MSDN Flash - Volume 11, Number 26: December 17, 2007
From the Editor
Happy holidays! Here are some gifts before everyone hunkers down to enjoy the season:
The elves in Windows development have made it official: The Release Candidate of Windows Vista SP1 is now available for download. And the 2007 Office team has wrapped up the Service Pack 1 updates for both Office servers and the Office suite and rolled them into corresponding service packs, one for servers and one for the suite. You can Download the 2007 Microsoft Office Servers Service Pack 1 and the 2007 Microsoft Office suite Service Pack 1 to get all of the updates released for the 2007 Microsoft Office System servers prior to December of 2007, plus important customer-requested stability and performance improvements and further enhancements to user security.
You can find a more complete description of the 2007 Office Servers SP1 and 2007 Office suite SP1, including a list of issues that were fixed, in the Microsoft Knowledge Base articles 936984: Description of the 2007 Microsoft Office Servers Service Pack 1 and 936982: Description of the 2007 Microsoft Office suite Service Pack 1.
Speaking of Office, Office Accounting 2008 has launched and so has the new Office Accounting Developer Portal. There you will find links to the new Office Accounting 2008 SDK, trial downloads and other key resources.
Want to win up to US$10,000 plus other cool stuff? Enter the Code Project Visual Studio 2008 Competition. Write a great article and you could win the largest cash prize in the Code Project's history.
Have a great holiday season and happy New Year.
Thanks for reading. Editor, MSDN Flash
Meet the Developer Evangelists in Your Region MSDN Events
The Ultimate Backstage Pass
Enjoy an all-access tour through some of today's hottest technologies with
MSDN Events.
• Session 1: What's New for Web Development in Visual Studio 2008
Learn about the new tools, features and innovations in Microsoft Visual Studio 2008.
• Session 2: A New Paradigm for Data Development with Web Based Data Services Learn about the latest data access technologies that will change how you architect Web applications.
• Session 3: Building Rich, Dynamic Web Experiences with Microsoft Silverlight, ASP.NET and ASP.NET AJAX Learn how you can enhance Silverlight applications by applying the latest Web development techniques.
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Microsoft Connected Services Framework 3.0 with Service Pack 1
This release addresses requests from customers, including dramatic improvement in setup and configuration. CSF 3.0 SP1 also supports WCF-based services, WS-reliable messaging, and better performance.
Office Communications Server 2007 Now Available for Download
Microsoft's unified communications platform enables developers to efficiently build secure, productivity enhancing applications on top of an extensible software foundation.
Evaluate the Windows Server 2008 Release Candidate
See how built-in Web and virtualization technologies make Windows Server 2008 a robust, security-enhanced, and reliable foundation on which you can develop, deliver, and manage rich user applications and experiences.
Hear Proven Approaches to Implementing Application Lifecycle Management A series covering key performance indicators, assessments, and software configuration management topics such as build process and branching and merging.
Microsoft Search Server 2008 SDK (Nov 07 Refresh)
The updated version of the Beta SDK documentation of Microsoft Search Server and Search Server Express includes a code sample walkthrough for creating a federated search connector to SQL Server, as well as documentation describing how to create custom federated search Web Parts with a credentials UI.
Federated Search Connector Code Sample for Microsoft Search Server 2008
Learn how to create a connector to a Microsoft SQL Server 2005 database for federated search in Microsoft Search Server 2008.
10 Tips for Migrating VBA to Visual Basic Using Visual Studio Tools for Office Second Edition (Part 2 of 2)
The tips discussed here are a good place to start, but nothing beats experience. Take the time to convert an existing VBA customization to Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office SE, and as you do so, remember the issues discussed in this article.
Bring SQL Server 2005 Data to Excel 2007 Using Visual Studio Tools for the Office System Second Edition
With just a little bit of code and the Office Fluent Ribbon, it is easy to enable your users to use the rich analysis features and effective UI of Excel 2007 with a SQL Server 2005 database and stored procedures.
Create Slide Filters Using Visual Studio Tools for the Office System (3.0)
Learn to set up slide filters based on criteria and then filter by using a customized Office Fluent Ribbon.
Best Practices: Working with Forms Tools Scripts in Groove 2007
Review the recommended best practices for developing forms-based applications in Microsoft Office Groove 2007.
Bringing Improvements to Tables in Excel 2007 (Part 5 of 6)
Excel 2007 introduces significant changes to sorting table data. You can now sort up to 64 columns of data. You can also sort based on colors and custom lists. Read about these and other changes in this Office Talk column.
Now Available: SharePoint Server 2007 SP1
SharePoint Server 2007 Service Pack 1 includes hot fixes, Windows Server 2008 compatibility, ASP.NET for AJAX compatibility and support, and new Stsadm commands. Find links to deployment instructions and view the updated online SDK.
News for Students
Thanks for everyone who responded to our first survey question. Here are the results:
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Today's Question: What is your educational affiliation?
With new Web technologies on the horizon, we have starting developing screencasts and other video presentations of beginner data.
From Mortarboard to Onboard
Gaining the practical skill necessary to get a job is often an extracurricular task. Hilary Pike provides quick screencasts about easy ways to get started, including:
• Your Way, Your Play, XNA: Modify a game in 10 minutes
• Simple Installer using Visual Studio 2005
• Creating Bibliographies in Word 2007
• Using Pivot Tables in Excel 2007
• Using Pivot Tables in Excel 2007
MSDN has launched the "How Do I?" Video Series. New videos are coming online each week, with topics like:
• ASP.NET
• ASP.NET AJAX
• Channel 9
• Devices
• Office/Visual Studio Tools for Applications
• Silverlight
• SQL Server
• Visual Basic
• Visual C#
• Visual Studio Team System
• Windows Forms
• Windows Presentation Foundation
Channel 8
Channel 8, an up-and-coming channel for students, features technical content like Getting Started with Silverlight 2.0 and Visual Basic and Robotics, plus a segment about what it's like to be a student in Australia.
Channel 9
Channel 9 supports technical enthusiasts and professionals. If you're up for a challenge or some cutting-edge items, check out the Channel 9 screencast forum, which includes Visual Studio 2008 and LINQ.
Cool Upcoming Technologies
Microsoft Surface features a 30-inch tabletop display with unique abilities that allow several people to work, independently or simultaneously, without using a mouse or keypad.
Government Resources
Free How-to Videos for Public Sector Developers
Public Sector Developer Evangelist Robert Shelton is releasing, via his blog, a series of how-to videos for developers.
• Programmatically create a user Task with SharePoint 2007 using Visual Studio 2008
• Building a Basic Approval Workflow for SharePoint 2007 using Visual Studio 2008
• Using Active Directory Searching/Lookup in a SharePoint 2007 Workflow using Visual Studio 2008
Microsoft Developer Conferences
- January 16, 2008, Seattle, WA
- January 17, 2008, Olympia, WA
Register for a full day of Developer-oriented technical sessions on Visual Studio Tools for Office, Windows Workflow Foundation and Windows Communication foundation. There is no fee to attend.
.NET Framework KB Articles
Benefits of the Microsoft .NET Framework
Problems that are fixed in the .NET Framework 2.0 Service Pack 1
RSS .NET Framework KB Articles RSS Feed
Visual Studio .NET and Visual Studio 2005 KB Articles KB Articles
RSS Visual Studio 2005 KB Articles RSS Feed
SQL Server and Data Access KB Articles
Visual FoxPro KB Articles
How to obtain Microsoft Visual FoxPro 9.0 Service Pack 2.0
RSS Visual FoxPro 9.0 KB Articles RSS Feed
Evaluation Center
Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V Beta Now Available
Download the public beta of Hyper-V, the hypervisor-based virtualization feature in Windows Server 2008. Hyper-V is a feature of Windows Server 2008 that enables customers to consolidate multiple operating systems on single hardware and provides isolated execution environments called virtual machines.
Windows Server 2008 Evaluation Resources:
• Transactional NTFS Screencast
• Transactional NTFS and WCF Screencast
• Enhance Your Apps With File System Transactions
• Read About Transactional NTFS
More Evaluation Center Resources...
Web Resources
MSDN and TechNet Library Machine Translation Pilot for SharePoint Products and Technologies
The Office Team is glad to announce our participation in the MSDN and TechNet Library Machine Translation Pilot for SharePoint Products and Technologies. Try out the beta version of the machine-translated Office SharePoint Server 2007 SDK, the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SDK on MSDN, and the Office SharePoint Server TechNet materials.
Security for Developers
Reliability vs. Security
At the International Symposium on Software Reliability Engineering (ISSRE 07, Trollhattan Sweden) one would think that the security versus reliability debate would be very one-sided...
Download: Internet Explorer and Firefox Vulnerability Analysis
Training
Download the Free Visual Studio 2008 E-book Offer
Check out the e-book offer and find other special training offers to help you get up to speed quickly on Visual Studio 2008.
Find Classroom Training on Visual Studio 2008
This one-day clinic will introduce you to the new development features available in Visual Studio 2008. Find training in a city near you.
More Visual How Tos...
More Training...
Case Studies
Xerox Cuts Development Time and Cost in Half, Boosts Scalability 500 Percent
Xerox built its scalable tool using Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5, taking half the time and money of a Flash-based solution. The tool delivers superb graphics and will help dramatically increase productivity and efficiency for Xerox and its clients.
Partner News
New Video Case Study on .NET Development
See IdeaBlade's Albert Wang and MediSolutions' Dean Tessman discuss building sophisticated .NET enterprise applications for the healthcare industry.
RSSBus Feed Server: Download a Free Trial
Dynamic RSS Feeds from databases, spreadsheets, directories, applications, etc. Choose from hundreds of available connectors for various systems and applications.
Free Evaluation of Nevron .NET Vision Q32007
Industry leading Charting, Diagramming and UI components for .NET. Features powerful WinForms and ASP.NET AJAX support for building professional .NET applications.
Free Trial of Intersoft Solutions' WebTreeView.NET 1.0
WebTreeView.NET 1.0 enables hierarchical data presentation, at once creating a sophisticated yet powerful treeview, complete with its tristate checkbox ability.
Download the Microsoft Expression 60-day trial now
Download the Microsoft Expression 60-day trial now
In This Issue:
MSDN Events
Your Featured Content
Evaluation Center
Web Resources
Security for Developers
Training
Case Studies
Partner News
Resources
• Developer Resources Center (Silverlight Version)
• Developer Resources Center
• Windows Vista Developer Center
• Microsoft Office Developer Center
• Expression Web Home Page
• MSDN Evaluation Center
• MSDN Magazine
• TechNet Magazine
Webcasts & Online Events
Interactive Developer Webcast Calendar
Choose your time zone and filter webcasts by series, product or topic, and presenter.
Visual Studio 2008: Develop at Light Speed on the Latest Platforms
These webcasts and virtual labs introduce you to Visual Studio 2008, outline some of its key features, and show you how you can use it to improve productivity and work collaboratively.
Microsoft Silverlight: Light Up the Web
Learn the basics of Silverlight and how you can use Microsoft Expression Blend, Microsoft Visual Studio, and Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML) to build rich, graphical sites.
Windows Live Platform: Services for Building Community-Driven Applications This five-part series, consisting of a broad technical overview of the Windows Live platform followed by four advanced technical webcasts, will show you the Windows Live Web services you can leverage to build interactive, community-driven applications.
MSDN geekSpeak Webcasts for January 2008
Wednesdays at 12:00 noon Pacific Time
These live webcasts are for developers, by developers. No PowerPoint or canned demos... presentations are driven by your questions. Get answers to your real-world problems from people already working with the newest technologies.
CardSpace: Why Should You Care? Who's Using it Today and How?
January 2, 2008
Michele Leroux Bustamante
SQL Server 2008 Programming for Application Developers
January 9, 2008
Kevin Goff
The Vista Bridge for .NET Programmers
January 16, 2008
Kate Gregory
The Web Client Software Factory in Action
January 23, 2008
Paulo Morgado
Best Practices for Private Security from a Public, Anonymous WSS 3.0 Site
January 30, 2008
Jim Wilt
National and Global Events
Register Now for MIX and Save US$200
March 5 - 7, 2008
Las Vegas, NV
Sign up for MIX08 today for the special price of US$1095. Be the early bird and get the 20-percent-off worm.
6th Annual Financial Services Developer Conference
March 12 - 13, 2008
New York City, NY
More National and Global Events...
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