VSTS 2008 Database Edition GDR is now RTW

I recently blogged about VSTS 2008 Database Edition GDR RC1 which is now finally a RTW available for download from Microsoft Download Center :)

Silverlight™ Tools for Visual Studio 2008 SP1

Silverlight Tools for Visual Studio 2008 SP1 is available for download from Microsoft Download Center

This package is an add-on for Visual Studio 2008 SP1 to provide tooling for Microsoft Silverlight 2.
It can be installed on top of either Visual Studio 2008 SP1 or Visual Web Developer 2008 Express with SP1, and it provides a Silverlight project system for developing Silverlight applications using C# or Visual Basic.

This download will install the following:

• Silverlight 2 developer runtime
• Silverlight 2 software development kit
• KB956453 for Visual Studio 2008 SP1
  and/or
  KB956485 for Visual Web Developer 2008 Express with SP1
• Silverlight Tools for Visual Studio 2008 SP1
  and/or
  Silverlight Tools for Visual Web Developer 2008 Express with SP1

Silverlight Tools for Visual Studio 2008 SP1 includes:

• Visual Basic and C# Project templates
• Intellisense and code generators for XAML
• XAML design preview
• Debugging of Silverlight applications
• Remote debugging of Silverlight applications for Mac
• Web reference support
• WCF Templates
• Team Build and command line build support
• Integration with Expression Blend

VSTS 2008 Database Edition GDR RC1 is now available

Gert Drapers has just announced that VSTS 2008 Database Edition GDR Release Candidate 1 is now available for download from Microsoft Download Center.

This version will provide an upgrade path to the RTM so it worth trying out …

The documentation as well is available for downloading.

VSTS 2008 SP1 and IE8 ...

IE8 is coming up soon as Beta 2 is already out in the open, and one of the major changes in IE8 - I actually just came across it by chance - is that IE8 opens up to 6 concurrent connections per host compared to only 2 in IE7.

That leads to the question of Does VSTS support IE8? Will it really open the 6 connections per host?

Well luckly the answer to both questions are YES ...

• VSTS 2008 SP1 has the IE8 Option in the Browser Mix
• By testing IE8 in the load test, it worked :)
  It opened 6 concurrent connections per host.
  The test was created by having a load test with one web test in it, and one concurrent user, once ran against IE7 and another run against IE8.

Service Release 1 (SR1) Update for Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Database Professionals has shipped

SR1 update for VSTS for Database Professionals is now released and available on Microsoft

This service release addresses the top issues that were found through feedback from customers and partners.

This release includes the following features:

• Cross-database references
  Support is improved to enable you to reference objects in different databases by using database project references or referencing a database metafile (.dbmeta). This support will reduce or eliminate the cross database reference warnings within a database project.
• Improved file support within SQL Server file groups
  You may define files within file groups as database project properties instead of having to create files and file groups within the pre-deployment storage script.
• Variables
  A Variables page is added to the database properties. This new page enables you to define setvar variables for use in the deployment scripts. Additionally, SR1 supports the latest service pack release from Microsoft SQL Server 2005 (SP2). The SR1 also supports the Windows Vista operating system.

VSTS for DB Professionals SP1 Pre-release

The DataDude team, aka the team that develops Visual Studio Team Edition for Database Professionals, has just published a preview of their first service release.

It's not just bug fixes, they've included a number of new features:

• 3+4 part name resolution through a new feature called "database references"
• File groups and files are now part of the project settings and can e fully parameterize then to fit your deployment needs (this replaces the need for the storage deployment script)
• SQLCMD variable support; this is enable through a new project property page for creating and editing variables that you can then use inside your scripts. Variables are stored inside the project file and can be mapped to MSBuild properties.

More details will be coming soon, but in the meantime check it out.

VS2005 SP1 Vista Update Now Available

VS2005 SP1 update for Vista is now available on download center.

You can download the update from Microsoft Downloads.

You've to apply VS2005 SP1 before applying this update on Vista.