Have you been looking at the different versions of Visual Studio and wondering what is the real differences?  Well, for some time I was wondering what the differences of the Standard version compared to the Professional or Team Solutions versions.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/products/compare/

While the site above shows some of the differences, there are some items I was not sure about such as the missing “Server“ node, “Sql Server 2005 Integration“ and mostly, the “Simplified menu options and defaults“.  The latter, had me wondering if the Standard version would have the same menu options as the Express versions.  The simple answer is no.

First, here is a summary from the above link, of what the Standard version is missing compared to the Professional version:

• No Office development support (not a biggy for me!)
• XML editor only XML files not XLS
• Does not support Crystal Reports (does support Reporting Services in SQL Server Express and greater)
• Does not allow remote debugging
• Do not have the "Servers" node in the Server Explorer window.  The Professional or greater models allow you to browser servers and access items such as the event log, services, performance counters, etc.
• Does not have SQL server intergration.  If you play to work with custom CLR assemblies, standard will make it more work as there is not integration supporting Sql Server database projects.
• Only includes SQL Server Express (is all I usually need anyway)

*While the page does say that the Standard versions comes on a single CD, mine came on two CDs along with three CDs for the MSDN.

What I found -

About a month ago, I received the Standard version and installed it yesterday.  Here is the results I noticed as to the differences.

Project/Solution Templates -

The first thing I noticed is the number of templates that ship with the Standard version.  On New Project, the available templates are:

• C#
  • Windows
    • Windows Application
    • Windows Control Library
    • Console Application
    • Class Library
    • Web Control Library
    • Empty Project
  • Starter Kits
    • Screen Saver Starter Kit
    • Movie Collection Starter Kit
• Other Project Types
  • Setup and Deployment
    • Setup Project
    • Merge Moudle Project
    • CAB Project
    • Web Setup Project
    • Setup Wizard
• Extensibility
  • Visual Studio Add-in
  • Shared Add-in
• Visual Studio Solutions
  • Blank Solution

There are many templates missing from Professional or Team Solutions.  One of the most important to me is the SQL Server project for building and debugging CLR assemblies.  Really handy to say the least.

Simplified Menus and Options -

This is not to be confused with the VS Express versions limited menus and options.  The Standard version has many more options than the Express versions, much more like the Professional version.

The menus are very close to the Professional version, including extra options on breakpoints such as:

• Location..
• Condition..
• Hit Count..
• Filter..
• When Hit..

which the Express versions do not include the above options.

On the "Tools" menu the follow are not included in the menus on the Standard version:

• Active X Control Test Container
• Create GUID
• Error Lookup
• ATL/MFC Trace Tool
• SPY++  
• Performance tools

On the "View" menu, the "Other Windows" section is missing in the Standard version:

• Call Browser
• Performance Explorer
• Property Manager

The “Options” show a big differnce.  While the Standard version provides many more options than the Express versions, there are still a number of options missing:

•  Node: Source Control
  • Environment
  • Plug-in Settings
•  Node: Business Intelligence Designers (entire node)
•  Node: Microsoft Office Keyboard Settings (entire node)
•  Node: Test Tools (entire node)

From what I can see, that appears to be most of the menu and option differences.  Much better than the Express versions!

Conclusion -

From what I can see so far, the Standard version will probably work well for many developers.  The lack of support for development/debugging of CLR assembles for SQL Server 2005 may be a hindrance to a number of developers as is the missing template for a Windows Service application.  The question is if the few features that are actually missing are worth the extra money...

Updated:  If you wish to build CLR assembles for SQL Server 2005, you mgiht try: