tl;dr

• .NET 4.5 – 8th major release.
• .NET 4.5 is an in place replacement of .NET 4.0.
  • Installing it could cause issues for .NET 4.0, but is very unlikely and likely shows your app is using undocumented features or using features incorrectly.
• .NET vesions, CLR versions & language versions are not in sync.
• There is an awesome chart below which makes it easy to see the relationships in the ecosystem.

Introduction

.NET 4.5 is the next release and it is important to take a look how it fits in the .NET ecosystem. This is the 8th major release of .NET! What do I mean by major release? I mean any release that is not a patch/support only release, or put another way a major release it included major new features in the CLR and/or a new language options.

SxS vs. Replacement

In .NET we are lucky that many versions can run side by side (SxS) provided they have different versions of the CLR, however if a new major release shares the same CLR it is a replacement/additive version. For example: .NET 3.0 used the same CLR as .NET 2.0 (the CLR 2.0) and when installed replaced many of the files in .NET 2.0 with new versions and it is only via compiler directives that some things are turned on and off. The advantage of the SxS model is installing a new version doesn’t influence apps on the previous version in any way (i.e. if the app is 1.1 and works fine before .NET 2.0 was installed, it will keep working fine after .NET 2.0 is installed).

The problem with replacement model is that there is a chance that installing a new version breaks apps on the original version – however Microsoft does a RIDICULOUS number of testing to make sure this doesn’t happen, so that chance is very small. In fact if you happen to hit one, the chance is higher you are using undocumented features or using features incorrectly.

The reason for this explanation of SxS vs. replacement is that .NET 4.5 is an in place replacement for .NET 4.

Version Naming

Part of the confusion I suspect around me saying that .NET 4.5 is the eighth release is because Microsoft naming of versions is about as far from logic as you can get – the worst examples are the .NET Version 3.5 SP 1 is a major release labelled a Service Pack 1?! and the fact we do not have a version 3 of the CLR, it was just skipped?!

The other aspect is that versions of the CLR, versions of the Framework and versions of the languages are completely out of sync, so .NET 4.5 runs on the CLR version 4 and we write code in C# version 5.0 or VB version 11.0 – cause that makes sense :S

Awesome Poster

Here is an awesome poster to help remind you of all the above!

The joys of being on the bleeding edge, is we are sometimes bleeding such as the fact the Windows Phone Developer tools have not worked on Windows 8… until now. However the steps to do get this working are not easy and are spread out a bit on the Internet, so this post aims to give you a one stop, quick reference way on how to get it done in five steps.

Step 1 – Get the bits

You will need THREE downloads for this:

1. The Games for Windows Marketplace Client: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/LIVE/PC/DownloadClient

2. The Windows Phone SDK 7.1: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=27570

   personally I would get the ISO for it from: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=226694

3. The Windows Phone SDK 7.1.1 Update: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29233

This should set you back 1.1Gb in bandwidth.

Step 2 – Install the Games for Windows Marketplace Client

Troubleshooting notes:

• If you have problems with the install for the GWM client please see: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/astebner/archive/2012/02/29/10274694.aspx
• If you installed the Phone SDK first (step 4 before step 1, madness) then you need to do a repair of the Windows Phone SDK after you install this.

Step 3 – Install .NET Framework 3.5

Now pop in your Windows 8 DVD (or mount the ISO), next open a command prompt AS ADMINISTRATOR and navigate to the \sources\sxs folder on the DVD and run the following command. My DVD was mounted on drive F so note you may need to change the underlined part of the command to match your situation: dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFX3 /All /Source:f:\sources\sxs /LimitAccess

Step 4 – Install Windows Phone SDK 7.1

Now run the installer for the Windows Phone SDK 7.1 as per normal.

Troubleshooting notes:

• If you get any errors about installing some components, try to copy them from the disk to the desktop – if you get a invalid MS-DOS function error, then you have a corrupt ISO and need to download it all again.

Step 5 – Install Windows Phone SDK update

Almost there, just the Phone SDK update to install!

Done!

And there we are, the tiles are on the start screen, Visual Studio 2010 launches (and hurts my eyes with all those colours :P ), the new emulator options are all there in the drop downs and the EMULATOR WORKS!!!!

Troubleshooting notes:

• If you have a CPU that supports SLAT (for example a Core i7) you can run Hyper-V on Windows 8, which hurts emulator performance. Turn if off it you can.

Last week (14th March 2012, to be exact) I had a great opportunity to travel to Cape Town and present the first ever Windows 8 Bootcamp there! (I missed the first in South Africa by two days, that was presented in Jo’burg by Rudi Grobler).

It was a small event, but it was a great day of learning and sharing and what a lovely place it was to present, as you can see from the photos below!

One of the requests from those who attended the event was the demos & slides – however there is a snag, Microsoft owns the slides and they are not ready for them to be publically shared   That said the demo bits are below, so hopefully that will keep you sorted until the slides arrive.

If you created Metro style (WinRT) projects in Visual Studio “11” developer preview (alpha) and you try to open them up in the beta you will have a few load issues. These are ones I have found in my apps so it is not exhaustive, but seems like the most common.

Projects will not load

The projects themselves will not load with the following error: The imported project "C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\WindowsXaml\v1.0\Microsoft.Windows.UI.Xaml.CSharp.targets" was not found. Confirm that the path in the <Import> declaration is correct, and that the file exists on disk. 

The solution to this is to open the project file and navigate to the <Import> node and change the path from v1.0 to v11.0 (see the highlighted extra 1 in the image below that is needed):

Compiler Directive

If you used the compiler directive WINRT that has been changed to NETFX_CORE so you will need to update your code.

Package fails to build

The package fails to build/deploy and complains about an InitialRotationPreference attribute. To solve this open the Package.appxmanifest file and find the <VisualElements> node and you should find an line similar to this:

<VisualElements DisplayName="AtomicMVVM Metro Style App Demo" Logo="Images\Logo.png" SmallLogo="Images\SmallLogo.png" Description="AtomicMVVM Metro Style App Demo" ForegroundText="light" BackgroundColor="#000000" InitialRotationPreference="portrait">

What you need to do is remove the InitialRotationPreference attribute from the end, so it ends like this:

<VisualElements DisplayName="AtomicMVVM Metro Style App Demo" Logo="Images\Logo.png" SmallLogo="Images\SmallLogo.png" Description="AtomicMVVM Metro Style App Demo" ForegroundText="light" BackgroundColor="#000000">

Big load failure image from: http://www.hostedfile.com/pictures/76451/big-load-failure.html

Note: Before you read this post, it is using the public consumer preview (beta) of Windows 8, VS 11 & .NET 4.5, so I expect some issues will likely be resolved in later releases. Check the site out for more info!

With the beta of Win8, VS 11 & .NET 4.5 now out I thought I should post again (first post about this can be found here – recommended reading to see how it has improved) how it has improved or changed since the alpha. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list, it is a list of the most common things (where most common is what I use, because I am pretty common )

Namespaces

Namespaces have been polished and there is a much better alignment of the new awesomeness to the old so this is getting much better.

#if NETFX_CORE
    using Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls;
    using Windows.UI.Xaml;
    using Windows.UI.Core;
    using Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.Primitives;
#else
    using System.Windows.Controls;    
    using System.Windows.Controls.Primitives;
#endif

Duplication of INotifyPropertyChanged, ICommand & INotifyCollectionChanged is SOLVED!

I mentioned about the EPIC FAIL of the duplication of core interfaces – that has been solved!

ObservableCollection<T> is broken is SOLVED!

The double facepalm that was breaking ObservableCollection<T> has also been solved – so this means your Metro style apps are more like your WPF & Silverlight apps than ever before.

User Controls must be created on the main thread is SOLVED!

I did not get a stupid behaviour where a user control had to be created on the main thread, and thankfully that has been solved! You can now create user controls on other threads!

IValueConverter has been changed

Previously the Convert & ConvertBack methods second parameter was a string, now it has been changed to a Type. This is a good move as it allows for better compares, but means any IValueConverters from alpha will be broken and it is a simple change:

//Before broken
public object Convert(object value, string typeName, object parameter, string language)

//After changing type of second parameter = working
public object Convert(object value, Type typeName, object parameter, string language)

Good work image from http://bloggers.com/posts/happy-developer-37379

Note: The source of this is the Visual Studio “11” beta Product Guide (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=243994) so this may change by release.

Today we have five Express products: C++, C#, Visual Basic, Web and Phone however with the launch of Visual Studio “11” we will only have TWO!

These two editions of Express we will have are Web & Windows. I do not believe we will only ever have two editions, as the 2010 Express editions grew during the product so I would expect a few new ones coming along post launch.

So how does the old Express editions map to the new Express editions?

• C++ maps to NOTHING
• C# for WinForm/WPF/Silverlight maps to NOTHING
• VB for WinForm/WPF/Silverlight maps to NOTHING
• Phone maps to NOTHING
• Web maps to Web

Let me reiterate this, if you want to build non-Metro applications (unless they are web) there is NO Express edition anymore for this! The Windows Express edition ONLY allows the building of Metro apps (including ARM). Web dev using Express editions still continue to work as before.

Both Express editions have a new enhancements too, which is a fantastic thing: The ability Version Control & Work Item Tracking with TFS is included out of the box.

For the Windows express edition it has even more enhancements

• A subset of static analysis (fxCop) for helping developers pass Win Store evaluation
• Performance Profiling has been added: CPU Sampling for C#/VB/C++ Metro apps and Instrumentation for HTML/JS Metro Apps

Stop/Important image from http://sitechoppers.com/why-it-is-important-to-build-your-downline/

One of the key business aspects not included with Lightswitch 2011 is a great set of charting controls and often I need to have a few for the projects I am working on. Thankfully with the Silverlight Toolkit and a touch of code I can have BRILLIANT charts for no extra costs!

Below are three charts using the Silverlight Toolkit in Lightswitch, which I think look FANTASTIC and it is fairly easy to do in four easy to follow stages.

For this tutorial I have a simple structure of engine parts, costs over time and purchases which looks a little like the image below and for I have already created the data structure and UI for adding those in Lightswitch.

Stage 1: Get the toolkit

To start off we need to switch out of the Logical View and into the Files View, to do this in Solution Explorer click the “Lie to me button” (that is what I call it) and change the view.

Next right click on the client project and select Manage Nuget Packages. If you do not have Nuget yet, stop, download Nuget from www.Nuget.org and install it and come back.

In Nuget search for the silverlight toolkit and install the Data Visualization package. Now unfortunately Lightswitch isn’t too good with Nuget, so really we are using this as a way to get the packages but they are not properly installed as you may expect.

Stage 2: Create the screen and add the control

Now switch back to the Logical view and add a new Editable Grid Screen, give it a nice name but do not select any Screen Data.

In your new screen, click the add button at the bottom and select New Custom Control. If you do not have that, you have selected the add option for the Screen Command Bar, so make sure the Rows Layout at the top is selected.

Now we need to add the assemblies for the Silverlight Toolkit packages, to do this press the Add Reference button in the Add custom control screen.

Browse to the packages folder in the root of the Lightswitch project and add the two assemblies. Once done browse the System.Windows.Controls.DataVisualization.Toolkit assembly and go to System.Windows.Controls.DataVisualization.Charting.Chart class and select OK.

Stage 3: Configure the chart control in Lightswitch

The control should now be listed. Next go to the properties and give the chart a name, this is important so name it something you will remember.

Now we change the sizing of the chart control to be Stretch for both Horizontal and Vertical Alignment. This allows the chart to use all the space on the screen!

Stage 4: Add some code to get the data and put it in the chart

Now we need to add the code to get the data and render the chart. We do this in the Created event for the screen (to get there, click the Write Code button in the toolbar and select the event).

Now we add some code to the event, which does:

1. Find the chart control.
2. Get the data from the DataWorkspace into a list.
3. Set chart to use the data.

partial void CostOverTimeChart_Created()
{
    // Write your code here.
    var chart = this.FindControl("chart");
    chart.ControlAvailable += (s, e) =>
    {
        this.Details.Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(() =>
        {
            var dataPoints = (from Costs c in this.DataWorkspace.ApplicationData.CostsSet
                              group c by c.EnginePart).ToList();

            var chartControl = e.Control as Chart;
            chartControl.Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(() =>
            {
                chartControl.Series.Clear();
                foreach (var group in dataPoints)
                {
                    chartControl.Series.Add(new LineSeries()
                    {

                        Title = group.Key,
                        IndependentValuePath = "PointInTime",
                        DependentValuePath = "Cost",
                        ItemsSource = group
                    });
                }
            });
        });
    };
}

If we dive into the code:

Wrap up

It seems like a lot to do this, and it is. You could make this easier by wrapping this in a custom Lightswitch control which would give you GREAT reuse, but that is a lot of work too. In the long run if you use lots of charts you will save time by building the custom control – but if you need just one or two this is a little quicker and less learning.

Below you will find a link to the sample product I used to create all the charts and it has all the code in it too, if you are looking for it. Make sure you have Nuget installed before you use it!

The last few hours have been a buzz of excitement for .NET developers as the covers have been lifted for the next releases of TFS, VS & .NET 4.5 – however there is a problem. There is SO much info wrapped in nice marketing & business talk you will spend hours trying to get through it all, so here are the crib notes. Following each note is a number in braces, this is the number of the source so you can go to it for more info if you wish:

• .NET 4.5, VS 11 & TFS 11 beta’s will be available on the 29th Feb. [1]
• You can use the products in production from beta (technically called a go-live licence) [2]
• Visual Studio 11 has had a UI polish, similar layout but less toolbars by default, less colours (icons are monotone) & a touch of Metro like thinking (white space & typography) [2]
• Five editions (or SKUs) of Visual Studio will ship: Express, Test Pro, Pro, Premium & Ultimate. Same as we have in 2010. [3]
• TFS will have at least two editions, Express (think TFS basic but FREE) and another edition. We may have more than that. [8]
• Visual Studio Professional and up will include Lightswitch! [3]
• The architecture tool diagrams can now be read in professional & premium versions too (in 2010 it was premium only). Creation still requires ultimate. [4]
• IntelliTrace is supported in production (still an ultimate only feature). [4]
• Windows Phone 7 tools included with professional and higher editions of Visual Studio 11. [4]
• Express will have two versions: Windows (WPF, WinRT, etc..) & Web (ASP.NET, MVC etc…). [5]
• There are two themes for Visual Studio: Light (pictured above) & Dark which feels like a Expression Blend style. [6]
• Quick launch is a new search feature allows you to search for any command or option in Visual Studio. [6]
• Search has been added to most used tool windows, like solution explorer. [6]
• ASP.NET MVC 4 has a bunch of evolutionary improvements, nothing to wet your pants on IMHO. [7]
• ASP.NET Web API is a big new feature for both MVC & WebForms for building API’s for the web. Think services like WCF but built for the modern web. [9]
• Visual Studio 11 is a code name – expect a name change by release. [10]
• Workflow hubs in Visual Studio 11 allows you to focus on a task in a single place, rather than have to move around multiple windows. [11]
• Preview tabs allow you to sneak a peek at documents without needing to actually open them. [10]
• C# 5 (yes, it is version 5 of C# that is shipping with .NET 4.5 – who says this is confusing) has support for async. [10]
• New code compare tool & UI that doesn’t suck. [11]
• New code review tool support in TFS & Visual Studio. [12]
• New mock up design tool that ships with Visual Studio/TFS that allows you to build mock user interfaces in Powerpoint. Think Sketchflow without the code or Balsamiq. [13]
• New Visual Studio METRO’d logo [14]:

Want to see some pictures of all of this? http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/developer/imagegallery.aspx

Sources

1. http://blogs.msdn.com/b/somasegar/archive/2012/02/23/the-road-to-visual-studio-11-beta-and-net-4-5-beta.aspx
2. http://blogs.msdn.com/b/jasonz/archive/2012/02/23/sneak-preview-of-visual-studio-11-and-net-framework-4-5-beta.aspx
3. http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/products/beta-products
4. http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/products/features-chart
5. http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/products/beta-express
6. http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudio/
7. http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2012/02/19/asp-net-mvc-4-beta.aspx
8. http://blogs.msdn.com/b/bharry/archive/2012/02/23/coming-soon-tfs-express.aspx
9. http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2012/02/23/asp-net-web-api-part-1.aspx
10. http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2012/feb12/02-23VisualStudioBetaPreview.mspx
11. http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/ImageGallery/ImageDetails.mspx?id=2c8135ad-fefd-48c2-888f-83b6987a4e87
12. http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/ImageGallery/ImageDetails.mspx?id=2a0b1cf8-9d74-4603-a2d1-03d8ef989a8c
13. http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/ImageGallery/ImageDetails.mspx?id=240cbb53-9dd5-4262-b0cc-cdb9a57485d3
14. http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/imagegallery/images/products/developer/vs/logo_vs11beta_print.jpg