September 2006 - Posts

• Follow up to Orlando .NET Users Group Meeting on .NET 3.0

  I went to Orlando yesterday to present in their Orlando .NET User Group's meeting. I gave an overview of .NET 3.0 features - WCF, WF, WPF, Windows CardSpace, and System.Speech. Dennis drove along with me to Orlando. The meeting was in Orlando City Hall. It was a nice facility in the middle of downtown. Shawn Weisfeld does a great job organizing Onetug meetings. Other notable people who were present in the meeting were Ken Tucker (President, Space Coast Dot Net User Group) and J. T. Taylor (Secretary, Onetug).  Shawn started the meeting with some announcements. He handed it over to me around 7:15 pm. I spoke for around 90 minutes. The turnout for meeting was good. The attendees were excited and there was good discussion and questions. Then there was raffle for the give aways. After the meeting was over - Shawn, Ken, Dennis and I went to IHOP for dinner. Most of the time we talked about the idea of unifying all the user groups of Florida through a single web site. All of us agreed on the features and benefits that such a portal will bring. We discussed several options to develop such a web portal. Some action to watch out for. It was around 11 pm, when Dennis and I headed back to Jacksonville. A long day came to a satisfying end couple of hours after midnight. Anyways, the session resources can be downloaded from here. I have also included the demos in the zip file. The demos for WPF data binding and WF - State diagram based workflow are standard samples (included in the download package). You can download the complete set of samples for .NET 3.0 Framework from here. The WCF StockService demo had a problem with security configuration. The problem was that app.config for WCF Client (StockServiceClient) had an identity element pointing to my domain user name. As there was no domain available when I demo'd it gave a security negotiation exception. Right after the presentation, I removed the identity element from the client's app.config and it worked like a charm. I have included the list of resources in the presentation slides. In the next couple of days, I'll post that list and some other resources in a separate blog entry. I hope you enjoyed the talk. Thanks to Shawn and Onetug for giving me this opportunity to present. It was a pleasure to speak. Please feel free to contact me, if you have any questions or comments. Download Links Presentation Slides and Demos - .NET 3.0 - Overview .NET 3.0 Framework RC 1 Windows SDK for .NET Framework RC 1 Visual Studio 2005 Extensions for Windows Workflow Foundation RC 5 Visual Studio Code Name "Orcas" CTP - Development Tools for .NET Framework 3.0 Posted Sep 23 2006, 01:36 AM by Vinay Ahuja

• Follow up to Orlando .NET Users Group Meeting on .NET 3.0

  I went to Orlando yesterday to present in their Orlando .NET User Group's meeting. I gave an overview of .NET 3.0 features - WCF, WF, WPF, Windows CardSpace, and System.Speech. Dennis drove along with me to Orlando. The meeting was in Orlando City Hall. It was a nice facility in the middle of downtown. Shawn Weisfeld does a great job organizing Onetug meetings. Other notable people who were present in the meeting were Ken Tucker (President, Space Coast Dot Net User Group) and J. T. Taylor (Secretary, Onetug).  Shawn started the meeting with some announcements. He handed it over to me around 7:15 pm. I spoke for around 90 minutes. The turnout for meeting was good. The attendees were excited and there was good discussion and questions. Then there was raffle for the give aways. After the meeting was over - Shawn, Ken, Dennis and I went to IHOP for dinner. Most of the time we talked about the idea of unifying all the user groups of Florida through a single web site. All of us agreed on the features and benefits that such a portal will bring. We discussed several options to develop such a web portal. Some action to watch out for. It was around 11 pm, when Dennis and I headed back to Jacksonville. A long day came to a satisfying end couple of hours after midnight. Anyways, the session resources can be downloaded from here. I have also included the demos in the zip file. The demos for WPF data binding and WF - State diagram based workflow are standard samples (included in the download package). You can download the complete set of samples for .NET 3.0 Framework from here. The WCF StockService demo had a problem with security configuration. The problem was that app.config for WCF Client (StockServiceClient) had an identity element pointing to my domain user name. As there was no domain available when I demo'd it gave a security negotiation exception. Right after the presentation, I removed the identity element from the client's app.config and it worked like a charm. I have included the list of resources in the presentation slides. In the next couple of days, I'll post that list and some other resources in a separate blog entry. I hope you enjoyed the talk. Thanks to Shawn and Onetug for giving me this opportunity to present. It was a pleasure to speak. Please feel free to contact me, if you have any questions or comments. Download Links Presentation Slides and Demos - .NET 3.0 - Overview .NET 3.0 Framework RC 1 Windows SDK for .NET Framework RC 1 Visual Studio 2005 Extensions for Windows Workflow Foundation RC 5 Visual Studio Code Name "Orcas" CTP - Development Tools for .NET Framework 3.0 Posted Sep 23 2006, 01:36 AM by Vinay Ahuja

• Follow Up to ASP.NET SIG Meeting - Introduction to Microsoft Expression Web

  Yesterday, I talked about Microsoft Expression Web (EW) in JAXDUG ASP.NET SIG Meeting. Thanks to all who attended this meeting. Most of the presentation focused on demonstrations with the tool's capabilities. Expression Web helps in creating standards based web sites. It has extensive CSS formatting options. There is style redundancy checking and renaming built in. EW comes with ASP.NET 2.0 integration. The tool can generate several reports to check accessibility, compatibility, and CSS Usage. Finally, it is a full fledged development tool with deployment capabilities. As a bonus, you can optimize your deployed source with several options. Comparing Microsoft Expression Suite with Dreamweaver There were several questions and comments that came up in the session. One of the comments was that this tool definitely appears to be a strong competitor to Dreamweaver. I searched and found couple of comparison articles: Microsoft's Expression Web Designer vs. Adobe's Dreamweaver - First Look: Let the rumble begin Can Microsoft Expression Web Designer Touch Dreamweaver? There were other questions also that were interesting: - Is EW integrated with Source Controls tools like VSS? I don't see anything in Beta 1, however I will have to check if EW team has plans to do the integration later. - EW combines the best of FrontPage and Visual Studio and targets the professional designers. Is there a possibility that EW designer capabilities will become part of the next version of Visual Studio (code named Orcas)? I am not sure, if the EW / Visual Studio team is thinking on these lines. Resources on Expression Web Microsoft Expression Home Microsoft Expression Web Home Microsoft Expression Web - Tours and Demos Microsoft Expression Web Beta 1 FAQ Microsoft Expression Web Download Expression Team Blog Web cast - Introduction to Microsoft Expression First Look at Microsoft Expression Web by Clint Steed Microsoft Expression Web Designer Newsgroups Download Introduction to Microsoft Expression Web Hope you enjoyed the presentation. Please feel free to contact me with your comments. Posted Sep 15 2006, 09:22 AM by Vinay Ahuja

• Follow Up to ASP.NET SIG Meeting - Introduction to Microsoft Expression Web

  Yesterday, I talked about Microsoft Expression Web (EW) in JAXDUG ASP.NET SIG Meeting. Thanks to all who attended this meeting. Most of the presentation focused on demonstrations with the tool's capabilities. Expression Web helps in creating standards based web sites. It has extensive CSS formatting options. There is style redundancy checking and renaming built in. EW comes with ASP.NET 2.0 integration. The tool can generate several reports to check accessibility, compatibility, and CSS Usage. Finally, it is a full fledged development tool with deployment capabilities. As a bonus, you can optimize your deployed source with several options. Comparing Microsoft Expression Suite with Dreamweaver There were several questions and comments that came up in the session. One of the comments was that this tool definitely appears to be a strong competitor to Dreamweaver. I searched and found couple of comparison articles: Microsoft's Expression Web Designer vs. Adobe's Dreamweaver - First Look: Let the rumble begin Can Microsoft Expression Web Designer Touch Dreamweaver? There were other questions also that were interesting: - Is EW integrated with Source Controls tools like VSS? I don't see anything in Beta 1, however I will have to check if EW team has plans to do the integration later. - EW combines the best of FrontPage and Visual Studio and targets the professional designers. Is there a possibility that EW designer capabilities will become part of the next version of Visual Studio (code named Orcas)? I am not sure, if the EW / Visual Studio team is thinking on these lines. Resources on Expression Web Microsoft Expression Home Microsoft Expression Web Home Microsoft Expression Web - Tours and Demos Microsoft Expression Web Beta 1 FAQ Microsoft Expression Web Download Expression Team Blog Web cast - Introduction to Microsoft Expression First Look at Microsoft Expression Web by Clint Steed Microsoft Expression Web Designer Newsgroups Download Introduction to Microsoft Expression Web Hope you enjoyed the presentation. Please feel free to contact me with your comments. Posted Sep 15 2006, 09:22 AM by Vinay Ahuja

• Microsoft Expression Web - Beta 1 Released

  Beta 1 of Expression Web Designer (now renamed to Expression Web) has released today. It can be downloaded from here. Somasegar's initial announcement post summarizes about the Expression Suite here. Last Friday, I was looking at the Expression tools and I was quite impressed. Microsoft Expression is a set of three tools - i) Graphic Designer ii) Interactive Designer, and iii) Web Designer. Expression Web is a professional design tool that helps to produce dynamic and standards based web sites. It comes with sophisticated CSS layouts and rich data presentation. There are several tours and demos available on Microsoft Expression Web Site. Microsoft Expression Web Designer Beta 1 Download Microsoft Expression Tools - Tours and Demos I'll be talking on Microsoft Expression Web in the upcoming JAXDUG ASP.NET SIG meeting on Thursday, September 14th. I'll introduce the suite of Microsoft Expression products and then focus on the power of Expression Web. Expression Web helps in creating superior user experiences (UX). Note that with the advent of WPF and .NET 3.0, the term UI (User Interfaces) has transformed to UX (User Experiences). On another note - September CTP for Microsoft Expression is available now. It can be downloaded from here. This CTP targets .NET 3.0 RC1. Microsoft Expression Interactive Designer September 2006 CTP Download Posted Sep 07 2006, 01:54 AM by Vinay Ahuja

• Microsoft Expression Web - Beta 1 Released

  Beta 1 of Expression Web Designer (now renamed to Expression Web) has released today. It can be downloaded from here. Somasegar's initial announcement post summarizes about the Expression Suite here. Last Friday, I was looking at the Expression tools and I was quite impressed. Microsoft Expression is a set of three tools - i) Graphic Designer ii) Interactive Designer, and iii) Web Designer. Expression Web is a professional design tool that helps to produce dynamic and standards based web sites. It comes with sophisticated CSS layouts and rich data presentation. There are several tours and demos available on Microsoft Expression Web Site. Microsoft Expression Web Designer Beta 1 Download Microsoft Expression Tools - Tours and Demos I'll be talking on Microsoft Expression Web in the upcoming JAXDUG ASP.NET SIG meeting on Thursday, September 14th. I'll introduce the suite of Microsoft Expression products and then focus on the power of Expression Web. Expression Web helps in creating superior user experiences (UX). Note that with the advent of WPF and .NET 3.0, the term UI (User Interfaces) has transformed to UX (User Experiences). On another note - September CTP for Microsoft Expression is available now. It can be downloaded from here. This CTP targets .NET 3.0 RC1. Microsoft Expression Interactive Designer September 2006 CTP Download Posted Sep 07 2006, 01:54 AM by Vinay Ahuja

• Podcasts on Jacksonville Code Camp

  Jacksonville Code Camp saw several fresh and innovative ideas surface. According to Joe Healy, the Code Camp Manifesto at Boston Wiki will see some changes soon. During the code camp, Wally McClure did a podcast with the code camp organization team. A summary of the ideas that we discussed are below: Highlights of Jacksonville Code Camp - Code Countdown - Xtreme Coders: We tried to setup similar drama and excitement as CodeRoom.Com. Watch out for the video to come out soon. - Innovative tracks - Developing the developer, Bootcamp, Black Belt track - Keynote speaker - John Spence - Ask the expert sessions - Highlight Session - Show your coolest Code - 7 minutes to code fame - Donating used computers to a charity - MSDN Raffle - Charity for Red Cross - Media Publicity - Florida Times Union, GotDotNet - Book signing by authors - Speaker and Volunteer Badges - Recognition for volunteers, sponsors, top speakers etc. - Ice cream - Ben and Jerry You can listen to the podcast here: ASP.NET Podcast Show #70 - Memphis and Jacksonville Code Camps Wally did another podcast with David Silverlight on Code Countdown.  You can listen to that podcast here: ASP.NET Podcast Show #71 - Code Countdown with David Silverlight Posted Sep 06 2006, 01:45 AM by Vinay Ahuja

• Wally is coming to Jacksonville

  Wally is coming to Jacksonville to speak on Atlas on September 6th, 2006. Wally is a very interesting and entertaining speaker. His book Beginning AJAX with ASP.NET has come out recently. He is also working on another "Beginning Atlas" book.  Apart from being an INETA speaker, he runs the ASP.NET Podcast Show. I met Wally last year in October in Birmingham Code Camp. After that, he sent me one of his Wally T-shirts, but I am still too scared to wear it and lose my own identity :) Wally is making up for not coming to our Code Camp on  August 26th. Memphis had their code camp the same day. Wally, being a homer, had no choice but to be there. But he did miss the ice cream! However, he was with us virtually and did a podcast in the morning. The podcast will come out pretty soon. Here is the abstract of Wally's talk for Jacksonville Developers User Group: AJAX and client side technologies are all the rage with programmers.  Microsoft is working on a set of technologies for building client side web based applications.  These applications can rival the capabilities of Windows GUI applications.  We'll look at going beyond what’s available in AJAX and see what other features the MS Atlas Framework will deliver. Wally has couple of videos on Wrox web site as well. One of the videos was done during Atlanta Code Camp (held in May 2006). Here are the links: Atlas Update Panel Building Real World Apps with Atlas Wrox has several other videos here. The complete feedburner feed of videos from wrox is here. Plan to attend! Posted Sep 04 2006, 09:13 PM by Vinay Ahuja

• Followup to Jacksonville Code Camp

  Jacksonville Code Camp went really well. I was one of the primary organizers along with Dennis and Jaremie. I am very pleased with the results and feedback we have received. Last few days, I have been busy doing post processing activities. We'll be posting some interesting statistics on the code camp web site very soon. For the record, this was my 8th code camp in one year. It was homecoming for me as I first spoke in last year's Jacksonville Code Camp. Since then, I have presented in code camps in several cities across Florida. I have also been to Atlanta and Birmingham Code Camps. It has been a really great experience. I have grown and learnt a lot just by speaking. By doing this marathon run, I think I have lost the fear of speaking now, which I used to have long time back. The feedback from attendees of my sessions has been very encouraging. The constructive criticism that I have received has helped me improve my speaking skills.  I still have to work on my writing skills though - one of my resolutions for this year.  I presented a session on Visual Studio Power Tips and also moderated a contest session - Show your Coolest Code - 7 minutes to code fame Abstract of my More Power Tips for Visual Studio 2005 Session: Many of us know how to use refactoring, short cuts, comment blocks, regions, and class designer. However, do you know how to write your own code snippets? How to create project and item templates to standardize processes among team members? How to share visual studio settings and profiles? How to speed up Visual Studio? How to customize list of recent projects? How to add an assembly to standard list of assemblies? This session will cover some known and many not so well-known features to make you more productive with Visual Studio. At least half of this session will have different or enhanced tips and tricks from the previous talks done in Tallahassee and Tampa Code Camps. Come prepared for this session to supercharge your Visual Studio IDE experience! The presentation slides and source code can be downloaded from here. If you attended my sessions, please fill your evaluations at CodeCampEvals.com. I would love to hear your feedback. I'll be posting another entry on Show your coolest code - 7 minutes to code fame. We had several interesting entries. You can check the winners here. Enjoy! Posted Sep 03 2006, 08:32 PM by Vinay Ahuja