Appendix B
Operating System
VWD Express can be installed on any of the following systems:
Microsoft Windows 2003 Server, Service Pack 1
Windows XP (Home Edition and Professional), Service Pack 2
Windows 2000 (Professional and Server), Service Pack 4
Windows x64 editions
Windows Vista
RAM
Minimum: 192 megabytes (MB)
Recommended: 256MB (512 MB or more with SQL Express)
Hard Disk
Minimum: 500MB
Full Installation: Up to 1.3GB of available space may be required
CD or DVD Drive
This is not required.
Display
Minimum: 800x600 256 colors
Recommended: 1024x768 High Color — 16-bit
Mouse
You need a Microsoft mouse or compatible pointing device.
As with plenty of Microsoft technologies, you’ll find that it may well work on other older setups; however, we cannot recommend this and we won’t answer questions about it either.
Visual Web Developer Express Installation
Follow these steps to install Visual Web Developer Express:
Setup
1.Go to the following URL: http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/vwd/.
2.Click the Download Now link, and from the next page, click the link to download from here. You will see the page shown in Figure B-1 asking you whether you want to run or save the file.
If you’re using a dialup connection, remain connected after you have downloaded this file, because you will still need an active connection later during the installation process.
Figure B-1
3.Click Run and you will see the dialog box shown in Figure B-2 after the vwdsetup.exe file has fully downloaded. If you are using Firefox, you only need to download and double-click it.
Figure B-2
4.You will be asked whether you want to submit anonymous information about your setup experiences (see Figure B-3). If you want to send information about your setup experience, check the box. If not, click Next.
Figure B-3
5.In the next screen, shown in Figure B-4, you will see the end-user license agreement (EULA). You have to agree to this to continue, so check the box and click Next.
Figure B-4
Setup
6.After accepting the terms of the EULA, you then specify which installation options you want to install in addition to .NET 2.0 and Visual Web Developer Express. The only compulsory option for this book is SQL Server 2005 Express. As shown in Figure B-5, select that option and click Next.
Figure B-5
7.Specify where to install VWD (see Figure B-6). We suggest selecting the default, which is C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\, and clicking Install to begin the setup. (Don’t worry if the default is something other than C on your machine — this makes no difference).
Unfortunately, downloading of all the components must now commence (see Figure B-7), and with 120MB, this can take quite a while.
Figure B-7
Don’t be surprised to see Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 continue to download for quite a while after reaching the 120MB — this isn’t unusual. After it has completed this stage, it will begin installation of the downloaded components, shown in Figure B-8.
Figure B-8
Setup
SQL Server needs Internet access during installation, so make sure it can access the Internet. Otherwise, the installation will fail.
8.At the end of this installation, you should see the screen shown in Figure B-9, asking you to restart your machine. You should oblige by clicking Restart Now.
By chance, you may not see this screen. As a general rule, you shouldn’t restart more often than necessary, so if you’re not prompted to restart, don’t do it.
Figure B-9
9.After your machine has restarted, the dialog box depicted in Figure B-10 is displayed, notifying you of a successful install (or any problems that were encountered) and reminding you to register the software within 30 days.
Figure B-10
10.Click Exit and you will now be able to start up both Visual Web Developer and SQL Express.
Appendix B
Web Site Folder Setup
Next, set up the Websites folder with Windows Explorer, and create the folder C:\Websites\ WroxUnited (or use whichever drive is appropriate to your setup).
To create a folder in Windows Explorer, select File New Folder and type in the name Websites.
IIS Setup (Optional)
As we’ve already mentioned, Visual Web Developer Express comes with its own web server: the ASP.NET Development Server, nicknamed Cassini. However, some of you might want to use IIS anyway. Note that it isn’t possible to run two versions of the web site concurrently, one on IIS and one on the development server, because the database attaches itself to the ASP.NET Development Server and you will find you can’t run it with IIS without detaching the database first.
To use IIS, you must have Windows XP Professional, Windows 2000, or Windows 2003 Server installed. Windows XP Home Edition comes without IIS, and it isn’t possible to install it on Home Edition if you do manage to get a copy of IIS. To begin the install, follow these steps:
1.To install IIS go to the Start menu, navigate to Settings Control Panel, and click Add or Remove Programs. From the left-hand menu of the dialog box (shown in Figure B-11), select the Add/Remove Windows Components icon. This will bring up the Windows Components Wizard.
Figure B-11
2.Make sure the Internet Information Services option is selected, as shown in Figure B-12.
Setup
Figure B-12
3.Click Details and you can select which of the options to install (see Figure B-13). You won’t need all of the options, although you can install them separately at a later point. However, you must make sure that you select the Common Files, the IIS snap-in, the Front Page Extensions, and the World Wide Web Services options, because these are necessary to work with ASP.NET 2.0 and Visual Web Developer Express.
Figure B-13
4.Click OK and make sure you have the Windows CD handy for the installation.
Appendix B
Create Alias
If you choose to install IIS and want to use the Wrox United sample web site on IIS, you will need to create an alias so that IIS can recognize which application you mean and serve it accordingly. The following steps walk you through creating an alias:
1.From the Start menu, select Run. Type MMC in the text box, and click OK. In the MMC dialog box that appears, select File Add/Remove Snap In. Click the Add button and select IIS Internet Information Services from the dialog box that appears, as depicted in Figure B-14.
Figure B-14
2.Expand the Internet Information Services, as shown in Figure B-15. Under that will be your computer’s name. Expand that as well as the Web Sites option.
Figure B-15
Setup
3.Right-click Default Web Site, and select New Virtual Directory from the menu to start the wizard. Type WroxUnited as the Virtual Directory Name as in Figure B-16.
Figure B-16
4.Click Next and browse to C:\Websites\WroxUnited as the local path, as shown in Figure B-17.
Figure B-17
5.Click Next and make sure the boxes are selected as shown in Figure B-18. Then click Next.
