What's New in Visual Studio 2008

This topic contains information about some of the new features and enhancements in Visual Studio 2008.

Topic Contents

• Integrated Development Environment (IDE)

  • Settings Migration

  • Community Components

  • Community and Help Menus

  • Window Management

  • Class Designer

• Projects and Solutions

  • Web Application Projects

  • AJAX Development

  • Project Designer

  • Deployment

• Editing

  • New Design View and CSS Design Tools

  • IntelliSense for Jscript and ASP.NET AJAX

  • Object Browser and Find Symbol Support for Multi-targeting

  • WPF Designer

• Data

• Language-Integrated Query (LINQ)

• Client Application Services

• Reporting

  • New Report Projects

  • Report Wizard

  • Expression Editor Enhancement

  • ReportViewer Printing

  • PDF Compression

• MSBuild

  • Target a Specific .NET Framework

  • Multiple Processor Capabilities

  • Enhanced Logging

  • Item Definitions

  • Assembly Location and Name Changes

• More About What's New in Languages and Technologies

Settings Migration

If you have Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008 installed on the same computer, then when you first start Visual Studio 2008, you can migrate most of your settings from Visual Studio 2005. Third-party code snippets and add-ins cannot be automatically migrated and must be manually installed again for use in Visual Studio 2008. If you do not have Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008 installed on the same computer, you can still manually migrate your Visual Studio 2005 settings for use in Visual Studio 2008. For more information, see How to: Share Settings Between Computers or Visual Studio Versions and Visual Studio Settings.

Community Components

When you author community components by using Visual Studio 2008, you can specify whether you intend the component to be installed for use with Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008 or just with Visual Studio 2008 by using a new value for the ContentVersion element. If you install a community component designed in Visual Studio 2005, the component will automatically be installed for use with both Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008.

Note:
A community component created by using Visual Studio 2005 might not work in Visual Studio 2008 and vice versa, depending on the design.

For more information, see How to: Package Community Components to Use the Visual Studio Content Installer and Community Component Essentials.

Community and Help Menus

The Community menu has been removed for Visual Studio 2008. The commands formerly known as Ask a Question and Check Question Status have been combined into a new command named MSDN Forums, which is on the Help menu. The Send Feedback command is now the Report a Bug command, also on the Help menu. All other commands that were on the Community menu were removed from Visual Studio 2008.

Window Management and General User Elements

Several user interface (UI) elements have been updated. These include the following:

• IDE Navigator: An improved interface makes switching between items easier.

• Tool window docking targets have been improved to make tool windows easier to dock.

• Common dialog boxes: Visual Studio 2008 uses Windows standard dialog boxes instead of custom dialog boxes. This makes the navigation experience more consistent with that of Windows.

• You can now specify a custom font for IDE elements not identified individually in the Show settings for list in the Fonts and Colors, Environment, Options Dialog Box by using the new option Environment Font.

Class Designer Support for Visual C++ Code

In earlier versions of Visual Studio, the Class Designer supported only the managed languages (Visual C# and Visual Basic). In Visual Studio 2008, Class Designer adds limited support for native C++ code that can be used only for visualization and documentation. For more information about Visual C++ support in Class Designer, see Working with Visual C++ Code in Class Designer.

Web Application Projects

The new Web application project model provides the same Web project semantics as the Visual Studio .NET 2003 Web project model. This includes a structure based on project files and a build model based on compiling all the code for a project into a single assembly. In addition, the new project type supports many of the new features of Visual Studio 2005 (such as class diagrams, test development, and generics) and of ASP.NET version 2.0 (such as master pages, data controls, membership and logon, role management, Web parts, personalization, site navigation, and themes).

The Web application project model in Visual Studio 2005 removes two elements that are required for Web projects in Visual Studio .NET 2003:

• Using FrontPage Server Extensions. These are no longer required, but they are supported if your site already uses them.

• Using a local copy of Internet Information Services (IIS). The new project model supports both IIS and the built-in ASP.NET Development Server.

Use Web application projects when you have to do one of the following:

• Migrate large applications from Visual Studio .NET 2003 to Visual Studio 2005.

• Control the names of output assemblies.

• Use stand-alone classes to reference page and user-control classes.

• Build a Web application that includes multiple Web projects.

• Add pre-build and post-build steps during compilation.

For more information about Web application projects, see Web Application Projects Overview.

AJAX Development

You can now create Web applications that feature next-generation user interfaces and reusable client components that use the new features of Visual Studio 2005. You can develop Web pages by using a server-based approach, a client-based approach, or a combination of both, according to your requirements. The AJAX server-based and client-based programming models are supported by the following:

• Server controls that support server-based AJAX development. This includes the ScriptManager, UpdatePanel, UpdateProgress, and Timer controls. These controls enable you to create rich client behavior, such as partial-page rendering and displaying update progress during asynchronous postbacks, with little or no client script.

• The Microsoft AJAX Library, which supports client-based, object-oriented development that is browser independent. In addition to supporting the new AJAX-enabled server controls, the client library enables you to develop custom client components that extend DOM elements or that represent a DOM element.

• Server classes that enable you to develop server controls that map to custom client components whose events and properties are set declaratively. Server types that support this functionality include controls that derive from the ExtenderControl or ScriptControl base classes, or that implement the IExtenderControl or IScriptControl interfaces.

• Support for script globalization and localization. Globalization enables you to display dates and numbers based on a culture value (locale). Localization enables you to specify localized content (text, images, and so on) for client components for UI elements or exception messages.

• Access to Web services and to ASP.NET authentication, roles management, and profile application services.

Visual Studio 2008 enables you to easily enable asynchronous partial-page updates in a page, which avoids the overhead of full-page postbacks. You can just put existing controls and markup inside UpdatePanel controls. Postbacks from inside an UpdatePanel control become asynchronous postbacks and refresh only the part of the page inside the panel, which creates a more fluid user experience. You can display the progress of the partial-page update by using UpdateProgress controls.

Project Designer

Project Designer Support for Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) Applications

Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) applications have been added to Visual Studio 2008. There are four WPF project types:

• WPF Application (.xaml, .exe)

• WPF Browser Application (.exe, .xbap)

• WPF Custom Control Library (.dll)

• WPF User Control Library (.dll)

When a WPF project is loaded in the IDE, the user interface of the Project Designer pages lets you specify properties specific to WPF applications.

Project Designer Support for Web Application Projects

Web Application projects were added to Visual Studio in Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 and are also included in Visual Studio 2008. The new Web Application project model provides the same Web Application project semantics as the Visual Studio .NET 2003 Web project model, except updated with features of Visual Studio 2005 and ASP.NET version 2.0. The Visual Studio Project Designer supports Web application projects, with the following limitations:

• On the Settings page, Web application projects can only be application-scoped. For more information, see Settings Page, Project Designer.

• On the Signing page, the manifest signing option is disabled because Web application projects do not use ClickOnce deployment. For more information, see Signing Page, Project Designer.

Project Designer Multitargeting Support

Multitargeting lets you target code to a specific .NET Framework version:

• .NET Framework 2.0, which was included with Visual Studio 2005.

• .NET Framework 3.0, which is included with Windows Vista.

• .NET Framework 3.5, which is included with Visual Studio 2008.

To support multitargeting, the Advanced Compiler Settings (Visual Basic) and Advanced Build Settings (C#) dialog boxes have a new Target framework drop-down list that lets you specify these operating systems. For more information, see Advanced Compiler Settings Dialog Box (Visual Basic) and Advanced Build Settings Dialog Box (C#).

Deployment

ClickOnce Deployment

ClickOnce deployment has been enhanced with the following new features:

• ClickOnce supports the deployment of WPF Web Browser Applications. WPF Web Browser Applications are hosted in a Web browser and therefore require special deployment and security settings. When you build and deploy these applications, Visual Studio will provide appropriate user interface and default values.

• ClickOnce gives ISVs the option to re-sign the application manifest with their customer's company name, application name, and deployment/support URL. When end users install the application, the ISV's original company branding still appears on the "Do you want to trust this application?" dialog box.

• You can build and deploy Visual Studio Tools for Office applications by using the Project Designer's Publish page or the Publish Wizard.

• ClickOnce supports manifest generation under User Account Control (UAC) on Windows Vista.

• ClickOnce supports the deployment of Office add-ins and documentation when you use Visual Studio Tools For Office. For more information, see the Visual Studio Tools for Office Developer Center Web site.

• ClickOnce has better support for third-party browsers. Earlier versions supported installation in third-party browsers by using plug-ins, which sometimes caused problems. In this version, a user can install a ClickOnce file directly by using the Run command.

• You can associate file name extensions with a ClickOnce application, so that the application can be started directly from the associated file type. For more information, see How to: Create File Associations For a ClickOnce Application.

• ClickOnce has better support for changing the deployment location of an application and handling certificate expiration. For more information about the ClickOnce security model, see Configuring ClickOnce Trusted Publishers on the .NET Framework Developer Center Web site.

• For security, ClickOnce applications are always installed and run on a per-user basis. An application that requests Administrator privileges from Windows Vista UAC fails gracefully during installation.

Windows Installer Deployment

Windows Installer deployment has been updated for Windows Vista and the latest .NET Framework versions:

• Windows Installer has been updated so that installation on Windows Vista is smooth, even when it is running under UAC.

• The .NET Framework Launch Condition supports targeting applications for the new .NET Framework 3.0 and 3.5 versions.

  Note:
  When you open an existing Visual Studio project in Visual Studio 2008, the Version property of .NET Framework Launch Conditions in the existing project is changed to the current version. You must change the Version property back to the appropriate value.

For more information, see What's New in Deployment.