Contents tagged with Visual Studio
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Do .NET 2.0 SP1 Binaries Fail Without SP1?
Do .net 2.0 service pack 1 compiled binaries fail when ran on machines without that service pack? Developers automatically get force-fed .net 2.0 sp1 when we install VS 2008, which doesn't sound like it should be a big concern typically. But what about the next time you compile an existing VS 2005 app and deploy on machines without sp1, which would of course be the case for most non-dev machines right now? I believe I have found a case where this is indeed happening, at least that's the only explanation I can find so far, and it looks like there are a few others reporting things too -- but the details so far are sketchy at best.
I've got an existing .net 2.0 app (written in C#) that calls a 3rd party web service that has always ran just fine. I needed to make a couple of small updates to my app which did not change anything related to the calling of this web service at all. Everything works flawlessly on my development pc, which has service pack 1 for .net 2.0, but fails when deployed on my qa server, which does not have service pack 1. Here are the exception details: -
VS 2005 Service Pack 1 Available -- Go Get It Now
If you haven't heard it already, VS 2005 Service Pack 1 is out and can be downloaded here. It contains over 2200 bug fixes according to Scott Guthrie, as well as making Web Application Projects standard once again. Also according to Scott, the install time can vary significantly depending on what you have installed, and is especially very long if you have C++ installed. My own experience was that it took about an hour to install on my system, although that actually involved what I can only describe as two 1/2 hour installs. Yes, maybe it was a fluke due to something on my system, but it installed once and said it was done, and then kept going with another install, including the exact same couple of dialogs, before finally asking to reboot. Maybe your experience will be different, but in the end I suppose what matters the most is that our VS 2005 experience will now be improved every day.
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ASPInsider Public Overview via Scott Guthrie
The ASPInsiders Summit began today with Scott Guthrie's overview of what's happening. Steve Smith already has a good summary of his presentation, so I won't try to repeat it. Instead, let me just say that working with .NET just keeps getting more and more exciting. Its truly amazing to see how agile some of the teams at Microsoft have become recently. We've already seen Web Application and Deployment Projects and CSS Control Adapters, and now we see Expression Web Designer, PowerShell, and VS 2005 for Data Professionals. But expect to see more very soon, like ASP.NET Ajax, Data Publishing, and VS 2005 SP1, and later on the things still in CTP, like Orcas, IronPython, WPF/E, and IIS 7.0 Server.
I've already installed some things, including the final release version of .NET v3.0, but I really need to go install Expression Web, PowerShell, and VS 2005 Data Pro too. Expression Web will give you today the CSS friendly design surface that Orcas will have, and VS 2005 Data Pro will give you Schema Compare, Data Compare, Data Generator, and more. Speaking of data, the Data Publishing Tool that is coming very soon will not only generate the sql to build your database schema, but it will also finally build sql to populate it. And note that VS 2005 SP1 will not only include bug fixes (and there are more than 2200), but it will also automatically finally include Web Application Projects (no addin needed).
Of course no matter how much we get today, we also are still very much wanting Orcas. I have no clue what the target release date is, but I'm guessing very late 2007 or early 2008. But it will be cool when it does come, and it will support all of v2.0, v3.0, and vNext. That means it will finally add Linq, and make AJAX built-in as opposed to being an addin, but it will also include the Expression Web Designer and JavaScript Intellisense/Debugging. I'm assuming it will also include full support for WPF/E, which is looking really cool. But don't wait until then to start getting the various pieces that are out now or soon. And that was really what I got out of Scott's talk the most -- a lot of this is available today or is coming soon. -
Vista will NOT support Developers
So first most of the meat was taken out of Vista, and the best of what remains (the poorly named .NET v3.0) runs on XP. Now we find out that we can't use Vista for development, since VS 2003 (or 2002) won't be supported. For that matter, even VS 2005 will require SP1 which is just now in beta, and even that we are told will have issues after its official release. So (1) who actually wants, let alone needs, Vista, and (2) why does MS just keep screwing up and pushing out this stuff before its ready? Don't get me wrong, as I like VS 2005 very much, but its no secret that MS made some bad decisions that still impacts a lot of people. But even for those of us that do like VS 2005, most of us still have to continue to support VS 2003 also for some time. And its not like this is the only thing that seems to not be ready with Vista, but this will pretty much guarantee developers won't move to Vista in large quantities. So either MS should delay Vista until its really ready and useful for more than generating income, or we developers need to tell everyone to ignore Vista since its clearly not ready.