MS Visual C++ Express

[haydxn]

This is a public service announcement!

[size=200]Visual C++ Express released[/size]

MS have now released Visual C++ express. It is no longer a wonky beta version.

[size=150]Are you now afraid that you’re finally going to have to pay?[/size]
Don’t be:

How much will these products cost?

We are announcing a pricing promotion for Visual Studio Express – for the first year after the products launch on November 7th, 2005, customers will be able to visit MSDN to download their copy of Visual Studio Express for free!

[size=150]The site page says that it is free for one year.[/size]
Does that mean you’ll need to pay after one year?

… This doesn’t mean that the product turns off after a year, but rather that as long as you download the product before November 7, 2006, you can get it for free and you can use it forever.

[size=150]Any licensing restrictions?[/size]
I know that I was concerned I’d be breaking rules if I ever decided to go commercial (obviously with a JUCE license in my hand)…

Can I use Express Editions for commercial use?

Yes, there are no licensing restrictions for applications built using the Express Editions.

The only limitation you get with the express edition is that there are some ‘big daddy boyo’ features left out. We’re hardenned JUCE coders - we already know that we have what we need! What does this mean?

[size=200]Free. Juce. Coding. Environment.[/size]

Get it now quick!(you’ve only got until 7thNov2006!! :shock:). It’s yours forever. Free!

[karbon-l-forms]

I’ve got the full fat vs2005 professional.

blows chunks. buggy and unstable and most importantly does not support Visual AssistX.

full of .NET shite.

in fact I think we wasted good money on our MSDN. (well theres the operating systems and sql server that we use I suppose)

anyway back to vs.net 2003 and visual assistx I go…

[haydxn]

crumbs! fair enough indeed

i find that the VC++express beta has been plenty for my needs, and am currently downloading the release version. I’ll post again to mention if anything is weird, or better.

Sorry to hear about your annoyances tho k

[karbon-l-forms]

should have mentioned I’ve never had such problems with the express edition beta (apart from obvious pains like the project paths, is that in the gui now?)

it’s only visual assistx that keeps me using 2003

[jules]

Wow - microsoft in shock “not entirely greedy bastards for once” move…

I’m downloading now…

[valley]

Ironically I have the full fat 2003.net at work, but I’m forced to use Express as I cannot get Offis.de’s DCMTK to compile on the VS2003 for love nor money.

I’m building myself a new PC so I’ll try it with a clean windows install.

Karbon, is it me or does 2003 take about four times longer to compile stuff that express? The UI also seems very weighty on 2003 (so much so that I find myself doing 90% of my development with gcc and Kate on KDE).

[valley]

[quote=“jules”]Wow - microsoft in shock “not entirely greedy bastards for once” move…
[/quote]

You mean like how they kindly gave away Explorer, and Outlook Express?

You don’t think this is just a little knock on Borland’s door then?

[haydxn]

This version still has, for some reason, the Win32 project template disabled, requiring two files to be edited. I’ve just knocked together a quick-quick fix app to update the two files automatically.

It just contains binary data of both before and after states of the two files, and also has fixed paths to find them. It should be sufficient for most installs.

It only updates the files if they match exactly with the ‘before’ files stored, whereby they’re deleted and replaced with the ‘after’ files. Backup copies are also made in the corresponding directories.

Download it here

When you’ve installed VCExpress, try to create a new project- click Win32 Console Application. In the next window, click Application Settings, and see if you’re able to create a Win32 project. If not, close VCExpress and run this app. It should say that it has fixed the two files.

Open VCExpress and repeat the test, hopefully the option should now be there.

[haydxn]

when i get back from work i’ll give it an interface and add in all the ‘missing files’ that we know about. hopefully it should be a one-stop fix (excluding setting directories in the environment) for newcomers.

[jules]

Hmm. The new version’s great, lots of bugs fixed, etc… but I always use UPX to compress my binaries, and it seems that compressing the output of the new compiler produces something that doesn’t run. Anyone else seen anything similar?

[OvermindDL1]

Is there any managed code in it? UPX butchers that as I recall as it is not actual valid machine code.

[jules]

Yes, that must be it… though I can’t find any options to get rid of the damn stuff. I’ve got CLR support turned off in the settings, and it’s exactly the same project that used to work fine in the previous version. I’ve been trying various linker options but getting nowhere. Same thing happens with the jucedemo project.

Not being able to compress it isn’t a showstopper, but the exes also don’t work under win2000 or 98 now, which makes it useless to me. Hope this isn’t deliberate MS poilicy now.

[haydxn]

rubbish! :’(

hopefully this is something that can be got-t’-bott’m-o’

[jules]

I thought there must be a catch with the free VC thing… maybe this is it.

[haydxn]

I’ve made a post on the official forum quoting from this thread, hopefully someone knows what might have changed and if it can be fixed.

[jules]

Cool. I’m sure there must be plenty of other people affected by this!

[haydxn]

hey jules, is there any chance you can knock together a ‘before’ and ‘after’ .exe pair - the same app but compiled from beta and RC versions? maybe that might help get a quicker response.

[karbon-l-forms]

could you get the new IDE to use the RC compler?

[haydxn]

do you mean the beta compiler ?

i’m wondering if it’s a compiler thing or settings forced by the new IDE onto a project. or perhaps its some alternative library files causing it. i’ve not tried comparing compiler/linker flags tho, as i don’t have both installed. actually, i suppose jules hasn’t got both installed either! perhaps i should just try compiling the demo code here and checking the exes.

[OvermindDL1]

If that is mandatory, then I’ll be sticking with 2k3.