VS 2005 express and SQL 2005 Express

God, it's fever day :-) So many posts to announce the Messiah, no sorry Visual Studio Express 2005 !

OK I admit I couldn't resist, I downloaded it and installed the package.

First thoughts:

- I know it's Beta, but I am quite sure the Installer can be improved. The first setup is just there to download the full package(roughly 300Mb with SQL Express).
I think Microsoft should advertise clearly on the download page that it's not really made to be downloaded with a 14.4 K modem (No joke there, I know people still using a modem)

- The installer sucks. Everything works well, but the progress bar don't match the real job. I can see the end of the progress bar, but the installation finished 20 minutes after.

- I don't see any snap-in for SQL Express. Does it means it's only accessible through Visual Studio ? I know it's a 'cheaper' version, but it would be great to have something separate from Visual Studio to manage the databases.
What's about Database administrators ?

- OK it's Beta but Visual Studio 2005 is slow to launch (about 40 seconds in the best case). I don't think it's my PC, because I installed it on three different ones.

- On a positive note, my first love goes for the new Intellisense. Having this working for every tag or every piece of code is something truly amazing. I can see now all the members and advanced ones, and it's great to learn from there. Check the Form tag for example, you have some good new attributes there.

- I didn't completely absorbed the .Net 2.0 new features, but I quite remembered that code behind was dead and replaced by code beside. In VS 2005 Express, I can still see the same code behind structure as in VS 2003.

- I would like to see on MSDN site a comparison chart with all the new 2005 versions and SQL Express regarding SQL 2005. I would like to see what I miss if I choose to stick on Visual Studio Express.

Anyway I don't really have the time to go further, so this was just a shallow approach, and anyway it's really a great result for Beta 1.

My only wish is that all Microsoft and non Microsoft bloggers don't forget the current .Net version. Still a lot to do with the good ol' tools :-)

 

3 Comments

  • Glad you like it. :-)



    Code behind is definitely *not* dead. It has gotten even better with VS 2005. Try adding some event handlers and controls to the page and then look at the code-behind file -- much, much cleaner.



    Note that when adding a new page you can now pick it to either be code-behind or single-file. This is chosen via a checkbox on the Add New Item dialog (code separation).



    There will be a separate admin tool for SQL Express with the next beta. For Beta1 all admin can be done via VS 2005.



    Hope this helps,



    Scott

  • The Express family is really promising, expecially if it will be free or at least will a sensible low cost (very low, otherwise it could be a non-sense thing to buy it).

    I agree with your last sentence "My only wish is that all Microsoft and non Microsoft bloggers don't forget the current .Net version"... I hope the same!!

  • 40 seconds is too long. Is this for starting up just the IDE, or are you loading a project as well? Additionally, what tool windows are you loading?

Comments have been disabled for this content.