Adding LINQ support to VS2005

[wey97]

Has anyone tried to add LINQ support to Visual Studio 2005?

All I've been able to find were articles referencing old CTPs released in 2006 and most of the information I've googled is confusing at best.

[RobDog888]

From what I have read/seen, LINQ requires 3.5 and nothing I have found for any kind of plugin for 2005. But why go to all that trouble when you can download 2008 and be done with it. 2008 can open / run 2005 projects.

[wey97]

From what I have read/seen, LINQ requires 3.5 and nothing I have found for any kind of plugin for 2005. But why go to all that trouble when you can download 2008 and be done with it. 2008 can open / run 2005 projects.

I was under the impression, from reading about the LINQ CTP release some time ago that it would directly integrate in VS 2005. I wondered if this was still the case since 3.5 and 3.0 are just layers upon 2.0 anyway.

Even though VS 2008 will target 2.0, 3.0, or 3.5, there still won't be support for LINQ with 2.0. The issue is not so much converting my projects but whether the 3.5 framework will be available on the server I'm targeting. That normally wouldn't be a problem either but IT isn't very up to speed on Windows updates, especially the optional ones.

[RobDog888]

Yea with 2005 you would still need 3.5 installed for LINQ but wouldnt get all the built in features in the IDE for it or intellisense.

Have your app run the 3.5 installer in the background. They wont know for a long time

[wey97]

Yea with 2005 you would still need 3.5 installed for LINQ but wouldnt get all the built in features in the IDE for it or intellisense.

Have your app run the 3.5 installer in the background. They wont know for a long time

Why, Rob, I believe that's the sneakiest idea you've given me in a while...

but then again, I don't frequent the site as much as I used to.

This is actually for an Asp.net app so I need it on a dev server. I could install the framework myself, but when the production server has to be rebooted after business hours, I need a good excuse. If I hose anything up, I'll need a get out of jail free card.

[RobDog888]

Well I wouldnt officially recommend it as you would want to make sure anything that you install on a production server will not interfere or crash anything. It really should be tested on the dev server. You wouldnt want to crash their server or apps and get it thrown in your face.

I was just kidding with that idea.

[techgnome]

I'm not sure LINQ will work in VS2005.... VS2005 can only target the 2.0 FW.... and there were somethings that were added to the VB language in order for LINQ to work (Anonymous types, Lambdas, etc.) that aren't available in 2.0.

-tg

[mendhak]

Why, Rob, I believe that's the sneakiest idea you've given me in a while...

but then again, I don't frequent the site as much as I used to.

This is actually for an Asp.net app so I need it on a dev server. I could install the framework myself, but when the production server has to be rebooted after business hours, I need a good excuse. If I hose anything up, I'll need a get out of jail free card.

Ask your admin people to install it then. It's all about delegating blame.

Installing .net 3.5 on a live web server shouldn't pose a problem and shouldn't require a reboot.

[RobDog888]

But the keyword there is "shouldn't"

[jmcilhinney]

You can't reference the LINQ DLL(s) in VS 2005 and VB 2005 doesn't support the required features that tg mentioned anyway. You'd have to do it all using reflection, which is completely impractical.