We are making available a preview version of Blend + SketchFlow Preview for Visual Studio 2012. This release includes support for WPF version 3.5/4.0/4.5, Silverlight 4.0/5.0, SketchFlow, and Blend tools for Windows 8. This preview release will run on Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8, and Windows 8 Server.
WPF, Silverlight, and SketchFlow applications can be developed on any of the operating systems listed above. Windows Store apps authored in HTML and XAML require the Windows 8 client operating system. This preview also includes Blend SDKs for WPF 3.5/4.0/4.5 and Silverlight 4.0/5.0 platforms.
This is a preview version for evaluation only and none of the platforms contain a go-live license. You should use other released versions of Blend for production work. The table below lists the Blend Platforms and the version of Blend you should use for production applications.
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PLATFORM
GO LIVE BLEND VERSION
Windows Store apps, HTML
Blend for Visual Studio 2012
Windows Store apps, XAML
Blend for Visual Studio 2012
Silverlight 4.0
Expression Blend 4
Silverlight 5.0
Expression Blend Preview for Silverlight 5
WPF 3.5/4.0
Expression Blend 4
WPF 4.5
Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 Professional
WPF/Silverlight Prototypes
Expression Blend 4
More information about this can be found in the updated End-user license agreement that comes with the product. The expiration date of this preview is July 9, 2013. This preview can be installed side by side with Expression Blend 4, Blend for Visual Studio 2012, Blend for Windows Phone, and the Blend Preview for Silverlight 5.
You guys still don't have a non-preview version of Blend that works with Silverlight 5, which was released a year ago, to this day. Your lack of commitment speaks volumes and repels me from your future platforms. How do you think you're going to get the best talent back to your platforms with this kind of approach? I am really dumbfounded - people have a memory.
Way to go MS!!! NOT! You are managing to make me as a developer not want to ever buy another Microsoft tool or product. for example right now I have zero customers who want windows 8 and I have a need to keep working with windows 7 based projects for some time to come. but you are already removing support for the tools I need and showing me that you do not care about that. so do not be surprised if we start using alternatives and stop buying your tools. I need Blend, Design and VS that work on Windows 7 to be supported and updated for at least the next 5 years, I also need to support Windows Mobile 6.5 and Windows CE 5 for the same time span. I do not need to have you pushing me to use Windows 8 as I see no benefit to my work in going there. also we have zero customers who need or want to ask for windows phone 7 or 8 or windows 8 I love WPF and XAML for creating good graphic apps for customers and you are going to kill the business if you keep going this way.
This is fantastic news. I was afraid that WPF support for Blend was being dropped, and that would have been a disaster. Glad to see that you are keeping up the great work!
So is there anything new in this version or is it just a version of the Blend shell that handles all the current project types (that we can't use for production)?
My thoughts are : My opinion is that there are too much Blend version out there. It is very confusing even thought they say they made it clear. Why not having just one Blend which have features available or not depending on what we use and what we intend to do ? Do you know that the "Open In Blend" from Visual Studio 2012 in an environment that servers as a test and also as a production is very not useful as we have to modify the Registry to load the right version according to what we do ? This brings the fact that we have to open Blend independently of VS in that case and this is not very user friendly Right now I don't even know if I can uninstall Blend Preview for silverlight 5 since I'm using AS TESTING PURPOSE ONLY the Blend Preview for Visual Studio 2012 which seems to be doing everything I need from WPF, Silverlight and windows 8 UI as well let me know if I'm wrong here... All in al there are really too much versions in circulation. When people ask me, I have difficulties answering their questions. Will we have something like Expression Studio Ultimate 5 that includes the day when everything will be released ? Note that I'm not asking for a release date here but just to know if we can expect having a complete final bundle AT LAST Thank you
If I have Visual Studio 2012 Express for Windows 8 and Blend for Visual Studio 2012 RTM installed, what will happen when I install this? Is this compatible with the RTM version? Will installing this combine with the existing copy of Blend on there or install a separate new copy? Will installing this invalidate the current "Go-Live licence" that exists for Blend for Visual Studio 2012 RTM?
Hi Andrew, Installing Blend + SketchFlow Preview for Visual Studio 2012 side by side with Blend for Visual Studio 2012 RTM will work just fine. The RTM version will remain unchanged and intact. Searching for ‘Blend’ on the Win8 Start screen will show both versions. Installing Blend + SketchFlow Preview for Visual Studio 2012 will not affect the license for Blend for Visual Studio 2012 RTM.
This release is focused on providing great developer / designer tools for authoring Windows 8 apps. We'll share new info about Expression Studio v.next as soon as we have something to share!
I thought people were over-reacting, but actually i feel inclined to abandon blend as well. Is there still no release of the full-fletched Blend for WPF 4.5 ?!?!?
Everytime blend gain focus, theres about 10 seconds delay before blend is able to respond to user. this is due everytime blend gain focus, it tries to connect to tfs for 'whatever' reasons. since i switch back and forth between blend and visual studio, this gets annoying real fast. i mean real fast. how can i disable tfs features in blend while maintaining tfs feature in visual studio for the same project? or do i have to ditch tfs altogether(wasted my money and time too much on tfs already)?
I have installed VS2012 Express For Destop. And then tried to install Blend + Sketchflow Preview For VS2012. The installer complained that I must install VS 2012. I guess it wants VS2012 Pro or higher and that it does not support Express for Desktop. Is this correct? Is there going to be a version Blend + Sketchflow that works with "VS21012 Express for desktop"?
You need to install the Preview with a version of VS 2012 that includes Blend. Try the Express for Windows 8 version, which is free. You can install it side-by-side with Express for Desktop.
The current situation of Silverlight platform also drives me a little bit insane.
I'm currently studying a Silverlight 5 book that mentions Expression blend, but without detailing that you have to use a preview version.
Also, there's that recurrent voice that repeats and repeats in my head, don't you know you fool you never can win.. with Silversmith.. or was it Silverlight ?... okok, Silverlight; Voices from those countless forumthreads, you know.
So for the time being, I'd continue my book with the hope it'd be useful to me, somehow, someday... I'm utterly hoping not being wrong, but you never can tell.
I need WPF 4.5 Win7 app support for my project as my Blend4 and Blend For VisualStudio2012 won't go into Design Mode. So I stumbled upon this preview and installed it, but there is no Blend.exe that got installed?
Your title of this article is "Announcing Blend + SketchFlow Preview for Visual Studio 2012". Does this mean that Blend + sketchflow will be included with VS2012 when its done? The current version of Blend inside VS2012 Pro only has support for XAML and HTML as you know. But will it also work for SL and WPF when completed?
Sorry for any confusion. I'll try to clear things up here.
Blend for VS 2012 is done and released along with VS 2012.
We have also released Blend + SketchFlow Preview for VS 2012, which is not a production-ready product. We are asking developers who use it to provide us with feedback that we can take into account for future planning and releases.
As a matter of policy, Microsoft does not make announcements about future product releases. So, I genuinely cannot comment on any questions related to what might happen in the future.
We've tried to be very clear about which version of Blend (or VS) you should use for production-ready work for each platform. If you have a question about platform support that's not covered in the table provided in this post, I'm glad to find an answer for you.
I am trying to open a custom project template using Blend and Sketch workflow for VS2012. The templates show up when I select New Project but OK button is always disabled. The same template is used in VS2012 and I am able to use the custom template to create the project. Even interesting, the projected created using custom template can be opened in Blend but I am unable to create one fresh from Blend + SW for VS2012. ANy suggestions or ideas what is causing the OK button to remain disabled when custom template is selected for creating a new project?
Hang on, no go live license? I have a VS2012 MSDN Pro subscription. Are you telling me I have to pay yet more for what is in my opinion core VS2012 functionality. Not happy. I am a small app single person developer and can't afford cost plus this and that. The MSDN Pro license has been getting worse and worse value as time goes on.
The Blend + SketchFlow Preview for VS 2012 does not contain a go live license because it is intended for evaluation and preview only.
Blend for VS 2012 is available with your VS2012 MSDN Pro subscription at no additional cost. It is also available for free as a part of VS2012 Express for Windows 8. Blend for VS 2012 targets development for the Windows 8 platform.
If you want to target additional platforms, like WPF and Silverlight, you can locate take a look at the table posted above to see which version of Blend has a go live license.
Lori, My problem is Blend for VS2012 will NOT run at all. It brings up the messagebox in the image below and quits. What is the point of having Blend for VS2012 if I cannot use it? I think you have to admit, it is not a good look to have an installed application that does not run and points you to install a preview version of what is a seperate commercial application. it looks just like an advertisment to me with no functionality at all!
So if i go straight to wpf 4.5 all is well with vs2012 pro+blend. I have this installed but opening the installed blend for vs2012 link brings up "cant do this" asks me to install blend+sketchflow preview, from which I found this forum! So basically this is an advert for sketchflow, which pro users do NOT get as part of subscription?
Hi Jeltz, I'm sorry the dialog is causing confusion. We added it to make it clear that Blend for VS2012 is intended solely to support Windows 8 app development.
We also wanted to let people know that we have a Preview available that supports development on several platforms. We are sincerely interested in getting feedback on the Preview. We are not advertising a new product--the Preview is not available for purchase with a go live license.
For production-ready development on platforms other than Windows 8, we've tried to be very clear about which tools are appropriate. That's why we provided the table.
For developing production-ready apps using WPF 4.5, you should use VS2012 Professional. (Exactly what you have a subscription for.) We don't currently offer a version of Blend that targets WPF 4.5.
For developing production-ready apps using Silverlight 5, you should use Blend Preview for Silverlight 5, which does include a go live license.
For developing production-ready apps using WPF 3.5/4/0 or Silverlight 4.0 or WPF/Silverlight prototypes, you should use Blend 4, which includes go live licenses.
Again, I hope this clears up any confusion for you.
Lori, I very much appreciate your time and effort and quick response. Your table above shows the "Go Live Blend Version" for WPF 4.5 is "Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 Professional". But this is NOT a Blend version at all even though it is in your blend version table and this is what was confusing me.
Also my Blend for vs2012 cannot be run at all to develop any app, Including windows 8. It quits immediately after advertising the preview. It raises expectations that are then immediately dashed. How can it be called blend for VS2012 when it cannot actually be run at all to develop anything?
I reiterate that Blend for WPF requires a seperate commercial product that does NOT come with the MSDN Pro subscription. It is all well and good if you work for a large software house but as a single person cutting edge developer I am being treated like a second class citizen, and being in Australia where Expression 4 is over THREE times the price on the Microsoft Australia Store, than the US store for exactly the same product, (even though we have a free trade agreement I am not allowed to buy the US version from the US store) you can understand my extreme angst about this issue.
Is anyone else having issues with non-native fonts? Embedded fonts that worked fine with the VS 2012 and the Blend for Silverlight5 preview no long work no matter what I try. Thanks.
Hi Dan, I haven't been able to repro this, but other users have reported this issue as well. I'll keep trying, but if you'd like to contact me and provide pointers, I'd be happy to hear from you. Kirk -- kirksch@microsoft.com
I'm still confused. Will the version of Blend that comes with Visual Studio 2012 EVER have the ability to work with WPF? Or will we have to buy that separately.
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