Visual Studio and SQL Server 2008

With the release of SQL Server 2005 and Visual Studio 2005 we delivered significant new improvements to make developers more productive when working with data stored in SQL Server.

With Visual Studio 2008 and the upcoming version of SQL Server 2008 we’re going to continue driving new innovations and ensure that developers can build richer data driven applications. As I’ve talked about in the past, one of my favorite features of VS2008 is the introduction of LINQ which is an exciting evolution in data programming that provides common query capabilities within the programming language. LINQ closes the gap between the programming world and the data world by providing a common query facility for in-memory and external data. Integrating query capabilities into the programming language provides a simple, natural way to build strongly typed queries that benefit from design-time features like IntelliSense. This is an exciting leap forward to bridge the gap between Data and Programming.

Here are some things to keep in mind to know what it takes to have Visual Studio support SQL Server 2008.

· For the November CTP of SQL Server 2008, which came out a few weeks ago, we have released a patch which enables Visual Studio 2005 to connect to a SQL Server 2008 database.

· For Visual Studio 2008 to support SQL Server 2008, we will be delivering a patch to coincide with the next CTP of SQL Server 2008.

· Tools support of some of the new features in SQL Server 2008 will become available closer to the RTM of that product. This will give us time to test, optimize and ensure the best experience for developers using Visual Studio and the .NET Framework with SQL Server 2008.

For more details on integration I encourage you to read the following blog entry from our Data Programmability team.

Namaste!