Infragistics: Adding Value to VS 2008 through NetAdvantage

NetAdvantage for WPF grid in Visual Studio 2008

Infragistics NetAdvantage® leverages the new capabilities in Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2008 to provide flexibility, seamless integration and a greatly simplified development cycle. NetAdvantage for Windows Forms and NetAdvantage for ASP.NET controls can be fully used on the design surface of the new IDE.

Furthermore, with Visual Studio 2008 Windows® Presentation Foundation (WPF) tooling has finally arrived. NetAdvantage for WPF controls were built from the ground up on WPF and are rich and highly-stylable. Plus, NetAdvantage for WPF works inside of Microsoft's Expression® Blend™ environment and allows for proven collaboration between developers and visual designers across Microsoft tools.

NetAdvantage for .NET leverages the new capabilities in the VS 2008 framework to take advantage of advanced features like IntelliSense®, the ability to add tools to the design toolbox, and design surface drag-and-drop capabilities. Our ASP.NET controls also feature enhanced support for Language Integrated Query (LINQ) and ;enable you to use the improved CSS design tools of VS 2008.

Here are the features NetAdvantage leverages in VS 2008:

Design-Time support for WPF: Infragistics has long been recognized as the leader in the creation of components used to create the most compelling, highly styled user interfaces in the business. With the release of WPF, Microsoft re-set the bar for rich applications. Today, with the launch of VS2008, Infragistics NetAdvantage for WPF can take advantage of:

  • Visual Studio Design Time Support – The NetAdvantage for WPF controls render at design time and provide drag drop functionality, resizing logic, and other enhancements to the VS 2008 design surface.
  • Toolbox Integration – The NetAdvantage for WPF controls appear directly in the toolbox for a seamless feel for developers utilizing the traditional WPF paradigm.
  • IntelliSense Support – Full IntelliSense support inside of both the code-behind and the XAML files help developers quickly code against our object model.

CSS Design Tools: NetAdvantage for ASP.NET leverages the CSS design tools in VS 2008 which enables collaboration between developers and designers inside the design surface.

VS multi-targeting development: Infragistics recognizes that while development teams will be excited to begin development of applications on the new .NET Framework 3.5 (.NET 3.5), they will also need to continue to maintain existing applications written against the .NET Framework 2.0 (.NET 2.0). Consequently, our ASP.NET controls are available as assemblies compiled so they can run natively against either Framework version, meaning developers can work completely in their Framework-of-Choice. You can even use the CLR 2.0 assemblies within your 3.5 projects.

  • NetAdvantage for Windows Forms CLR 2.0 and NetAdvantage for ASP.NET CLR 2.0 assemblies can run in your .NET Framework 3.5 projects!

Integration of ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 Extensions into .NET 3.5: .NET 3.5 integrates the advanced AJAX capabilities previously released as the Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX Extensions 1.0. Because our Aikido™-based controls are built directly on top of the AJAX capabilities, developers can now leverage this improved integration without the need for installing extensions or performing additional configuration of their applications.

LinqDataSource control in ASP.NET 3.5: LINQ introduces revolutionary new query capabilities to .NET 3.5, making it easier for developers to integrate and manage the mountains of data their users need in their applications. ASP.NET developers can leverage the .NET Framework's new LinqDataSource control to easily introduce LINQ capabilities into their application, using the familiar Data Source Control pattern that has existed since ASP.NET 2.0. The WebGrid™ in NetAdvantage for ASP.NET 2008 vol. 1 has been enhanced to understand how to bind to LINQ queries and the LinqDataSource control making it easier for developer not only to query the data, but also to integrate the query results into their Web applications.

 

Look at the Quick Comparison

To help prepare you for Visual Studio 2008 we have created a quick comparison chart for ASP.NET and a chart for Windows Forms highlighting the value these Infragistics NetAdvantage products add to VS 2008 development.