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This article lists the following aspects of Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Beta for Database Projects:

•	The known issues in this service pack and how to work around the known issues
•	The issues that may occur when you uninstall this service pack and how to roll back to the release version of Visual Studio 2008
•	The hotfixes that are included in this service pack
•	The features and the functionalities that are new, changed, or improved

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Known issues in this service pack and how to work around the known issues

•	For multiple editions of Visual Studio 2008, Microsoft only supports scenarios in which all editions are at the same service pack level. If multiple languages or editions of Visual Studio 2008 are installed on a computer, all languages or editions must be at the RTM level, or all must be at the SP1 level to be supported by Microsoft.
•	This beta release will not be applied if you have the Silverlight beta installed on your operating system.

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

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Issues that may occur when you uninstall this service pack and how to roll back to the release version of Visual Studio 2008

For more information about the issues that may occur when you uninstall this service pack and about how to roll back to the release version of Visual Studio 2008, see the Removal issues for all platforms section in Microsoft Knowledge Base article 945140.

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Hotfixes that are included in this service pack

No hotfixes are included in this service pack.

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Features and functionalities that are new, changed, or improved

Added features or functionalities

ADO.NET Entity Designer

The ADO.NET Entity Designer is added in all Visual Studio 2008 editions. The ADO.NET Entity Designer includes the following features.

•	Entity Designer By using Entity Designer, you can do the following: • Generate an entity data model from a database, and then display the model on the designer surface. • Validate models and mappings at design time. • Optionally embed Entity Framework metadata artifacts such as conceptual schema definition language (CSDL) artifacts, mapping specification language (MSL) artifacts, and store schema definition language (SSDL) artifacts in the output assembly. • Copy Entity Framework metadata artifacts to the output directory. • Update generated model and mappings when tables in the database change.
•	The Entity Mapping Details tool window In the Entity Mapping Details tool window, you can do the following: • View and edit mappings for entities and for associations. • Map an Entity hierarchy to a single table by using Table per Hierarchy (TPH) mapping. • Map an Entity hierarchy to multiple tables by using Table per Type (TPT) mapping. • Map entities to stored procedures. • Apply multiple conditions to a table mapping. • Split entities across tables. • Map associations.
•	The Model Browser tool window In the Model Browser tool window, you can do the following: • Visualize the model as a tree hierarchy. • Easily browse to entities, properties, and associations on the designer from the model browser and vice versa.
•	Support The ADO.NET Entity Designer adds support for the following: • Microsoft SQL Server Compact Edition • The following new types in SQL Server 2008: • Date • Time • DateTime2 • DateTimeOffset • Filestream

Object Relational Designer (O/R Designer)

•	The O/R Designer in all Visual Studio 2008 editions supports the following new types in Microsoft SQL Server 2008: • Date • Time • DateTime2 • DateTimeOffset • Filestream

XML editor and XSLT debugger

The XML Schema Explorer has been added to all Visual Studio 2008 editions except Express editions. The XML Schema Explorer includes the following features:

•	Presentation of schema sets in a tool window that shows a hierarchical view of an XML Schema Definition (XSD) and of related XSDs.
•	The ability to search over schema sets.
•	Sorting features, filtering features, and navigation features for schema sets.
•	Integration with the XML editor to enable navigation from the tree to the XML editor and vice versa.

Improved features or functionalities

XML Editor and XSLT debugger

Multiple customer requests and software updates were applied in the XML editor and in the XSLT debugger.

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For more information about Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 Beta, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

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