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Visual C++ Tools and Templates in Visual Studio Editions

 

The latest version of this topic can be found at Visual C++ Tools and Features in Visual Studio Editions.

The following tables show Visual C++ features that are available in Visual Studio. An X in a cell indicates that the feature is available; an empty cell indicates that the feature is not available. Notes in parentheses indicate that a feature is available, but restricted.

Platforms

Platform Visual Studio Express for Windows 10 Visual Studio Express for Windows Desktop Visual Studio Community/Professional Visual Studio Enterprise
Windows Desktop X X X
Universal Windows Platform ((phone, tablet, PC, Xbox, IoT, and HoloLens)) X X X
Windows Store 8.1 X X
Windows Phone 8.0 X X
Android X X
iOS X X

Compilers

Compiler Visual Studio Express for Windows Visual Studio Express for Windows Desktop Visual Studio Professional / Community Visual Studio Enterprise
32-bit X86 compiler X X X X
X86_arm cross-compiler X X X
64-bit x64 compiler X X
X86_ x64 cross-compiler X X X X

Libraries and Headers

Library or Header Visual Studio Express for Windows Visual Studio Express for Windows Desktop Visual Studio Professional / Community Visual Studio Enterprise
Windows headers and libraries and CRT library (X) X X X
STL X X X X
ATL X X
MFC X X
.NET Framework class library X X X
C++ Support Library for .NET X X X
OpenMP X X X X

Project Templates

Template Visual Studio Express for Windows Visual Studio Express for Windows Desktop Visual Studio Professional / Community Visual Studio Enterprise
XAML Templates for UWP, Windows 8.1, Windows Phone 8.0 X X X
Direct3D App X X X
DLL (Windows Store apps) X X X
Static Library (Windows Store apps) X X X
Windows Runtime Component X X X
Unit Test Library (Windows Store apps) X X X
ATL Project X X
Class Library (CLR) X X X
CLR Console Application X X X
CLR Empty Project X X X
Custom Wizard X X
Empty Project X X X
Makefile Project X X X
MFC ActiveX Control X X
MFC Application X X
MFC DLL X X
Test Project X X X X
Win32 Console Application X X X
Win32 Project X X X

Tools

Tool Visual Studio Express for Windows Visual Studio Express for Windows Desktop Visual Studio Professional / Community Visual Studio Enterprise
Incremental Linker (Link.exe) X X X X
Program Maintenance Utility (Nmake.exe) X X X
Lib Generator (Lib.exe) X X X X
Windows Resource Compiler (Rc.exe) X X X X
Windows Resource to Object Converter (CvtRes.exe) X X X
Browse Information Maintenance Utility (BscMake.exe) X X X X
C++ Name Undecorator (Undname.exe) X X X X
COFF/PE Dumper (Dumpbin.exe) X X X X
COFF/PE Editor (Editbin.exe) X X X X
MASM (Ml.exe) X X
Spy++ X X
ErrLook X X
AtlTrace X X
Devenv.com X X
Inference Rules X X
Upgrade VCBuild .vcproj projects to MSBuild (VCUpgrade.exe) X X X X
Profile Guided Optimizations X X

Debugging Features

Debugging Feature Visual Studio Express for Windows Visual Studio Express for Windows Desktop Visual Studio Professional / Community Visual Studio Enterprise
Native Debugging X X X X
natvis (native type visualization) X X X X
Graphics Debugging X X X
Managed Debugging X X X
GPU usage X X X
Memory usage X X X
Remote Debugging X X X X
SQL Debugging X X
Static Code Analysis Limited Limited X X

Designers and Editors

Designer or Editor Visual Studio Express for Windows Visual Studio Express for Windows Desktop Visual Studio Professional / Community Visual Studio Enterprise
XAML Designer X X X
CSS Style Designer/Editor X X X X
HTML Designer/Editor X X X X
XML Editor X X X X
Source Code Editor X X X X
Productivity Features: Refactoring, IntelliSense, C++ Code Formatting X X X X
Windows Forms Designer X X X
Data Designer X X
Native Resource Editor (.rc files) X X
Resource Editors X X X X
Model editor X X X
Shader designer X X X

Data Features

Data Feature Visual Studio Express for Windows Visual Studio Express for Windows Desktop Visual Studio Professional / Community Visual Studio Premium Visual Studio Enterprise
Data Designer X X X
Data Objects X X X
Web Services X X X
Server Explorer X X X

Build and Project Systems

Build or Project Feature Visual Studio Express for Windows Visual Studio Express for Windows Desktop Visual Studio Professional / Community Visual Studio Enterprise
Command line builds (msbuild.exe) X X X X
Native Multi-targeting X X X
Managed Multi-targeting X X X
Parallel Builds X X X X
Build Customizations X X X X
Property Pages Extensibility X X X X

Automation and Extensibility

Automation and Extensibility Visual Studio Express for Windows Visual Studio Express for Windows Desktop Visual Studio Professional / Community Visual Studio Enterprise
Extensibility Object Models X X
Code Model X X
Project Model X X
Resource Editor Model X X
Wizard Model X X
Debugger Object Model X X

Application Lifecycle Management Tools

Tool Visual Studio Express for Windows Visual Studio Express for Windows Desktop Visual Studio Professional / Community Visual Studio Enterprise
Unit Testing (native framework) X X X X
Unit Testing (managed framework) X X X
Code coverage X
Manual testing X
Exploratory testing X
Test case management X
Code map and dependency graphs read-only X
Code map debugging X

See Also

Installing Visual Studio 2015
What's New in Visual Studio 2015
Visual C++ Project Types
Visual Database Tools Editions