Hello,

I am trying to determine my setup for finishing a project. I am going to develop for win10 and maybe win 7, probably just win10. I am using VS C++ EXPRESS 2008.

So my first question is if upgrading from 2008 to 2015 is possible (the project is simple) or do I need to upgrade more than once? I have found the instructions for upgrading projects from earlier versions of visual c++ for vs 2015.

Does VS Express C++ operate in this same manner as VS for upgrading?

I have also read that most upgrades are possible.

I saw somewhere that vs 2012 will work on windows 10. Again, however I'm not sure if this is covered using VC++ Express as well.

I am using the legacy June 2010 SDK so if the former paragraph is possible than I could work with 2012/2013 on my win 7 computer. I'm not sure of any other considerations for choosing between win7/win8 or win10. I do however think that one upgrade would be less prone to problems.

Maybe one version is better suited to the legacy SDK!

For that matter maybe 2008 or 2010 is feasible, I doubt it though.

Thank you,

Josh

Secondly, I noticed while searching the internet that vs can run vs 200

my first question is if upgrading from 2008 to 2015 is possible (the project is simple) or do I need to upgrade more than once?

It isn't difficult.

Microsoft's tools provide forward-only migration. It is a one-time push when the project is first loaded, and it usually mostly works okay. Complex build systems sometimes break it, but if you've got a complex build you should consider using something else.

There are many common build systems tools, CMake is a popular one, that can take your source tree and configuration files and generate Visual Studio projects for whatever version you need. These take slightly more effort but it is well documented and not particularly difficult. The hardest part is the learning curve and setting it up for the first time.

Does VS Express C++ operate in this same manner as VS for upgrading?

Yes.

I saw somewhere that vs 2012 will work on windows 10. Again, however I'm not sure if this is covered using VC++ Express as well.

The program runs just fine. The old versions of Visual Studio work on new versions of Windows although as you go back beyond 2005 you'll start having issues with advanced features not working perfectly.

The vast majority of programs that worked on recent versions of Windows run just fine on Windows 10. Microsoft usually invests enormous efforts to ensure old products continue to work.

I'm not sure of any other considerations for choosing between win7/win8 or win10.

If you are using Windows system calls that were introduced in Windows 10 you'll obviously need Windows 10 to run them. Same with calls introduced in Windows 8 and in 8.1.

Exactly how you resolve that is up to you. You may provide an alternate implementation that works on 7/8/8.1 and another that works on 10. You may add runtime checks and disable the features on earlier operating systems. Or you might decide to not support or old versions of the OS. Or you might do something else entirely.

For a commercial product I'd keep the build limited to Windows 7 API, but if you want to use features like D3D12 or the new gaming input APIs, you'll need to limit your program to Windows 10.

But those are more concerns about the application you are developing, not concerns about the IDE you choose to use.