MSDN Flash - Volume 12, Number 22: October 20, 2008
Volume 12, Number 22: October 20, 2008
Top News
Silverlight 2 Now Available for Download
You can now upgrade to Silverlight 2 to get new features for rich Internet application development and streaming media. Find out more about Silverlight 2 and read the press release for more on Microsoft's plans, including further support of open source communities.
New Visual Studio Team System Offer - Two for the Price of One
Find out how you can get two Team System Editions for the price of one, demo videos, white papers, and trial downloads. Learn how you can develop quality code faster and leverage Visual Studio Team System tools from the UI to the database.
Want more info on Visual Studio Team System 2010? Stay tuned to Soma's blog as he elaborates on the functionality being built in to the new release.
We're working hard to continually improve your MSDN Flash experience with better customization options and we're looking to roll out more changes in the coming months. In the meantime, let us know how we're doing and tell us how we can make the Flash newsletter more useful to you with this very short survey.
Silverlight 2 Authoring Enabled for All Expression Blend 2 Users
The release of Expression Blend Service Pack 1 enables full support of the Silverlight 2 platform for all Expression Blend 2 users, bringing the seamless XAML workflow between the designer and the developer to Silverlight 2 projects for the first time.
From the Editor
All eyes are on Los Angeles where, next week, Microsoft takes the wraps off an array of new products and technologies at the Professional Developers Conference. There's so much going on, in fact, that it may take some careful planning to maximize your time at PDC2008. To that end, we are pleased to bring you The Devil's Field Guide to the PDC (because standing in line is for suckers). This is the ultimate insider's guide to having the best PDC experience ever. It answers questions that attendees of any large Microsoft conference event ponder, for example:
• Where do all the Microsofties hang out after the event?
• How do I get the backchannel instead of what the mainstream media wants me to hear?
• How do I avoid standing in lines?
• How do I maintain my stamina?
• How do I talk to a Microsoftie who can actually help me?
Oh, and if you haven't registered for PDC2008, you're on the outside, off the grid, no 160GB hard drive filled with all the PDC2008 bits and Windows 2007 pre-beta bits. The good news is that you still have time to register for PDC2008 at https://www.microsoftpdc.com/.
Yesterday we announced the availability of Silverlight 2, the industry's most comprehensive technology for creating and delivering .NET-based rich Web experiences.
Want to Go Touchless?
Microsoft has released the Touchless Software Development Kit for developing multi-touch applications that offer users a new and inexpensive way of experiencing multi-touch capabilities, without the need for expensive hardware or software. All the user needs is a camera, which will track colored markers defined by the user. Download the Touchless SDK and give your users a truly fun, novel, and functional multi-touch experience.
MSDN Flash Survey**
Please spend a minute (really, that's all the time it takes) to respond to our short MSDN Flash Reader Survey, and help us continue to improve the newsletter.
Thanks for reading,
Editor
MSDN Flash
A Note from Your Student Developer Team
Imagine Cup 2008 Begins
Imagine Cup is Microsoft's student competition where the most talented software designers, programmers, game developers, and IT students meet head-to-head. Students learn great résumé skills while competing for great prizes like a trip to Boston, free phones for projects using Windows Mobile, a chance for a Microsoft internship, and even US$25,000.
Get Started by Submitting a Class Project for Software Design
This year, the theme of the Software Design Invitational has expanded so that you can take a project you have created for a class (or just for fun) and submit it with a minimal amount of extra effort. You could win a trip to Boston to hang out with Microsoft employees.
Build Gears of War 3
Imagine Cup Game Development is a great way to showcase your creativity. Show us what you can do with XNA and challenge students around the nation to beat your game.
IT Students
Don't miss out on the IT Challenge invitational for a great resume builder. IT Challenge first round exams are like mini practice certification exams. Register now or get more information on the IT Challenge.
Win an Xbox360 and Get Help on Imagine Cup
This year, Imagine Cup forums are being hosted in our Facebook Student Community, Microphone. Engage with Microphone in October and qualify to win an Xbox 360 with four games. To better your chances, invite friends, take polls and post to the wall and discussion boards. These actions earn you Microphone points. The top 10 point earners in October will qualify for a random drawing to win. The winner will be announced on November 13. Find the full details on Microphone.
Confessions of a Woman Developer Series
Hilary Pike discusses her path from student to professional developer in her series, Confessions of a Woman Developer. From how to navigate your first conference to exploring different company cultures, here's what she has laid out:
• Four steps to navigate Grace Hopper
• I'm a singer and I'm a PC, how I came to be a woman in IT
• Microsoft, IBM, and Intel: the experience of one
• Is Sarah Silverman a PC?
• Your career doesn't have a semester end; great advice I've gotten along the way
• Grad school - still pondering what to write on this one
• Tick, tick, boom! A.K.A, my first Microsoft Interview
Windows Live Beta Now Available
The Windows Live Beta, including Windows Live Writer for blogging, Photo Gallery, and Movie Maker, is now available.
Search and Give
A new search entry point for Live Search. When you sign in using your Live ID, Microsoft will donate advertising proceeds to your favorite charity or even your child's school from your search results. It's that simple.
Your Featured Content
Update Your Selected Topics
Ensure that the content most relevant to you is presented in this section.
Mobile and Embedded Content Available in Machine-Translated Portuguese
Windows Mobile 6 and Windows Embedded CE 6 content is now available on MSDN in Machine Translated Brazilian Portuguese.
SQL Server 2008 Promotion - Get on the Case
Become a master of Microsoft SQL Server 2008. You'll learn to control powerful new features, taking your skills to the next level. Your efforts will be rewarded. Prove your heroic new abilities in our game, and you could win an incredible prize. You'll need dedication, intelligence, and intuition. Are you up to the challenge?
Filtering by the Active Cell's Value, Font Color, or Fill Color in Excel 2007
In Excel 2007 there are new commands on the Cell menu that make it easy to filter a table based on the active cell's value, font color, or fill color. MVP Ron de Bruin discusses how you can access these features with a macro.
Prescriptive Guidance for SharePoint Server 2007 Web Content Management Sites
SharePoint Server 2007 Web content management sites have unique considerations around the topics of architecture, performance caching, and aggregation of content from across one or more site collections. This article provides guidance for those who want to implement successful and highly available publishing sites.
Code Sample: AddInSpy and AS
Use this diagnostic tool while developing an Office add-in as well as to troubleshoot issues with deployed add-ins. AddInSpy discovers and reports more information than is natively available through the Office UI.
Government Resources
Microsoft Public Sector Technology Conference
October 22, Austin, TX
Join us for a full day of developer-oriented technical sessions on Visual Studio Team System, Microsoft Silverlight 2.0, Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Visual Studio 2008, Expression Blend, and .NET Framework 3.5 SP1. There is no fee to attend.
Microsoft Technical Training: Live Platform Jumpstart 2009
November 13 - 14, Washington D.C.
Join us for a two-day, free technical in-depth training event being offered on the Microsoft Live Platform. Live Platform is a cutting-edge Web platform that enables you to build compelling consumer applications that attract new users and drive deeper engagement in your applications.
D.C. TechDays
October 28 - 30, Arlington, VA
If your business is fueled by technology, TechDays '08 is an event you won't want to miss. Loaded with exclusive product information presented by insider experts, TechDays '08 is designed to show developers, IT professionals, IT executives, and partners how Microsoft technology can take their business to the next level.
Developer Webcasts
Learn about the latest Microsoft development tools for public sector developers! And be sure to check out the upcoming webcast schedule.
Missed a webcast that you wanted to attend? Check out our on-demand webcasts.
City of Miami Upgrades PCs to Improve Security, Reliability, Productivity, and Costs
As part of its plans to optimize its IT infrastructure, the City of Miami had to find an effective way to centrally store user data - a model that didn't work as well as desired with the Windows XP Professional operating system. The city chose to upgrade to the Windows Vista operating system, which offers improvements to Offline Files that will make the central storage of user data virtually transparent to end users. The desktop operating system upgrade is just one element of the city's plans to eliminate its costly mainframe and standardize its IT infrastructure on Microsoft software, which is expected to yield an annual savings of US$1 million.
Alaska Legislative Affairs Agency Supports Far Flung Operations With Unified Communication and Collaboration Solutions from Microsoft
The Alaska Legislative Affairs Agency (LAA) has a tough job. With 21 geographically dispersed offices that must be connected and integrated in the largest - and arguably the most rugged - state in the union, reliable broadband connectivity has still not arrived in every community. Nevertheless, LAA must support legislative and administrative duties across vast distances under a variety of network and environmental conditions.
Wyoming Department of Health Improves Communication and Productivity with New Software
The Wyoming Department of Health replaced its Novell messaging system and multiple instant messaging applications with Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007. With common e-mail messaging, instant messaging, Web-based video conferencing, and presence capabilities across the agency, employees - especially in far-flung locations - can communicate faster and more personally. Travel across Wyoming's icy winter roads has been dramatically reduced, increasing employee safety and reducing travel costs.
.NET KB Articles
Versioning the publisher policy file for your assemblies
RSS Feeds
.NET Framework 2.0 | .NET Framework 1.1
Visual Studio 2008, Visual Studio 2005, and Visual Studio .NET KB Articles
Performance issues in compute-intensive VC++ application after upgrade from VS 2003 to VS 2005
RSS Feeds
Visual Studio 2008 | Visual Studio 2005 | Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition | Visual Studio .NET 2003 | Visual Studio .NET 2002
SQL Server and Data Access KB Articles
RSS Feeds
SQL Server 2005 | SQL Server 2000 | SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services
Visual FoxPro | XBase KB Articles
Error using the Visual FoxPro OLE DB Provider from Visual Studio 2008 on 64-bit operating systems
RSS Feeds
Visual FoxPro 9.0 | Visual FoxPro 8.0 | Visual FoxPro 7.0
Web Resources
Capitalizing on the Social Network Capabilities of SharePoint Server 2007 User Profiles
Learn about organization hierarchy, membership groups, and quick links to understand the user profile social network capability in SharePoint Server 2007, and concepts such as custom properties, colleagues, and workgroups.
Optimizing Groove Forms Tool Performance
Learn to use the Groove 2007 Forms Tool and the InfoPath 2007 Forms Tool and understand how your design decisions affect performance. Both are customizable and programmable general-purpose tools with similar performance tradeoffs.
Using AddinSpy and AS Diagnostic Tools for Office Add-ins
AddInSpy is a diagnostic tool that discovers all registered Microsoft Office add-ins on a computer, and reports the maximum possible information about these add-ins. The tool works with all versions of all Microsoft Office applications that support COM add-ins, and all types of COM add-ins.
Webcast: Implement the Complete Model View Controller (MVC) Pattern for the Web with Visual WebGui (Level 300)
October 23, 9:00 A.M. Pacific Time
In this webcast, you learn how Visual WebGui solves the complexity of using the model view controller (MVC) pattern in Web development in a light, simple, and productive way.
Webcast: Windows Embedded Enterprise Kiosk and Self-Service Solutions (Level 100)
October 23, 1:00 P.M. Pacific Time
Attend this webcast to learn more about Windows Embedded Enterprise kiosk and self-service solutions.
Windows Mobile Webcasts: 24 Hours of Windows Mobile Application Development
Learn about the necessary tools for WM device development, the different programming languages, and the challenges in developing for small devices.
Windows Embedded CE and Windows Mobile Live Chat
October 28, 9:00 A.M. Pacific Time
November 11, 10:00 A.M. Pacific Time
November 25, 9:00 A.M. Pacific Time
December 16, 9:00 A.M. Pacific Time
Do you have tough technical questions regarding Windows Embedded CE or Windows Mobile for which you're seeking answers? Please join us for a live chat and bring on the questions.
The Code Project's Windows Mobile Article Contest
Submit an article by January 14, 2009 to the mobile development section of the CodeProject.com for a chance to win a Windows Mobile device as well as the opportunity to enlighten your programming peers.
Webcast: Introduction to Design Patterns (Level 300)
October 30, 10:00 A.M. Pacific Time
Join Zain Naboulsi on this wondrous adventure of code discovery. We look at why you would want to use a design pattern and explore the strategy pattern in this webcast.
Webcast: More Secure Online Services Powered by the Microsoft Security Development Lifecycle (Level 300)
October 31, 10:00 A.M. Pacific Time
In this webcast, we demonstrate the most common and most dangerous threats to online services, and we describe the coding procedures and tools required by the SDL to mitigate or defeat these threats.
Webcast: The Business Case for Adding Security to the Development Life Cycle (Level 200)
November 3, 11:00 A.M. Pacific Time
In this webcast, we encapsulate just how bad a successful attack can be, and discuss the needs and rewards of adding security to the development process using a manager's vocabulary.
Webcast: 24 Hours of Windows Mobile Application Development: Developing Battery-Friendly Applications (Level 300)
In this webcast, we explain and demonstrate the State and Notification Broker that provides easy access to more than 100 different hardware and system states, such as network connectivity and battery power, which are all consistently within reach by managed code.
geekSpeak: ASP.NET Dynamic Data with Rachel Appel (Level 200)
In this geekSpeak, Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Rachel Appel introduces you to the Microsoft ASP.NET Dynamic Data framework, discusses how it came to be, and shows how ASP.NET Dynamic Data makes it easy to maintain your Web sites.
Virtual Lab: A SharePoint Developer Introduction - Web Parts - C#
After completing this lab you will be better able to create a basic SharePoint Web Part that displays information from within the SharePoint site, create a more advanced Web Part using a server postback and the SPGridView control, and create an advanced Web Part leveraging Web Part connection that displays budget data.
Virtual Lab: Using LINQ to SQL with the .NET Framework 3.5 and Visual Studio 2008
After completing this lab, you will be better able to use LINQ to SQL to implement a resource access layer that interacts with an existing Microsoft SQL Server database, use the LINQ to SQL Designer to create LINQ to SQL entity classes and associations (relationships) based on tables in a database, manage the DataContext and use where clauses, perform joins, order the results, and handle conflict detection.
geekSpeak Podcast: SharePoint Server 2007 Workflow with David Mann (Level 200)
WMA (17 MB) | MP3 (15 MB)
David Mann provides an overview of workflow in SharePoint 2007 and then drills down into details such as when to use state machines versus sequentials, building custom activities, and how and when to use Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 for workflows.
geekSpeak Podcast: Dynamic Languages and the DLR with Mike Vincent (Level 200)
WMA (17 MB) | MP3 (15 MB)
Mike Vincent addresses the advantages you can gain from using dynamic languages, when and where you should consider dynamic languages, and what is important from the architect's view, the developer's view, and the business case view.
geekSpeak Podcast: Virtualization for Developers with Stephen Rose (Level 200)
WMA (15 MB) | MP3 (13 MB)
Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Stephen Rose discusses why developers should look at using virtual environments for developing. He addresses everything from the creation of a complete development environment's domain in a box to how to move these environments back and forth from virtual to physical and back again.
Security for Developers
Experiences in Threat Modeling at Microsoft
Adam Shostak describes a decade of experience in threat modeling products and services at Microsoft.
SAFECode Releases "Fundamental Practices for Secure Software Development"
MS-OFFCRYPTO, W7 Engineering Blog, Etc.
Concurrency Attacks in Web Applications
Training
Second Shot Offer Gets Even Better
Second Shot allows you a free retake if you fail a Microsoft Certification exam. Now you will also be rewarded for passing the exam. From October 15 through December 31, get 25% off a future exam if you pass the first exam using the Second Shot offer voucher.
Free E-Learning: Introducing Windows Workflow Foundation
This free 2-hour online clinic provides a starting point for using Windows Workflow. Topics include workflow engine functionality, overall architecture, and how to build workflow-enabled applications.
Explore Microsoft Virtualization Technologies for Free
This free e-learning collection of four two-hour clinics offers a comprehensive introduction to Hyper-V and Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008, System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008, and Microsoft Application Virtualization.
Save 30% on Select Windows Server 2008 Books
For a limited time, save 30% on select titles from Microsoft Press. These books and guides are great resources for deploying, automating, troubleshooting, and optimizing Windows Server 2008.
Sign Up for an ASP.NET 3.5/Visual Studio 2008 Class
Deep Training offers intensive, expert-taught, custom, hands-on classes in ASP.NET & SQL Server Reporting Services at your organization. New courses cover ASP.NET 3.5, LINQ, ASP.NET AJAX, and more. Plus, get a 40% discount on our SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services DVD- or CD-based training courseware.
Case Studies
Software Company K2 Provides Real-Time Workflow Solutions Using SQL Server 2005
K2's workflow automation software features enterprise-grade data access and reporting courtesy of SQL Server 2005, and was built by an international team of developers using Visual Studio Team System.
Service Provider Integrates Mainframe Operations with Microsoft SQL Server 2005
CSG Systems used SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition and Visual Studio 2005 to create their business services platform, improving agility for their customers in an increasingly dynamic and competitive field.
Commissioning Services Provider Uses Software-plus-Services for Global Markets
Humana Europe chose the Microsoft Application Platform, including Visual Studio 2008, to cut development time and differentiate its products with superior business intelligence and data visualization capabilities.
Partner News
Top Web Design Mistakes
Microsoft's Product Manager of Internet Explorer Developer Division, Pete LePage, shares 10 Web design mistakes to avoid at all costs in a recent Pixel8 podcast.
Realease Provides Oracle Forms Conversion to .NET
Realease provides Oracle Forms to .NET conversion using Forms2Net. Realease will provide a free Forms Analysis. Forms2Net is interfaced with Microsoft's Visual Studio.
Free .NET Control for Embedding Help Is Inside Doc-To-Help 2009
Embed dynamic help in your .NET applications with the new ComponentOne DynamicHelp tool included with Doc-To-Help 2009. Download trial today.
Forms Processing Software Developers: Watch Video, Download Trial SDK
Watch a video demo showing how Pegasus Imaging SDKs help build forms processing applications. Video, SDK, & source code available now.