Editorial Review
Microsoft's .NET Framework for creating software applications holds tremendous promise, but it also introduces new challenges. Simply put, because .NET applications are distributed, pieces of them run on many separate computers and usually involve elaborate databases with many interlinked tables. Often, there are several human interfaces, at least one of which is served over a Web connection.
When you're building such elaborate systems, you need specialists. Which means you--the architect--need to make your specialists work as a team. You need to make each specialist aware of how their piece fits into the larger system, and allow each expert maximum room for creativity while ensuring that they comply with quality standards and documentation rules. The best tool available for marshaling specialists toward a comprehensive .NET application of professional quality is Visual Studio .NET Enterprise Architect (VSEA). It gives project leads the tools they need to think big thoughts while remaining sufficiently close to the coding to ensure their proper implementation.
To begin, VSEA incorporates the new Visual Studio .NET development environment completely. All of the tools in Microsoft's latest IDE--code editor, debugger, object browser, database browser--are present in this edition. If you have implementation responsibilities of your own, or if you're one of those project leads who goes hands-on to solve low-level problems, VSEA provides you with the tools you need.
VSEA also ships with the goodies that come with Visual Studio Enterprise Developer: Visual SourceSafe and developer-licensed copies of Windows 2000 Advanced Server, SQL Server, Exchange Server, Commerce Server, and Host Integration Server. VSEA owners will get .NET Server when it's released. In addition, VSEA tops Enterprise Developer's offerings with a developer's edition of BizTalk Server.
There's also an attractive set of utilities for designing applications, roughing out application framework, and publishing standards for use by specialist programmers. This is where VSEA really shines, and where it earns its premium price. If you put the architectural tools to good use, your organization stands to realize a great return on investment in the form of increased team efficiency, higher quality, and satisfied deadlines.
VSEA allows you to use Microsoft Visio to design your applications and the databases that underlie them. It's true that you can generate Unified Modeling Language (UML) and database schematics in the standalone version of Visio Professional; but VSEA provides enormous time savings by allowing you to convert your diagrams into actual code. You can create a UML diagram in Visio, then use it to generate a code skeleton--all required class outlines, with inheritance, properties, and methods in place--in C++, C#, or Visual Basic. You can then publish the generated skeleton to your programming team for fleshing out. This is the role that Rational Visual Modeler plays (or used to play) for many developers.
Database modeling in VSEA is even cooler, because you can either export your schematic diagrams as Data Definition Language (DDL) code, or hook into an actual database server via an ODBC or OLE DB connection and generate the tables you've modeled in Visio. It's extraordinarily efficient. In fact, VSEA blurs the lines that have traditionally separated design, implementation, and documentation.
VSEA supports an XML-based language called Template Description Language (TDL), with which you can dictate characteristics of project files in more junior programmers's Visual Studio .NET environments. You can use TDL policies to turn off elements of the Visual Studio workspace, for example. Similarly, policies allow you to preset properties of code elements (such as database connections) that programmers can include as modules in their projects. You can also use TDL to describe the contents of team members's New Project windows, adding code snippets and reference materials alongside starter projects with policies attached.
Be aware that TDL policies may only be interpreted by users of Visual Studio .NET Enterprise Developer; they're not meaningful to users of standalone Visual Studio .NET. Also, be prepared to edit the TDL files manually, as Microsoft hasn't provided good tools for writing and modifying them. Setting up developer environments is a big job that has a huge effect on the later success of your project. It's sort of like tooling up a factory before a production run, so be prepared to spend some time setting policies, writing reference material, and configuring your TDL policies.
Is VSEA worthwhile? The answer depends in part on how well you set your policies, and on your development team's eagerness to use centrally managed reference materials and design advice. Embraced wholeheartedly by a large team, VSEA is not just the only show in town for team development of .NET applications--it's a powerful tool for realizing the vision of a software designer. --David Wall
Cached date: AWS Called=true
Customer Reviews
Think Investment, Not Cost 
2002-02-10
I am a new programmer in the .NET arena and have to share my thoughts on this product. I give it a five, and would give it a thousand if I could for the seemingly unlimited list of features.
Where do I start? The programming environment provides easy access to every tool that most programmers commonly need. I am developing data access applications using C# and SQL Server 2000 and I can accomplish all my tasks from the VS.NET interface - from writing and testing stored procedures to authoring Cascading Style Sheets. I only installed the program this morning and by this afternoon I have a functional test application up and running - and I am a novice programmer! I can't wait to explore the other tools that are available in this program.
Judging from the comments in the user newsgroups, it appears that many are having installation difficulty. This had me concerned, so I made sure that I read every piece of documentation I could find before I attempted the installation. Well, this paid off as the installation was flawless. I would encourage all new installers to pay close attention to the documentation.
The only negative for me is the price. If you are a serious programmer - think investment, not cost.
Worth Undertaking the Learning Curve 2002-02-02
First the bad:
1. Lengthy installation process (up to 1.5 hours).
2.Install process assumes full-time broadband connectivity
3. May break existing programs (beware, installs MDAC 2.7).
4. Quantum changes in IDE. Steep, learning curve (at least for me).
5. Lack of comprehensive backward compatability for Visual Basic 6.0.
Now the good:
1. Server Explorer - Can register all computers and SQL Servers on your network and have access to their event logs and other resources like performance metrics.
2. Roughly 75% of SQL Server's Enterprise Manager functionality. Great features for database developers.
3. Object oriented programming available in all languages.
4. Support for nested COBOL script within new ASP.NET feature.
5. Major new flexibility in calling data records with new ADO.NET technology. Can use distributed transactions to call distributed record sets.
6. Very easy web site and web server development. Quantum leap over Visual Interdev.
7.Connectivity wizard to setup web based data forms.
These are the most important features to me and only scratch the surface. Truly a transformational technology, but I have to give it a couple of years for the transition from VS 6.0 to really take hold. It's a lot to get your mind around.
This changes everything... 2001-12-31
There is so much that can be said for Microsoft's new Visual Studio .NET programming platform that I will only mention some of the key points here...
For existing OO developers (Java, C++, etc.): You'll now enjoy a single programming interface (Integrated Development Evironment - IDE) for multi language solution development. The IDE is very intuitive and has plenty of help built in in the form of auto statement completion, integrated dynamic help and intellisense to guide you.
For existing VB developers: You no longer have to feel like a second class programmer. VB.NET is now FULLY OBJECT ORIENTED and supports inhertance, overloading and polymorphism in just the same way the long-time OO languages have.
No matter what language you develop in, you'll have one IDE and a VAST set of built-in classes to work with.
The other major point to mention about .NET is that with it, you are positioned to rapidly create powerful web applications as never before through ASP.NET and Web Forms.
Data in VS.NET is converted to XML automatically. This means that .NET is a powerful tool for managing the movement of data as well.
Applications built with VS.NET are not COM dependant (although they can interop with COM for backwards compatibilty) which means the end of "DLL Hell" for thousands of developers around the world.
The bottom line:
There is an awful big learning curve here, but the rewards are well worth it (language integration, common IDE, rapid application development, ease of application deployment, new power behind web applications, etc.). There are surely features that need to be improved or introduced, but VS.NET is a great first step into the next era of application development (eventually leading to platform independance).
You and your organization may not make the move to .NET right away, as it does involve a learning investment, but learn .NET now anyway because it WILL be the programming standard.
.NET a flop or a god ? 
2001-12-29
In my opinion it really depends on the programmer's background. For aspiring programmers, I would say Visual Basic 6 is much easier to learn. VB.NET is now fully object oriented, and this adds its own bit of complexity. I come from a Visual Basic background, starting with version 4. When I moved on to VB.NET I had a decent grasp on Object Oriented design and development, however I still had some learning curve there when it came to applying OOP to the VB syntax. In the long run, object oriented VB is worth the learning curve. It makes VB a much more powerful and flexible language. It was rewritten from scratch by the way (in C#). For developers with a C++\Java background, C# is the way to go. The learning curve should be negligible. As a matter of fact, I honestly can't tell the difference between C# and Java code when just glancing at it.
When we were deciding on which language\platform to use for this project, we had quite a bit of debate on the learning curve for us versus the value added. The choices were VB 6 and .NET. We were concerned that the move for most of us from VB6 to an OOP language might be too much, resulting in a great loss in development time. Fortunately we realized that while there will be some pain in the beginning, in the long run we will save time by using a single class library and inheriting common functionality rather than rewriting it every time, which happens a lot in VB 6. There are some ways of doing this in VB 6, but they aren't considered best practices.
>
This is a toughie because there are so many languages and platforms out there. Typically folks will be moving from a Microsoft platform, probably utilizing COM. We pretty much .NET-enabled Microsoft Commerce Server 2000 without a hitch (COM based). It was really as simple as duplicating the methods in the objects we needed as web services methods, adding a reference to the COM object (.NET generates a wrapper for you), and calling the COM classes within the web service. The really cool thing about this is that now we can add things to a shopping cart from any client, anywhere. Normally CS2K API can only be utilized on the web server which it is installed. Otherwise you have to get into the messy DCOM. I would envision an ASP setting this kind of architecture up and selling shopping cart services.
So in short, COM based apps would seem the easiest to migrate to .NET environment. ASP web apps should be fairly easy to migrate. Microsoft has done a great job keeping ASP.NET as backward compatible as possible.
>
ASP.NET is much, much faster than traditional ASP. The main reason for this is ASP.NET pages are compiled the first time they're accessed, then cached for subsequent access. ASP on the other hand is intepreted script. Further, ASP.NET uses VB.NET or C# as its back end logic, instead of the measily VBScript ASP uses.
...
The Best Tool For The Programming World! 
2003-03-15
Most of you reading this review will have used a Microsoft Compiler before, or a Borland product. If you have yet to experience .NET, you are missing out big time.
Interface (2 sections):
First Impressions 8/10 - I started up Visual Studio .NET only to see everything... EVERYTHING has been changed in some way. The reason why this gets an 8 is because it does not do well with new people coming to this product. But once you learn the interface and can get used to it:
Current Impressiosn 10/10 - You will find that it is much more productive interface than Visual Studio 6. Now if your coming from Borland products, you will find that C# and VB is great, and can compete directly with Borland.
Usefullness: 9/10 - It is just amazing how much you can do with this program, although it does have a few drawbacks, UML for example, but this can be overlooked.
Value: 8/10 - If you can afford it, but the reason I gave it an 8, is because it is expensive, and most people will not be able to afford this product, but those that are able to do so, should. Maybe in a few years, this will replace VS 6 in price :D
Final Score 9/10 - If you use C++, Visual Basic, or even the great C# that has just come out, you will love this product. The optimization is great.
Final Words: Buy it, if not this, at least Visual Studio 6, but VS .NET wins the battle of the two!
Great product, but look at the requirements! 2002-11-26
I come from a Visual Basic (3 and newer) and C/C++ background doing a great deal of development under both Windows and Unix. The software looks great and is quite user friendly (for a development environment). My biggest concern is the sheer size of the tool and the runtime environment. Among other things, I am a shareware author and a great number of prospective customers do not yet have the .NET runtime, which is a 24 MB download. Though I would not think twice about downloading such a file, those who are still dialing up to the Internet might think twice.
Overall, nice tool, but I am not yet convinced it is the most prudent tool for me and Visual Studio 6 is going to have a long lifetime despite this successor.
Outstanding 2002-08-07
The most "programming" I've ever done was a bit of server-side JavaScript - but with the IDE and the online help, I've had no problem sitting down and just chugging away at C#. The problem someone noted about needing an interpreter is incorrect: the Native Code Compiler included with the .NET SDK (installed with VS or available separately) can compile Microsoft's IL into machine code for Windows.
Definitely worth the learning curve if this is your thing!
Great IDE, but UML support is terrible 2002-04-20
Great, functional IDE for true object-oriented development.
However, the UML support is held together by glue and scotch tape with the included version of Visio 2002. Very poorly done, tedious and will not let you perform continuous round-trip engineering.
For an outstanding UML/Editor solution, check out Together Control Center. Although written and focused towards Java, it is capable of modeling and generating C# and VB.NET code.
I don't think .NET is that great 
2002-04-11
All .NET languages need interpretor. Even C.NET which is a shame. Such language as C usually used to develop apps closely interacting with OS. So there will be even less interaction between user created apps and system because now Microsoft tells us to do everything through interpreter. Just like crippled Java does! But difference between stuff written in Java and C is that you know what your C application does, but you can never be sure about your Java application because there is interpreter between you and system, another buggy layer that controls you and that you cannot control. I agree .NET might be convinient way for people who like everything easy or are afraid to explore, but The biggest flow is that it takes control out of your hands convincing you that you are in control.
Usual Microsofts trick!
