Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone
March 22, 2012
Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone is a complete development environment for creating Windows Phone applications. Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone includes features such as a Windows Phone-based design surface, a code editor, Windows Phone project templates, and a Toolbox that contains Windows Phone controls. In addition, Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone enables you to debug and deploy your applications on a Windows Phone Emulator or a Windows Phone device.
Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone is a component of the Windows Phone SDK. For information about how to install the Windows Phone SDK, see Installing the Windows Phone SDK. The following illustration shows an example of Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone.
If Visual Studio 2010 Professional or higher is already installed on your computer when you install the Windows Phone SDK, the Windows Phone Add-in for Visual Studio 2010 is installed instead of Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone.
Note:
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You do not need Visual Studio 2010 Professional to develop Windows Phone applications. |
The following table shows the result of installing the Windows Phone SDK depending on the version of Visual Studio already installed on your computer.
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Before Installing the Windows Phone SDK |
After Installing the Windows Phone SDK |
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No versions of Visual Studio are installed |
Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone is installed |
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Visual Studio 2010 Professional or higher is installed |
Windows Phone Add-in for Visual Studio 2010 is installed |
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Any combination of the following are installed:
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Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone is installed |
Supported Features
With the exception of a few debugging features, the Windows Phone Add-in for Visual Studio 2010 has equivalent functionality to Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone. For detailed information about the supported debugging features, see Debugging Windows Phone Applications.
The projects that you create with either Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone or the Windows Phone Add-in for Visual Studio 2010 are compatible with Expression Blend for Windows Phone. You can share these projects with Expression Blend without any conversion issues or loss of functionality.
Unsupported Features
Some features in Visual Studio 2010 are not supported when you are using the Windows Phone Add-in for Visual Studio 2010. These unsupported features include the following:
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IntelliTrace
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Lab Management
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Testing
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Data (add data source, schema compare)
If you are familiar with Visual Studio, many of the features in Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone or the Windows Phone Add-in for Visual Studio 2010 will be the same. The following table describes some of the elements in Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone or the Windows Phone Add-in for Visual Studio 2010 that are unique to Windows Phone development. It also contains links to relevant topics in the Visual Studio documentation. For general information about using Visual Studio, see Application Development in Visual Studio in the Visual Studio documentation.
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Note:
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Because many of the features of Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone, the Windows Phone Add-in for Visual Studio 2010, and Visual Studio 2010 are shared, the documentation may refer to Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone or Visual Studio 2010. |
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Feature |
What is Unique to Windows Phone Development |
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Project Templates |
Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone and the Windows Phone Add-in for Visual Studio 2010 include project templates that are specific to Windows Phone. For information about the project templates, see Project Templates for Windows Phone and Using the Project Template that Combines Silverlight and XNA. |
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Toolbox |
The Toolbox provides the Windows Phone controls that you can drag onto the design surface. For information about controls, see Base Controls for Windows Phone. |
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Design View |
The Visual Studio designer provides a Windows Phone skin with screen dimensions that correspond to a Windows Phone device. To change the screen orientation of a project, see How to: Change the Orientation of a Windows Phone Project. |
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Code Editor |
For information about editing code, see Editing Code and Resource Files in the Visual Studio documentation. |
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Project Settings |
Most of the project settings for Windows Phone projects are the same as other Visual Studio projects. The Application pane of the Project Designer includes some options that are specific to Windows Phone. For information about setting the tile options, see How to: Set the Initial Properties for the Application Tile for Windows Phone. For general information about project settings, see Managing Solutions, Projects, and Files in the Visual Studio documentation. |
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Multi-targeting |
When you create an application using Visual Studio, you have the option to specify the target Windows Phone version. In addition you can upgrade the target version of existing Windows phone projects. For more information, see How to: Specify a Target Version or Upgrade Projects for Windows Phone. |
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Debugging |
For information about using Visual Studio to debug Windows Phone applications, see Debugging Windows Phone Applications. |
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Viewing Files in Isolated Storage |
You can view the files in isolated storage for an application, make a copy of the files, or replace the files with files from the local computer. For more information, see How to: Use the Isolated Storage Explorer Tool. |
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Deployment |
The deployment model for Silverlight-based applications for Windows Phone is different than Silverlight on other platforms because Windows Phone applications are not browser-based. You can set the target device on the Standard toolbar to deploy an application to a Windows Phone device. For information about deploying applications, see the following topics: |
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Application Profiling |
You can use profiling tools in Visual Studio while developing your Windows Phone applications to improve the performance and responsiveness of your applications. For more information, see the following topics: |
