Visual InterDev
Microsoft® Visual InterDev™ version 6.0 gives developers more of the tools that they have come to expect from Microsoft's family of visual tools. The following new features make Web application development faster, richer, and more robust.
New to Service Pack 3
Debugging ASP Pages Containing Script Objects
A new debugging feature has been added to the scripting object model that allows you to catch errors that occur in lower-level components (such as during database access), trace events, and display warnings when script objects encounter possible errors.
For more information about debugging and the scripting object model, see Debugging Script Objects in ASP Pages.
OLE DB
Data connections can now be established using OLE DB data source providers, which offers greater flexibility in data sources and more efficient connections. For data sources that do not yet support OLE DB providers, you can continue to use ODBC-based connections.
To learn more, see Connecting to a Database.
New Selection Model
Selection works differently in the HTML editor for sited elements depending on what version of Internet Explorer you have installed. A sited element is any element that has a height or width, such as BUTTON.
With Internet Explorer 4.01, selection for sited elements works as follows:
The first click on an element allows you to edit the text within the element.
A second click on the element's border selects the element. A second click inside the element's rectangle places the insertion point within the element.
Double-clicking an element selects the text block within the element.
With Internet Explorer 5.0, selection for sited elements works as follows:
The first click on an element selects the element.
The second click on an element allows you to edit the text within the element.
Double-clicking the element brings up the source code for the element.
Note Selection for tables works the same as it did in Internet Explorer 4.01.
In addition, Internet Explorer 5.0 preserves whitespace better than Internet Explorer 4.01 when you switch between views in the editor.
Features New to version 6.0
Data Environment
Creating and modifying data-related objects is performed in one place: the graphical data environment. In the data environment, you can drag and drop objects onto Active Server Pages (ASP) to automatically create data-bound design-time controls. In this version of Visual InterDev, the data environment also supports Oracle.
For more information, see The Data Environment.
Data-Bound Design-Time Controls
Design-time controls offer you a richer, more visual editing interface for creating data-enriched pages. Data-bound controls make it simple to incorporate script in your ASP or HTML pages to interact with a database. The controls included with this version of Visual InterDev allow you to target a wide range of browsers, or to narrow your focus to the rich dynamic HTML available in Microsoft® Internet Explorer 4.0.
For information about the data-bound controls, see Design-Time Controls. For information on adding data to your pages, see Viewing Data and Scripting with Design-Time Controls and Script Objects.
Scripting Object Model
The scripting object model simplifies Web application development by providing a model for object-oriented scripting. Script objects simplify Web application development and also greatly reduce the complexity and quantity of scripting required to write applications that span the client (browser) and server. To make it easier to write against the scripting object model, Visual InterDev offers you design-time controls that create script objects for you.
For more information, see Scripting with Design-Time Controls and Script Objects, The Scripting Object Model, and Design-Time Controls.
Site Designer
To quickly prototype and build Web sites, use the graphical Site Designer. In the Site Designer, you use site diagrams to create pages, links, navigation, hierarchy, and more – all with an easy-to-use drag and drop interface.
For information on the Site Designer, see Site Design and Designing a Web Site.
Cascading Style Sheets Editor
You can edit style sheets easily in the CSS editor. You can create or modify style sheets for a set of Web pages and preview how your pages, or any page in the Web application would look, if the current style sheet were applied.
For more information, see Editing Style Sheets and the CSS Editor Window reference topics.
WYSIWYG Page Editor
The new Visual InterDev editor has a Design view that lets you edit and create content in a WYSIWYG workspace. In addition to the Design view, you can write script in Source view, which offers statement completion and color-coding of script elements. In addition, instead of viewing your file in an external browser, you can easily preview your file in Quick view.
For more information on the editor, see Editing Basics, Editing Modes, and Scripting with HTML Elements. For more information about the views, see , , and .
IntelliSense Statement Completion
IntelliSense® helps you create error-free script statements by presenting you with the names of methods and properties as soon as you've typed in the name of an object.
For more information on IntelliSense, see Editing Modes.
Dynamic HTML
Visual InterDev supports dynamic HTML (DHTML) in Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0. The Visual InterDev editor helps you create script for DHTML objects and events by presenting statement completion options for the object model and by displaying the object model hierarchy in the Script Outline window in Source view. As well as scripting directly to the Internet Explorer 4.0 object model, you can choose to have your design-time controls create client-side data binding script.
For related information, see Scripting with HTML Elements.
Developer Isolation
You can work on local versions of project files, giving you the ability to test and debug your files before updating the master server. You can also work in master mode, where files are automatically saved both locally and to the master server.
For more information about local and master modes, see Working Locally, Working with Multiple Developers, and Project Architecture.
Debugging Tools
Visual InterDev comes with a debugger that helps you test and debug script and Java components. You can use the debugger with Microsoft® Visual Basic®, Scripting Edition (VBScript) and Microsoft® JScript™, as well as applications written in Sun Microsystems Java and run using the Microsoft Java Virtual Machine.
For more information about debugging, see The Script Debugging Process, Debugging Your Pages, and Debugging Script Objects in ASP Pages.
Deployment
This version includes deployment features for middle-tier COM server components. New features make it easier to build and deploy component-based Web applications, including integration with the Microsoft® Transaction Server for building scaleable and robust enterprise Web applications. Copying your Web application to a production server is only a click away with this version of Visual InterDev.