Installation Configurations for Clients of Visual Studio Team System
One thing you will learn quickly if you start using Visual Studio Team System, Team Edition for Software Architects, Visual Studio Professional Edition, or any of the other Visual Studio 2005 products is that there are a lot of setups you can run. Typically you just run the setup on the disk and it brings up a setup wizard that helps you figure out what you want. Then the setup wizard runs 1 or more additional setup programs depending on what you selected.
However, not all setups are reachable from that wizard. For example, Installing Team Foundation Build involves locating the correct setup.exe on the installation media to run. Although this setup and some other setups were originally intended to be part of the wizard, there was not enough time to get them included for version 1. The setups are documented in the Visual Studio Team Foundation Installation Guide.
Also, the wizard does not help you figure out how to set up your computer for your specific purposes. For example, a developer probably wants to install a language for development work, and Team Explorer for working with bugs. A tester probably wants Team Edition for Testers for managing tests and Team Explorer for creating and resolving bugs.
Finally, the wizard does not tell you what to do if you install one configuration and later decide to change it. For example, what if you installed C# from Visual Studio Professional, and later want to install components from Team Edition for Testers? Do you need to uninstall or reinstall bits and pieces of the product?
Fortunately, all of the setups in the Visual Studio 2005 products are designed to install on top of each other in any order. There is only one exception to this, which I’ll describe later. Every time you run a setup and install something new, you will see it appear in the splash screen when Visual Studio 2005 starts. You can also see this list by going to the Help menu and clicking About. Additionally you’ll see the product versions listed there for reference.
The following figure shows the help about dialog after installing C# from Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition and then installing Team Edition for Testers:
Here are a couple of scenarios where you would run multiple setups. The first scenario involves a developer who wants to configure a development computer for writing code. Later the developer’s team moves over to Team Foundation, requiring that the developer’s computer have Team Explorer installed.
1. The developer runs the setup wizard from Visual Studio 2005 Professional and installs C# and C++.
2. Later, the team gets Visual Studio Team Suite Edition and creates a team project on a Team Foundation Server.
3. The developer runs the setup wizard from Visual Studio Team Suite Edition and installs Team Explorer.
Results: The development computer now has C#, C++, the Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Office (required for Team Explorer), and Team Explorer.
The second scenario involves a tester who installs Visual Basic from Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition for writing some automation tests. Later the tester installs Team Edition for Testers to support running unit tests as well as manage test cases. Finally the team moves to Team Foundation, so the tester needs to install Team Explorer to manage bugs.
- The tester runs the setup wizard from Visual Studio 2005 Standard and installs Visual Basic.
- Later, after reviewing some of the features in Team Edition for Testers, the tester decides to install Team Edition for Testers.
- When the team sets up a Team Foundation Server, the tester runs the setup wizard from Visual Studio Team Suite Edition and installs Team Explorer.
Results: The tester’s computer now has Visual Basic, Team Edition for Testers, the Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Office (required for Team Explorer), and Team Explorer.
All of the Visual Studio products and setups are designed to install and stack on top of each other in any order. I mentioned previously that there was an exception. The exception is the Microsoft Visual Studio Express Editions. Team Explorer does not integrate with the Express Editions. But it will integrate with the other editions on your client computer.
We are looking to include this information in future versions of the setup guide. Please let us know if you think there is additional information needed for client setups.
Thanks!
David
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