I would like the designer to be able to open the same solution file as me. Is this possible with Expressions Web?
+2
A:
You can't open solution (*.sln) files, but you can open the folder containing them as a web site (using the "Open Web Site..." dialog), from which you can edit common web file types. You can also edit most text file types by right clicking and choosing Open With -> Expression Web (Open as Text).
Andy E
2009-06-29 15:38:06
That might be the killer for me. I was hoping it would open the solution and project files the same as Visual Studio. Looks like I will have to have the designer install Visual Studio itself. :-(
Mike C.
2009-06-29 16:41:19
+2
A:
The short answer is "no"; but this is a very common request, and I know a lot of people are hopeful that the next version (whenever that is) will have better support for this.
In particular, web application projects seem to be increasingly the default (especially for things like MVC, but obviously that changes the tooling a lot anyway).
Marc Gravell
2009-07-02 08:19:22
One would think that you'd be able to open a .NET solution in Expression blend. If you can't the tool is useless.
CoffeeAddict
2009-10-23 21:40:29
+2
A:
You cannot develop Asp.NET or PHP applications with Expression Web. You can only use it to edit code files as text. This tool is a continuation of famous old Frontpage tool. It's much of a visual designer for html/css pages and templates
That was what I was fearing. My pages usually don't function as stand-alone pages because of code-behind tweaks or other things. It looks like we'll have to give the designer a copy of Visual Studio. That seems like extreme overkill.
Mike C.
2009-07-02 13:09:21
In fact a single tool for all techonologies do not exist at all. No single IDE for asp.NET, php, jsp etc. If you are interested in Win platform web development Visual Studio is a good solution. Also you should consider Rad Studio(Delphi).
2009-07-03 10:18:37
How lame, and yes, it's about in the same boat as Front Page if you can't truly integrate Expression with a VS solution for God sakes!
CoffeeAddict
2009-10-23 21:41:29