Visual Studio Express Team WebLog : Customer feedback

Got templates? [paulyuk, lukeh]

VSExpress — Tue, 24 Aug 2004 22:26:00 GMT

We've been compiling feedback about the set of project and item templates that we have in VB and C# Express, and I would like to get your feedback about some changes we're thinking about. Should we include these? Are we missing something critical? Templates that are not included can always be posted online. Please keep in mind that we're still optimizing the product for windows, learning, and hobby development. We're not optimizing this for professional development or advanced scenarios. Wear your Express champ hats!

1) Project template change - add Class Library

We are reconsidering our decision to add Class Library per your request. But I still wish to have only 1 DLL project in Express Editions to keep it as clutter free as possible. In VB, would replace Control Library projects with Class Library projects -- C# already has this template.

This means we would have:

Windows Application (.EXE)
Console Application (.EXE)
Class Library (.DLL)
MyMovieCollection Starter Kit (.EXE) <-- ported from VB
Screen Saver (.EXE) <-- ported from C#
[any future starter kits we add]

Creating a DLL with controls would still be supported, since a Class Library is a general template. You would need to create a class library, and then add a User Control or Class item to the project. You could also obtain the formal Control Library template from the Web and copy it to your templates folder.

2) Item templates change - add MDI parent, About Box, and Splash screen

The VB My team has contributed some nice item templates that provide common Windows UI screens.

We're thinking about adding these:

MDI Parent
About Box
Splash Screen

Additionally we will continue to have:

Windows Form
Class
Module
User Control
DataSet
Database
Text File

Details

MDI Form

Skeleton form for a Multiple Document Interface application. Also includes a common MenuStrip and ToolStrip.

About Box

About Box form for Windows Applications. Also includes dynamic application name and version information. You can apply your own graphics and styles.

Splash Screen

A form preconfigured for use as a splash screen. Also includes dynamic application name and version information. You can apply your own graphics and styles.

Please comment on the content. Should we include it? Are we missing something critical?

Thanks,

Paul Yuknewicz, Luke Hoban, Joe Binder
VB and C# teams

Please tell us what you think!

VSExpress — Thu, 08 Jul 2004 04:25:00 GMT

Manual setup instructions to download/install the individual packages for Express Products will soon be available. <link>

We would like to understand the reason you need to go through the manual steps to install our products. Please reply to this posting to log your feedback. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

Thank you for continuing helping us to make our products better.

Annie Wang, Program Manager, Visual Studio Setup

Introducing Microsoft's latest web development tool...

VSExpress — Wed, 30 Jun 2004 00:21:00 GMT

Hello, I’m Omar Khan, the lead program manager on the Visual Web Developer team. Myself, and the entire Visual Web Developer team are super excited to introduce the latest web development offering from Microsoft -- Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition.

Visual Web Developer provides developer enthusiasts with a compelling feature set to build fun and exciting web applications. From the web development focused IDE, rich designers, to the built-in starter kits, we’ve designed Visual Web Developer to be the most productive environment for quickly building ASP.NET web applications. We hope you share the same feelings after giving it a spin!

As this is a Beta release, we are also very interesting in hearing your feedback and comments to help us build the best product possible. Two really good places to give feedback on the product are listed below.

MSDN product feedback center:

http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/productfeedback/

Visual Web Developer Express Forum:

http://www.asp.net/Forums/ShowForum.aspx?tabindex=1&ForumID=175

I’m very much looking forward to hearing your comments.

Cheers,

Omar Khan

Lead Program Manager

Web Platform and Tools Team