FOLLOW UP: Public Sector Developer Conference (Downers Grove, IL)

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Thanks to everyone who attended!  Here are the links to the decks and code for the sessions.  I don’t have the content from the LINQ & VSTO sessions yet, but will update this post when I get them.  However, I did promise to have a post up this morning.

How Visual Studio Team System 2008 will benefit your organization? – deck

Language Integrated Query (LINQ)

Overview of the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 & ASP.NET MVC – deck, resources, code (links to a post explaining how to get the code I based me demos on)

Office Development with VSTO  and Office Open XML Format

If you are interested in other content, I have a list of recorded webcasts in My Recorded Webcasts list.  There is a session similar to Joel’s LINQ session that covers LINQ to SQL in a little more detail as well as other topics which might interest you.  You might want to check out My Screencasts as well. 

Free training on .NET 3.5 SP1

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I just came across this update to the .NET 3.5 Enhancements Training Kit from Jonathan Carter.  If you’ve seen my ASP.NET 3.5 Extensions Preview webcast and are looking for the code, then you will want to download the kit.  I used the kit as the starting point for my demos.  I do a few things differently here and there, but most of it is because I didn’t have time to show everything in 90 minutes.  As far as I can tell, everything that was in the extensions preview is in 3.5 SP1 except ASP.NET MVC which will be shipped separately.  The training kit offers a great way to get your hands dirty with the new stuff in 3.5 SP1.  Go get it!  Oh yea, I have also updated the deck from my webcast to reflect the changes.  I have also added a couple slides about what’s new in WPF & WCF.  You can download my new 3.5 SP1 deck here.

VS2008 / NETFX 3.5 SP1 Beta

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If you keep up with multiple Microsoft technology bloggers, today is one of those days where you’ll see everyone posting similar posts:(.  Such is the nature of blogging.  I get to say what I want, but sometimes that means everyone else is saying the same thing.  Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 Beta are out!  Here are some links to learn "what’s what" about SP1:

Scott Guthrie’s comprehensive post:

http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2008/05/12/visual-studio-2008-and-net-framework-3-5-service-pack-1-beta.aspx

WPF-specific:

http://blogs.msdn.com/tims/archive/2008/05/12/introducing-the-third-major-release-of-windows-presentation-foundation.aspx

Brad Abrams’ has lots of screenshots of various features:

http://blogs.msdn.com/brada/archive/2008/05/05/visual-studio-2008-and-net-framework-3-5-sp1-beta.aspx

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Standalone Validation Block

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As I mentioned here, I have been digging into what’s out there for WPF LOB applications.  It’s been a long time since I’ve kept up with the work the patterns & practices group has produced.  One of the things I’ve seen a webcast/blog post or two about is the Validation Application Block.  They have put together a nice approach that allows you to define validation once on your business entities.  In addition, the block includes adapters that allow you to surface the validation in ASP.NET, Windows Forms, and the Windows Communications Framework (WCF).  In theory, the block can be used with WPF as well, but an adapter hasn’t been built.  I came across two solutions.  The first one, Validation Application Block, meet WPF, I found on Tom Hollander’s blog.  The other, came from one of the EntLib Contrib projects on CodePlex.  The project is called Standalone Validation Block.  It’s two gems in one!  First, it allows you to use the core validation framework without having to take a dependency on the full Enterprise Library.  Second, it has a solution for surfacing the validation in your WPF UI.  Go check it out!

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High Performance Computing event in Reston, Va

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My team is sponsoring the HPCPAL Jumpstart Event on June 18th in Reston, VA.  If you are in the DC area (or feel like traveling here) and interested in simulation software, then stop by!

You are invited to participate in our HPCPAL Jumpstart technical training series for IT Pro’s and Developers. These are one-day immersion style events that can help you get the technical information you require to start deploying and developing HPC solutions leveraging Windows HPC Server 2008.  You will experience how Windows HPC Server 2008 platform is simple to deploy, operate, and integrate with existing infrastructure and tools.

1-Day Jumpstart:

Sponsors:                 Discuss clustered computing solution scenarios with Microsoft HPC technology specialists.

Roadmap:                Review the HPC platform technology roadmap for Windows HPC.

Learn About:           Microsoft Compute Cluster Pack V2 features and capabilities.

Experience:             The significant advancements coming in the area of cluster management, scalability and performance

Explore:                    HPC Development tools and techniques

Solutions:                Identify integrated solution scenarios leveraging Windows platform technologies.

Leave With:             Tools to equip your team to develop and deploy.

For more information and registration, please visit http://www.hpcpal.com/details.asp?IdEvent=55

Microsoft ESP Developer Conference

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My team is sponsoring this conference on May 22nd in Reston, VA.  If you are in the DC area (or feel like traveling here) and interested in simulation software, then stop by!

About the Conference

Join us for a day of developer-oriented technical sessions featuring Microsoft® ESP™.  Microsoft® ESP™ is a visual simulation platform that brings immersive games-based technology to training and learning, decision support, and research and development modeling for government and commercial organizations. Come and learn how this all-in-one simulation platform of Microsoft ESP consisting of a simulation engine, development tools and rich content can help you quickly build affordable, extensible, high quality simulation solutions that can tie in with external solutions and integrate with industry standard input/output devices and database-driven content. You will also learn about the Microsoft ESP SDK that consists of four primary systems, some of which contain their own additional SDKs for specific topics:

  • Programming System
  • Terrain and Scenery System
  • Mission System
  • Object Modeling System

The sessions will allow you to:

  • Experience the development of richer solutions more quickly and focus on content that’s specific to your solution by starting from the rich base world content that comes with ESP.
  • Design using the platform’s model of planet Earth, built-in physics engine, numerous aircraft types, scenery and terrain, and a fully-configurable weather system.
  • Achieve "you are there" realism with highly-detailed terrain and seascapes in all seasons, active wildlife, real-world motion, realistic night skies, continuous time of day, accurate vector data and buildings, 5.1 multi-channel surround sound, and much more.

These sessions will target Developers, Architects, technical managers and Web designers, be very much demonstration oriented, and will be delivered by seasoned developers with experience in Government and Public Sector. Seize this opportunity to immerse yourself in this exciting new technology!

FULL ESP DEVELOPER CONFERENCE DETAILS HERE

WPF for Line of Business applications

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I’m a big believer that WPF is a great UI technology for LOB applications.  Yes, there are some shortcomings in the designer experience if you compare the WPF designer to the Windows Forms designer in Visual Studio 2008.  Yes, WPF is missing some controls that people expect like a DataGrid and DatePicker, but there are solutions.  For example:

I’ve updated my WPF Resources list with these links and more.

Personally, I think the benefits of the WPF programming model outweigh the shortcomings of the WPF designer in Visual Studio 2008.   Some of the customers I have worked with have told me that once they get over the initial "shock" around the designer (compared to Windows Forms) and the lack of certain controls, they quickly find that they are more productive overall because they are using WPF.  This will get better as the Cider team continues to improve the WPF Designer in Visual Studio.  Remember that the Windows Forms designer has been around since the release of .NET 1.0!  They’ve had a little more time to get all those feature in:).

One of the things I have been chatting about with some of my teammates is that there aren’t enough good samples demonstrating the use of WPF for LOB apps.  I’ve been doing some research to see what’s out there.  One example is the WPF sample that ships with the CSLA framework from Rockford Lhotka.  I used CSLA back in the days of my life as a VB6 developer.  Over the years, Rocky has evolved his framework as the .NET Framework has evolved.  CSLA is primarily a Business Object framework, but it ships with example user interfaces (including Windows Forms, ASP.NET, and now WPF).   The latest version has a WPF sample LOB app.  I also came across Karl Shifflet.  Karl’s blog has a ton of great info in it about WPF LOB apps including an 11 part series he’s started on the topic:

WPF Business Application Series Part 1 of n – Application Structure, Skinning & Custom ToolBar Button Control

WPF Business Application Series Part 2 – Form Notification Control That Binds To IDataErrorInfo.Error Property

WPF Business Application Series Part 3 of n – Business Object Declarative Programming; How To Implement Object Validation & Logging

I’ve yet to see a sample app that does everything Karl is planning on doing plus show online/offline capability using:

  • Client Application Services for Authentication / Authorization (which supports offline scenarios)
  • Data Access via a local SQL Compact Edition database using LINQ to SQL or LINQ to Entities
  • ADO.NET Sync Services communicating across the wire using WCF to synchronizes with the server database
    • Caches lookup data and a necessary subset of the server database relative to the user in the local SQLCE database
    • Allows the user to continue working offline, syncing/reconciling changes when they reconnect

I have a bunch of samples that show many of these scenarios, but I have yet to come across a complete solution bringing all of this together in a single app.  Have you seen such an example?  Are you aware of any other work like Karl & Rocky’s for building LOB WPF apps?  Please let me know in the comments section.  Thanks!

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I updated my Resources lists

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I keep a running list of follow up Resources for my presentations/webcasts on my Windows Live Space.  I have received some feedback lately from folks having trouble finding my links, presentations, and demo code.  In an effort to make things easier to find, I have updated each individual resource list.  Now, the first 1 or 2 links in each list points you to the location in my SkyDrive to download the presentation/code.  I’ve also made sure the Resources are the first thing you see in the left column of my Windows Live Space:

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Let me know if you are still having trouble finding things by sending me a message:

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