14 DAY TRIAL // With Visual Studio 2010 upgraded to Service Pack 1 (SP1) earlier this month it was only natural that Microsoft would also kick up a notch the latest iteration of the .NET Framework. Earlier this week the software giant provided the first upgrade to .NET Framework 4. Those familiar with the way that this technology evolved before version 4 was launched will undoubtedly be surprised by the manner in which the Redmond company opted to refresh it.
Somewhat breaking from tradition, Microsoft launched the first Platform Update for .NET Framework 4.
.NET Framework 4 Platform Update 1 (PP1) does not qualify for a new release of technology, while at the same time being much more than a simple collection of patches or bug fixes.
This because with PP1, Microsoft has added new features and expanded the functionality of .NET Framework 4.
Microsoft’s Steve Danielson highlighted some of the new features included in .NET Framework 4 PP1 which I included at the bottom of this article.
Danielson also offered some details on the three components of .NET Framework 4 PP1:
“•Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Platform Update 1 (KB2478063) - This package contains the runtime files for the platform update. This package must be deployed on systems where applications that target the platform update are deployed.
•Multi-Targeting Pack for Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Platform Update 1 (KB2495638) - This package contains reference assemblies and intellisense files for the platform update. This package is installed as part of the next package.
•Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Platform Update 1 – Design-time Package for Visual Studio 2010 SP1 (KB2495593) - This package installs the previous two packages and configures Visual Studio 2010 SP1 with new .NET Framework targeting profiles, intellisense, and adds the state machine activities to the toolbox.”
Developers using Visual Studio 2010 SP1 will be able, after deploying PP1 to target either the RTM Build of .NET Framework 4 or the upgraded version.
Here are the features enabled with PP1:
“Windows Workflow Foundation (WF)
•State machine workflows
◦ New classes added: StateMachine, State, FinalState, Transition, StateMachineStateQuery, StateMachineStateRecord
◦ Getting Started Tutorial: How to Create a State Machine Workflow
◦ Windows Workflow Foundation (WF4) - Introduction to State Machine Hands On Lab
◦ State Machine Activity Designers
◦ State Machine Workflows
◦ WF4 State Machine User Experience
•SqlWorkflowInstanceStore support for SQL Azure
◦ The scripts that create the persistence database are modified to be compatible with Sql Azure
◦ Retry semantics have been added and new error codes added that are specific to SQL Azure scenarios
•CompensationExtension class, which enables custom workflow hosts to use WF4 compensation,” Danielson said.
Visual Studio 2010 Service Pack 1 (SP1) RTM ISO and Installer are available for download here.