Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition: Top Reasons to Upgrade

Developer Productivity Improvements

Revolutionary Data Access Model

What is it?

• LINQ provides developers with a declarative programming technology to access data sources
• Support of SQL databases, XML files, or native object collection in VB and C# projects
• New Dataset Designer supporting hierarchical data sets
• LINQ code IntelliSense

Why should I care?

• LINQ reduces complexity for developers and help boost their productivity
• Developers don't need to learn specialized query languages to access data
• Developers can tell the compiler ‘what’ they want instead of spending time on ‘how’ to get it

Business Logic Development

• Built in programming model, engine and tools for developing business logic using WF
• Workflow designer, project templates and a workflow debugger
• You can model both machine and human processes
• You can expose and consume WCF web services from inside your workflow

• You can model real-world business process in your software
• You don’t need to write your own, custom workflow engines

Multi-Targeting

• Developers can select .NET 2.0, 3.0 or 3.5 at any time during the development process
• Visual Studio adjusts project templates, available DLLs,  and IntelliSense to match the version of the framework you choose to target

• You can gradually adopt the latest platform without forcing your users to upgrade
• You can use one tool to work on applications that run on different .NET Framework versions

Test Driven Development Tools

• Write unit tests to ensure the validity of your code
• Bind data to your unit tests, including CSV and XML file

• You can apply Test Driven Development methodologies to deliver high quality applications and reduce time-to-market

Windows, Office, and Mobile Development Tools

Build Stunning Applications

What is it?

• WPF makes it much easier to build content-driven and media-rich applications
• You can incorporate WPF into existing Windows Forms applications
• ClickOnce enables you to deploy your WPF applications over the Web

Why should I care?

• You can incorporate media and vector graphics to enable stunning new user experiences
• Developers can readily leverage secure, reliable deployment options

Build Office-Based Applications

• Visual Designers for Ribbon, custom task panes, outlook form region, and new wizards.
• Workflow & Microsoft SharePoint support
• ClickOnce enables you to deploy your VSTO applications over the Web

• You can more easily create Office-based applications
• You can speed up Outlook form region design and configuration process
• You can leverage SharePoint workflows and gain access to enterprise third-party back-end data repositories such as SAP and Siebel

Mobile Applications

• Visual Studio Tools for devices now incorporates unit testing, and Device Emulator 3.0
• Mobile project support LINQ, WCF, CLR Profiler / Performance Monitor, and BCL enhancements

• Developers can focus on the mobile application functionality and not worry about the different identities, connection methods, or storage models required

Web Applications and Service

Employ the Latest Web User Interface Techniques

What is it?

• Integrated Silverlight support
• Improved JavaScript and ASP.NET AJAX support (Intellisense and debugging)

Why should I care?

• Build richer, more interactive, more personalized web experiences.
• Increase your productivity by learning fewer concepts, and writing fewer lines of code
• Spend less time authoring, debuging, and maintaining
• Design and development can be conducted collaboratively

Design Web Applications

• VS 2008 now uses the same Web Designer that ships with the new Expression Web product
• Split view editing, to see both the HTML source and the Design View at the same-time
• Nested master pages to enable design layout inheritance between your Web pages
• (Cascading Style Sheets) CSS Style manager to select a CSS style sheets

• Use an intuitive Web Designer to build Web interfaces more easily
• Change the layout of an entire website with minimal code changes

Build Connected Applications

• Built in tools for implementing communications software with WCF
• Support for a wide array of transports and protocols including SOAP
• Improved support for standards including REST and JSON         

• WCF is easier to use and better integrates with Web services
• When building a service, you don’t need to write hosting code or deploy to IIS
• You don’t need to develop a client to test your service code – WCF

Collaboration

Improve Team Collaboration

What is it?

• Connect to Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Foundation Server using Team Explorer*
• Collaborate with users of the Visual Studio 2008 products

Why should I care?

• Your team can work more effectively and manage change
• Team members using Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition can collaborate more easily with team members using Visual Studio Team System 2008 products

Improve Collaboration with the Web Designer

• XAML is automatically generated by the design tool the designer uses; XAML is then consumed by the developer
• Since VS 2008, the workflow is two-way, the developer being able to start the process

• Designers and developers can work iteratively and simultaneously rather than sequentially
• Designers and developers can be more productive and work in a more agile way