Getting our Application to support Vista

[Guest]

Hi All,

Hope this is the right forum. If not, please direct me to another that
might be more appropriate. We sell a commercial application that uses MSDE
as the database. From our understanding, this will not work going forward
with Vista so we need to move to SQL Express. Our current setup is Visual
Studio 2003 using Framework 1.1.

We do have some questions on this and would like a couple of other potential
solutions verified.

1. If we move to SQL Express, does our application have to be compiled
against framework 2.0 or can we leave it at 1.1?

2. If we move to Visual Studio 2005, can we still compile to the 1.1
framework? This is a requirement because we have a partner that integrates
our system and they will continue with Framework 1.1. If it is possible, are
there any known issues.

3. Are there any changes with the connection string between MSDE and SQL
Express?

4. We are thinking of compiling our application against 1.1 but when we
release it, send Framework 3.0 or 2.0 if SQL Express demands that version.
Our understanding is that this should work and applications will pick up the
higher version of the framework if the version they were compiled under is
not available. We would do this since SQL Express requires at least version
2 of the framework to install. Of course we would test the application on
both versions (1.1 and 3.0) for compatability.

5. Is it possible to stay with Visual Studio 2003 and run against SQL Server
2005 and SQL Express?

Thanks to all who can help.

Roger

 

[David Browne]

Hi All,

Hope this is the right forum. If not, please direct me to another that
might be more appropriate. We sell a commercial application that uses
MSDE
as the database. From our understanding, this will not work going forward
with Vista so we need to move to SQL Express. Our current setup is Visual
Studio 2003 using Framework 1.1.

We do have some questions on this and would like a couple of other
potential
solutions verified.

1. If we move to SQL Express, does our application have to be compiled
against framework 2.0 or can we leave it at 1.1?

..NET 1.1 apps can use SQL Express.

2. If we move to Visual Studio 2005, can we still compile to the 1.1
framework? This is a requirement because we have a partner that
integrates
our system and they will continue with Framework 1.1. If it is possible,
are
there any known issues.

There is an add-on for VS 2005 that lets you build 1.1 assemblies:

MSBuild Extras - Toolkit for .NET 1.1 "MSBee"
http://www.codeplex.com/Wiki/View.aspx?ProjectName=MSBee

Of course, you won't be able to use any new .NET 2.0 features.

3. Are there any changes with the connection string between MSDE and SQL
Express?

There are changes, but your existing connection string should still work.

4. We are thinking of compiling our application against 1.1 but when we
release it, send Framework 3.0 or 2.0 if SQL Express demands that version.
Our understanding is that this should work and applications will pick up
the
higher version of the framework if the version they were compiled under is
not available. We would do this since SQL Express requires at least
version
2 of the framework to install. Of course we would test the application on
both versions (1.1 and 3.0) for compatability.

5. Is it possible to stay with Visual Studio 2003 and run against SQL
Server
2005 and SQL Express?

Yes.

David

 

[Chris Mullins [MVP]]

We do have some questions on this and would like a couple of other
potential
solutions verified.

1. If we move to SQL Express, does our application have to be compiled
against framework 2.0 or can we leave it at 1.1?

SQL Express & .Net 1.1 shouldn't have any troubles.

2. If we move to Visual Studio 2005, can we still compile to the 1.1
framework? This is a requirement because we have a partner that
integrates
our system and they will continue with Framework 1.1. If it is possible,
are
there any known issues.

That's tricky. You best bet, really, is a build system. I know I've seen an
MSDN article somewhere that used MS-Build to build .Net 1.1 applications,
and I myself have done it using NAnt. You should really be using a build
system anyway...

Working for a company that has been in EXACTLY this posistion, I can tell
you that it's frustrating. We decided to branch the tree. The .Net 1.1
branch was "stable", and the new 2.0 branch. Nothing else was really a
long-term option.

3. Are there any changes with the connection string between MSDE and SQL
Express?

Nothing comes to mind.

4. We are thinking of compiling our application against 1.1 but when we
release it, send Framework 3.0 or 2.0 if SQL Express demands that version.
Our understanding is that this should work and applications will pick up
the
higher version of the framework if the version they were compiled under is
not available. We would do this since SQL Express requires at least
version
2 of the framework to install. Of course we would test the application on
both versions (1.1 and 3.0) for compatability.

Your install package, and your application, are actually unrelated in this
instance. The bootstrappers your application uses - to install SQL Express,
..Net 1.1, .Net 2.0, .Net 3.0, etc, are not part of your application itself.
They actually a different package, and built differently. What install
package are you using?

5. Is it possible to stay with Visual Studio 2003 and run against SQL
Server
2005 and SQL Express?

I don't see why this would be an issue. I haven't use VS2003 in a while, but
I really can't imagine it would be a problem.

 

[RobinS]

SQL Express & .Net 1.1 shouldn't have any troubles.


That's tricky. You best bet, really, is a build system. I know I've seen
an MSDN article somewhere that used MS-Build to build .Net 1.1
applications, and I myself have done it using NAnt. You should really be
using a build system anyway...

Working for a company that has been in EXACTLY this posistion, I can tell
you that it's frustrating. We decided to branch the tree. The .Net 1.1
branch was "stable", and the new 2.0 branch. Nothing else was really a
long-term option.



Nothing comes to mind.


Your install package, and your application, are actually unrelated in
this instance. The bootstrappers your application uses - to install SQL
Express, .Net 1.1, .Net 2.0, .Net 3.0, etc, are not part of your
application itself. They actually a different package, and built
differently. What install package are you using?


I don't see why this would be an issue. I haven't use VS2003 in a while,
but I really can't imagine it would be a problem.

Another thing to remember is that you can not run VS2003 on Vista, but I
believe that applications that have been developed in VS2003 will run on
Vista. You might want to check that out, and make sure the .Net 1.1
framework runs on Vista as well.

Robin S.

 

[Kevin Spencer]

All versions of the .Net Framework run on Vista.

--
HTH,

Kevin Spencer
Microsoft MVP
Software Composer
http://unclechutney.blogspot.com

I had the same problem once. Fixed it using the same solution.

 

[Guest]

Thansk everyone.

I was about to go with VS 2005 and use an external process to compile to
Framework 1.1 when I saw this:

"WinForms in VS 2005 uses partial classes which are unsupported in the VS
2003 compilers."

This post was indicating that if you add a new form in vs2005 it can't
compile because of how it's built. Any comments on this?

Thanks

 

[David Browne]

Thansk everyone.

I was about to go with VS 2005 and use an external process to compile to
Framework 1.1 when I saw this:

"WinForms in VS 2005 uses partial classes which are unsupported in the VS
2003 compilers."

This post was indicating that if you add a new form in vs2005 it can't
compile because of how it's built. Any comments on this?

Yes. The WinForms designer in VS 2005 uses partial classes. That's one of
the main reasons that partial classes exist: to support seperation between
designer-generated and hand-coded bits of code.

There are lots of new features in .NET 2.0 which you will have to avoid if
you want to compile for 1.1. Many of these are used by the Visual Studio
IDE.

David

 

[RobinS]

Thanks. And do you know if I am right about VS2003?
Just wondering,
Robin S.

 

[Kevin Spencer]

Visual Studio 2003 is not supported on Vista. I have heard the rumors, but I
haven't tried any workarounds. For one thing, I have very little legacy
software, and I have an XP operating system on the machine I do the
remaining legacy work on.

--
HTH,

Kevin Spencer
Microsoft MVP
Software Composer
http://unclechutney.blogspot.com

I had the same problem once. Fixed it using the same solution.

 

[David Browne]

Visual Studio 2003 is not supported on Vista. I have heard the rumors, but
I haven't tried any workarounds. For one thing, I have very little legacy
software, and I have an XP operating system on the machine I do the
remaining legacy work on.

Speaking of keeping an XP instance around for legacy work:

Virtual PC 2007 is out, free and runs on Vista and XP.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/virtualpc/default.mspx

David