I'm looking to do a website for a client and I am considering using ASP.NET. Can I use the express version of Visual Studio to build this or do I have to buy a license?
A:
You can use the Express versions but you will have to have a number of Express versions open (Web,C#,etc) to do the dev work.
It will make life easier if you have a licenced version of VS so you dont have to chop and change.
AutomatedTester
2009-07-13 11:47:29
This isn't true with Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition. You can have VB.NET or C# class libraries and ASP.NET Web application projects in the same VWD solution.
Joe Chung
2009-07-13 11:56:24
Not sure why it was downvoted. Really, you'll need C# express to build class libraries.
User
2009-07-13 11:56:50
Mastermind: I think this is changed in the SP1 release.
Mehrdad Afshari
2009-07-13 11:58:05
You can't compile c# classes and web applications in the same solution
AutomatedTester
2009-07-13 12:01:04
+2
A:
Yes, Visual Web Developer 2008 SP1 Express is a great development platform. It does most of the stuff needed for professional development, let alone developing as hobbyist.
Mehrdad Afshari
2009-07-13 11:50:18
Yes, but are you allowed to build a commercial product with the Express Editions or this will violate the EULA?
kgiannakakis
2009-07-13 11:51:54
A:
VS Express comes in different flavors, each targeting different roles and purposes. I think you may find ASP.NET development with VS Express somewhat fragmented (some features are only available in the WebDevelop edition, while other only in the C# edition) - but it certainly is possible.
If you are looking for a free IDE for .NET to do ASP development, you may also be interested in looking into Mono Develop - it can target all versions of the .NET framework at this point (not just the Mono ones) and it's quite stable. I've used that successfully for development on several projects - and while it's not as feature rich as VS, it is quite good.
LBushkin
2009-07-13 11:51:35
On Windows, you can only download 2.1 preview version of MonoDevelop. When I did it, it broke my web application under Visual Studio: the server was no longer able to load my classes! Uninstalling it solved the problem. So for web development on Windows I think it's better to stick with Visual Web Developer 2008 SP1 Express.
Gaël Marziou
2009-07-13 12:13:15
A:
You can get yourself a developer edition of VS. It will be relatively inexpensive. Since you will hand the the site to the customer and not run it yourself, you can get away with the limitation the developer edition imposes.
User
2009-07-13 11:53:32
A:
Keep in mind that many of the "big" web hosting companies are PHP/MySQL based and don't support .Net/Mono. Make sure your client's host can support the technology you intend to use.
Chris Porter
2009-07-13 11:55:14
If the question asker is unfamiliar with the licensing requirements for VS Express, it would stand to reason he might not be familiar with the hosting requirements for ASP.NET. If his client has an existing hosting company who doesn't support ASP.NET, it would be much better to determine that now than after he builds the solution. It is off topic but IMO related to his situation. Perhaps it could have been a comment.
Chris Porter
2009-07-13 12:58:57