Free Visual Studio Web Developer Express

Right now at this link you can download a free copy of these programs in the 2005 Express version.

Visual Web Developer (http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/vwd/default.aspx)
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/mnp/2/gif/arrowLTR.gifVisual Basic (http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/vb/default.aspx)
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/mnp/2/gif/arrowLTR.gifVisual C# (http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/visualcsharp/default.aspx)
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/mnp/2/gif/arrowLTR.gifVisual C++ (http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/visualc/default.aspx)
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/mnp/2/gif/arrowLTR.gifVisual J# (http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/visualJ/default.aspx)
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/mnp/2/gif/arrowLTR.gifSQL Server Express (http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/sql/default.aspx)


http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/

13.Can I develop applications using the Visual Studio Express Editions to target the .NET Framework 1.1?No, each release of Visual Studio is tied to a specific version of the .NET Framework. The Express Editions can only be used to create applications that run on the .NET Framework 2.0.



I think I will try this software out.

Another limitation of the Express edition is that you can only interface with databases on your local PC. Still, I think it's a great means of trying out the latest and greatest.

Another limitation of the Express edition is that you can only interface with databases on your local PC. Still, I think it's a great means of trying out the latest and greatest.

I'm confused by your statement. Now I have only really looked the Visual Web Developer 2005 Express, so far. But everthing I have read tells me when I create a website using that package with the SQL Server Express and want to load it to my web hosting company systems that it will work.

Would you explain or expand on what you mean?

The comment I made regarding interfacing with databases on your local PC was taken from this blog (http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2005/11/07/visual-studio-2005-express-editions-are-free-downloads). However, in doing a little research on that statement, I'm not sure how he reached that conclusion. In question #51 in Microsoft's Visual Studio Express FAQ (http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/support/faq/), it mentions a hosting company, VWD Hosting (http://www.vwdhosting.net/), that is offering web accounts with 50 MB of disk space and 30 MB of database space for ASP.NET 2.0 applications. Given that, I don't know why you couldn't upload your website.

I asked for clarification on that blog I mentioned and received the following response:

If you’re developing a Web application where the database server runs on the same machine as the Web server, then you’re fine. As you develop the site, you will run both your testing Web server and your testing database server on your own computer, and when you upload to the live server, both the Web and database servers will run there.

If, on the other hand, you’re developing an application where your database server and Web server are two different machines, things will be a little less convenient. As you develop the site, Express Edition can’t talk to your testing database server if it’s on a different computer. So you’ll either need to write all your database-related code by hand, or you’ll need to run your testing database server on your own computer and make your application configurable enough so that when you deploy it to the live server it will then know to access the database on the separate, live database server.

Ok "vinyl-junkie",

So I can see that someone that is doing than kind of heavy database intensive web application is not the market audience that the express version of studio products was created for. But the express products will work for me and right now I can't beat the price.:D

BTW I like your web site

BTW I like your web site
Thanks. :)

I can see some definite advantages of having Visual Studio Express 2005. However, I will probably buy the full version, provided I can get it for as cheap a price as I got the 2003 version. (Bulk packaging is a wonderful thing. ;)) I need to have backward compatibility to ASP.NET 1.1.

From the free book (PDF) that I got from Microsoft Press:


In theory, you could also use Visual Web Developer to create ASP.NET 1.1 Web sites. This however, would be difficult because Visual Web Developer won't stop you from using the new features in ASP.net 2.0.


To me that sounds like you could take an existing web site import it into Visual Web Developer and it would still support your existing ASP.NET 1.1 code. I think the problem would be if you made changes to your web site build and then tried to upload it to a hosting server that only supported ASP.NET 1.1. You might want to ask a few question on the MS forum for this product and see what others have to say.

But then there's this question (http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/support/faq/#compat) from their FAQ:

Can I develop applications using the Visual Studio Express Editions to target the .NET Framework 1.1?

No, each release of Visual Studio is tied to a specific version of the .NET Framework. The Express Editions can only be used to create applications that run on the .NET Framework 2.0.


It just isn't worth it to me to find out what will and won't work within the Express edition limitations. I'm very new to both Visual Studio and .NET, and need to learn both so I can assist with a project that's already underway at work. They will be migrating to .NET 2.0 when that becomes available. It's no good to me to learn workarounds for a limited version of Visual Studio when I will need the full package for development projects.