Along with the new release of Windows 8 Consumer Preview, Microsoft also launched complete set of development tools that contains Visual Studio 11 Express Beta and Blend for Visual Studio. These are the tool to build Metro style apps for Windows 8. It includes the Windows 8 SDK, templates and enables access to Windows 8 APIs.
Microsoft Visual Studio 11 Beta has a new, simpler, refreshed UI, and it includes fully featured code editor, a powerful debugger, a focused profiler, and rich language support that you can use to build apps that written in HTML5, JavaScript, C++, C# or Visual Basic. Visual Studio 11 Express Beta for Windows 8 also includes a device simulator that you can use to test Metro style apps on multiple form factors.
Below, we have compiled thorough list of what you need to know to get started on VS 11 Beta. Don’t forget to check out our easy step by step guide on how to develop apps for Windows 8 Consumer Preview.
What’s New in Visual Studio 11 Beta
Platform Development
Start off with one of the ready-made Metro style app templates, available in JavaScript, C++, C# or Visual Basic. Next, use Blend for Visual Studio 11 Beta to style and design your application, whether you’re using HTML or XAML. Debug locally, on the simulator, or attached to another device, and use the profiling and code analysis tools to monitor your app’s quality. Finally, once your app is ready and the Store becomes available, you’ll be able to use Visual Studio to package and upload your app to the Windows Store.
New & Refreshed IDE User Interface
VS 11 Beta improves developer experience through reduction and simplification. Beyond the clean and professional look, the overall environment has been streamlined with simplified toolbars, a lightweight Find dialog, and less tab clutter by previewing files rather than opening them during debugging. It’s now easier to manage the environment by rafting tabs on a second monitor, or by searching the IDE for a menu or command.
Languages
Visual Studio 11 includes support in the box for the following languages: C#, Visual Basic, F#, C++ and JavaScript.
Business Application Development: LightSwitch, Sharepoint & ALM
LightSwitch development is now available as part of the Visual Studio 11 Beta Professional, Premium and Ultimate installations. SharePoint developer tools are also updated in Visual Studio 11 Beta, including new designers for list and content types, new templates for site columns and Silverlight web pages, as well as new options for deploying SharePoint sites. ALM features like performance profiling, unit testing, and IntelliTrace are now available for SharePoint development.
Lightweight Requirements
Microsoft has introduced PowerPoint Storyboarding. PowerPoint Storyboarding is a PowerPoint add-in, and allows the development team to quickly mock up a design. This is a quick and easy way to specify the application requirements, and provides an opportunity for feedback even before the coding begins.
Compatibility
The compatibility improvements in Visual Studio 11 will make it easier to work with your existing Visual Studio assets, without doing any “upgrades” of project files. In the majority of cases, you can use Visual Studio 11 and also continue collaborating on projects with your teammates using Visual Studio 2010 SP1.
To find out more, read the entire article here.
Download Visual Studio 11 Beta
Before downloading and installing VS 11 Beta, make sure you read the associated readme files for system requirements and a list of known issues:
Additional related downloads:
- Design assets (48 MB)
These .psd assets include templates, common controls, and common components such as contracts, notifications, and tiles. Learn more about designing Metro style apps. - Sample app pack (300 MB)
This package contains over 200 samples from Microsoft to help jumpstart your project quickly. You can also browse individual samples, copy code inline, and leave comments in the samples gallery. - Remote Tools for Visual Studio 11 Beta
These standalone tools allow you to easily install, test, and profile the performance of a Metro style app on a PC running Windows 8 Consumer Preview without Visual Studio 11 Beta installed. - Multilingual App Toolkit for Visual Studio 11 Beta
This extension for Visual Studio 11 Beta helps you localize your Metro style app with translation support, translation file management, and editor tools. Learn more about the Multilingual App Toolkit. - LightSwitch Cosmopolitan Shell and Theme extension for VS11 Beta on VS Gallery
The shell and theme provides a modern UI to achieve a more immersive feel, simple and clean styling for the controls, as well as many other improvements such as branding, navigation menu, command bar, list/grid.
Related reading materials:
- Scott Hanselman: Features NO ONE NOTICED in Visual Studio 11 Express Beta for Web
- Willy-P Schaub: TOC: TFS Integration Tools Blog Posts and Reference Sites
- Beth Massi: LightSwitch Cosmopolitan Shell and Theme for VS 11 Beta
- Visual Studio Blog: Visual Studio 11 Beta Performance Part #3
- Channel 9: Visual Studio 11 Beta Performance: F5 Experience
- Channel 9: Visual Studio 11 Beta Performance: F4 Refresh Windows
- Maureen Mansour: What’s New in Visual Studio 11…
- RubelS: Visual Studio 11 Beta – Changes in Web Performance Test / Load Test Workflow
- Daniel Moth: Start GPU Debugging in Visual Studio 11
- MSDN Blogs: Windows 8 Developer How To: 4. Troubleshoot Apps Using Windows Azure Toolkit for Windows 8
Other resources:
- Visit the Visual Studio Developer Center on MSDN
- Windows Dev Center
- Visual Studio team blog
- Catch the latest conversations on #VS11Beta and follow Visual Studio on Twitter
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2 Responses to “Visual Studio 11 Beta: All You Need To Know”
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