GTK+ 3 is now on Windows

GTK+ 3.6.4 is the current maintained version on Windows. The current GTK+ stack uses APIs that are available only on Windows 2000 or later. Download GTK+ 3 for Windows (32-bit) here.

You will need the GLib, cairo, Pango, ATK, gdk-pixbuf and GTK+ developer packages to build software against GTK+. To run GTK+ programs you will also need the gettext-runtime, fontconfig, freetype, expat, libpng and zlib packages.

The packages here are for people who develop software that uses GTK+. This page is not intended directly for end-users. It is expected that people who build installers for GTK+ applications for Windows bundle GTK+ with them.

An installation and usage tutorial is available for beginners.

Python Tools for Visual Studio v2.0

Python Tools for Visual Studio (currently version 2.0) is a free, open source plugin that turns Visual Studio into a Python IDE.

PTVS supports CPython, IronPython, editing, browsing, Intellisense, mixed Python/C++ debugging, remote linux/MacOS debugging, profiling, IPython, Django, and cloud computing with client libraries for Windows, Linux and MacOS.

Designed, developed, and supported by Microsoft and the community.

web site: https://pytools.codeplex.com/


PTVS 2.0: A quick overview
This video does a quick walk through of PTVS 2.0 including:
- Installation
- Intellisense
- REPL + IPython
- Reformat
- Django & Django debugging
- Debugging: local, remote, linux, mixed Python/C++
- Profiling

Visual Studio 2013 Web Editor Features - HTML5

Visual Studio 2013 Web Editor Features - HTML Editor

Visual Studio 2013 Web Editor Features - HTML Editor
The video shows Visual Studio 2013 HTML editor features, including full IntelliSense for HTML elements, all CSS classes and ID's in your project, HTML entities, rich snippets, drag and drop for media, support for modern libraries like AngularJS, KnockoutJS and Handlebars, and a variety of meta tags.

Windows 8.1, Visual Studio 2013...

Visual Studio Express 2013

• Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2013 for Web
  Visual Studio Express 2013 for Web provides the core tools for creating compelling, innovative web applications and services.
• Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows
  Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows provides the core tools that are required to build compelling, innovative Windows Store apps.
• Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows Desktop
  Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows Desktop enables the creation of desktop apps in C#, Visual Basic, and C++, and supports Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Windows Forms, and Win32.
• Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server Express 2013
  Visual Studio Team Foundation Server Express 2013 is a source-code-control, project-management, and team-collaboration platform at the core of the Microsoft suite of Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) tools, which help individuals and small teams be more agile, collaborate more effectively, and deliver quality software more consistently.
• Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Phone
  The Windows Phone SDK 8.0 is a full-featured development environment to use for building apps and games for Windows Phone 8.0 and Windows Phone 7.5. The Windows Phone SDK provides a stand-alone Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Phone or works as an add-in to Visual Studio 2012 Professional, Premium or Ultimate editions.

Download Visual Studio Express 2013

Team Foundation Service is live! Up to 5 users are free, and for a limited time all use is free!

It's available now. It's Team Foundation Service, a new way for teams who care about rapid software delivery to plan and manage projects. And for teams up to 5 developers, it's free.

• Accessible from anywhere, using existing and familiar tools.
  Plan projects, collaborate with your team, and manage your code online from anywhere using any modern web browser. Works with all editions of Visual Studio 2012 (even Express!), as well as Eclipse and other tools (by using our command line client).
• Get started quickly, with no infrastructure to manage.
  Go from "sign up" to your first project in minutes, and set up a Continuous Integration (CI) build in a few easy steps. Your source code and work items are stored in the cloud, making server configuration a thing of the past.
  
• All languages and platforms welcome.
  From C# to Python, from Windows to Android, you can use a variety of languages and target a variety of platforms. Our services are designed to help you focus on what you do best—building great apps.
  

Get started today by signing up for your free account!

Team Foundation Service is being made available to teams of up to five developers for FREE. Sign up today, invite up to four team members and start collaborating for no cost. To get started, visit: http://tfs.visualstudio.com.

Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Phone

Windows Phone SDK provides Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Phone and the assets to build epic apps faster using what you know. Use .NET to build your apps or take full advantage of the platform for your games with DirectX/C++. .NET apps and games can reuse their business logic across Windows 8, the web (ASP.NET), and Windows Azure so developers can move faster.

Windows Phone apps
The Visual Studio 2012 integrated development environment (IDE) simplifies the development of phone apps so you can focus on delighting your users.

Windows Phone Emulator
Once you’ve built your app, test it using the Windows Phone Emulator. You’ll see it the way users will see it in a simulated, real-world environment.

Blend for Windows Phone
Seamless integration with Blend for Windows Phone means you can create unique and compelling apps that will shine in the Windows Phone Marketplace.

Use with your existing Visual Studio
With the Visual Studio Add-in you can create end-to-end solutions. Create continuous services to power your apps with cloud-based services. Or share business logic across Windows Phone, Windows 8, or ASP.NET.

Link: http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/cht/products/visual-studio-express-for-windows-phone

Windows Phone 8 Developer Platform announced

Windows Phone 8 Developer Platform launched! Microsoft are making available the most important advancement of the dev plat to date, including a new Windows Phone SDK 8.0 and a refreshed Windows Phone Dev Center now open for Windows Phone 8 app submissions.

The Windows Phone SDK 8.0 is a full-featured development environment to use for building apps and games for Windows Phone 8.0 and Windows Phone 7.5. The Windows Phone SDK provides a stand-alone Visual Studio Express 2012 edition for Windows Phone or works as an add-in to Visual Studio 2012 Professional, Premium or Ultimate editions. With the SDK, you can use your existing programming skills and code to build managed or native code apps. In addition, the SDK includes multiple emulators and additional tools for profiling and testing your Windows Phone app under real-world conditions.

System requirements

Supported operating systems: Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro

• • Windows 8 64-bit (x64) client versions

• Hardware:
  • 4 GB of free hard disk space
  • 4 GB RAM
  • 64-bit (x64) CPU
• Windows Phone 8 Emulator:
  • Windows 8 Pro edition or greater
  • Requires a processor that supports Second Level Address Translation (SLAT)
  If your computer meets the hardware and operating system requirements, but does meet the requirements for the Windows Phone 8 Emulator, the Windows Phone SDK 8.0 will install and run. However, the Windows Phone 8 Emulator will not function and you will not be able to deploy or test apps on the Windows Phone 8 Emulator.

Download and Install Visual Studio Express 2012

Visual Studio Express 2012 products provide free development tools for creating modern applications on the latest platforms.

• Visual Studio Express 2012 for Web
  Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2012 for Web is a free and robust development environment for building, testing, and deploying web applications across the Microsoft Web Platform.
• Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows 8
  Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows 8 provides the core tools that are required to build compelling, innovative Windows Store apps.
• Visual Studio 2012 Express for Windows Desktop
  You can use Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Desktop to build powerful desktop apps in C#, Visual Basic, and C++. You can target client technologies such as Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Windows Forms, and Win32.
• Visual Studio Team Foundation Server Express 2012
  Even small teams deserve great results. Visual Studio Team Foundation Server Express 2012 provides small teams of up to five developers with source code control, work item tracking, and build automation for their software projects so that they can deliver predictable results.

Download Link: http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/410971009/direct/01/

Unfortunately, may be it will not work on your setup of pre-release versions of Windows 8 currently!!! Because of the error of "The .Net Framework installed on this machine does not meet the minimum required version: 4.5.50709."

It's because "Visual Studio 2012 RTM will not install on pre-release versions of Windows 8"!!!

Alternatively, you can download the RC version listed here:

• Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2012 RC for Windows 8
  http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29915
• Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2012 RC for Web
  http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29928

WinRT XAML Toolkit

A set of controls, extensions and helper classes for Windows Runtime XAML applications, to help you build your apps faster, letting you focus on adding cool features and not worrying about plumbing.

Website: WinRT XAML Toolkit

Windows Phone 8 SDK Preview program is now open

Microsoft begin accepting requests for access to the Windows Phone SDK 8.0 Developer Preview program. The objective is to let developers of the most-downloaded apps start optimizing them for Windows Phone 8, and expect the majority of published developers in this situation to qualify for access.

To apply, please visit the Microsoft Connect site and complete a short application.

Source: http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_phone/b/wpdev/archive/2012/09/12/windows-phone-8-sdk-preview-program-is-now-open.aspx

Windows Phone Dev Center announced

Windows Phone Dev Center announced. The site is designed to provide everything needed to build, publish and manage apps for Windows Phones.

http://dev.windowsphone.com/

Hello Visual Studio Express 2012 RC for Windows 8

As common practice, click New Project... on starting page of Visual Studio Express 2012 RC for Windows 8.

Select template of Visual C++ Windows Metro style, Blank App (XAML), with name of HelloMetroCpp. And click OK.

Double click on MainPage.xaml in Solution Explorer to open it.

- Manual edit XAML to show something. Insert the code in-between <Grid></Grid>

        <TextBlock 
            Text="Hello Visual Studio Express 2012 RC for Windows 8"
            FontFamily="Times New Roman"
            FontSize="30"
            Foreground="White"
            HorizontalAlignment="Center"
            VerticalAlignment="Center"/>

Save, Build and Run it.

To close the test app, you can switch back to Visual Studio Express IDE by Alt-Tab keys, then click the icon to stop debugging.

Or, drag on top of the hello app, move to bottom on screen to close it.

Visual Studio Toolbox: Visual Studio 2012 Release Candidate

In this episode, Jason Zander joins us to celebrate the availability of Visual Studio 2012 Release Candidate. Jason shows off a number of features that have been added to Visual Studio since Beta, including

• IDE updates
• Web site optimization (bundling/minification)
• Web publishing
• Enhancements to Blend for designing both XAML and HTML apps
• OData support in LightSwitch

Download Visual Studio Express 2012 RC

• Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2012 RC for Web is a free and robust development environment for building, testing, and deploying web applications across the Microsoft Web Platform.
• Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2012 RC for Windows 8 provides the core tools that are required to build compelling, innovative Windows Metro style apps.
• Visual Studio Team Foundation Server Express 2012 RC provides small teams of up to five developers with source code control, work item tracking, and build automation for their software projects so that they can deliver predictable results.

Download here: Visual Studio Express 2012 RC

You can notice that Visual Studio Express 2012 have no option to develop Desktop Application. But you can still download Visual Studio Express 2010 for free.

Visual Studio 2012 RC released

Visual Studio 2012 is a comprehensive family of products for every organization, team and individual developer that wants to modernize or create exciting apps. Visual Studio 2012 also simplifies the product family by integrating capabilities that were previously available in separate products and bringing exciting new capabilities to every edition.

Get Visual Studio 2012 RC today and start preparing for the next generation of development.

Learn more details about What's New in Visual Studio 2012 RC.

Visual Studio 11 Beta Product Guide

This Visual Studio 11 Beta Product Guide provides a comprehensive overview of scenarios and features regarding the new integrated development environment (IDE), Windows® 8 development, web development, and Application Life Cycle Management tools. This guide also provides information about the benefits that Visual Studio 11 Beta offers to diverse stakeholders in software delivery projects, including testers and operations staff.

- Table of Contents -

• Introduction to Visual Studio 11 Beta
  Visual Studio 11 Beta
  Deploying Visual Studio 11 Beta
  Visual Studio 11 Beta Product Family
  What’s new in Visual Studio 11 Beta
  What’s new for Windows 8
  What’s new for the Web
  Developing to standards
  Summary
  
  
• Visual Studio 11 Beta Developer Experience
  Introduction
  New User interface
  Project Compatibility
  Managing the Environment
  Platform Experience
  Services Experience
  Summary
  
  
• Developing for Windows 8
  Windows 8 Applications are Simple to Use
  Windows 8 Applications Can Easily Connect and Communicate
  Windows 8 Applications Can Adapt to Their Environment
  Windows 8 Applications are Device Friendly
  Windows 8 Applications are Mobile and Scalable
  Windows 8 Applications are Trustworthy and Safe
  Windows Runtime and application model
  Choose from a broad range of application programming languages
  Create immersive games using the power of DirectX
  Compatibility with existing frameworks
  Tools and Resources for Developers
  Configuring, Packaging, and Publishing
  Making Native Code Libraries Available to Metro-style Applications
  Building Metro-style Applications with JavaScript by Using Visual Studio 11 Beta and Blend for Visual Studio
  Creating a new Metro-style JavaScript application
  Designing and Styling the User Interface with HTML and CSS
  Testing your Metro-style applications with JavaScript
  Building Metro-style Applications with C# and Visual Basic by Using Visual Studio 11 Beta
  Creating a new Metro-style application with C# or Visual Basic
  Designing and Styling the User Interface with XAML
  New features
  Debugging
  Deep asynchronous programming support in WINRT
  Hybrid applications
  Concurrency Visualizer
  Building Metro-style applications with C++ by Using Visual Studio 11 Beta
  Designing the User Interface
  Implementing Application Logic with C++
  Testing and Debugging C++ Applications
  Designing Games for Windows 8
  Viewing and basic editing of 3D models
  Visually designing shader programs and effect files
  Debugging and diagnostics of DirectX based output
  Summary
  
  
• Developing for the Web
  Develop to Standards
  Use the latest HTML, CSS, and JavaScript with jQuery
  Use CSS to Style your Site
  Use jQuery and JavaScript to Make your Site Interactive and Responsive
  Use IntelliSense to Develop with Ease
  Easily Develop Sites
  Find Problems Faster
  Test, Debug and Deploy with Confidence
  View and Edit Web Pages in the IDE
  Develop for a Modern Platform
  Develop for Mobile Devices
  Easily Work with Data and State Information
  Integrate with Other Technologies
  Improve Performance
  Develop Single Page Applications
  Develop Web services
  Develop Asynchronous Services
  Use Workflows to Model Services
  Repurpose an Existing Service in a Workflow
  Maintain and Manage Workflows
  Use Full Duplex Communications
  Deploy Services Quickly
  Summary
  
  
• Application Life Cycle Management with Visual Studio 11 Beta
  The Benefits of Visual Studio 11 Beta and Team Foundation Server 11 Beta
  Increasing Efficiency and Reducing Waste
  Including Customers in the Development Workflow
  Working in a Familiar Environment
  Managing the Life Cycle of a Modern Application
  Application Life Cycle Management Features in Visual Studio 11 Beta
  Managing a Project
  Gathering User Requirements
  Improving Developer Productivity
  Team Explorer
  Shelvesets
  Code Reviews
  Code-Clone Analysis
  Continuous Unit Testing
  Performing Exploratory Testing
  Providing Customer Feedback
  Getting Feedback from Applications in Production
  Working Closely with Operations Personnel
  Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 11 Beta in the Cloud
  Simple Sign-Up and Immediate Web Access
  Easy Collaboration with External Contributors
  No Infrastructure Management
  Support for Heterogeneous Environments
  Application Development
  Lab Management
  Conclusion
  
  
• Visual Studio 11 Beta for Other Project Stakeholders 126
  Product Managers and Designers
  Project Managers
  Team Leaders and Architects
  Customers
  Testers
  End-user Developers
  Operations Staff
  Conclusion
  

Download Visual Studio 11 Beta Product Guide

Visual Studio 11 product lineup and platform support

The Visual Studio Team have a post in Visual Studio Blog to describe how is the final product lineup and specifications you can expect to see for the next release of Visual Studio. This also includes system requirements and platform you can develop for with Visual Studio 11.

To see the full product line up, please visit the Visual Studio product website.

Link: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudio/archive/2012/05/18/a-look-ahead-at-the-visual-studio-11-product-lineup-and-platform-support.aspx

Run Metro style applications on Simulator

Metro style apps are full-screen and respond to user touch and hardware events like screen rotations. The Visual Studio 11 Beta simulator for Metro style apps is a desktop application that simulates a Windows Metro style app. It enables a developer on a single machine to run Metro style applications and simulate common touch and rotation events. You can also choose the physical screen size and resolution that you want to emulate. Location co-ordinates of user input events in the simulator are translated to the co-ordinates of the select size and resolution.

Together with Visual Studio, the simulator provides an environment in which you can design, develop, debug, and test Metro style apps. However, before you publish your app to the Windows Store, you should test your app on an actual device.

*Also apply on on Visual Studio 11 Express Beta for Windows 8

- To enable Simulator, simple select Simulator as the target debug device.

Read more: Microsoft Windows Simulator Touch Emulation