Can I make ASP.NET MVC2 applications using an express version of Visual Studio?

Question

I'm going to make an MVC2 application using C#.

Which IDE can I use for free that will help me build this application? The different versions are very confusing to make out.

I'm going to be following this tutorial: http://nerddinnerbook.s3.amazonaws.com/Part1.htm

I see it makes use of Unit Testing. Can an express version do this?

Answer 1

Yes.... you definitely can.

Get it here: http://www.microsoft.com/express/Web/

You can't do unit testing with Microsoft's testing framework when using the express edition. Which is not really a big deal. You can still use any of the many, many open source unit testing frameworks out there.

More about it in video on Channel 9: Noah Coad: An Overview of Visual Studio Express 2010

As an additional information: useful link to a page that compares in a table Microsoft Visual Studio versions and features: http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/products

Answer 2

You also can't add projects to your express solution so you can't have a model project, a helper project, a database project etc, in your solution.

you will need to write each of these as seperate projects, compile them and then reference them in your web application.

a pain in the neck but it will enforce good seperation of concerns. :)

Answer 3

In additional to Leniel:

I see it makes use of Unit Testing. Can an express version do this?

nope. Express version have not built in unit testing framework. Moreover Express cannot use plug-ins.