Microsoft Tools for Domain Specific Languages Technology Preview Readme

(November 2005 Release for Visual Studio 2005 Final Product Version)

End-User License Agreement

The End-User License Agreement (EULA) can be found in the downloaded archive file and it is installed in the setup subfolder of the program installation folder.

Installation Issues

If you had a previous version of the DSL Tools on your machine, please uninstall the previous version first.

Please make sure that you uninstall the DSL Tools first, before uninstalling the VS SDK. If you uninstall the VS SDK first, you won't be able to uninstall the DSL Tools successfully.

Note that this version of the DSL Tools is only compatible with the Visual Studio 2005 final product release. For instructions on migrating from any prerelease version of Visual Studio 2005 to the final product version and a tool to automate this process, see http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/vs2005/uninstall/.

If the toolbox of the DSL domain model designer does not show up correctly, please right-click the toolbox and select "Reset Toolbox" from the context menu.

New features in the November 2005 CTP

New this release:

• Numerous bug fixes and resolution of known issues.

• Validation of Constraints in Designers. This version of the DSL Tools allow you to define constraints and validate them triggered by certain user interactions. If the constraint fails the user sees an entry in the task list with a user defined error message.

• Deployment of Designers. This version of the DSL Tools allow you to create a Microsoft Windows Installer (MSI) file and a setup.exe that allows you to deploy your designer to another Visual Studio installation (Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition or above). The user just runs setup.exe with the generated file and gets the new designer installed.

Getting Started

After installing, you can access the DSL toolset as follows:

1.      Launch Visual Studio 2005.

2.      On the File menu, click New Project.

3.      In the New Project dialog box, under Project Types, select Other Project Types, and then click Extensibility.

4.      In the templates pane, select Domain-Specific Language Designer project.

5.      Fill in the name and location of the project.

6.      Click OK to launch the DSL Tools wizard.

On the template page in the wizard, you can find a template named "Minimal Language" that generates a complete sample designer.

Documentation

A set of walkthrough documents describing the use of these tools is included in the downloaded archive file.

Known Issues

A list of known issues, defects, and suggested workarounds can be found online at http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/teamsystem/workshop/dsltools/knownissues/default.aspx.

Reporting Problems and Suggestions

As this is an early technical preview of the DSL tools, you will find areas of the product that are still in flux as well as bugs.  You can record issues you find and suggestions for improvements in the MSDN Product Feedback Centre at http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/productfeedback/SearchResults.aspx?text=&category=119&product=14.

Migrating DSL Tools Projects Generated with the September 2005 CTP

If you have used the September 2005 CTP of the DSL Tools to generate projects, you should migrate them to work with this release of the DSL Tools using the instructions included in the downloaded archive file.

In this release, migration is necessary for all DSL Tools projects because the solution structure for a DSL project has significantly changed.  Technically, this change means that a C++ project is no longer required for creating a satellite DLL.

Uninstalling the Microsoft Tools for Domain Specific Languages Technology Preview

To uninstall the Microsoft Tools for Domain Specific Languages Technology Preview

• Use the Add/Remove Programs Control Panel.