History Visual Studio 2005 Express, the first version of the Express edition, was released in October 2005. It runs on
Windows 2000 SP4 and later. The first
service pack for 2005 Express was released in December 2006. This version is freeware and requires no registration. Visual Studio 2008 Express reached general availability in November 2007. Its first service pack was first publicly available in on 11 August 2008. This version requires
Windows XP SP3, although it can develop apps compatible with Windows 2000. Microsoft introduced mandatory registration in this version. Visual Studio 2010 Express was released in April 2010, alongside Visual Studio 2010. While most of its components (see below) ran on Windows XP, its
Windows Phone component needed
Windows Vista.
Characteristics The 2005, 2008, and 2010 versions of Visual Studio Express consist of several standalone IDEs, each of which is focused on a single programming language: • Visual Basic Express (the
Visual Basic .NET language) • Visual C++ Express (the
Visual C++ language) • Visual C# Express (the
C# language) • Visual J# Express (the ill-fated
J# language, 2005 only) • Visual Web Developer Express (
ASP.NET) • Visual Studio Express for Windows Phone (2010 only)
Visual Basic Express Visual Basic Express has the following limitations: • No IDE support for databases other than
SQL Server Express and
Microsoft Access • No support for web applications with
ASP.NET (although, it is supported by Visual Web Developer Express) • No support for developing for mobile devices (no templates or
emulators) • Absence of
Crystal Reports • Fewer project templates (e.g. Windows services template and Excel Workbook template are unavailable) • Limited options for
debugging and
breakpoints • No support for creating
Windows Services (needs a separate project template) • No support for
OpenMP • Limited deployment options for finished programs • No
code folding Visual Basic 2008 Express includes the following improvements over 2005: • Includes the visual
Windows Presentation Foundation designer codenamed "Cider" •
Debugs at runtime • Better
IntelliSense support • Fixes common spelling errors • Corrects most forms of invalid
syntax • Provides suggestions to
class names when specified classes are not found Visual Basic 2005 and Visual Basic 2008 Express feature a Visual Basic 6.0 converter that makes it possible to upgrade Visual Basic 6.0 projects to Visual Basic.NET. The converter is not included with the Visual Basic 2010 Express.
Visual Web Developer Express Visual Web Developer Express is a freeware
web development tool that allows developers to evaluate the web development and editing capabilities of the other Visual Studio editions at no charge. Its main function is to create
ASP.NET websites. It has a
WYSIWYG interface, drag-and-drop user
interface designer, enhanced
HTML and code editors, a limited database explorer, support for
CSS,
JavaScript and
XML, and integrated, design-time validation for standards including
XHTML 1.0/1.1 and CSS 2.1. Visual Web Developer 2005 Express lacks certain features, such as the Accessibility Checker, the ability to create standalone class library projects, third-party add-ins and macros. Visual Web Developer 2008 Express SP1 supports both class library and web application projects. It also includes a new integrated HTML designer based on
Microsoft Expression Web. However, this edition cannot publish self-developed websites.
Visual C++ Express Visual C++ Express compiles
.NET and
Win32 applications in
32-bit only. It includes
Windows SDK's compilers and core files, which developers can use to build Win32 applications. Limitations of Visual C++ Express: • No support for
MFC or
ATL. These libraries can, however, be installed from an older version of the Windows SDK and
Windows Driver Kit, or a Visual Studio Trial installation. • Lack of a
resource editor, which is available in commercial editions of Visual Studio. • No
profiling support. • No support for add-ins or IDE macros. •
No option for crash dump generation. • No "list of all breakpoints" window. • No support for cross-language debugging, for example, a C# application calling a
C++ DLL. Limitations in earlier versions: • No out-of-box support for developing
64-bit applications (prior to 2012). • No support for
OpenMP (prior to 2012). • The debugger cannot be attached to a running process (prior to 2010). While Microsoft lists memory windows as unavailable in Visual Studio 2010 Express, third parties have reported that they are available when Expert Settings are enabled. Many open-source projects have started providing project files created with Visual C++ Express; noteworthy examples include the
Ogre and
Irrlicht engines. Modding kits for commercial engines, such as Valve's
Source engine, also support this development system.
Visual C# Express Visual C# Express is a free, lightweight, integrated development environment (IDE) designed for novice developers, students and hobbyists to create applications and (when combined with the
XNA Game Studio) video games for Windows,
Xbox 360 and
Zune. It can build
console,
Windows Forms and
Windows Presentation Foundation applications, and class libraries. Microsoft has found that a substantial community of game players are taking up C# programming. Visual C# Express does not have a breakpoint control panel; breakpoints can only be toggled. The following
refactoring modes were also unavailable: •
Encapsulate field • Promote local to parameter • Reorder parameters • Remove parameters • Extract interface The limitations effectively reduce the refactoring capabilities of Visual C# Express to renaming and extracting
methods. According to Microsoft, the reason the listed features are absent is "to simplify the C# Express user experience". Some users remarked that the omission of refactoring capabilities removed useful functionality without actually simplifying use. The ability to attach the debugger to an already-running process is also unavailable, hindering scenarios such as writing Windows services and re-attaching a debugger under
ASP.NET when errors under the original debugging session cause breakpoints to be ignored. ==2012–2017: Ecosystem-centric==