The new Visual Studio 2008 extensions for Windows SharePoint Services (VSeWSS), released as version 1.3, are templates for creating, debugging, packaging and deploying SharePoint projects. This release includes templates for Web Parts, Data Lists, Content Types, Event Receivers and Modules, among others.

VSeWSS is an add-on to Visual Studio that makes it easier to code-up solutions for SharePoint.

It is an interim release, according to the SharePoint team blog in a posting Announcing: Community Technology Preview of Visual Studio 2008 extensions for SharePoint v1.3.

The Community Technology Preview (CTP) release is available on Microsoft Connect where you can also report any feedback.

Among the many new features, the new release provides:

  • Installation on 64-bit machines
  • Command line build, package and retract commands to aid in your development process
  • Support to help you refactor when you rename your Web part
  • New project item template for SharePoint RootFiles items
  • and much more

For more information, see the SharePoint team blog.