Blogs

NY SQL Saturday – April 24th, 2010

JrzyShr Dev Guy - March 9, 2010 - 12:16pm

SQL Saturday is coming to NYC for the first time!  If you enjoyed the NYC Code Camp last weekend, this event promises more of the same, but with a focus on all things SQL 2008 R2 & Business Intelligence.   Read on for details…

SQL Saturday #39 NYC is a free training event for professionals who work with data—particularly those who use Microsoft technologies. This event will feature high-quality technical content for SQL Server DBAs, SQL Server and ETL developers, and BI professionals. If you are a software professional working in any of these disciplines then you are a data professional and this event is for you.


Microsoft NYC Office - 1290 Ave of the Americas (between 51st & 52nd) Location

The event will be held Saturday, Apr 24, 2010 at the Microsoft New York City offices in Midtown Manhattan:

Microsoft Offices
1290 Avenue of the Americas (6th Floor)
New York, NY 10104
[See Map]

Admittance to this event is free. All costs are covered by donations and sponsorships. Click here to register for the event now. Please register soon as seating is limited, and let friends and colleages know about the event.

Sessions and Speakers

SQLSaturday #39 NYC follows the Code Camp model with an open call for sessions. Whether you are a seasoned presenter or this is your first time in front of an audience, we encourage you to submit a session. We will make every effort to accept every session that is submitted. Click the Speakers link for more information.

Sponsorship Opportunities

SQLSaturday #39 NYC is a community-run event and we're looking for a few sponsors to help defer our costs. In exchange we will help you connect with some of the best, brightest and most motivated data professionals in the NYC Metro area—the attendees of our event. Click the Sponsors link for more information or click here to send a sponsorship information request by email.

Categories: dotNET Developers, NJ Blogs

New and Notable 406

Sam Gentile - CodeBetter.com - March 7, 2010 - 3:36pm

BizTalk/Identity/SOA

Visual Studio 2010

  • New Offers for Visual Studio 2010 - Soma announces several new offers. The Standard Offer promotion allows purchasers of the 2005/2008 Standard Edition to upgrade for $299 retail. In addition, they are annoucing an offer to those who purchase Visual Studio Standard at retail to receieve MSDN Essentials, a one-year trial MSDN subscription that will be included with every retail copy of Visual Studio Professional sold.

Office 2010/Sharepoint 2010

Oslo

 

Categories: dotNET Developers, NJ Blogs

This is why I don’t design logos

Dossy Shiobara - March 6, 2010 - 11:53am

I’ve been doing business under the “Panoptic” name for over 15 years now, and I’ve never properly done the brand identity work that I should have. This is definitely the all-too-often case of the shoemaker’s children going shoeless.

For 2010, I intend to finally do something about this. I’m going to finally invest the time and effort to build the identity that properly reflects the kind and quality of work that I do.

There lies the problem: I’m a software developer. I’m not the visual or creative person that I wish I were. I write excellent code; I solve difficult problems with simple and elegant solutions. I have a very broad understanding of a lot of technologies. I geniunely enjoy my work and do it with a passion that extends past “just getting it done.”

As an exercise in embarassing myself, I threw together the following two designs for fun:

Like I said, this is why I don’t design logos. But, I know there’s a lot of really talented, creative people out there who may be interested in some work or know people who are. I’d love to hear from you! Can you envision an appropriate logo that reflects the brand I want to create? Have I written something that inspires a design that you think conveys a relevant message?

As you can see, I could use all the help I can get.

Categories: Members, NJ Blogs

Windows Server AppFabric (formerly Dublin) Beta 2 is Available!

Sam Gentile - CodeBetter.com - March 3, 2010 - 12:22pm

Putting this in my "Dublin" category for blog continuity...AppServer is actually Velocity + "Dublin"

The .NET Endpoint announced the Beta 2 release of Windows AppFabric is now available for download via http://msdn.microsoft.com/appfabric. This is the Windows Server AppFabric build that works with the RC (Release Candidate) build of Visual Studio 2010/.NET 4. The post also announces what is new and changed.

Now, AppFabic brings together what was formerly codename "Dublin" and codename "Velocity". The Dublin part is really all about being a first-class hosting environment via IIS for WF workflows and WCF services as it simplifies the development, deployment and management of these composite applications with configuration and monitoring capabilities.

There is good coverage from the community.

 

Categories: dotNET Developers, NJ Blogs

Setting A Tab Title in Terminal

Ancora Imparo - Scott Watermasysk - March 2, 2010 - 9:25pm

I have been spending a lot more time in terminal recently. I routinely find myself having more tabs open than I can keep track of. 

I then end up forgetting what's open and end up opening even more tabs which just make the problem worse. 

I finally got tired of this and posted a quick question on Twitter. While waiting for a twitter response, I figured I would finally checkout SuperUser which of course had the answer.

You just need to execute the following command: 

echo -n -e "\033]0;YOUR TAB TITLE HERE\007"

Since there is no way I will remember that command (and who should) I wrapped it in a function that I can put in my .bash_profile. 

 

function title(){

echo -n -e "\033]0;$1\007"

}

 

Now, in any tab, I just need to execute:

title 'My Tab Title'

Follow me on Twitter

Posted to Technology and tagged as terminal , bash , zsh , osx

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Categories: dotNET Developers, NJ Blogs

Connected Show #25 – Is That A Phone In Your Pocket?!

JrzyShr Dev Guy - February 23, 2010 - 3:54pm

In this episode, guest host Andrew Brust joins Peter to cover the Windows Phone 7 Series news from the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Also, Andrew and Peter discuss the latest developer & interoperability news, including: The Enterprise Library roadmap from the Microsoft Patterns & Practices team, Zend Framework’s support for Windows Azure, and innovation at Microsoft.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN! Show Notes & Resources

Items Discussed During episode #25 with Peter & Andrew:

Andrew Brust – The Man, The Myth, The Legend:

Enterprise Library

Zend Framework & Windows Azure

Open Source @ Microsoft:

Microsoft & Innovation

Windows Phone 7 Series Stuff:

Categories: dotNET Developers, NJ Blogs

New and Notable 405

Sam Gentile - CodeBetter.com - February 21, 2010 - 12:39pm

Cloud Computing/Azure

WCF/WF

Software DevelopmentTools

Linq to SQL Profiler 1.0 Released - Ayende's Linq to SQL Profiler has gone 1.0

VS2010 Command Prompt Here - Travis has updated his Command Prompt Round-Up to support a VS2010 "Command Prompt Here" command prompt

WPF

jQuery

Categories: dotNET Developers, NJ Blogs

Confidentiality sucks

Dossy Shiobara - February 20, 2010 - 2:10pm

I hate this. Most of the things I want to blog about, especially the stuff that really eats at me and causes me stress, I can’t even talk about because it’s covered by non-disclosure agreements.

Every now and then, I think about blogging “anonymously” but that goes against my personal principles. There’s no such thing as anonymity. Eventually, somehow, the dots get connected and then what has been said is out there.

How does one crowdsource wisdom on matters like this? Sure, I talk to my therapist and my family … but sometimes it feels like it would be useful to cast a wider net.

I guess I’ll just sit here and wring my hands and just let you all know that there’s plenty I wish I could share, but can’t. Argh!

Categories: Members, NJ Blogs

New and Notable 404

Sam Gentile - CodeBetter.com - February 19, 2010 - 12:43pm

Software Development Tools

  • .NET Reflector 6.0 - Lutz himself announced trhat Red Gate Software released a new version of Reflector including .NET 4 support. Pro version adds debugging in Visual Studio. Download here
  • ReSharper 5 Beta 2 Released - Great news - ReSharper has released a Beta 2 with support for Visual Studio 2010 RC, Extended ASP.NET MVC functionality, Stable structural search and replace, and multiple usability improvements
  • NDepend v3 RC available - Patrick Smacchia announces the first release candidate of NDepend 3. Existing customers will find that their V2 license will work with the pro edition of this release candidate, and new users will be able to get a limited time free trial for the V3 Pro
  • AutoMapper for Silverlight 3.0 Alpha - Jimmy Bogard announces an alpha level release of AutoMapper for Silverlight 3 which supports the majority of AutoMapper features (all except those that have no meaning in Silverlight), and Jimmy talks about the process he went through to get AutoMapper going on Silverlight.
  • VersionControlTools - Not a piece pf software but Martin talks about version control tools including subversion, git, and mercurial
  • Announcing a new CLR Team Codeplex Project: CLR Runtime Activation - This Codeplex site will feature demos, samples, and helper libraries related to the selection and activation of the CLR: http://clractivation.codeplex.com/

Entity Framework

Training

  • MVPs receive free Standard subscription to Pluralsight-On-Demand! - Aaron blogs the awesome news all Microsoft MVPs now qualify to receive a free 1-year Standard On-Demand! subscription, which provides them full access to their revolutionary .NET training library. You can read the full announcement here and find out how to get signed-up
Categories: dotNET Developers, NJ Blogs

On making fun of disabled people

Dossy Shiobara - February 19, 2010 - 1:20am

There’s been a lot of noise around the recent Family Guy episode involving a Down syndrome character making a reference to former Alaska governor Sarah Palin. For context, here’s the clip:

One of Sarah Palin’s responses includes an alleged quote from her daughter Bristol posted to Facebook. Besides totally mis-using the phrase “begs the question,” Sarah asks: “when is enough, enough?”

I’m not really concerned that a show mocked or satirized a public figure; that kind of treatment comes with the territory. What I find oddly strange is the reaction of Sarah’s, that it’s inappropriate to make fun of people with Down syndrome.

People spend a lot of effort and energy trying to suggest that people with disabilities can live “normal” lives. However, part of being normal is being made fun of for our shortcomings, whatever they happen to be. While disabled people obviously need certain adjustments made in order to accomodate them, suggesting that their disabilities are “out of bounds” or off-limits denies them that particular aspect of normalcy which they otherwise could have had.

As a person, I can sympathize that Sarah may be hurt that the Family Guy show chose to target her. As a parent, I can sympathize that her child was indirectly involved in the process and I would want to protect my child. But, the content of the episode itself does not actually make fun of her son Trig, nor of Down syndrome itself. The character in the episode with Down syndrome named Ellen, played by Andrea Fay Friedman who has Down syndrome herself, is actually cast as a very independent and assertive woman, who just happens to have Down syndrome. She’s about as “normal” as the rest of the zany, defective characters that are part of the Family Guy show.

See, she’s being treated just like everyone else, and as I wrote earlier, that’s the best thing you can do for a person with a disability: besides making the necessary accomodations required by their disability, treat them like the people they are instead of insisting on preferential treatment that perpetuates their outsider status.

Categories: Members, NJ Blogs

MSDN “Metro” Roadshow – Winter 2010 Series

JrzyShr Dev Guy - February 18, 2010 - 12:40pm

MSDN Events presents: Take Your Applications Sky High with Cloud Computing and the Windows Azure Platform

I’m happy to announce the upcoming Winter 2010 Series of the MSDN Roadshow events for the Tri-State area!  This time around, we’ve got stops in Jersey, Long Island, and NYC!

Rachel Appel and I will be taking a deep dive into cloud computing and the Windows Azure Platform. We’ll start with a developer-focused overview of this new platform and the cloud computing services that can be used either together or independently to build highly scalable applications. As the day unfolds, we’ll explore data storage, SQL Azure, and the basics of deployment with Windows Azure.

All events start promptly at 1pm (check-in at 12:30) and end at 5pm.  Refreshments (and plenty of caffeine!) will be served.

Here are the dates and registration links:

REGISTER NOW – Space is limited!

Location

Date & Time

Registration

New Jersey - Edison

Crown Plaza Edison
2055 Lincoln Hwy (Route 27) 
Edison, NJ 08817

March 2, 2010

1:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Click here to Register

Or call 877.673.8368
With Event ID: 1032439967

Long Island - Melville

Melville Marriott Long Island
1350 Walt Whitman Rd 
Melville, NY 11747

March 4, 2010

1:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Click here to Register

Or call 877.673.8368
With Event ID: 1032439511

New York City - Microsoft Midtown

1290 Avenue of the Americas, 6th Floor 
New York, NY 10104

March 25, 2010

1:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Click here to Register

Or call 877.673.8368
With Event ID: 1032439968

If you register and attend this event, you will be placed in a raffle to win a chance to bring home one (1) free copy of Windows 7 – you could be the lucky winner!

Hands on with the Cloud

SESSION 1: Overview of Cloud Computing and Windows Azure

The Windows Azure platform is a set of high-performance cloud computing services that can be used together or independently and enable developers to leverage existing skills and familiar tools to develop cloud applications. In this session, we’ll provide a developer-focused overview of this new online service computing platform. We’ll explore the components, key features and real day-to-day benefits of Windows Azure.

Highlights include:

  • What is cloud computing?
  • Running web and web service applications in the cloud
  • Using the Windows Azure and local developer cloud fabric
  • Getting started – tools, SDKs and accounts
  • Writing applications for Windows Azure

SESSION 2: Survey of Windows Azure Platform Storage Options

Durable data storage is a key component of any cloud computing offering. The Windows Azure Platform offers many options, which can be used alone or in combination. Windows Azure itself offers ready-to-use and lightweight storage in the form of tables, blobs, and queues. Another choice for storage is SQL Azure, a true relational database in the cloud. In this session, we’ll explore the highlights of these implementations and how to both create and use storage in each form. We’ll give you guidance on choosing the right forms of storage for your application scenarios.

Highlights include:

  • Understanding table & blob storage
  • Programming against table & blob storage
  • Working with queue storage
  • Managing credentials and connection strings
  • Scaling and configuration
  • Understanding SQL Azure databases versus local SQL Server databases
  • SQL Azure firewall, logins and passwords
  • Database creation, deployments and migrations
  • Database management using SQL Management Studio
  • Programming against SQL Azure databases

SESSION 3: Going Live with your Azure Solution

Windows Azure features a powerful, yet simple deployment model. By focusing on your application and abstracting away the infrastructure details, you can deploy almost any app with minimal fuss. In this session, we’ll walk you through the basics of Windows Azure deployment, including site monitoring, diagnostics and performance issues.

Highlights include:

  • Start-to-Finish Visual Studio demonstration of a realistic XML data driven business web site from the desktop to the cloud.
  • Windows Azure Deployments
  • Start-to-Finish Visual Studio demonstration of a realistic SQL Server data driven business web site from the desktop to the cloud.
  • Configuration of your application in the cloud
  • Guidance and Suggestions to ensure your success

Hope to see you there!

Categories: dotNET Developers, NJ Blogs

Singing With Sinatra

Ancora Imparo - Scott Watermasysk - February 17, 2010 - 10:39am

I attended a couple Ruby sessions at CodeMash this year which really piqued my interest level in Ruby.

For many people (especially web developers) when you hear about Ruby they think Ruby on Rails. While Rails is an impressive framework, there are some other interesting options available. One of them that recently caught my attention (and admiration) is called Sinatra.

Sinatra is a DSL for quickly creating web applications in Ruby with minimal effort.

Sinatra is a drop dead simple way to create a small site, blog, service, or even a prototype. Here is all it takes to serve a web request with Sinatra:

require 'rubygems'
require 'sinatra'
get '/hi' do
  "Hello World!"
end

While the code above returns the UI inline, there is full support for templates, layouts, and much more.

If you are new to Ruby and want to see what you can do with the language with almost no effort, Sinatra is a great place to start.

I have been hacking around on it for a couple of days and decided to write a simple plugin. While I am sure I will cringe at this code a couple of months from now, I figured I would post it see if it is useful to others.

Goal:
Ensure urls served by the application are consistent by requiring no trailing slash and requiring all urls to be lower cased. If either one of these conditions are not met, the plugin will do a 301 redirect to the proper url.

Here is the actual plugin:

A minimal application skeleton. The key line is the validate_url_requests which is what invokes the plugin.

A set of tests.

Getting started:

Setup steps for Sinatra can be found here.

Two things to note.

1. To run the tests, you will need to get rack-test. I mistakenly assumed this part of Rack which tripped me up a bit.

2. You need to grab Shotgun if you want to have the site reloaded anytime you make a change. This requirement was apparently something that changed recently. It is documented nicely on the Sinatra site, but seems to catch people off guard.

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Posted to Code and tagged as ruby , sinatra

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Categories: dotNET Developers, NJ Blogs

Windows Phone 7 Series – I WANT one!

JrzyShr Dev Guy - February 15, 2010 - 11:12pm

If you missed the big news about the future of Windows Mobile coming out of Barcelona, Spain today you may just be living under a rock. There’s a lot of great info, photos, videos, etc out there.  I wanted to capture some of the details here, but my fellow Microsoft Developer Evangelist Jim O’Neil did a pretty good write up.  So I am cross posting what he wrote:

From Jim O'Neil - Developer Evangelist…

Rumors have been flying for weeks, but today it became official as Microsoft introduced a new concept for Windows Phones, ending the “Windows Mobile” era.  At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Steve Ballmer and Joe Belfioreshared plans for the next generation of devices from Microsoft – Windows Phone 7 Series.

This is not your father’s Windows Mobile

It’s pretty clear that Microsoft went back to the drawing board to rethink the mobile user experience, and the idea that the mobile device is just a tiny version of a Windows desktop no longer dominates the approach.  The new user-interface (known as “Metro”) is rather Zune-like – in fact, every Windows Phone 7 Series is also a Zune device!

Windows Phone 7 Series focuses on core facets of a mobile user’s interaction – via hubs that integrate applications and services from multiple sources into a singular experience.  For example, via the People hub, you’ll see not only contact information but also your friends’ latest updates on Twitter, what photos they just posted to Flickr and more, all from a common point of access.

There are other hubs as well: Pictures as you see to the left; Music and Video, with integration to Zune Pass;  Games, bringing the XBox LIVE experience to your mobile device; and Office, with access to the productivity apps you know and love.

Additionally, the Start screen experience exposes configurable “live tiles” that can point to contacts, play lists, applications, and more, providing instant access to the features you use most, all updating in real time as friends’ statuses change, an updated weather forecast becomes available, and so on.

All Windows Phone 7 Series devices, regardless of hardware vendor, will share a consistent profile as well.  They will each have three hardware buttons: Start, Back, and Search (Bing, of course), and they will all be capacitive touch devices providing a smooth multi-touch experience across the board.

I Want it Now!

Microsoft is already working with multiple carriers and hardware vendors to ensure devices are ready for consumers for Holiday Season 2010.  At launch T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and others will provide service on devices from Dell, Garmin-Asus, HTC Corporation, HP, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba, and Qualcomm Inc.

What’s missing in this picture – the development platform story! But don’t worry, it’s coming soon and will be one of the focuses at MIX 10 in March in Las Vegas.   Many of you have already caught wind of something being up in the mobile realm when placeholders for about a dozen new sessions at MIX were put up last week.  In fact, coincident with today’s announcement, there’s a special offer for MIX attendance – a $200 discount available if you register before February 21st!

So, how do you find out more?

If you’re from the New England area, but sure to visit Jim’s blog for information about Microsoft community events up there and other cool tech news!
Categories: dotNET Developers, NJ Blogs

New and Notable 403

Sam Gentile - CodeBetter.com - February 12, 2010 - 12:47pm

WCF/WF

  • WF4 runtime performance - The .NET Endpoint begins a series of blog posts on WF4 performance with a post on the core workflow runtime. Performance is a large reason why many people are moving from WF3 to WF4.
  • Discover a New WCF with Discovery! - Kent Brown points to Juval's great article in the January 2010 issue of MSDN Magazine: Discover a New WCF with Discovery.  He goes into the basics of Discovery, how it works and why you would use it, and also provides his own set of helper classes that you can download to make using discovery in your application even easier.  Then he shows how to use these classes to build a publish-subscribe service using WCF.
  • 4.0 Beta2->RC WCF/WF List of Breaking Changes - This list covers known breaking changes between 4.0 Beta2 and RC WCF & WF Framework.

Languages

Categories: dotNET Developers, NJ Blogs

Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 Training Kit - February Release

Sam Gentile - CodeBetter.com - February 11, 2010 - 6:18pm

Great news! From Ron Jacobs, the news that the labs have been updated so everything works on  Visual Studio 2010 RC release.  And the training kit now includes the Introduction Workflow Services lab.

Categories: dotNET Developers, NJ Blogs

Connected Show #23 – Addicted to Spring.NET

JrzyShr Dev Guy - February 10, 2010 - 4:31pm

In this episode, guest Mark Pollack joins Peter to discuss the Spring.NET application framework. In a world driven by POJOs and POCOs, Mark tells us about how he originally created Spring.NET for a team of Java developers to enable a similar development experience in .NET.

Since then, the framework has grown from a simple IoC container to a more powerful framework capable of separating cross-cutting concerns from business application logic.

Also, Dmitry and Peter discuss Snoop, FastCGI 1.5, Windows Mobile wish lists, Windows Azure X-Drive, PHP MEF, Gaming Addictions, and other bad habits. Is this a Developer talk show or what?!

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN! Show Notes & Resources Items Discussed During the News & Banter with Peter & Dmitry

Snoop for WPF developers

Fast CGI 1.5 for IIS 5.1 & 6.0:

SQL Server 2008 R2 & Visual Studio 2010 Coming soon:

Bing Maps Silverlight sheds its Beta tag: http://www.bing.com/community/blogs/maps/archive/2010/01/19/bing-maps-beta-no-more.aspx

Windows Phone 7 stuff:

PHP MEF:

Windows Azure Tools:

Jon Skeet Facts: http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/9134/jon-skeet-facts

Items Discussed During the Mark Pollack interview
Categories: dotNET Developers, NJ Blogs

New and Notable 402

Sam Gentile - CodeBetter.com - February 10, 2010 - 3:15pm

Yesterday, I had a short post on the VS 2010/.NET FW 4 RC, but there's a lot more to blog,

VS 2010/.NET Framework 4 RC

Other

 

Categories: dotNET Developers, NJ Blogs

One Less Step

Ancora Imparo - Scott Watermasysk - February 10, 2010 - 10:59am

Every step a user must take provides a chance for failure and frustration.

Compare these two shipping confirmation emails from 1-800-Flowers and Zappos.

1-800-Flowers

Zappos

 

1-800-Flowers actually says, “2 easy steps”.

However, what they are not counting on:

  1. The tracking code is 18 characters. While more savvy computer users will simply copy and paste, many will try to manually enter the 18 characters. Those that do copy and paste will usually need to highlight the text, go to the edit menu select copy… in short, they are usually not going to use control+C and then control+V.
  2. The UPS website is stuck in the mid-90’s and requires you to first pick your country. Don’t every make the wrong choice here (and of course this adds another step).
  3. Users will need to switch back and forth between their email app/screen/tab and the USP screen.

The funny thing about this is 1-800-Flowers actually has other links in the confirmation email, including one to UPS. They just don’t link to the one that really matters.

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Posted to Software and tagged as ux , simplicity

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Categories: dotNET Developers, NJ Blogs

NYC Code Camp 4 Saturday March 6, 2010: Registration Now OPEN!

JrzyShr Dev Guy - February 9, 2010 - 1:31pm

Registration for NYC .NET Code Camp v4 is officially open! Camp is on Saturday March 6th and we will have many tracks and scores of talks for you to choose from as well as food, prizes, and time to socialize and meet with the speakers.

REGISTER HERE!!!

Attendance is free but we have a limited number of seats available on a first-come, first-serve basis.  This event is expected to sell-out quickly so if you'd like to attend please complete your registration now at  http://codecampnyc.eventbrite.com

Categories: dotNET Developers, NJ Blogs

Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 Release Candidate

Sam Gentile - CodeBetter.com - February 9, 2010 - 11:27am

is live at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/dd582936.aspx for MSSDN subscribers and public tomorrow. More in an upcoming New and Notable.

Categories: dotNET Developers, NJ Blogs
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