Today at REMiX '08 Sydney (Also see VisitMIX) along with a good show and a grand feed, attendees also got a copy of Expression Studio 2.  After seeing it in action I'm quite looking forward to taking it around the block.  I never quite got into [Macromedia|Adobe]Flash, and am quietly hoping Silverlight can find a spot next to it in the web ecosystem.

First thing I did when I got home was install Expression Studio, I got a little curious to find that there is a Visual Studio 2008 Standard disk in the box.  It got me to wonder what really is the difference between VS Pro which I am using at the moment and VS Standard?

I can't remember the product comparison pages for any version of Visual Studio on MSDN ever being completely illuminating.  The 2008 version is about as good as it gets it seems. 

The one that I am most interested in somehow is down the end of the list:  the inclusion of the Unit Testing features in VSPro 2008, when it was only included in Team System versions of VS 2005.  Here is a slightly abridged summary of the other features included in VS Professional that you do not get in VS Standard:

Debugging Tools:

• Attach to Remote Process
• SQL-CLR Debugging
• XSLT Debugger
• T-SQL Debugging

Data Tools:

• Database Projects
• SQL Server Projects
• Server Explorer

Reporting:

• Crystal Reports Application & Crystal Reports for Visual Studio

Office development:

• VSTO for Office 2003 and Office 2007
• Sharepoint 2007 State Machine workflow template
  

Smart Device Development:

• Device Emulator
• Project Templates
• Debugging Tools

...but surely this can't be it?

It's not.  Well, this is the story if you are comparing VS Pro and VS Standard alone, but there is one other thing to consider:

1. In my timezone, the full boxed retail VS Standard is less than half the price of the equiv. VS Professional... but;
   
2. You can't get an MSDN Subscription including VS Standard.  They are only available with Professional and above, and imho the licensing benefits of MSDN for developers is well worth the look.
   

So there you have it.  If an MSDN Subscription is on your radar, enjoy using VS Pro.  If it is not, and you can live without the above listed features, well maybe there is no need to spend more than you have to.

I recieved the following question yesterday, and I have had it before, so I decided to blog the answer.

Hiya James

I am not sure if you would be willing to help answer a question on sharepoint?

Sounds really stupid but just using MOSS and I have not had to deal with any SQL database ... so where

can I actually view it or find it?

Thank you

Ray


First up, it's far from a stupid question!  especially is Windows Internal Database (a.k.a SQLEE is used).  Let me explain:

So, there are a couple of choices for setting up the database:

1. Windows Internal Database

It is really easy to set the system up with this option, and frankly, I don't like it for my systems.  The reason I don't like it is because it splits my DR plan.  

For every other application I have a nice unified backup & recovery strategy in SQL Server Management Studio.  Using WIDB for Sharepoint introduces exceptions to the rule, and from my experience, the systems with the most moving parts are the ones that are most likely to fail under pressure, and DR can have pressure!  Of course YMMV.

What is Windows Internal Database?  It is an instance of SQL Server Express configured to be accessed only by services over named pipes, although it is possible to connect to it with SQLCMD or Management Studio Express.  It works just as well as SQL Express, but I feel like I am never fully in control of it.

If you are using SQLEE for your Sharepoint installation and you want to have a look at the database, I'd suggest the following:

1. Backup your Sharepoint instance using Central Administration
2. Setup a test instance of Sharepoint using SQL Express
3. Restore your Sharepoint backup into your new test instance
4. Use Management Studio to work on your new test database
   

2. Using "real" SQL Server. 

This is a much easier case.  Log into the Sharepoint Central Admin section and view the content database settings.  That will give you the server & database names that you can connect to with Management Studio.  (please work on a copy, not the production database)

...but...

...is it wise to get hands-on with the MOSS/WSS database?

Well yes, for general curiosity to see how the Sharepoint team decided to implement a system where entities can be so customizable, there is some good, subtle design to learn from.

However for reporting and other fiddling, I'd suggest not.  Once you see the tables I think you will agree that it was not a design goal for the developer community to be accessing them directly.

A good alternative would be learning some CAML or the Object Model first and see if you can leverage that.  Those ways to access the data abstract out the complexity of the physical database and are quite user friendly.

How to setup Sharepoint to use SQL Express rather than SQLEE/WIDB?

It is easy and free to set up a testing environment for Sharepoint:

All you need to do is download the following:

• Windows Server 2008 Standard Trial
• Virtual PC
• WSS 3.0 (incl SP1)
• WSS SDK
• SQL Server Express Edition
  

How to setup Sharepoint to use SQL Express rather than SQLEE/WIDB - Part II, The Install...

When installing Sharepoint, choosing Basic/Stand Alone will leave you with a WIDB install of Sharepoint.  To install a it with a "regular" SQL Server, or with SQL Express, first choose Advanced from the installation wizard:

When asked if you want to create a Web Front End server, or a Stand-alone install, choose Web Front End - even if it is your only server:



Continue the install and launch the Sharepoint Product and Technologies configuration wizard.   Choose to create a new server farm.  Enter the database server and database name settings into the wizard when prompted...




Now you have configured Sharepoint to not use WIDB/SQLEE.

If you have already installed SQLEE and now wish to remove it, please see my prior post on uninstalling SQLEE.

I offer the following evidence:

For those not familiar with the idea of a Googlewhack, Urban Dictionary explains it is:

a combination of two words that when searched through the popular search engine "google" only give one result.

Wikipedia goes into more depth, yet is silent on the topic of spelling.

I argue that stsadmin, or it's correct form, stsadm are not words, so can't be typos - and as such I'm claiming it!