Presented by Daniel Moth
As we've only recently started to use VS2005 and .net 2.0 in cis resources I was looking to find out how big a jump it was going to be from VS2005 to VS2008 and .net 3.5.
The .net framework
The session started with a history of the .net framework and an outline of the difference between "the red bits and the green bits". Microsoft will continue to provide service packs for the individual .net 2.0, 3.0 and 3.5 frameworks. (Note there's no mention of 1.0 or 1.1 any longer!!!). The reason for this is because VS2008 is designed to be multi targeting - you can choose which version of the framework you want to develop your applications against. The version of .net that applications are using can be easily upgraded or downgraded by selecting the version from a dropdown list in VS2008.
ASP.NET 3.5
Microsoft AJAX libraries and project templates will ship out of the box (or, as pointed out by Dan, in the box depending on your point of view!). So no need to have to hunt around on msdn for extensions.
An improved ListView control, new DataPager and the much publicised new LinqDataSource controls are all available in .net 3.5
LINQ to SQL
Language INtegrated Query has been developed to reduce the amount of code and effort required to work with data in applications. By adding the LINQ framework to your project and adding a control or two to your applications you can easily retrieve and display data from various types of data sources. Very nice indeed! Check out my blog for session 2 - The .NET Language Integrated Query (LINQ) Framework for more info.
Visual Studio 2008 IDE Enhancements
I have to admit that the geek in me got far too excited about the new enhancements in VS2008. All those little "I wish it did this..." and "I wish I could do that..." bits that would make life so much easier seem to have been included in the new environment. It is possible to have both VS2005 and VS2008 installed on the same pc but I can't imagine why you'd want to hang on to VS2005 after you've had your mitts on a copy of VS2008! I got a copy of VS2008 Beta 2 with last months VSj magazine. It's on my desk if you'd like to install it either that or you can download it from the Visual Studio Developer Center
Javascript IntelliSence and debugging at last! Simply add a reference to your javascript files in the project to be able to use the colour coding intellisense and debugging feature. Make the intellisense box transparent by holding down the ctrl key.
New HTML designer and split view with better switching performance allows you to browse your web pages as you're designing them. Changes made in your code are reflected immediatley.
Rich CSS support to easily identify which style is being applied to your elements and hover-over functionality shows any styles that are being overridden. Click on an element on a page and click on the style window to see which style is being used. You can also drag and drop styles around in the css document and also drag and drop styles between files.
Debug into the .net framework code is possible in VS2008.
Run your apps in VS2008 with standard user priviledges Most developers have admin rights when developing apps but VS2008 allows you to run your apps with reduced priviledges.
Dan went on to describe the enhancements (although not in as much detail) for mobile applications and windows applications. New mobile features include Compact LINQ, NETCF v2.0 SP2 and v3.5, Sound APIs, C#3 and VB9 to name but a few.
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