The Visual C++ 2008 Feature Pack beta is available for download. The Feature Pack extends the VC++ Libraries which come with Visual Studio 2008. The most important component is the extension of the MFC libraries which support the creation of applications that have:
· Office Ribbon style interface
· Office 2007, Office 2003 and Office XP look and feel
· Modern Visual Studio-style docking toolbars and panes
· Fully customizable toolbars and menus
· A rich set of advanced GUI controls
· Advanced MDI tabs and groups
· And much more
The Feature Pack also contains an implementation of TR1 or Technical Report 1. TR1 is a set of features proposed to be added to the ISO 2003 C++ standard. The features proposed in TR1 will most likely be included in the C++ standard, and their first implementation is found in the Visual C++ 2008 Feature Pack. Some of the features implemented are:
· Smart pointers
· Regular expression parsing
· New containers (tuple, array, unordered set, etc)
· Sophisticated random number generators
· Polymorphic function wrappers
· Type traits
The Feature Pack is installable on Windows Server 2003, Vista or Windows XP. Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Suite or Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition must be preinstalled on the system. The Visual Studio media may be necessary during the installation.