I am currently reading Beginning ASP.NET with C# and it recommended using Visual Web Developer Express(VWD).But ,I have a battery of questions.Could I use Visual Web Developer Express for all the projects I am planning to do in Visual Studio 2008?Can the Free Express edition satisfy my needs?Or, Is there a need to buy Visual Studio even though I have a VWD?Could you tell me What I can do or can not when I just use the Visual Web developer Express 2008?
If you read this ,do you still recommended me to use UWDE,or any reasons ?
However,I was just thinking about what the Express version lacks ,compared with the Visual Studio.
1.Not Extensibile with other add-ons or third party tools.If I use Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition ,I can’t install and use Web Application Projects ,CSS Properties Window,HTML/ASP.net Spell Spell Checker, ReSharper etc like the third party tools.
2.Can not add a Class Library project. If you want to add a Class Library project or a Web Controls Library project to the solution,to be surprised ( Class libraries are popular way to sharing business logic code or any other utility code. ),you can not manage it . Because VWD Express 2008 only supports a single type of project: Web site.Also,VWD 2008 SP1 allows Web Application and Class Library Projects in the solution.
3.Lack of Source Code Control,while a good Source Code Control system can provide us with change history ,branches ,merges ,etc.SCC is key for a professional developer in team development.
4. no Accessibility checker.It is indispensible for you to develop Web sites that must be accessible.
5.Lack of the ability for automatic generation of resources for localization.This means that your Web can not be localized in multiple languages.
6.You want to attach debugger to a process in VWD Express ,sorry you can’t.For example,when you need to step through code in existing classic ASP pages in order to understand how it works or you have to maintain classic ASP pages, you need ASP debugging which requires ability to attach debugger to a running process, the Visual Web Developer Express Edition can not help you .
7. No Native code debugging.For example ,some legacy code, especially in classic ASP code may be using COM objects written in C++. Mixed mode debugging is not supported in Express.
8.Not support opening or editing SharePoint Web sites.
So much you can not do ,maybe you will give up the free Express edition.You will find Visual Studio 2008 more favorable.
However,VWD Express 2008 still has its merits.
The obvious advantage of VWD over VS2008 is that it is free and if you can work smart with it given the missing features, it may be the more pragmatic option for you. If those are features that you can’t live without, VS2008 may be a wise investment - you also get all of the features missing from other Express products (Visual Basic 2008, Visual C# 2008, etc).
In addition,Visual Web Developer Express 2008 is a free web tool that allows you to build CSS, HTML ASP.NET, C#, VB, and JavaScript and supports additional frameworks like ASP.NET MVC, AJAX, Silverlight and jQuery.
So,what should I choose ?Or,I can have a cake and eat it too ?