Setup MS Visual Studio 2008 for simple Javascript Projects

[DblValve]

Taking an into to Javascript class and have Visual Studio 2008. I'd like to set it up for simple Javascript projects. Can anyone give me a step-by-step on what options to choose to do this without resorting to C#, VB or .NET project-specific files?

TIA

DblValve

[Daeva]

I think that VS (any version) is way overkill.

What features of VS make you want to use that. Using VS for just that is like using a NASA supercomuter to add two numbers and print them to the screen.

I find that any text editor with syntax highlighting will serve you well for javascript coding.
Some examples are TextPad(my favorite), Programmers Notepad, Notepad++, or even just standard notepad.

If you are looking to debug javascript (step through code) which Visual Studio does now have, I would recommend using the following tools for firefox:
- Firebug
- Web Developer
- Console [sup]2[/sup]

If you insist on VS, you don't want a windows application. You want a website.
File->New->Website->(VB or C# doesn't matter for you).
It will create a bunch of files you don't need, but thats okay. Then you can just add a javascript file and work with it that way.

*Note: You have to have full Visual Studio suite or Visual Web Developer in order to do this.

[berry120]

As above, VS is an IDE designed for enterprise level projects, if you're just hacking around with a bit of Javascript then it'll most likely hinder rather than help. What do you mean by a Javascript project anyway? Most websites are written in HTML with Javascript adding the dynamic features.

There are websites written entirely in Javascript (usually called web applications) but actually writing them in Javascript by hand is rarely done these days - it's a rather cumbersome and old fashioned approach. The norm in this situation is to write in something like Java and then use GWT / SmartGWT to compile down to minified Javascript, which is much better from all perspectives.

[7D8]

maybe he's doing JScript for Windows development. You can write JScript (Micorosoft's JavaScript implementation) to script Windows. In any case, its still over-kill. Notepad my good man or if you want to go a step up (i would), Notepad++ or Notepad2. Both are excellent.