Windows Phone 7 Development and Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate

Question

Is Windows Phone 7 Development SDK available for other versions of Visual Studio 2010 than Express? If I already have the Ultimate version do I still need to download VS2010 Express to use WP7 SDK?

Answer 1

When you install the Windows Phone 7 SDK it installs everything including "Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone" even if you have another non-express version of Visual Studio 2010 already installed.

If you have another version of VS2010 installed. the installer will NOT create any shortcuts for the express version. Nor will it set any file associations for it.

This has two effects:

1. The installer is simpler (It just gets everything and only needs logic around setting shortcuts) and so should be less buggy. - Most people have no issues with it. The few who do have problems have mostly fixed them with a repair of the install.

2. You can use both the Express and other version of VS2010 on the same machine. I find this particularly useful when looking at open source or demo projects which were created with the express version.

Answer 2

The WP7 environment will install into your existing instance of Visual Studio if you have one (and will install an Express edition if you don't)

Answer 3

Yes, you would need to download the full SDK. But nothing to worry since installing the SDK would automatically take care of installing the templates, and you should be able to work with your Ultimate edition with all the goodness :)