We are happy to announce that CTP7 is already here, no need to wait till next Monday, here it is!

http://download.microsoft.com/download/3/1/9/319c5020-0fed-4dc1-b043-69567fda3941/TeamDataCTP7.exe

CTP6 was only released 2 weeks ago, so what changed?

  • We added how many errors/warnings you want to see and make it configurable.
  • We added the ability to suppress warnings same like in a C# project. This way you can selectively filter out warnings caused by 3 or 4-part name references.
  • We made the warnings and error numbers explicit so no more overloaded meaning errors and warnings, I will post a list of these in a while combined with examples on when the will occur.
  • We allow you to override the project SET properties for ANSI NULLS and QUOTED IDENTIFIERS on a per object level.
  • We added support to resolve objects that reside in master and those that live in a global namespace, so if you reference a document system tables, INFORMATION_SCHEMA views or system stored procedure these will no longer cause a dependency ambiguity warning.
  • We added XSD files for the Extensions.xml, Config.xml and MSBuild tasks.
  • We changed Unit Testing to allow negative testing by raising the SqlClient exception; this enables the you to test SQL messages with severity 10 or less (which was not possible till now) and write tests that validate your error / exception handling.
  • We enabled more Visual Studio DTE interfaces based on customer requests.
  • Besides that we improved performance further and reduced the overall memory requirements/consumption.
  • And last not but least we fixed ~200 bugs that were reported by users on the forums.

We did changed the requirements for installing CTP7 to match RTM. CTP7 will now require a retail version of Visual Studio Team Suite ( VSTS ) or the trial version of VSTS ( found here ). Why is this? That is how our evaluation process will work once released. If a customer is looking to evaluate VSTS or any role based product in the suite, they are required to download the VSTS trial bits. We are very close to releasing the product, so we are essentially providing you access to CTP7 in evaluation mode. Be warned: the VSTS trial bits are a hefty download!

What is next? We are finishing up, we will release this year, unless I get hit by a bus! Next week I will be at SQL Connection in Las Vegas, the week after at SQL PASS in Seattle, Thanksgiving and release the product!

Thanks,
-GertD
"DataDude" Development Manager