Rob Windsor's Weblog

Toronto VB User Group Announces VB FUN-damentals Sessions

I'm pleased to announce that, beginning in November, the Toronto Visual Basic User Group (TVBUG) will be adding a new feature to it's meetings called VB FUN-damentals.

Update (Nov 2): Due to a scheduling mix-up, the VB FUN-damentals sessions will not begin until our December meeting.

VB FUN-damentals will be a thirty minute informal presentation or discussion that will take place prior to the main meeting. The topics covered will focus on fundamental concepts and will be targeted to those who are fairly new to .NET development. The goal is to widen the user group audience and to provide a comfortable forum for members who wish to try their hand at presenting.

The idea for VB FUN-damentals comes from Beth Massi and the East Bay .NET User Group who have been doing something similar for more that two years.

The new timeline for TVBUG meetings will look like this:

6:10 to 6:40 (VB Fundamentals)
6:40 to 7:00 (Pizza - Meet and Greet)
7:00 to 7:10 (Group Business)
7:10 to 9:00 (Main Presentation)

TVBUG meets monthly between September and June and all meetings are free for anyone to attend. To find out more about the meetings and the upcoming topics, please visit: http://www.tvbug.com/

Toronto SharePoint Camp Session Materials

Thanks to all of you who came out this weekend for the Toronto SharePoint Camp. It was a fun and informative day and I know plans are already underway to make next year's event bigger and better.

You can download the slides and demos I used in my session by clicking the link below.

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0: A Developer's Primer

Visual Studio 2008 "How Do I" Videos

If you're interested in seeing some of the new features of Visual Studio 2008 in action, you should check out the series of "How Do I" videos at http://www.visualstudio2008beta.com/videos.htm. There are 13 up there now and more will be added every week. If you want to play along, head on over to http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/aa700831.aspx and download a copy of Beta 2 for yourself.   

DevLink Session Materials

Thanks to all of you who came out this weekend for DevLink and cudos to the organizers for running a great event. I hope to see you next year.

You can download the slides and demos I used in my sessions by clicking the links below.

Performing a Phased Migration from VB 6.0 to .NET with COM Interop

What's New in Visual Basic 9.0

Sample Code for Getting Started with Windows Communication Foundation

A few people have asked for the code to go with the WCF article that's currently featured the MSDN site. You can download the code and the article in Word format here:

http://www.robwindsor.com/download/GettingStartedWithWCF.zip

SharePoint, SharePoint, SharePoint

SharePoint is a hot topic right now and there's a lot going on in and around Toronto on the subject. I thought I'd take a moment to highlight a few.

Toronto SharePoint Camp - October 20

The good folks over at the Toronto SharePoint User Group are organizing the first Toronto SharePoint Camp. They're looking for speakers, sponsors and volunteers. For more information, to register, or to submit an abstract for a talk, visit:

http://www.torontosharepointcamp.com

ObjectSharp SMART Breakfast: Achieving Agility with SharePoint 2007 Technologies

Grab a hot breakfast and join your peers in a round table discussion about Microsoft’s widely distributed SharePoint 2007 Technologies. Microsoft Regional Director Barry Gervin will lead the round table in exploring how SharePoint can be used to achieve greater business agility, even in the face of disruptive change in your organization. Events will be held in Toronto, North York, Mississauga, Etobicoke, and Kitchener-Waterloo starting October 16. For more information, and to register visit:

http://www.objectsharp.com/smart/default.aspx

ObjectSharp Announces their New Course: Inside Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 for Developers

This intensive 4-day course explores design and development techniques used when building business solutions with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. The lectures and lab exercises dive into the WSS object model, developing WSS features and creating solution packages to deploy your development efforts in a staging or production environment. The first public course is running November 19-23. For more information on the course visit:

http://www.objectsharp.com/training/coursedetail.aspx?id=6010

Okdevberfest Session Materials

Thanks to all of you who came out on Saturday for Okdevberfest and cudos to the organizers for running a great event. I hope to see you next year.

You can download the slides and demos I used in my sessions by clicking the links below.

Introduction to Windows Communication Foundation

What's New in Visual Basic 9.0