| Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Professional | | | | controls, wizards and layout models. Minor |
| Edition is a complete, IDE, or "Integrated | | | | details, those that just make life easier, |
| Development Environment" for professional | | | | have not been overlooked; .NET Framework 2.0, |
| software application developers. Its range of | | | | for example, allows control of "snap" lines |
| programming language and platform support, | | | | making control alignment neater, and easier. |
| together with support for 64-bit computing | | | | Similarly, other .NET Framework 2.0 controls |
| architectures and other Microsoft | | | | allow application developers to access |
| technologies, mean that almost any | | | | advanced operating system features, such as |
| development task can be tackled with | | | | services, and background threads, without the |
| confidence. Standalone, web and mobile | | | | need for advanced programming knowledge. |
| solutions are all possibilities, for any | | | | |
| platform that supports the .NET Framework | | | | The Visual 2005 Professional Edition "bundle" |
| 2.0, or the .NET Compact Framework 2.0. | | | | includes support for Visual Basic, Visual |
| | | | C++, C# and VJ#, and XML and XSLT, |
| Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition | | | | accompanied by visual form designers and |
| | | | editors. It is possible, therefore, to |
| Visually, Visual Studio 2005 Professional | | | | streamline the development of each tier of a |
| Edition appears much the same as previous | | | | multi-tier development project, by the use of |
| versions. The default opening screen has the | | | | powerful editing and debugging functions |
| look of a web portal, and provides access to | | | | throughout the development lifecycle. Visual |
| online content, as well as recent products. | | | | Studio 2005 supports "Edit and Continue" for |
| From the point of view of productivity, | | | | Visual Basic, and C#; this means that a |
| however, the IDE has undergone something of a | | | | developer can run an application, pause its |
| transformation. It is now much easier to see, | | | | execution, make an desired changes to the |
| at a glance, which sections of code have been | | | | application code, and resume execution, |
| edited, and if they have already been saved. | | | | effectively debugging that application "on |
| This can be useful for a developer who needs | | | | the fly". "Exception Assistant" provides a |
| to keep track of multiple changes to multiple | | | | new method of isolating runtime problems, |
| files. In addition, the new "code snippets" | | | | which can be notoriously difficult to track |
| feature allows developers to create, and | | | | down using conventional debugging techniques. |
| maintain, a library of prewritten code, for | | | | The Exception Assistant provides information |
| performing various common tasks. This | | | | on the location of any exception thrown, |
| prewritten code can then be dropped into an | | | | along suggestions for possible causes, and |
| application at the appropriate point, either | | | | fixes, of that exception, including links to |
| complete, or in the form of a bare bones, | | | | documentation. |
| skeleton, which can be fleshed out according | | | | |
| to the application. A selection of snippets | | | | Crystal Reports, upgraded to support the new |
| is supplied, and more are available online, | | | | "ClickOnce" application deployment method, |
| so getting started is fairly quick and | | | | SQL Reporting Services, a development version |
| painless. | | | | of SQL Server 2005, and support for 64-bit |
| | | | compilers, are all also included in the |
| Life has been made easier for Windows Forms | | | | Visual Studio 2005 Professional edition |
| developers, too, with a range of new | | | | package. |