MSDN Flash - Volume 19, Number 1: January 12, 2015

Top News U.S.

Calling all enterprise and solution architects
January 27 – 28, 2015, Bellevue, WA
Strategic Architect Forum 2015 focuses on the role of the IT architect as a strategic leader. This in-person event is a great opportunity to engage with Microsoft senior executives. Hear from Scott Guthrie, Executive Vice President, Microsoft Cloud and Enterprise group and Mark Russinovich, CTO, Microsoft Azure and others. Register today.

Top News Worldwide

Azure SDK 2.5 for .NET and Visual Studio 2015 overview

Open source Angular Cloud Data Connector now available on GitHub

Write cross-platform hybrid apps in Visual Studio with Apache Cordova
 

January 21: Introduction to AngularJS

Sponsors: Developer Express, and Red Gate Software

Your next great .NET app starts here

New: How to find and fix your slowest .NET code

Your Featured Content

Benchmark your requirements and practices
Application analytics promises unparalleled visibility into application impact and user behavior – do you agree? This survey measures the current and future states of application analytics practices. By participating you will have early access to the results and be eligible to win a US$350 Microsoft Store gift card.

Expand Visual Studio 2013 with extensions
Visual Studio Community 2013 opens up the world of Visual Studio Extensions to students, hobbyists, and others looking to harness the power of the Visual Studio IDE. Learn how to create a menu extension for the IDE and master the key points for developing extensions with the Visual Studio SDK.

Use Roslyn to write a live code analyzer for your API
Can the .NET Compiler Platform change what it means to write a Microsoft .NET Framework API? Learn about diagnostic analyzers, a key new feature of Visual Studio 2015 that lets a NuGet package introduce custom warnings and errors.

New Open XML PowerTool Cmdlet simplifies retrieval of document metrics
Another piece of good news for Open XML developers: Eric White has added a new Get-DocxMetrics Cmdlet to the Open XML PowerTools, the latest step in a developer-focused reengineering of the PowerTools to make them even more flexible and useful to Open XML developers.

January 14: A Lap Around Azure Websites
Web developers, you know you can build an Azure Website in seconds. But where do you go from there? You need to be able to deploy, scale, and troubleshoot your hosted sites. Find out how with experts Jon Galloway and Cory Fowler.

On demand: Adding Style with CSS
If you want to do web development, or if you’re prepping for Exam 70-480, you need to know CSS. Learn to take your cascading style sheets (CSS) skills to the next level in this free course, part of our Web Wednesdays series.

Broaden your base – make your apps accessible
Technical Evangelist Jerry Nixon has compiled a list of articles and resources that can help you make sure your app is usable by everyone – including people with disabilities. You will reach a broader customer base, and ensure that your app complies with legal requirements.

Internet of Things: TweetHeart- A NeoPixel Heart that is Twitter sensitive
Technical Evangelist Stacey Mulcahy walks you through creating a TweetHeart – an internet-connected heart-shaped lightbox powered by a SparkCore microcontroller that reacts to events from the Twitter Streaming API, including retweets, unfollows, and favorites. Get the tools you need for creating apps.

Get a free Second Shot on your MCP exam
The very popular "Second Shot" offer is back. By May 31, 2015, take any Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) or Microsoft Dynamics exam, and get a free Second Shot if you fail the first take.

Overview of Microsoft Azure
January 27, 2015, 9:30 A.M.–11:00 A.M. Pacific Time, online
Walk through the basic features of Azure required to get your first dev/test environment up and running. This demo will include creating an Azure website, an Azure SQL database, and deploying Visual Studio Online. Get a special link for a free hour of environment creation support or architecture review.

You know it. So prove it.
This February, take 28 days to get on stage and show the world your skills. Choose among eight learning challenges – including web, cloud, mobile, and game development – and supercharge your tech chops. It’s a month of learning that will pay back for a lifetime.

January 15: C++/DirectX Game Development: Fun with Sounds and Shaders
If you’ve got an awesome sound, learn how to incorporate it into your game. Our experts teach you how to integrate XAudio2 into your game engine, how to add shine, and emboss and blur graphics. Get helpful hints on shader tricks, and see the new graphics debugging tool in Visual Studio.

On demand: Introduction to ASP.NET MVC
This course from MVA is for developers looking to level-up their skills and transition from web forms to ASP.NET MVC. Learn the basics of building scalable, standards-based web applications using well-established design patterns, so you can get up and running quickly.

Five Surprising Findings About DevOps
Learn about the universal adoption of DevOps in the organizations represented by the large-enterprise CIOs and CTOs at the recent Cloud Business Summit. This was a bit surprising, as it represents an acceleration of adoption across organizations at a much faster pace than recent research has suggested.

Making the Internet of Things - Exploring the Littoral Space
Explore planet Earth and our oceans. In part one Technical Evangelist Sam Stokes takes a look at IoT and the littoral space: measuring water temperature, clarity, and more. Learn what sensors you can use, how to set up your dataset and how to store your information using Microsoft Azure.

How to use your Azure MSDN benefits
February 24, 2015, 9:30 A.M. – 11:00 A.M. Pacific Time, online
If you have MSDN benefits, learn how to use key Azure services and see how others have used them to develop creative new ideas. Get a special link for a free hour of Azure account creation support or architecture review.

January 22: C++/DirectX Game Development: Blending and Models
In the C++/DirectX Game Development series, we’ve explored skyboxes, porting, sounds, and shaders. Take the next step January 22, as our expert instructors walk through atmospheric effects, transparency, and third-party model importing, along with new opportunities for students and professionals.

Events

Develop fast, beautiful, and interactive websites
Through January 23, 2015, nationwide
Take your websites to the next level with the new release of ASP.NET and Web Tools for Visual Studio Community 2013. After you build a cutting-edge site, deploy and scale it quickly with Microsoft Azure . Want to learn how? Join us for a free, live WebCamp in your local area. Learn from seasoned experts who start with the basics and ramp up to more advanced topics as the day goes on. Don t miss this free opportunity to sharpen your coding skills – regardless of which languages or platforms you use.

See what’s next in tech at Microsoft Ignite
May 4–8, 2015, Chicago, IL
Don’t miss your chance to hear from CEO Satya Nadella and other visionaries at the first Microsoft unified enterprise technology conference. We’ll cover all the favorites – cloud infrastructure and management, big data and analytics, productivity, unified communications, operating systems, mobile devices, and more. Secure your spot.

Microsoft Virtual Academy

January 14 – A Lap Around Azure Websites

January 21 – Introduction to Angular.js

On demand – How to Debug a Website with Internet Explorer F12 Tools

On demand – Adding Style with CSS

On demand – You’ve Got Documents! A MongoDB Jump Start

On demand – Quick Start Challenge: Redis on Windows

On demand – Transform SharePoint Cusomizations to SharePoint App Model

On demand – Quick Start Challenge: Python and MongoLab

Resources

Free offers and discounts from Microsoft partners
 

Get started with app development

Try Microsoft Azure for 1 month free

Testing tools for web developers

DevRadio

Explore virtual labs

Microsoft Virtual Academy Jump Starts

Microsoft Virtual Academy Visual Studio courses on demand

Free software and training for startups from Microsoft BizSpark

Free Microsoft Press ebooks

MSDN Magazine

ASP.NET

Silverlight

ScriptJunkie (DHTML)

TechNet Flash
 

facebook twitter Google+