Can I create ASP.NET MVC2 applications using the express version of Visual Studio?

Question

I am going to make an MVC2 application using C #.

What IDE can I use for free to help me build this app? Different versions are very confusing to sort out.

I will follow this guide: http://nerddinnerbook.s3.amazonaws.com/Part1.htm

I see that he is using Unit Testing. Can express version do this?

Answer 1

Yes ... you definitely can.

Get it here: http://www.microsoft.com/express/Web/

You cannot perform unit testing using the Microsoft testing platform when using the express version. This is not very important. You can still use any of the many, many open source code testing modules.

For more on this, see Channel 9: Noah Coad: Visual Studio Express 2010 Overview

As additional information: a useful link to a page that is compared in the table of versions and features of Microsoft Visual Studio: http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/products

Answer 2

You also cannot add projects to your express solution, so you cannot have a model project, an auxiliary project, a database project, etc. in your decision.

you will need to write each of them as separate projects, compile them and then reference them in your web application.

neck pain, but it will provide a good separation of problems. :)

Answer 3

In addition to Leniel:

I see that he is using Unit Testing. Can express version do this?

No. The express version is not built in a unit testing system. In addition, Express cannot use plugins.

Answer 4

You can use it for basic development. Although you cannot use the Visual Studio unit testing framework for unit testing, you can use Nunit to load and run tests in the test DLL that you create. However, it will not be able to enter code for debugging tests due to limitations in integration with test participants.