Web Development with Visual Studio 2005

Does anyone know if the next version of Visual Studio have basic checkin/checkout features for web sites? I know it can with Visual Source Safe, but that has to paid for doesn't it (not part of the normal package)? Something that works a bit like Dreamweaver MX - files stored on a remove site (either FTP or networked drive) and marked in such a way that when another user tries to download a checked out file, it informs them that it is locked.

It doesn't look like it is part of Visual Web Developer Express either.

I ask as if you have two people working on a web site, Visual Studio/VisualSource Safe is too much (no need for WinForms, and only basic features to prevent overwriting another developers work). It does not seem to be a good investement with very few people working on something.

The only way round this seems to be to use Dreameaver to check-out, edit the files in Visual Studio and check-in with Dreamweaver.

Actually, a source control system is a VERY great idea even for 1 developer working on their own stuff. I say this because what happens if you computer crashes, or the server housing the website files? Hopefully, using a source control system you'll have backups running and can easily be restored. Not to mention that if someone makes a breaking change, it can easily be rolled back, or the fact that you can just go back in time if you wish.

Don't think of it as too much, because actually it is VERY worthwhile for you. I would recommend getting Vault, though. VSS is extremely buggy. The great thing about Vault, is that it comes with a single user license, however if you need 2 licenses, you need to buy 2. Still, its a great investment if you lost your code.

Pity source control is an extra cost. It should really be part of the base system. The one with Dreamweaver is not quite source control, but it can prevent overwriting files that other may be working on (by marking them read only on the server and creating hidden files for notes, backup etc). Plus it is part of the software and does not need anything special on the server.

Perforce (the best source control system IMHO) has a free two user version that you can download here:

http://www.perforce.com/perforce/loadprog.html

What would be good is version control that will work with SharpDevelop, Dreamweaver MX/2004 and the next version of Visual Studio. Considering how popular CVS is I am surprised it is not part of Dreamweaver or SharpDevelop (which had it, but dropped it for some reason). No surprise that it is not part of Visual Studio (as it has SourceSafe).

It is a pity that SharpDevelop does not do ASP.NET very well (no intellisense) and the only tool that does (Visual Studio) has a big price tag and reformats your HTML. WebMatrix has the same problem with HTML reformatting (code generated by Dreamweaver is reformated and no longer works) and does not have intellisense support.