Software

• Ideal for the part-time or occasional developer to develop and deploy client-server based Windows, Web, SmartPhone, and Pocket PC applications
• "Drag and drop" user interface designers for virtually every type of application; Master Pages support for maintaining a consistent look and feel across Web applications
• Edit and Continue for simple, intuitive debugging; integrated ClickOnce support

• Develop for Windows and the Web. Now you can easily build the smallest ActiveX controls,

• Complete development environment with comprehensive application development features, including improved visual designers, code editors, and programming languages for optimum productivity.
• Build tools that extend the Visual Studio Integrated Development enviroment using the Visual Studio Software Developers Kit.
• Visual designers, code editors, and programming languages for optimum productivity.

• Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 is the single fastest way to develop applications for any of the modern Microsoft Windows environments, period.
• Visual Basic supports all of Microsoft's solutions for database access, distributed computing, componentized software.
• Support for dynamic load balancing across servers.

This package includes the Windows 2000 Developer's Readiness Kit (also called the Plus Pack). Learn how to take advantage of new Windows 2000 features through in-depth, step-by-step training and technical resources. Get an overview of the Windows 2000 Web Services to build scalable Internet applications. Harness the power of the new COM+ services, including integrated-component management features, transaction processing between objects, and support for dynamic load balancing across servers. Use the Visual Studio Installer to create setup programs that feature easy installation and self-repair.

• Begin developing your own applications for the Web using a variety of different development options
• Begin designing complete Windows applications that are rich and robust

Intuitive visual designers for Windows Forms and Web Forms provide a single development model for building both rich desktop applications and broad-reach Web applications. New support for mobile device application development enables you to use the skills you already have to build mobile Web applications and rich Pocket PC-based software. And with new Windows Forms, developers using Visual Basic .NET 2003 can build Windows-based applications that leverage the rich user interface features available in the Windows operating system.

Find a full assortment of rapid application development (RAD) tools in Visual Basic .NET 2003, including drag-and-drop form design and the popular "code behind" forms model. In addition, features such as automatic control anchoring and docking eliminate the need for complex form-resize code. Controls such as the in-place menu editor deliver visual authoring of menus directly within the Windows Forms Designer.

In XML, Visual Studio .NET developers can build data-driven applications using built-in ADO.NET tools that target a variety of databases, including SQL Server, Oracle, or any other XML source. With support for XML, ADO.NET enables developers to share data across computing platforms. Additionally, Visual Studio .NET includes the Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE), a SQL Server-compatible database that provides programmers with a viable development database and natively supports XML.

Visual Studio .NET allows programmers to create and deploy critical server-based programming. With Visual Studio .NET, developers can visually compose middle-tier components using the Visual Component Designer (VCD). The VCD enables developers to drag and drop nonvisual objects such as message queues, timers, and event logs to a design surface, automatically discovering all necessary server-based resources and configuring required components.

The common runtime is language-neutral so, for example, Visual Basic programmers can use components written in C# and vice versa. Other languages, such as COBOL and FORTRAN, can plug into Visual Studio, and Microsoft provides a version of the Java language called J#.

Overall, Visual Studio .NET is a radical break from the past for Microsoft. C# is an entirely new language, aimed at C and C++ programmers looking for something safer and more productive. Visual Basic .NET is a new twist on the old Microsoft favorite, losing compatibility with earlier versions, but gaining full object orientation as well as access to all the .NET libraries. These two languages, along with J#, have full support for the visual design tools in Visual Studio .NET. Also included is JScript .NET, Microsoft's version of JavaScript, although this comes without a form designer. Visual C++ is similar to earlier versions and is the only compiler included that can build old-style Windows executables. With a compiler switch, it can also target .NET, making it particularly flexible.

Visual Studio .NET has two distinct form designers. Windows Forms are for traditional Windows applications, but managed by the common runtime. Web Forms are ASP.NET pages, which means they run on Web servers and work over the Internet. Microsoft has made designing and coding Windows Forms and Web Forms as similar as possible so that both types of applications can share components and much of the complexity of coding Web applications is kept hidden. Another key feature is Web services, which lets developers create an XML interface for an application so that it can be called across the Web or from any platform or language. XML support generally is strong, with a range of classes for parsing and transforming XML data. There is also a visual designer for XML Schema.

There are a few points against Visual Studio .NET. One is that, like earlier versions, it only creates applications that run on Windows. Web applications are a partial exception, in that they support cross-platform clients, but deployment requires a Windows Web server. Another factor is that, with its multiple compilers and mountains of documentation, Visual Studio .NET eats up gigabytes of disk space, and the IDE tends to be slow with less than around 384 MB RAM. Serious developers will take this in stride, but casual users could have difficulty. Fortunately, the applications created have more modest system requirements, although Windows 95 is not supported. Finally, developers coming from earlier editions face a lot of learning due to radical changes in both Visual Basic and ASP.

Despite these minor issues and a steep learning curve, Visual Studio .NET is an extremely versatile, sophisticated, and capable development tool. --Tim Anderson, Amazon.co.uk

The learning portion of this package was written and designed by Michael Halvorson, an eight-year technical editor at Microsoft Press. Also included in the package is a 218-page reference manual that contains excerpts from three beginning-to-intermediate level books also written by Halvorson: Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Step by Step: Learn by Doing, Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Programmer's Guide: Comprehensive Product Guide, and Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Developer's Workshop: Learn by Example.

Getting into the tutorial includes a five-minute video presentation about the tutorial itself. And, for those who may experience hearing difficulties, or those who wish to study Visual Basic while the kids are asleep, closed captioning is available for all of the narrated demonstrations. The narration, both in audio and printed form, is lively and witty, and unexpectedly allows the creator's zest for the topic to come through.

Just like in high school, each lesson is structured in a comfortable format: lecture and demonstrations, followed by a set of labs and a quiz. By no means must you start at the very beginning. Scanning some of the quizzes and activities may help you place yourself at the right spot on the learning curve--may that be introducing yourself to basic programming concepts or sharpening your existing knowledge by addressing ActiveX controls or how to use Automation technology.

The tutorial and lab direction components of your learning are entirely separate from the actual Visual Basic programming environment. This means that rather than learning programming in a controlled setting, you'll be up to your elbows in the real thing. This facet of the package allows for side-by-side work--as you take your cues from the lab's directions (and yes, they often follow the empirical format), you'll then forge your own programming path in creating your own application, often from scratch. Beginners start out with the creation of an on-demand time display; more advanced users will create database front-ends and learn to manipulate the contained data.

The package is truly a complete first step in a foray into Visual Basic. Aside from the tutoring component, you will also be able to install the Microsoft Developer's Network Library. Once you're familiar enough with Visual Basic, you can stretch your learning with this documentation and programming information. The library contains over a gigabyte of information--code samples, how-tos, and general reference--that you can also access directly from the disc, rather than tying up hard drive space. --Emilie Dirks

• Complete development environment with comprehensive application development features, including improved visual designers, code editors, and programming languages for optimum productivity.
• Build tools that extend the Visual Studio Integrated Development enviroment using the Visual Studio Software Developers Kit.