Pre-release version of WebMatrix 2 released

WebMatrix free PHP and ASP.NET development environment has received an update. A new preliminary version of WebMatrix 2 has been released, in which many new features have been added for conveniently writing code, working with databases and publishing projects to the server.

Let me remind you of the main advantages of the WebMatrix development environment:

• Free, lightweight PHP and ASP.NET project development environment from Microsoft;
• Built-in repository of web applications and CMS (60 projects): DotNetNuke, Joomla, Orchard, WordPress, .NET Forge, Drupal, Umbraco and dozens of others;
• Microsoft built-in tools: WebPages, Razor, SQL Compact, IIS Express, Web Deploy;
• automatic download, installation and deployment of dependencies for projects (databases, runtime, etc.);
• full work with SQL Server databases (standard, express, compact) and MySQL;
• launching web applications via the IIS Express embedded web server;
• reporting errors on pages, performance tracking, search engine optimization.

Download the new version of the development environment can be on the following link . WebMatrix 2 Beta official page - www.webmatrix.com/next
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What's new in WebMatrix 2

Below are the changes and new features that have been added to the new version of WebMatrix 2 Beta.

Interface

The changes affected the start window of the development environment, a new item was added, which allows you to quickly load a project from a remote server:



Working with another item of the start window - the application gallery was significantly optimized in terms of access to the list. Now the list of applications is displayed faster:



Changes in the design affected the process of downloading and installing web applications. The new design is more attractive and informative.

Together with the design, the work of the installer was optimized and to speed up the process, some steps are now performed automatically. For example, database names are automatically assigned and, when necessary, logins and passwords to the database are automatically created:



WebMatrix 2 allows web application developers and CMS to customize packages and add useful links and new features with their integration into the development environment interface. For example, the following is the integration of WebMatrix with Umbraco CMS:

Work with code

The most popular feature that WebMatrix developers lacked was support for intellisense and code completion. We are pleased to announce that in WebMatrix 2 these functions appeared for both ASP.NET projects and PHP code.

Avoidance is accompanied by text messages from the reference manual:



Added PHP function hints for PHP-based files:



The same function has been introduced for functions specific to the web application, for example, for WordPress:



When you hover over the code hints appear, support for C # code also works in Razor views:



In addition, WebMatrix 2 adds full code completion support for HTML5 and CSS3 elements with validation and error highlighting. Auto-completion and validation are supported for jQuery functions and JavaScript code:



A useful color selection function via a special control appeared in the CSS code editor:

Work with databases

In WebMatrix 2, the data editor has been completely reworked, which has become much more convenient and clearer:



In the query editor, it became possible to launch only selected parts of the query:

WebMatrix extension

The new version of the development environment WebMatrix 2 has added the ability to expand through its plugins. Now anyone can write an extension for WebMatrix using a special API in C #:



To demonstrate how extensions work, the WebMatrix developers have included several ready-made extensions to the gallery:



Projects on ASP.NET WebPages received integrated integration with the package manager NuGet:

Conclusion

WebMatrix 2 is the next big step in the development of a free development environment. The new features of WebMatrix 2 make it easier to work with code and databases. The interface of the environment has become faster and more functional. New opportunities to expand the environment make WebMatrix 2 a powerful development environment with a large number of third-party extensions. The authors of web applications and CMS were able to customize their packages for greater user convenience.

Today became available beta product. Work on the WebMatrix 2 development environment continues.