Xperimentality

I see more and more development shops using Subversion.  If you are not familiar with Subversion, it is an open-source version control system.

I have recently started looking at Visual SVN.  Visual SVN is a plug-in for Visual Studio that allows Visual Studio integration when using Subversion.  While the Windows Explorer integration offered by default using TortoiseSVN is extremely easy to use, I wanted to try out direct integration within Studio.

Installation was very easy, everything at the defaults and no configuration.  I opened an existing web site project and got all the visual indicators provided by VisualSVN.  The particular site I opened was already added to Subversion.  Using VisualSVN was just as simple as in the Explorer interface.

Then I opened another web site. This web site was also already added to Subversion but I did not get any indication in the UI that the project was under Subversion control.

I did some searching and found that the difference in the two projects was that the second project, the one that did not show any Subversion status, had its solution file located in a different directory.  By default, Visual Studio will store the solution file in your Documents/[username]/Visual Studio 2008/projects directory.  By simply moving the solution file to the same directory as my web site project, Visual Studio picked up the Subversion status on all the files and worked perfectly.

You are given a hint to this requirement when trying to add a project/solution to Subversion through VisualSVN.  When you right-click on a solution and choose "Add Solution to Subversion...", if your solution file is not in the same directory, you are presented with a dialog indicating that the solution file and the solution contents must be in the same directory.  But nobody ever reads those dialogs....right?

Visual Studio 2008 and .NET 3.5 SP1 was released yesterday.  This is a significant update.  It is much more than a typical service pack.  It includes not only rolled-up fixes, but enhancements in many areas and technologies:

For the web, there is enhanced designer support and better formatting options for JavaScript.
For WPF, there are improvements to the design interface as well as how you interact with the code.
For SQL, there is support for SQL 2008 which was just recently RTM'd.
There are WCF improvements such as the new Hosting Wizard for WCF projects.
And there are VB and C# interaction improvements.

As opposed to re-listing features that have already been listed elsewhere, Scott Guthrie had a great blog entry about VS2008 SP1 as well as .NET 3.5 SP1.  Keep in mind that this was the written about the BETA release so some things may have changed before final release, but it gives a great overview of what was in the BETA.

Tonight the Birmingham .NET User Group hosted a Visual Studio 2008 InstallFest and Game Night.  It was very successful and everyone had a great time.

Doug Turnure brought over 3 XBox 360s and we projected them on the wall in a 3 different rooms.  At one point we had Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and Halo 3 going.  All I can say is I am glad we are developers and not band members!

We had some terrific giveaways for attendees including a Microsoft wireless mouse and keyboard, a fingerprint reader, and lots more.

Woo-Hoo!  I have been checking every day waiting for the Silverlight Tools to show up for the VS2008 RTM.  They are available today!  Be sure to visit the Silverlight site or you can access the download directly from here.

I have been really busy lately and have been doing it all in Visual Studio 2008! Since I installed the Visual Studio 2008 RTM, I have not looked back.  Installing the Silverlight Tools will just take me one step closer to bliss (well maybe that is a bit strong and maybe a bit markety)!

Well if you have an MSDN subscription (and a good deal of bandwidth), VS 2008 was released to web early this morning.  I am sure servers are going to get a heavy load today!  Go forth and install.

Well, it is official.  Yesterday at TechEd in Barcelona the announcement was made public that Microsoft will be releasing Visual Studio 2008 and the 3.5 version of the .NET Framework by the end of November.  This is welcome news for many of us that have been waiting on the next release to fix a few issues, which were of the annoying variety.

So for everyone that has been using Visual Studio 2008 and .NET 3.5 from the Beta 2 drop and other tools like Expression Blend, the world is soon to be a better place.

For those of you who have not ventured into VS 2008 yet, let me tell you....go toward the light!  I am typically a very cautious person when it comes to jumping into the newest thing.  But with 2008 (previously Orcas), I went against my nature and jumped in.  I have not looked back yet.  Being a more visual developer, the new tools in the IDE alone are worth their weight in gold!  I won't go into detail here because there are so many others that have done a great job discussing the new features of VS2008 and .NET 3.5.  What I will do is tell you, from a typically cautious person, you will love VS 2008.  Do yourself a favor and try it out!