Web Development Updates in Visual Studio 2008 SP1

Visual Studio 2008 SP1 and Visual Web Developer 2008 SP1 are now available for download. This blog post highlights the major changes in SP1 related to web development.

New Web Development Features in Visual Studio 2008 SP1

The following is a list of new features in SP1 which relate to web development:

Class Libraries and Web Application Projects in Express
JScript Formatting
More Support for External JScript Libraries
Dynamic Data Templates
SQL Server 2008 Support
WCF Renaming Support
IIS Module and Handler Templates
Multiple Selection in Design View (new since SP1 Beta)
Ability to add ADO.NET Data Service Reference in web projects (new since SP1 Beta)

For more details on the above features, please see the following articles:

http://blogs.msdn.com/webdevtools/archive/2008/05/12/visual-studio-2008-sp1-beta.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/webdevtools/archive/2008/06/12/multiple-control-selection-in-visual-studio-2008-sp1-rtm.aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc748663.aspx

Web Development IDE Performance Improvements

SP1 includes all of the web development performance improvements that were available previously via a downloadable hotfix. See http://blogs.msdn.com/webdevtools/archive/2008/02/09/downloadable-hotfix-performance-and-editor-fixes-for-microsoft-visual-studio-2008-and-visual-web-developer-express-2008.aspx for more information on the performance issue addressed.

In addition to the performance improvements mentioned in the above hotfix description, SP1 also addresses the following performance issues related to web development:

Faster switching to Design View. For details see http://blogs.msdn.com/webdevtools/archive/2008/06/18/faster-switch-to-design-view-in-vs-2008-sp1-rtm.aspx
Web Design View load is extremely slow when referenced assemblies are missing
First drop of a control onto the designer is very slow in Orcas
Undo Format Document in a large file takes a long time

Notable Bug Fixes

Visual Studio 2008 SP1 and Visual Web Developer 2008 SP1 contains several hundred bug fixes related to web development. Below is a list of the most notable bugs and customer reported bugs that are fixed.

General Issues

User interface problems when MS Laptop Mouse is plugged in
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=336039).203610
My language no longer shows up in the File | New | Web Site dialog after installing VS 2008 SP1 Beta
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=349083
VSSP1 Beta Watson Bug: There is a problem with this Windows Installer package. A program run as part of the setup did not finish as expected. Contact your support personnel or package vendor.

WebForm /HTML Design View

Wrong tab order for cells in a table contained in a MultiView control
Web controls that render LINK or STYLE tags for preview cause duplicate styles to be created when dragged and dropped
HTML incorrectly updated after doubleclicking a button in design view
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=327560
LinkButton.Text and Span ‘HTML corruption’ issue
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=337534
Web control previews that generate temp images don’t work on the SECOND open page
AJAX Extender: Extender Smart Tag UI doesn’t show
Problem with NavigateURL of Hyperlink Control – URL resolution
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=330792
DW Bucket 572467946: Crash caused by HTMLED.DLL!CViewManager::SetActiveObject
Custom server controls (container) do not render child control in VS 2008
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=338668
Visual Studio 2008 Hangs in Design view with Atlas UpdateProgress control
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=338668
Design View Hang
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=337804
VS Designer not honoring assembly redirection for RegisterTags
DW Bucket 572368332: Crash caused by FPEDITAX.DLL!CDC::BitBlt
Interactions with certain hardware causes toolbox elements remain disabled
Visual web developer distorts tags ending and sometimes messes up content
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=333575
DevXPress Web chart control does not render in DV (throws with “literal content is not allowed”)
http://www.devexpress.com/Support/Center/p/B94535.aspx
designer puts <span> tag around SqlDataSource parameters
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=324668
Panel within UpdatePanel, SPAN causes editor problems, bad HTML
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=342172
Undo can corrupt a document when two tags start on the same line
ContentPlaceHolderID does not use a a case insensitive to find matching Content controls
The following shortcut keys did not work in the designer: Ctrl+I, Ctrl+U, Ctrl+L, Ctrl+B
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=321928
“Format->Position” is disabled for all <span> based controls (Label, Hyperlink, SiteMapPath), absolute position on drop also does not work.
If inside a table cell you put text that wraps inside of a div tag that has a width applied, an example looking something like: “<div style=”width:50%”>Long Text Here</div>”, the div will render improperly with a very small width
Unable to resize vertically certain html elements that have a height specified in percentage.
ASP.NET StylesheetTheme can’t be use with Master Page
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=314745
Problem with URL created by file picker for NavigateURL property of Hyperlink Control – URL resolution
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=330792
BulletedList control rendered incorrectly on the designer within a DIV with Overflow set to Auto
Component One Menu and Toolbar render a weird “x” in DV
Cannot insert a Hyperlink with an Image selection
Unable to drop two controls w/ same namespace, but from different assemblies on the design surface.
CSS files in folders nested under App_Themes are not picked up at design time in VS 2008 RTM
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=312146
Many NBSPs added and tag name corruption when editing a page that uses Telerik controls (popular custom controls)
http://forums.asp.net/t/1185266.aspx
In an inline style, there were cases when after using the style builder, your single quotes would be turned into “&quot”.
~/ is not supported in <link> element
Some Telerik control configuration aren’t working properly in all cases in VS2008. Specifically, if you click on the RadAjaxManager and click Configure Ajax Manager, you will get an empty collection when you inherit from a master page.
http://www.telerik.com/community/forums/thread/b311D-bbgthd.aspx

WebForm / HTML Source View

Generation of designer failed error doesn’t go away
VB Snippets in inline web services do not properly insert import statements.
Visual Studio does not have support for VBScript
https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=292379
Debugging classic ASP pages
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=322633
Quotes not inserted after Class or CssClass attribute even when the option is enabled
In split view in a dual monitor setup, when “vertical split mode” is enabled, user is unable to drag the splitter around.
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=317032
If your ImageUrl on a server control points to an image location that is not app relative, the image would not always display correctly in the designer.
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=308786

Javascript Intellisense

Issue: Javascript Intellisense
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=332941
Typo in JavaScript IntelliSence
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=331523
JavaScript IntelliSence missing RegExp object members
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=331534
JScript Intellisense: Mochikit (Iter.js) – Error updating JScript IntelliSense
VS code editing JS intellisense does not work for ScriptManager-derived classes
JavaScript references in embedded assemblies are not followed when references in local files are.
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=331383
JScript Intellisense: Field meta comment does not create tooltip for prototype item.
JScript Intellisense: unable to load js from absolute URLs – Example: <script src=”http://mydomain.com/file.js”>
If you declared a RegExp variable, such as “var reg = new RegExp(“e”);”, and typed reg., you would get no intellisense dropdown.
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=331534
Typo: Under the string properties, you will see “fontSize()” and “fontColor()”.
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=331523

Web Projects

Preview pane issues
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=338211
Contextual Menu in aspx in Web Application
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=330457
Should disable “Update Web Reference” during debugging session
ASP.NET rendering is broken
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=332864
DW Bucket 574089943: Crash caused by MSWEBPRJ.DLL!_chkstk
A reference to an embedded javascript file cause a compilation failure while visual studio 2008 locks the target assembly
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=328999
If you try to open a WAP that uses IIS without admin privileges, you will get an a cryptic error message talking of a “System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException”. http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=317124
Using configSource for <system.web><compilation> section breaks debugging in VS2008
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=312199
Files marked “Copy Always” to the output directory in WAP do not get copied when you build to a location different than the default
In the IE8 Beta, Visual Studio would hang for long periods of time when starting the web browser with or without the debugger
With script debugging enabled, occasionally on certain configurations VS might hang when starting without debugging.
When you create a master page that inherits another master page, the template will set AutoEventWireup=”false”
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=299418
web.config validation does not recognize ‘traceOutputOptions’ attribute
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=304108
Web Debugging fails if compilation element is defined inside of <location> element.
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=293526
There are cases when Visual Studio may update a web reference while you are debugging.
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=303796
In a Web Application Project under source control, if you build and Publish Project we would publish the vssver2.scc file, and subsequent publishes would fail with the error “Unable to add ‘bin/vssver2.scc’ to the Web. The file ‘bin\vssver2.scc’ already exists in the Web.
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=310296
When you do a “Save As…” on your solution and you save it to a different location, the AspNetCompiler.PhysicalPath property of your solution would not change to reflect the new relative path of your web sites against that solution. This would cause MSBuild to fail with an error 1003: The directory ‘<dirname>’ doesn’t exist.”
In a Web Application Project cannot specify a remote server to debug against. We now have the “Use Custom Web Server” option where you can specify a remote server to debug against. Screen shot below:

http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=324664