VB Express vs. ????

  • Thread starter Thread starter Alan Gillott
  • Start date Start date
A

Alan Gillott

Can anyone tell me the catch in VB.NET 2005. I've been trying to figure it
out from the marketing gobbledegook. The biggest catch i can find is the
reference to one click deployment (as meaningless a phrase as i can think
of). does that mean i can't create a regular setup deployment?
rules it, and the expense of an upgrade right out if that's the case.
 
Alan Gillott said:
Can anyone tell me the catch in VB.NET 2005. I've been trying to figure it
out from the marketing gobbledegook. The biggest catch i can find is the
reference to one click deployment (as meaningless a phrase as i can think
of). does that mean i can't create a regular setup deployment?
rules it, and the expense of an upgrade right out if that's the case.
Click to expand...
There's no mystery. The features of the various editions are compared here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/products/compare/

You decide which features you need.
 
As a "regular" setup is a separate project, you have the option of creating
different types of setups. The trick is VB.NET Express, which is rather
limited. It is better to pick up one of the other SKUs when you are trying
to get to this level of flexibility. Anything can be done in Express, but
the pain level is higher.

--
Gregory A. Beamer

*************************************************
Think Outside the Box!
*************************************************
 
Thank you, but I've been here and am still left tryiong to understand what:

a) ClickOnce really means?
b) Simplified menu options and defaults?

All I understand is that they mean I can't do something! Unfortunately the
table doesn't tell me what I can't do? What do I lose by using Express? And
there's no pricing so I can't tell whether I shold look at Tools for Office,
say instead?

A
 
Alan said:
there's no pricing so I can't tell whether I shold look at Tools for Office,
say instead?
Click to expand...

The Express version is free, so you can try it with no risk and find
out if it meets your needs.
 
1) ClickOnce is a very simple installation (basically it just add a shortcut
etc). See
http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/windowsforms/learning/features/clickonce/default.aspx
and the product doc for details...

2) The default layout for menus etc likely show less things (but you can
make things appears if needed) plus what you can't do is not shown ;-)
(profiling, unit testing, source code control etc...)

As the Express Edition is free, unless you have specific needs, my advice
would be just to start with VB 2005 Express and see by yourself what is
available out of the box. You can always upgrade later to another edition if
you finally found you really miss something...
 
No, click once is more than just a shortcut.

If you want to deploy an application, but don't want to work within the many
"issues" and slowness revolving around web server based code (HTML, etc.)
AND your target audience is Windows OS based, then "click once" is they way
to go. You provide the link on a basic HTML page, user clicks it, the
application either runs (if already installed on client PC) or installs to
the client PC (there are many install options available). You get to use
Windows Forms rather than the aweful and horrendous HTML approach (ASPX or
otherwise). The downside is that any non-Windows OS client PC's can't run
the app. Since these are Windows forms apps (or Windows services) you can
deploy them in the traditional sense also (win/win). Click once apps also
scale VERY well to PDA, Phones, etc.

IMHO, I believe Click Once apps will become the preferred method of
deployment of applications and the web side will return to a more simple (as
it was intended) and very minimal set of HTML. Since Mac owners can now run
WindowsXP in their new Intel based boxes Click once apps are not an issue
for them either, that leaves a small Linux audience and/or other OS group
(>1%). This should open the door for much improved web deployed
applications and much more powerful applications than the current crop of
tiny font, virus infected, spyware/spam/advertisement sites that current
infest the web and consume all the bandwidth. And you can avoid the IE
client completely!!! SSL not required, WC3 can go to hell, and all the
other web money making schemes.

Microsoft have done good here, I hope they expand on it. But I also hope
for SP1 for VS 2005 any day now????

Rob.
 
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