
Microsoft Visual C++Visual C++
Microsoft Visual C++ is a commercial , integrated development environment product from Microsoft for the C, C++, and C++/CLI programming languages...
: Microsoft Visual C++ is Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's implementation of the C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
and C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
compiler
Compiler
A compiler is a computer program that transforms source code written in a programming language into another computer language...
and associated languages-services and specific tools for integration with the Visual Studio IDE. It can compile either in C mode or C++ mode. For C, it follows the ISO C standard with parts of C99
C99
C99 is a modern dialect of the C programming language. It extends the previous version with new linguistic and library features, and helps implementations make better use of available computer hardware and compiler technology.-History:...
spec along with MS-specific additions in the form of libraries. For C++, it follows the ANSI C++ spec along with a few C++0x
C++0x
C++11, also formerly known as C++0x, is the name of the most recent iteration of the C++ programming language, replacing C++03, approved by the ISO as of 12 August 2011...
features. It also supports the C++/CLI
C++/CLI
C++/CLI is Microsoft's language specification intended to supersede Managed Extensions for C++. It is a complete revision that aims to simplify the older Managed C++ syntax . C++/CLI is standardized by Ecma as ECMA-372...
spec to write managed code
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
, as well as mixed-mode code (a mix of native and managed code
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
). Microsoft positions Visual C++ for development in native code or in code that contains both native as well as managed components. Visual C++ supports COM
Component Object Model
Component Object Model is a binary-interface standard for software componentry introduced by Microsoft in 1993. It is used to enable interprocess communication and dynamic object creation in a large range of programming languages...
as well as the MFC library. For MFC development, it provides a set of wizards for creating and customizing MFC boilerplate code, and creating GUI applications using MFC. Visual C++ can also use the Visual Studio forms designer to design UI graphically. Visual C++ can also be used with the Windows API
Windows API
The Windows API, informally WinAPI, is Microsoft's core set of application programming interfaces available in the Microsoft Windows operating systems. It was formerly called the Win32 API; however, the name "Windows API" more accurately reflects its roots in 16-bit Windows and its support on...
. It also supports the use of intrinsic functions, which are functions recognized by the compiler itself and not implemented as a library. Intrinsic functions are used to expose the SSE
Streaming SIMD Extensions
In computing, Streaming SIMD Extensions is a SIMD instruction set extension to the x86 architecture, designed by Intel and introduced in 1999 in their Pentium III series processors as a reply to AMD's 3DNow! . SSE contains 70 new instructions, most of which work on single precision floating point...
instruction set of modern CPUs. Visual C++ also includes the OpenMP
OpenMP
OpenMP is an API that supports multi-platform shared memory multiprocessing programming in C, C++, and Fortran, on most processor architectures and operating systems, including Linux, Unix, AIX, Solaris, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows platforms...
(version 2.0) spec.
Microsoft Visual C#: Microsoft Visual C#, Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's implementation of the C# language, targets the .NET Framework, along with the language services that lets the Visual Studio IDE support C# projects. While the language services are a part of Visual Studio, the compiler is available separately as a part of the .NET Framework. The Visual C# 2008 and 2010 compilers support versions 3.0 and 4.0 of the C# language specifications, respectively. Visual C# supports the Visual Studio Class designer, Forms designer, and Data designer among others.
Microsoft Visual Basic
Visual Basic .NET
Visual Basic .NET , is an object-oriented computer programming language that can be viewed as an evolution of the classic Visual Basic , which is implemented on the .NET Framework...
: Microsoft Visual Basic is Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's implementation of the VB.NET language and associated tools and language services. It was introduced with Visual Studio .NET (2002). Microsoft has positioned Visual Basic for Rapid Application Development
Rapid application development
Rapid application development is a software development methodology that uses minimal planning in favor of rapid prototyping. The "planning" of software developed using RAD is interleaved with writing the software itself...
. Visual Basic can be used to author both console applications as well as GUI applications. Like Visual C#, Visual Basic also supports the Visual Studio Class designer, Forms designer, and Data designer among others. Like C#, the VB.NET compiler is also available as a part of .NET Framework, but the language services that let VB.NET projects be developed with Visual Studio, are available as a part of the latter.
Microsoft Visual Web Developer: Microsoft Visual Web Developer is used to create web sites, web application
Web application
A web application is an application that is accessed over a network such as the Internet or an intranet. The term may also mean a computer software application that is coded in a browser-supported language and reliant on a common web browser to render the application executable.Web applications are...
s and web service
Web service
A Web service is a method of communication between two electronic devices over the web.The W3C defines a "Web service" as "a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network". It has an interface described in a machine-processable format...
s using ASP.NET. Either C# or VB.NET languages can be used. Visual Web Developer can use the Visual Studio Web Designer to graphically design web page layouts.
Team Foundation Server
Team Foundation Server
Team Foundation Server is a Microsoft product offering source control, data collection, reporting, and project tracking, and is intended for collaborative software development projects...
: Included only with Visual Studio Team System
Visual Studio Team System
Visual Studio Application Lifecycle Management is a collection of integrated software development tools developed by Microsoft. These tools include IDEs, source control, work items, collaboration, metrics, and reporting tools.-Platform:...
, Team Foundation Server is intended for collaborative software development
Software development
Software development is the development of a software product...
projects and acts as the server-side backend providing source control, data collection, reporting, and project-tracking functionality. It also includes the Team Explorer, the client tool for TFS services, which is integrated inside Visual Studio Team System.
Previous products
Visual FoxProVisual FoxPro
Visual FoxPro is a data-centric object-oriented and procedural programming language produced by Microsoft. It is derived from FoxPro which was developed by Fox Software beginning in 1984. Fox Technologies merged with Microsoft in 1992, after which the software acquired further features and the...
: Visual FoxPro is a data-centric object-oriented and procedural
Procedural programming
Procedural programming can sometimes be used as a synonym for imperative programming , but can also refer to a programming paradigm, derived from structured programming, based upon the concept of the procedure call...
programming language
Programming language
A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine and/or to express algorithms precisely....
produced by Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
. It derives from FoxPro
FoxPro 2
FoxPro is a text-based procedurally-oriented programming language and DBMS, originally published by Fox Software and later by Microsoft, for MS-DOS, MS Windows, Apple Macintosh, and UNIX....
(originally known as FoxBASE) which was developed by Fox Software beginning in 1984. Visual FoxPro is tightly integrated with its own relational database engine, which extends FoxPro's xBase capabilities to support SQL
SQL
SQL is a programming language designed for managing data in relational database management systems ....
queries and data manipulation. Visual FoxPro is a full-featured, dynamic programming language
Dynamic programming language
Dynamic programming language is a term used broadly in computer science to describe a class of high-level programming languages that execute at runtime many common behaviors that other languages might perform during compilation, if at all...
that does not require the use of an additional general-purpose programming environment. Microsoft announced in 2007 that Visual FoxPro has been discontinued after version 9 Service Pack 2, but will remain supported until 2015.
Visual SourceSafe: Microsoft Visual SourceSafe is a source control software package oriented towards small software-development projects. The SourceSafe database is a multi-user, multi-process file-system database, using the Windows file system database primitives to provide locking and sharing support. All versions are multi-user, using SMB
Server Message Block
In computer networking, Server Message Block , also known as Common Internet File System operates as an application-layer network protocol mainly used to provide shared access to files, printers, serial ports, and miscellaneous communications between nodes on a network. It also provides an...
(file server) networking. However, with Visual SourceSafe 2005, other client–server modes were added, Lan Booster and VSS Internet (which used HTTP/HTTPS
Https
Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure is a combination of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol with SSL/TLS protocol to provide encrypted communication and secure identification of a network web server...
). Visual SourceSafe 6.0 was available as a stand-alone product and was included with Visual Studio 6.0, and other products such as Office Developer Edition. Visual SourceSafe 2005 was available as a stand-alone product and included with the 2005 Team Suite. Team Foundation Server
Team Foundation Server
Team Foundation Server is a Microsoft product offering source control, data collection, reporting, and project tracking, and is intended for collaborative software development projects...
has superseded VSS as Microsoft's recommended platform for source control.
Microsoft Visual J++
Visual J++
Visual J++ was Microsoft's specific implementation of Java. Syntax, keywords, and grammatical conventions were the same as Java's. Microsoft discontinued support of J++ in January 2004, replacing it to a certain extent with J# and C#....
/Microsoft Visual J#: Microsoft Visual J++ was Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's implementation of the Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
language (with Microsoft-specific extensions) and associated language services. It was discontinued as a result of litigation from Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
, and the technology was recycled into Visual J#, Microsoft's Java compiler for .NET Framework. J# was available with Visual Studio 2005 but has been discontinued in Visual Studio 2008.
Visual InterDev
Visual InterDev
Microsoft Visual InterDev, part of Microsoft Visual Studio 97 and 6.0, is an IDE used to create web applications using Microsoft Active Server Pages technologies. It has code completion, database server management tools, and an integrated debugger....
: Visual InterDev was used to create web applications using Microsoft Active Server Pages
Active Server Pages
Active Server Pages , also known as Classic ASP or ASP Classic, was Microsoft's first server-side script engine for dynamically-generated Web pages. Initially released as an add-on to Internet Information Services via the Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack Active Server Pages (ASP), also known as Classic...
(ASP) technologies. It supports code completion and includes database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
server management tools. It has been replaced with Microsoft Visual Web Developer.
Editions
Microsoft Visual Studio is available in the following editions or SKUs:Visual Studio Express
Visual Studio Express EditionsMicrosoft Visual Studio Express
Microsoft Visual Studio Express is a set of freeware integrated development environments developed by Microsoft that are lightweight versions of the Microsoft Visual Studio product line. Express Editions were conceived beginning with Visual Studio 2005...
are a set of free lightweight individual IDEs which are provided as stripped-down versions of the Visual Studio IDE on a per-platform basis or per-language basis, i.e., it installs the development tools for the supported platforms (web, Windows, phone) or supported development languages (VB, C#) onto individual Visual Studio Shell AppIds. It includes only a small set of tools as compared to the other systems. It does not include support for plug-ins. x64
X86-64
x86-64 is an extension of the x86 instruction set. It supports vastly larger virtual and physical address spaces than are possible on x86, thereby allowing programmers to conveniently work with much larger data sets. x86-64 also provides 64-bit general purpose registers and numerous other...
compilers are not included in the Visual Studio Express edition IDEs, but are available as part of a Windows Software Development Kit that can be installed separately. Microsoft targets the Express IDEs at students and hobbyists. Express editions do not use the full MSDN Library
MSDN Library
MSDN Library is a library of official technical documentation content intended for developers developing for Microsoft Windows. MSDN stands for the Microsoft Developer Network. The MSDN Library documents the APIs that ship with Microsoft products and also includes sample code, technical articles,...
but use the MSDN Essentials Library. The languages available as part of the Express IDEs are:
- Visual Basic Express
- Visual C++ Express
- Visual C# Express
- Visual Web Developer Express
- Express for Windows Phone
Visual Studio LightSwitch
Microsoft Visual Studio LightSwitch is an IDE specifically tailored for creating line-of-business applications built on existing .NET technologies and Microsoft platforms. The applications produced are architecturally 3-tierMultitier architecture
In software engineering, multi-tier architecture is a client–server architecture in which the presentation, the application processing, and the data management are logically separate processes. For example, an application that uses middleware to service data requests between a user and a database...
: the user interface runs on Microsoft Silverlight; the logic and data-access tier is built on WCF RIA Services and Entity Framework, hosted in ASP.NET; and the primary data storage supports Microsoft SQL Server Express
SQL Server Express
Microsoft SQL Server Express, a freely downloadable and distributable version of Microsoft's SQL Server relational database management system, comprises a database specifically targeted for embedded and smaller-scale applications.- Capabilities :...
, Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database server, developed by Microsoft: It is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data as requested by other software applications, be it those on the same computer or those running on another computer across a network...
and Microsoft SQL Azure. LightSwitch also supports other data sources including Microsoft SharePoint. LightSwitch includes graphical designers for designing entities and entity relationships, entity queries, and UI screens. Business logic may be written in either Visual Basic
Visual Basic .NET
Visual Basic .NET , is an object-oriented computer programming language that can be viewed as an evolution of the classic Visual Basic , which is implemented on the .NET Framework...
or Visual C#. The tool can be installed as a stand-alone SKU or as an integrated add-in to Visual Studio 2010 Professional and higher.
Visual Studio Professional
Visual Studio Professional Edition provides an IDE for all supported development languages. As of Visual Studio 2010, the Standard edition was dropped. MSDN support is available as MSDN Essentials or the full MSDN library depending on licensing. It supports XMLXML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
and XSLT
XSLT
XSLT is a declarative, XML-based language used for the transformation of XML documents. The original document is not changed; rather, a new document is created based on the content of an existing one. The new document may be serialized by the processor in standard XML syntax or in another format,...
editing, and can create deployment packages that only use ClickOnce
ClickOnce
ClickOnce is a Microsoft technology that enables the user to install and run a Windows application by clicking a link in a web page. ClickOnce is a component of Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 and later, supports deploying applications made with Windows Forms or Windows Presentation Foundation...
and MSI
Windows Installer
The Windows Installer is a software component used for the installation, maintenance, and removal of software on modern Microsoft Windows systems...
. It includes tools like Server Explorer and integration with Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database server, developed by Microsoft: It is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data as requested by other software applications, be it those on the same computer or those running on another computer across a network...
also. Windows Mobile development support was included in Visual Studio 2005 Standard, however, with Visual Studio 2008, it is only available in Professional and higher editions. Windows Phone 7 development support was added to all editions in Visual Studio 2010. Development for Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft that was used in smartphones and Pocket PCs, but by 2011 was rarely supplied on new phones. The last version is "Windows Mobile 6.5.5"; it is superseded by Windows Phone, which does not run Windows Mobile software.Windows Mobile is...
is no longer supported in Visual Studio 2010; it is superseded by Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...
.
Visual Studio Premium
Visual Studio Premium Edition includes all of the tools in Visual Studio Professional and adds additional functionality such as code metrics, profiling, static code analysis, and database unit testing.Visual Studio Tools for Office
Visual Studio Tools for OfficeVisual Studio Tools for Office
Visual Studio Tools for Office is a set of development tools available in the form of a Visual Studio add-in and a runtime that allows Microsoft Office 2003 and later versions of Office applications to host the .NET Framework Common Language Runtime to expose their functionality via the .NET...
is an SDK and an add-in for Visual Studio that includes tools for developing for the Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office is a non-free commercial office suite of inter-related desktop applications, servers and services for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, introduced by Microsoft in August 1, 1989. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of...
suite. Previously (for Visual Studio .NET 2003 and Visual Studio 2005) it was a separate SKU that supported only Visual C# and Visual Basic
Visual Basic .NET
Visual Basic .NET , is an object-oriented computer programming language that can be viewed as an evolution of the classic Visual Basic , which is implemented on the .NET Framework...
languages or was included in the Team Suite. With Visual Studio 2008, it is no longer a separate SKU but is included with Professional and higher editions. A separate runtime is required when deploying VSTO solutions.
Visual Studio Ultimate
Visual Studio Ultimate provides set of software and database development, collaboration, metrics, architecture, testing and reporting tools in addition to the features provided by Visual Studio Premium. As of Visual Studio 2010, the Team Suite edition was renamed to the Ultimate edition. Visual Studio Ultimate offers a superset of toolsets based on the Application Lifecycle ManagementApplication Lifecycle Management
Application Lifecycle Management is a continuous process of managing the life of an application through governance, development and maintenance...
(ALM) role it is being used for.
Visual Studio Team System
Prior to Visual Studio 2010, Visual Studio Team SystemVisual Studio Team System
Visual Studio Application Lifecycle Management is a collection of integrated software development tools developed by Microsoft. These tools include IDEs, source control, work items, collaboration, metrics, and reporting tools.-Platform:...
provided four role-specific editions are:
- Team Explorer (basic TFS client)
- Architecture Edition
- Database Edition
- Development Edition
- Test Edition
The combined functionality of the four Team System Editions is provided in a Team Suite Edition. The Database Edition, codenamed "DataDude", was initially released as a separate edition after Visual Studio 2005's initial release. It is included with Visual Studio 2008 as a separate edition, but Microsoft did roll its functionality into the Premium Edition with Visual Studio 2010.
Test Professional
Visual Studio Test Professional is an edition which was introduced with Visual Studio 2010. Its focus is aimed at the dedicated tester role and includes support for the management of test environments, the ability to start and report on tests and to connect to Team Foundation Server. It does not include support for development or authoring of tests.Editions feature grid
| Product | Extensions | Setup Projects | MSDN Integration | Debugging | Profiling | Static Analysis | IntelliTrace | Unit Test | Code Coverage | Coded UI Test | Test Impact Analysis | Load Testing | Lab Management | Architecture and Modelling | Mobile Development |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Express | |||||||||||||||
| Professional | |||||||||||||||
| Premium | |||||||||||||||
| Ultimate | |||||||||||||||
| Test Professional |
Version history
Prior to Visual Studio Version 4.0 there were Visual Basic 3, Visual C++, Visual FoxPro and Sources Safe as separate products.| Product name | Codename | Internal version | Supported .NET Framework versions | Release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Visual Studio | 4.0 | Spring 1995 | ||
| Visual Studio 97 | Boston | 5.0 | 1997 | |
| Visual Studio 6.0 | Aspen | 6.0 | 1998-06 | |
| Visual Studio .NET (2002) | Rainier | 7.0 | 1.0 | 2002-02-13 |
| Visual Studio .NET 2003 | Everett | 7.1 | 1.1 | 2003-04-24 |
| Visual Studio 2005 | Whidbey | 8.0 | 2.0, 3.0 | 2005-11-07 |
| Visual Studio 2008 | Orcas | 9.0 | 2.0, 3.0, 3.5 | 2007-11-19 |
| Visual Studio 2010 /Ultimate 2010 | Dev10/Rosario | 10.0 | 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0 | 2010-04-12 |
Visual Studio 97
Microsoft first released Visual Studio (codenamed Boston, for the city of the same name
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, thus beginning the VS codenames related to places) in 1997, bundling many of its programming tools together for the first time. Visual Studio 97 came in two editions: Visual Studio Professional and Visual Studio Enterprise, the professional edition has 3 CDs, and the enterprise on 4 CDs. It included Visual Basic 5.0, Visual C++ 5.0 -primarily for Windows programming; Visual J++ 1.1 for Java programming; Visual FoxPro 5.0 for database programming. It introduced Visual InterDev for creating dynamically generated web sites using Active Server Pages. There were two companion CDs that contained the Microsoft Developer Network library
Microsoft Developer Network
The Microsoft Developer Network is the portion of Microsoft responsible for managing the firm's relationship with developers and testers: hardware developers interested in the operating system , developers standing on the various OS platforms, developers using the API and scripting languages of...
.
Visual Studio 97 was Microsoft's first attempt at using the same development environment for multiple languages. Visual J++, InterDev, and the MSDN Library
Microsoft Developer Network
The Microsoft Developer Network is the portion of Microsoft responsible for managing the firm's relationship with developers and testers: hardware developers interested in the operating system , developers standing on the various OS platforms, developers using the API and scripting languages of...
had all been using same 'environment', called Developer Studio. Visual C++, Visual Basic and Visual FoxPro used separate environments.
VIsual Studio 97 had further low budget CD versions targeting only one specific programming language at a time, such as Visual C++ v5, or Visual Basic v5.0. Each single programming language included the same Environment and lacked MSDN.
Visual Studio 6.0 (1998)
The next version, version 6.0 (codenamed Aspen, after the ski resortAspen, Colorado
The City of Aspen is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the city population was 5,804 in 2005...
in Colorado), was released in June 1998 and is the last version to run on the Windows 9x
Windows 9x
Windows 9x is a generic term referring to a series of Microsoft Windows computer operating systems produced since 1995, which were based on the original and later modified Windows 95 kernel...
platform. Each version of each language in part also settled to v6.0, including Visual J++ which was prior v1.1, and Visual InterDev at the 1st release. The v6 edition of Microsoft was the core environment for the next four releases to provide programmers with an integrated look-a-like platform. This led Microsoft to transition the development on the platform independent .NET Framework
.NET Framework
The .NET Framework is a software framework that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It includes a large library and supports several programming languages which allows language interoperability...
.
Visual Studio 6.0 was the last version to include the COM-based version of plain Visual Basic language; subsequent 2002 version (in 'Visual Studio 2002' package) included Basic language using the .NET platform. It did not include Visual J++, which Microsoft removed as part of a settlement with Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
that required Microsoft Internet Explorer to not provide support for the Java Virtual Machine Environment
Virtual machine
A virtual machine is a "completely isolated guest operating system installation within a normal host operating system". Modern virtual machines are implemented with either software emulation or hardware virtualization or both together.-VM Definitions:A virtual machine is a software...
.
Visual Studio 6.0 came in two editions: Professional and Enterprise. The Enterprise edition contained extra features not found in Professional edition, including:
- Application Performance Explorer
- Automation Manager
- Microsoft Visual Modeler
- RemAuto Connection Manager
- Visual Studio Analyzer
Visual Studio .NET (2002)
Microsoft released Visual Studio .NET (VS.NET), codenamed Rainier (for Washington's Mount RainierMount Rainier
Mount Rainier is a massive stratovolcano located southeast of Seattle in the state of Washington, United States. It is the most topographically prominent mountain in the contiguous United States and the Cascade Volcanic Arc, with a summit elevation of . Mt. Rainier is considered one of the most...
), in February 2002 (the beta version was released via Microsoft Developer Network
Microsoft Developer Network
The Microsoft Developer Network is the portion of Microsoft responsible for managing the firm's relationship with developers and testers: hardware developers interested in the operating system , developers standing on the various OS platforms, developers using the API and scripting languages of...
in 2001). The biggest change was the introduction of a managed code
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
development environment using the .NET Framework. Programs developed using .NET are not compiled to machine language (like C++ is, for example) but instead to a format called Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL) or Common Intermediate Language
Common Intermediate Language
Common Intermediate Language is the lowest-level human-readable programming language defined by the Common Language Infrastructure specification and is used by the .NET Framework and Mono...
(CIL). When an CIL application executes, it is compiled while being executed
Just-in-time compilation
In computing, just-in-time compilation , also known as dynamic translation, is a method to improve the runtime performance of computer programs. Historically, computer programs had two modes of runtime operation, either interpreted or static compilation...
into the appropriate machine language for the platform it is being executed on, thereby making code portable across several platforms. Programs compiled into CIL can be executed only on platforms which have an implementation of Common Language Infrastructure
Common Language Infrastructure
The Common Language Infrastructure is an open specification developed by Microsoft and standardized by ISO and ECMA that describes the executable code and runtime environment that form the core of the Microsoft .NET Framework and the free and open source implementations Mono and Portable.NET...
. It is possible to run CIL programs in Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
or Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
using non-Microsoft .NET implementations like Mono
Mono (software)
Mono, pronounced , is a free and open source project led by Xamarin to create an Ecma standard compliant .NET-compatible set of tools including, among others, a C# compiler and a Common Language Runtime....
and DotGNU
DotGNU
DotGNU is a part of the GNU Project that aims to provide a free software replacement for Microsoft's .NET Framework by Free Software Foundation...
.
This was the first version of Visual Studio to require an NT
Windows NT
Windows NT is a family of operating systems produced by Microsoft, the first version of which was released in July 1993. It was a powerful high-level-language-based, processor-independent, multiprocessing, multiuser operating system with features comparable to Unix. It was intended to complement...
-based Windows platform. The installer enforces this requirement.
Visual Studio .NET 2002 shipped in four editions: Academic, Professional, Enterprise Developer, and Enterprise Architect. Microsoft introduced C# (C-sharp), a new programming language, that targets .NET. It also introduced the successor to Visual J++ called Visual J#. Visual J# programs use Java's language-syntax. However, unlike Visual J++ programs, Visual J# programs can only target the .NET Framework, not the Java Virtual Machine
Java Virtual Machine
A Java virtual machine is a virtual machine capable of executing Java bytecode. It is the code execution component of the Java software platform. Sun Microsystems stated that there are over 4.5 billion JVM-enabled devices.-Overview:...
that all other Java tools target.
Visual Basic changed drastically to fit the new framework, and the new version was called Visual Basic .NET. Microsoft also added extensions to C++, called Managed Extensions for C++
Managed Extensions for C++
Managed Extensions for C++ or just Managed C++ is a now deprecated Microsoft set of deviations from C++, including grammatical and syntactic extensions, keywords and attributes, to bring the C++ syntax and language to the .NET Framework...
, so that C++ programmers could create .NET programs.
Visual Studio .NET can produce applications targeting Windows (using the Windows Forms part of the .NET Framework), the Web (using ASP.NET and Web Services) and, with an add-in, portable devices (using the .NET Compact Framework).
The Visual Studio .NET environment was rewritten to partially use .NET. All languages are versions of Visual Studio, it has a cleaner interface and greater cohesiveness. It is also more customizable with tool windows that automatically hide when not in use. While Visual FoxPro 7 started out as part of Visual Studio .NET 2002, and early VS betas allowed debugging inside VFP-based DLLs, it was removed before release to follow its own development track.
The internal version number of Visual Studio .NET 2002 is version 7.0. Microsoft released Service Pack 1 for Visual Studio .NET 2002 in March, 2005.
Visual Studio .NET 2003
In April 2003, Microsoft introduced a minor upgrade to Visual Studio .NET called Visual Studio .NET 2003, codenamed Everett (for the city of the same nameEverett, Washington
Everett is the county seat of and the largest city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. Named for Everett Colby, son of founder Charles L. Colby, it lies north of Seattle. The city had a total population of 103,019 at the 2010 census, making it the 6th largest in the state and...
). It includes an upgrade to the .NET Framework, version 1.1, and is the first release to support developing programs for mobile devices, using ASP.NET or the .NET Compact Framework. The Visual C++ compiler's standards-compliance improved, especially in the area of partial template specialization
Partial template specialization
Partial template specialization is a particular form of class template specialization. Usually used in reference to the C++ programming language, it allows the programmer to specialize only some arguments of a class template, as opposed to explicit specialization, where all the template arguments...
. Visual C++ Toolkit 2003 is a free version of the same C++ compiler shipped with Visual Studio .NET 2003 without the IDE, though it is no longer available and the Express Editions have superseded it. The internal version number of Visual Studio .NET 2003 is version 7.1 while the file format version is 8.0.
Visual Studio .NET 2003 shipped in four editions: Academic, Professional, Enterprise Developer, and Enterprise Architect. The Visual Studio .NET 2003 Enterprise Architect edition includes an implementation of Microsoft Visio
Microsoft Visio
Microsoft Visio , formerly known as Microsoft Office Visio, is a commercial diagramming program for Microsoft Windows that uses vector graphics to create diagrams.- Features :...
2002's modeling technologies, including tools for creating Unified Modeling Language
Unified Modeling Language
Unified Modeling Language is a standardized general-purpose modeling language in the field of object-oriented software engineering. The standard is managed, and was created, by the Object Management Group...
-based visual representations of an application's architecture, and a powerful Object-Role Modeling (ORM)
Object role modeling
Object Role Modeling is a method for conceptual modeling, and can be used as a tool for information and rules analysis, ontological analysis, and data modeling in the field of software engineering.- Overview :...
and logical database-modeling solution. "Enterprise Templates" were also introduced, to help larger development teams standardize coding styles and enforce policies around component usage and property settings.
Service Pack 1 was released September 13, 2006.
Visual Studio 2005
Visual Studio 2005, codenamed Whidbey (a reference to Whidbey IslandWhidbey Island
Whidbey Island is one of nine islands located in Island County, Washington, in the United States. Whidbey is located about north of Seattle, and lies between the Olympic Peninsula and the I-5 corridor of western Washington...
in Puget Sound
Puget Sound
Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...
), was released online in October 2005 and to retail stores a few weeks later. Microsoft removed the ".NET" moniker from Visual Studio 2005 (as well as every other product with .NET in its name), but it still primarily targets the .NET Framework, which was upgraded to version 2.0. It is the last version available for Windows 2000
Windows 2000
Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, business desktops, laptops, and servers. Windows 2000 was released to manufacturing on 15 December 1999 and launched to retail on 17 February 2000. It is the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the...
and also the last version to be able to target Windows 98
Windows 98
Windows 98 is a graphical operating system by Microsoft. It is the second major release in the Windows 9x line of operating systems. It was released to manufacturing on 15 May 1998 and to retail on 25 June 1998. Windows 98 is the successor to Windows 95. Like its predecessor, it is a hybrid...
, Windows Me
Windows Me
Windows Millennium Edition, or Windows Me , is a graphical operating system released on September 14, 2000 by Microsoft, and was the last operating system released in the Windows 9x series. Support for Windows Me ended on July 11, 2006....
and Windows NT 4.0
Windows NT 4.0
Windows NT 4.0 is a preemptive, graphical and business-oriented operating system designed to work with either uniprocessor or symmetric multi-processor computers. It was the next release of Microsoft's Windows NT line of operating systems and was released to manufacturing on 31 July 1996...
for C++ applications.
Visual Studio 2005's internal version number is 8.0 while the file format version is 9.0. Microsoft released Service Pack 1 for Visual Studio 2005 on 14 December 2006. An additional update for Service Pack 1 that offers Windows Vista compatibility was made available on 3 June 2007.
Visual Studio 2005 was upgraded to support all the new features introduced in .NET Framework 2.0, including generics and ASP.NET 2.0. The IntelliSense
IntelliSense
IntelliSense is Microsoft's implementation of autocompletion, best known for its use in the Microsoft Visual Studio integrated development environment...
feature in Visual Studio was upgraded for generics and new project types were added to support ASP.NET web services. Visual Studio 2005 also includes a local web server, separate from IIS
Internet Information Services
Internet Information Services – formerly called Internet Information Server – is a web server application and set of feature extension modules created by Microsoft for use with Microsoft Windows. It is the most used web server after Apache HTTP Server. IIS 7.5 supports HTTP, HTTPS,...
, that can host ASP.NET applications during development and testing. It also supports all SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database server, developed by Microsoft: It is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data as requested by other software applications, be it those on the same computer or those running on another computer across a network...
2005 databases. Database designers were upgraded to support the ADO.NET 2.0
ADO.NET
ADO.NET is a set of computer software components that programmers can use to access data and data services. It is a part of the base class library that is included with the Microsoft .NET Framework. It is commonly used by programmers to access and modify data stored in relational database systems,...
, which is included with .NET Framework 2.0. C++ also got a similar upgrade with the addition of C++/CLI
C++/CLI
C++/CLI is Microsoft's language specification intended to supersede Managed Extensions for C++. It is a complete revision that aims to simplify the older Managed C++ syntax . C++/CLI is standardized by Ecma as ECMA-372...
which is slated to replace the use of Managed C++
Managed Extensions for C++
Managed Extensions for C++ or just Managed C++ is a now deprecated Microsoft set of deviations from C++, including grammatical and syntactic extensions, keywords and attributes, to bring the C++ syntax and language to the .NET Framework...
. Other new features of Visual Studio 2005 include the "Deployment Designer" which allows application designs to be validated before deployments, an improved environment for web publishing when combined with ASP.NET 2.0 and load testing to see application performance under various sorts of user loads. Starting with the 2005 edition, Visual Studio also added extensive 64-bit support. While the host development environment itself is only available as a 32-bit application, Visual C++ 2005 supports compiling for x86-64
X86-64
x86-64 is an extension of the x86 instruction set. It supports vastly larger virtual and physical address spaces than are possible on x86, thereby allowing programmers to conveniently work with much larger data sets. x86-64 also provides 64-bit general purpose registers and numerous other...
(AMD64 and Intel 64) as well as IA-64 (Itanium
Itanium
Itanium is a family of 64-bit Intel microprocessors that implement the Intel Itanium architecture . Intel markets the processors for enterprise servers and high-performance computing systems...
). The Platform SDK included 64-bit compilers and 64-bit versions of the libraries.
Microsoft also announced Visual Studio Tools for Applications
Visual Studio Tools for Applications
Visual Studio Tools for Applications is a set of tools that independent software vendors can use to build customization abilities into their applications for both automation and extensibility...
as the successor to Visual Basic for Applications
Visual Basic for Applications
Visual Basic for Applications is an implementation of Microsoft's event-driven programming language Visual Basic 6 and its associated integrated development environment , which are built into most Microsoft Office applications...
(VBA) and VSA (Visual Studio for Applications). VSTA 1.0 was released to manufacturing along with Office 2007. It is included with Office 2007 and is also part of the Visual Studio 2005 SDK. VSTA consists of a customized IDE, based on the Visual Studio 2005 IDE, and a runtime that can be embedded in applications to expose its features via the .NET object model. Office 2007 applications continue to integrate with VBA, except for InfoPath 2007 which integrates with VSTA. Version 2.0 of VSTA ( based on Visual Studio 2008) was released in April, 2008. It is significantly different from the first version, including features such as dynamic programming and support for WPF
Windows Presentation Foundation
Developed by Microsoft, the Windows Presentation Foundation is a computer-software graphical subsystem for rendering user interfaces in Windows-based applications. WPF, previously known as "Avalon", was initially released as part of .NET Framework 3.0. Rather than relying on the older GDI...
, WCF
Windows Communication Foundation
The Windows Communication Foundation , previously known as "Indigo", is an application programming interface in the .NET Framework for building connected, service-oriented applications.-The architectures:...
, WF
Windows Workflow Foundation
Windows Workflow Foundation is a Microsoft technology that provides an API, an in-process workflow engine, and a rehostable designer to implement long-running processes as workflows within .NET applications...
, LINQ
Language Integrated Query
Language Integrated Query is a Microsoft .NET Framework component that adds native data querying capabilities to .NET languages, although ports exist for Java, PHP and JavaScript....
, and .NET 3.5 Framework.
Visual Studio 2008
Visual Studio 2008, and Visual Studio Team System 2008 codenamed Orcas (a reference to Orcas IslandOrcas Island
Orcas Island is the largest of the San Juan Islands, which are located in the northwestern corner of Washington state in San Juan County, Washington.-History:...
, also an island in Puget Sound
Puget Sound
Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...
, like Whidbey for the previous 2005 release), were released to MSDN subscribers on 19 November 2007 alongside .NET Framework 3.5. The source code for the Visual Studio 2008 IDE is available under a shared source
Shared source
Shared source is an umbrella term covering some of Microsoft's legal mechanisms for software source code distribution. Microsoft's Shared Source Initiative, launched in May 2001, includes a spectrum of technologies and licenses...
license to some of Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's partners and ISVs
Independent software vendor
Independent software vendor is a business term for companies specializing in making or selling software, designed for mass marketing or for niche markets...
. Microsoft released Service Pack 1 for Visual Studio 2008 on 11 August 2008. The internal version number of Visual Studio 2008 is version 9.0 while the file format version is 10.0. Visual Studio 2008 is the last version to support targeting Windows 2000
Windows 2000
Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, business desktops, laptops, and servers. Windows 2000 was released to manufacturing on 15 December 1999 and launched to retail on 17 February 2000. It is the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the...
for C++ applications.
Visual Studio 2008 is focused on development of Windows Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
, 2007 Office system, and Web applications. For visual design, a new Windows Presentation Foundation
Windows Presentation Foundation
Developed by Microsoft, the Windows Presentation Foundation is a computer-software graphical subsystem for rendering user interfaces in Windows-based applications. WPF, previously known as "Avalon", was initially released as part of .NET Framework 3.0. Rather than relying on the older GDI...
visual designer and a new HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
/CSS
CSS
-Computing:*Cascading Style Sheets, a language used to describe the style of document presentations in web development*Central Structure Store in the PHIGS 3D API*Closed source software, software that is not distributed with source code...
editor influenced by Microsoft Expression Web
Microsoft Expression Web
Microsoft Expression Web, code-named Quartz, is an HTML editor and general web design software product by Microsoft. It is part of the Expression Studio suite....
are included. J#
J Sharp
Visual J# |sharp]]') programming language is a discontinued transitional language for programmers of Java and Visual J++ languages, so they may use their existing knowledge and applications on .NET Framework....
is not included. Visual Studio 2008 requires .NET 3.5 Framework and by default configures compiled assemblies to run on .NET Framework 3.5, but it also supports multi-targeting which lets the developers choose which version of the .NET Framework (out of 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, Silverlight CoreCLR or .NET Compact Framework) the assembly runs on. Visual Studio 2008 also includes new code analysis tools, including the new Code Metrics
Code Metrics
Code Metrics is the analysis of code by gathering statistics such as inheritance depth, lines of code , number of classes etc. and computes a maintainability index based on the gathered information. There are multiple tools and plugins available to obtain this information...
tool (only in Team Edition and Team Suite Edition). For Visual C++
Visual C++
Microsoft Visual C++ is a commercial , integrated development environment product from Microsoft for the C, C++, and C++/CLI programming languages...
, Visual Studio adds a new version of Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC 9.0) that adds support for the visual styles and UI controls introduced with Windows Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
. For native and managed code interoperability, Visual C++ introduces the STL/CLR, which is a port of the C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
Standard Template Library
Standard Template Library
The Standard Template Library is a C++ software library which later evolved into the C++ Standard Library. It provides four components called algorithms, containers, functors, and iterators. More specifically, the C++ Standard Library is based on the STL published by SGI. Both include some...
(STL) containers and algorithms to managed code
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
. STL/CLR defines STL-like containers, iterator
Iterator
In computer programming, an iterator is an object that enables a programmer to traverse a container. Various types of iterators are often provided via a container's interface...
s and algorithms that work on C++/CLI
C++/CLI
C++/CLI is Microsoft's language specification intended to supersede Managed Extensions for C++. It is a complete revision that aims to simplify the older Managed C++ syntax . C++/CLI is standardized by Ecma as ECMA-372...
managed
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
objects.
Visual Studio 2008 features include an XAML
XAML
Extensible Application Markup Language is a declarative XML-based language created by Microsoft used for initializing structured values and objects. It is available under Microsoft's Open Specification Promise...
-based designer (codenamed Cider), workflow designer, LINQ
Language Integrated Query
Language Integrated Query is a Microsoft .NET Framework component that adds native data querying capabilities to .NET languages, although ports exist for Java, PHP and JavaScript....
to SQL
SQL
SQL is a programming language designed for managing data in relational database management systems ....
designer (for defining the type mappings and object encapsulation for SQL Server data), XSLT
XSLT
XSLT is a declarative, XML-based language used for the transformation of XML documents. The original document is not changed; rather, a new document is created based on the content of an existing one. The new document may be serialized by the processor in standard XML syntax or in another format,...
debugger, JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
Intellisense
IntelliSense
IntelliSense is Microsoft's implementation of autocompletion, best known for its use in the Microsoft Visual Studio integrated development environment...
support, JavaScript Debugging support, support for UAC
User Account Control
User Account Control is a technology and security infrastructure introduced with Microsoft's Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 operating systems, with a more relaxed version also present in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2...
manifests
Manifest (.NET Framework)
An assembly manifest is a text file containing metadata about .NET assemblies. It describes the relationship and dependencies of the components in the assembly, versioning information, scope information and the security permissions required by the assembly....
, a concurrent build system, among others. It ships with an enhanced set of UI widgets, both for Windows Forms and WPF
Windows Presentation Foundation
Developed by Microsoft, the Windows Presentation Foundation is a computer-software graphical subsystem for rendering user interfaces in Windows-based applications. WPF, previously known as "Avalon", was initially released as part of .NET Framework 3.0. Rather than relying on the older GDI...
. It also includes a multithreaded build engine (MSBuild) to compile multiple source files (and build the executable file) in a project across multiple threads simultaneously. It also includes support for compiling PNG compressed icon
Icon (computing)
A computer icon is a pictogram displayed on a computer screen and used to navigate a computer system or mobile device. The icon itself is a small picture or symbol serving as a quick, intuitive representation of a software tool, function or a data file accessible on the system. It functions as an...
resources
Resource (Windows)
In Microsoft Windows, resources are read-only data embedded in EXE, DLL, CPL or MUI files.The Windows API provides for easy access to all applications' resources.-Types:...
introduced in Windows Vista. An updated XML Schema designer will ship separately some time after the release of Visual Studio 2008.
The Visual Studio debugger
Microsoft Visual Studio Debugger
The Microsoft Visual Studio Debugger is a debugger that ships along with all versions of Microsoft Visual Studio. This debugger owes much of its feel and functionality to CodeView, a standalone, text-based debugger that shipped with Microsoft Visual C++ version 1.5 and earlier.More advanced...
includes features targeting easier debugging of multi-threaded applications. In debugging mode, in the Threads window, which lists all the threads, hovering over a thread will display the stack trace of that thread in tooltips. The threads can directly be named and flagged for easier identification from that window itself. In addition, in the code window, along with indicating the location of the currently executing instruction in the current thread, the currently executing instructions in other threads are also pointed out. The Visual Studio debugger
Microsoft Visual Studio Debugger
The Microsoft Visual Studio Debugger is a debugger that ships along with all versions of Microsoft Visual Studio. This debugger owes much of its feel and functionality to CodeView, a standalone, text-based debugger that shipped with Microsoft Visual C++ version 1.5 and earlier.More advanced...
supports integrated debugging of the .NET 3.5 Framework Base Class Library
Base Class Library
The Base Class Library is a standard library available to all languages using the .NET Framework. .NET includes the BCL in order to encapsulate a large number of common functions, such as file reading and writing, graphic rendering, database interaction, and XML document manipulation, which makes...
(BCL) which can dynamically download the BCL source code and debug symbol
Debug symbol
A debug symbol is information that expresses which programming-language constructs generated a specific piece of machine code in a given executable module. Sometimes the symbolic information is compiled together with the module's binary file, or distributed in separate file, or simply discarded...
s and allow stepping into the BCL source during debugging. a limited subset of the BCL source is available, with more library support planned for later.
Visual Studio 2010
On April 12, 2010, Microsoft released Visual Studio 2010, codenamed Dev10, and .NET Framework 4.Visual Studio 2010 IDE
Integrated development environment
An integrated development environment is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development...
has been redesigned which, according to Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
, clears the UI organization and "reduces clutter and complexity." The new IDE better supports multiple document windows and floating tool windows, while offering better multi-monitor support. The IDE shell has been rewritten using the Windows Presentation Foundation
Windows Presentation Foundation
Developed by Microsoft, the Windows Presentation Foundation is a computer-software graphical subsystem for rendering user interfaces in Windows-based applications. WPF, previously known as "Avalon", was initially released as part of .NET Framework 3.0. Rather than relying on the older GDI...
(WPF), whereas the internals have been redesigned using Managed Extensibility Framework
Managed Extensibility Framework
Managed Extensibility Framework is a component of .NET Framework 4.0 for creating lightweight, extensible applications. It allows application developers to discover and use extensions with no configuration required. It also lets extension developers easily encapsulate code and avoid fragile hard...
(MEF) that offers more extensibility points than previous versions of the IDE that enabled add-ins to modify the behavior of the IDE.
The new multi-paradigm
Multi-paradigm programming language
Programming languages can be grouped by the number and types of paradigms supported.-Paradigm summaries:A concise reference for the programming paradigms listed in this article....
ML-variant F#
F Sharp programming language
F# is a multi-paradigm programming language, targeting the .NET Framework, that encompasses functional programming as well as imperative and object-oriented programming disciplines. It is a variant of ML and is largely compatible with the OCaml implementation...
forms part of Visual Studio 2010; as do M
M (programming language)
M is a programming language developed by Microsoft. The language is designed specifically for building textual domain-specific languages and software models with XAML....
, the textual modeling language, and Quadrant, the visual model designer, which are a part of the Oslo initiative.
Visual Studio 2010 comes with .NET Framework 4 and supports developing applications targeting Windows 7. It supports IBM DB2
IBM DB2
The IBM DB2 Enterprise Server Edition is a relational model database server developed by IBM. It primarily runs on Unix , Linux, IBM i , z/OS and Windows servers. DB2 also powers the different IBM InfoSphere Warehouse editions...
and Oracle
Oracle Database
The Oracle Database is an object-relational database management system produced and marketed by Oracle Corporation....
databases, in addition to Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database server, developed by Microsoft: It is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data as requested by other software applications, be it those on the same computer or those running on another computer across a network...
. It has integrated support for developing Microsoft Silverlight
Microsoft Silverlight
Microsoft Silverlight is an application framework for writing and running rich Internet applications, with features and purposes similar to those of Adobe Flash. The run-time environment for Silverlight is available as a plug-in for web browsers running under Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X...
applications, including an interactive designer. Visual Studio 2010 offers several tools to make parallel programming simpler: in addition to the Parallel Extensions for the .NET Framework and the Parallel Patterns Library for native code, Visual Studio 2010 includes tools for debugging parallel applications. The new tools allow the visualization of parallel Tasks and their runtime stack
Call stack
In computer science, a call stack is a stack data structure that stores information about the active subroutines of a computer program. This kind of stack is also known as an execution stack, control stack, run-time stack, or machine stack, and is often shortened to just "the stack"...
s. Tools for profiling parallel applications can be used for visualization of thread wait-times and thread migrations across processor cores. Intel and Microsoft have jointly pledged support for a new Concurrency Runtime in Visual Studio 2010
and Intel has launched parallelism support in Parallel Studio as an add-on for Visual Studio.
The Visual Studio 2010 code editor now highlights references; whenever a symbol is selected, all other usages of the symbol are highlighted. It also offers a Quick Search feature to incrementally search
Incremental find
In computing, incremental search, incremental find or real-time suggestions is a user interface interaction method to progressively search for and filter through text. As the user types text, one or more possible matches for the text are found and immediately presented to the user...
across all symbols in C++, C# and VB.NET projects. Quick Search supports substring matches and camelCase
CamelCase
CamelCase , also known as medial capitals, is the practice of writing compound words or phrases in which the elements are joined without spaces, with each element's initial letter capitalized within the compound and the first letter either upper or lower case—as in "LaBelle", "BackColor",...
searches. The Call Hierarchy feature allows the developer to see all the methods that are called from a current method as well as the methods that call the current one. IntelliSense
IntelliSense
IntelliSense is Microsoft's implementation of autocompletion, best known for its use in the Microsoft Visual Studio integrated development environment...
in Visual Studio supports a consume-first mode which developers can opt into. In this mode, IntelliSense will not auto-complete identifiers; this allows the developer to use undefined identifiers (like variable or method names) and define those later. Visual Studio 2010 can also help in this by automatically defining them, if it can infer their types from usage. Current versions of Visual Studio have a known bug which makes IntelliSense unusable for projects using pure C (not C++).
Visual Studio 2010 features a new Help System replacing the MSDN Library
MSDN Library
MSDN Library is a library of official technical documentation content intended for developers developing for Microsoft Windows. MSDN stands for the Microsoft Developer Network. The MSDN Library documents the APIs that ship with Microsoft products and also includes sample code, technical articles,...
viewer. The Help System is no longer based on Microsoft Help 2
Microsoft Help 2
Microsoft Help 2.x is a proprietary format for online help files, developed by Microsoft and first released in 2001 as a help system for Visual Studio .NET and MSDN Library....
and does not use Microsoft Document Explorer. Dynamic help containing links to related help topics based on where the developer was in the IDE has been removed in the shipping product, but can be added back using a download from Microsoft.
Visual Studio 2010 no longer supports development for Windows Mobile prior to Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...
.
Visual Studio Ultimate 2010
Visual Studio Ultimate 2010 (formerly Team System or Team Suite), codenamed Rosario. It includes new modeling tools, such as the Architecture Explorer, which graphically displays projects and classes and the relationships between them.It supports UML
Unified Modeling Language
Unified Modeling Language is a standardized general-purpose modeling language in the field of object-oriented software engineering. The standard is managed, and was created, by the Object Management Group...
activity diagram, component diagram, (logical) class diagram, sequence diagram, and use case diagram. Visual Studio Ultimate 2010 also includes Test Impact Analysis which provides hints on which test cases are impacted by modifications to the source code, without actually running the test cases. This speeds up testing by avoiding running unnecessary test cases.
Visual Studio Ultimate 2010 also includes a Historical Debugger for managed code
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
called IntelliTrace. Unlike the current debugger, that records only the currently-active stack, IntelliTrace records all events like prior function calls, method parameters, events, exceptions etc. This allows the code execution to be rewound in case a breakpoint wasn't set where the error occurred. IntelliTrace will cause the application to run slower than the current debugger, and will use more memory as additional data needs to be recorded. Microsoft allows configuration of how much data should be recorded, in effect allowing developers to balance speed of execution and resource usage. The Lab Management component of Visual Studio Ultimate 2010 uses virtualization to create a similar execution environment for testers and developers. The virtual machine
Virtual machine
A virtual machine is a "completely isolated guest operating system installation within a normal host operating system". Modern virtual machines are implemented with either software emulation or hardware virtualization or both together.-VM Definitions:A virtual machine is a software...
s are tagged with checkpoints which can later be investigated for issues, as well as to reproduce the issue. Visual Studio Ultimate 2010 also includes the capability to record test runs that capture the specific state of the operating environment as well as the precise steps used to run the test. These steps can then be played back to reproduce issues.
Upcoming version
Information about the upcoming version of Visual Studio was revealed at TechEd 2011. On 16 September 2011 a complete 'Developer Preview' of Visual Studio 11 was published on Microsoft's website. Visual Studio 11 Developer Preview requires Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 8, or later operating systems. Versions of Microsoft Foundation Class LibraryMicrosoft Foundation Class Library
The Microsoft Foundation Class Library is a library that wraps portions of the Windows API in C++ classes, including functionality that enables them to use a default application framework...
(MFC) and C runtime (CRT) included with this release cannot produce software that is compatible with Windows XP except by using native multi-targeting and foregoing the newest libraries, compilers, and headers.
On the 24 August 2011, a blog post by Sumit Kumar, a Program Manager on the Visual C++ team listed some of the features of the upcoming version of the Visual Studio C++ IDE:
- Semantic Colorization: Improved syntax coloring, various user-defined or default colors for C++ syntax such as macros, enumerations, typenames, functions etc.
- Reference Highlighting: Selection of a symbol highlights all of the references to that symbol within scope.
- New Solution Explorer: New solution explorer allows for visualization of class and file hierarchies within a solution/project. Searching for calls to functions and uses of classes will be supported.
- Automatic Display of IntelliSense list: IntelliSense will automatically be displayed whilst typing code, as opposed to previous versions where it had to be explicitly invoked through use of certain operators (i.e. the scope operator (::)) or shortcut keys (Ctrl-Space or Ctrl-J).
- Member List Filtering: IntelliSense uses fuzzy logicFuzzy logicFuzzy logic is a form of many-valued logic; it deals with reasoning that is approximate rather than fixed and exact. In contrast with traditional logic theory, where binary sets have two-valued logic: true or false, fuzzy logic variables may have a truth value that ranges in degree between 0 and 1...
to determine which functions/variables/types to display in the list. - Code Snippets: Code snippets are included in IntelliSense to automatically generate relevant code based on the user's parameters, custom code snippets can be created.
Visual Studio Application Lifecycle Management
Visual Studio Application Lifecycle Management is a collection of integrated software development tools developed by MicrosoftMicrosoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
. These tools include IDEs, source control, work items, collaboration, metrics, and reporting tools.
Visual Studio Application Lifecycle Management consists of four products:
- Visual Studio, which provides an IDE (Integrated Development Environment) for development and client side interfaces for the other products.
- Visual Studio Test ProfessionalVisual Studio Test ProfessionalVisual Studio Test Professional is an integrated testing toolset developed by Microsoft that delivers a complete plan-test-track workflow for in-context collaboration between testers and developers, in order to increase testers’ visibility to the overall project.-Testing Tools:* Manual...
, which provides an IDE for software testers to create and execute tests. - Team Foundation ServerTeam Foundation ServerTeam Foundation Server is a Microsoft product offering source control, data collection, reporting, and project tracking, and is intended for collaborative software development projects...
, which provides Source Code collaboration and data storage. - Visual Studio Lab ManagementVisual Studio Lab ManagementVisual Studio Lab Management is a software development tool developed by Microsoft for software testers to create and manage virtual environments. Lab Management extends the existing Visual Studio Application Lifecycle Management platform to enable an integrated Hyper-V based test lab.-Virtual...
, which provides a way for software testers to create and manage virtual environments.
Pre-installed virtual machines
Microsoft was (but no longer is) offering virtual machines with Visual Studio Team System 2008 and 2005 pre-installed in the documented Virtual Hard DiskVHD (file format)
A Virtual Hard Disk is a virtual hard disk file format, meaning it can contain what is found on a physical hard disk drive, such as disk partitions and a file system, which in turn can contain files and folders. It is typically used as the hard disk of a virtual machine...
format for trial use.
External links
Microsoft Visual Studio is an integrated development environment
Integrated development environment
An integrated development environment is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development...
(IDE) from Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
. It is used to develop console
Console application
A console application is a computer program designed to be used via a text-only computer interface, such as a text terminal, the command line interface of some operating systems or the text-based interface included with most Graphical User Interface operating systems, such as the Win32 console in...
and graphical user interface
Graphical user interface
In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...
application
Application software
Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...
s along with Windows Forms
Windows Forms
Windows Forms is the name given to the graphical application programming interface included as a part of Microsoft .NET Framework, providing access to native Microsoft Windows interface elements by wrapping the extant Windows API in managed code...
applications, web sites, web application
Web application
A web application is an application that is accessed over a network such as the Internet or an intranet. The term may also mean a computer software application that is coded in a browser-supported language and reliant on a common web browser to render the application executable.Web applications are...
s, and web service
Web service
A Web service is a method of communication between two electronic devices over the web.The W3C defines a "Web service" as "a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network". It has an interface described in a machine-processable format...
s in both native code together with managed code
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
for all platforms supported by Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft that was used in smartphones and Pocket PCs, but by 2011 was rarely supplied on new phones. The last version is "Windows Mobile 6.5.5"; it is superseded by Windows Phone, which does not run Windows Mobile software.Windows Mobile is...
, Windows CE
Windows CE
Microsoft Windows CE is an operating system developed by Microsoft for embedded systems. Windows CE is a distinct operating system and kernel, rather than a trimmed-down version of desktop Windows...
, .NET Framework
.NET Framework
The .NET Framework is a software framework that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It includes a large library and supports several programming languages which allows language interoperability...
, .NET Compact Framework
.NET Compact Framework
The Microsoft .NET Compact Framework is a version of the .NET Framework that is designed to run on resource constrained mobile/embedded devices such as personal digital assistants , mobile phones, factory controllers, set-top boxes, etc...
and Microsoft Silverlight
Microsoft Silverlight
Microsoft Silverlight is an application framework for writing and running rich Internet applications, with features and purposes similar to those of Adobe Flash. The run-time environment for Silverlight is available as a plug-in for web browsers running under Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X...
.
Visual Studio includes a code editor supporting IntelliSense
IntelliSense
IntelliSense is Microsoft's implementation of autocompletion, best known for its use in the Microsoft Visual Studio integrated development environment...
as well as code refactoring. The integrated debugger
Microsoft Visual Studio Debugger
The Microsoft Visual Studio Debugger is a debugger that ships along with all versions of Microsoft Visual Studio. This debugger owes much of its feel and functionality to CodeView, a standalone, text-based debugger that shipped with Microsoft Visual C++ version 1.5 and earlier.More advanced...
works both as a source-level debugger and a machine-level debugger. Other built-in tools include a forms designer for building GUI
Gui
Gui or guee is a generic term to refer to grilled dishes in Korean cuisine. These most commonly have meat or fish as their primary ingredient, but may in some cases also comprise grilled vegetables or other vegetarian ingredients. The term derives from the verb, "gupda" in Korean, which literally...
applications, web designer, class designer, and database schema
Database schema
A database schema of a database system is its structure described in a formal language supported by the database management system and refers to the organization of data to create a blueprint of how a database will be constructed...
designer. It accepts plug-ins that enhance the functionality at almost every level—including adding support for source-control systems (like Subversion and Visual SourceSafe) and adding new toolsets like editors and visual designers for domain-specific languages or toolsets for other aspects of the software development lifecycle (like the Team Foundation Server
Team Foundation Server
Team Foundation Server is a Microsoft product offering source control, data collection, reporting, and project tracking, and is intended for collaborative software development projects...
client: Team Explorer).
Visual Studio supports different programming language
Programming language
A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine and/or to express algorithms precisely....
s by means of language services, which allow the code editor and debugger to support (to varying degrees) nearly any programming language, provided a language-specific service exists. Built-in languages include C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
/C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
(via Visual C++
Visual C++
Microsoft Visual C++ is a commercial , integrated development environment product from Microsoft for the C, C++, and C++/CLI programming languages...
), VB.NET (via Visual Basic .NET
Visual Basic .NET
Visual Basic .NET , is an object-oriented computer programming language that can be viewed as an evolution of the classic Visual Basic , which is implemented on the .NET Framework...
), C# (via Visual C#), and F# (as of Visual Studio 2010). Support for other languages such as M
M (programming language)
M is a programming language developed by Microsoft. The language is designed specifically for building textual domain-specific languages and software models with XAML....
, Python
IronPython
IronPython is an implementation of the Python programming language targeting the .NET Framework and Mono. Jim Hugunin created the project and actively contributed to it up until Version 1.0 which was released on September 5, 2006. Thereafter, it was maintained by a small team at Microsoft until...
, and Ruby
IronRuby
IronRuby is an implementation of the Ruby programming language targeting Microsoft .NET framework. It is implemented on top of the Dynamic Language Runtime , a library running on top of the Common Language Infrastructure that provides dynamic typing and dynamic method dispatch, among other things,...
among others is available via language services installed separately. It also supports XML
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
/XSLT
XSLT
XSLT is a declarative, XML-based language used for the transformation of XML documents. The original document is not changed; rather, a new document is created based on the content of an existing one. The new document may be serialized by the processor in standard XML syntax or in another format,...
, HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
/XHTML
XHTML
XHTML is a family of XML markup languages that mirror or extend versions of the widely-used Hypertext Markup Language , the language in which web pages are written....
, JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
and CSS
Cascading Style Sheets
Cascading Style Sheets is a style sheet language used to describe the presentation semantics of a document written in a markup language...
. Individual language-specific versions of Visual Studio also exist which provide more limited language services to the user: Microsoft Visual Basic, Visual J#, Visual C#, and Visual C++.
Microsoft provides "Express" editions of its Visual Studio 2010 components Visual Basic, Visual C#, Visual C++, and Visual Web Developer at no cost. Visual Studio 2010, 2008 and 2005 Professional Editions, along with language-specific versions (Visual Basic, C++, C#, J#) of Visual Studio Express 2010 are available for free to students as downloads via Microsoft's DreamSpark
DreamSpark
DreamSpark is a program set up by Microsoft to provide students with software design and development tools at no charge. The program was originally available for university/college students in Belarus, Belgium, China, Finland, France, Germany, India, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, the U.K....
program.
Architecture
Visual Studio does not support any programming language, solution or tool intrinsically, instead allows the plugging of functionality coded as a VSPackage. When installed, the functionality is available as a Service. The IDE provides three services: SVsSolution, which provides the ability to enumerate projects and solutions; SVsUIShell, which provides windowing and UI functionality (including tabs, toolbars and tool windows); and SVsShell, which deals with registration of VSPackages. In addition, the IDE is also responsible for coordinating and enabling communication between services. All editors, designers, project types and other tools are implemented as VSPackages. Visual Studio uses COMComponent Object Model
Component Object Model is a binary-interface standard for software componentry introduced by Microsoft in 1993. It is used to enable interprocess communication and dynamic object creation in a large range of programming languages...
to access the VSPackages. The Visual Studio SDK
Software development kit
A software development kit is typically a set of software development tools that allows for the creation of applications for a certain software package, software framework, hardware platform, computer system, video game console, operating system, or similar platform.It may be something as simple...
also includes the Managed Package Framework (MPF), which is a set of managed
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
wrappers around the COM-interfaces that allow the Packages to be written in any CLI compliant language. However, MPF does not provide all the functionality exposed by the Visual Studio COM interfaces.
The services can then be consumed for creation of other packages, which add functionality to the Visual Studio IDE.
Support for programming languages is added by using a specific VSPackage called a Language Service. A language service defines various interfaces which the VSPackage implementation can implement to add support for various functionalities. Functionalities that can be added this way include syntax coloring, statement completion, brace matching, parameter information tooltips, member lists and error markers for background compilation. If the interface is implemented, the functionality will be available for the language. Language services are to be implemented on a per-language basis. The implementations can reuse code from the parser or the compiler for the language. Language services can be implemented either in native code or managed code
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
. For native code, either the native COM interfaces or the Babel Framework (part of Visual Studio SDK) can be used. For managed code, the MPF includes wrappers for writing managed language services.
Visual Studio does not include any source control support built in but it defines two alternative ways for source control systems to integrate with the IDE. A Source Control VSPackage can provide its own customised user interface. In contrast, a source control plugin using the MSSCCI (Microsoft Source Code Control Interface) provides a set of functions that are used to implement various source control functionality, with a standard Visual Studio user interface. MSSCCI was first used to integrate Visual SourceSafe with Visual Studio 6.0 but was later opened up via the Visual Studio SDK. Visual Studio .NET 2002 used MSSCCI 1.1, and Visual Studio .NET 2003 used MSSCCI 1.2. Visual Studio 2005, 2008 and 2010 use MSSCCI Version 1.3, which adds support for rename and delete propagation as well as asynchronous opening.
Visual Studio supports running multiple instances of the environment (each with its own set of VSPackages). The instances use different registry hives
Windows registry
The Windows Registry is a hierarchical database that stores configuration settings and options on Microsoft Windows operating systems. It contains settings for low-level operating system components as well as the applications running on the platform: the kernel, device drivers, services, SAM, user...
(see MSDN's definition of the term "registry hive" in the sense used here) to store their configuration state and are differentiated by their AppId (Application ID). The instances are launched by an AppId-specific .exe that selects the AppId, sets the root hive and launches the IDE. VSPackages registered for one AppId are integrated with other VSPackages for that AppId. The various product editions of Visual Studio are created using the different AppIds. The Visual Studio Express edition products are installed with their own AppIds, but the Standard, Professional and Team Suite
Visual Studio Team System
Visual Studio Application Lifecycle Management is a collection of integrated software development tools developed by Microsoft. These tools include IDEs, source control, work items, collaboration, metrics, and reporting tools.-Platform:...
products share the same AppId. Consequently, one can install the Express editions side-by-side with other editions, unlike the other editions which update the same installation. The professional edition includes a superset of the VSPackages in the standard edition and the team suite includes a superset of the VSPackages in both other editions. The AppId system is leveraged by the Visual Studio Shell in Visual Studio 2008.
Code editor
Visual Studio, like any other IDEIntegrated development environment
An integrated development environment is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development...
, includes a code editor that supports syntax highlighting
Syntax highlighting
Syntax highlighting is a feature of some text editors that display text—especially source code—in different colors and fonts according to the category of terms. This feature eases writing in a structured language such as a programming language or a markup language as both structures and...
and code completion
Autocomplete
Autocomplete is a feature provided by many web browsers, e-mail programs, search engine interfaces, source code editors, database query tools, word processors, and command line interpreters. Autocomplete involves the program predicting a word or phrase that the user wants to type in without the...
using IntelliSense
IntelliSense
IntelliSense is Microsoft's implementation of autocompletion, best known for its use in the Microsoft Visual Studio integrated development environment...
for not only variables
Variable (programming)
In computer programming, a variable is a symbolic name given to some known or unknown quantity or information, for the purpose of allowing the name to be used independently of the information it represents...
, functions
Subroutine
In computer science, a subroutine is a portion of code within a larger program that performs a specific task and is relatively independent of the remaining code....
and methods
Method (computer science)
In object-oriented programming, a method is a subroutine associated with a class. Methods define the behavior to be exhibited by instances of the associated class at program run time...
but also language constructs like loops and queries
LINQ
Linq is a word-based card game from Endless Games, introduced at the American International Toy Fair in 2005.Game play requires at least four players, two of whom are dealt cards with the same word, while the others receive blanks. The goal is to gain points by correctly naming the players with...
. IntelliSense is supported for the included languages, as well as for XML
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
and for Cascading Style Sheets
Cascading Style Sheets
Cascading Style Sheets is a style sheet language used to describe the presentation semantics of a document written in a markup language...
and JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
when developing web sites and web application
Web application
A web application is an application that is accessed over a network such as the Internet or an intranet. The term may also mean a computer software application that is coded in a browser-supported language and reliant on a common web browser to render the application executable.Web applications are...
s. Autocomplete suggestions are popped up in a modeless list box, overlaid on top of the code editor. In Visual Studio 2008 onwards, it can be made temporarily semi-transparent to see the code obstructed by it. The code editor is used for all supported languages.
The Visual Studio code editor also supports setting bookmarks in code for quick navigation. Other navigational aids include collapsing code blocks and incremental search, in addition to normal text search and regex
Regular expression
In computing, a regular expression provides a concise and flexible means for "matching" strings of text, such as particular characters, words, or patterns of characters. Abbreviations for "regular expression" include "regex" and "regexp"...
search. The code editor also includes a multi-item clipboard
Clipboard
A clipboard is a thin, rigid board with a clip at the top for holding paper in place. A clipboard is typically used to support paper with one hand while writing on it with the other, especially when other writing surfaces are not available.-Other uses:...
and a task list. The code editor supports code snippets, which are saved templates for repetitive code and can be inserted into code and customized for the project being worked on. A management tool for code snippets is built in as well. These tools are surfaced as floating windows which can be set to automatically hide when unused or docked to the side of the screen. The Visual Studio code editor also supports code refactoring including parameter reordering, variable and method renaming, interface extraction and encapsulation of class members inside properties, among others.
Visual Studio features background compilation (also called incremental compilation). As code is being written, Visual Studio compiles it in the background in order to provide feedback about syntax and compilation errors, which are flagged with a red wavy underline. Warnings are marked with a green underline. Background compilation does not generate executable code, since it requires a different compiler than the one used to generate executable code. Background compilation was initially introduced with Microsoft Visual Basic but has now been expanded for all included languages.
Debugger
Visual Studio includes a debuggerDebugger
A debugger or debugging tool is a computer program that is used to test and debug other programs . The code to be examined might alternatively be running on an instruction set simulator , a technique that allows great power in its ability to halt when specific conditions are encountered but which...
that works both as a source-level debugger and as a machine-level debugger. It works with both managed code
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
as well as native code and can be used for debugging applications written in any language supported by Visual Studio. In addition, it can also attach to running processes and monitor and debug those processes. If source code for the running process is available, it displays the code as it is being run. If source code is not available, it can show the disassembly. The Visual Studio debugger can also create memory dumps as well as load them later for debugging. Multi-threaded programs are also supported. The debugger can be configured to be launched when an application running outside the Visual Studio environment crashes.
The debugger allows setting breakpoints
Breakpoint
In software development, a breakpoint is an intentional stopping or pausing place in a program, put in place for debugging purposes. It is also sometimes simply referred to as a pause....
(which allow execution to be stopped temporarily at a certain position) and watches (which monitor the values of variables as the execution progresses). Breakpoints can be conditional, meaning they get triggered when the condition is met. Code can be stepped over
Program animation
Program animation or Stepping refers to the very common debugging method of executing code one "line" at a time. The programmer may examine the state of the program, machine, and related data before and after execution of a particular line of code...
, i.e., run one line (of source code) at a time. It can either step into functions to debug inside it, or step over it, i.e., the execution of the function body isn't available for manual inspection. The debugger supports Edit and Continue, i.e., it allows code to be edited as it is being debugged (32 bit only; not supported in 64 bit). When debugging, if the mouse pointer hovers over any variable, its current value is displayed in a tooltip ("data tooltips"), where it can also be modified if desired. During coding, the Visual Studio debugger lets certain functions be invoked manually from the
Immediate tool window. The parameters to the method are supplied at the Immediate window.Designer
Visual Studio includes a host of visual designers to aid in the development of applications. These tools include:Windows Forms Designer: The Windows Forms designer is used to build GUI
Gui
Gui or guee is a generic term to refer to grilled dishes in Korean cuisine. These most commonly have meat or fish as their primary ingredient, but may in some cases also comprise grilled vegetables or other vegetarian ingredients. The term derives from the verb, "gupda" in Korean, which literally...
applications using Windows Forms. Layout can be controlled by housing the controls inside other containers or locking them to the side of the form. Controls that display data (like textbox, list box, grid view, etc.) can be bound
Data binding
Data binding is a general technique that binds two data/information sources together and maintains synchronization of data. This is usually done with two data/information sources with different types as in XML data binding. However, in UI data binding, data and information objects of the same type...
to data sources like database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
s or queries
LINQ
Linq is a word-based card game from Endless Games, introduced at the American International Toy Fair in 2005.Game play requires at least four players, two of whom are dealt cards with the same word, while the others receive blanks. The goal is to gain points by correctly naming the players with...
. Data-bound controls can be created by dragging items from the Data Sources window onto a design surface. The UI is linked with code using an event-driven programming
Event-driven programming
In computer programming, event-driven programming or event-based programming is a programming paradigm in which the flow of the program is determined by events—i.e., sensor outputs or user actions or messages from other programs or threads.Event-driven programming can also be defined as an...
model. The designer generates either C# or VB.NET code for the application.
WPF Designer: The WPF designer, codenamed Cider, was introduced with Visual Studio 2008. Like the Windows Forms designer it supports the drag and drop metaphor. It is used to author user interface
User interface
The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...
s targeting Windows Presentation Foundation
Windows Presentation Foundation
Developed by Microsoft, the Windows Presentation Foundation is a computer-software graphical subsystem for rendering user interfaces in Windows-based applications. WPF, previously known as "Avalon", was initially released as part of .NET Framework 3.0. Rather than relying on the older GDI...
. It supports all WPF functionality including data binding
Data binding
Data binding is a general technique that binds two data/information sources together and maintains synchronization of data. This is usually done with two data/information sources with different types as in XML data binding. However, in UI data binding, data and information objects of the same type...
and automatic layout management. It generates XAML
XAML
Extensible Application Markup Language is a declarative XML-based language created by Microsoft used for initializing structured values and objects. It is available under Microsoft's Open Specification Promise...
code for the UI. The generated XAML
XAML
Extensible Application Markup Language is a declarative XML-based language created by Microsoft used for initializing structured values and objects. It is available under Microsoft's Open Specification Promise...
file is compatible with Microsoft Expression Design
Microsoft Expression Design
Microsoft Expression Design is Microsoft's commercial professional illustration vector and raster graphic design tool for web images based on Creature House Expression, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2003. It is part of the Microsoft Expression Studio suite...
, the designer-oriented product. The XAML code is linked with code using a code-behind model.
Web designer/development: Visual Studio also includes a web-site editor and designer that allows web pages to be authored by dragging and dropping widgets. It is used for developing ASP.NET
ASP.NET
ASP.NET is a Web application framework developed and marketed by Microsoft to allow programmers to build dynamic Web sites, Web applications and Web services. It was first released in January 2002 with version 1.0 of the .NET Framework, and is the successor to Microsoft's Active Server Pages ...
applications and supports HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
, CSS
CSS
-Computing:*Cascading Style Sheets, a language used to describe the style of document presentations in web development*Central Structure Store in the PHIGS 3D API*Closed source software, software that is not distributed with source code...
and JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
. It uses a code-behind model to link with ASP.NET code. From Visual Studio 2008 onwards, the layout engine used by the web designer is shared with Microsoft Expression Web
Microsoft Expression Web
Microsoft Expression Web, code-named Quartz, is an HTML editor and general web design software product by Microsoft. It is part of the Expression Studio suite....
. There is also ASP.NET MVC support for MVC technology as a separate download and ASP.NET Dynamic Data
ASP.NET Dynamic Data
ASP.NET Dynamic Data is a Ruby on Rails-inspired web application scaffolding framework from Microsoft, shipped as an extension to ASP.NET, that can be used to build data driven web applications. It exposes tables in a database by encoding it in the URI of the ASP.NET web service, and the data in...
project available from Microsoft
Class designer: The Class Designer is used to author and edit the classes (including its members and their access) using UML
Unified Modeling Language
Unified Modeling Language is a standardized general-purpose modeling language in the field of object-oriented software engineering. The standard is managed, and was created, by the Object Management Group...
modeling. The Class Designer can generate C# and VB.NET code outlines for the classes and methods. It can also generate class diagrams from hand-written classes.
Data designer: The data designer can be used to graphically edit database schema
Database schema
A database schema of a database system is its structure described in a formal language supported by the database management system and refers to the organization of data to create a blueprint of how a database will be constructed...
s, including typed tables, primary and foreign keys and constraints. It can also be used to design queries from the graphical view.
Mapping designer: From Visual Studio 2008 onwards, the mapping designer is used by LINQ to SQL
Language Integrated Query
Language Integrated Query is a Microsoft .NET Framework component that adds native data querying capabilities to .NET languages, although ports exist for Java, PHP and JavaScript....
to design the mapping
Object-relational mapping
Object-relational mapping in computer software is a programming technique for converting data between incompatible type systems in object-oriented programming languages. This creates, in effect, a "virtual object database" that can be used from within the programming language...
between database schema
Database schema
A database schema of a database system is its structure described in a formal language supported by the database management system and refers to the organization of data to create a blueprint of how a database will be constructed...
s and the classes that encapsulate the data. The new solution from ORM approach, ADO.NET Entity Framework
ADO.NET Entity Framework
ADO.NET Entity Framework is an object-relational mapping framework for the .NET Framework.-Overview:ADO.NET Entity Framework abstracts the relational schema of the data that is stored in a database and presents its conceptual schema to the application...
, replaces and improves the old technology.
Other tools
Open Tabs Browser: The open tabs browser is used to list all open tabs and to switch between them. It is invoked usingCTRL+TAB.Properties Editor: The Properties Editor tool is used to edit properties in a GUI pane inside Visual Studio. It lists all available properties (both read-only and those which can be set) for all objects including classes, forms, web pages and other items.
Object Browser: The Object Browser is a namespace
Namespace
In general, a namespace is a container that provides context for the identifiers it holds, and allows the disambiguation of homonym identifiers residing in different namespaces....
and class library browser for Microsoft .NET. It can be used to browse the namespaces (which are arranged hierarchically) in managed
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
assemblies
.NET assembly
In the .NET framework, an assembly is a compiled code library used for deployment, versioning, and security. There are two types: process assemblies and library assemblies . A process assembly represents a process that will use classes defined in library assemblies...
. The hierarchy may or may not reflect the organization in the file system.
Solution Explorer: In Visual Studio parlance, a solution is a set of code files and other resources that are used to build an application. The files in a solution are arranged hierarchically, which might or might not reflect the organization in the file system. The Solution Explorer is used to manage and browse the files in a solution.
Team Explorer: Team Explorer is used to integrate the capabilities of Team Foundation Server
Team Foundation Server
Team Foundation Server is a Microsoft product offering source control, data collection, reporting, and project tracking, and is intended for collaborative software development projects...
, the Revision Control System
Revision Control System
The Revision Control System is a software implementation of revision control that automates the storing, retrieval, logging, identification, and merging of revisions. RCS is useful for text that is revised frequently, for example programs, documentation, procedural graphics, papers, and form...
into the IDE (and the basis for Microsoft's CodePlex hosting environment for open source projects). In addition to source control it provides the ability to view and manage individual work items (including bugs, tasks and other documents) and to browse TFS
Team Foundation Server
Team Foundation Server is a Microsoft product offering source control, data collection, reporting, and project tracking, and is intended for collaborative software development projects...
statistics. It is included as part of a TFS install and is also available as a download for Visual Studio separately Team Explorer is also available as a stand-alone environment solely to access TFS services.
Data Explorer: Data Explorer is used to manage databases on Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database server, developed by Microsoft: It is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data as requested by other software applications, be it those on the same computer or those running on another computer across a network...
instances. It allows creation and alteration of database tables (either by issuing T-SQL commands or by using the Data designer). It can also be used to create queries and stored procedure
Stored procedure
A stored procedure is a subroutine available to applications that access a relational database system. A stored procedure is actually stored in the database data dictionary.Typical uses for stored procedures include data validation or access control mechanisms...
s, with the latter in either T-SQL or in managed code
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
via SQL CLR
SQL CLR
SQL CLR or SQLCLR is technology for hosting of the Microsoft .NET common language runtime engine within SQL Server...
. Debugging and IntelliSense
IntelliSense
IntelliSense is Microsoft's implementation of autocompletion, best known for its use in the Microsoft Visual Studio integrated development environment...
support is available as well.
Server Explorer: The Server Explorer tool is used to manage database connections on an accessible computer. It is also used to browse running Windows Service
Windows Service
On Microsoft Windows operating systems, a Windows service is a long-running executable that performs specific functions and which is designed not to require user intervention. Windows services can be configured to start when the operating system is booted and run in the background as long as...
s, performance counters, Windows Event Log and message queue
Message queue
In computer science, message queues and mailboxes are software-engineering components used for interprocess communication, or for inter-thread communication within the same process. They use a queue for messaging – the passing of control or of content...
s and use them as a datasource.
Dotfuscator Software Services Community Edition: Visual Studio includes a free 'light' version of PreEmptive Solutions' Dotfuscator
Dotfuscator
Dotfuscator is software used for obfuscation of .NET assemblies. Among its abilities are mangling of identifier names into unreadable characters, but also changing control flow into being more unreadable at the IL-level for a human and other relatively advanced changes.Note that name mangling...
product for code obfuscation and application-size reduction. Starting with Visual Studio 2010, this version of Dotfuscator will include Runtime Intelligence
Runtime intelligence
-Introduction:The term runtime intelligence refers to technologies, managed services and practices for the collection, integration, analysis, and presentation of application usage levels, patterns and practices...
capabilities that allow authors to gather end-user usage, performance, and stability information from their applications running in production.
Text Generation Framework: Visual Studio includes a full text generation framework called T4
Text Template Transformation Toolkit
Microsoft's Text Template Transformation Toolkit is a template based text generation framework included with Visual Studio. T4 source files are usually denoted by the file extension ".tt"....
which enables Visual Studio to generate text files from templates either in the IDE or via code.
Extensibility
Visual Studio allows developers to write extensions for Visual Studio to extend its capabilities. These extensions "plug into" Visual Studio and extend its functionality. Extensions come in the form of macros, add-ins, and packages. Macros represent repeatable tasks and actions that developers can record programmatically for saving, replaying, and distributing. Macros, however, cannot implement new commands or create tool windows. They are written using Visual Basic
Visual Basic
Visual Basic is the third-generation event-driven programming language and integrated development environment from Microsoft for its COM programming model...
and are not compiled. Add-Ins provide access to the Visual Studio object model and can interact with the IDE tools. Add-Ins can be used to implement new functionality and can add new tool windows. Add-Ins are plugged in to the IDE via COM
Component Object Model
Component Object Model is a binary-interface standard for software componentry introduced by Microsoft in 1993. It is used to enable interprocess communication and dynamic object creation in a large range of programming languages...
and can be created in any COM-compliant languages. Packages are created using the Visual Studio SDK
Software development kit
A software development kit is typically a set of software development tools that allows for the creation of applications for a certain software package, software framework, hardware platform, computer system, video game console, operating system, or similar platform.It may be something as simple...
and provide the highest level of extensibility. They can create designers and other tools, as well as integrate other programming languages. The Visual Studio SDK provides unmanaged APIs as well as a managed API to accomplish these tasks. However, the managed API isn't as comprehensive as the unmanaged one. Extensions are supported in the Standard (and higher) versions of Visual Studio 2005. Express Editions do not support hosting extensions.
Visual Studio 2008 introduced the Visual Studio Shell that allows for development of a customized version of the IDE. The Visual Studio Shell defines a set of VSPackages that provide the functionality required in any IDE. On top of that, other packages can be added to customize the installation. The Isolated mode of the shell creates a new AppId where the packages are installed. These are to be started with a different executable. It is aimed for development of custom development environments, either for a specific language or a specific scenario. The Integrated mode installs the packages into the AppId of the Professional/Standard/Team System editions, so that the tools integrate into these editions. The Visual Studio Shell is available as a free download.
After the release of Visual Studio 2008, Microsoft created the Visual Studio Gallery. It serves as the central location for posting information about extensions to Visual Studio. Community developers as well as commercial developers can upload information about their extensions to Visual Studio .NET 2002 through Visual Studio 2010. Users of the site can rate and review the extensions to help assess the quality of extensions being posted. RSS feeds to notify users on updates to the site and tagging features are also planned.
Included products
Microsoft Visual C++Visual C++
Microsoft Visual C++ is a commercial , integrated development environment product from Microsoft for the C, C++, and C++/CLI programming languages...
: Microsoft Visual C++ is Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's implementation of the C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
and C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
compiler
Compiler
A compiler is a computer program that transforms source code written in a programming language into another computer language...
and associated languages-services and specific tools for integration with the Visual Studio IDE. It can compile either in C mode or C++ mode. For C, it follows the ISO C standard with parts of C99
C99
C99 is a modern dialect of the C programming language. It extends the previous version with new linguistic and library features, and helps implementations make better use of available computer hardware and compiler technology.-History:...
spec along with MS-specific additions in the form of libraries. For C++, it follows the ANSI C++ spec along with a few C++0x
C++0x
C++11, also formerly known as C++0x, is the name of the most recent iteration of the C++ programming language, replacing C++03, approved by the ISO as of 12 August 2011...
features. It also supports the C++/CLI
C++/CLI
C++/CLI is Microsoft's language specification intended to supersede Managed Extensions for C++. It is a complete revision that aims to simplify the older Managed C++ syntax . C++/CLI is standardized by Ecma as ECMA-372...
spec to write managed code
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
, as well as mixed-mode code (a mix of native and managed code
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
). Microsoft positions Visual C++ for development in native code or in code that contains both native as well as managed components. Visual C++ supports COM
Component Object Model
Component Object Model is a binary-interface standard for software componentry introduced by Microsoft in 1993. It is used to enable interprocess communication and dynamic object creation in a large range of programming languages...
as well as the MFC library. For MFC development, it provides a set of wizards for creating and customizing MFC boilerplate code, and creating GUI applications using MFC. Visual C++ can also use the Visual Studio forms designer to design UI graphically. Visual C++ can also be used with the Windows API
Windows API
The Windows API, informally WinAPI, is Microsoft's core set of application programming interfaces available in the Microsoft Windows operating systems. It was formerly called the Win32 API; however, the name "Windows API" more accurately reflects its roots in 16-bit Windows and its support on...
. It also supports the use of intrinsic functions, which are functions recognized by the compiler itself and not implemented as a library. Intrinsic functions are used to expose the SSE
Streaming SIMD Extensions
In computing, Streaming SIMD Extensions is a SIMD instruction set extension to the x86 architecture, designed by Intel and introduced in 1999 in their Pentium III series processors as a reply to AMD's 3DNow! . SSE contains 70 new instructions, most of which work on single precision floating point...
instruction set of modern CPUs. Visual C++ also includes the OpenMP
OpenMP
OpenMP is an API that supports multi-platform shared memory multiprocessing programming in C, C++, and Fortran, on most processor architectures and operating systems, including Linux, Unix, AIX, Solaris, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows platforms...
(version 2.0) spec.
Microsoft Visual C#: Microsoft Visual C#, Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's implementation of the C# language, targets the .NET Framework, along with the language services that lets the Visual Studio IDE support C# projects. While the language services are a part of Visual Studio, the compiler is available separately as a part of the .NET Framework. The Visual C# 2008 and 2010 compilers support versions 3.0 and 4.0 of the C# language specifications, respectively. Visual C# supports the Visual Studio Class designer, Forms designer, and Data designer among others.
Microsoft Visual Basic
Visual Basic .NET
Visual Basic .NET , is an object-oriented computer programming language that can be viewed as an evolution of the classic Visual Basic , which is implemented on the .NET Framework...
: Microsoft Visual Basic is Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's implementation of the VB.NET language and associated tools and language services. It was introduced with Visual Studio .NET (2002). Microsoft has positioned Visual Basic for Rapid Application Development
Rapid application development
Rapid application development is a software development methodology that uses minimal planning in favor of rapid prototyping. The "planning" of software developed using RAD is interleaved with writing the software itself...
. Visual Basic can be used to author both console applications as well as GUI applications. Like Visual C#, Visual Basic also supports the Visual Studio Class designer, Forms designer, and Data designer among others. Like C#, the VB.NET compiler is also available as a part of .NET Framework, but the language services that let VB.NET projects be developed with Visual Studio, are available as a part of the latter.
Microsoft Visual Web Developer: Microsoft Visual Web Developer is used to create web sites, web application
Web application
A web application is an application that is accessed over a network such as the Internet or an intranet. The term may also mean a computer software application that is coded in a browser-supported language and reliant on a common web browser to render the application executable.Web applications are...
s and web service
Web service
A Web service is a method of communication between two electronic devices over the web.The W3C defines a "Web service" as "a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network". It has an interface described in a machine-processable format...
s using ASP.NET. Either C# or VB.NET languages can be used. Visual Web Developer can use the Visual Studio Web Designer to graphically design web page layouts.
Team Foundation Server
Team Foundation Server
Team Foundation Server is a Microsoft product offering source control, data collection, reporting, and project tracking, and is intended for collaborative software development projects...
: Included only with Visual Studio Team System
Visual Studio Team System
Visual Studio Application Lifecycle Management is a collection of integrated software development tools developed by Microsoft. These tools include IDEs, source control, work items, collaboration, metrics, and reporting tools.-Platform:...
, Team Foundation Server is intended for collaborative software development
Software development
Software development is the development of a software product...
projects and acts as the server-side backend providing source control, data collection, reporting, and project-tracking functionality. It also includes the Team Explorer, the client tool for TFS services, which is integrated inside Visual Studio Team System.
Previous products
Visual FoxProVisual FoxPro
Visual FoxPro is a data-centric object-oriented and procedural programming language produced by Microsoft. It is derived from FoxPro which was developed by Fox Software beginning in 1984. Fox Technologies merged with Microsoft in 1992, after which the software acquired further features and the...
: Visual FoxPro is a data-centric object-oriented and procedural
Procedural programming
Procedural programming can sometimes be used as a synonym for imperative programming , but can also refer to a programming paradigm, derived from structured programming, based upon the concept of the procedure call...
programming language
Programming language
A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine and/or to express algorithms precisely....
produced by Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
. It derives from FoxPro
FoxPro 2
FoxPro is a text-based procedurally-oriented programming language and DBMS, originally published by Fox Software and later by Microsoft, for MS-DOS, MS Windows, Apple Macintosh, and UNIX....
(originally known as FoxBASE) which was developed by Fox Software beginning in 1984. Visual FoxPro is tightly integrated with its own relational database engine, which extends FoxPro's xBase capabilities to support SQL
SQL
SQL is a programming language designed for managing data in relational database management systems ....
queries and data manipulation. Visual FoxPro is a full-featured, dynamic programming language
Dynamic programming language
Dynamic programming language is a term used broadly in computer science to describe a class of high-level programming languages that execute at runtime many common behaviors that other languages might perform during compilation, if at all...
that does not require the use of an additional general-purpose programming environment. Microsoft announced in 2007 that Visual FoxPro has been discontinued after version 9 Service Pack 2, but will remain supported until 2015.
Visual SourceSafe: Microsoft Visual SourceSafe is a source control software package oriented towards small software-development projects. The SourceSafe database is a multi-user, multi-process file-system database, using the Windows file system database primitives to provide locking and sharing support. All versions are multi-user, using SMB
Server Message Block
In computer networking, Server Message Block , also known as Common Internet File System operates as an application-layer network protocol mainly used to provide shared access to files, printers, serial ports, and miscellaneous communications between nodes on a network. It also provides an...
(file server) networking. However, with Visual SourceSafe 2005, other client–server modes were added, Lan Booster and VSS Internet (which used HTTP/HTTPS
Https
Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure is a combination of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol with SSL/TLS protocol to provide encrypted communication and secure identification of a network web server...
). Visual SourceSafe 6.0 was available as a stand-alone product and was included with Visual Studio 6.0, and other products such as Office Developer Edition. Visual SourceSafe 2005 was available as a stand-alone product and included with the 2005 Team Suite. Team Foundation Server
Team Foundation Server
Team Foundation Server is a Microsoft product offering source control, data collection, reporting, and project tracking, and is intended for collaborative software development projects...
has superseded VSS as Microsoft's recommended platform for source control.
Microsoft Visual J++
Visual J++
Visual J++ was Microsoft's specific implementation of Java. Syntax, keywords, and grammatical conventions were the same as Java's. Microsoft discontinued support of J++ in January 2004, replacing it to a certain extent with J# and C#....
/Microsoft Visual J#: Microsoft Visual J++ was Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's implementation of the Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
language (with Microsoft-specific extensions) and associated language services. It was discontinued as a result of litigation from Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
, and the technology was recycled into Visual J#, Microsoft's Java compiler for .NET Framework. J# was available with Visual Studio 2005 but has been discontinued in Visual Studio 2008.
Visual InterDev
Visual InterDev
Microsoft Visual InterDev, part of Microsoft Visual Studio 97 and 6.0, is an IDE used to create web applications using Microsoft Active Server Pages technologies. It has code completion, database server management tools, and an integrated debugger....
: Visual InterDev was used to create web applications using Microsoft Active Server Pages
Active Server Pages
Active Server Pages , also known as Classic ASP or ASP Classic, was Microsoft's first server-side script engine for dynamically-generated Web pages. Initially released as an add-on to Internet Information Services via the Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack Active Server Pages (ASP), also known as Classic...
(ASP) technologies. It supports code completion and includes database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
server management tools. It has been replaced with Microsoft Visual Web Developer.
Editions
Microsoft Visual Studio is available in the following editions or SKUs:Visual Studio Express
Visual Studio Express EditionsMicrosoft Visual Studio Express
Microsoft Visual Studio Express is a set of freeware integrated development environments developed by Microsoft that are lightweight versions of the Microsoft Visual Studio product line. Express Editions were conceived beginning with Visual Studio 2005...
are a set of free lightweight individual IDEs which are provided as stripped-down versions of the Visual Studio IDE on a per-platform basis or per-language basis, i.e., it installs the development tools for the supported platforms (web, Windows, phone) or supported development languages (VB, C#) onto individual Visual Studio Shell AppIds. It includes only a small set of tools as compared to the other systems. It does not include support for plug-ins. x64
X86-64
x86-64 is an extension of the x86 instruction set. It supports vastly larger virtual and physical address spaces than are possible on x86, thereby allowing programmers to conveniently work with much larger data sets. x86-64 also provides 64-bit general purpose registers and numerous other...
compilers are not included in the Visual Studio Express edition IDEs, but are available as part of a Windows Software Development Kit that can be installed separately. Microsoft targets the Express IDEs at students and hobbyists. Express editions do not use the full MSDN Library
MSDN Library
MSDN Library is a library of official technical documentation content intended for developers developing for Microsoft Windows. MSDN stands for the Microsoft Developer Network. The MSDN Library documents the APIs that ship with Microsoft products and also includes sample code, technical articles,...
but use the MSDN Essentials Library. The languages available as part of the Express IDEs are:
- Visual Basic Express
- Visual C++ Express
- Visual C# Express
- Visual Web Developer Express
- Express for Windows Phone
Visual Studio LightSwitch
Microsoft Visual Studio LightSwitch is an IDE specifically tailored for creating line-of-business applications built on existing .NET technologies and Microsoft platforms. The applications produced are architecturally 3-tierMultitier architecture
In software engineering, multi-tier architecture is a client–server architecture in which the presentation, the application processing, and the data management are logically separate processes. For example, an application that uses middleware to service data requests between a user and a database...
: the user interface runs on Microsoft Silverlight; the logic and data-access tier is built on WCF RIA Services and Entity Framework, hosted in ASP.NET; and the primary data storage supports Microsoft SQL Server Express
SQL Server Express
Microsoft SQL Server Express, a freely downloadable and distributable version of Microsoft's SQL Server relational database management system, comprises a database specifically targeted for embedded and smaller-scale applications.- Capabilities :...
, Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database server, developed by Microsoft: It is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data as requested by other software applications, be it those on the same computer or those running on another computer across a network...
and Microsoft SQL Azure. LightSwitch also supports other data sources including Microsoft SharePoint. LightSwitch includes graphical designers for designing entities and entity relationships, entity queries, and UI screens. Business logic may be written in either Visual Basic
Visual Basic .NET
Visual Basic .NET , is an object-oriented computer programming language that can be viewed as an evolution of the classic Visual Basic , which is implemented on the .NET Framework...
or Visual C#. The tool can be installed as a stand-alone SKU or as an integrated add-in to Visual Studio 2010 Professional and higher.
Visual Studio Professional
Visual Studio Professional Edition provides an IDE for all supported development languages. As of Visual Studio 2010, the Standard edition was dropped. MSDN support is available as MSDN Essentials or the full MSDN library depending on licensing. It supports XMLXML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
and XSLT
XSLT
XSLT is a declarative, XML-based language used for the transformation of XML documents. The original document is not changed; rather, a new document is created based on the content of an existing one. The new document may be serialized by the processor in standard XML syntax or in another format,...
editing, and can create deployment packages that only use ClickOnce
ClickOnce
ClickOnce is a Microsoft technology that enables the user to install and run a Windows application by clicking a link in a web page. ClickOnce is a component of Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 and later, supports deploying applications made with Windows Forms or Windows Presentation Foundation...
and MSI
Windows Installer
The Windows Installer is a software component used for the installation, maintenance, and removal of software on modern Microsoft Windows systems...
. It includes tools like Server Explorer and integration with Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database server, developed by Microsoft: It is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data as requested by other software applications, be it those on the same computer or those running on another computer across a network...
also. Windows Mobile development support was included in Visual Studio 2005 Standard, however, with Visual Studio 2008, it is only available in Professional and higher editions. Windows Phone 7 development support was added to all editions in Visual Studio 2010. Development for Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft that was used in smartphones and Pocket PCs, but by 2011 was rarely supplied on new phones. The last version is "Windows Mobile 6.5.5"; it is superseded by Windows Phone, which does not run Windows Mobile software.Windows Mobile is...
is no longer supported in Visual Studio 2010; it is superseded by Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...
.
Visual Studio Premium
Visual Studio Premium Edition includes all of the tools in Visual Studio Professional and adds additional functionality such as code metrics, profiling, static code analysis, and database unit testing.Visual Studio Tools for Office
Visual Studio Tools for OfficeVisual Studio Tools for Office
Visual Studio Tools for Office is a set of development tools available in the form of a Visual Studio add-in and a runtime that allows Microsoft Office 2003 and later versions of Office applications to host the .NET Framework Common Language Runtime to expose their functionality via the .NET...
is an SDK and an add-in for Visual Studio that includes tools for developing for the Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office is a non-free commercial office suite of inter-related desktop applications, servers and services for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, introduced by Microsoft in August 1, 1989. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of...
suite. Previously (for Visual Studio .NET 2003 and Visual Studio 2005) it was a separate SKU that supported only Visual C# and Visual Basic
Visual Basic .NET
Visual Basic .NET , is an object-oriented computer programming language that can be viewed as an evolution of the classic Visual Basic , which is implemented on the .NET Framework...
languages or was included in the Team Suite. With Visual Studio 2008, it is no longer a separate SKU but is included with Professional and higher editions. A separate runtime is required when deploying VSTO solutions.
Visual Studio Ultimate
Visual Studio Ultimate provides set of software and database development, collaboration, metrics, architecture, testing and reporting tools in addition to the features provided by Visual Studio Premium. As of Visual Studio 2010, the Team Suite edition was renamed to the Ultimate edition. Visual Studio Ultimate offers a superset of toolsets based on the Application Lifecycle ManagementApplication Lifecycle Management
Application Lifecycle Management is a continuous process of managing the life of an application through governance, development and maintenance...
(ALM) role it is being used for.
Visual Studio Team System
Prior to Visual Studio 2010, Visual Studio Team SystemVisual Studio Team System
Visual Studio Application Lifecycle Management is a collection of integrated software development tools developed by Microsoft. These tools include IDEs, source control, work items, collaboration, metrics, and reporting tools.-Platform:...
provided four role-specific editions are:
- Team Explorer (basic TFS client)
- Architecture Edition
- Database Edition
- Development Edition
- Test Edition
The combined functionality of the four Team System Editions is provided in a Team Suite Edition. The Database Edition, codenamed "DataDude", was initially released as a separate edition after Visual Studio 2005's initial release. It is included with Visual Studio 2008 as a separate edition, but Microsoft did roll its functionality into the Premium Edition with Visual Studio 2010.
Test Professional
Visual Studio Test Professional is an edition which was introduced with Visual Studio 2010. Its focus is aimed at the dedicated tester role and includes support for the management of test environments, the ability to start and report on tests and to connect to Team Foundation Server. It does not include support for development or authoring of tests.Editions feature grid
| Product | Extensions | Setup Projects | MSDN Integration | Debugging | Profiling | Static Analysis | IntelliTrace | Unit Test | Code Coverage | Coded UI Test | Test Impact Analysis | Load Testing | Lab Management | Architecture and Modelling | Mobile Development |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Express | |||||||||||||||
| Professional | |||||||||||||||
| Premium | |||||||||||||||
| Ultimate | |||||||||||||||
| Test Professional |
Version history
Prior to Visual Studio Version 4.0 there were Visual Basic 3, Visual C++, Visual FoxPro and Sources Safe as separate products.| Product name | Codename | Internal version | Supported .NET Framework versions | Release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Visual Studio | 4.0 | Spring 1995 | ||
| Visual Studio 97 | Boston | 5.0 | 1997 | |
| Visual Studio 6.0 | Aspen | 6.0 | 1998-06 | |
| Visual Studio .NET (2002) | Rainier | 7.0 | 1.0 | 2002-02-13 |
| Visual Studio .NET 2003 | Everett | 7.1 | 1.1 | 2003-04-24 |
| Visual Studio 2005 | Whidbey | 8.0 | 2.0, 3.0 | 2005-11-07 |
| Visual Studio 2008 | Orcas | 9.0 | 2.0, 3.0, 3.5 | 2007-11-19 |
| Visual Studio 2010 /Ultimate 2010 | Dev10/Rosario | 10.0 | 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0 | 2010-04-12 |
Visual Studio 97
Microsoft first released Visual Studio (codenamed Boston, for the city of the same name
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, thus beginning the VS codenames related to places) in 1997, bundling many of its programming tools together for the first time. Visual Studio 97 came in two editions: Visual Studio Professional and Visual Studio Enterprise, the professional edition has 3 CDs, and the enterprise on 4 CDs. It included Visual Basic 5.0, Visual C++ 5.0 -primarily for Windows programming; Visual J++ 1.1 for Java programming; Visual FoxPro 5.0 for database programming. It introduced Visual InterDev for creating dynamically generated web sites using Active Server Pages. There were two companion CDs that contained the Microsoft Developer Network library
Microsoft Developer Network
The Microsoft Developer Network is the portion of Microsoft responsible for managing the firm's relationship with developers and testers: hardware developers interested in the operating system , developers standing on the various OS platforms, developers using the API and scripting languages of...
.
Visual Studio 97 was Microsoft's first attempt at using the same development environment for multiple languages. Visual J++, InterDev, and the MSDN Library
Microsoft Developer Network
The Microsoft Developer Network is the portion of Microsoft responsible for managing the firm's relationship with developers and testers: hardware developers interested in the operating system , developers standing on the various OS platforms, developers using the API and scripting languages of...
had all been using same 'environment', called Developer Studio. Visual C++, Visual Basic and Visual FoxPro used separate environments.
VIsual Studio 97 had further low budget CD versions targeting only one specific programming language at a time, such as Visual C++ v5, or Visual Basic v5.0. Each single programming language included the same Environment and lacked MSDN.
Visual Studio 6.0 (1998)
The next version, version 6.0 (codenamed Aspen, after the ski resortAspen, Colorado
The City of Aspen is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the city population was 5,804 in 2005...
in Colorado), was released in June 1998 and is the last version to run on the Windows 9x
Windows 9x
Windows 9x is a generic term referring to a series of Microsoft Windows computer operating systems produced since 1995, which were based on the original and later modified Windows 95 kernel...
platform. Each version of each language in part also settled to v6.0, including Visual J++ which was prior v1.1, and Visual InterDev at the 1st release. The v6 edition of Microsoft was the core environment for the next four releases to provide programmers with an integrated look-a-like platform. This led Microsoft to transition the development on the platform independent .NET Framework
.NET Framework
The .NET Framework is a software framework that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It includes a large library and supports several programming languages which allows language interoperability...
.
Visual Studio 6.0 was the last version to include the COM-based version of plain Visual Basic language; subsequent 2002 version (in 'Visual Studio 2002' package) included Basic language using the .NET platform. It did not include Visual J++, which Microsoft removed as part of a settlement with Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
that required Microsoft Internet Explorer to not provide support for the Java Virtual Machine Environment
Virtual machine
A virtual machine is a "completely isolated guest operating system installation within a normal host operating system". Modern virtual machines are implemented with either software emulation or hardware virtualization or both together.-VM Definitions:A virtual machine is a software...
.
Visual Studio 6.0 came in two editions: Professional and Enterprise. The Enterprise edition contained extra features not found in Professional edition, including:
- Application Performance Explorer
- Automation Manager
- Microsoft Visual Modeler
- RemAuto Connection Manager
- Visual Studio Analyzer
Visual Studio .NET (2002)
Microsoft released Visual Studio .NET (VS.NET), codenamed Rainier (for Washington's Mount RainierMount Rainier
Mount Rainier is a massive stratovolcano located southeast of Seattle in the state of Washington, United States. It is the most topographically prominent mountain in the contiguous United States and the Cascade Volcanic Arc, with a summit elevation of . Mt. Rainier is considered one of the most...
), in February 2002 (the beta version was released via Microsoft Developer Network
Microsoft Developer Network
The Microsoft Developer Network is the portion of Microsoft responsible for managing the firm's relationship with developers and testers: hardware developers interested in the operating system , developers standing on the various OS platforms, developers using the API and scripting languages of...
in 2001). The biggest change was the introduction of a managed code
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
development environment using the .NET Framework. Programs developed using .NET are not compiled to machine language (like C++ is, for example) but instead to a format called Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL) or Common Intermediate Language
Common Intermediate Language
Common Intermediate Language is the lowest-level human-readable programming language defined by the Common Language Infrastructure specification and is used by the .NET Framework and Mono...
(CIL). When an CIL application executes, it is compiled while being executed
Just-in-time compilation
In computing, just-in-time compilation , also known as dynamic translation, is a method to improve the runtime performance of computer programs. Historically, computer programs had two modes of runtime operation, either interpreted or static compilation...
into the appropriate machine language for the platform it is being executed on, thereby making code portable across several platforms. Programs compiled into CIL can be executed only on platforms which have an implementation of Common Language Infrastructure
Common Language Infrastructure
The Common Language Infrastructure is an open specification developed by Microsoft and standardized by ISO and ECMA that describes the executable code and runtime environment that form the core of the Microsoft .NET Framework and the free and open source implementations Mono and Portable.NET...
. It is possible to run CIL programs in Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
or Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
using non-Microsoft .NET implementations like Mono
Mono (software)
Mono, pronounced , is a free and open source project led by Xamarin to create an Ecma standard compliant .NET-compatible set of tools including, among others, a C# compiler and a Common Language Runtime....
and DotGNU
DotGNU
DotGNU is a part of the GNU Project that aims to provide a free software replacement for Microsoft's .NET Framework by Free Software Foundation...
.
This was the first version of Visual Studio to require an NT
Windows NT
Windows NT is a family of operating systems produced by Microsoft, the first version of which was released in July 1993. It was a powerful high-level-language-based, processor-independent, multiprocessing, multiuser operating system with features comparable to Unix. It was intended to complement...
-based Windows platform. The installer enforces this requirement.
Visual Studio .NET 2002 shipped in four editions: Academic, Professional, Enterprise Developer, and Enterprise Architect. Microsoft introduced C# (C-sharp), a new programming language, that targets .NET. It also introduced the successor to Visual J++ called Visual J#. Visual J# programs use Java's language-syntax. However, unlike Visual J++ programs, Visual J# programs can only target the .NET Framework, not the Java Virtual Machine
Java Virtual Machine
A Java virtual machine is a virtual machine capable of executing Java bytecode. It is the code execution component of the Java software platform. Sun Microsystems stated that there are over 4.5 billion JVM-enabled devices.-Overview:...
that all other Java tools target.
Visual Basic changed drastically to fit the new framework, and the new version was called Visual Basic .NET. Microsoft also added extensions to C++, called Managed Extensions for C++
Managed Extensions for C++
Managed Extensions for C++ or just Managed C++ is a now deprecated Microsoft set of deviations from C++, including grammatical and syntactic extensions, keywords and attributes, to bring the C++ syntax and language to the .NET Framework...
, so that C++ programmers could create .NET programs.
Visual Studio .NET can produce applications targeting Windows (using the Windows Forms part of the .NET Framework), the Web (using ASP.NET and Web Services) and, with an add-in, portable devices (using the .NET Compact Framework).
The Visual Studio .NET environment was rewritten to partially use .NET. All languages are versions of Visual Studio, it has a cleaner interface and greater cohesiveness. It is also more customizable with tool windows that automatically hide when not in use. While Visual FoxPro 7 started out as part of Visual Studio .NET 2002, and early VS betas allowed debugging inside VFP-based DLLs, it was removed before release to follow its own development track.
The internal version number of Visual Studio .NET 2002 is version 7.0. Microsoft released Service Pack 1 for Visual Studio .NET 2002 in March, 2005.
Visual Studio .NET 2003
In April 2003, Microsoft introduced a minor upgrade to Visual Studio .NET called Visual Studio .NET 2003, codenamed Everett (for the city of the same nameEverett, Washington
Everett is the county seat of and the largest city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. Named for Everett Colby, son of founder Charles L. Colby, it lies north of Seattle. The city had a total population of 103,019 at the 2010 census, making it the 6th largest in the state and...
). It includes an upgrade to the .NET Framework, version 1.1, and is the first release to support developing programs for mobile devices, using ASP.NET or the .NET Compact Framework. The Visual C++ compiler's standards-compliance improved, especially in the area of partial template specialization
Partial template specialization
Partial template specialization is a particular form of class template specialization. Usually used in reference to the C++ programming language, it allows the programmer to specialize only some arguments of a class template, as opposed to explicit specialization, where all the template arguments...
. Visual C++ Toolkit 2003 is a free version of the same C++ compiler shipped with Visual Studio .NET 2003 without the IDE, though it is no longer available and the Express Editions have superseded it. The internal version number of Visual Studio .NET 2003 is version 7.1 while the file format version is 8.0.
Visual Studio .NET 2003 shipped in four editions: Academic, Professional, Enterprise Developer, and Enterprise Architect. The Visual Studio .NET 2003 Enterprise Architect edition includes an implementation of Microsoft Visio
Microsoft Visio
Microsoft Visio , formerly known as Microsoft Office Visio, is a commercial diagramming program for Microsoft Windows that uses vector graphics to create diagrams.- Features :...
2002's modeling technologies, including tools for creating Unified Modeling Language
Unified Modeling Language
Unified Modeling Language is a standardized general-purpose modeling language in the field of object-oriented software engineering. The standard is managed, and was created, by the Object Management Group...
-based visual representations of an application's architecture, and a powerful Object-Role Modeling (ORM)
Object role modeling
Object Role Modeling is a method for conceptual modeling, and can be used as a tool for information and rules analysis, ontological analysis, and data modeling in the field of software engineering.- Overview :...
and logical database-modeling solution. "Enterprise Templates" were also introduced, to help larger development teams standardize coding styles and enforce policies around component usage and property settings.
Service Pack 1 was released September 13, 2006.
Visual Studio 2005
Visual Studio 2005, codenamed Whidbey (a reference to Whidbey IslandWhidbey Island
Whidbey Island is one of nine islands located in Island County, Washington, in the United States. Whidbey is located about north of Seattle, and lies between the Olympic Peninsula and the I-5 corridor of western Washington...
in Puget Sound
Puget Sound
Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...
), was released online in October 2005 and to retail stores a few weeks later. Microsoft removed the ".NET" moniker from Visual Studio 2005 (as well as every other product with .NET in its name), but it still primarily targets the .NET Framework, which was upgraded to version 2.0. It is the last version available for Windows 2000
Windows 2000
Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, business desktops, laptops, and servers. Windows 2000 was released to manufacturing on 15 December 1999 and launched to retail on 17 February 2000. It is the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the...
and also the last version to be able to target Windows 98
Windows 98
Windows 98 is a graphical operating system by Microsoft. It is the second major release in the Windows 9x line of operating systems. It was released to manufacturing on 15 May 1998 and to retail on 25 June 1998. Windows 98 is the successor to Windows 95. Like its predecessor, it is a hybrid...
, Windows Me
Windows Me
Windows Millennium Edition, or Windows Me , is a graphical operating system released on September 14, 2000 by Microsoft, and was the last operating system released in the Windows 9x series. Support for Windows Me ended on July 11, 2006....
and Windows NT 4.0
Windows NT 4.0
Windows NT 4.0 is a preemptive, graphical and business-oriented operating system designed to work with either uniprocessor or symmetric multi-processor computers. It was the next release of Microsoft's Windows NT line of operating systems and was released to manufacturing on 31 July 1996...
for C++ applications.
Visual Studio 2005's internal version number is 8.0 while the file format version is 9.0. Microsoft released Service Pack 1 for Visual Studio 2005 on 14 December 2006. An additional update for Service Pack 1 that offers Windows Vista compatibility was made available on 3 June 2007.
Visual Studio 2005 was upgraded to support all the new features introduced in .NET Framework 2.0, including generics and ASP.NET 2.0. The IntelliSense
IntelliSense
IntelliSense is Microsoft's implementation of autocompletion, best known for its use in the Microsoft Visual Studio integrated development environment...
feature in Visual Studio was upgraded for generics and new project types were added to support ASP.NET web services. Visual Studio 2005 also includes a local web server, separate from IIS
Internet Information Services
Internet Information Services – formerly called Internet Information Server – is a web server application and set of feature extension modules created by Microsoft for use with Microsoft Windows. It is the most used web server after Apache HTTP Server. IIS 7.5 supports HTTP, HTTPS,...
, that can host ASP.NET applications during development and testing. It also supports all SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database server, developed by Microsoft: It is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data as requested by other software applications, be it those on the same computer or those running on another computer across a network...
2005 databases. Database designers were upgraded to support the ADO.NET 2.0
ADO.NET
ADO.NET is a set of computer software components that programmers can use to access data and data services. It is a part of the base class library that is included with the Microsoft .NET Framework. It is commonly used by programmers to access and modify data stored in relational database systems,...
, which is included with .NET Framework 2.0. C++ also got a similar upgrade with the addition of C++/CLI
C++/CLI
C++/CLI is Microsoft's language specification intended to supersede Managed Extensions for C++. It is a complete revision that aims to simplify the older Managed C++ syntax . C++/CLI is standardized by Ecma as ECMA-372...
which is slated to replace the use of Managed C++
Managed Extensions for C++
Managed Extensions for C++ or just Managed C++ is a now deprecated Microsoft set of deviations from C++, including grammatical and syntactic extensions, keywords and attributes, to bring the C++ syntax and language to the .NET Framework...
. Other new features of Visual Studio 2005 include the "Deployment Designer" which allows application designs to be validated before deployments, an improved environment for web publishing when combined with ASP.NET 2.0 and load testing to see application performance under various sorts of user loads. Starting with the 2005 edition, Visual Studio also added extensive 64-bit support. While the host development environment itself is only available as a 32-bit application, Visual C++ 2005 supports compiling for x86-64
X86-64
x86-64 is an extension of the x86 instruction set. It supports vastly larger virtual and physical address spaces than are possible on x86, thereby allowing programmers to conveniently work with much larger data sets. x86-64 also provides 64-bit general purpose registers and numerous other...
(AMD64 and Intel 64) as well as IA-64 (Itanium
Itanium
Itanium is a family of 64-bit Intel microprocessors that implement the Intel Itanium architecture . Intel markets the processors for enterprise servers and high-performance computing systems...
). The Platform SDK included 64-bit compilers and 64-bit versions of the libraries.
Microsoft also announced Visual Studio Tools for Applications
Visual Studio Tools for Applications
Visual Studio Tools for Applications is a set of tools that independent software vendors can use to build customization abilities into their applications for both automation and extensibility...
as the successor to Visual Basic for Applications
Visual Basic for Applications
Visual Basic for Applications is an implementation of Microsoft's event-driven programming language Visual Basic 6 and its associated integrated development environment , which are built into most Microsoft Office applications...
(VBA) and VSA (Visual Studio for Applications). VSTA 1.0 was released to manufacturing along with Office 2007. It is included with Office 2007 and is also part of the Visual Studio 2005 SDK. VSTA consists of a customized IDE, based on the Visual Studio 2005 IDE, and a runtime that can be embedded in applications to expose its features via the .NET object model. Office 2007 applications continue to integrate with VBA, except for InfoPath 2007 which integrates with VSTA. Version 2.0 of VSTA ( based on Visual Studio 2008) was released in April, 2008. It is significantly different from the first version, including features such as dynamic programming and support for WPF
Windows Presentation Foundation
Developed by Microsoft, the Windows Presentation Foundation is a computer-software graphical subsystem for rendering user interfaces in Windows-based applications. WPF, previously known as "Avalon", was initially released as part of .NET Framework 3.0. Rather than relying on the older GDI...
, WCF
Windows Communication Foundation
The Windows Communication Foundation , previously known as "Indigo", is an application programming interface in the .NET Framework for building connected, service-oriented applications.-The architectures:...
, WF
Windows Workflow Foundation
Windows Workflow Foundation is a Microsoft technology that provides an API, an in-process workflow engine, and a rehostable designer to implement long-running processes as workflows within .NET applications...
, LINQ
Language Integrated Query
Language Integrated Query is a Microsoft .NET Framework component that adds native data querying capabilities to .NET languages, although ports exist for Java, PHP and JavaScript....
, and .NET 3.5 Framework.
Visual Studio 2008
Visual Studio 2008, and Visual Studio Team System 2008 codenamed Orcas (a reference to Orcas IslandOrcas Island
Orcas Island is the largest of the San Juan Islands, which are located in the northwestern corner of Washington state in San Juan County, Washington.-History:...
, also an island in Puget Sound
Puget Sound
Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...
, like Whidbey for the previous 2005 release), were released to MSDN subscribers on 19 November 2007 alongside .NET Framework 3.5. The source code for the Visual Studio 2008 IDE is available under a shared source
Shared source
Shared source is an umbrella term covering some of Microsoft's legal mechanisms for software source code distribution. Microsoft's Shared Source Initiative, launched in May 2001, includes a spectrum of technologies and licenses...
license to some of Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's partners and ISVs
Independent software vendor
Independent software vendor is a business term for companies specializing in making or selling software, designed for mass marketing or for niche markets...
. Microsoft released Service Pack 1 for Visual Studio 2008 on 11 August 2008. The internal version number of Visual Studio 2008 is version 9.0 while the file format version is 10.0. Visual Studio 2008 is the last version to support targeting Windows 2000
Windows 2000
Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, business desktops, laptops, and servers. Windows 2000 was released to manufacturing on 15 December 1999 and launched to retail on 17 February 2000. It is the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the...
for C++ applications.
Visual Studio 2008 is focused on development of Windows Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
, 2007 Office system, and Web applications. For visual design, a new Windows Presentation Foundation
Windows Presentation Foundation
Developed by Microsoft, the Windows Presentation Foundation is a computer-software graphical subsystem for rendering user interfaces in Windows-based applications. WPF, previously known as "Avalon", was initially released as part of .NET Framework 3.0. Rather than relying on the older GDI...
visual designer and a new HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
/CSS
CSS
-Computing:*Cascading Style Sheets, a language used to describe the style of document presentations in web development*Central Structure Store in the PHIGS 3D API*Closed source software, software that is not distributed with source code...
editor influenced by Microsoft Expression Web
Microsoft Expression Web
Microsoft Expression Web, code-named Quartz, is an HTML editor and general web design software product by Microsoft. It is part of the Expression Studio suite....
are included. J#
J Sharp
Visual J# |sharp]]') programming language is a discontinued transitional language for programmers of Java and Visual J++ languages, so they may use their existing knowledge and applications on .NET Framework....
is not included. Visual Studio 2008 requires .NET 3.5 Framework and by default configures compiled assemblies to run on .NET Framework 3.5, but it also supports multi-targeting which lets the developers choose which version of the .NET Framework (out of 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, Silverlight CoreCLR or .NET Compact Framework) the assembly runs on. Visual Studio 2008 also includes new code analysis tools, including the new Code Metrics
Code Metrics
Code Metrics is the analysis of code by gathering statistics such as inheritance depth, lines of code , number of classes etc. and computes a maintainability index based on the gathered information. There are multiple tools and plugins available to obtain this information...
tool (only in Team Edition and Team Suite Edition). For Visual C++
Visual C++
Microsoft Visual C++ is a commercial , integrated development environment product from Microsoft for the C, C++, and C++/CLI programming languages...
, Visual Studio adds a new version of Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC 9.0) that adds support for the visual styles and UI controls introduced with Windows Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
. For native and managed code interoperability, Visual C++ introduces the STL/CLR, which is a port of the C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
Standard Template Library
Standard Template Library
The Standard Template Library is a C++ software library which later evolved into the C++ Standard Library. It provides four components called algorithms, containers, functors, and iterators. More specifically, the C++ Standard Library is based on the STL published by SGI. Both include some...
(STL) containers and algorithms to managed code
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
. STL/CLR defines STL-like containers, iterator
Iterator
In computer programming, an iterator is an object that enables a programmer to traverse a container. Various types of iterators are often provided via a container's interface...
s and algorithms that work on C++/CLI
C++/CLI
C++/CLI is Microsoft's language specification intended to supersede Managed Extensions for C++. It is a complete revision that aims to simplify the older Managed C++ syntax . C++/CLI is standardized by Ecma as ECMA-372...
managed
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
objects.
Visual Studio 2008 features include an XAML
XAML
Extensible Application Markup Language is a declarative XML-based language created by Microsoft used for initializing structured values and objects. It is available under Microsoft's Open Specification Promise...
-based designer (codenamed Cider), workflow designer, LINQ
Language Integrated Query
Language Integrated Query is a Microsoft .NET Framework component that adds native data querying capabilities to .NET languages, although ports exist for Java, PHP and JavaScript....
to SQL
SQL
SQL is a programming language designed for managing data in relational database management systems ....
designer (for defining the type mappings and object encapsulation for SQL Server data), XSLT
XSLT
XSLT is a declarative, XML-based language used for the transformation of XML documents. The original document is not changed; rather, a new document is created based on the content of an existing one. The new document may be serialized by the processor in standard XML syntax or in another format,...
debugger, JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
Intellisense
IntelliSense
IntelliSense is Microsoft's implementation of autocompletion, best known for its use in the Microsoft Visual Studio integrated development environment...
support, JavaScript Debugging support, support for UAC
User Account Control
User Account Control is a technology and security infrastructure introduced with Microsoft's Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 operating systems, with a more relaxed version also present in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2...
manifests
Manifest (.NET Framework)
An assembly manifest is a text file containing metadata about .NET assemblies. It describes the relationship and dependencies of the components in the assembly, versioning information, scope information and the security permissions required by the assembly....
, a concurrent build system, among others. It ships with an enhanced set of UI widgets, both for Windows Forms and WPF
Windows Presentation Foundation
Developed by Microsoft, the Windows Presentation Foundation is a computer-software graphical subsystem for rendering user interfaces in Windows-based applications. WPF, previously known as "Avalon", was initially released as part of .NET Framework 3.0. Rather than relying on the older GDI...
. It also includes a multithreaded build engine (MSBuild) to compile multiple source files (and build the executable file) in a project across multiple threads simultaneously. It also includes support for compiling PNG compressed icon
Icon (computing)
A computer icon is a pictogram displayed on a computer screen and used to navigate a computer system or mobile device. The icon itself is a small picture or symbol serving as a quick, intuitive representation of a software tool, function or a data file accessible on the system. It functions as an...
resources
Resource (Windows)
In Microsoft Windows, resources are read-only data embedded in EXE, DLL, CPL or MUI files.The Windows API provides for easy access to all applications' resources.-Types:...
introduced in Windows Vista. An updated XML Schema designer will ship separately some time after the release of Visual Studio 2008.
The Visual Studio debugger
Microsoft Visual Studio Debugger
The Microsoft Visual Studio Debugger is a debugger that ships along with all versions of Microsoft Visual Studio. This debugger owes much of its feel and functionality to CodeView, a standalone, text-based debugger that shipped with Microsoft Visual C++ version 1.5 and earlier.More advanced...
includes features targeting easier debugging of multi-threaded applications. In debugging mode, in the Threads window, which lists all the threads, hovering over a thread will display the stack trace of that thread in tooltips. The threads can directly be named and flagged for easier identification from that window itself. In addition, in the code window, along with indicating the location of the currently executing instruction in the current thread, the currently executing instructions in other threads are also pointed out. The Visual Studio debugger
Microsoft Visual Studio Debugger
The Microsoft Visual Studio Debugger is a debugger that ships along with all versions of Microsoft Visual Studio. This debugger owes much of its feel and functionality to CodeView, a standalone, text-based debugger that shipped with Microsoft Visual C++ version 1.5 and earlier.More advanced...
supports integrated debugging of the .NET 3.5 Framework Base Class Library
Base Class Library
The Base Class Library is a standard library available to all languages using the .NET Framework. .NET includes the BCL in order to encapsulate a large number of common functions, such as file reading and writing, graphic rendering, database interaction, and XML document manipulation, which makes...
(BCL) which can dynamically download the BCL source code and debug symbol
Debug symbol
A debug symbol is information that expresses which programming-language constructs generated a specific piece of machine code in a given executable module. Sometimes the symbolic information is compiled together with the module's binary file, or distributed in separate file, or simply discarded...
s and allow stepping into the BCL source during debugging. a limited subset of the BCL source is available, with more library support planned for later.
Visual Studio 2010
On April 12, 2010, Microsoft released Visual Studio 2010, codenamed Dev10, and .NET Framework 4.Visual Studio 2010 IDE
Integrated development environment
An integrated development environment is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development...
has been redesigned which, according to Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
, clears the UI organization and "reduces clutter and complexity." The new IDE better supports multiple document windows and floating tool windows, while offering better multi-monitor support. The IDE shell has been rewritten using the Windows Presentation Foundation
Windows Presentation Foundation
Developed by Microsoft, the Windows Presentation Foundation is a computer-software graphical subsystem for rendering user interfaces in Windows-based applications. WPF, previously known as "Avalon", was initially released as part of .NET Framework 3.0. Rather than relying on the older GDI...
(WPF), whereas the internals have been redesigned using Managed Extensibility Framework
Managed Extensibility Framework
Managed Extensibility Framework is a component of .NET Framework 4.0 for creating lightweight, extensible applications. It allows application developers to discover and use extensions with no configuration required. It also lets extension developers easily encapsulate code and avoid fragile hard...
(MEF) that offers more extensibility points than previous versions of the IDE that enabled add-ins to modify the behavior of the IDE.
The new multi-paradigm
Multi-paradigm programming language
Programming languages can be grouped by the number and types of paradigms supported.-Paradigm summaries:A concise reference for the programming paradigms listed in this article....
ML-variant F#
F Sharp programming language
F# is a multi-paradigm programming language, targeting the .NET Framework, that encompasses functional programming as well as imperative and object-oriented programming disciplines. It is a variant of ML and is largely compatible with the OCaml implementation...
forms part of Visual Studio 2010; as do M
M (programming language)
M is a programming language developed by Microsoft. The language is designed specifically for building textual domain-specific languages and software models with XAML....
, the textual modeling language, and Quadrant, the visual model designer, which are a part of the Oslo initiative.
Visual Studio 2010 comes with .NET Framework 4 and supports developing applications targeting Windows 7. It supports IBM DB2
IBM DB2
The IBM DB2 Enterprise Server Edition is a relational model database server developed by IBM. It primarily runs on Unix , Linux, IBM i , z/OS and Windows servers. DB2 also powers the different IBM InfoSphere Warehouse editions...
and Oracle
Oracle Database
The Oracle Database is an object-relational database management system produced and marketed by Oracle Corporation....
databases, in addition to Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database server, developed by Microsoft: It is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data as requested by other software applications, be it those on the same computer or those running on another computer across a network...
. It has integrated support for developing Microsoft Silverlight
Microsoft Silverlight
Microsoft Silverlight is an application framework for writing and running rich Internet applications, with features and purposes similar to those of Adobe Flash. The run-time environment for Silverlight is available as a plug-in for web browsers running under Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X...
applications, including an interactive designer. Visual Studio 2010 offers several tools to make parallel programming simpler: in addition to the Parallel Extensions for the .NET Framework and the Parallel Patterns Library for native code, Visual Studio 2010 includes tools for debugging parallel applications. The new tools allow the visualization of parallel Tasks and their runtime stack
Call stack
In computer science, a call stack is a stack data structure that stores information about the active subroutines of a computer program. This kind of stack is also known as an execution stack, control stack, run-time stack, or machine stack, and is often shortened to just "the stack"...
s. Tools for profiling parallel applications can be used for visualization of thread wait-times and thread migrations across processor cores. Intel and Microsoft have jointly pledged support for a new Concurrency Runtime in Visual Studio 2010
and Intel has launched parallelism support in Parallel Studio as an add-on for Visual Studio.
The Visual Studio 2010 code editor now highlights references; whenever a symbol is selected, all other usages of the symbol are highlighted. It also offers a Quick Search feature to incrementally search
Incremental find
In computing, incremental search, incremental find or real-time suggestions is a user interface interaction method to progressively search for and filter through text. As the user types text, one or more possible matches for the text are found and immediately presented to the user...
across all symbols in C++, C# and VB.NET projects. Quick Search supports substring matches and camelCase
CamelCase
CamelCase , also known as medial capitals, is the practice of writing compound words or phrases in which the elements are joined without spaces, with each element's initial letter capitalized within the compound and the first letter either upper or lower case—as in "LaBelle", "BackColor",...
searches. The Call Hierarchy feature allows the developer to see all the methods that are called from a current method as well as the methods that call the current one. IntelliSense
IntelliSense
IntelliSense is Microsoft's implementation of autocompletion, best known for its use in the Microsoft Visual Studio integrated development environment...
in Visual Studio supports a consume-first mode which developers can opt into. In this mode, IntelliSense will not auto-complete identifiers; this allows the developer to use undefined identifiers (like variable or method names) and define those later. Visual Studio 2010 can also help in this by automatically defining them, if it can infer their types from usage. Current versions of Visual Studio have a known bug which makes IntelliSense unusable for projects using pure C (not C++).
Visual Studio 2010 features a new Help System replacing the MSDN Library
MSDN Library
MSDN Library is a library of official technical documentation content intended for developers developing for Microsoft Windows. MSDN stands for the Microsoft Developer Network. The MSDN Library documents the APIs that ship with Microsoft products and also includes sample code, technical articles,...
viewer. The Help System is no longer based on Microsoft Help 2
Microsoft Help 2
Microsoft Help 2.x is a proprietary format for online help files, developed by Microsoft and first released in 2001 as a help system for Visual Studio .NET and MSDN Library....
and does not use Microsoft Document Explorer. Dynamic help containing links to related help topics based on where the developer was in the IDE has been removed in the shipping product, but can be added back using a download from Microsoft.
Visual Studio 2010 no longer supports development for Windows Mobile prior to Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...
.
Visual Studio Ultimate 2010
Visual Studio Ultimate 2010 (formerly Team System or Team Suite), codenamed Rosario. It includes new modeling tools, such as the Architecture Explorer, which graphically displays projects and classes and the relationships between them.It supports UML
Unified Modeling Language
Unified Modeling Language is a standardized general-purpose modeling language in the field of object-oriented software engineering. The standard is managed, and was created, by the Object Management Group...
activity diagram, component diagram, (logical) class diagram, sequence diagram, and use case diagram. Visual Studio Ultimate 2010 also includes Test Impact Analysis which provides hints on which test cases are impacted by modifications to the source code, without actually running the test cases. This speeds up testing by avoiding running unnecessary test cases.
Visual Studio Ultimate 2010 also includes a Historical Debugger for managed code
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
called IntelliTrace. Unlike the current debugger, that records only the currently-active stack, IntelliTrace records all events like prior function calls, method parameters, events, exceptions etc. This allows the code execution to be rewound in case a breakpoint wasn't set where the error occurred. IntelliTrace will cause the application to run slower than the current debugger, and will use more memory as additional data needs to be recorded. Microsoft allows configuration of how much data should be recorded, in effect allowing developers to balance speed of execution and resource usage. The Lab Management component of Visual Studio Ultimate 2010 uses virtualization to create a similar execution environment for testers and developers. The virtual machine
Virtual machine
A virtual machine is a "completely isolated guest operating system installation within a normal host operating system". Modern virtual machines are implemented with either software emulation or hardware virtualization or both together.-VM Definitions:A virtual machine is a software...
s are tagged with checkpoints which can later be investigated for issues, as well as to reproduce the issue. Visual Studio Ultimate 2010 also includes the capability to record test runs that capture the specific state of the operating environment as well as the precise steps used to run the test. These steps can then be played back to reproduce issues.
Upcoming version
Information about the upcoming version of Visual Studio was revealed at TechEd 2011. On 16 September 2011 a complete 'Developer Preview' of Visual Studio 11 was published on Microsoft's website. Visual Studio 11 Developer Preview requires Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 8, or later operating systems. Versions of Microsoft Foundation Class LibraryMicrosoft Foundation Class Library
The Microsoft Foundation Class Library is a library that wraps portions of the Windows API in C++ classes, including functionality that enables them to use a default application framework...
(MFC) and C runtime (CRT) included with this release cannot produce software that is compatible with Windows XP except by using native multi-targeting and foregoing the newest libraries, compilers, and headers.
On the 24 August 2011, a blog post by Sumit Kumar, a Program Manager on the Visual C++ team listed some of the features of the upcoming version of the Visual Studio C++ IDE:
- Semantic Colorization: Improved syntax coloring, various user-defined or default colors for C++ syntax such as macros, enumerations, typenames, functions etc.
- Reference Highlighting: Selection of a symbol highlights all of the references to that symbol within scope.
- New Solution Explorer: New solution explorer allows for visualization of class and file hierarchies within a solution/project. Searching for calls to functions and uses of classes will be supported.
- Automatic Display of IntelliSense list: IntelliSense will automatically be displayed whilst typing code, as opposed to previous versions where it had to be explicitly invoked through use of certain operators (i.e. the scope operator (::)) or shortcut keys (Ctrl-Space or Ctrl-J).
- Member List Filtering: IntelliSense uses fuzzy logicFuzzy logicFuzzy logic is a form of many-valued logic; it deals with reasoning that is approximate rather than fixed and exact. In contrast with traditional logic theory, where binary sets have two-valued logic: true or false, fuzzy logic variables may have a truth value that ranges in degree between 0 and 1...
to determine which functions/variables/types to display in the list. - Code Snippets: Code snippets are included in IntelliSense to automatically generate relevant code based on the user's parameters, custom code snippets can be created.
Visual Studio Application Lifecycle Management
Visual Studio Application Lifecycle Management is a collection of integrated software development tools developed by MicrosoftMicrosoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
. These tools include IDEs, source control, work items, collaboration, metrics, and reporting tools.
Visual Studio Application Lifecycle Management consists of four products:
- Visual Studio, which provides an IDE (Integrated Development Environment) for development and client side interfaces for the other products.
- Visual Studio Test ProfessionalVisual Studio Test ProfessionalVisual Studio Test Professional is an integrated testing toolset developed by Microsoft that delivers a complete plan-test-track workflow for in-context collaboration between testers and developers, in order to increase testers’ visibility to the overall project.-Testing Tools:* Manual...
, which provides an IDE for software testers to create and execute tests. - Team Foundation ServerTeam Foundation ServerTeam Foundation Server is a Microsoft product offering source control, data collection, reporting, and project tracking, and is intended for collaborative software development projects...
, which provides Source Code collaboration and data storage. - Visual Studio Lab ManagementVisual Studio Lab ManagementVisual Studio Lab Management is a software development tool developed by Microsoft for software testers to create and manage virtual environments. Lab Management extends the existing Visual Studio Application Lifecycle Management platform to enable an integrated Hyper-V based test lab.-Virtual...
, which provides a way for software testers to create and manage virtual environments.
Pre-installed virtual machines
Microsoft was (but no longer is) offering virtual machines with Visual Studio Team System 2008 and 2005 pre-installed in the documented Virtual Hard DiskVHD (file format)
A Virtual Hard Disk is a virtual hard disk file format, meaning it can contain what is found on a physical hard disk drive, such as disk partitions and a file system, which in turn can contain files and folders. It is typically used as the hard disk of a virtual machine...
format for trial use.
External links