Microsoft adds devops at Visual Studio launch

Microsoft’s formal introduction of Visual Studio 2012 IDE today gives a nod to devops by enabling IntelliTrace, which lets users track issues in code. Although Visual Studio 2012 has been shipping for about three weeks, Microsoft seeks to get the message out about the product and the accompanying .Net Framework 4.5 to potential users who haven’t yet downloaded the software.

In the devops space, Microsoft is extending IntelliTrace, for tracing of code-related problems, to the company’s Systems Center software via a capability that will be featured in System Center 2012 Service Pack 1, currently in a preview release. Code issues detected by operations personnel can be routed to developers via Team Foundation Server (TFS) 2012 ALM server.

Prior to this latest enhancement, IntelliTrace was only available for software development usage. “You couldn’t actually use it out in the data center,” said Jason Zander, Microsoft corporate vice president for the Visual Studio team.

Additionally, Microsoft will introduce Visual Studio 2012 Update 1, which adds kanban templates for agile programming, as well as new support for the SharePoint collaboration platform via load testing and coded UI testing. The update will be available in a preview form in a couple of weeks. The full update will be out later this year.

Other products unveiled by Microsoft today include:

• Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Desktop, available today and providing free tools for desktop applications based on C#, VB.Net, and C++. The Express tools series features abbreviated toolsets for building applications, but lacks such features as the ability to connect applications to back-end data sources.
• F# Tools for Visual Studio Express 2012 for Web, offering a free add-on the Visual Studio 2012 for developing F# applications on ASP.Net, Windows Azure cloud systems. The tools ship today. F# is a functional programming language geared to scientific applications.
• TFS Power Tools for Visual Studio 2012, providing advanced backup tools, extensions for Windows Explorer and PowerShell, and a process template editor. The tools are available today.
• Productivity Power Tools for Visual Studio 2012, due in October and offering enhancements, tools, and command-line utilities to help developers accomplish tasks more efficiently.
• New support for Windows Embedded, wherein Windows Embedded Compact, which puts Windows on small devices, is fully supported in Visual Studio 2012. Improvements are planned for release early next year.
• Community language packs, in which developers can view the UI in their local language. Ten local languages will be available today.
• Partner support for Visual Studio 2012, with 72 partners delivering more than 100 products to supplement the IDE, including code refactoring plug-ins.

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