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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
- Sprache: Englisch
A comprehensive, easy-to-understand guide to Visual Studio2010 Visual Studio is Microsoft's comprehensive developmentenvironment that encompasses the .NET Framework, variousprogramming languages, and ASP.NET. Programmers love it fordeveloping applications for mobile devices and the Web. Because Visual Studio can be complex, the All-in-One ForDummies format makes it easy for beginners to grasp itsdifferent parts and get up to speed. * Visual Studio is a development environment used with variousprogramming languages to create a variety of applications,including those for the Web and mobile devices * The updated Visual Studio 2010 features new emphasis ondevelopment for Windows 7, cloud computing, and enhanced Web andSilverlight * Visual Studio 2010 All-in-One For Dummies shows how tobuild applications using the enhanced productivity features ofVisual Studio 2010 * Minibooks cover a Visual Studio overview, getting started,building Windows 7 and cloud applications, data access, coding, andother IDE details * Ideal for new programmers or Java programmers who want tobecome proficient with Visual Studio Visual Studio 2010 All-in-One For Dummies provides both agreat instruction book for new programmers and a valuable referencefor the more experienced.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010
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Visual Studio 2010 All-in-One For Dummies®
Table of Contents
Introduction
Who Should Read This Book?
About This Book
Foolish Assumptions
Conventions Used in This Book
Stuff you type
Menu commands
Display messages
How This Book Is Organized
Book I: Visual Studio 2010 Overview
Book II: Getting Started with Visual Studio
Book III: Coding
Book IV: Basics of Building Applications with Visual Studio 2010
Book V: Getting Acquainted with Data Access
Book VI: Going the Extra Mile
Book VII: Extending the Family
About the Companion Web Site
Icons Used in This Book
Book I: Visual Studio 2010 Overview
Book I: Chapter 1: What Is Visual Studio?
From Source Code to Application: How Software Is Written
The Role of the Integrated Development Environment
Tools beyond the basic three
Enter Visual Studio
Visual Studio as the Hub
The Keeper of .NET
Book I: Chapter 2: Exploring .NET
Following the Evolution of .NET
Getting Acquainted with the .NET Components
.NET freebies
No free lunch
Peering into the Future of .NET
Book I: Chapter 3: Modern Software Development
Examining the Software Development Process
Looking at Software Engineering in Action
Have process, will repeat
Practicing what you preach
Building a developer’s toolbox
Working with your partners in development
Components Defeat Monoliths
Architecture evolution
Component management in .NET
Managed Code Execution
Taking Out the Garbage
Allocating memory
Releasing memory
Book I: Chapter 4: The Languages of .NET
More than Just a Pretty Face: A Windows Application
Looking at the Languages of .NET
Visual Basic
Visual C#
Visual C++
F#
Choosing the Right Language for the Job
Becoming a Good Programmer
Learn the syntax
Write your own code
Book I: Chapter 5: The Many Editions of Visual Studio 2010
Making Sense of the Visual Studio Editions
Visual Studio Express Editions
Visual Studio Professional
Visual Studio Team System
Choosing the Right Edition
Subscribing to the Microsoft Developer Network
Weighing your options
Developing When It’s a Team Effort
Managing projects with Team System
Architecting software
Developing software with Team System
Testing with tools
Collaborating with Visual Studio Team Foundation
Book I: Chapter 6: New to Visual Studio 2010
Exploring Additional Programming Paradigms
Parallel programming
Cloud computing
Reaping the Benefits for Development Teams
Enhanced user interface
Better development lifecycle management
Better programming productivity
Better Web development tools
Gaining Databases Support
Book II: Getting Started with Visual Studio
Book II: Chapter 1: Installing Visual Studio Professional
Installing Versions Side by Side
Taking a look at all the .NETs
Getting help from Visual Studio 2010
Meeting System Requirements
Stepping through the Installation
Launching Visual Studio for the First Time
Book II: Chapter 2: Browsing Visual Studio
Making Your Way around Visual Studio
Dealing with Windows Galore
Docking windows
Working with tabbed documents
Managing windows
Building Solutions with Visual Studio 2010
Using the Solution Explorer to manage solutions and projects
Working with solution and project menus
Using the Properties Window
Browsing Servers
Writing Code with the Code Editor
Using the Forms Designer
Taking a Look at Other Designers
Book II: Chapter 3: Making Connections with Visual Studio
Getting Help
Opening and navigating the help documentation
Searching and filtering search results
Customizing the start page
Staying in Touch with the .NET Community
Pursuing certification
Viewing Webcasts
Book II: Chapter 4: Upgrading .NET
Making the Business Case for Upgrading
What happens to Visual Studio code in an upgrade?
What are alternatives to upgrading?
How do you upgrade from pre-.NET languages?
Considering Your Conversion Strategies
Converting Windows applications and class libraries
Converting Web applications
Running Web applications side-by-side
Using Visual Studio 2010 with .NET 2.0
Book III: Coding
Book III: Chapter 1: Programming with Visual Studio 2010
Using the Code Editor
Simplifying your common tasks
Using visual cues
Browsing and navigating code
Exploring Visual Basic and C#
Organizing programs
Getting started
Book III: Chapter 2: Understanding Data Types
The Rules of Data Types
Making a Declaration
The .NET Framework’s Common Type System
Understanding the type hierarchy
Throwing it on the stack or the heap
Completing your assignments
Popular value types
Popular reference types
Creating Your Own Types
When There’s More than One
Using arrays
Using System.Collections
Iterating through arrays and collections
Collections in the real world
Converting Types
Meet the Nullable Types
Browsing Types
Setting the scope
Setting the view
Viewing data types
Viewing source code
Accessing Types in Your Source Code
Book III: Chapter 3: Get Some Class
Bringing Programs to Life the Object-Oriented Way
What’s with Objects?
Anatomy of a Class in .NET
Inheriting the services of System.Object
Using classes in your code
Using Class Designer
Exploring Class Designer
Designing classes
Viewing existing classes
Book III: Chapter 4: Wiring Up Events in the User Interface
Handling Events
Discovering events
Wiring up events and event handlers
Getting a Life Cycle
Understanding life cycles in Windows applications
Understanding Web page life cycles
Book III: Chapter 5: Getting Productive with Visual Studio 2010
Sending Your Code to Boot Camp
Attending the naming convention
Calling all cars! FxCop to the rescue!
Setting up FxCop as an external tool
It’s Not Your Father’s IntelliSense Any More
Using code snippets
Stub it out with method stubs
Adding using statements
Objectifying your code
Creating XML Documentation
Factoring in the Refactoring
Refactoring with Class Designer
Refactoring C#
Book III: Chapter 6: Exploring Web Services
Defining a Web Service
Saying Hello to Web Services
Understanding ASP.NET Web services
Adding a method
Testing Web services
Consuming a Web Service
Communicating with a Web service
Finding Web services
Using a Web service in your application
Book III: Chapter 7: Handling Exceptions and Debugging
Structured Exception Handling to the Rescue
Handling exceptions
Using Visual Studio to manage exceptions
Understanding Debugging
Enabling debugging
Firing up the Debugger
Exception handling in native C++ applications
Debugging for those special circumstances
Debugging generated code
Book III: Chapter 8: Testing Code with Visual Studio
Defining Unit Testing
Unit Testing in Visual Studio
Creating unit tests
Running a battery of tests
Approaches to Unit Testing
Letting stubs do the tough testing
Simplifying testing with mocking objects
Stubs versus mocks
Automating Tests with Testing Frameworks
Book IV: Basics of Building Applications with Visual Studio 2010
Book IV: Chapter 1: Getting Smart about Smart Clients
Switching from Fat Clients to Smart Clients
Designing Windows Forms
Creating your first smart client project
Saying, “Hello world!”
Taking Command from Control Central
Introducing the control toolbox
Customizing the toolbox
Adding controls to your form
Manipulating Controls
Formatting controls
Seeing the snaplines
Locking controls
Setting the tab order
Access a control’s tasks with smart tags
Using the Properties Window
Setting properties
Responding to events
Book IV: Chapter 2: Building Smart Client User Interfaces
Building the Windows Container
Setting common form properties
Creating dialog boxes
Adding menus and toolbars
Creating a Multiple Document Interface
Laying Out Your Controls
Grouping controls
Setting layout properties
Book IV: Chapter 3: Building Visual C++ Applications
Getting to Know Visual C++
Introducing Visual C++ Templates and Wizards
Saying “Hello, Visual C++”
Creating managed applications
Creating unmanaged applications
Book IV: Chapter 4: Building Web Applications
Exploring Microsoft’s Web Design and Development Tools
Getting to Know the Visual Web Developer
Building better Web applications with ASP.NET
Understanding how ASP.NET pages are served
Creating Web sites
Saying “Hello, World Wide Web”
Viewing ASP.NET syntax
Adding content
Working with Web Sites
Adding new pages
Benefitting from the battle of the server controls
Changing your view
Running your Web site
Using Starter Kits
Book IV: Chapter 5: Using AJAX for Rich Web Pages
AJAX Explained: What It Does and WhyYou Should Consider Using It
ASP.NET postback architecture
Partial page updates
Using AJAX Extensions
Creating your first AJAX Web application
Adding traditional ASP.NET controls to the form
Using AJAX to implement a partial page update pattern
Updating controls outside UpdatePanel
Using the AJAX Controls
Adding the AJAX Control Toolkit to the Visual Studio toolbox
Using AJAX controls from the Toolkit
Book IV: Chapter 6: Laying Out Your Web Site
Keeping Track of Input with Validation Controls
Adding a validation control
Testing a validation control
Handling multiple validation controls
Mapping Out Your Site Navigation
Adding a site map
Adding navigation controls
Managing Your Site’s Appearance with Themes and Master Pages
Using themes and skins
Mastering master pages
Laying Out Web Pages with CSS
Introducing CSS basics
Adding and creating CSS styles
Creating a page template with CSS
Applying styles to controls
Book IV: Chapter 7: Exploring ASP.NET Services
What a Wonderful Provider!
Managing State
Understanding view state
Using session state
Providing the Perks of Membership
Configuring the default database
Running a site on IIS
Securing membership content
Setting up a login page
Getting Personal
Saving visitor settings with profiles
Letting users customize with Web parts
Book IV: Chapter 8: Using Threads and Timers
Dividing Up Your Work with Threads and Thread Pools
Adding Threads to Your Application
Queuing Your Work Using the .NET Framework Thread Pool
Delegating responsibility using delegates
Returning data from delegates
Keeping Things on Schedule with Timers
Book IV: Chapter 9: Writing Network Applications
Creating an Application to Access Content on the Web
Creating a Simple Chat Application
The Chat Server Application
The Chat Client application
Book IV: Chapter 10: Parallel Programming
Introducing the .NET Task Parallel Library
Examining data parallelism in the TPL
Examining task parallelism in the TPL
Exploring Unmanaged C++ Parallel Programming with the Parallel Patterns Library (PPL)
Creating Parallel Queries with Parallel Language Integrated Query (PLINQ)
Book IV: Chapter 11: Writing Silverlight Applications
Getting Started with Silverlight
Creating a Silverlight application
Adding controls to your application
Creating Content for Web Applications
Adding style to your clock
Jazzing up your clock’s text
Displaying the current time
Centering the clock’s text
Adding Interactive Content to Enhance the Web Experience
Book IV: Chapter 12: Programming for the Cloud
Reaping the Benefits of Cloud Computing
Programming for the Cloud with Visual Studio
Deploying ASP.Net Web Services on the Cloud
Choosing a Web Role
Adding Content to Your Application
Deploying Your Applications on the Cloud
Book V: Getting Acquainted with Data Access
Book V: Chapter 1: Accessing Data with Visual Studio
Accessing Data with Visual Studio and .NET
Meeting ADO.NET
Exploring the Visual Studio data toolbox
Understanding Databases
Introducing relational databases
Understanding SQL
Dragging and Dropping Data
Preparing your computer to work with data
Adding data to Windows applications
Adding data to Web Forms
Book V: Chapter 2: Show Me the Data
Adding Data Access in Windows Applications
Working with the Data Sources pane
Viewing data source objects
Adding data sources
Connecting to databases
Adding controls from the Data Sources pane
Getting Your Data in a Bind
Using BindingSource to connect to other data
Using BindingNavigator
Binding by using the Binding property
Creating Web Forms That Access Data
Meet the controls
Customizing layout with templates
Working with tasks and properties
Updating data with the DataSet Designer
Getting the view right with the GridView control
Binding to expressions
Book V: Chapter 3: Working with Strongly Typed DataSets
Understanding the DataSet
Discerning typed versus untyped DataSets
Working with untyped DataSets
Flexing your strongly typed DataSets
DataSets and XML, together at last
Creating Typed DataSets
Creating a DataSet in a class library
Adding typed DataSets to existing projects
Exploring the DataSet Designer
Meet the players
Building a DataSet of your own
Adding database objects
Going beyond database tables
Shepherding Data
Using the TableAdapter Configuration Wizard
Using the TableAdapter Query Configuration Wizard
Looking under the Hood of a Strongly Typed DataSet
Viewing code
Using partial classes
Viewing the source
Using a Typed DataSet
Book V: Chapter 4: Working with XML
Exploring XML
Storing Data the XML Way
Creating a New XML File
Describing Data in an XML Document
Creating an XML Schema
Building an XML Schema
Using XML snippets
Transforming XML with Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations
Writing an XSLT style sheet
Linking an XSLT file to another document
Staying on the path with XPath
XML and .NET
Book V: Chapter 5: Under the Hood with ADO.NET
Meet the Players
Picking a Provider
Accessing providers
Objectifying the providers
Making Connections
Connecting to a database
Closing your connection
Stringing up connections
Building connection strings
Using Commands
Reading Data with DataReaders
Stepping through data
Retrieving data with the Get accessors
Retrieving schema info
Caching Data with DataSets
Filling a DataSet
Updating data with the Update method
Using TableAdapters
Using transactions
Supporting XML with ADO.NET
Using ADO.NET in Your Applications
Book V: Chapter 6: Using Visual Studio with SQL Server
Getting Acquainted with SQL Server 2008
Installing SQL Server Express Edition
Working with the SQL Server tools
Using the Adventure Works sample
Creating Database Projects
Managing scripts with database projects
Handling data with SQL Server projects
Managing Your Database with Visual Database Tools
Using a local database
Adding tables with Table Designer
Adding queries and views
Book V: Chapter 7: LINQ
Using LINQ to Query Integers
Finding Active Processes
Creating New Objects in the Query
Book VI: Going the Extra Mile
Book VI: Chapter 1: Building Solutions and Projects
Understanding Solutions and Projects
The anatomy of a build
Using the Build menu
Selecting the active build and platform
Dealing with compiler errors and output
Using Configuration Manager
Setting project configurations
Managing Your Builds
Handling Lone Ranger builds
Creating master builds
Automating builds
Book VI: Chapter 2: Deployment Options
Understanding Deployment Basics
Deploying Smart Client Applications
From No Touch to ClickOnce
Making a Windows Installer
Deploying Web Applications
Using the Publish Web Site utility
Handling web.config files for testing and production
Book VI: Chapter 3: Checking Out Source Control
Using Source Code Control with Visual Studio
How source code control works
Getting ready for source control
Binding to a Source Control Provider
Adding a blank solution
Adding an existing solution
Adding a project to an existing solution
Breaking a binding
Performing Common Source Control Tasks
Retrieving files from source control
Editing source-controlled files
Checking files into source control
Retrieving a solution or project from source control
Source Code Control in the Real World
Going Beyond Integration
Book VI: Chapter 4: Writing Custom Facebook Applications
Creating and Registering Your Application with Facebook
Creating Your Application with Visual Studio 2010
Writing your application code
Connecting your application to Facebook
Laying out your application
Querying Data from Facebook
Finding out about your friends
Accessing weather data for your friend’s location
Executing Your Application on Facebook
Book VII: Extending the Family
Book VII: Chapter 1: Exploring Visual Studio Extensions
Extending Visual Studio
Adding administration and troubleshooting tools
Downloading new programming tools for Vista and Office
Trying out development resources and new server products
Keeping up with developer blogs and other news sources
Exploring AJAX and the Atlas Library
Looking Ahead to the Next Visual Studio
Book VII: Chapter 2: Being a Team Player with Visual Studio Team System
Introducing the Visual Studio Team System
Implementing VSTS
Discovering more about VSTS
Exploring the New Role-Based Features of Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate
Visual Studio Ultimate for software architects
Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate for software developers
Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate for software testers
Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate for database professionals
Getting to Know Team Foundation Server
Accessing Team Foundation Server
Creating a new team project
Browsing with the Team Explorer
Creating work items with Excel
Visual Studio® 2010 All-in-One For Dummies®
by Andrew Moore
Visual Studio® 2010 All-in-One For Dummies®
Published byWiley Publishing, Inc.111 River St.Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2010928464
ISBN: 978-0-470-53943-9
Manufactured in the United States of America
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About the Author
Andrew Moore is an experienced software developer with 12 years of professional experience in the fields of radar systems, air traffic management, and discrete-event simulation. Most recently, Andrew has been working with Voice Over IP (VOIP) and business communications systems. Andrew has contributed to the Wrox Blox technical series with articles on WPF and audio playback with Direct Sound in C#.
Andrew is currently working as a Senior Software Engineer at Interactive Intelligence, Inc. in Indianapolis, developing server-side applications for multimedia business communication and automation systems.
Dedication
To God, my father in Heaven who has blessed me immensely in life, and my wife Barbara the light of my world, love of my life, and source of my inspiration, and to my children Sophia and Andrew who make my life complete and joyous, with eternal love and gratitude, I dedicate this book.
Publisher’s Acknowledgments
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Introduction
Visual Studio 2010 is more than just the next version of Visual Studio to use with the next version of the .NET Framework. Visual Studio 2010 continues Microsoft’s attempt to position Visual Studio as a tool you can use for the upstream and downstream development activities that sandwich actual code writing. For example, you can use Visual Studio to visually model the entities you want to create in code. Unlike other modeling tools that have only a one-way relationship between the model and the code generation, your code stays synchronized with the model.
Visual Studio 2010 is a complete rewrite of the user interface, but don’t worry; the familiar commands and tools that you have come to know and love are still there. You’ll notice a completely revised, intuitive, and modern user interface that showcases the tremendous leaps that Visual Studio has made since the release of Visual Studio .NET back in 2002.
Visual Studio 2010 provides a dizzying array of editors, controls, designers, and supporting tools for developing software. Getting mired in the details of using these tools is a productivity killer. This book uses plain English to show you how to use Visual Studio 2010 to get busy building software while ignoring unnecessary details. Use this book to focus on the work that pays the bills and to
♦ Improve your individual efficiency and productivity as a developer.
♦ Display proficiency in selecting the right Visual Studio 2010 tools required to develop a solution.
♦ Employ Visual Studio 2010 to guide and improve your individual software-development practices or those of a team.
♦ Navigate the many project types, editors, and designers in Visual Studio 2010.
♦ Increase your confidence and professionalism in using the development environment of choice for developers of solutions based on the Microsoft platform.
♦ Determine the role of Visual Studio in your software development process, whether you’re working solo or on a team of 20.
Who Should Read This Book?
A little something for everyone is in this book, whether you’re brand-new to software development or an old pro. No matter what your skill level is, you need this book if you see yourself in any of these categories:
♦ New application developers: Whether you’re a student, a graduate who just landed your first programming job, or a power user looking to expand your horizons, you’ll find everything you need to get productive with Visual Studio 2010 Professional.
♦ Existing .NET developers: Not sure when you can make the jump to version 4 of the .NET Framework? Never fear. You can start using Visual Studio 2010 right now, with previous versions of the .NET Framework. I show you how, in Book II, Chapter 4. Plus, see how to convert your existing applications and use what you already know to get productive.
♦ Existing developers using other technologies: Whether you’re coming from Visual Basic 6 or Java, you’ll find lots of no-frills examples to help you get started with Visual Studio 2010.
♦ Advanced developers on the bleeding edge: Even if you’ve used the .NET Framework since it was in beta, this book shows you how to use Visual Studio 2010 for the latest guidance and best practices in software development.
Visual Studio 2010 isn’t just for developers anymore. Increasingly, software is developed as part of a team effort. Visual Studio 2010 has increased its scope to encompass more aspects of the software development life cycle. As a result, all roles on the team are increasingly affected. Regardless of your role, you may find this book helpful if you fill any of these roles:
♦ Managers, leads, and supervisors need to understand the productivity gains and best-practices guidance offered by Visual Studio 2010. These gains can be useful for improving team processes, as well as for evaluating programmer productivity.
♦ Architects, designers, and analysts will find new tools designed to improve collaboration among analysis, design, and implementation steps.
♦ Developers, testers, and technologists use Visual Studio 2010 to develop and test software. As such, this integral part of the software development process requires you to know how to harness its many features into a set of steps that supports a specific project’s development requirements.
About This Book
In this book, you find out how to use Visual Studio 2010 Professional Edition to build these types of applications:
♦ Windows applications
♦ Web sites and Web services
♦ Mobile applications
♦ Native applications using C++
You may be surprised that Visual Studio 2010 has moved way beyond building merely traditional applications. You can use it to build and manage solutions for SQL Server databases, SharePoint sites, Windows Workflow applications, BizTalk packages, and many other enterprise server solutions. I discuss most of these topics throughout the book.
The message of this book is mostly how to use Visual Studio to improve your personal productivity as a developer, whether you’re working solo or as part of a team.
The book focuses primarily on Visual Studio 2010 Professional Edition, although many examples work in other editions, too. Many developers, regardless of the size of their shops, use Visual Studio 2010 Professional Edition.
You can’t talk about Visual Studio 2010 without also covering the .NET Framework. This book covers the .NET Framework at a very high level and in the context of demonstrating the features of Visual Studio 2010.
The book is mostly “language agnostic,” although (just like in real life) the language best suited for the job is used to demonstrate the material. In most Microsoft shops, there is a preference for either Visual Basic or C#. For that reason, many chapters use Visual Basic examples when they could have just as easily used C# examples.
Despite the preceding statement, this book isn’t a learn-to-program book or a language-syntax book. If you’re new to programming, consider checking out a beginning programming book or course. If you’re a hobbyist or a new programmer, you may find all the tools in Visual Studio 2010 to be overwhelming or outside the bounds of your budget. In that case, consider using a Visual Studio Express Edition, which is free.
Foolish Assumptions
You’ll get the most out of this book if you already know how to use basic programming constructs, such as for loops and if...then statements. Even though this book doesn’t teach you how to program, it does share guidance and tips on the use of best practices. Even if you’ve never programmed, you can still use the examples in this book to start creating basic Windows and Web applications using Visual Studio 2010.
Here are some other assumptions this book makes about you:
♦ You have little or no experience with object-oriented programming (OOP). Becoming an OOP whiz takes many years of hands-on practice. This book can help lay the groundwork for your OOP training and show you the OOP features in Visual Studio 2010. Book III introduces you to OOP.
♦ You have little or no experience in using Visual Studio or the .NET Framework. If you have plenty of experience with Visual Studio or the .NET Framework, you can reuse that knowledge with this version of Visual Studio. Either way, you are walked through all the examples, step by step.
♦ You don’t have formal training in computer science. This book offers technical explanations of what Visual Studio is doing behind the scenes when it’s relevant to helping you understand the topic.
Conventions Used in This Book
This book uses a helpful set of conventions to indicate what needs to be done or what you see on-screen.
Stuff you type
When you are asked to type something, like a command or an entry in a text box, the text looks like this:
Type me
Menu commands
When you are given a specific set of menu commands to use, they appear in this format:
File⇒New⇒Web Site
In this example, you should click the File menu, choose the New menu item, and then choose the Web Site menu item.
Display messages
If a specific message is referred to that you see on your screen, it looks like this on the page:
This is a message displayed by an application.
All code in the book also looks like this.
How This Book Is Organized
This book is organized so that you don’t have to read it from cover to cover. To get the most out of the book, use the Table of Contents or Index to find specific topics. The seven mini-books cluster common tasks for which you might use Visual Studio 2010 to develop software. This section provides a brief overview of what you can find in each small book.
Book I: Visual Studio 2010 Overview
Book I is a good place to start if you’re new to Visual Studio or .NET, or just want a refresher. In Book I, you get the lowdown on using Visual Studio 2010 with the .NET framework and with all the programming languages supported in Visual Studio.
Book II: Getting Started with Visual Studio
Use Book II to get up and running with Visual Studio 2010. If you already installed Visual Studio 2010 and are familiar with making your way around the Visual Studio interface, you can fast-forward through most of Book II. You find out how to install and navigate Visual Studio 2010 and use Visual Studio to say in touch with the Microsoft community.
Book III: Coding
Book III shows you all the major Visual Studio features for designing, writing, and generating code. Whether you’re an experienced or novice programmer, you’re likely to come across something you haven’t seen yet. In Book III, you use the code editor to create source code and explore the basic language syntax of C# and Visual Basic. You also get a primer in object oriented programming and explore the class anatomy in .NET. Book III also shows you how to use Visual Studio to debug, analyze, and test your code.
Book IV: Basics of Building Applications with Visual Studio 2010
Visual Studio 2010 is all about creating applications. In Book IV, you dig into the kinds of applications you can create. In Book IV, you discover how to use Visual Studio to create C++ as well as .NET Windows and Web applications. You also discover new additions to the .NET framework for threads and parallel programming. Finally, you discover deploying your applications on the cloud with Windows Azure.
Book V: Getting Acquainted with Data Access
Nowadays, all applications require access to data. Book V surveys the vast array of data access features in Visual Studio 2010. Even a seasoned ADO.NET programmer should take a fresh look at the new data access code-generation features in Visual Studio because they can help you to explore data controls, create and manage connection strings, access data by using objects in a class library, model data from XML documents, and use Visual Studio for SQL Server 2008 projects.
Book VI: Going the Extra Mile
Visual Studio 2010 provides many features that take your productivity to new levels. At some point, all developers need to explore the topics covered in Book VI, such as configuring and managing the build process, keeping track of your code versions with source code control, and deploying Windows and Web application. In Book VI, you also discover creating applications for the Facebook social networking site.
Book VII: Extending the Family
Visual Studio 2010 is the development platform for many exciting new technologies being introduced by Microsoft. In Book VII, you explore how to find add-ons from Microsoft and other vendors to extend the features of Visual Studio 2010. You also explore Visual Studio 2010 and Team Foundation Server.
About the Companion Web Site
A companion Web site provides additional material. You can find it at www.dummies.com/go/vs2010. What you’ll find is a section for each small book. Inside each section are resources links and projects with the source code.
Icons Used in This Book
In a book stuffed to the gills with icons, the editors have decided to use — you guessed it — more icons. Luckily, however, the book’s icon set acts as visual signposts for specific stuff that you don’t want to miss.
Tip icons point out advice that can save you time, trouble, and, quite possibly, cash.
These tidbits are completely optional, but if you’re really into the technical side of things, you’ll find loads of interesting info here.
Always read the information next to this icon! These icons highlight pitfalls to avoid as you deploy your applications or put the power of Visual Studio 2010 into action.
As its name suggests, this icon highlights stuff that you might want to, well, remember.
This icon points out resources that you can find on the book’s companion Web site, which can help you further explore the topic being covered.
Book I
Visual Studio 2010 Overview
Contents at a Glance
Chapter 1: What Is Visual Studio?
From Source Code to Application: How Software Is Written
The Role of the Integrated Development Environment
Visual Studio as the Hub
The Keeper of .NET
Chapter 2: Exploring .NET
Following the Evolution of .NET
Getting Acquainted with the .NET Components
Peering into the Future of .NET
Chapter 3: Modern Software Development
Examining the Software Development Process
Looking at Software Engineering in Action
Components Defeat Monoliths
Managed Code Execution
Taking Out the Garbage
Chapter 4: The Languages of .NET
More than Just a Pretty Face: A Windows Application
Looking at the Languages of .NET
Choosing the Right Language for the Job
Becoming a Good Programmer
Chapter 5: The Many Editions of Visual Studio 2010
Making Sense of the Visual Studio Editions
Choosing the Right Edition
Developing When It’s a Team Effort
Chapter 6: New to Visual Studio 2010
Exploring Additional Programming Paradigms
Reaping the Benefits for Development Teams
Gaining Databases Support
Chapter 1: What Is Visual Studio?
In This Chapter
Figuring out Visual Studio’s role in software development
Seeing Microsoft’s vision for Visual Studio
Saying hello to .NET
To be truthful, building software that does more than just say something like “Hello world” requires more than just writing a few lines of code in a text editor. Who knew that business software could be so complex?
That’s where tools such as Visual Studio enter the picture. Visual Studio enables you to build software more quickly by offering an advanced editor, compiler, and debugger in a single, easy-to-use package.
From Source Code to Application: How Software Is Written
There are three parts to writing software:
♦ Creation of source code: This source code is human-readable and normally text-based. Source code comes in many flavors depending on the language used. (Chapter 4 contains a lot more information about languages.)
♦ Compilation: During compilation, the source code is translated into binary executable data. This data takes many forms, including a compiler such as the one built into Visual Studio, an interpreter such as the command line (which ultimately creates binary executable data), or a variety of intermediate steps, such as a Java Virtual Machine, which takes pseudocode and converts to binary executable.
♦ Execution of the program: This step takes place as part of the development process while testing and then independently when users run the software. Figure 1-1 displays a summary of this process.
The Visual Studio 2010 All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies companion Web site at www.dummies.com/go/vs2010 has a list of the most popular and common tools that you can download from Microsoft. You can also find a link to a video presentation that shows the process of creating and executing programs.
Figure 1-1: The process of creating and running programs is divided into three parts.
A programming language is a language that humans can understand and use to write computer programs. Computers understand only binary executable data, which is why a compiler has to translate the program from the human-readable programming language into binary executable. For .NET managed applications, the process is a little different as the compiler creates tokenized executable in the Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL), which the Common Language Runtime (CLR) then turns into machine code executable by the computer.
Technically, all you need to write source code is Notepad. Notepad would suffice for batch files, HTML applications, and even .NET programs. (The common joke at many seminars you attend is that Notepad is a developer’s preferred HTML editor.) The .NET programs then can be compiled with one of the free .NET compilers, so why would you spend money on tools, such as Visual Studio, to develop software? The answer lies in the productivity that Visual Studio provides. It’s one-stop shopping with a built-in editor, several compilers, and the ability to execute compiled programs. This type of program is known as an Integrated Development Environment (IDE). In addition, Visual Studio has a vast array of utilities, such as Spy++, and a world-class debugger that I talk about in Book III, Chapter 7.
You used to be able to access many programming tools from the command line. Using tools such as the Microsoft Assembler (MASM) (I still have a copy of it), I created many executables from the command line before IDEs even arrived on the scene. However, you can work with the .NET Framework without ever installing a copy of Visual Studio. (See the article at www.devsource.com/article2/0,1895,1955461,00.asp for a description of how you can create a .NET application using just Notepad and the .NET Framework. While this article covers JScript, you can use this technique for VB.NET and C#, too.)
Have you ever viewed an executable program (such as an .EXE or .DLL file) with Notepad? When you do, all you see is strange-looking characters. It’s not human-readable because someone wrote the program with a human-readable language and then compiled it into machine code. You can get a better (or more accurate) view of machine code by using a hex editor like XVI32 (www.chmaas.handshake.de/delphi/freeware/xvi32/xvi32.htm) or a disassembler, such as Debug.exe (look in the \WINDOWS\system32 folder). However, the managed code that Visual Studio outputs is tokenized Intermediate Language (IL) code, not native code. Consequently, you use ILDASM.exe instead to view the output.
Just to be completely accurate, .NET language compilers don’t exactly create machine code. Technically, they create intermediate code (or Microsoft intermediate language — MSIL). It’s an intermediate step to machine code that is still not human-readable. When the operating system (OS) encounters MSIL code, it performs a compilation before the application actually runs. This process is known as just-in-time (JIT) compilation.
The Role of the Integrated Development Environment
Language compilers and all the tools you need to start writing computer programs are available for free. Most vendors provide software development kits (SDKs) that provide all the tools you need to edit code and compile it. But the Visual Studio IDE offers much more than an easy way to edit, compile, and execute programs. The following list shows reasons that Visual Studio should be carefully considered as a significant productivity boost to Notepad programming.
♦ An integrated debugger
♦ IntelliSense
♦ Project management
♦ Templates
♦ A comprehensive help system
One of the most popular SDKs for software development supports using the Microsoft family of languages, usually either C# or Visual Basic. You can download the Microsoft .NET SDK for free from the Microsoft .NET Framework Developer Center at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa569263.aspx.
If you have Visual Studio 2010 installed, the SDK is already installed.
SDKs are an inexpensive way to play around with new tools or keep your skills updated in new or unfamiliar technologies.
Tools beyond the basic three
Developing software requires all kinds of tools. At the minimum, you need a text editor and a compiler, as described in the section “From Source Code to Application: How Software Is Written,” earlier in this chapter. As you might guess, however, other tools greatly assist development. In addition to an editor and compiler, you need tools for
♦ Testing and debugging: You can step through your code one line at a time to resolve errors with a debugger.
♦ File linking: Link all the files you need to build an entire application.
♦ Configuration management: Manage the configuration settings for everything from file locations to compiler settings.
♦ Code editing: Write code without having to memorize the syntax for a programming language. These tools, which have some intelligence about how to use the program language, can provide suggestions or context-sensitive help as you write code.
♦ Deployment: Easily deploy your compiled application to other computers, where it can be executed.
When you download an SDK, you get some of the preceding tools, as well as many others. The problem you quickly discover is that managing all these individual tools is cumbersome. Plus, many of the tools are command-line tools — you get no point-and-click convenience here.
That’s when the idea hits you: “Hey, wouldn’t it be great if all these other tools were integrated into a single tool?” That’s exactly what an IDE does: It puts all the individual tools — the intelligent code editor, the debugger, and the configuration manager — into a single tool where they can interact with one another.
Enter Visual Studio
The Microsoft IDE is Visual Studio. Visual Studio 2010 is the latest version of this product. Some editions of Visual Studio are better suited to individual developers, whereas others are geared toward developing software in a team setting. (See Book I, Chapter 5 for more details on these editions and how to choose the edition that’s right for you.)
With Visual Studio 2010, you get these features:
♦ Programming languages, such as Visual Basic .NET and C#: See Book I, Chapter 4 for more details on the languages you can use with Visual Studio 2010.
♦ Technologies for building high-quality software, such as Windows applications, Web-based applications, Web services, and applications for mobile devices (such as smartphones): Book III shows you how to use Visual Studio 2010 to build applications.
♦ Data access tools that allow you to access data from any of the popular database management systems, such as Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle: You can also access text files and XML files. Book IV covers the data access capabilities of Visual Studio 2010.
♦ Tools for debugging, designing, testing, and deploying applications: Book VI covers many of these tools.
✦ All the features of the Microsoft .NET Framework, which provides a rich set of features that allows you to work at a higher level of abstraction: Book I,Chapter 2 discusses the evolution of .NET, and Chapter 3 describes the services of .NET.
You aren’t restricted to using Visual Studio just for Microsoft .NET, nor is the popular open source editor Eclipse limited to Java. You can use Visual Studio to create Java applications, or you can create .NET applications by using Eclipse.
You can use multiple programming languages, thanks to the nature of IDEs. All the various tools that are integrated into an IDE can be created by multiple vendors. Instead of restricting you to just the set of tools that comes with a particular IDE, a plug-in allows you to use additional tools created by third-party vendors or the open source community.
To download the Visual Studio plug-in named Grasshopper (which allows you to create Java applications), go to http://dev.mainsoft.com. You can find plug-ins for Eclipse at www.improve-technologies.com.
Why would you want to mix up your languages with your IDE? The answer is productivity. In the same way that using a single tool (such as an IDE) is better than using 12 different tools, using an IDE that you’re already familiar with is more productive than switching to a new IDE. So, if you work in a company that develops Microsoft applications primarily using Visual Studio, you can also use it to create Java applications. You don’t need to learn to use a whole new tool, such as Eclipse.
A podcast that talks about the compilation process is available on this book’s companion Web site. You can find the link from the page at www.dummies.com/go/vs2010.
Visual Studio as the Hub
As if the integration of tools weren’t enough, Microsoft has something else in mind for Visual Studio: It envisions Visual Studio as the hub for all the server applications with which a developer might interact.
For example, instead of accessing Microsoft SQL Server by using the tools for that server, you can access SQL Server features right inside Visual Studio. In the future, Visual Studio will integrate with even more server applications. In this way, Visual Studio is the hub of all your interactions with your company’s information technology environment — assuming, of course, that you’re strictly a Microsoft shop.
Microsoft has another kind of hub in mind for Visual Studio. The company realized that software development involves more than just coding like a madman. In fact, writing code usually involves only one-quarter to one-third of the effort involved in building software. The rest of the project’s time is spent gathering and analyzing requirements, creating models that explain those requirements, and refining those models into tangible designs that are ultimately translated into code. After the code is written, the software has to be thoroughly tested and bugs tracked and maintained.
Many developers use everything from pen and paper to third-party tools to perform the rest of the tasks involved in building software. Microsoft saw an opportunity to bring all this activity under the Visual Studio umbrella. In the past, a developer may have used Visio to create models and NUnit to automate code testing. Now, all these tools are integrated in Visual Studio, and they work together.
The tools work together so well that a model you create in Visual Studio can even generate code. Visio could do that, for example. The model in Visual Studio, however, updates to reflect changes that you make in the code itself!
Microsoft also realized that software development doesn’t happen in a vacuum. The days of hotshot developers isolating themselves for weeks at a time to build the next big applications are long gone. Companies have finally realized that this approach to software development isn’t sustainable.
Instead, a company usually has a team of developers, often with specialized roles, working on a project at the same time. By acknowledging that software developer means more than just programmer, Microsoft has expanded Visual Studio with its Team Foundation version to become the hub of a company’s team development activities. (See Book I, Chapter 5 for more information about the different versions of Visual Studio.)
A team using Visual Studio can log a software bug, associate the bug with a section of code, assign the task of fixing the bug to a developer on the team, and track the resolution of the bug. All this happens in Visual Studio!
Microsoft’s goal (in addition to increased profits) is for Visual Studio to become the personal productivity tool for software developers. In the same way that Microsoft Office has increased the productivity of office workers by freeing them from typewriters and calculators, Microsoft intends for Visual Studio to create a new standard of productivity for individual software developers and the teams on which they work.
The Keeper of .NET
The .NET Framework is the Microsoft platform for creating modern Windows, Web, and mobile software applications. Although the platform provides the steam that makes your applications go, the Visual Studio 2010 development environment allows you to harness that power. The power of .NET is made accessible by Visual Studio, and its widespread use wouldn’t be possible otherwise.
Back in the good old days of software development, before frameworks like .NET existed, developers had to write a lot of code to do simple tasks, such as open a file and display its contents on the screen. In an effort to simplify repetitive tasks, many programming languages started providing helper functions that developers could call. Development environments, such as Visual Studio, were often tailored for use with a specific programming language, such as Visual Basic.
Helper functions were created to do just what their name implies: Help developers do something they needed to do. Instead of having to interact with the OS and telling it to find a file and open it for reading, all a developer had to do was call a helper function and then tell the function the name and location of the file to open. The helper function would then “talk to” the OS and return the file’s contents. The developer could use another helper function to display the returned contents on-screen. If the developer then decided to give the user the option to print the file’s content, another helper function handled all the details of printing the file.
These helper functions improved a developer’s productivity and enabled that person to work at a higher level of abstraction. Over the years, companies such as Sun and Microsoft that make software development tools realized that developers needed a little more than just helper functions. Common software development problems had to be solved, such as how to
♦ Manage memory
♦ Ensure that code is secure
♦ Allow programs to be moved easily from one hardware platform to another, such as from Windows to Linux
The solution to this problem was to create a virtual hosting environment in which software applications could run. This host, also known as a virtual machine or runtime engine, provides services such as file IO and memory management to the software that is executed inside the host. The Sun version of the virtual machine is Java. The Microsoft version is the .NET Framework, also referred to as just .NET or Microsoft .NET.
The .NET Framework is more than just a simple set of helper functions. Applications that are created with the .NET Framework are hosted in a virtual machine called the CLR. Therefore, before a computer can run an application that you build by using .NET, the .NET Framework must be installed on the computer. The version of the framework that’s installed is the .NET Framework Redistributable, which is a free download from the Microsoft Web site. Many new computers have the .NET Framework Redistributable already installed, and most corporations are installing the Redistributable on all their computers.
By running your application in the .NET framework, your application can take advantage of the many services that .NET provides.
You can download the Microsoft .NET SDK to get the tools you need to start building software. To fully capitalize on all the development features of .NET, however, you need Visual Studio.
Book I, Chapter 6 shows you the new features of Visual Studio 2010. They’re not just new features, though; some can be seen as new paradigms, such as the Cloud Computing support.
Chapter 2: Exploring .NET
In This Chapter
Discovering how .NET has evolved
Sneaking a peek at the components of .NET
Looking into the future of .NET
In an attempt to mitigate the increasing complexity of building software, Microsoft released a new set of tools in 2002 (although the first beta was released in July 2000) for building software: the Microsoft .NET Framework.
The .NET Framework provided the plumbing necessary to write complex applications. In the past, I remember getting some really tough assignments with the expectation that they would be done in a few weeks. Although the business logic was fairly easy, the infrastructure was not. Some of the more complicated assignments I encountered included programs that had to communicate over the Internet, create graphically appealing reports, or perform complex database access. At that time, those tasks were difficult. Now, the .NET Framework makes them easy — almost trivial.
.NET is a reflection of the latest thinking about, and best practices for, how software should be developed. Visual Studio is the premiere toolset that Microsoft created for developing software by using the .NET Framework. Although the road to Microsoft .NET and Visual Studio has been misunderstood by some at times, most developers agree that using Visual Studio to develop Microsoft .NET applications is a huge productivity boon.
Following the Evolution of .NET
Microsoft released the first version of .NET in 2002. Because Microsoft tried to append the .NET moniker to all its initiatives, from software development tools to enterprise servers to operating systems, .NET initially suffered from an identity crisis. Thanks to the ubiquitous use of the term by Microsoft, however, .NET is now as much a brand as it is a technology.
Six versions of .NET have been released. Each of these versions represents a milestone in developing software with .NET:
♦ Version 1.0: Released in 2002 with the Visual Studio .NET integrated development environment. In version 1.0, all development — whether Windows-based or Web-based, and regardless of the language — was integrated into Visual Studio. Prior to the release of .NET, each Microsoft development tool was a separate product.
The object-oriented language C# was created as part of .NET. Visual Basic was completely revamped to be object oriented. Many Visual Basic developers felt betrayed, and Microsoft has had a hard time convincing them to make the leap.
Data access was greatly simplified with ADO.NET, and ASP.NET was introduced for developing Web applications. Even though these technologies share the same names as their predecessors (ADO and ASP), the resemblance stops there. Like all .NET technologies, ADO.NET and ASP.NET are object oriented.
♦ Version 1.1: Released in 2003 with Visual Studio .NET 2003. With version 1.1 of .NET, many 1.0 features that either weren’t ready yet (such as the Compact Framework for devices such as the PocketPC) or were available separately from Visual Studio (such as ASP.NET) were completely integrated into Visual Studio .NET 2003. Version 1.1 was more stable and more widely accepted. During this time, the Microsoft .NET brand became diluted from overuse.
♦ Version 2.0: Released in October 2005 with Visual Studio 2005. In the two years between the release of versions 1.1 and 2.0, the dot-net community — as the collective of .NET developers is often called — busily wrote applications that demonstrated how powerful .NET could be. Microsoft listened, and many of the suggestions for ways to extend .NET, which were written about in articles on Web sites such as www.gotdotnet.com and www.4guysfromrolla.com, were implemented as new features in the 2.0 version of .NET. As of this writing the GotDotNet site has been shut down, and the MSDN Code Gallery at http://code.msdn.microsoft.com has replaced it.
For the release of .NET 2.0, Microsoft dropped the .NET suffix from its nondevelopment software. .NET now refers to just the application platform — the .NET Framework.
Visual Studio 2005 matured into more than a mere coding environment and can now manage many aspects of the software development lifecycle. The Team System version of the product uses a server-based component as a data repository. C# established itself as a rock-solid, object-oriented language. MSDN, the Microsoft Developers Network, became more tightly integrated with the Visual Studio product.
♦ Version 3.0: Released in November 2006 with the Windows Vista OS. Version 3.0 combined version 2.0 with four new technologies:
• Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF): Gave developers the capability to create much richer applications by providing better controls. It helped separate the user interface (UI) from the business logic. It also assisted developers who wanted a consistent UI between desktop applications and Web-based applications.
• Windows Communication Foundation (WCF): Provided easier and more robust communications between connected systems. It is built on the Web services technology.
• Windows Workflow Foundation (WF): Enabled developers to create workflows by using a new XML-based language named XAML.
• Windows CardSpace: This security framework helped users to manage identities that can be used in transactions such as Web site logins.
♦ Version 3.5: Released in October 2007 with Visual Studio 2008. Version 3.5 builds incrementally on version 3.0. In addition, it adds the following:
• Language Integrated Query (LINQ)
• Integrated use of Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX)
• Full support for WF, WCF, and WPF
♦ Version 4.0: Released in April 2010 with Visual Studio 2010. Version 4.0 builds on version 3.5 and adds the following:
• Parallel processing
• Entity Framework
• Support for cloud computing
• The F# programming language
With the Microsoft .NET, Microsoft developers can stand toe-to-toe with Java developers and know that they can use almost all the same language and development features. And, with Visual Studio 2010, many developers’ favorite third-party tools are part of the IDE, which boosts productivity immensely. At the same time, the Microsoft Team Foundation edition of Visual Studio 2010 draws a line in the sand, positioning Visual Studio and Microsoft .NET as the tools of choice for enterprise software development.
Getting Acquainted with the .NET Components
To fully grasp how all the pieces of .NET work together, you first need a basic understanding of all those pieces. At a very high level, you can think of .NET in terms of
♦ The .NET Framework: All the software that makes Visual Studio possible
♦ The .NET Software Development Kit (SDK): All the software that enables you to build software applications by using the .NET Framework
You can download both the .NET Framework and the SDK for free from Microsoft at www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=AB99342F-5D1A-413D-8319-81DA479AB0D7&displaylang=en.
♦ The programming languages of .NET: The four languages that Microsoft offers (in addition to dozens more that are available from third parties):
• VB.NET (Visual Basic)
• C#
• C++
• F#
See Book I, Chapter 4 for more on these languages.
A language that can be used to develop .NET applications is said to target the .NET Framework.
♦ The technologies of .NET: All the stuff you can build with .NET, such as Windows and Web applications, Web services, and mobile devices, such as smartphones
♦ Visual Studio: The IDE that puts access to everything in this list at a developer’s fingertips
The default languages of .NET are also free in the sense that you can learn the language syntax and use any text editor to write it. The compiler is the tool that you need to convert the programming language to a language the machine can understand, and it’s also free. The compiler is part of the .NET Framework. (If you install a third-party language product, then that third-party product will have its own compiler and may not be free.)
To take full advantage of the languages and technologies of .NET in a seamless way, however, you need Visual Studio.
.NET freebies
To start developing .NET applications, all you need is the .NET Framework and the .NET SDK. The .NET Framework provides the bulk of the functionality; however, you need the SDK in order to write code for the .NET Framework.
The Microsoft .NET Framework consists of these three free components, which become resident when the .NET Framework is installed:
♦ Common Language Runtime (CLR): The CLR provides a managed environment for running software applications. Developers access the features of the CLR through the Base Class Library (see later bullet1). Some features of the CLR, such as automatic memory management, just happen. (The developer doesn’t do anything.)
♦ Common Type System (CTS): The CTS sets the rules for how programming languages that use the .NET Framework must behave. New languages can then be developed for use with .NET.
♦ Base Class Library (BCL): The BCL is the part of the .NET Framework that developers get to “touch.” The BCL enables developers to create Windows- and Web-based UIs and to access databases and services of the operating systems.
Because the .NET Framework is complex, a detailed discussion of every aspect of the Framework is beyond the scope of this book. Knowing all the details of the inner workings of the .NET Framework isn’t necessary for most developers, anyway, which is part of the reason why Visual Studio is such a valuable tool. It allows developers to access the features of the .NET Framework at a higher level of abstraction and “hides” the implementation details.
The .NET Framework SDK provides developers with free tools they can use to access the .NET Framework. In addition to some general utilities, the SDK contains tools to help you
♦ Manage configuration and deployment and configure the .NET Framework
♦ Debug software and manage security
Language compilers are installed with the .NET Framework.
