Visual C++ Express Edition

[Adimar Poynter]

Im having trouble finding a feature comparison between Visual Studio 2012 Express Edition and the professional edition. I'm using the trial Professional version at the moment, but it'll run out soon, so I need to make a decision whether to purchase the full version.

Obviously, I can just try both initially and see if the Express edition is suitable, but the problem is that there are that many features in Visual Studio, there might be a really useful feature that was missing in the standard edition that I didn't even know existed! Or I didn't spot it was missing until later down the line. I could really do with a feature comparison list like the one for all non-Express editions here. It's a shame that page doesn't include the Express edition.

The biggest difference is that Express editions do not support plugins (No ReSharper, no add-ons). Additionally, the non-express versions are all combined, meaning you don't have to switch back and forth to get features from individual express versions if you have a project that crosses web, desktop, etc.

UPDATE 8/6/2015 - If you're looking for a free edition of Visual Studio today, you will most likely be using the Visual Studio Community Edition, which is very different from the Express edtions (better). Community Edition is essentially Professional Edition, but free for Individuals, and DOES support plugins!

Also as mentioned, in order to develop a web-application and a Windows mobile application, you have to install two different versions of the Express edition, while it is not the case with other versions.

Microsoft makes the Express version for students, learners and newcomers. It's very easy to get started and is specially designed for doing one thing. This thing make learning faster and confuse someone new to programming less than a professional.

LocalDB installation copies a minimal set of files necessary to start the SQL Server Database Engine. Once LocalDB is installed, you can initiate a connection using a special connection string. When you connect, the necessary SQL Server infrastructure is automatically created and started, enabling the application to use the database without complex configuration tasks. Developer Tools can provide developers with a SQL Server Database Engine that lets them write and test Transact-SQL code without having to manage a full server instance of SQL Server.

LocalDB is a feature you select during SQL Server Express installation, and is available when you download the media. If you download the media, either choose Express Advanced or the LocalDB package.

The LocalDB installer SqlLocalDB.msi is available in the installation media for all editions except for Express Core. It's located in the \_ENU_LP\x64\Setup\x64 folder. LCID is a locale identifier or language code. For example, an LCID value of 1033 refers to the en-US locale.

Alternatively, you can install LocalDB through the Visual Studio Installer, as part of the Data Storage and Processing workload, the ASP.NET and web development workload, or as an individual component.

Select LocalDB on the Feature Selection/Shared Features page during installation. There can be only one installation of the LocalDB binary files for each major SQL Server Database Engine version. Multiple Database Engine processes can be started, and all use the same binaries. An instance of the SQL Server Database Engine started as the LocalDB has the same limitations as SQL Server Express.

An instance of SQL Server Express LocalDB is managed by using the SqlLocalDB.exe utility. SQL Server Express LocalDB should be used in place of the SQL Server Express user instance feature, which was deprecated.

The LocalDB setup program uses the SqlLocalDB.msi program to install the necessary files on the computer. Once installed, LocalDB is an instance of SQL Server Express that can create and open SQL Server databases. The system database files for the database are stored in the local AppData path, which is normally hidden. For example, C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server Local DB\Instances\LocalDBApp1\. User database files are stored where the user designates, typically somewhere in the C:\Users\\Documents\ folder.

The SqlLocalDB utility can create new instances of LocalDB, start and stop an instance of LocalDB, and includes options to help you manage LocalDB. For more information about the SqlLocalDB utility, see SqlLocalDB utility.

The instance collation for LocalDB is set to SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS and can't be changed. Database-level, column-level, and expression-level collations are supported normally. Contained databases follow the metadata and tempdb collations rules defined by Contained database collations.

An instance of LocalDB owned by the built-in accounts such as NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM can have manageability issues due to Windows file system redirection. Instead use a normal Windows account as the owner.

LocalDB supports two kinds of instances: automatic instances, and named instances. Different users of a computer can have instances with the same name. Each instance runs as the respective user in its own process.

Automatic instances of LocalDB are public. They're created and managed automatically for the user and can be used by any application. One automatic instance of LocalDB exists for every version of LocalDB installed on the user's computer. Automatic instances of LocalDB provide seamless instance management. There's no need to create the instance; it just works. This feature allows for easy application installation and migration to a different computer. If the target machine has the specified version of LocalDB installed, the automatic instance of LocalDB for that version is available on the target machine as well. Automatic instances of LocalDB have a special pattern for the instance name that belongs to a reserved namespace. Automatic instances prevent name conflicts with named instances of LocalDB. The name for the automatic instance is MSSQLLocalDB.

Named instances of LocalDB are private. They're owned by a single application that is responsible for creating and managing the instance. Named instances provide isolation from other instances and can improve performance by reducing resource contention with other database users. You must create named instances explicitly through the LocalDB management API, or implicitly via the app.config file for a managed application (although managed application might also use the API, if desired). Each named instance of LocalDB has an associated LocalDB version that points to the respective set of LocalDB binaries. The instance name of a LocalDB is sysname data type and can have up to 128 characters. (This instance name differs from regular named instances of SQL Server, which limits names to regular NetBIOS names of 15 ASCII characters.) The name of an instance of LocalDB can contain any Unicode characters that are legal within a filename. A named instance that uses an automatic instance name becomes an automatic instance.

To support scenarios where multiple users of the computer need to connect to a single instance of LocalDB, LocalDB supports instance sharing. An instance owner can choose to allow the other users on the computer to connect the instance. Both automatic and named instances of LocalDB can be shared. To share an instance of LocalDB, a user selects a shared name (alias) for it. Because the shared name is visible to all users of the computer, this shared name must be unique on the computer. The shared name for an instance of LocalDB has the same format as the named instance of LocalDB.

Only an administrator on the computer can create a shared instance of LocalDB. A shared instance of LocalDB can be unshared by an administrator or by the owner of the shared instance of LocalDB. To share and unshared an instance of LocalDB, use the LocalDBShareInstance and LocalDBUnShareInstance methods of the LocalDB API, or the share and unshared options of the SqlLocalDB utility.

The easiest way to use LocalDB is to connect to the automatic instance owned by the current user by using the connection string Server=(localdb)\MSSQLLocalDB;Integrated Security=true. To connect to a specific database by using the file name, connect using a connection string similar to Server=(LocalDB)\MSSQLLocalDB;Integrated Security=true;AttachDbFileName=D:\Data\MyDB1.mdf.

The first time a user on a computer tries to connect to LocalDB, the automatic instance must be both created and started. The extra time for the instance to be created can cause the connection attempt to fail with a timeout message. When this happens, wait a few seconds to let the creation process complete, and then connect again.

In addition to the automatic instance, LocalDB also supports named instances. Use the SqlLocalDB.exe program to create, start, and stop a named instance of LocalDB. For more information about SqlLocalDB.exe, see SqlLocalDB utility.

If your application uses a version of .NET Framework before 4.0.2, you must connect directly to the named pipe of the LocalDB. The Instance pipe name value is the named pipe that the instance of LocalDB is listening on. The portion of the Instance pipe name after LOCALDB# will change each time the instance of LocalDB is started. To connect to the instance of LocalDB by using SQL Server Management Studio, type the instance pipe name in the Server name box of the Connect to Database Engine dialog box. From your custom program you can establish connection to the instance of LocalDB using a connection string similar to SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(@"Server=np:\\.\pipe\LOCALDB#F365A78E\tsql\query");

To connect to a shared instance of LocalDB, add \.\ (backslash + dot + backslash) to the connection string to reference the namespace reserved for shared instances. For example, to connect to a shared instance of LocalDB named AppData, use a connection string such as (localdb)\.\AppData as part of the connection string. A user connecting to a shared instance of LocalDB that they don't own must have a Windows Authentication or SQL Server Authentication login.

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