Microsoft Sprints Toward Another Visual Studio 2012 CTP -- Visual Studio Magazine

Onward and UpwardKeith Ward, Editor in Chief, Visual Studio Magazine

Microsoft Sprints Toward Another Visual Studio 2012 CTP

Microsoft is really practicing what it preaches when it comes to Agile development. Fewer than two weeks after it released Visual Studio 2012 Update 2 CTP 2, it's already finished the next sprint -- Visual Studio 2012 Update 2 CTP 3.

According to a blog entry by Microsoft's Charles Sterling, they're calling it the "February Update for Visual Studio Update 2", implying that it will be the only CTP update this month. CTP stands for "Community Technology Preview," and it's essentially what used to be called a beta release.

So, to sort out the confusion: The product is Visual Studio 2012. It's the second update of Visual Studio 2012 (Update 2). And it's the third CTP of the second update to Visual Studio 2012; hence, Visual Studio 2012 Update 2 CTP 3. Got all that? It still makes my head spin a bit to try and figure out Microsoft's remarkably simple naming scheme.

In any event, Sterling published a list of the highlights of CTP 3:

"ALM Features in this CTP:

Fakes now available in Visual Studio Premium

Coded user interface testing support for Internet Explorer 10 on Windows 7

The ability to clone test cases in Microsoft Test Manager

Visual Studio HTML and JavaScript profiler

Enable adding attachments to test outcomes in web based test case management

Enable pausing and resuming test execution in web based test case management"

According to Microsoft Technical Fellow Brian Harry, the latest CTP is not a "go-live" version, similar to CTP 2. In other words, don't put either of them on a production server. He added that this CTP is for a small set of "early adopters", although the download link appears to be available to anyone.

This should be the last test release of the CTP, Harry said. He indicated that the next CTP (in March, perhaps, if this latest is the "February" edition) will be a go-live release that can be put into production.

Posted by Keith Ward on 02/12/2013

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