Friday, March 20, 2009

Visual Studio 2008 extensions for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, v1.3 - Feb 2009 CTP

A new version of Visual Studio 2008 extensions for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 arrived.
New features in version 1.3 include:
  • Can be installed on x64 Server OS machines running SharePoint x64. Previously only x86 Server OS could be used
  • Separate build commands for package, deploy and retract are added as Visual Studio menu items
  • WSP View improvements for consistency of deleting feature elements, merging features and adding event receivers to features
  • Command line build, package and retract commands are included enabling continuous integration and build servers. Previously command line build of SharePoint projects was very difficult
  • Refactoring support for renaming of Web Parts. Previously renaming a web part required changes in several files in the project
  • Solution Generator can now generate solutions from publishing sites. Previously only regular sites could be generated
  • Allowing partial trust BIN deployments of web parts
  • New project item template for SharePoint RootFiles items
  • Deployment will now optionally remove conflicting existing features on the development server prior to redeployment. Previously any feature name conflicts would result in an error
  • Ancillary assemblies such as for business logic can now be added to the SharePoint Solution WSP
  • Hidden features related to Site Definition projects are now shown in WSP View. They are no longer hidden
  • For advanced users a fast deploy is included to update only the compiled assembly on the SharePoint development installation
  • Deployment step logging is included
  • The List Definition from Content Type template now allows for the creation of a List Definition Event Receiver
  • The User Guide is now installed with the extensions instead of being a separate download