MSDN Flash - Volume 12, Number 25: December 1, 2008

Volume 12, Number 25: December 1, 2008

Top News

Win Big in the MIX09 10K Smart Coding Challenge
What would you create for the Web if you only had 10 Kbytes of code? Can you optimize like your life depended on it? Enter the contest and find out. The grand prize winner will live large at MIX09 with a free pass to the MIX09 event, three nights at The Venetian Hotel, and a US$1,500 Visa gift card. There are lots of other great prizes, so submit your entry soon.

Get the Windows 7 Developers Guide
The Windows 7 platform makes it easy for developers to create engaging, user-friendly applications by providing familiar tools and rich development features that allow them to take advantage of the latest PC capabilities. This guide summarizes the key developer advances.


From the Editor

Greetings,

Updated Developer Help Files for the 2007 Office System
These download files install the latest assistance content for the following 2007 Office system products:

Excel 2007 Developer Help file and the Excel 2007 Help file

Outlook 2007 Developer Help file and the Outlook 2007 Help file

PowerPoint 2007 Developer Help file and the PowerPoint 2007 Help file

Project 2007 Developer Help file and the Project 2007 Help file

Publisher 2007 Developer Help file and the Publisher 2007 Help file

SharePoint Designer 2007 Developer Help file and the SharePoint Designer 2007 Help file

Visio 2007 Developer Help file and the Visio 2007 Help file

Word 2007 Developer Help file and the Word 2007 Help file

Microsoft Script Editor Help file that is included with the 2007 Microsoft Office System

Windows FireStarter
Lastly, we'd like to tell you about the Windows FireStarter event happening in Redmond, WA on December 12. This is a one-day event for developers and IT pros, starting at 8:30 A.M. Pacific Time. The entire event will be simulcast online as the event unfolds. This FireStarter has a stellar speaker lineup and is guaranteed to be informative and entertaining. Learn more about the event and register for the Live Meeting version.

Thanks for reading,
Editor
MSDN Flash


A Note from Your Student Developer Team

Build Your Skills with Imagine Cup 2008 
Imagine Cup is Microsoft's student competition where thousands of students come for a challenge. Competitors are asked to create an innovation that tackles one of the United Nations Millennium Goals and help us make the world a better place. Participate to strengthen your skills and improve your résumé, get access to 100+ hours of premium technical e-learning, and be the potential winner of trip to Egypt and up to US$25,000.

Software Design Competition Deadline Is January 15 
Competitors are asked to demonstrate innovation on the .NET Framework and Windows platform, but the possibilities only begin with these requirements. Globally, students in this invitational conceive, test, and build their ideas into applications that can change the world. Take a look at previous projects to get inspired: CarbonCart.com, Footprint, and Reactivity.

Ever Considered Consulting? 
Wendy Gillen, Microsoft VP of Consulting, loops us into the challenges and benefits of being a consultant.

I Missed My College Career Fair! 
The Microsoft recruiters at Jobsblog help connect you to employment opportunities even if you missed a career fair. Also, don't forget to check out our Microsoft Partner Community jobs over at Students 2 Business.

Free E-books
As always, Alfred Thompson links us to some great e-books. This week you can find the C# Yellow Book by Rob Miles, used in first programming courses.

Microsoft U.K. Sponsors an Innovation Tour 
Steve Ballmer traveled the U.K. to talk about exciting new technologies for students and faculty. Read about it and check out the videos:

Steve Ballmer keynote

Lessons from Starting a Software Company

Science behind Live Search

Microsoft Research talk on computer science inside Halo 3 True Ranking System

Microsoft Surface - future user experience technologies


Update Your Selected Topics
Ensure that the content most relevant to you is presented in this section.

New SharePoint for Developers Track Is Live on Ramp Up
The new features and added programmability support in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) provide a wealth of development opportunities. This course will immerse you in many of the developer-centric capabilities of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server.

New IT Compliance Management Guide
Save your customers time and money by shifting their governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) efforts from people to technology - using Microsoft technology they may already own. This free guide helps you reduce the complexity of GRC with a single source of compliance guidance.

Download XNA Game Studio 3.0 and Start Creating Xbox LIVE Community Games
XNA Game Studio 3.0 appeals to game developers of every level, and now enables commercial and community games to be written for Xbox LIVE.

SPARKs Will Fly for Embedded Hobbyists
The Windows Embedded team launched the "SPARKs Will Fly" contest on November 27 at ESC Boston. There is over $50,000 in total prize money with first prize bringing in US$15,000 and a slot in the ESC Silicon Valley 2009 keynote. First round submissions are due on January 7, 2009, so get involved today.

Introducing Front Runner for Innovate On SQL Server 2008
Whether you are looking to build on, upgrade, or migrate your packaged application to Microsoft SQL Server 2008, you should consider joining the Front Runner for Innovate On program. By joining the initiative, you will receive technical and marketing support to help you be one of the first to go to market with an application built on SQL Server 2008.

Government Resources

Microsoft Public Sector Technology Conference
December 4, Reston, VA
Join us for a full day of developer-oriented technical sessions on the .NET Framework 4.0, Microsoft Modeling Platform, Windows Application Server Extensions for Windows Communication Foundation and Windows Workflow Services, Windows Azure, and the Azure Services Platform. There is no fee to attend.

Microsoft Developer Dinner Series for Partners: Presenting Introduction to ASP.NET Model View Controller (MVC) 
December 3, Raleigh-Durham, NC
Join Joel Reyes, Microsoft Public Sector Developer Evangelist, for a demonstration-focused session over dinner covering the fundamentals of the ASP.NET MVC framework .If you are someone who builds, architects, or manages development teams building Web applications, this presentation is for you.

Microsoft Designer Dinner: Presenting Expression Blend 2 Deep Dive 
December 17, Reston, VA
Join James Chittenden, Microsoft Public Sector Evangelist, for an evening session over dinner to learn about Expression Blend 2 and the power of WPF on the desktop and Silverlight on the Internet to provide your audience with big-impact, high-performance user experiences.

PDC Content at the MSDN Developer Conference Coming to a City Near You
 
For just US$99 you'll get the best of the PDC in your own back yard and hear all of the exciting announcements around the Azure Services Platform and Windows 7. Other sessions include the latest developments in .NET, Silverlight, Surface, parallel programming, Live Mesh, and more.

Architect Council Series: Cloud Computing and Impact on Architecture
At Microsoft, cloud computing is a major component of our technology strategy and platform, and a rich and massively scalable cloud platform was just unveiled at PDC. Come for a discussion on how Microsoft's platform can be leveraged to create a new class of applications that are more connected, dynamic, and can extend existing IT investments towards cloud computing. Register for the following events:

December 4, Los Angeles

December 9, Phoenix, AZ

December 11, Irvine, CA

December 16, Bellevue, WA

December 18, San Francisco, CA

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.

.NET KB Articles

FIX: The specific IME mode that you set for an Edit field may disappear when you return to the Edit field from a .NET Framework 2.0-based Windows Form

FIX: When a .NET Framework 2.0-based application sends e-mail messages by using the System.Net.Mail namespace, the FQDN is not sent when you send a HELO or EHLO command

RSS RSS Feeds
.NET Framework 2.0 | .NET Framework 1.1

C# KB Articles

WSE 3.0 Authorization Authentication Error

RSS RSS Feeds
Visual C# 2005 | Visual C# .NET 2003 | Visual C# .NET 2002

Visual Studio 2008, Visual Studio 2005, and Visual Studio .NET KB Articles

FIX: Think times for redirect requests are ignored in Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 even if the Think profile is turned on

FIX: Error message when you build a project in Visual Studio 2005 SP1 after an .lib file or an .obj file that was built by using Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 is added to the project: "Fatal error LNK1103: debugging information corrupt"

FIX: Error message when you run an application that is configured to be built for the x64 platform by using the MSVCR90.dll file that calls the strncpy function: "An unhandled win32 exception occurred in 'application_name'"

RSS 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

MDX: Calculated member without parent is treated as level 1 in DESCENDANTS function

FIX: Error message when you install Cumulative Update 10 or Cumulative Update 9 for SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 on a drive that uses the FAT32 file system: "Unexpected Error Occurred"

RSS RSS Feeds
SQL Server 2005 | SQL Server 2000 | SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services


Web Resources

Windows FireStarter Live Meeting Event
December 12, 8:30 A.M. Pacific Time
This is full-day online event for developers and IT pros has a stellar speaker lineup and is guaranteed to be informative and entertaining.

Video: How to Create a Simple WPF Application
This video demonstrates the new features of Visual Studio 2008 for creating WPF applications and discusses some of the differences between Windows Forms applications and WPF applications.

Video: How to Use XAML in WPF
This video shows how to use XAML to create WPF applications, and explores features of the XAML editor. We will also look at how to nest controls to take advantage of WPF.

Video: How to Lay Out a WPF Application
In this demonstration we will explore the major layout panels that come with WPF, contrasting them with each other and describing when to use each.

Pluralsight On-Demand
Pluralsight On-Demand is our new Web-based training service providing Microsoft .NET training and content in a convenient online format.

Virtual Lab: Introduction to ADO.NET Data Services
After completing this lab you will be better able to enable code analysis including turning on code analysis from within the IDE, setting warnings to be treated as errors, and using source code annotation to help with analysis.

Virtual Lab: Visual Studio 2008 - Developing a WPF Application
This lab provides an introduction to the development of a Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) client with Visual Studio 2008. Visual Studio 2008 has a rich set of features to support the language integrated query framework for .NET ("LINQ"), Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), and design of WPF applications.

Virtual Lab: Building Quality Code with Visual Studio Team System 2008 Development Edition (Part 1: Managed Code)
After completing this lab you will be better able to enable code analysis for managed code and suppress warnings for classes.

Application Shutdown Changes in Outlook 2007 SP2
Learn how Outlook 2007 Service Pack 2 has changed the way that the Outlook process shuts down. Customers developing Outlook solutions that run outside of the Outlook process should understand how these changes impact their solutions.

Developing Interfaces in Outlook 2007
Outlook 2007 presents developers with a great opportunity to create useful applications. Learn how Visual Studio Tools for Office 3.0 simplifies Outlook user interface customization.

Security for Developers

patterns & practices Security Engineering Cheat Sheet
We posted our patterns & practices Security Engineering Cheat Sheet to our Application Architecture Knowledge Base on CodePlex. It's a bird's-eye view of applying our security techniques to the life cycle. The techniques and approach shipped with VSTS/MSF Agile starting in 2005.

Secure Coding Secrets?

SDL Threat Modeling Tool Now Available

The Microsoft SDL Threat Modeling Tool v3

Improvements in Office Security

SIRV5 Vulnerability Trends Webcast - 2 of 2 - Microsoft Trends

SafeInt Compiles on gcc!

Good Things Come in Blue Packages

More Security...

Training

How to Convince Your Manager to Send You to Training
Microsoft Learning has recently conducted research to show the value of IT training. Use our research results as a powerful weapon when negotiating training opportunities with your manager. Our research shows that training leads to improved team productivity, reduced downtime, and increased employee satisfaction and loyalty. Find out more about the research data and Microsoft Certified Partners for Learning Solutions.

SQL Server 2008 Promotion: Get on the Case
Begin training now and become a master of Microsoft SQL Server 2008. You'll learn to control powerful new features, and 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?

Upgrade Your Skills: Get Certified in SQL Server 2008
Increase your job security and make yourself stand out with Microsoft Certification. Start now and you can take advantage of the Microsoft Second Shot program, which gives you a free retake if you don't pass your certification exam on the first try.

Free E-book Offer: Introducing Microsoft Silverlight 2
Get free e-book chapters about Silverlight 2, LINQ, and ASP.NET 3.5. Preview a chapter and sign up for the free download offer to get additional content.

Save 30% on the Windows Server 2008 Resource Kit (U.S. Only)
For a limited time, save 30% on select Windows Server 2008 titles from Microsoft Press. These books and guides are great resources for deploying, automating, troubleshooting, and optimizing Windows Server 2008.

AppDev Learning Now Online - Complete Library for US$45 per Course in December Only
Introducing AppDev OnDemand - immediate online access to award-winning learning for the latest Microsoft technologies. Get up to speed quickly in SharePoint 2007, Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008, SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008, and more. For December only, get one-year full access to our entire course library for just US$2,995.

Sign Up for an ASP.NET 3.5/Visual Studio 2008 Class Today
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.

Intertech's Complete VB
December 8 - 12
Complete VB is designed to expose experienced software developers to the Visual Basic programming language and the core APIs of the .NET Framework.

Intertech's Complete C# December 15 - 19
Complete C# is designed to expose experienced software developers to the C# programming language and the core APIs of the .NET Framework.

Intertech's Complete ASP.NET 3.5
January 19 - 23, 2009
Complete ASP.NET 3.5 provides in-depth coverage of ASP.NET 3.5 for both C# and Visual Basic developers.

Intertech's Complete Silverlight
February 11 - 13, 2009
Complete Silverlight 2.0 examines this new API beginning with XAML, code files, and Silverlight 2.0 development tools.

Case Studies

ICT Provider Gains Clear Business Insights From Flexible Development Technology
Singapore Computer Systems' iTrack real-time process tracking tool was developed in-house using Visual Studio and was built on the .NET Framework, due to its ease of use for development and deployment.

Microsoft Exchange Hosted Archive to Store Petabytes with SQL Services Infrastructure
Exchange Hosted Archive, currently hosted on a vast server farm using SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition, will soon move to a cloud-based solution using Microsoft SQL Data Services Infrastructure, part of Microsoft SQL Services.

Supply Chain Optimization Solution Sets New Benchmarks on SQL Server 2008
Manhattan Associates' ILS 2008 integrated logistics solution running on SQL Server 2008 will provide the performance and scalability needed to stay ahead of the requirements of even its largest global customers.

More Case Studies...

Partner News

Free Trial: Aggiorno Smart Search & Replace
Aggiorno now includes a smart find/replace feature that let you run searches and do global replacements on HTML code patterns.

RADvolution Designer Database Edition Free Trial
Evaluate a professional database RAD tool fully integrated in Visual Studio. It includes a transparent database object framework and fast GUI layout designer.

Build the Amazing Web with ComponentOne Studio Enterprise - Free Trial
Download a 30-day free trial for access to more than 30 Silverlight controls, more than 35 ASP.NET AJAX-ready controls, and more.

Free Trial SDK: Redact Sensitive Information using OCR and Pattern Matching
Find text patterns you define after converting images into searchable documents. Download Pegasus Imaging's trial SDK, sample code, and white paper.

More than 60 Free Controls by DevExpress
DevExpress is offering access to more than 60 presentation controls free of charge, without any royalties or distribution costs.

Enter to Win the Visual WebGui US$10,000 Security Challenge
This is the last call for entering the WebGui Challenge. Visual WebGui brings a new level of security to Web applications. Hundreds have tried so far, and it still remains unhackable.