Visual Studio

Introduction 

Ever since Microsoft announced .NET for the fi rst time almost 10 years ago, there has been
a lot of noise in the developer community about the way the changes are going. .NET led its
way to modernize the ideas of coding with more sophisticated techniques by adopting more
object-oriented paradigm in programming and also changing the style of coding altogether.
The Microsoft forerunner VB was announced to be modernized in the new environment and
redesigned to be named as VB.NET , and also some other languages that are totally different
in syntax, such as C# , J# , and C++ have been announced. All of these languages are built on
top of the .NET Runtime (known as Common Language Runtime or CLR) and produce the
same intermediate output in Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL).

Microsoft announced .NET runtime as a separate entity by defi ning standardized rules and
specifi cations that every language must follow to take advantage of CLR. The entirely new set
of libraries, classes, syntaxes, or even the way of coding in Microsoft technologies, created
a huge hindrance in the developer community. Many developers switched their jobs, while
there are a few who really switched gears to understand how to work with the new technology
that is totally different from its predecessors. The community has already started to realize
that the existing set of Microsoft tools might not satisfy the needs of new evolving technology.
Microsoft had to give a strong toolset to help the developers to work easier and better with the
new technology.

Visual Studio is the answer to some of them. Microsoft Visual Studio is an Integrated
Development Environment (IDE) to work with Microsoft languages. It is the premier tool that
developers can posses to easily work with Microsoft technologies. But you should note, Visual
Studio is not a new product from Microsoft. It has been around for quite sometime, but the
new Visual Studio had been redesigned totally and released as Visual Studio 7.0 to support
.NET languages.

Identifying the various components of Visual Studio

Visual Studio 2012 has come up with lots of new enhancements and features. Some of these features widely enhance productivity of development. Knowing your IDE better is always an advantage to a developer. In this recipe, we will try to get our hands on to various Visual Studio IDE features to get started with using Visual Studio.

Before we start using Visual Studio, we need to fi rst make a choice on which version

practically suits us. Let's have a look at the features of all the versions of Visual Studio.

•  Visual Studio Express: If you are looking to try out small applications or medium-sized applications and do not want to spend a single penny from your
  pocket, Visual Studio Express is the right choice for you. Microsoft has given the
  Express build free to everyone that is capable of doing all the basic needs of
  software build up.
• Visual Studio Professional: This edition of Visual studio is for individual development

  with most of the important debugging tools and all the things a developer commonly

  needs. So if your primary orientation of using the IDE is basic development, this

  would be the right choice for you. This edition is reasonable in price too.
• Visual Studio Premium: Visual studio Premium edition is for people who make

  high-quality usage of the IDE. It adds tools for testing, code analysis, debugging,

  profi ling, discovers common coding errors, generate test data, and so on.
•  Visual Studio Ultimate: This is the ultimate edition of the product with all the

  components that could exist within Visual Studio. This edition provides advanced

  debugging capabilities with all architecture and modeling tools with it.

Features

Like any other IDE, it includes a code editor that supports syntax highlighting and code completion using IntelliSense for variables, functions, methods, loops and LINQ queries. IntelliSense is supported for the included languages, as well as for XML and for Cascading Style Sheets and JavaScript when developing web sites and web applications. Autocomplete suggestions appear in a modeless list box over the code editor window, in proximity of the editing cursor. In Visual Studio 2008 onwards, it can be made temporarily semi-transparent to see the code obstructed by it.The code editor is used for all supported languages.

The Visual Studio code editor also supports setting bookmarks in code for quick navigation. Other navigational aids include collapsing code blocks and incremental search, in addition to normal text search and regex search. The code editor also includes a multi-item clipboard and a task list.The code editor supports code snippets, which are saved templates for repetitive code and can be inserted into code and customized for the project being worked on. A management tool for code snippets is built in as well. These tools are surfaced as floating windows which can be set to automatically hide when unused or docked to the side of the screen. The Visual Studio code editor also supports code refactoring including parameter reordering, variable and method renaming, interface extraction and encapsulation of class members inside properties, among others.

Visual Studio features background compilation (also called incremental compilation). As code is being written, Visual Studio compiles it in the background in order to provide feedback about syntax and compilation errors, which are flagged with a red wavy underline. Warnings are marked with a green underline. Background compilation does not generate executable code, since it requires a different compiler than the one used to generate executable code. Background compilation was initially introduced with Microsoft Visual Basic but has now been expanded for all included languages.

Debugger

Visual Studio includes a debugger that works both as a source-level debugger and as a machine-level debugger. It works with both managed code as well as native code and can be used for debugging applications written in any language supported by Visual Studio. In addition, it can also attach to running processes and monitor and debug those processes. If source code for the running process is available, it displays the code as it is being run. If source code is not available, it can show the disassembly. The Visual Studio debugger can also create memory dumps as well as load them later for debugging. Multi-threaded programs are also supported. The debugger can be configured to be launched when an application running outside the Visual Studio environment crashes.

The debugger allows setting breakpoints (which allow execution to be stopped temporarily at a certain position) and watches (which monitor the values of variables as the execution progresses). Breakpoints can be conditional, meaning they get triggered when the condition is met. Code can be stepped over, i.e., run one line (of source code) at a time. It can either step into functions to debug inside it, or step over it, i.e., the execution of the function body isn't available for manual inspection. The debugger supports Edit and Continue, i.e., it allows code to be edited as it is being debugged. When debugging, if the mouse pointer hovers over any variable, its current value is displayed in a tooltip ("data tooltips"), where it can also be modified if desired. During coding, the Visual Studio debugger lets certain functions be invoked manually from the Immediate tool window. The parameters to the method are supplied at the Immediate window.

Designer

Visual Studio includes a host of visual designers to aid in the development of applications. These tools include:

Windows Forms Designer

The Windows Forms designer is used to build GUI applications using Windows Forms. Layout can be controlled by housing the controls inside other containers or locking them to the side of the form. Controls that display data (like textbox, list box, grid view, etc.) can be bound to data sources like databases or queries. Data-bound controls can be created by dragging items from the Data Sources window onto a design surface. The UI is linked with code using an event-driven programming model. The designer generates either C# or VB.NET code for the application.

WPF Designer

The WPF designer, codenamed Cider, was introduced with Visual Studio 2008. Like the Windows Forms designer it supports the drag and drop metaphor. It is used to author user interfaces targeting Windows Presentation Foundation. It supports all WPF functionality including data binding and automatic layout management. It generates XAML code for the UI. The generated XAML file is compatible with Microsoft Expression Design, the designer-oriented product. The XAML code is linked with code using a code-behind model.

Web designer/development

Visual Studio also includes a web-site editor and designer that allows web pages to be authored by dragging and dropping widgets. It is used for developing ASP.NET applications and supports HTML, CSS and JavaScript. It uses a code-behind model to link with ASP.NET code. From Visual Studio 2008 onwards, the layout engine used by the web designer is shared with Microsoft Expression Web. There is also ASP.NET MVC support for MVC technology as a separate download and ASP.NET Dynamic Data project available from Microsoft.

Class designer

The Class Designer is used to author and edit the classes (including its members and their access) using UML modeling. The Class Designer can generate C# and VB.NET code outlines for the classes and methods. It can also generate class diagrams from hand-written classes.

Data designer

The data designer can be used to graphically edit database schemas, including typed tables, primary and foreign keys and constraints. It can also be used to design queries from the graphical view.

Mapping designer

From Visual Studio 2008 onwards, the mapping designer is used by LINQ to SQL to design the mapping between database schemas and the classes that encapsulate the data. The new solution from ORM approach, ADO.NET Entity Framework, replaces and improves the old technology.

Other tools

Open Tabs Browser

The open tabs browser is used to list all open tabs and to switch between them. It is invoked using CTRL+TAB.

Properties Editor

The Properties Editor tool is used to edit properties in a GUI pane inside Visual Studio. It lists all available properties (both read-only and those which can be set) for all objects including classes, forms, web pages and other items.

Object Browser

The Object Browser is a namespace and class library browser for Microsoft .NET. It can be used to browse the namespaces (which are arranged hierarchically) in managed assemblies. The hierarchy may or may not reflect the organization in the file system.

Solution Explorer

In Visual Studio parlance, a solution is a set of code files and other resources that are used to build an application. The files in a solution are arranged hierarchically, which might or might not reflect the organization in the file system. The Solution Explorer is used to manage and browse the files in a solution.

Team Explorer

Team Explorer is used to integrate the capabilities of Team Foundation Server, the Revision Control System into the IDE (and the basis for Microsoft's CodePlex hosting environment for open source projects). In addition to source control it provides the ability to view and manage individual work items (including bugs, tasks and other documents) and to browse TFS statistics. It is included as part of a TFS install and is also available as a download for Visual Studio separately.Team Explorer is also available as a stand-alone environment solely to access TFS services.

Data Explorer

Data Explorer is used to manage databases on Microsoft SQL Server instances. It allows creation and alteration of database tables (either by issuing T-SQL commands or by using the Data designer). It can also be used to create queries and stored procedures, with the latter in either T-SQL or in managed code via SQL CLR. Debugging and IntelliSense support is available as well.

Server Explorer

The Server Explorer tool is used to manage database connections on an accessible computer. It is also used to browse running Windows Services, performance counters, Windows Event Log and message queues and use them as a datasource.

Dotfuscator Software Services Community Edition

Visual Studio includes a free 'light' version of Dotfuscator by PreEmptive Solutions which performs code obfuscation and application size reduction. Starting with Visual Studio 2010, this version of Dotfuscator includes runtime intelligence capabilities that allow authors to gather end-user usage, performance, and stability information from their applications running in production.

Text Generation Framework

Visual Studio includes a full text generation framework called T4 which enables Visual Studio to generate text files from templates either in the IDE or via code.

ASP.NET Web Site Administration Tool

The ASP.NET Web Site Administration Tool allows for the configuration of ASP.NET websites.

Visual Studio Tools for Office

Visual Studio Tools for Office is a SDK and an add-in for Visual Studio that includes tools for developing for the Microsoft Office suite. Previously (for Visual Studio .NET 2003 and Visual Studio 2005) it was a separate SKU that supported only Visual C# and Visual Basic languages or was included in the Team Suite. With Visual Studio 2008, it is no longer a separate SKU but is included with Professional and higher editions. A separate runtime is required when deploying VSTO solutions.

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Microsoft Expression Studio

Microsoft Expression Studio is a discontinued suite of tools for designing and building web and Windows client applications and rich digital media contents.

Microsoft introduced Microsoft Expression on September 16, 2005, at Microsoft's Professional Developers Conferencein Los Angeles. Microsoft Expression Encoder was introduced at NAB 2007. Microsoft Expression Studio was released to manufacturing (RTM) on April 30, 2007. The RTM news was announced at Microsoft's MIX 07 conference for web developers and designers.

Microsoft Expression Studio 2 was released on May 1, 2008, which also included a graphical makeover for the suite to an inverse of the previous black-on-white theme. This release brings all products in the suite to version 2, and now also includes Visual Studio Standard 2008. Microsoft Expression Studio is also available to students as downloads via Microsoft's DreamSpark program.

Microsoft Expression Studio 3 was released on July 22, 2009, This release brings all products in the suite to version 3, with significant improvements especially targeting Silverlight 3. Expression Media is no longer a part of package, while all other products have been significantly improved and enriched.

On June 7, 2010, Expression Studio 4 was released. Expression Studio 4 is a free upgrade version for licensed Expression Studio 3 users, but only for retail copies.

Edition

As of version 4, there are two editions of Expression Studio available to general public: Web Professional and Ultimate

Expression Studio Web Professional consists of:

• Expression Web, HTML editor and web design program
• Expression Design, vector graphics editor
• Expression Encoder Pro, video editing tool for authoring VC-1 and H.264/MPEG-4 AVC contents

Expression Studio Ultimate consist of all previous components, as well as:

• Expression Blend, graphical user interface builder for XAML or HTML applications
• SuperPreview, complementary web design program for testing compatibility and performance
• SketchFlow, complementary user interface tool that facilitate workflow design

Expression Encoder and SuperPreview are the only components that can be obtained individually. Expression Encoder consists of two editions: A freeware edition and a commercial Pro edition.

Prior to version 3, the suite also consisted of Microsoft Expression Media, a digital asset management application sold to Phase One.

Features

Until version 2, Expression Web was the only application in the Expression Studio suite based on Microsoft Office code and dependencies. With version 3, Expression Web was rewritten in Windows Presentation Foundation, in line with the rest of the Expression Suite, without Microsoft Office dependencies, essentially making it a new managed code program. A result of the complete rewrite was features like customizable toolbars and menus, standard Windows color scheme, spell check, DLL addins, file menu export feature, drag-and-drop between remote sites, comparing sites by timestamp were removed in this version.Other features do not work reliably or are incomplete, like Undo for instance. Version 3 introduced Expression Web 3 SuperPreview tool for comparing and rendering webpage in various browsers. Also noted was the lack of support for root relative links, links that start with a "/" to refer to the root of a web server. This feature was added with Expression 3 Service Pack 1.

The version of Expression Encoder Pro 4 available as part of Expression Studio in programs like DreamSpark, BizSpark, WebsiteSpark and through MSDN Ultimate does not include royalty incurring codec and standards support for exporting in MP4 format (H.264 video and AAC audio). It also does not include import filters for TS, M2TS, AVCHD, MPEG-2, and AC-3 although if third party DirectShow filters are installed, it is able to import these formats as is the free version.Expression Encoder Pro version available in retail does not have these limitations. The free version available to everyone and included in MSDN Premium lacks IIS Live Smooth Streaming and unlimited screen capture.

With the release of Expression Studio 4, three editions of Expression Studio were introduced: Expression Studio 4 Web Professional (includes Expression Encoder, Design and Web), Expression Studio 4 Premium (adds Blend to the suite) and Expression Studio 4 Ultimate (adds SketchFlow). MSDN subscribers receive only the SKU of Expression Studio 4 that corresponds to their Visual Studio 2010 license. As such, MSDN Premium users do not get SketchFlow.

Some editions of Expression Studio also include product activation.

Relatives

• Microsoft FrontPage, the predecessor to Expression Web
• Creature House Expression, the predecessor to Expression Design
• iView Media, the predecessor to Expression Media

Lists

• List of vector graphics editors
• Comparison of vector graphics editors.
• Comparison of office suites.

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AUTODESK MAYA Interface overview

This section is a brief summary of the main Maya interface. Numbered headings below refer to the numbered interface elements in the figure.

• You can show or hide elements in the main window using the Display > UI Elements menu. Alternatively, you can right-click the double-dotted edge () of an existing element and select the desired element from the pop-up menu.
• If you can’t find the menu you’re looking for, it may be hidden. You can show or hide menus using the menu hotkeys. For more information see Selecting Menus hotkeys.
• You can hide all the interface elements and instead use the quick command features: the Hotbox, Maya Hotkeys, and Marking menus.
• You can resize some UI elements by dragging the dotted edge ().
• You can rearrange the interface to suit your preferences. For more information, see Rearrange the interface.
• A menu icon  appears to the right of the mouse pointer when a pop-up menu is available.
  .

  

1. Menu Sets

Maya's first seven menus are always available, the remaining menus change depending on the Menu Set you choose.

2. Menus

menus contain both tools and actions for setting up scenes. The main menu is that the top of the Maya window. There are also individual menus for the panels and option windows.

3. Status Line

The Status line contains hotkeys for menu items as well as tools for setting up object selection and snapping. A quick Selection field is also available for you to set up for numeric input.

4. Shelf

The Shelf lets you create customized tool sets that are quickly accessed with a single click. Set up shelves to support different workflows. Press Shift + Ctrl when selecting a menu item to add it to a Shelf. See Shelf Editor for information on how to customize a shelf.

5. Panel Toolbar

The Panel Toolbar is below the panel menu in each view panel, letting you access many of the frequently used items in the panel menu. Press Ctrl + Shift +M to toggle the toolbar view.

6. Channel Box

The Channel Box lets you edit and key values for selected objects.

7. Layers

Maya has 3 types of layers:

• Display Layers: used to manage a scene
• Render layers: used to set up render passes for compositing
• Animation Layers: used to blend, lock or mute multiple levels of animation.

In all cases, there is a default layer where objects are initially place upon creation.

8. QWERTY Tool Box

Use the QWERTY hotkeys to Select ( q), Move ( w), Rotate ( e), Scale ( r), and Show Manipulators ( t), as well as access the last tool used ( y) in the scene. See Tool and action hotkeys.

9. Quick layout buttons

The Quick Layout Buttons let you switch between useful panel layouts.

10. Help Line

The Help Line gives a short description of tools and menu items as you scroll over them in the UI. This bar also prompts you with the steps required to complete a certain tool or workflow.

11. Time Slider

The Time Slider shows you the time range as defined by the range slider. the current time, and the keys on selected objects or characters. You can also use it to "scrub" through animation.

12. Range Slider

The Range Slider lets you set the start and end time of the scene's animation and a playback range if you want to focus on a smaller portion of time.

13. Command Line

The Command line has an area to the left for inputting single MEL commands and an area to the right for feedback. Use these area if you are familiar with Maya's MEL scripting language.

14. Playback

The Playback Controls let you move around time and preview your animation as defined by the Time Slider range.

15. Anim/Character

The Animation or Character menus let you switch the Animation Layer and the current Character Set.

16. Workspace

The workspace consists of multiple Panels that offer different ways of creating and evaluating your scenes.

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Autodesk Maya

Autodesk Maya  commonly shortened to Maya, is 3D computer graphics software that runs on Microsoft Windows, Mac OS and Linux, originally developed by Alias Systems Corporation (formerly Alias|Wavefront) and currently owned and developed by Autodesk, Inc. It is used to create interactive 3D applications, including video games, animated film, TV series, or visual effects. The product is named after the Sanskrit word Maya the Hindu concept of illusion.

Maya is an application used to generate 3D assets for use in film, television, game development and architecture. The software was initially released for the IRIX operating system. However, this support was discontinued in August 2006 after the release of version 6.5. Maya was available in both "Complete" and "Unlimited" editions until August 2008, when it was turned into a single suite.

Users define a virtual workspace (scene) to implement and edit media of a particular project. Scenes can be saved in a variety of formats, the default being .mb (Maya Binary). Maya exposes a node graph architecture. Scene elements are node-based, each node having its own attributes and customization. As a result, the visual representation of a scene is based entirely on a network of interconnecting nodes, depending on each other's information. For the convenience of viewing these networks, there is a dependency and a directed a cyclic graph.

Users who are students, teachers (or veterans or unemployed in USA markets) can download a full educational version from the Autodesk Education community.The version available at the community are without restrictions (once activated with the product license), except for the watermarks on output renders. It comes with a full 36 months license. Once it expires, users can log in to the community to request for a new 36 months license.

Additionally, a perpetual student license can be purchased for Maya. This license does not expire and the student version can be upgraded to the commercial version at a significant discount. It can be used even after the student graduates, the only restriction being non commercial use. No watermarks are created during output, making the student version of Maya suitable for portfolio creation. However, files saved with this version are recognized by all versions of Maya as files created by a student version.

Components

Since its consolidation from two distinct packages, Maya and later contain all the features of the now defunct Unlimited suites.

Fluid Effects

A realistic fluid simulator (effective for smoke, fire, clouds and explosions, added in Maya 4.5)

Classic Cloth

Cloth simulation to automatically simulate clothing and fabrics moving realistically over an animated character. The Maya Cloth toolset has been upgraded in every version of Maya released after Spider-Man 2. Alias worked with Sony Pictures Imageworks to get Maya Cloth up to scratch for that production, and all those changes have been implemented, although the big studios opted to use third party plugins such as Syflex instead of the (relatively) cumbersome Maya Cloth.

Fur

Animal fur simulation similar to Maya Hair. It can be used to simulate other fur-like objects, such as grass.

nHair

A simulator for realistic-looking human hair implemented using curves and Paint Effects. These are also known as dynamic curves.

Maya Live

A set of motion tracking tools for CG matching to clean plate footage.

nCloth

Added in version 8.5, nCloth is the first implementation of Maya Nucleus, Autodesk's simulation framework. nCloth gives the artist further control of cloth and material simulations.

nParticle

Added in version 2009, nParticle is addendum to Maya Nucleus toolset. nParticle is for simulating a wide range of complex 3D effects, including liquids, clouds, smoke, spray, and dust.

MatchMover

Added to Maya 2010, this enables compositing of CGI elements with motion data from video and film sequences.

Composite

Added to Maya 2010, this was earlier sold as Autodesk Toxik.

Camera Sequencer

Added in Autodesk Maya 2011, Camera Sequencer is used to layout multiple camera shots and manage them in one animation sequence.

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Adobe Premiere Pro

Adobe Premiere Pro is a timeline-based video editing software application. It is part of the Adobe Creative Cloud, which includes video editing, graphic design, and web development programs.

Premiere Pro is used by broadcasters such as the BBC and CNN. It has been used to edit feature films, such as Gone Girl, Captain Abu Raed, and Monsters, and other venues such as Madonna's Confessions Tour.

History

Premiere Pro is the redesigned successor to Adobe Premiere, and was launched in 2003. Premiere Pro refers to versions released in 2003 and later, whereas Premiere refers to the earlier releases. Premiere was one of the first computer-based NLEs (non-linear editing system), with its first release on Mac in 1991. Up until version Premiere Pro 2.0 (CS2), the software packaging featured a galloping horse, in a nod to Eadweard Muybridge's work, "Sallie Gardner at a Gallop".

Features

Premiere Pro supports high resolution video editing at up to 10,240 × 8,192 resolution, at up to 32-bits per channel color, in both RGB and YUV. Audio sample-level editing, VST audio plug-in support, and 5.1 surround sound mixing are available. Premiere Pro's plug-in architecture enables it to import and export formats beyond those supported by QuickTime or DirectShow, supporting a wide variety of video and audio file formats and codecs on both MacOS and Windows. When used with Cineform's Neo line of plug-ins, it supports 3D editing with the ability to view 3D material using 2D monitors, while making individual left and right eye adjustments.

Workflow integration

After Effects

Through Adobe Dynamic Link, compositions from Adobe After Effects may be imported and played back directly on the Premiere Pro timeline. The After Effects composition can be modified, and after switching back to Premiere Pro, the clip will update with the changes. Likewise, Premiere Pro projects can be imported into After Effects. Clips can be copied between the two applications while preserving clip attributes. Premiere Pro also supports many After Effects plug-ins.

Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop files can be opened directly from Premiere Pro to be edited in Photoshop. Any changes will immediately be updated when the Photoshop file is saved and focus returns to Premiere Pro.

Adobe Story, OnLocation and Prelude

The Premiere Pro workflow takes advantage of metadata in the script of a video production. The script is created in or brought into Adobe Story, then passed toAdobe OnLocation to capture footage and attach any relevant metadata from the script to that footage. Finally, in Premiere Pro, speech recognition can match the audio to the dialogue from the script in the metadata. Clips can be searched based on their dialogue in Premiere Pro, and can be sent to Adobe Encore to make searchable web DVDs. Adobe Prelude replaces OnLocation in CS6 and above.

Others

There are other integration functions, such as Edit in Adobe Audition, Dynamic Link to Encore, and Reveal in Adobe Bridge.

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Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office is an office suite of applications, servers, and services developed by Microsoft. It was first announced by Bill Gates on August 1, 1988, at COMDEX in Las Vegas. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of Office contained Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint. Over the years, Office applications have grown substantially closer with shared features such as a common spell checker, OLE data integration and Visual Basic for Applications scripting language. Microsoft also positions Office as a development platform for line-of-business software under the Office Business Applicationsbrand.

On 10 July 2012, Softpedia reported that Office is used by over a billion people worldwide.

The desktop version of Office is available for Windows and OS X. A touch-optimised version of Microsoft Office is available pre-installed on Windows RT tablets. A mobile version of Office, Office Mobile, is available for free onWindows Phone, iOS and Android. A web-based version of Office, Office Online, is also available. Microsoft has stated that it plans to create a version of Office for "other popular platforms" as well.

The current desktop version is Office 2016 for Windows and OS X, released on 22 September 2015 and 9 July 2015, respectively.

Desktop components

Word

Microsoft Word is a word processor available for Windows and OS X. Word is also available in some editions ofMicrosoft Works. The first version of Word, released in the autumn of 1983, was for the MS-DOS operating system and had the distinction of introducing the mouse to a broad population. Word 1.0 could be purchased with a bundled mouse, though none was required. Following the precedents of LisaWrite and MacWrite, Word for Macintosh attempted to add closer WYSIWYG features into its package. Word for Mac was released in 1985. Word for Mac was the first graphical version of Microsoft Word.

Its proprietary Doc format is a de facto standard, although Word 2007 deprecated this format in favor of Office Open XML, which was later standardized by Ecma International as an open format. Support for Portable Document Format (PDF) and OpenDocument (ODF) was first introduced in Word for Windows withService Pack 2 for Word 2007.

Excel

Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet program that originally competed with the dominant Lotus 1-2-3, and eventually outsold it. It is available for the Windows and OS X platforms. Microsoft released the first version of Excel for the Mac OS in 1985, and the first Windows version (numbered 2.05 to line up with the Mac and bundled with a standalone Windows run-time environment) in November 1987. It provided more functionality than the previous version.

PowerPoint

Microsoft PowerPoint is a presentation program for Windows and OS X. It is used to create slideshows, composed of text, graphics, and other objects, which can be displayed on-screen and shown by the presenter or printed out on transparencies or slides.

Access

Microsoft Access is a database management system for Windows that combines the relational Microsoft Jet Database Engine with a graphical user interface and software-development tools. Microsoft Access stores data in its own format based on the Access Jet Database Engine. It can also import or link directly to data stored in other applications and databases.

Outlook

Microsoft Outlook (not to be confused with Outlook Express) is a personal information manager. The replacement for Windows Messaging, Microsoft Mail, andSchedule+ starting in Office 97, it includes an e-mail client, calendar, task manager and address book.

On the Mac OS, Microsoft offered several versions of Outlook in the late 1990s, but only for use with Microsoft Exchange Server. In Office 2001, it introduced an alternative application with a slightly different feature set called Microsoft Entourage. It reintroduced Outlook in Office 2011, replacing Entourage.

OneNote

Microsoft OneNote is a freeware notetaking program. It gathers notes (handwritten or typed), drawings, screen clippings and audio commentaries. Notes can be shared with other OneNote users over the Internet or a network. OneNote was initially introduced as a standalone app that was not included in any of Microsoft Office 2003 editions. However, OneNote eventually became a core component of Microsoft Office; with the release of Microsoft Office 2013, OneNote was included in all Microsoft Office offerings before eventually becoming completely free of charge. OneNote is available as a web application on Office Online, a Windows desktop app, a mobile app for Windows Phone, iOS, Android, and Symbian, and a Metro-style app for Windows 8 or later.

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Adobe Photoshop

Photoshop was created in 1988 by Thomas and John Knoll. Since then, it has become the de facto industry standard in raster graphics editing, such that the word "photoshop" has become a verb as in "to Photoshop an image," "photo shopping," and "photoshop contest," etc. It can edit and compose raster images in multiple layers and supports masks, alpha compositing and several color models including RGB, CMYK, Lab color space, spot color and duotone. Photoshop has vast support for graphic file formats but also uses its own PSD and  PSB file formats which support all the aforementioned features. In addition to raster graphics, it has limited abilities to edit or render text, vector graphics (especially through clipping path), 3D graphics and video. Photoshop's featureset can be expanded by Photoshop plug-ins, programs developed and distributed independently of Photoshop that can run inside it and offer new or enhanced features.

Photoshop's naming scheme was initially based on version numbers. However, in October 2002, following the introduction of Creative Suite branding, each new version of Photoshop was designated with "CS" plus a number; e.g., the eighth major version of Photoshop was Photoshop CS and the ninth major version was Photoshop CS2. Photoshop CS3 through CS6 were also distributed in two different editions: Standard and Extended. In June 2013, with the introduction of Creative Cloud branding, Photoshop's licensing scheme was changed to that of software as a service and the "CS" suffixes were replaced with "CC". Historically, Photoshop was bundled with additional software such as Adobe ImageReady, Adobe Fireworks, Adobe Bridge, Adobe Device Central and Adobe Camera RAW.

Alongside Photoshop, Adobe also develops and publishes Photoshop Elements, Photoshop Lightroom,Photoshop Express and Photoshop Touch. Collectively, they are branded as "The Adobe Photoshop Family". It is currently a licensed software.

Early History

Photoshop was developed in 1987 by the American brothers Thomas and John Knoll, who sold the distribution license to Adobe Systems Incorporated in 1988.Thomas Knoll, a PhD student at the University of Michigan, began writing a program on his Macintosh Plus to display grayscale images on a monochrome display. This program, called Display, caught the attention of his brother John Knoll, an Industrial Light & Magic employee, who recommended that Thomas turn it into a full-fledged image editing program. Thomas took a six-month break from his studies in 1988 to collaborate with his brother on the program. Thomas renamed the program ImagePro, but the name was already taken. Later that year, Thomas renamed his program Photoshop and worked out a short-term deal with scanner manufacturer Barneyscan to distribute copies of the program with a slide scanner; a "total of about 200 copies of Photoshop were shipped" this way.

During this time, John traveled to Silicon Valley and gave a demonstration of the program to engineers at Apple and Russell Brown, art director at Adobe. Both showings were successful, and Adobe decided to purchase the license to distribute in September 1988. While John worked on plug-ins in California, Thomas remained in Ann Arbor writing code. Photoshop 1.0 was released on 19 February 1990 for Macintosh exclusively. The Barneyscan version included advanced color editing features that were stripped from the first Adobe shipped version. The handling of color slowly improved with each release from Adobe and Photoshop quickly became the industry standard in digital color editing. At the time Photoshop 1.0 was released, digital retouching on dedicated high end systems, such as theSciTex, cost around $300 an hour for basic photo retouching.

File Format

Photoshop files have default file extension as .PSD, which stands for "Photoshop Document." A PSD file stores an image with support for most imaging options available in Photoshop. These include layers with masks, transparency, text, alpha channels and spot colors, clipping paths, and duotone settings. This is in contrast to many other file formats (e.g., .JPG or .GIF) that restrict content to provide streamlined, predictable functionality. A PSD file has a maximum height and width of 30,000 pixels, and a length limit of 2 Gigabytes.

Photoshop files sometimes have the file extension .PSB, which stands for "Photoshop Big" (also known as "large document format"). A PSB file extends the PSD file format, increasing the maximum height and width to 300,000 pixels and the length limit to around 4 Exabytes. The dimension limit was apparently chosen arbitrarily by Adobe, not based on computer arithmetic constraints (it is not close to a power of two, as is 30,000) but for ease of software testing. PSD and PSB formats are documented.

Because of Photoshop's popularity, PSD files are widely used and supported to some extent by most competing software. The .PSD file format can be exported to and from Adobe's other apps like Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Premiere Pro, and After Effects, to make professional standard DVDs and provide non-linear editing and special effects services, such as backgrounds, textures, and so on, for television, film, and the Internet. Photoshop's primary strength is as a pixel-based image editor, unlike vector-based image editors. Photoshop also enables vector graphics editing through its Paths, Pen tools, Shape tools, Shape Layers, Type tools, Import command, and Smart Object functions. These tools and commands are convenient to combine pixel-based and vector-based images in one Photoshop document, because it may not be necessary to use more than one program. To create very complex vector graphics with numerous shapes and colors, it may be easier to use software that was created primarily for that purpose, such as Adobe Illustrator or CorelDRAW. Photoshop's non-destructive Smart Objects can also import complex vector shapes.

Plugins

Photoshop functionality can be extended by add-on programs called Photoshop plugins (or plug-ins). Adobe creates some plugins, such as Adobe Camera Raw, but third-party companies develop most plugins, according to Adobe's specifications. Some are free and some are commercial software. Most plugins work with only Photoshop or Photoshop-compatible hosts, but a few can also be run as standalone applications.

There are various types of plugins, such as filter, export, import, selection, color correction, and automation. The most popular plugins are the filter plugins (also known as a 8bf plugins), available under the Filter menu in Photoshop. Filter plugins can either modify the current image or create content. Below are some popular types of plugins, and some well-known companies associated with them:

• Color correction plugins (Alien Skin Software, Nik Software, OnOne Software, Topaz Labs Software, The Plugin Site, etc.)
• Special effects plugins (Alien Skin Software, Auto FX Software, AV Bros., Flaming Pear Software, etc.)
• 3D effects plugins (Andromeda Software, Strata, etc.)

Adobe Camera Raw (also known as ACR and Camera Raw) is a special plugin, supplied free by Adobe, used primarily to read and process raw image files so that the resultant images can be processed by Photoshop. It can also be used from within Adobe Bridge.

Photoshop Tools

Pen tool :- Upon loading Photoshop, a sidebar with a variety of tools with multiple image-editing functions appears to the left of the screen. These tools typically fall under the categories of drawing; painting; measuring and navigation; selection; typing; and retouching.Some tools contain a small triangle in the bottom right of the toolbox icon. These can be expanded to reveal similar tools. While newer versions of Photoshop are updated to include new tools and features, several recurring tools that exist in most versions are discussed below.

Photoshop includes a few versions of the pen tool. The pen tool creates precise paths that can be manipulated using anchor points. The free form pen tool allows the user to draw paths freehand, and with the magnetic pen tool, the drawn path attaches closely to outlines of objects in an image, which is useful for isolating them from a background.

Shape tools

Photoshop provides an array of shape tools including rectangles, rounded rectangles, ellipses, polygons and lines. These shapes can be manipulated by the pen tool, direct selection tool etc. to make vector graphics.

Measuring and navigation

The eyedropper tool selects a color from an area of the image that is clicked, and samples it for future use. The hand tool navigates an image by moving it in any direction, and the zoom tool enlarges the part of an image that is clicked on, allowing for a closer view.

Selection tools

Selection tools are used to select all or any part of a picture to perform cut, copy, edit, or retouching operations.

Cropping

The crop tool can be used to select a particular area of an image and discard the portions outside the chosen section. This tool assists in creating a focus point on an image and excluding unnecessary or excess space. Cropping allows enhancement of a photo’s composition while decreasing the file size. The "crop" tool is in the tools palette, which is located on the right side of the document. By placing the cursor over the image, the user can drag the cursor to the desired area. Once the Enter key is pressed, the area outside the rectangle will be cropped. The area outside the rectangle is the discarded data, which allows for the file size to be decreased. The "crop" tool can alternatively be used to extend the canvas size by clicking and dragging outside the existing image borders.

Slicing

The "slice" and slice select tools, like the crop tool, are used in isolating parts of images. The slice tool can be used to divide an image into different sections, and these separate parts can be used as pieces of a web page design once HTML and CSS are applied. The slice select tool allows sliced sections of an image to be adjusted and shifted.

Moving

The move tool can be used to drag the entirety of a single layer or more if they are selected. Alternatively, once an area of an image is highlighted, the move tool can be used to manually relocate the selected piece to anywhere on the canvas.

Marquee

The marquee tool can make selections that are single row, single column, rectangular and elliptical. An area that has been selected can be edited without affecting the rest of the image. This tool can also crop an image; it allows for better control. In contrast to the crop tool, the "marquee" tool allows for more adjustments to the selected area before cropping. The only marquee tool that does not allow cropping is the elliptical. Although the single row and column marqueetools allow for cropping, they are not ideal, because they only crop a line. The rectangular marquee tool is the preferred option. Once the tool has been selected, dragging the tool across the desired area will select it. The selected area will be outlined by dotted lines, referred to as "marching ants". These dotted lines are called "marching ants", because the dashes look like ants marching around the selected area. To set a specific size or ratio, the tool option bar provides these settings. Before selecting an area, the desired size or ratio must be set by adjusting the width and height. Any changes such as color, filters, location, etc. should be made before cropping. To crop the selection, the user must go to image tab and select crop.

Lasso

The lasso tool is similar to the "marquee" tool, however, the user can make a custom selection by drawing it freehand. There are three options for the "lasso" tool – regular, polygonal, and magnetic. The regular "lasso" tool allows the user to have drawing capabilities. Photoshop will complete the selection once the mouse button is released. The user may also complete the selection by connecting the end point to the starting point. The "marching ants" will indicate if a selection has been made. The "polygonal lasso" tool will draw only straight lines, which makes it an ideal choice for images with many straight lines. Unlike the regular "lasso" tool, the user must continually click around the image to outline the shape. To complete the selection, the user must connect the end point to the starting point just like the regular lasso tool. "Magnetic lasso" tool is considered the smart tool. It can do the same as the other two, but it can also detect the edges of an image once the user selects a starting point. It detects by examining the color pixels as the cursor move over the desired area. A pixel is the smallest element in an image. Closing the selection is the same as the other two, which should also should display the "marching ants" once the selection has been closed.

The quick selection tool selects areas based on edges, similarly to the magnetic lasso tool. The difference between this tool and the lasso tool is that there is no starting and ending point. Since there isn’t a starting and ending point, the selected area can be added onto as much as possible without starting over. By dragging the cursor over the desired area, the quick selection tool detects the edges of the image. The "marching ants" allow the user to know what is currently being selected. Once the user is done, the selected area can be edited without affecting the rest of the image. One of the features that makes this tool especially user friendly is that the SHIFT key is not needed to add more to the selection; by default, extra mouse clicks will be added to the selection rather than creating a new selection.

Magic wand

The magic wand tool selects areas based on pixels of similar values. One click will select all neighboring pixels of similar value within a tolerance level set by the user. If the eyedropper tool is selected in the options bar, then the magic wand can determine the value needed to evaluate the pixels; this is based on the sample size setting in the eyedropper tool. This tool is inferior to the quick selection tool which works much the same but with much better results and more intuitive controls. The user must decide what settings to use or if the image is right for this tool.

Eraser

The Eraser tool erases content based on the active layer. If the user is on the text layer, then any text across which the tool is dragged will be erased. The eraser will convert the pixels to transparent, unless the background layer is selected. The size and style of the eraser can be selected in the options bar. This tool is unique in that it can take the form of the paintbrush and pencil tools. In addition to the straight eraser tool, there are two more available options – background eraser and magic eraser. The background eraser deletes any part of the image that is on the edge of an object. This tool is often used to extract objects from the background. The magic eraser tool deletes based on similar colored pixels. It is very similar to the magic wand tool. This tool is ideal for deleting areas with the same color or tone that contrasts with the rest of the image.

Video editing

In Adobe CS5 Extended edition, video editing is comprehensive and efficient with a broad compatibility of video file formats such as MOV, AVI, MPEG-4, and FLVformats and easy workflow. Using simple combination of keys video layers can easily be modified, with other features such as adding text and the creation of animations using single images.

3D extrusion

With the Extended version of Photoshop CS5, 2D elements of an artwork can easily become three-dimensional with the click of a button. Extrusions of texts, an available library of materials for three-dimensional, and even wrapping two-dimensional images around 3D geometry.

Mobile integration

Third-party plugins have also been added to the most recent version of Photoshop where technologies such as the iPad have integrated the software with different types of applications. Applications like the Adobe Eazel painting app allows the user to easily create paintings with their fingertips and use an array of different paint from dry to wet in order to create rich color blending.

Camera Raw

With the Camera Raw plug-in, raw images can be processed without the use of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, along with other image file formats such as JPEGs,TIFFs, or PNGs. The plug-in allows users to remove noise without the side-effect of over-sharpening, add grain, and even perform post-crop vignetting.

3D printing tools

Requiring Photoshop version 14.1 or later, users can create and edit designs for 3D printing. After downloading 3D photo models from numerous online services, users can add color, adjust the shape or rotate the angles. Artists can also design 3D models from scratch.

Color replacement tool

The Color Replacement Tool allows you to change the color, while maintaining the highlights and shadows of the original image, of pieces of the image. By selecting Brushs and right clicking, the Color Replacement Tool is the third option down. What is important to note with this tool is the foreground color. The foreground color is what will be applied when painting along the chosen part of the image with the Color Replacement Tool.

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