MSDN Flash - Volume 13, Number 4: February 16, 2009
Volume 13, Number 4: February 16, 2009
Top News
Azure Services Training Kit Updated
The Azure Services Training Kit includes hands-on labs, presentations, and demos that are designed to help you learn how to use the Azure Services Platform. The new release includes new demo scripts, new presentations, and three additional hands-on labs for Live Services.
Learn More about Windows Azure Faster with How Do I Videos
• How Do I: Get Started Developing on Windows Azure?
• How Do I: Deploy a Windows Azure Application?
• How Do I: Leverage Queues in Windows Azure?
• How Do I: Store Blobs in Windows Azure Storage?
From the Editor
Greetings,
With the unbelievable pressure on budgets today, you can't afford not to get familiar fast with cloud computing - and the Windows Azure platform takes a lot of the pain and risk out of moving your applications to the cloud. It's based on, and works with, familiar Microsoft technologies such as ASP.NET, IIS, and Visual Studio 2008, so your existing skills already apply. It supports standards and protocols including SOAP, REST and XML, and welcomes third-party tools and languages such as Eclipse, Ruby, PHP, and Python. You can scale your applications as demand rises and falls, and focus more energy on the business logic rather than the operational side of your application.
Microsoft is constantly updating its Windows Azure technical content. Make a beeline for the updated Azure Services Training Kit, and then stay current by bookmarking the Cloud Computing Tools blog.
Save US$300 off MIX09 Registration
Register by February 27, 2009 to save US$300 off MIX09 registration. Tap into the trends and innovations of the next Web and get real answers from the experts. MIX speakers come from the top consumer Web sites and top Web agencies. MIX09 happens March 18 - 20, 2009 in Las Vegas.
Thanks for reading,
Editor
MSDN Flash
Your Featured Content
Ensure that the content most relevant to you is presented in this section.
Get to Know the Top 10 Security Pet Peeves
Adam Shostack and Michael Howard reveal in this short and fun video the top ten security pet peeves which can mislead you and prevent you from developing secure applications.
Adopt the Dependency Injection Style of Development with Unity
The patterns & practices Unity Application Block is a lightweight, extensible dependency injection container. There are two versions: Unity Application Block 1.2, and Unity Application Block 1.2 for Silverlight.
SharePoint Dispose Checker Tool for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
SPDisposeCheck is a tool that helps check assemblies that use the SharePoint API so that you can build better code. It provides assistance in correctly disposing of certain SharePoint objects to help you follow published best practice.
Creating a Localized Form in InfoPath 2007
Learn how to use a design pattern to develop localized form templates for InfoPath 2007 and InfoPath Forms Services.
Exporting Outlook 2007 Contacts to Access 2003
Learn how to export user-defined fields (properties) from Outlook 2007 items to Access 2003.
Inserting Repeating Data Items into a Word 2007 Table by Using the Open XML API
Walk through a solution that solves the problem of displaying an arbitrary number of data items on the surface of a Word 2007 document by using Open XML and the .NET Framework 2.0.
Government Resources
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.
Sarasota County Florida, Deploys SharePoint to Stimulate Collaboration and Automate Workflow
Nestled in the Gulf Coast of Florida, Sarasota is a vibrant county that has been recognized by the media (Forbes and Money Magazine) as a community that has fostered an environment friendly to business and career development. It is also an increasingly desirable destination for those looking for a pleasant retirement. The county consequently has attracted a citizenry that has extremely high expectations of government services. To address these stringent demands, Sarasota County replaced a cumbersome legacy intranet environment with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 technology that not only enables collaboration, but has led to reductions in infrastructure cost and complexity.
Claims managers at the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC) often spent too much time looking for up-to-date policies and procedures in order to serve injured workers. Finding, using, and sharing information was a challenge throughout the agency-one that extended to its extranet and public Web sites. To boost enterprise content management, collaboration, and enterprise search, the bureau built a new intranet using Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. Centralized document libraries, role-based customization, and a fast, relevant search capability have increased productivity throughout the bureau. BWC plans to deploy the Microsoft technology to its extranet and Internet site, giving the agency economies of scale in managing its "triplenet."
.NET KB Articles
Child controls on a UserControl may get clipped in a system with a lower Font Dpi
RSS Feeds
.NET Framework 2.0 | .NET Framework 1.1
Visual Studio 2008, Visual Studio 2005, and Visual Studio .NET KB Articles
Updates for Visual Studio 2008 SP1 debugging and breakpoints
Applications Using WPF Crash Unexpectedly
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
MS09-004: Vulnerabilities in Microsoft SQL Server could allow remote code execution
MS09-004: Description of the security update for SQL Server 2005 GDR: February 10, 2009
MS09-004: Description of the security update for SQL Server 2005 QFE: February 10, 2009
RSS Feeds
SQL Server 2005 | SQL Server 2000 | SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services
Team Development, Source Control, and Testing KB Articles
RSS Feeds
Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition | Visual SourceSafe 2005
Web Resources
Team System User Group - Deployment Strategies with Team Build
February 19, 5:00 P.M., Microsoft Island in Second Life
This month at TSUG, MVP Wes MacDonald will present "Deployment Strategies with Team Build". In addition, Shai Raiten will present an introduction to custom work item controls. Log in to TSUG-VE and reference this link to attend.
Event Details | Add To Calendar
February 20, 2:00 P.M., Microsoft Island in Second Life
Code Generation with special guest Oleg Sych
Event Details | Add To Calendar
SharePoint for Developers Part 2 on Ramp Up
The easy-to-access content (provided by subject-matter gurus) teaches the important skills in a guided path, making the learning process easier and more efficient.
Pluralsight Announces Pluralsight On-Demand!
Security for Developers
New Release: patterns & practices WCF Security Guide
Using end-to-end application scenarios, this guide shows you how to design and implement authentication and authorization in WCF. You'll learn how to improve the security of your WCF services through prescriptive guidance including guidelines, a Q&A, practices at a glance, and step-by-step how to articles.
One Tool Does Not Rule Them All
Legacy RC4 Example on Codeplex
Gone Is the Era of Yes/No Questions
Training
Second Shot provides a free retake offer if you fail your certification exam. And from now until June 30, if you register for Second Shot, you'll get an e-learning collection for just US$35 (usually priced up to US$349). But hurry, once you have activated a discounted e-learning collection, it will only be available for 90 days.
Partner Corner Video: Building on Top of SharePoint and MOSS in the Real World
On demand
In this video, IDV Solutions shows how easy it is to leverage SharePoint lists and Excel spreadsheets in your own web-based applications and why your customers will appreciate this approach.
Take a Course and Get SQL Server 2008 for Free
Help your career thrive in any economy with training on the latest Microsoft technologies. For a limited time, when you attend select SQL Server 2008 courses with Microsoft Certified Partners for Learning Solutions, you'll receive a free copy of SQL Server 2008. Offer is valid through June 30, 2009 or while supplies last.
Free E-Learning Collection on Virtualization
This newly-released collection offers a comprehensive introduction to the Microsoft suite of Virtualization products. Collection 6333 includes four two-hour clinics, covering Hyper-V and Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008, System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008, and Microsoft Application Virtualization.
Downloadable E-Book Offer: Introducing Microsoft Silverlight 2
Now there are free chapters available for download from three great Microsoft Press books on Visual Studio 2008: Programming Microsoft LINQ, Introducing Microsoft Silverlight 2, and Programming Microsoft ASP.NET 3.5.
February 23 - 27
Intertech's Complete C# course 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
March 23 - 27
Intertech's Complete ASP.NET 3.5 provides in-depth coverage of ASP.NET 3.5 for both C# and Visual Basic developers.
Microsoft Operations Framework 4.0 Foundation-Level Training
Help customers deliver cost-effective, reliable IT services using Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) 4.0. Getting trained on MOF is easy and straightforward. Download this brief article for an overview of Partner training options.
Case Studies
Advertising Firm Increases Efficiency with Innovative Design/Development Solution
Using Expression Blend and Expression Encoder with Visual Studio and Silverlight, VML established a unified work platform that eliminated time-consuming exchanges between designers and developers, and provided more time for a focus on quality.
Automotive Web Site Speeds Delivery of New Interactive and Mobile Solutions
Kelley Blue Book rebuilt its IT infrastructure using Windows Server 2003, SQL Server 2005, and the Microsoft .NET Framework. The company now has a reliable IT infrastructure that provides strong security, is easy to manage, and enables the rapid delivery of new Web experiences.
Partner News
Free Online Trial ComponentOne XapOptimizer
ComponentOne XapOptimizer reduces the size of your XAP files by removing unused types and XAML resources in your application assemblies.
30-Day Free Trial: Altova MissionKit 2009
New Altova MissionKit 2009 supports XBRL and HL7, plus extends support for working in SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio.
Free: Quick and Simple Web Applications Development with Visual WebGui Express Studio
Deliver rich applications without the steep learning curve by using existing .NET skills and familiar development patterns. Get this free along with the free Visual Studio Express Edition.
Infragistics Offers Free UX Patterns Explorer - Quince
A free UX patterns catalog and community resource, Quince contains more than 90 of the most commonly used UX patterns.