Overview

Immediately following the successful release of Visual InterDev 1.0, Microsoft began working directly with customers to plan enhancements to the product. Customers clearly indicated that Web development tools lacked many of the basic features of their more mature client/server siblings. Developers wanted a RAD tool for the Web that offered the same development environment, programming model, and features available in Visual Basic.

To that end, the design of Visual InterDev 6.0 centered around the following design themes:

Rapid application development for professional Web developers
Integrated database tools
Improved Web application programming model
Team-based development
Enterprise application development

Rapid Application Development for Professional Web Developers

At a minimum, Web developers require the same feature set that client/server developers have come to expect in a cutting-edge Integrated Development Environment (IDE). Visual InterDev 6.0 provides a rapid application development (RAD) environment that lets developers design, build, debug, and deploy data-driven Web applications faster than ever before.

WYSIWYG page editor. Visual InterDev 6.0 includes a new page editor designed specifically for professional developers. The editor provides support for the full range of current browser technologies including generic HTML, Dynamic HTML, and additional add-ins such as Java applets, Microsoft ActiveX^® controls, and Netscape plug-ins. It provides maximum control of the appearance of the HTML while still allowing complete access to the source code, without sacrificing the formatting of the source code.
Seamless debugging tools. The most widely requested feature from users of Visual InterDev 1.0 was better support for debugging. The distributed nature of Web applications requires that developers be able to seamlessly debug application logic across both the client and the server, and attach to and debug processes running on remote servers. Developers can now set breakpoints on both client- and server-side script, step through code, add "watch" variables, investigate the call stack, and debug remote Web servers.
Site design and management tools. Visual InterDev 6.0 includes a powerful set of features to simplify the creation and management of the site. It enables developers to create sites quickly, add existing and new content to a site, create and manage hyperlinks between pages, and deploy the site quickly and easily from staging to production servers.
Customizability and extensibility. The new IDE allows developers to tailor their development environment to their own styles and work environments. It also provides a rich extensibility model that enables both individual developers and third-party ISVs to extend the development environment with specialized components. Furthermore, the IDE supports an extensible model that allows developers to use the editors of their choice on the full range of file types found in Web projects.

Integrated Database Tools

Early feedback from users of Visual InterDev 1.0 indicated that the integration of database tools was the most important feature of that version. Visual InterDev 6.0 enhances these features and simplifies the process of integrating databases into a Web application.

Database programming tools. Visual InterDev 6.0 makes it much easier to connect to and explore databases, to create and reuse complex queries across multiple pages, and to bind databases to Web pages in a visual manner. The database programming tools now also support the client-side Dynamic HTML data-binding capabilities of Microsoft^® Internet Explorer 4.0.
Database design tools. Web developers often need to create and modify objects in their databases. Visual InterDev 6.0 offers enhanced database design tools that make it easier to create and modify SQL Server and Oracle database objects (tables, views, and stored procedures). This version makes database design and modification easier in large development teams by integrating source code control with the tool's database script and stored procedure editors.

Improved Web application Programming Model

The rapid evolution of server and browser technologies has created a potentially confusing situation for developers. They need a broad range of options, from pure HTML-based applications (where all the processing occurs on the server) to more distributed applications that can take advantage of the latest Dynamic HTML browser capabilities. Visual InterDev 6.0 simplifies Web application programming by providing a framework for the developer that presents an object-based programming model for Web applications that is consistent with the event-driven world of client/server development. In addition, Visual InterDev 6.0 ensures that the programming model is consistent for applications that target either down-level browsers (where all the code executes on the server) and the latest version of Dynamic HTML browsers (where much of the code can execute on the client).

Hide the complexity of programming Web applications. The new Scripting Object Model and design-time controls work together to shield the developer from the underlying complexities of Web programming. This enables a programming experience that is familiar to traditional RAD developers, where they can drag objects (controls), drop them onto a page (form), and write event-driven code (event handlers) against those objects.
Support multiple target browsers. Since Web applications must support the broadest range of target browsers, from the simplest HTML-only browsers to the modern "smart" browsers such as Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0, the new programming model is designed to remain consistent and independent of the chosen target browser, reducing the complexity for the developer.
Support client/server-style, event-driven programming. Visual InterDev 6.0 makes it easier for developers to create distributed browser-based applications that behave at run-time in a fashion similar to client/server-based applications. Developers can create functions in server-side code, for example, that can be called asynchronously as remote methods from any browser page, enabling efficient code reuse and reducing the amount of duplicate script that previously had to be maintained in multiple pages.

Team-Based Development

The content-driven nature of the Web requires that developers be able to work seamlessly with a wide range of other contributors to the application, including authors, graphic designers, script programmers, database administrators, and project managers. Visual InterDev 6.0 offers the best possible tool for developers working on diverse teams.

Enable the individual programmer. During a team-based development process, individual developers often need to build and test pages for errors in their code. This can interfere with other developers working on different parts of the site. Visual InterDev 6.0 improves the development process by allowing individual developers to isolate themselves from the rest of the team in order to create or debug their pages on the local workstation before checking them back in to the master Web project.
Improved source code control. Large development efforts often require a mechanism for source code control that allows check-in/check-out functionality with file locking, as well as with version control and rollback. Visual InterDev 6.0 offers enhanced integration with Microsoft^® Visual SourceSafe^®. Developers can visualize differences between two versions of the same file, and accept or reject specific changes to merge the files into a single, new master. Visual InterDev also extends Visual SourceSafe to allow versioning of database scripts and stored procedures.
Improved interoperability with other tools. Web developers need to be able to cooperatively work on files and projects with a range of other authors and developers. Visual InterDev 6.0 lets developers work seamlessly with the broadest range of tools, from page editors such as Microsoft^® FrontPage^® 98 to component creation tools such as Microsoft^® Visual Basic^®.

Enterprise Application Development

As the use of information technology changes to meet new business needs, the very definition of "enterprise applications" is also evolving. While enterprise infrastructures and applications vary widely across organizations, common attributes of "enterprise" applications include:

Being component-based for flexibility and scalability.
Requiring life cycle support, including design, development, management, and analysis.
Requiring more sophisticated database architectures.
Being developed by teams.
Being distributed in nature, integrated with disparate back-end systems.

Visual InterDev 6.0 developers purchasing Visual Studio, Enterprise Edition receive additional enterprise development features to address these needs including higher-end database features, application design tools, team development support, and development versions the Microsoft BackOffice^® family servers.