19 Aug 2014

Bing Developer Assistant for Visual Studio

Utilities, Visual Studio 2012, Visual Studio 2013
Microsoft has introduced a new Visual Studio extension – Bing Developer Assistant for Visual Studio (currently tagged as Beta). This extension allows you, the developer, to locate millions of code snippets and sample projects from within the Visual Studio IDE. Essentially, this extension combines the features of two previous extensions: Bing Code Search and Sample Browser. Code Snippets in IntelliSense The Bing Developer Assistant extension provides some nice additions to the Visual Studio IntelliSense experience. Most notably, it can provide you with a code snippet that is relevant to the API you are actively coding against. For example, in the…
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13 Nov 2013

Visual Studio 2012 & TFS 2012 Update 4 Available

Visual Studio 2012
The final release of Visual Studio 2012 Update 4 and Team Foundation Server Update 4 is now available for download. Here are the links: Visual Studio 2012 Update 4 (view details) Team Foundation Server 2012 Update 4 (view details) The Visual Studio 2012 update is available as a web installer (1.3MB); However, you can run the installer with the /layout switch if you would like to download the entire set of installation files (e.g. to install the update on multiple machines while downloading it only once). For example, press Windows+R and enter: {path}\vs2012.4.exe /layout (replacing {path} with the download path…
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05 Apr 2013

Visual Studio/TFS Update 2 Released

TFS 2012, Visual Studio 2012
The latest update for Visual Studio 2012 and Team Foundation Server 2012, Update 2, has been released.  There is a lot of new functionality included in this release and rather than duplicate all the details here, I’ll simply refer you to this post on the Visual Studio ALM + Team Foundation Server Blog as well as this link. I would like to point out the download links: Visual Studio 2012 Update 2 Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2012 with Update 2 Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server Express 2012 with Update 2 IntelliTrace Collector for Visual Studio Remote Tools for…
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02 Aug 2012

Visual Studio 2012 Available August 15th + Windows 8

Visual Studio 2012, Windows 8
Today Microsoft announced that the final build of Visual Studio 2012 has been completed.  The final bits will be available for download from MSDN and “elsewhere” on August 15th.  The official launch will be on September 12th via an on-line event.  You can find out more about the launch event here: http://www.visualstudiolaunch.com/ Also from Microsoft, today they announced the release to manufacturing (RTM) of Windows 8.  Windows 8 will be generally available on new machines as well as on-line on October 26th.  For more information about Windows 8 visit the Building Windows 8 blog.
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31 May 2012

Visual Studio 2012/TFS 2012 RC Released

TFS 2012, Visual Studio 2012
The Visual Studio 2102 (formerly Visual Studio "11") Release Candidate (RC) and Team Foundation Server 2012 RC has been released by Microsoft.  The downloads are available now on the MSDN Subscribers Download site and I would expect the downloads to be available on the usual non-subscriber sites soon. Check out this post from Brian Harry for a quick run down on some of the details. Here are some other useful links from the above post: Visual Studio Product website Eclipse update site for the latest Team Explorer Everywhere preview or the download page Overall summary of changes since the Beta…
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09 May 2012

Visual Studio 11 UI Changes Coming…

Visual Studio 2012
When Visual Studio 11 Beta was released a few months back there were some drastic changes to the overall user interface (UI) within Visual Studio.  Namely, the UI was pretty much devoid of all color (short of various shades of gray).  Needless to say there was a tremendous amount of feedback provided to Microsoft pleading for a little color in their beloved IDE (as well as fewer ALL CAPS VERBIAGE). Well, as it turns out, Microsoft has listened to the feedback and have posted some screenshots of the upcoming Visual Studio Release Candidate (RC) release which shows that some color…
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12 Apr 2012

Team Foundation Service Whitepaper in Beta

ALM Rangers, TFS, Visual Studio 2012
The Visual Studio ALM Rangers have shipped another deliverable as part of the ALM Rangers Visual Studio 11 Readiness “Gig” Project – the Team Foundation Service Preview whitepaper. If you have been following the various developments of Visual Studio 11 and Team Foundation Server 11 then you are already aware that Microsoft now offers a cloud-based solution for TFS – currently referred to as the Team Foundation Service Preview.  Many of the features that are currently available in the “on-premises” version of TFS are also available in the cloud-based version (conversely, there are also some features in the cloud-based version…
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05 Apr 2012

TFS 11 Power Tools Beta Released

TFS, Visual Studio 2012
A beta release of the TFS 11 Power Tools has been released.  This release can run side-by-side with the TFS 2010 Power Tools (with some caveats – see below). The features included with this release are: TFS 11 Power Tools Team Foundation Power Tool Command Line (tfpt.exe) Team Explorer Enhancements Windows Shell Extensions (*note: depending on which versions of the TFS Power Tools you install (e.g. TFS 2010 or TFS 11 Beta) the last one installed wins – i.e. you can’t have Windows Shell Extensions for both versions) Process Template Editor Test Attachment Cleaner Best Practices Analyzer TFS PowerShell Commands…
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02 Mar 2012

Windows 8 Beta and Visual Studio 11 Beta Quick Links

TFS, Visual Studio 2012, Windows 8
If you haven't yet downloaded the Windows 8 Beta or Visual Studio 11 Beta, a list of links are provided below for convenience.  If there is anything missing (from the February 29th beta wave release), please leave a comment below and we'll get it added to the list. Windows 8 Windows 8 Consumer Preview Windows 8 Server Beta - must register to download Visual Studio 11 Beta Download - this link works for the following product downloads: .NET .NET Framework 4.5 Beta Visual Studio Visual Studio 11 Ultimate Beta Visual Studio 11 Premium Beta Visual Studio 11 Professional Beta Visual…
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24 Feb 2012

Comparing Visual Studio 2010 and Visual Studio 11 Beta Editions

Visual Studio 2012
Yesterday, Microsoft announced that the Visual Studio 11 Beta would be available on February 29th.  I expect there to be a lot of information coming out over the next few weeks (and months) covering the various features in the updated tools. If you are curious about what’s included in each of the Visual Studio 11 beta editions, then take a look at the Visual Studio 11 Features Chart provided by Microsoft: If you would like to compare the above features with Visual Studio 2010, then check out the Visual Studio 2010 Comparison chart: The following list summarizes most of the…
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