I'm coming from the open source world, and interested in giving ASP.NET a spin. But I'm having a little trouble separating the tools from the platform itself in regards to the licensing. I've downloaded Visual Web Developer 2008 Express, but not sure how different this is from one of the full-featured Visual Studio licenses -- and whether or not my Express license will prevent me from using all the features of ASP.NET.
Is a Visual Studio license just an IDE, or does it include pieces of .NET not available to the Express license? What about the other tools like IIS and SQL Server?
Thanks.
All of .net is available in the .net SDK, so in theory you will not need Visual Studio at all.
Now, there are some things that Express will not do. For example, the Database Designer is not very comprehensive and adding different remote databases is not or only very hardly possible. Still, in code you can connect to everything.
There is also no Remote Debugger, no support for creating Setup Files (well, that does not apply to ASP.net anyway), no real Publish Web Site Feature (although that can be added manually as it's just a Frontend for a SDK tool), no integrated Unit testing (and Microsoft loves to threaten people who add it), etc.
For a full comparison, see here:
Visual Studio 2008 Editions
But as said: Functionality of .net is all in the SDK, Visual Studio is just making it a bit easier to work with.
Visual Studio is just an IDE, you can do all your .NET development with the SDK and notepad if you choose. In fact there is something to be said for learning it that way so you understand better how the pieces fit together!
Microsoft have a version comparison matrix available so you can see exactly what is included each version.
IIS is a Windows component and considered part of the OS, there is nothing else to buy.
SQL Server comes in many flavours, SQL EXpress is free to use and whilst limited compared to the versions you pay for, it is more than enough to get started with ASP.Net
Visual Studio is the IDE and does not include the platform.
IIS and SQL Server are separate products. IIS is available as part of the windows install and the version is different depending on what version of Windows you are using.
SQL Server also has an express product which is not as full featured as the Full versions of SQL Server, yet it is still rather valuable and useful especially for learning purposes.
You can learn a lot from the free tutorials found on asp.net.
Visual Studio is just the IDE. You could theoretically create every file in Notepad and compile manually with just the .net framework.
IIS is an operating system feature, and SQL Server has different flavors with different capabilites.
SharpDevelop is a Open Source IDE for C# and VB.net
Related
Which version of Visual Studio can be used to open a project which is built as ASP Web project
I have Community edition 2019 Does this support ASP projects?
I know these days no one is using ASP for building web apps The purpose is to maintain an existing ASP solution for a couple of more months 9If any bug fix requests from the client comes ) and start to build a new project using the latest version of Microsoft technologies
Visual Studio
Most versions of Visual Studio support editing Classic ASP code, couple of things to keep in mind though.
Frontpage Server Extensions is no longer supported, the best approach is to use a mapped drive or better yet store the code in source control (Git, SVN etc.) and work with the code locally (can bind to a local instance of IIS).
The IDE can be quite cumbersome for working with Classic ASP as it's designed for more modern technologies.
It also has sophisticated debugging through the IDE via the "Attach to process" which will work with Classic ASP running in IIS as long as the web application has been configured correctly for debugging. See How do you debug classic ASP?.
Visual Studio Code
Another option is Visual Studio Code which is a free IDE built on the principle of open source projects for cross-platform. It's becoming a popular free IDE for many developers rivalling the likes of Atom, Sublime etc.
It's lightweight and extensible through extensions, there are already some useful extensions for Classic ASP including this one;
Name: Classic ASP Syntaxes and Snippets
Description: Classic ASP Language Support and Snippets from tmBundle
Publisher: Jintae Joo
It also has built-in support for popular source control solutions like Git and more powerful available through the extension marketplace that is built into the IDE. If you do use Git would recommend installing the GitLens extension.
Every version of visual studio since I started with 2010 (was there something before it?) handles Classic ASP just fine. I'm on VS2019 right now.
I even have a project which is a combo Classic ASP, Webform, and MVC all in one project, with some session sharing, and I routinely code and debug in all. The only limitation is that when you debug, you have to choose whether you're debugging Managed code or "script".
With each I "attach to process" and choose which code I want to debug. Classic ASP debugging is fantastic, and I can't believe more people don't do it. I see basic questions on here which would easily be fixed with standard debugging techniques (settings breakpoints, evaluating variables).
The ONLY thing which isn't supported is code formatting inside <% %> blocks. If I ever get some time maybe I'll make an addon for it.
we have more than 30 classic asp and .net applications to be migrated to windows 2012 server from 2003 server.This is new task for me, so what are the steps/factors i need to consider or fulfill for this migration? with that I mean like there are COM objects, dependent dll's all stuff so what things I should ensure are in place for smooth migration.
Microsoft provides ACT tool for Application Compatibility test how much will that support? or are there any other better proven tools for the same purpose?
any insight/help would be appreciative.
Thanks.
First thing to assess is "what works and what doesn't work". There's a high chance that many of these apps will just work. That's the first thing to go do. Start by coming up with some test criteria by which the program is expected to work. Then deploy to the new OS.
One problematic area might be that these executable program require an older version of .NET or the MSVCRT DLLs that might not be on the box by default. The MSVCRT redist is easily available from Micrsoft's web site. You can install older versions of .NET from Control Panel->Programs and Features->"Turn Windows features on or off". Look for the ".NET" checkboxes near the top.
For classic ASP applications, same thing in the "Turn Windows features on or off". Look at "World Wide Web Services" node and make sure ASP (and most all of those other features) is selected.
Microsoft provides ACT tool for Application Compatibility test how much will that support? or are there any other better proven tools for the same purpose?
In my experience with automation tools, especially when working with older sets of technology (like classic asp)they rarely work near as well as advertised.
I am wondering if it is better to develop .Net 2010 web application on XP as compare to Vista? I have developed many .Net applications on XP without any problem and personaly like XP over vista. Now i have started a new job and we are all mainly using Vista Ultimate 32 bit.
Are there any known issues with vista for VS2010 development?
Application will be published on Window Server 2003 or 2008 so my main concern is developing and running application localy.
Also, is Visual Source Safe 6.0 Compatiable with Vista?
You'll have some difficulty since XP is only 32 bit (unless you've got the 64-bit edition which is a little flakey re: drivers).
Also, certain features like XNA Game Studio, Windows Phone 7 development, DirectX 11, etc... just aren't supported on an XP development environment.
You may also hit issues with regards to integrating with the Azure cloud platform as it has some dependencies that don't work fully on XP.
That said, if you're only going for a simple Winforms/Console app/ASP.Net site, you probably won't ever notice the difference
Oh and .Net 4.5 isn't supported on XP
As an aside, please DO NOT USE visual source safe - it's truly awful. It doesn't guarantee consistency, has no concept of branching and merging, doesn't allow multiple users to work on the same files and is generally unreliable (not to mention the fact that it relies on every client playing nicely and a single malicious user can drop the entire data store since it's really just a windows share with some files, not an actual server). See this article: Visual SourceSafe Version Control: Unsafe at any Speed? for more details.
You should use TFS or an open source alternative (I've also played with SVN and used AnkhSVN to integrate into VS - Not perfect but pretty good). If you want to use TFS but don't have the servers/experience to set up a server yourself, There's a (currently free) beta being run by microsoft at tfspreview.com which integrates right into VS 2010 SP1 and later and provides all the same functionality as well as a whole slew of other features like bug/workitem tracking, analytics, etc...
Doesn't Visual Studio generate all kinds of things when you build asp.net websites? I haven't used it in a while but back in webforms with a the dal and a bll, VS generated xml files and other things (don't remember what). And, while I technically could use notepad to fix it, VS seemed to be the only way to make sure things worked right.
How about today with MVC or something else asp.net? Am I tied to Visual Studio forever if I want to build websites? I liked in PHP that I can open up a file and it be simple to change things and it just works.
I am not knocking Visual Studio. It is a great product, but for those in my group that do not use it, it is a learning curve. Not asking for why asp.net is better than php or vice versa, just about visual studio.
EDIT: Is Visual Studio the BEST way to build asp.net projects?
You can use MonoDevelop, Webmatrix, Visual Studio Express but i suggest SharpDevelop, its open source.
sharpDevelop (short for SharpDevelop) is a free IDE for C#, VB.NET and Boo projects on Microsoft's .NET platform. It is open-source, and you can download both sourcecode and executables from this site. In addition, you can find the latest information and changes on #develop, as well as get in touch with the team in the forum.
More Information
SharpDevelop Website
MonoDevelop
Webmatrix
Visual Studio Express
No, you can build with MSBuild from command line, just simple msbuild.exe app.sln
You can also use MonoDevelop, which will run on Windows/Mac/Linux.
You could use Microsoft WebMatrix, which is free and aims to simplify the web development process. Another alternative is MonoDevelop, which is an open source IDE for multiple platforms.
I want to load test an ASP.NET web service. I have Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition and Visual Studio 2010.
Can either one of these products facilitate load testing? I can't seem to find anything and all Google returns is higher end editions of Visual Studio.
If not, what are some of the alternatives.
Or better yet, is there a product where I can feed it an IIS log and it will essentially replay it?
There is a free Microsoft load testing tool called WCAT. It is a command-line HTTP load generator that replays a test case script. To avoid creating the script manually, you can record your test case in Fiddler and then generate scrip using WCAT Fiddler Extension. This blog has a step-by-step instruction, which I tested, and it works.
On your question about replaying IIS log: check this source. It outlines how to generate WCAT script by querying IIS log using Log Parser. I did not test it though.
Is there a cheaper way to do load testing than upgrading to Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate
and also there was a tool called "MICROSOFT WEB APPLICATION STRESS TOOL" but i couldnt find its download apperantely MS removed it from its official page. check this forum for download link http://forums.iis.net/t/1161284.aspx for usage http://www.west-wind.com/presentations/webstress/webstress.htm
The Microsoft Visual Studio Team System 2008 Test Edition would also give you access to these tools. Unfortunately neither of the tools you mention include any load testing capability.
You may be able to get your licence for 2008 Professional edition changed to Test, but I doubt it now.
Here are a couple of other questions with answers that may help choose a tool.
stress-and-performance-test-on-asp-net-app
best-tool-for-performance-testing-asp-net
how-to-set-up-a-load-stress-test-for-a-web-site