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Free to download, the Microsoft Visual Studio Express Edition is an extension of the Visual Studio product line. The suite consists of tools specifically designed to make it easy for anyone to build dynamic Windows applications and web sites. They are lightweight, easy to use and easy to learn.

Visual Web Developer Express
A user-friendly web development tool based on ASP.NET and VB .NET. It supports the Visual Basic, C#, and J# languages, and there are kits to help you get started, like the Personal Web Site Starter Kit. These kits are a great way to learn Visual Web Developer and ASP.NET 2.0 and you can get a personal web site up and running in minutes.

Visual Basic Express
A lightweight tool for developing Windows Forms applications and console applications. Programmers with previous Visual Basic 6.0 experience will find it easy to learn new features and take the step to .NET 2.0. Absolute beginners can learn how to program using the tool as a foundation language.

Visual C# Express Edition
This offers a streamlined and fun approach, while Visual Studio C++ Express Edition shows professional capabilities. Visual Studio J# Express Edition empowers those with Java knowledge.

The SQL Server Express (SSE).
This tool complements the rest of the suite by providing robust database support that isn’t overly complicated for the job at hand. Together, the tools in the Express Suite offer a simple but powerful development environment for building data-driven applications.

SQL Server Express in Detail
SQL Server Express inherits many non-enterprise features from SQL Server 2005 and comes complete with its own dedicated development and administration tools.

SQL Server Express is an ideal database for developers and administrators to use in prototype or evaluation projects. It is also a powerful development platform in its own right for low-budget database applications for non-profit web sites, as well as small office/departmental solutions and even e-commerce sites.

SQL Server Express is based on SQL Server 2005 technology. It uses the same database engine but is limited to 1 CPU, 1GB of RAM and a maximum database size of 4GB. While SQL Server Express explicitly removes the workload governor associated with Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (MSDE), SQL Server Express still targets explicitly non-enterprise solutions. It is available free of charge and is designed to support smaller-scale database applications in an efficient way, with a strong emphasis on ease of development and use.

Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (MSDE) versions offered a subset of the functionality of SQL Server 7 and 2000. In the same way, SQL Server Express offers a significant subset of SQL Server 2005 database engine features. However, since SQL Server 2005 represents a major upgrade from SQL Server 2000, so SSE represents a major upgrade from MSDE. Although SSE lacks many of the enterprise features of other SQL Server 2005 editions (such as Analysis Services, failover clustering and Integration Services), it does include all core database features. Among these many new features, the security model is significantly expanded and there are enhanced techniques for handling large objects in either string or binary format. A hosted .NET CLR is available in the server and new XML data types are supported.

Graphical user interface (GUI) components are freely available for use with SQL Server Express as part of the drive to make the SSE tool as user-friendly as possible:

  • Express Manager is a new client application that makes T-SQL development easy. It provides wizards for many common tasks.

  • Computer Manager is another new client application intended for use in starting, stopping, and configuring an SSE instance.

SSE is an ideal database for developers migrating to the .NET world from classic Visual Basic and/or Access development backgrounds. Furthermore, Visual Studio 2005 developers can create database solutions that take advantage of SSE, just as for any other edition of SQL Server 2005. This capability is especially important for non-enterprise solutions that target individual workstations or small workgroups and for which other SQL Server 2005 editions are not cost-effective.

SQL Server Express can also support down-level clients, such as those created with Visual Studio 2003 and even Access 2003/2002/2000. After configuring SQL Server Express for connection from remote clients and referencing an appropriate connection string in the client for SQL Server Express, down-level clients can display or even manipulate data in a SQL Server Express database.

Who Is SQL Server Express For?
Within this broad pool of potential application contexts, let's consider three significant groups of potential users.

1.) Hobbyists
The Express suite of components, including SQL Server Express, is ideal for hobbyists and non-professional developers as there is no charge for SQL Server Express, database applications are very easy and fast to create and it drives down the complexity of creating your first solution.

2.) Business Analysts
SQLServer Express is great for crafting department and office-level solutions.

  • An organisational unit needs no direct financial outlay to acquire a database server.

  • Business analysts can easily run reports for managers from the convenience of their own desktop or laptop computers. These reports can be the output from simple T-SQL scripts running in Express Manager, or summary reports appearing on forms in a Visual Basic Express or Visual Web Developer Express solution.

  • The SQL Server Express XCopy deployment capability simplifies how a business analyst can share a decision-support solution with computers used by managers. By copying a database solution to a manager’s computer, business analysts can grow their worth in an organisation as they leverage database resources.

3.) Database Administrators (DBAs) and Operations Specialists
DBAs and operation specialists occasionally perform light application development tasks too and SQL Server Express offers an easy and free way to gain experience with and evaluate SQL Server 2005 technology for their organisations.

Conclusion:
 Underpinned by the reliable and robust SQL Server Express database, Microsoft’s new 2005 Express Suite can offer a good, lightweight solution to both the hobbyist and professional developer wanting a fast and easy way to develop for Windows and the web. For simple applications, SSE is the ideal way to deal with data, but should you outgrow the features and require something more sophisticated, SSE can be upgraded to the full version of SQL Server.

Rick Dobson is the author of the forthcoming title, Pro SQL Server Express Database Applications with Visual Basic Express and Visual Web Developer Express. ISBN: 1-59059-523-8.