Rob Windsor's Weblog

Webcast Series for ASP.NET Developers Who Want to Learn SharePoint

[via Paul Andrew]

[Microsoft is] doing lots of things around introductory SharePoint development for .NET developers over the next few months. Here is the schedule for a series of MSDN web casts on 10 introductory SharePoint development topics for .NET developers. If you are a .NET developer then chances are these are the most interesting ten introductory things you can do on SharePoint Products and Technologies.

http://blogs.msdn.com/pandrew/archive/2008/05/12/sharepoint-developer-msdn-web-cast-series.aspx

Technorati Tags: [SharePoint]

TechEd Developer 2008

The spring conference season keeps on chugging along. The MVP Summit and DevTeach just finished and TechEd is just around the corner.

It will be interesting to see what effect splitting the conference into a developer week and an IT Pro week will have. I've been spending a lot of time with SharePoint lately and that's a topic that has firm roots on both sides. I'm sure there are many other disciplines (SQL Server and VSTS come to mind) that are in the same boat.

This year I'll be taking it easier on the "networking" than I have in the past. I'm moderating a Birds-of-a-Feather (BoF) session and co-presenting an early-morning TLC talk and want to do so with a clear head. I'll also still be in the process of upgrading ObjectSharp's ASP.NET course from 2.0 to 3.5 which will be delivered for the first time the week following the conference.

I went through the session builder earlier and there are a ton of things I want to see. I had two or three (sometimes even more) sessions per time slot that I wanted to see. This morning I deleted all those and later this weekend I'm going to go through and pick the sessions that I absolutely don't want to miss (my sessions for example) and put those in Outlook. Everything else will be done spur of the moment at the conference.

For those of you who are attending the conference for the first time, you might want to check out my Guide to Attending TechEd or PDC.

I'll be Twittering (http://twitter.com/rob_windsor) and hopefully blogging from the conference. If you're there feel free to look me up or better yet drop by one of my sessions.

WIN07-TLC Strategies for Moving Microsoft Visual Basic 6 Applications to Microsoft .NET
Wednesday, June 4 8:30 AM - 9:45 AM
Blue Theatre 1

BOF806 Strategies for Moving Your Microsoft Visual Basic 6 Investments to .NET
Thursday, June 5 1:00 PM - 2:15 PM
S330 E

Technorati Tags: [TechEd, Visual Basic, VB]

DevTeach Toronto Recap

Another DevTeach has come and gone and, as always, it was a great week. I just finished reading the comments for the conference as a whole and they were unanimously positive. Here's just one example:

What can I say. You'll definitely see me next year. I hope its still in Toronto. This was one of the BEST training conferences I've been on in quite some time. The "take-away's" from all the sessions were astounding. My mind is still spinning. Anyway, great job, nice prizes, great orgranization, absolutely no negative thoughts or comments.

Another great quote was from one of the speakers, Oren Eini:

Now that it is officially over, I can look back and say that DevTeach is still my favorite conference. Leaving aside the great speaker and talk line up (thanks James, and thanks Scott for doing it on the last two DevTeach confs), what I really like about DevTeach is the interaction with the attendees and the amount of face to face time that you get with everyone. I haven't been able to crack what it is that makes DevTeach special in this way, but I have been to other big conferences, and they were good, but they weren't the same. In short, in you have can make a conference, you really want to make it DevTeach.

The day before the conference was a busy one for me. It started and ended with DevTeach traditions, the Canadian .NET User Group Leader Summit and the Party with Palermo. This year one thing was different, sandwiched in between the summit and the party was a TVBUG meeting with two of the conference speakers: Beth Massi and Scott Hanselman. I have to say it was more than a little hectic attending the summit, making sure Beth and Scott got into town OK and had someone helping them get to the meeting, and then getting everyone from the meeting to the party. In the end it went off without a hitch thanks to help from fellow ObjectSharpees Barry Gervin, Tony Cavaliere and Ted Hoffman.

[Related: D'Arcy Lussier on the UG Leader Summit and the Party with Palermo, Beth Massi on the TVBUG Meeting]

The conference days were pretty standard, lots of great conversations while prepping for sessions or catching up on email. The conference nights were also pretty standard, lots of great conversations over dinner and drinks followed by drinks and drinks. Of course this lead to the very standard conference morning...

My sessions went very well. I did have some issues getting the demos for my SharePoint/Ajax talk to work properly. That session was the last of the day so I figured if I got to the conference hotel at 9:00 am I could have them taken care of by lunch time. I hit some road blocks (it wouldn't be SharePoint without road blocks) and finishing with only 10 minutes to spare. Dave Laribee caught me on video part way through this process.  

[Related: More CodeBetter Qik-casts from DevTeach]

The most fun of the three sessions was the "Strategies for Moving Your VB 6.0 Investments to .NET" talk I did with Beth Massi. I've done a few tag-team sessions lately and I really enjoy them. I find playing off the other presenter helps make things more interactive and it opens more opportunities for my style of humor.

[Related: Beth Massi on our "Strategies for Moving Your VB 6.0 Investments to .NET" talk]

The highlight of the week (other than receiving a piece of birthday cake at the speaker's dinner) was a surprise we pulled on Sasha Krsmanovic. Sasha was the user group liaison for MSDN Canada and is now the Canadian regional MVP lead and he's done a ton for developer community in the country for several years. We decided we wanted to show our thanks publicly so we asked him to come to DevTeach at lunch on Thursday for an MVP Q/A Panel. Of course there was no panel, instead we showed a video tribute done by several people from the community (expertly edited together with a lead-in and credits by Barry Gervin) and gave Sasha a plaque and Superman trophy.

I have the video tribute as well as video of the presentation and Sasha's speech. I'm going to edit those together and post the result somewhere. I'll blog it when I do.

Technorati Tags: [DevTeach]

Calling WCF Services from .NET 1.1

A couple people have asked me recently how they can call WCF Services from .NET 1.1. There's an article on MSDN which describes the process.

ASMX Client with a WCF Service
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms751433.aspx

I just want to call out one thing that's easy to miss. You want to add the XmlSerializerFormat attribute to the contract of the service that is going to be consumed by the older, non-WCF clients. This is due to a difference in the serialization mechanisms used in WCF and ASMX Web Services.

If you forget the attribute, you will end up with extra parameters to the operations in your client proxy.

Technorati Tags: [WCF]

Talking About Many Things on Devcasting

As I mentioned a while back, I had a long conversation with Derek Hatchard that was recorded for Devcasting. The second part of that discussion - where we discuss WPF, Silverlight, technology overload, and DevTeach - has now been posted.

http://devcasting.com/index.php/2008/05/16/devcasting-11-rob-windsor-on-many-things/

Happy listening.

Technorati Tags: [Devcasting]

ObjectSharp Training - Summer Seat Sale

No, I haven't decided to give up software development for the glitz and glamor of the Jet Set life. I'm just the poster child for our summer training promotion. If you're looking for .NET, SharePoint, VSTS, or BizTalk training in Toronto you should check it out.

This summer, ObjectSharp invites you to take advantage of reduced pricing on its premiere .NET training courses. Save up to $500/person on our real-world training destinations. All flights include complimentary breakfast, and are piloted by industry Top Guns - including six Microsoft MVPs and one Microsoft Regional Director. Book your trip today!

http://www.objectsharp.com/training/summer-seat-sale.aspx

Technorati Tags: [ObjectSharp]

The Entity Framework vs. The Data Access Layer

My compadre Barry Gervin is starting a blog series discussing the Entity Framework vs. the Data Access Layer. You can find the first post here:

http://www.objectsharp.com/cs/blogs/barry/archive/2008/04/27/the-entity-framework-vs-the-data-access-layer-part-0-introduction.aspx

Technorati Tags: [Entity Framework], [Barry Gervin]

DevTeach is coming to Toronto in just a few more weeks!

I copied this blog post from Julie Lerman's blog. Julie copied it from Guy Barrette's blog. I'm sure someone will copy it from me and add their own little flair.

If you live in Toronto and don't attend DevTeach, Guy Barrette is going to make you code in Clipper for the remainder of your career (BTW - that's Clipper development with no Multi Edit and no Norton Guides. Ah, there, now you're shaking).  Seriously, DevTeach has a great lineup of speakers from Toronto and across the globe. Where else can you hear, see, touch, feel, talk to, describe your problems (IT/Dev related or not) and have a beer with these guys/gals?

And that's only half of them!!!

Need more reasons?

Keynote by Scott Hanselman
Scott is one of the most prolific, renowned and respected bloggers (http://www.hanselman.com) and podcasters (http://www.hanselminutes.com) in the .NET world. Scott is a hands-on thinker, a renowned speaker and writer. He has written a few books, most recently with Bill Evjen and Devin Rader on Professional ASP.NET. In July 2007, he joined Microsoft as a Senior Program Manager in the Developer Division. In his new role he'll continue to explore and explain a broad portfolio of technologies, both inside and outside Microsoft. He aims to spread the good word about developing software, most often on the Microsoft stack. Before this he was the Chief Architect at Corillian Corporation, now a part of Checkfree, for 6+ years and before that he was a Principal Consultant at STEP Technology for nearly 7 years.
http://www.devteach.com/keynote.aspx

Silverlight 2.0 Workshop
For the first time an independent conference is having a workshop on Building Business Applications with Silverlight 2.0.  Join Rod Paddock and Jim Duffy as they give you a head start down the road to developing business-oriented Rich Internet Applications (RIA) with Microsoft Silverlight 2.0. Microsoft Silverlight 2.0 is a cross-browser, cross-platform, and cross-device plug-in positioned to revolutionize the way next generation Rich Internet Applications are developed. Microsoft’s commitment to providing an extensive platform for developers and designers to collaborate on creating the next generation of RIAs is very clear and its name is Silverlight 2.0. In this intensive, full-day workshop, Rod and Jim will share their insight and experience building business applications with Silverlight 2.0 including a review of some of the Internet’s more visible Silverlight web applications. This workshop is happening on Friday May 16 at the Hilton Toronto.
http://www.devteach.com/PostConference.aspx#PreSP

Bonus session: .NET Rocks hosts a panel May 14th at 18:00
This year the bonus session (Wednesday May 14 at 18:00) will be a panel of speakers debating the Future of .NET. Where is .NET going? How will new development influence .NET and be influenced by .NET? Join Carl Franklin and Richard Campbell from .NET Rocks as they moderate a discussion on the future directions of .NET. The panellists include individuals who have strong visions of the future of software development and the role that .NET can play in that future. Attend this session and bring your questions to get some insight into the potential future of .NET! This bonus session is free for everyone. Panelists are: Ted Neward,Oren Eini ,Scott Bellware
http://www.devteach.com/BonusSession.aspx

Party with Palermo, DevTeach Toronto Edition
Jeffrey Palermo (MVP) is hosting Monday May 12th in Toronto is acclaimed "Party with Palermo". This is the official social event  kicking off DevTeach Toronto. The event is not just for the attendees of Toronto it’s  a free event for everyone. It’s a unique chance for the attendees, speakers and locals  to meet and talk with a free beer.   The event will be held at the Menage club  location and you need to RSVP to attend. Get all the details at this link:
http://www.partywithpalermo.com/

DevTeach Toronto is going to be a lot of fun and a great chance to learn from the best minds in the industry.  Register now - you don't want to miss out.

Technorati Tags: [DevTeach]

ObjectSharp's DevLounge Goes Live

ObjectSharp has always been very community focused. Our consultants run user groups; we speak at user groups, code camps and conferences; we man the experts areas at big Microsoft events; and we run our own community events like Visual Studio 2008 at the Movies. To extend our contribution to the community, we've added the DevLounge to our website. This is an area where we will post videos, articles, code, and tools so they are available on demand when you need them.

As a special kick off to the DevLounge, we are featuring a video taken at the recent Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Summit in Seattle. At the behest of ObjectSharp's Barry Gervin, Steve Ballmer donned a Team Canada hockey jersey to show Canadian developers some love.

Talking WCF on Devcasting

While I was in Vegas for Un-Mix 08, I sat down with Derek Hatchard to record a show for Devcasting. About a week later Derek decided to repave his machine but unfortunately, he forgot to backup the recording of the interview. We got together over Skype to re-record a couple weeks ago. What started out as an interview on WCF turned into a 90 minute conversation on all things geek.

Derek's done some editing and has extracted the WCF interview part into a show which you can check out at the link below. Stay tuned for part two where we talk about Mix, WPF, and more.

http://devcasting.com/index.php/2008/04/10/devcasting-10-wcf-with-rob-windsor/

Happy listening.

TechEd BOF Session: Strategies for Moving Your Microsoft Visual Basic 6 Investments to .NET

If you're not familiar with the concept, a Birds-of-a-Feather (BOF) session is an open discussion lead by a moderator who is not a Microsoft employee. The sessions are not presentations, there are no projectors. Unlike the Keynotes and Breakout sessions which are mostly one to many communication, Birds-of-a-Feather sessions are many to many communication and don't necessarily focus on Microsoft products or technology.  They are about people talking with people - connecting, sharing, networking, and creating community.

This year I'd like to do a BOF session at TechEd Developer. From my expereince with the community at user groups and conferences it's pretty clear that there are lots of developers who still work with classic VB code at least part of the time. Many are still questioning what to do with this legacy code and how to move it forward or integrate it with .NET. So I've proposed the following:

Strategies for Moving Your Microsoft Visual Basic 6 Investments to .NET: For years Visual Basic 6 (VB 6) was used by organizations world-wide to build key line-of-business applications and components. Now they have thousands to millions of lines of code representing a significant organizational investment. Many have struggled in the past trying to move this legacy code base to .NET, many are just starting that journey. The path from VB 6 to .NET has not always been clear - there are options but there is no one size fits all approach. One option is to rewrite your applications so you can re-architect and take advantage of all the features .NET has to offer. Another is to migrate the applications so automated tools like the Code Advisor and the Migration Wizard can assist you. Finally, you can use COM Interop and the Interop Forms Toolkit to continue leveraging existing working assets while phasing in new features built on the .NET Framework. In this session we will discuss all three options and explore the pros and cons of each. The goal is raise awareness of the choices and the tools available so you will be able to pick the best strategy for your organization going forward.

So, if you're going to TechEd and you'd like to join in on the discussion, please head on over to the BOF voting page and add your vote. Voting closes on April 7. 

Update:
The BOF was selected. It's running on Wednesday, June 4 from 8:30 to 9:45 AM. I think to room is S330 EF but I'm not positive. If you're planning on attending please let me know the subject(s) you'd like to discuss by adding a comment.

Update (April 28, 2008):
The BOF was selected. It's BOF806 and is running Thursday, June 5 from 1:00 to 2:15 pm. If you're planning on attending please let me know the subject(s) you'd like to discuss by adding a comment.

See you then.

Un-Mix 2008

It was an experiment. Hanging out in Vegas during Mix without actually attending Mix.

The Experiment
It had been over a year since I'd been to Vegas and I was feeling the itch. I hadn't been to Mix in previous years so I considered giving it a shot. The problem was that I'd already decided to go to Tech Ed and was seriously considering the PDC so, while VISA would be very happy for me to shell out for Mix, my accountant would chase me down and beat me with her abacus. The solution I came up with was to use travel rewards points for the flight and hotel and then to beg everyone I knew for a conference pass. The first part worked out just fine but it turns out that getting a pass for Mix is harder than getting Steve Ballmer to make Google his default search engine. Thus, the experiment.

I've always thought that networking is a major part of the value of a conference so I decided to see how much I could do by just hanging out at the Venetian for two days. I was confident that I could find someone to attach myself to so I could get invited to dinner, drinks or some kind of influencer party. Three of my colleagues from ObjectSharp were there as well so hanging out with them was an option if I couldn't find someone better.  :)

Un-Mix - Day 0
I did an architecture talk at the Vancouver Heroes Happen {Here} event the day before the conference started so I didn't arrive until about midnight. I briefly considered heading over the the conference hotel to see if anyone was there but I was pretty beat and decided to stay at my hotel and lose some money at the Craps table instead.

Un-Mix - Day 1
The keynotes were streamed live so I started the day in my room checking out what Ray Ozzie, Scott Guthrie and the gang had to say.  This was definitely one of the better keynotes I've seen. I've been down on WPF since it came out (not because of the technology itself but because of the state of the tooling around it) but seeing NBC's Olympics app, Circ de Soleil's recruiting app, and the Hard Rock Cafe Memorabilia app gave me pause. Maybe it's time to learn XAML after all.

After the keynote I headed over to the Venetian to find the conference. I just looked for people with badges and walked in opposite direction. Before I got though the casino I bumped into Richard Campbell, Steven Fotre, and Steve Smith on the hunt for a Starbucks. We walked around for a bit, found the Starbucks in Harrah's and then headed back to the Venetian. As we got into the conference area I looked for a place in a common area to settle down and use some free wifi.

I've been to the conference center at Mandaly Bay before and there is a wide area with a couple shops and places to sit just below the escalators to the conference rooms. I was hoping to find the same thing at the Venetian but as we got closer I realized it wasn't to be. I kept following my three companions up a couple escalators and down a hall realizing that I'd stepped over the border into Mixville - the Open Spaces room to be exact.

At this point I had a decision to make, head back downstairs or stay where I was and be inconspicuous - I chose the latter. I plopped myself down in a white canvas chair (wondering if I was ever going to get my developer sized butt out of the thing) and hung out with the guys. Mark Dunn was there and so was a slightly "tired" Miguel Castro. About five minutes after we got there, Carl Franklin came over and busted out his guitar.

Now, if you want to do some networking, hanging out with Carl and Richard is the place to be. They are definitely people magnets. I had a chance to catch up with a bunch of people I only get to see at conferences and had a great time. At one point Josh Holmes came over and asked me to follow him. I saw Josh doing video interviews earlier so I was concerned that he wanted to interview me. It turned out that he just wanted to hook me up with a guy who was looking for information on user groups in the Toronto area. After we spoke though, Josh did come over and interview the people I was hanging out with. Luckily he started with Carl who was opposite me so I kept my mouth shut hoping Josh wouldn't swing the camera my way - he didn't. It turns out that it was a mute point anyway because at the same time someone else was doing an interview about 10 feet away with me clearly in the background. So much for staying inconspicuous.

Microsoft Regional Directors React to the Keynote
http://www.visitmix.com/blogs/OpenSpace/Microsoft-Regional-Directors-React-to-the-Keynote/

On IE8, Silverlight and the Keynote
http://www.visitmix.com/blogs/OpenSpace/On-IE8-Silverlight-and-the-Keynote/

Towards the end of the day I spent some time with Derek Hatchard and made plans to sit down with him the next day to record some audio for his podcast. As the day waned people started heading out to get ready for the attendee party. I wasn't ballsy enough to try and crash that so I headed back to my hotel for some dinner and to give away some more of my money to the delightful people at the Craps table.

Un-Mix - Day 2
After pressing my luck the previous day I decided to spend most of day two in my room catching up on email and relaxing. I'd made plans to meet Derek in the late afternoon to record the podcast and then had an official invite to a Canadian attendee gathering at the V-Bar. 

I met Derek about 6:00 and we found a quiet place in a hallway to record. We talked about WCF and the goings on at Mix for more than an hour. I'm certain it would have been recorded in the annals of time as the greatest podcast ever but Derek decided to format the hard drive in his laptop without backing up the files first. We'll be re-recording tomorrow.

My final bit of Un-Mix 2008 was spent at the party at the V-Bar. I had a chance to catch up with my ObjectSharp colleagues and meet some people over drinks. The most interesting part of the night was watching the servers. It was very obvious that they were anxious for the geeks to leave so the swanky, jet-set crowd could come in and start tipping.

Summary
All-in-all it was a good time but I'm not sure if I'm going to do Un-Mix 2009. If I do, I need to get a decent area to hang out at the bottom of the escalator. I'll also podcast/videocast my experience.