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Vendors Roll Out Support for VS.NET 2003
VSLive! San Francisco, February 13, 2003 On Tuesday, Microsoft's Eric Rudder gave a sneak preview of the new features you can look forward to in the next release of Visual Studio .NET (VS.NET). Attendees got to see IntelliSense improvements, better migration tools for VB6 code, and an integrated wizard and code snippet converter to help you take existing VB6 control projects and reuse them in a .NET project. In the VSLive! exhibit hall, vendors are taking advantage of the excitement around these announcements to show off their new and enhanced products with support for VS.NET 2003. You'll start to see more and more products integrated into the VS.NET IDE. For those of you unable to make it to the show to see demos of the new products, I'll give you an overview. I'll start with the products that will provide support for VS.NET and then cover other important announcements. ComponentOne is offering five Web Forms components for VS.NET 2003: ComponentOne WebGrid for ASP.NET, ComponentOne WebReports for ASP.NET, ComponentOne WebChart for ASP.NET, ComponentOne WebDataObjects for ASP.NET, ComponentOne WebMenus and WebBars for ASP.NET, and ComponentOne PayPal eCommerce. You can purchase them individually for $399.95 or as part of two subscription packages, ComponentOne Studio for ASP.NET or ComponentOne Studio Enterprise. The company also announced that its complete line of Windows Forms components will support VS.NET 2003. Data Dynamics has updated ActiveReports for .NET to include support for VS.NET 2003. The product offers a managed implementation of the ActiveReports engine and report viewer and provides code integration with the VS.NET environment. Developers can use the Visual Studio editor to write code in C# or VB.NET behind their reports. The product also includes export filters for Adobe PDF, Microsoft Excel, RTF, HTML, text, and TIFF images, as well as an ASP.NET server control to help you set up Web client viewer options. The WinForms viewer control offers split and multipage views, text searches, table of contents, and a customizable toolbar. Desaware released its NT Service Toolkit .NET, which includes support for VS.NET 2003 and the .NET Framework 1.1. New features include the Built in Service simulator, which allows you to test and debug services without installing them. The new release also provides the capability to create control panel applets using VB.NET, C#, or any of the other 20-plus languages supported by VS.NET. NT Service Toolkit is also integrated with Desaware's StateCoder. On March 1, 2003, Infragistics will ship NetAdvantage 2003 Vol. 1 with support for VS.NET 2003. Formerly called NetAdvantage Suite, the new product offers more than 75 components including an ASP.NET Grid with hierarchical bound and unbound modes, a server-side control with the rich-client look and feel, and the common object model of Infragistics .NET Grid. Other components include charts, toolbars, menus, tabs, trees, and Web navigation components. NetAdvantage's Presentation Layer Framework enables you to create standardized interfaces and even create your own components. Pricing will start at $495. Attendees were able to preview Velocitis' Flywheel product, which is set for a spring 2003 release. The tool, which will integrate with VS.NET 2003, enables you to visualize, design, and refactor C# and VB.NET source code. It creates UML-style visualizations from your C# and VB.NET code automatically, using a minimum number of UML elements. Flywheel persists only the layout coordinates and display preferences required to visualize the code. These coordinates and preferences are persisted as XML text files and attached to the solution as project items. Flywheel Professional will be available in Q2 2003 for $795; Flywheel Enterprise, in Q3 2003 for $1,295. Sanctum announced AppScan Developer Edition (DE) 1.5, which will be available in spring 2003 with VS.NET 2003 integration. The integrated, automated testing tool provides multiple language support so you can automatically test Web applications written in any language supported by VS.NET including C#, C++, and J#. AppScan DE also allows you to review test results and fix recommendations directly from within the VS.NET IDE. Wise Solutions announced Wise for Visual Studio .NET 4.21 with support for VS.NET 2003. The installation product provides Web services support that simplifies installations for Microsoft's Internet Information Services (IIS) Web server. It also shares features with VS.NET such as source code control, so you can manage one set of source data. You can also incorporate features such as Visual Studio macro support into the Wise authoring environment to automate common tasks such as build control. Wise Help is also integrated with Visual Studio Help. The new Clean Build enables you to enhance installation quality by building installations on "clean" build PCs. All the necessary source files are copied to a build PC, and the installation is built without impacting your pristine build environment. SourceGear has released SourceGear Vault 1.0. This source control tool was built on the .NET Framework, using SQL Server 2000 for repository storage. The product supports atomic check-in transactions (change sets). When you check in a collection of files, the entire check-in succeeds or fails as an atomic unit. Vault includes a Visual SourceSafe import wizard that imports each file including change comments, and also maintains shares and pins properly. The Vault Server is built as a collection of .NET Web services, so you can use the Vault Client API to build custom solutions. SourceGear is a member of the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET Integration Program (VSIP), and the new product provides support for VS.NET 2003. Addison-Wesley has announced the release of three new books at VSLive! San Francisco 2003. Database Access with Visual Basic .NET, Third Edition (ISBN: 0672323435) provides a guide to developing database applications using Microsoft Visual Basic .NET and ADO.NET. Essential ASP.NET with Examples in C# (ISBN: 0201760401) and Essential ASP.NET with Examples in Visual Basic .NET (ISBN: 0201760398) introduce you to the features of ASP.NET, and teach you how to make use of them effectively. The books also include working examples of how Web applications are built today. Hunter Stone released version 2.0 of its Web.Config Editor (WCE). The product helps you manage ASP.NET Web configuration files and supports two modes. You can use Simple Mode to edit a single Web configuration file, and Composition Mode to edit all Web configuration files that apply to an ASP.NET app. New features include an improved UI, the ability to test Session State SQL connection strings, improved keyboard navigation of navigation trees, color coding and expansion/contraction nodes in XML Source View, and improved input validation. Tools with support for VS.NET 2003 weren't the only significant announcements at the conference. Vendors also unveiled new releases with benefits for VS.NET developers and organizations building solutions on the .NET platform. Microsoft Corp. and AmberPoint Inc., a provider of Web services management solutions, announced that the companies have reached an agreement to build and deliver a combination of tools and management technology to help customers manage distributed applications based on the Microsoft .NET Framework. AmberPoint also announced it has joined VSIP. AmberPoint Management Foundation delivers monitoring, management, and security software that helps companies move Web services from test to deployment. The .NET versions of AmberPoint Management Foundation utilize the XML Web services system libraries in the Microsoft .NET Framework and offer Web services management through point-and-click operations. AmberPoint and Microsoft also are working together to develop integration of AmberPoint's products with Microsoft management solutions such as Microsoft Operations Manager. eHelp Corporation unveiled RoboHelp Office Pro for .NET, which supports the Microsoft .NET Framework. New features include support for Windows Forms, ASP.NET Web Forms, and XML Web services. It also offers new context-sensitive help APIs and a new server component, RoboEngine.NET, to deliver integration with the .NET Framework. RoboHelp Office Pro for .NET generates help systems for the .NET Framework using WebHelp. The product allows developers to create help systems for .NET Framework-based applications and generate real-time analysis of end-user activity in a help system. Pricing for RoboHelp Office Pro for .NET starts at $1,999. NetManage also announced that it has joined VSIP. The company's OnWeb product will allow developers to integrate host application services into the VS.NET 2003 IDE. The product is a server-based, host integration solution that provides a drag-and-drop environment that allows the integration of legacy data into Web applications from a range of data sources such as IBM mainframes, AS/400, and Unix. Borland Software Corp. launched Optimizeit Profiler for the Microsoft .NET Framework and also announced that it has joined VSIP. Optimizeit Profiler assists developers in performance tuning, helping them avoid unforeseen performance problems, prioritize improvements, and make the most of hardware and software investments. It supports all .NET managed code and provides real-time performance profiling. Borland also recently announced that it has licensed the .NET Framework Software Development Kit for distribution. Fujitsu Software Corporation announced the release of NetCOBOL for .NET 1.1, the third release of the NetCOBOL for .NET product in less than 12 months. This product lets developers bring existing COBOL code into the .NET Framework, mix it with code written in other languages, create new code that takes advantage of the .NET Framework classes—including creating SOAP and XML Web services—and use Visual Studio tools such as the solution explorer, editor, and debugger. New features include IntelliSense support, code outlining, class view and object browser support, improved performance of generated code, and pointer item support, which is critical for certain types of COBOL code. LEADTOOLS is demonstrating ePrint 3, a multifunctional printer driver. It installs and registers as a printer driver so any application that supports printing can use it. New features in version 3 include extended support for multiple printers, along with the ability to save as a particular format and designate that certain recipients receive it through e-mail. Developers who use the free API included with ePrint will also find new features such as support to set global setting for each printer; the ability to control the display of the status dialog, e-mail dialog, and error messages; the capability to use the original document name as the base file name for output; and finer control over the type of output document. Proposion is offering Proposion N2N, a new product line that integrates Lotus Domino and related technologies into the .NET Framework and VS.NET. The first deliverable in the new product line is a native implementation of an ADO.NET managed data provider, which will allow any .NET application to connect to any Domino database. This tool provides full access to Domino views, folders, multivalue fields, rich text, full text searches, attachments, image resources, and agents. Proposion N2N also allows developers to create, update, and delete documents in a Domino database. In addition, developers can access many of Domino's messaging and collaboration functions (sending mail, accessing calendars, initiating chats, and so on). The connector can also invoke Domino agents, allowing .NET applications to leverage investment in LotusScript and Java script libraries. Sapien Technologies is showcasing PrimalCode, a .NET development environment that incorporates complete capability in a compact size that works with existing hardware. PrimalCode needs only minimal drive space, so it runs full speed on your existing desktops or laptops. Features include syntax coloring, project wizards, deployment features, a class browser, and as-you-type programming help (PrimalSense). Book publisher Sybex announced two new additions to its family of .NET books. Visual Basic .NET Developer's Handbook (ISBN: 0782128793) provides coverage of advanced topics using VB.NET to build and deploy XML Web services, create ASP.NET Web applications, and implement support for mobile devices. .NET Framework Solutions: In Search of the Lost Win32 API (ISBN: 078214134X) provides undocumented techniques for duplicating Win32 API functionality in the .NET Framework. This includes direct hardware access, low-level security control, certain aspects of OS access, and support for multimedia and utilities. DevelopMentor announced it has extended its Guerilla training events to the East Coast. The first Guerilla .NET event will be held March 24-28 in Boston. The five-day course is designed for developers with at least one year of experience in Visual C++ for .NET or a Java background. It will cover the concepts behind the technologies and introduce techniques required to build Visual C++ .NET applications. /n software has released IP*Works! CC for Microsoft .NET. The suite provides credit card processing components for validation, authorization, and transaction settlement. It includes components that enable your applications to communicate with major Internet payment gateways, as well as components certified by Visa International. The company also announced the public beta of IP*Works! EDI. The product includes managed components to facilitate sending and receiving secure EDI transmissions over the Internet. The components are based on AS2, an Internet standard for EDI transmissions. You can download the beta from the company Web site. FarPoint Technologies announced the future availability of Spread for Windows Forms. The product enables you to present, edit, and update tabular data. It uses 14 cell types to alert users to invalid data, and also includes the Spread Designer so you can design the look of the component at design time. Spread for Windows Forms supports Microsoft Excel import/export; features in-cell editing and validation; and enables you to apply styles and formatting at the sheet, row, column, and cell level. The official release date has not been set. PreEmptive Solutions Inc. announced the release of Dotfuscator Professional Edition 1.2. The product helps you create .NET Framework-based applications with strong code protection. Features include control flow obfuscation, pruning, string encryption, enhanced overload, induction, and incremental obfuscation. The product also provides support for C++ managed code, support for obfuscating and pruning applications built for the .NET Compact Framework, and additional protection against reverse engineering. Pricing starts at $1,495 with quantity discounts available. PreEmptive's Dotfuscator Community Edition, a "lite" version of Dotfuscator, is integrated into VS.NET 2003. If you weren't able to attend VSLive! San Francisco this year, be sure to check out all the vendors who showcased their products in the exhibit hall. If you're looking for tools to assist you in creating great .NET applications, you're sure to find one to fill your needs. About the Author |