SQL Server 2008 has now been released on TechNet. One thing that you will notice is that there are many different versions available. Something that will be seen soon is that this does not include a new Express version yet. I would guess that this would be released soon as well.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/bb851664.aspx
This is exciting since there are alot of new features in SQL 2008. I will be going over this new version more and more as time goes on...
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Really Simple Syndication with Silverlight 2 Beta 2
I've been working with Silverlight 2 Beta 2 a bit lately on my personal side project and wanted to build a very simple RSS viewer. I've found it's pretty easy to do, but there are a few gotchas along the way. I've put up some sample code for doing this, please feel free to use it in anyway you see fit.
Sample code for Silverlight RSS viewer
Here is a non-exhaustive list of things to check out in the source:
1 Silverlight 2 Beta 2 still has some cross-domain access issues, so instead of spending time figuring out why my HttpWebRequests weren't working from Silverlight, I built a WCF service to fetch the RSS XML for me.
2 On the topic of WCF, review the web.config in the ASP.NET project; make sure the binding attribute for the WCF RSS feed service is set to "basicHttpBinding".
3 In ServiceReferences.ClientConfig file in the Silverlight project, make sure you change the endpoint address's port for the WCF service to whatever your local ASP.NET development server's port is, otherwise you won't be able to run the sample locally.
4 If you want to put this code up on a live server, you may run into WCF activation issues. If you do, take a look at this blog post from Joe's Blog about using a custom ServiceHostFactory workaround.
That's all the gotchas I can think about at the second, I'll update this post with more if I remember anything else later. WCF can get a bit tricky now and then... WCF has a nasty way of trapping you inside a cave. That has a bear inside. That you can't see.
Have fun with the source; you can do a lot of cool stuff in Silverlight 2 Beta 2. Throw a DataTemplate on the ListBox and make your data look spectacular (and give yourself extra points if you recognize the Mitch Hedberg reference I just made).
Good luck!
Sample code for Silverlight RSS viewer
Here is a non-exhaustive list of things to check out in the source:
1 Silverlight 2 Beta 2 still has some cross-domain access issues, so instead of spending time figuring out why my HttpWebRequests weren't working from Silverlight, I built a WCF service to fetch the RSS XML for me.
2 On the topic of WCF, review the web.config in the ASP.NET project; make sure the binding attribute for the WCF RSS feed service is set to "basicHttpBinding".
3 In ServiceReferences.ClientConfig file in the Silverlight project, make sure you change the endpoint address's port for the WCF service to whatever your local ASP.NET development server's port is, otherwise you won't be able to run the sample locally.
4 If you want to put this code up on a live server, you may run into WCF activation issues. If you do, take a look at this blog post from Joe's Blog about using a custom ServiceHostFactory workaround.
That's all the gotchas I can think about at the second, I'll update this post with more if I remember anything else later. WCF can get a bit tricky now and then... WCF has a nasty way of trapping you inside a cave. That has a bear inside. That you can't see.
Have fun with the source; you can do a lot of cool stuff in Silverlight 2 Beta 2. Throw a DataTemplate on the ListBox and make your data look spectacular (and give yourself extra points if you recognize the Mitch Hedberg reference I just made).
Good luck!
Friday, July 11, 2008
Free Linqpad Application
Linqpad is a nice little app that will replace your favorite SQL management studio for many tasks. This little app has no installer and is just a single exe that gets downloaded and run. It even has an updater built in to make sure that you have the latest version.
This powerful little tool can also run any SQL command, LINQ expression, or even a C#/VB.NET code snippet. This makes it a great little tool to have on your desktop. It was written by the authors of C# 3.0 in a Nutshell. It includes 200 samples from the book. This is a great addition to this little app.
http://www.linqpad.net/
Now all that glitters is not gold.... One of the things that Management Studio can do is to allow you to add new rows to tables using the datagrid that shows the data in the table. You can also delete rows using this. Linqpad does not allow this since it is only a web output.
Overall Linqpad is a great tool if you are using LINQ and/org .NET 3.5 and databases. Get it, play with it, see what it can do and you will like it too.
This powerful little tool can also run any SQL command, LINQ expression, or even a C#/VB.NET code snippet. This makes it a great little tool to have on your desktop. It was written by the authors of C# 3.0 in a Nutshell. It includes 200 samples from the book. This is a great addition to this little app.
http://www.linqpad.net/
Now all that glitters is not gold.... One of the things that Management Studio can do is to allow you to add new rows to tables using the datagrid that shows the data in the table. You can also delete rows using this. Linqpad does not allow this since it is only a web output.
Overall Linqpad is a great tool if you are using LINQ and/org .NET 3.5 and databases. Get it, play with it, see what it can do and you will like it too.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Microsoft Certified Master
Microsoft is working on and has announced a new certification program called the Microsoft Certified Master (MCM). This is not a replacement for the Architect program and it is not an enhancement to the existing programs like MCITP.
From Trika's blog, you can see that this certification is not for the light hearted. It costs 18,000 for 3 weeks of training and 3 exams and a lab exam. It is hard for many people to be able to go to this training in Redmond for 3 weeks straight. But this is the only the first time it is offered. I would love to be able to do this, but 3 weeks is a LONG time to be away from work and family.
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/master/products/default.mspx#E1C
http://blogs.msdn.com/trika/archive/2008/06/26/more-on-the-certified-master-programs-from-me-per-the-program-owner.aspx
I was really looking forward to this certification, but it might be more than I am willing to do right now. Well, on to the next set of certifications that I am studying for, MCPD and a few MCTSs.
From Trika's blog, you can see that this certification is not for the light hearted. It costs 18,000 for 3 weeks of training and 3 exams and a lab exam. It is hard for many people to be able to go to this training in Redmond for 3 weeks straight. But this is the only the first time it is offered. I would love to be able to do this, but 3 weeks is a LONG time to be away from work and family.
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/master/products/default.mspx#E1C
http://blogs.msdn.com/trika/archive/2008/06/26/more-on-the-certified-master-programs-from-me-per-the-program-owner.aspx
I was really looking forward to this certification, but it might be more than I am willing to do right now. Well, on to the next set of certifications that I am studying for, MCPD and a few MCTSs.
FREE Microsoft E-Learning Course Offer
Microsoft is currently running a promotion that allows anyone to try out one of its many E-Learning Courses for free! This offer expires today, the 30th of June, 2008. So, if you're interested you'd better hurry.
You can register to obtain your promotional code for a free E-Learning Course by navigating to this webpage. One prerequisite is that you have a Windows Live ID. If you do not have one, then you can learn how to get one here. Once, you have registered using your Windows Live ID, you will receive a promotional code. Using this code, you can take your pick of one of many applicable E-Learning Courses and sign up for it for free! I believe that the subscription to this course will last you one whole year. So, it's definitely worth getting the code even if you don't have the time to spare at the present moment. Whats more is that... It's free!
If you have no idea what I mean by an E-Learning Course, you can read more about it here or, take a tour and sit through a sample course here (requires Silverlight). I sat through one and found it to be quite well rounded.
One more thing to be aware of is that the code will expire 30 days after you register for it. So, don't wait too long to pick a course if y ou plan on it. Since I plan on appearing for the 70-502 Cert in the not-so-distant future, I will registering for a WPF E-Learning Course. So, I'm off to do that and grab a bite to eat at the same time.
Happy Learning!
-Merwyn
You can register to obtain your promotional code for a free E-Learning Course by navigating to this webpage. One prerequisite is that you have a Windows Live ID. If you do not have one, then you can learn how to get one here. Once, you have registered using your Windows Live ID, you will receive a promotional code. Using this code, you can take your pick of one of many applicable E-Learning Courses and sign up for it for free! I believe that the subscription to this course will last you one whole year. So, it's definitely worth getting the code even if you don't have the time to spare at the present moment. Whats more is that... It's free!
If you have no idea what I mean by an E-Learning Course, you can read more about it here or, take a tour and sit through a sample course here (requires Silverlight). I sat through one and found it to be quite well rounded.
One more thing to be aware of is that the code will expire 30 days after you register for it. So, don't wait too long to pick a course if y ou plan on it. Since I plan on appearing for the 70-502 Cert in the not-so-distant future, I will registering for a WPF E-Learning Course. So, I'm off to do that and grab a bite to eat at the same time.
Happy Learning!
-Merwyn
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Exam 70-536
I recently passed my first Microsoft Certification Exam - Exam 70-536: The .NET Framework 2.0 - Application Development Foundation. I thought I'd blog a bit about my experience preparing for the exam, lessons learnt and the exam in general.
The Exam
The 70-536 exam is a gateway exam of sorts for most .NET Developers looking to earn an MCTS or MCPD certification for Windows, Web or Enterprise application development. Currently, it is a prerequisite for 3 .Net 2.0 Certs and 6 newly added .NET 3.5 Certs. I am pursuing an MCTS Certification for WPF, which is why this exam was a logical starting point.
The Exam tests a developer's skills as related to working with the .NET Framework in the following 7 areas.
Resources
The Microsoft Learning Website makes a few suggestions for resources that one could use when preparing for this exam. You can check them out here.
I used the MS Press Book - MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-536): Microsoft .NET
Framework 2.0 - Application Development Foundation.
The book does a good job of covering the 7 skills sets you will be quizzed on. It comes with a companion CD that you can use to install practice tests on your machine at home. These practice tests are very helpful if this is your first certification exam as they give you a good feel for how the questions on the final exam will look like.
The CD also contains code samples that you can use to complete the Labs detailed in the book. If you do not own a copy of Visual Studio .NET or 2005, fear not... the book also comes with its very own copy of Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition, licensed to you for 6 months from the time you install it.
Another interesting resource that I found was this Live Meeting from Microsoft. It is titled "Cram for Exams! 70-536" and thats exactly what it does. In one hour, it gives you a brief overview of the exam and the various sections as I mentioned above. The Speaker also works out some sample questions and has some good tips for the exam itself.
Finally
Code, Code and then some...
I cannot stress enough the importance of exploring the .NET Framework yourself by writing your own little test applications. Nothing sticks in your head as a line of code that you wrote. A majority of questions on the test will be code-based and there's a good chance that you will see some classes or structures for the first time at the Testing Center if you haven't been coding regularly. So again, take the time to understand what the Framework has to offer by writing a little code yourself.
Happy Learning!!
-Merwyn
The Exam
The 70-536 exam is a gateway exam of sorts for most .NET Developers looking to earn an MCTS or MCPD certification for Windows, Web or Enterprise application development. Currently, it is a prerequisite for 3 .Net 2.0 Certs and 6 newly added .NET 3.5 Certs. I am pursuing an MCTS Certification for WPF, which is why this exam was a logical starting point.
The Exam tests a developer's skills as related to working with the .NET Framework in the following 7 areas.
- Developing applications that use system types and collections (15 percent)
- Implementing service processes, threading, and application domains in a .NET Framework application (11 percent)
- Embedding configuration, diagnostic, management, and installation features into a .NET Framework application (14 percent)
- Implementing serialization and input/output functionality in a .NET Framework application (18 percent)
- Improving the security of .NET Framework applications by using the .NET Framework security features (20 percent)
- Implementing interoperability, reflection, and mailing functionality in a .NET Framework application (11 percent)
- Implementing globalization, drawing, and text manipulation functionality in a .NET Framework application (11 percent)
Resources
The Microsoft Learning Website makes a few suggestions for resources that one could use when preparing for this exam. You can check them out here.
I used the MS Press Book - MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-536): Microsoft .NET
Framework 2.0 - Application Development Foundation.The book does a good job of covering the 7 skills sets you will be quizzed on. It comes with a companion CD that you can use to install practice tests on your machine at home. These practice tests are very helpful if this is your first certification exam as they give you a good feel for how the questions on the final exam will look like.
The CD also contains code samples that you can use to complete the Labs detailed in the book. If you do not own a copy of Visual Studio .NET or 2005, fear not... the book also comes with its very own copy of Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition, licensed to you for 6 months from the time you install it.
Another interesting resource that I found was this Live Meeting from Microsoft. It is titled "Cram for Exams! 70-536" and thats exactly what it does. In one hour, it gives you a brief overview of the exam and the various sections as I mentioned above. The Speaker also works out some sample questions and has some good tips for the exam itself.
Finally
Code, Code and then some...
I cannot stress enough the importance of exploring the .NET Framework yourself by writing your own little test applications. Nothing sticks in your head as a line of code that you wrote. A majority of questions on the test will be code-based and there's a good chance that you will see some classes or structures for the first time at the Testing Center if you haven't been coding regularly. So again, take the time to understand what the Framework has to offer by writing a little code yourself.
Happy Learning!!
-Merwyn
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Silverlight 2.0 beta2 is out!!
Last weekend Silverlight 2.0 beta 2 was released by Microsoft. Overall it has some nice features like the new tab control, but existing Silverlight 2.0 beta 1 code might need a few changes to get things to work. One things that I wanted to tell people about is the SDK is be a pain for me to install since I had the beta1 SDK installed. I have to remove a patch to VS2008 but to do that you need the CD/DVD that you installed from to get it to work. Well I did not have that disc with me when I started to put the SDK on and I have been very busy and have not had a chance to get this installed yet.
I will post more as I play with this new version. There is a go-live license so people can start commercializing this now.
I will post more as I play with this new version. There is a go-live license so people can start commercializing this now.
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