(WF4) Announcing… .Net Framework 4.5 and .Net Framework Update 4.0.3

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Hello world - I just wanted to let you know that

-Visual Studio 11 and .Net 4.5 are out in public beta.

Actually I’m pretty late with this news, so you probably already knew this. Maybe this can just be your reminder to download it and try it out. Because you should, if you haven’t yet!

-Update 4.0.3, which I previously mentioned was in beta, has now been released (RTM)! Here is the official announcement page from the .Net blog:

https://blogs.msdn.com/b/dotnet/archive/2012/03/05/update-4-0-3-for-the-microsoft-net-framework-4.aspx

A couple quick things I imagine could be FAQs

  • Just as you would expect since it is 4.0.3, and 4.0.3 > 4.0.1, installing 4.0.3 still lets you use Workflow State Machine activity (same as 4.0.1).
  • There should be no need to install both 4.0.1 and 4.0.3. You can just install 4.0.3.
  • Just like 4.0.1 you can install runtime-only or runtime+designtime patches. The difference is that the runtime-only patch is only updating your CLR assemblies loaded by .Net programs. The +designtime patch is also updating Visual Studio so that it will show State Machine in the toolbox, .Net 4.0.3 in the framework targetting listbox, and all that jazz. Bottom line: if you use Visual Studio, you probably want the design-time patch.

Download links for all patches are on the official announcement page linked above.

One last subject. Why should you be part of beta testing Visual Studio 11 and .Net 4.5?

It’s really good to try out the beta now, instead of waiting for RC, because not only do you get to play with cool new stuff, but the time the WF team has for looking at bugs between releases is actually pretty short! And there are some pretty significant changes under the hood and enhancements in the Workflow Designer experience, not just bug fixes, so there can potentially be plenty of bugs to find, and to put it in a nutshell, you are the best one who can give us the critical feedback that helps us make sure those bugs are not going to be ones that cause you pain when .Net 4.5 is actually released.

Bug reports can be sent via https://connect.microsoft.com/wf as always.