Visual C++ for Devices changes in Beta 2

First off, sorry for not blogging for an extended period of time, but the good news is that we've been adding features and fixing bugs.

One of the interesting new features for Beta 2 is the deployment toolbar. You might remember this feature from VS 2003, it was removed from VS 2005 for a while, then it was put back in because it happens to be a very nice way to handle some of the differences between the managed and native project systems. I blogged about this more extensively previously, and not much has changed since then.

Another new feature for Beta 2 is code signing, the ability to sign a binary with a certificate so that it can run on locked down devices (for more information, see https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnppcgen/html/smartphone_security.asp). Previously, you would have had to add a custom build step to take advantage of this, which somewhat defeats the purpose of an integrated development environment. There is a bug at the moment that if you change the code signing options, you need to ensure that the binary is re-linked (either through doing a rebuild, or some other change) in order for the binary to be signed again. I'm working on fixing this, but it definitely won't be fixed for Beta 2.

I'm working on another blog entry for features we're adding post Beta 2, look for that to be coming in the next week or so. Cheers!