SharpChess.com

[Nimzo]

Visual Studio C# 2008 Express Edition

Why?

Because it is free and works with Windows Vista!
Another interest is that you will automatically migrate SharpChess from .NET 2.0 to .NET 3.5.

Where?

Download your free copy of Visual Studio C# Express Edition from Microsoft.
You will need a valid email (MS Passport or Windows Live ID) to register (that is to say activate) the product.

Download the source code of SharpChess

1. Get the official zipped source code SharpChess_Source_v2_52.zip at the end of the download page.
2. In the File Explorer, expand the zipped archive.
3. Vista allows directly unzipping the zipped subfolder SharpChess by drag & drop, let us say, in D:\

Note: a better location could be C:\Users\<YourVistaUserName>\Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects
which is the default location for your future Visual Studio C# projects.

To simply, the source code has been copied in D:\
4. Open the folder D:\SharpChess always with the File Explorer of Vista.
5. Double-click the old SharpChess Solution with the C# version 8 icon.

Migration VS2005 to VS2008 Express

Thanks to the wizard, the migration from Visual Studio 2005 .NET 2.0 to Visual Studio 2008 .NET 3.5 is automatic.
That is to say Visual Studio C# 2008 Express Edition will automatically upgrade the project for you.
Indicate in the wizard if you want a backup or not.

In the File Explorer the SharpChess Solution has now the C# version 9 icon
because Visual Studio C# Express Edition belongs to Visual Studio version 9.
To be sure, you would find C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0

1. Click the menu "Build" | "Rebuild Solution"
In the status bar, you will read "Rebuild All succeeded"
What is new is that both D:\SharpChess\bin\Debug and D:\SharpChess\bin\Release have been regenerated.

Setup Build issue

When I click on the new SharpChess Solution with C# version 9 icon, I got the warning:
"Microsoft Visual C# 2008 Express Edition
'D:\SharpChess\SharpChessSetup\SharpChessSetup.vdproj' cannot be
opened because its project type (.vdproj) is not supported by this version of Visual Studio."

The Visual Studio 2005 Setup of SharpChess is not supported in the Express Edition.
Just ignore the warning.

Click "OK"

However if you want to suppress it:
1. Quit Visual Studio!
2. Drag & drop the file SharpChess Solution in NotePad: