DXperience and the Visual Studio 11 beta

I’m sure that you have all heard by now that Microsoft have published Visual Studio 11 beta with a Go Live license. However I’m sure you’re asking something of even more importance: when can I use my favorite DevExpress controls and libraries and CodeRush with it?

Now.

If you sign in to your account on devexpress.com, you’ll note that we have published DXperience 11.2.9 this morning to coincide with the VS11 announcement. This version will install in Visual Studio 11 (as well as Visual Studio 2008 and 2010), so you can start using your favorite development products within the new IDE. Download it now!

Since VS11 is still a beta, there are a couple of gotchas that we were not able to workaround. The most important one in my view is this one: the DXperience WPF controls are not automatically registered in the Visual Studio 11 toolbox. You will have to register them manually. Although we reported the issue to Microsoft, it was too late to be fixed for the beta. (You can read about the other known issues here.)

It’s been some 5 to 6 months since the Developer Preview of Visual Studio 11, and today’s beta release brings us a step closer to that total reimagining of what it means to be a modern IDE. Of course, today was also the announcement of the Customer Preview of Windows 8, and so the VS11 beta brings us a step closer to being able to write apps for the Metro interface. However, I would note that there is still some way to go with both Windows 8 and Visual Studio 11: although we can see the light, there is still some tunnel left to travel through.

And that is also something that can be said for DevExpress: DXperience 11.2.9 and Visual Studio 11 beta are a large milestone on the journey to having support for Windows 8, Metro, and WinRT.

Until then, enjoy the pre-releases, and let’s see what develops.

UPDATE: We have released new DevExpress product evaluation code in support of the Visual Studio 11 beta. Customers who are in the midst of their evaluation will need to take a few steps to continue in this process if you wish to use VS11. Note that if you’re not running the VS11 beta your DevExpress product evaluation experience will not be impacted.

If you’re in the middle of your DevExpress product evaluation and it has not yet expired, but you’d like to experience DevExpress tools with Visual Studio 11 beta:

1. Download the evaluation copy again from http://www.devexpress.com/Home/Try.xml
2. Install the new evaluation copy after you have installed the VS11 beta. Continue with your evaluation as usual.
3. If the addition of the Visual Studio 11 beta trial makes you feel like you’d require more time in your product evaluation we’re happy to extend it for an additional 30 days - simply contact us at support@devexpress.com  to request an extension.

If your DevExpress product evaluation has already expired but you’d like to download it again to experience DevExpress tools together with the Visual Studio 11 beta:

1. Download the evaluation copy again from http://www.devexpress.com/Home/Try.xml
2. Contact us at support@devexpress.com  to request an extension to your product evaluation at which time we will extend it for an additional 30 days.
3. Install the Visual Studio 11 beta, and then the new evaluation copy.

Free DevExpress Products - Get Your Copy Today