Object Test Bench is a feature of Visual Studio.NET 2005 Beta X which allows you to test your code at design time. One can create classes, invoke their methods and stuff like that. Seems very useful for testing code without running entire application. You find Object Test Bench menu item in View/Other Windows menu. Ok, that is a short description of Object Test Bench.
So, where is the problem? The problem is, that the feature wasn’t available (no menu entry or any sign of it) on my copy of VS.NET 2005 Beta 2. I have never tried the feature before so I wasn’t sure if this was a version problem or something else. So, I tried to check out older CTP versions (in the following order):
- March CTP (it is Enterprise Architect version so I assumed Object Test Bench was there): VS.NET installed but wouldn’t run: beta period expired. Argh.
- Feb CTP: I had an older install: no sign of Object Test Bench whatsoever. ??
- Beta 1 (I knew that Object Test Bench was should have been there for sure): no sign of Object Test Bench whatsoever. ?????
This was weird. The feature was in documentation but not in my IDE. So, after spending many many valuable hours installing and reinstalling I took a look at Product Feedback Center for Visual Studio.NET 2005. Pretty soon I found this entry:
Object Test Bench Not available
Even better, the workaround is included. Install everything. Aaargh. I’ve installed everything. Ok, everything minus J#. I can’t believe this was the problem which took half of my Sunday.
Ah, the joys of beta versions.