The new beta of Orcas (the next version of Visual Studio) is now out. You can download it either as an installer or as a Virtual PC image. I opted to download the VPC image (I would have put it in a VPC anyway, so why not save some work?).
The main info page for Orcas is at http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/aa700831.aspx or http://shrinkster.com/oqp. From there you can pick the download type you want. As I mentioned before, there’s an installer version and the VPC version. If you have a spare machine lying around, you can use the installer, otherwise I highly recommend the Virtual PC version. (I grabbed the Visual Studio Team Suite Only – VPC).
It’s very very VERY important you completely read the instructions. Did I mention it was important to read the instructions? Well in case I didn’t, be sure to read the instructions.
There’s actual two VPC images you have to download. The first is named Orcas, the second though is called BASE (it’s in an exe). When you run the Orcas VPC the first time, it will ask you to point to the base VPC. In addition, you will need to know the user id and password to login, both available on the download page and buried in the instructions. (See, I told you it was important to read the instructions!)
Like most people playing with Orcas, the first thing I did was tested what I already knew. In this case, I loaded in some of the SQL Server Compact Edition samples I’ve published here in the past few weeks. Most notably the code in my post on April 13th (http://shrinkster.com/oqq).
In some ways I wish I had a lot of new technical content to share with you. Harrowing tales of how I was able to fight the bugs and to conquer the evil things lurking in Orcas. But I can’t. It just worked. And, I’m happy to say worked without any flaws. I didn’t have to install any special add-ins (Orcas comes with SSCE assemblies preinstalled) or make special references.
I’ll keep playing with it, but for now I’m quite happy to report that while I don’t see any radical changes with SSCE in Orcas, I don’t see any issues so far either.
Arcane Code 