Professional Visual Studio 2015

Bruce Johnson

• Publisher: Wrox
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781119068051
• eBook ISBN: 9781119067870
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Microsoft Programming
• Index: Computer Science

In-depth coverage of the major Visual Studio 2015 revamp

Professional Visual Studio 2015 is the leading pro's guide to new and upgraded features of Microsoft Visual Studio. With a unique IDE-centric approach and deep dive into the software's many nooks and crannies, this book will bring you up to speed quickly on everything Visual Studio 2015 has to offer. Whether you're new to Visual Studio or just upgrading, you'll appreciate in-depth, professional explanation of updates, features, and support. Visual Studio 2015 is packed with improvements that increase productivity, and this book walks you through each one in succession to help you smooth your workflow and get more accomplished. From customization and the interface to code snippets and debugging, the Visual Studio upgrade expands your options — and this book is your fast-track guide to getting on board quickly.

The Visual Studios 2015 release fixes a number of issues that deterred many professionals from adopting VS 2013. Old products have been retooled, and new features are aimed at productivity enhancement and fixes to UI. Fully aligned with VS 2015, this guide walks you through the changes and helps you incorporate helpful new features into the way you work.

• Discover new options for themes, displays, and settings
• Learn the new workflow and shortcuts to ASP.NET code
• Master improved debugging and unit testing support capabilities
• Exploit changes to Windows STORE apps, phone apps, Azure, and SharePoint

Part I

Integrated Development Environment

1. Chapter 1: A Quick Tour
2. Chapter 2: The Solution Explorer, Toolbox, and Properties
3. Chapter 3: Options and Customizations
4. Chapter 4: The Visual Studio Workspace
5. Chapter 5: Find and Replace and Help

Chapter 1
A Quick Tour

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What's in This Chapter?

• Installing and getting started with Visual Studio 2015
• Creating and running your first application
• Debugging and deploying an application

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Ever since software has been developed, there has been a need for tools to help write, compile, debug, and deploy applications. Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 is the next iteration in the continual evolution of a best-of-breed integrated development environment (IDE).

This chapter introduces the Visual Studio 2015 user experience and shows you how to work with the various menus, toolbars, and windows. It serves as a quick tour of the IDE, and as such it doesn't go into detail about what settings can be changed or how to go about customizing the layout because these topics are explored in the following chapters.

Getting Started

With each iteration of the Visual Studio product, the installation process has been incrementally improved, meaning that you can get up and running with Visual Studio 2015 with minimal fuss. This section walks you through the installation process and getting started with the IDE.

Installing Visual Studio 2015

When you launch Visual Studio 2015 setup, you'll see the dialog in Figure 1.1, which enables you to specify the location for the installation. After you have read (in great detail, of course) the licensing information and privacy statements available by clicking on the link at the bottom, you can click the check box to accept the terms and move to the next screen in the installation sequence.

Figure 1.1

Visual Studio 2015 naturally has a number of mandatory features. Because these features are built in, the installation process doesn't bother mentioning them. However, you can select from a number of optional features collected into three separate groups. The first group, as shown on the left of Figure 1.2, lets you select additional programming languages. Naturally, C# and VB.NET are included with no additional steps. But you can also add C++, F#, and some tools for use with Python at this point. The second group, shown in the middle of Figure 1.2, is made up of tools that are related to Windows and web development projects. Pick and choose the items that pertain to your development life. The third group, on the right of Figure 1.2, allows you to install tools that focus on cross-platform development tasks, including Xamarin and Android tools. Choose the features you believe you need (keeping in mind that you can always add or remove them later) and click Next. You'll see an installation preview dialog (visible in Figure 1.3) that describes what is about to be installed and lets you see any special license terms that might be required. A click on Install begins the process.

Figure 1.2

Figure 1.3

At this point, you'll see the progress dialog, an example of which is seen in Figure 1.4. Depending on which components you already have installed on your computer, you may be prompted to restart your computer midway through or at the end of the installation process. When all the components have been successfully installed, a Setup Completed dialog (Figure 1.5) indicates that there were no problems with the installation process.

Figure 1.4

Figure 1.5

Running Visual Studio 2015

The first time you run Visual Studio 2015, you'll be given the opportunity to sign in, as shown in Figure 1.6.

Figure 1.6

This behavior is part of an effort to cloud-enable Visual Studio — to connect Visual Studio settings and functionality to assets that are available across the Internet. There is no requirement for you to log in. If you look below the Sign In button in Figure 1.6, there is a Not Now, Maybe Later link. Clicking on that link skips a number of steps (you still need to select the default environment settings) and lets you get to Visual Studio quickly. But there are some decent benefits that can be derived by signing in.

Is Visual Studio Really Cloud Enabled?

The quick answer is “Yes.” A more accurate answer is “Yes, if you want it to be.” Part of the research work behind creating this feature involved Microsoft gaining an understanding of how developers identified themselves to various online functions. In general, most developers have two or more Microsoft accounts that they use when they develop. There is a primary identity, which typically maps to the credentials used by the person while working. Then there are additional identities used to access external functions, such as Team Foundation Server, or to publish apps onto the various Microsoft stores.

To mimic how developers work with these multiple online identities, Microsoft introduces a hierarchical relationship between these identities within Visual Studio. When you sign in, the account you specify is the primary identity for the Visual Stud...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Part I: Integrated Development Environment
• Part II: Getting Started
• Part III: Digging Deeper
• Part IV: Rich Client Applications
• Part IV: Rich Client Applications
• Part VI: Data
• Part VII: Application Services
• Part VIII: Configuration and Resources
• Part IX: Debugging
• Part X: Build and Deployment
• Part XI: Customizing and Extending Visual Studio
• Part XII: Visual Studio Enterprise
• End User License Agreement