MSDN Flash - Volume 11, Number 11: May 21, 2007

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From the Editor

Now that the next generation of Windows Server has its official moniker - Windows Server 2008 - we'll dispense with the code name "Longhorn," but redouble our effort to acquaint you with this important upcoming release. By far, the best way to start this process is to evaluate Windows Server 2008 Beta 3. Once you register for the beta, you'll have access to an array of resources, including the Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) for Windows Server 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5, not to mention the various demos, webcasts, and other technical resources that you will find in every edition of this newsletter. On a related note, Microsoft also announce that the beta version of Windows Server Virtualization will be available with the RTM of Windows Server 2008.

You've no doubt at least heard of Silverlight since its MIX07 unveiling. Silverlight enables developers and designers to easily use existing skills and tools to deliver media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web. But you may not have heard the managed security story for Silverlight. Check out the .NET Security Blog for a three-part series on Silverlight Security. Part 1 is a great explanation of how the security model is based around an enhanced version of the v2.0 transparency model. Then head over to Silverlight Security II: What Makes a Method Critical and Silverlight Security III: Inheritance.

Speaking of MIX07, if you couldn't join the festivities in Las Vegas, don't despair, you can still access and download recordings of key MIX07 sessions and panel discussions. Sorry, we're not able to bring you all the parties and casino capers. Some things that happen in Vegas stay in Vegas.

Thanks for reading.
Editor, MSDN Flash

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MSDN Evaluation Center

Experience the Pleasure of Testing

The MSDN Evaluation Center is the new central location to register to evaluate trial software. Receive updates during the evaluation period and enjoy a set of technical resources put together to enhance your evaluation experience.

Windows Vista Beta 2, RC1, and RC2 Set to Expire

On May 31, the pre-release versions of Windows Vista (Beta 2, RC1, and RC2) will expire. If you are running one of these versions, learn how to update your PC to prevent work disruption and loss of data.

Windows Server 2008 Evaluation

Experience an enhanced evaluation of Windows Server 2008.

Extending the IIS7 Pipeline

Watch a video discussion about the many ways you can extend IIS7, and get a comprehensive look at an end-to-end extensibility example.

Managing IIS7 with Windows PowerShell

Learn about the new features of Windows Server 2008, IIS 7, and Windows PowerShell. This video also shows how much easier it is to manage an IIS 7 single box or an IIS 7 Web farm with Windows PowerShell.

Getting Started with AzMan

See the difference between discretionary access control and role-based access control in this screencast on Windows Authorization Manager (AzMan).

Spotlight on: Windows Server 2008

Windows Server 2008 - The Core Training for ISV Developers

Windows Server 2008 training wraps up with "The Core" sessions to enhance your development capabilities and IT infrastructure.

Evaluate it Now: Windows Server 2008

Register and download the evaluation software to explore the new functionality and powerful improvements in Windows Server 2008. You'll receive technical resources with every edition of MSDN Flash.

Tech Resource Preview: Explore Internet Information Services 7.0

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Showcase Developer Essentials

Through June, nationwide
This demo-driven, one-day course explores the techniques used to create next-generation applications on Microsoft Windows Server 2008. Topics covered include Windows Communication Foundation, Windows Workflow Foundation, Windows Eventing, performance counters, IIS7, Windows CardSpace, PowerShell, and Transactional File System.

Books

Check out the Windows Server 2008 site for more information

Spotlight on: the .NET Framework 3.0

Get Free NET 3.0 Training on WCF, WPF, WF

Learn about Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows Communication Foundation, and Windows Workflow Foundation capabilities provided by the .NET Framework 3.0. Free collection from Microsoft Learning.

.NET Framework 3.0: Design on the Windows Vista Platform

Learn more about the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 (formerly WinFX), and see how you can build applications that have visually compelling user experiences, seamless communication across technology boundaries, and the ability to support a wide range of business processes.

Books

Check out the .NET Framework Developer Center for more great resources

News for Students

Microsoft Student Partners Hiring

The Student Partners Program is an elite job opportunity offered to technology-enthusiastic students. Participating students share their knowledge and influence others by organizing on-campus activities, including technical presentations, and by increasing product awareness on campus.

MIX07 Session Recordings Available

If you couldn't swing Las Vegas this time around, you can still access and download recordings of the keynotes, sessions, and panels. (Even if you did attend MIX07, you'll want to check out the sessions you missed, since nobody can possibly attend them all.) Subscribe to our RSS feed to catch the new sessions as we add them.

Silverlight is Here

The curtain has risen on a whole slew of news related to Silverlight, formerly code-named "WPF/E". The Microsoft Silverlight 1.1 CTP offers broader tools and language support for the future of Silverlight. The CTP focuses on Visual Studio-based support for Web standards development, including ASP.NET AJAX, with full IntelliSense editing for client and server code, powerful cross-platform debugging, and rich language support for JavaScript, C#, Visual Basic, Ruby, Python, and more.

.NET, Silverlight, PC, and Mac: check out the post on the .NET support in Silverlight and the new Silverlight.net community site. There are quickstarts and samples based on v1.0 and v1.1, including v1.1 managed code samples in C#, Visual Basic .NET, IronPython, and more.

If you're more of a listener than a reader, there's an interview of Scott Guthrie on Channel 9.

Photosynth Technology Preview

Try out this amazing new technology from Microsoft Live Labs. It will forever change the way you think about digital photos.

Xbox 360 News
The Halo 3 Beta Release period has been announced as May 16 - June 6.

Instant Messaging comes to Xbox 360.

Having Some Fun with ASP.NET

Find out how to create a custom ASP.NET control that uses JavaScript, cascading style sheets, and AJAX to display a list of people who are looking at a Web page in real time. You learn how to create the WhoIsLooking control.

Government Resources

Microsoft Developer Conferences
May 29 - Washington, DC
June 20 - New York City, NY
Join us for a one-day technical conference on high-performance computing (HPC) that comprises sessions on Microsoft's Windows Compute Cluster Server (WCCS). There is no fee to attend.

Developer Webcasts

Learn about the latest Microsoft development tools for public sector developers. Check out this month's upcoming webcast schedule.

Public Sector Visual Studio Team System Case Study

A small government agency adopts Visual Studio Team System to improve software development, increase efficiency, productivity, communication, and transparency, to become People_Ready and Citizen_Ready.

Public Sector Developer Blog

Web Resources

June MSDN Magazine cover

MSDN Magazine: The Evolution of LINQ And Its Impact On The Design Of C#

Language Integrated Query (LINQ) is a series of language extensions that support data querying in a type-safe way; it will be released with the next version Visual Studio, code-named "Orcas."

MSDN Magazine: UpdatePanel Tips and Tricks

The UpdatePanel control simplifies partial-page rendering for the ASP.NET AJAX community, but sometimes at the expense of efficiency and bandwidth. In his Wicked Code column, Jeff Prosise describes how you can customize UpdatePanel, optimize it, and even live without it.

VSTO: My Favorite Feature Blog Series

Take a look at this blog series as it unfolds over the next six weeks and discover the favorite features and tools of team members and third-party VSTO experts.

The O2 OBA Challenge

Build an Office Business Application (OBA) using the 2007 Microsoft Office system and Oracle technology, and if you win The O2 OBA Challenge, Microsoft will donate US$40,000 in your company's name to a clean-air cause.

Use Custom Word 2003 Templates with Document Libraries - New for Word 2003

Connect Word templates to a document library so that all documents in the library, even new ones, will have the same appearance, even with subsequent updates to the template.

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Take your BI solution to the next level - build monitoring, analysis, and planning into your BI solution.

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Visual Studio Codename "Orcas" is the next-generation development environment for the Microsoft Windows platform.

Get a Good Deal on Training for Visual Studio 2005

Now is the perfect time to get a good deal on training from a Microsoft Certified Partner for Learning Solutions.

Hot Off the Press! New Books from Microsoft Press

• Introducing Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX

• Inside Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

• Inside Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

• Introducing Microsoft LINQ

Download Sample Chapters of New Visual Basic and Visual C# Books

Download sample chapters, and if you like what you see, you can purchase the entire book for 35% off.

40% off select Training Kits at Barnes & Noble

Through June 5, visit any Barnes & Noble store or shop online at bn.com to save 40% on select Microsoft Press certification resources.

System Builders: the Windows Vista Deployment Center is Here

Find comprehensive information and guidance on the Windows OEM Preinstallation Kit, how it works, and how to get the most out of it.

Conditional Formatting: Adding Customized Color Scales to Excel 2007 (Office Talk)

Learn how to implement and manipulate color scales through the user interface and programmatically.

Your personalized MSDN Flash is showing this item because you chose to receive Microsoft Office Solutions news. Click the icon to customize your profile. Integrate Workflows into Access 2007 Applications

Learn about the new capabilities provided by SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows Workflow Foundation and how you can integrate workflows with your Access 2007 applications.

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Learn about encrypting files, administering passwords, converting databases to the new ACCDB and ACCDE formats, and using other security options such as SQL Server.

Upgrade an MCMS 2002 Application to SharePoint Server 2007 (Part 1 of 2)

Use this step-by-step guide and the WoodGroveNet MCMS 2002 sample application to upgrade an MCMS 2002 application to SharePoint Server 2007.

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Take the Developing Enhanced Web Experience with Microsoft ASP.NET for AJAX e-learning course, and get select discounted related courses.

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industryStream: The Managed Services Approach to Secure Messaging for Healthcare

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Security for Developers

Silverlight Security I: The Silverlight Security Model

Since the v1.1 alpha release of Silverlight includes a slimmed down version of the CLR, you might be wondering what the managed security story for Silverlight is and how it compares to CAS on the desktop version of the CLR.

Silverlight Security II: What Makes a Method Critical

Silverlight Security III: Inheritance

Silverlight Security Cheat Sheet

Bypassing the Authenticode Signature Check on Startup

Threat Modeling - Sanity Check List

More on Exception Handlers

New File Converter Coming Soon

Is It a Read, Write or Execute AV?

More Security...

Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar

Utilities and SDK for Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications in Microsoft Windows Vista/Windows Server 2008 Beta 3

Microsoft Interop Forms Toolkit 2.0

Case Studies, KB Articles, & How-tos

Progressive Prepares for Future Growth and Agility

One of the largest insurers of private automobiles in the United States turned to SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition (64-bit), Visual Studio 2005, and the .NET Framework 2.0 for a new application at the very foundation of the company's operations.

FIX: The call to the Web service fails when an unmanaged MFC program calls a managed Web service that contains a structure that has a null array

Finland-Based Software Provider Doubles Productivity with System Upgrade

Nolics' object-relational mapping solutions for application developers use the .NET Framework to help increase clients' development productivity by up to 50%.

Finnish Technology Company Standardizes Development Work with Software Upgrade

FRENDS Technology provides system integration solutions to international customers across a number of vertical sectors. Originally, FRENDS used its own server product, but in 2005 implemented BizTalk Server 2006 as the base for its solutions.

FIX: Visual Studio 2005 crashes when you open a remote Web site that uses the Visual Studio 2005 source control feature in Windows Vista

FIX: You may experience a decrease in the performance of a .NET Framework 2.0-based application when you call the System.Web.UI.MobileControls.Style.GetValue method many times

Support Webcast: How to use custom assemblies in SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services

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More Case Studies...

Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio .NET KB Articles

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FIX: An XML Web service returns the SOAPCLIENT_PARSE_ERROR error flag when you call the XML Web service in Visual Studio 2005

FIX: All the letters in the file name are displayed as lowercase letters when the debugger opens a .cpp file or an .h file in Visual Studio 2005

How to change the value of the ComVisibleAttribute attribute in Visual Studio 2005

FIX: Visual Studio 2005 or the Visual Studio 2005 command prompt crashes when you open a .vsp file

Service Release 1 (SR1)is available for Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Database Professionals

FIX: You cannot use Visual Studio .NET 2003 to debug a script on a Web application in Windows Internet Explorer 7

Your personalized MSDN Flash is showing this item because you chose to receive 64-bit development news. Click the icon to customize your profile. FIX: The Msdia80.dll file is installed in the root folder of the boot drive when you install the Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable Package by using the Vcredist_x64.exe file or the Vcredist_ia64.exe file

.NET Framework KB Articles

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FIX: A memory leak occurs when a managed application uses a platform invoke call to call an unmanaged function in the .NET Framework 2.0

FIX: Multiple cookies may be merged under one Set-Cookie header in the HTTP response when a .NET Framework 2.0 application calls the "HttpListenerResponse.SetCookie" method

FIX: Data that is associated with a component that uses the System.Data object may become corrupted in an application that is built on the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0

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FIX: A method does not throw a custom exception type in the .NET Framework 2.0

FIX: A Web application that is built by using ASP.NET 2.0 does not use the attribute value that you set in the xhtmlConformance element

FIX: Incorrect data is written to the XML file when you use the OracleDataReader.GetBytes method to read a raw column in the .NET Framework 2.0

Error message when you try to open an ASP.NET-based Web page: "MaximumValue property of 'RangeValidator1' cannot be converted to type 'Date'"

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SQL Server KB Articles

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FIX: When you run the "dbcc dbreindex" command or the "alter index" command, some transactions are not replicated to the subscribers in a transactional replication in SQL Server 2005

FIX: The query performance is slow when you run a query that uses a user-defined scalar function against an instance of SQL Server 2005

How to use Windows Management Instrumentation in SQL Server 2005 to change the account of the SQL Server service or the password of the SQL Server service programmatically

A user who is not a member of a required role can still connect to a SQL Server 2005 database after you set the user access option for the database to RESTRICTED_USER

The Batch Requests/sec counter of the SQL Statistics performance object increases one time for each RPC in SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2

FIX: Error message when you use the sp_addarticle stored procedure to add articles to an existing transactional replication publication in SQL Server 2000: “Cannot create a file when that file already exists”

FIX: The sp_droparticle stored procedure performs very slowly if the @immediate\_sync property is set to TRUE in SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 4

FIX: The Sqldumper.exe utility cannot generate a filtered SQL Server dump file when you use the Remote Desktop Connection service or Terminal Services to connect to a Windows 2000 Server-based computer in SQL Server 2000

Partner News

Process MeNtOR TeamGuide for VSTS Tech·Ed Special

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Migration Tools + Upgrade to Crystal Reports for US$99

Access Crystal Reports migration tools and ease your upgrade process. (Upgrade now available for US$99)

How to Create a Web Service using Visual Studio .NET with PowerBuilder

This document explains how an ASP.NET Web service can be created and how to call this Web service from PowerBuilder.

WinForms UI suite by Telerik: Download a Free Trial

The first Vista-style components for Windows Forms ? now with Grid, Chart and TreeView. Try features like Flash-like animations, rotation, scaling, transparencies and alpha blending.

Sharpen Your AJAX Skills with a Free InnerWorkings Drill

Learn ASP.NET AJAX with InnerWorkings by writing code and solving problems in Visual Studio. Get your free download today.

International Events

Microsoft OEM Technical Seminars

Through May 2007, worldwide
See how Microsoft Windows Embedded products are revolutionizing the way that people work and live. Attend a free OEM Technical Seminar and find out how Microsoft Windows Embedded can help you quickly configure, build, and ship your next device.

TornadoCamp .NET Team System (German)

29 May - 1 June, Bad Ems, Germany
Visual Studio Team System integrates process guidance, prescriptive architectures, and life-cycle tools for successfully deploying solutions on the Windows platform.

Prepare to Make your Mark: Come to Tech·Ed

4 - 8 June, Orlando, FL

MSDN Events

Slice Your Coding Time with Innovative Solutions from MSDN Events

• Session 1: Next-Generation Identity Management: Windows CardSpace
This session will provide a step-by-step tour of how CardSpace is part of the broader standards-based identity metasystem..

• Session 2: Revving up Cross-Browser and Cross-Server Web Sites with the Microsoft AJAX Library
In this session, we’ll provide an overview of the client-side script library and a detailed demonstration of how to inject greater interactivity into an existing Web site using the Microsoft AJAX Library.

• Session 3: Best Practices for Building Next-Generation Web Applications Using Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX
This session provides the top lessons learned about how to write robust and secure ASP.NET AJAX-based Web applications.