Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 (SP1) is coming to a Microsoft download
center near you! You can expect this service pack to debut next month.
However, to the best of my knowledge, Microsoft hasn't announced the complete
contents of SP1. In fact, there hasn't been much discussion of Visual Studio
2005 SP1 at all. So, I thought I would mention a couple of the items that SP1
will include.
The first item that I want to tell you about is the feature that actually
triggered my search for more information about SP1. Back in May, Microsoft's
ASP.NET team released a Visual Studio 2005 update that added a "new" ASP.NET
project type: Web Application Projects. However, this project type isn't
actually new in the sense that it's based on the Web Application model in the
Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1, which Visual Studio .NET 2003 uses. The Web
Application Project is a major departure from the Web Site Project type that
ships with Visual Studio 2005. In a Web Application Project, a Web
application is compiled as a single large executable. In a Web Site Project,
a Web application consists of individual components are kept as separate
components. This setup has a major advantage: You can easily update one
component without needing to recompile and reship your entire Web
application.
In some ways, the Web Application Project will make migrating from .NET
1.1 to .NET 2.0 easier. Plus, the underlying implementation of the Web
Application Project is essentially the same as that in Visual Studio .NET
2003, so this implementation will feel familiar to developers. However,
despite these benefits, I'm not certain that a throwback to Visual Studio
.NET 2003's Web application behavior (i.e., having the entire code base
compiled into one binary file) is really a step forward. Breaking items into
separate components that you can independently update is a major maintenance
advantage.
If you prefer having a Web application compiled into a single executable,
you'll be glad to know that Visual Studio 2005 SP1 will automatically
integrate the Web Application Project into your development environment. If
you don't want to wait for SP1, you can download the update now at
http://msdn.microsoft.com/asp.net/reference/infrastructure/wap/default.aspx.
All the Visual Studio 2005 editions, except Visual Web Developer 2005 Express
Edition, support the Web Application Project. For more information about the
Web Application Project, check out Scott Guthrie's Web page at
http://webproject.scottgu.com/Default.aspx.
Scott runs the ASP.NET team in addition to several other .NET tools teams.
The second SP1 item that I want to tell you about is Microsoft SQL Server
2005 Everywhere Edition (SQL Server Everywhere). In the article "An
Introduction to SQL Server 2005 Everywhere Edition Community Technology
Preview" (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=920700), Microsoft describes
this item. This article is also where Microsoft announced in a roundabout way
that Visual Studio 2005 SP1 will ship in September.
SQL Server Everywhere is the rebranding of the intuitively named Microsoft
SQL Server 2005 Mobile Edition (SQL Server Mobile). However, as the article
notes, it's not just a rebranding; SQL Server Everywhere includes some new
features. For starters, Microsoft removed the dependency on SQL Server 2005
or SQL Server 2005 Express Edition for desktop installations. More important,
you'll be able to create a ClickOnce deployment package that includes a SQL
Server Everywhere database. (For information about ClickOnce, see my column
"Software Sector Is Seeing Another Paradigm Shift,"
http://www.sqlmag.com/articles/index.cfm?articleid=93041&.)
The Microsoft article clearly notes that SQL Server Everywhere will be
included in not only Visual Studio 2005 SP1 but also SQL Server 2005 SP2.
Didn't know about SQL Server 2005 SP2? Join the club.
End of Article
