Drowning In Technical Debt

Introduction to JQuery Part 4 of 4 by Chris Morgan @ North Texas PC UG on 03/13/2010

Shawn Weisfeld — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 03:16:38 GMT

Another in the series of recordings that I have done for INETA Live.

Abstract:

This will be an introduction to jQuery, including how to download and install it, configuring a webpage to use it, and some basics on getting starting with using it. This will be the first of four sessions on jQuery. Future meetings will include how to set up dynamic web pages with the jQuery event model, interacting with the DOM (Document Object Model), setting CSS styles, and doing web page animations. Thefinal session will show how to make AJAX calls with jQuery, including information about how to set up and run PHP on your computer.

Bio:

Chris Morgan is a developer working for a major insurance company, and has been primarily involved with creating software to adjudicate claims. He has been a database application developer for over 20 years on a diverse set of projects, using both MS SQL Server and DataFlex database systems. Chris is a board member of the North Texas PC Users Group, was recently president of the group, and currently leads the MS Expression Web special interest group. Over the past two years, Chris has been learning various technologies involved with web site development and has made a number of presentations on HTML, CSS, Expression Web, ASP.NET, and jQuery/JavaScript.

ugPDC: Best of PDC Tour by Chris Koenig @ Dallas .NET UG on 03/11/2010

Shawn Weisfeld — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 03:12:22 GMT

Another in the series of recordings that I have done for INETA Live.

Abstract:

Join Developer Evangelist Chris Koenig for a whirlwind tour of the major announcements from PDC ’09. We’ll look at the changes and improvements to Windows Azure, new features introduced in Silverlight 4.0, and Visual Studio 2010/.NET 4.0.

Bio:

Chris Koenig is a Developer Evangelist with Microsoft, based in Dallas, TX. Prior to joining Microsoft, Chris worked as a Senior Architect on the Architecture Strategy Team for The Capital Group in San Antonio, and as an Architect, Developer and Development Team Lead for the global solution provider Avanade. As a consultant, Chris worked with a variety of clients from many vertical markets, ISVs and other solution providers on enterprise-class Windows and web-based applications. Today, Chris focuses on building, growing, and enhancing the developer communities in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas. Chris is a devoted husband and father of four awesome children who keep him very busy. In his spare time, Chris serves as Scoutmaster for his oldest son's Troop, and Committee Chair for his youngest sons' Pack. Chris also enjoys travelling, cooking, camping and playing guitar.

TCC Configuring MOSS 2007 Certification Prep Class

Dennis Bottjer — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:06:37 GMT

Tomorrow I begin teaching an 8 week Configuring MOSS 2007 Certification Preparation Class at Tulsa Community College. The class will be every Thursday night at the northeast campus.

Details:

Course:	CSCI 2993-24212
Title:	SharePoint Administration in MOSS 2007
Delivery:	Blended (Class / Online)
Meeting:	Thursday
Times:	6:00p – 8:50p
Dates:	03/11/2010 – 05/06/2010
Campus:	Northeast
Room:	Academic Building, RM 2421
Book:	Click To Buy (Amazon)
Fee:	Free
Certification Exam:	Free (First Attempt)
TCC Sponsor (Please contact for enrollment assistance)	Brian Hall (918) 595-7444 Tulsa Community College bhall@tulsacc.edu

Understanding Databinding with XAML in WPF and Silverlight Part 1 by Vince Blasberg @ Dallas XAML UG on 03/02/2010

Shawn Weisfeld — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:15:00 GMT

Another in the series of recordings I have done for INETA Live.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Abstract:

A fast pace walkthrough of databinding in WPF and Silverlight. Well move into variations of using the path statement and move into using converters to make databinding flexible and powerful. This meeting will throw pointers and hints at the next meeting that will cover using databinding with the MVVM pattern in both WPF and Silverlight.

Southern Developers Live Group

Dennis Bottjer — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:06:37 GMT

Do you live in the South? Are you a developer or do you generally consider yourself a geek? Then you should consider joining this group: http://southerndevs.groups.live.com.

The group was started by Keith Elder as a way to connect developers across the south. The group is a way to share event information, share knowledge and stay connected.

Call to Action:

1) Please join this group after reading this post.

2) Please spread word of this group.

Technorati Tags: Southern Devs,DotNET Community

Microsoft Visual Studio 2010: Breaking the walls between developers and testers by Mike Azocar on 03/02/2010

Shawn Weisfeld — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:12:00 GMT

Another in the series of recordings I have done for INETA Live.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Abstract:

Join us for a sneak peek at some of the new capabilities in Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2010, a landmark release of the premier development and testing toolset for Windows®, Web and Cloud development.

Microsoft has made significant investments to improve the Testing/QA tools in Visual Studio 2010. The Next Generation Testing Event is your exclusive opportunity to experience the incredible power and capabilities these new tools bring to the QA and testing process. At this event, you’ll get a comprehensive overview, as well as a deep dive, into the range of new tools and how they can enable you to improve the way you develop and test software on the Microsoft platform.

This will be an invaluable opportunity to learn how to take software development to the next level with Visual Studio 2010’s new testing features

Writing ETL Jobs with C# using Rhino ETL by Paul Barriere @ Dallas C# SIG UG on 03/04/2010

Shawn Weisfeld — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 12:18:35 GMT

Another in the series of recordings that I have done for INETA Live.

Video:

Abstract:

ETL stands for Extract, Transform, Load. For example, you receive files or other data from vendors or other third parties which you need to manipulate in some way and then insert into your own database. Rhino ETL is an open source C# package that I have used for dozens of production processes quite successfully. By using C# for your ETL tasks you can create testable, reusable components more easily than with tools like SSIS and DTS.

Bio:

Paul is currently working a contract for Improving Enterprises. He has been enjoying software development since 1996 for multiple industries such as small software ISVs, insurance, control systems, retail and finance/hedge fund companies. For more info see http://webpaul.net

Sponsor My Rig

Shawn Weisfeld — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:55:17 GMT

If you have been watching my blog over the past few months you would have seen that I have been doing a large amount of recordings for local user groups (Over 100 hours of video with over 2600 views). To do this I have invested about $6,000 in hardware & software. In an effort to recover some of that I am looking for willing companies that would like to purchase ad space. Here is the deal for a $500 donation you will get to put a 2 slide advertisement at the beginning of my next 5 videos (these are permanently embedded into the video), and if you send me a sticker I will place it on the case I put the rig in to haul it to all the meetings. This offer is limited to the first 12 companies that want to participate. Please note I am NOT doing this to make money. I only need to recoup the funds that I have put into it. Please also note that while I am involved with INETA and most of the stuff I record gets posted to INETA Live, this sponsorship has NOTHING to do with INETA or any other company I work for/volunteer with, it is a sponsorship of/for me personally.

If you are interested or have any questions please drop me an email at shawn@shawnweisfeld.com.

Here are some links to some of my recent recordings:

Expose your Entity Framework Data Models with WCF Data Services by Shawn Weisfeld @ Dallas ASP.NET UG on 02/23/2010

A Look at Windows Workflow 4.0 by Anderson Imes @ D/FW Connected Systems UG on 02/10/2010

A Tale of Two Threads by Casey Watson @ Dallas C# SIG on 02/04/2010

Event Driven Architecture by Chris Patterson @ North Dallas .NET UG on 02/03/2010

Visual Studio 2010 and Team Foundation Server 2010 Overview by Trent Nix@ Dallas .NET Users Group on 1/14/2010

Here are the details of what is in my recording rig: Click Here

Here is a picture of the case the rig lives in:

My Recording Rig v2

Shawn Weisfeld — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:26:03 GMT

A while back I wrote a post about the contents of “My Recording Rig”, well it is undergoing a makeover and I figured I should update everyone. Read the original post (http://www.drowningintechnicaldebt.com/ShawnWeisfeld/archive/0001/01/01/my-recording-rig-v1.aspx) for the background information behind the rig.

Now I was having 2 problems.

1) The first was it was a pain to run 50 foot of Ethernet from the front of the room to the back. To that end I have added a wireless router to my “plastic box”.

2) The second issue was with the wireless microphone. The Audo Technica microphone I originally had gave me lots of static, I swapped it out for one from RadioShack (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2131022) while a bit better this one had the same issue. I have ordered a Shure PG1288/PG185 Vocal/Lavalier Combo Wireless System (http://www.shure.com/ProAudio/Products/WirelessMicrophones/us_pro_pg1288-pg185). This looks to be a better quality system then I had before, additionally it supports “Dual Channel”. this means that I should be able to record 2 people at the same time. I system I got has one hand held and 1 lapel microphone, we will see how it works when it gets here. . . .

The third thing I did was purchase a large hard sided suit case and a bunch of foam padding to build a “travel case” for my rig. When I get that part all put together I will take pictures and post it to my blog.

Here is a picture of my “plastic box”:

Here is an updated parts list:

Item Qty Price Ext. Price URL

VGA2Ethernet (aka Frame Grabber) 1 $ 1,600.00 $ 1,600.00 http://www.epiphan.com/

Wireless Router 1 $ 55.00 $ 55.00 http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/711445/Linksys-By-Cisco-WRT54G2-Wireless-G/

2 Port VGA Splitter 1 $ 30.00 $ 30.00 http://www.frys.com/product/5944664

Plastic Box 1 $ 2.00 $ 2.00

25 foot extension cord 2 $ 15.00 $ 30.00

Power Strip 2 $ 10.00 $ 20.00

JVC GR-D870 Mini DV Video Camera 1 $ 200.00 $ 200.00 http://camcorder.jvc.com/product.jsp?modelId=MODL028241&pathId=26&page=10

Wireless Lapel Microphone 1 $ 550.00 $ 550.00 http://www.shure.com/ProAudio/Products/WirelessMicrophones/us_pro_pg1288-pg185

10 foot 1394 cable 1 $ 46.00 $ 46.00 http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/311615/Iogear-IEEE-1394-Firewire-4-Pin/

Headphones 1 $ 10.00 $ 10.00

Powerful Laptop 1 $ 1,600.00 $ 1,600.00 64 bit, quad core, lots-o-ram

Wirecast from Telestream 1 $ 450.00 $ 450.00 http://www.telestream.net/wire-cast/overview.htm

Camtasia 1 $ 300.00 $ 300.00 http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp

Expression Encoder 1 $ 600.00 $ 600.00 http://www.microsoft.com/expression/

Suitcase for Rig 1 $ 180.00 $ 180.00

Foam Padding for Rig 1 $ 95.00 $ 95.00

$ 5,768.00

DFW Technically Speaking on March 27th

Shawn Weisfeld — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 14:59:16 GMT

If you are looking to brush up on your presentation skills, or just want to be better prepared the next time the boss wants you to demo your work this is a must attend event.

More Information at http://technicallyspeaking.dfwnav.com

Expose your Entity Framework Data Models with WCF Data Services by Shawn Weisfeld @ Dallas ASP.NET UG on 02/23/2010

Shawn Weisfeld — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 20:54:24 GMT

Another in the series of recordings I have done for INETA Live.

Video

Slides/Code Download:
Click Here

Abstract:

The WCF Data Services (a.k.a. ADO.NET Data Services or code name Astoria) framework consists of a combination of patterns and libraries that enable the creation and consumption of data services for the web. This is implemented in done in a standards based (OData) RESTful way serializing the data to JSON or AtomPub. In this talk we will introduce the WCF Data Services platform, talk about the basic underpinnings of the technology. Then we will build a simple Entity Framework Data Model and using WCF Data Services expose it to a simple web application. Through this process we will discuss retrieving data via URI and LINQ to ADO.NET Data Services.

Bio:

Shawn (http://www.shawnweisfeld.com) is a Staff Developer at a fortune 100 company. There he specializes in intranet & smart client development for internal line of business applications. Besides his day job Shawn also is an Adjunct Professor at The Florida Institute of Technology. He also does freelance software development work for local small businesses and training. In his free time he volunteers with INETA NorAm (http://www.ineta.org/) where he serves at the Director of Community Activities. Shawn started his career at his family business in Port St. Lucie FL while working on his undergraduate degree in Business Administration at the University of Central Florida and after a year off Shawn moved back to Orlando to pursue a Masters degree in Management Information Systems at The University of Central Florida and has since earned a second Masters degree in Computer Information Systems from Florida Institute of Technology. Shawn was awarded the Microsoft C# Most Valuable Professional award for 2007 & 2008. Shawn is an avid technology presenter and since July of 2005 Shawn has presented at many user group events, and even got to speak for Microsoft at the launch of Visual Studio 2008.

Improving Performance on a Windows 7 Netbook

Dennis Bottjer — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:36:01 GMT

I recently purchased an ASUS Eee PC Seashell 1005HA-PU17-BU 10.1-Inch Blue Netbook - 10.5 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Starter). In the default configuration the system only comes with one gigabyte of ram. So naturally, I wanted to crank this up some. I found a memory expansion kit that included a two gigabyte memory stick and an eight gigabyte SD Card. After installing the two gigabytes of ram Windows 7 still reported only 1 gigabyte of ram. To resolve this situation I needed to enter the bios. To do so on the EeePC hold down the F2 keep after the system is turned on. Just pressing it once took me to an Windows 7 boot menu. All I had to do was enter the BIOS, Save and Exit. This cause the system to recognize the additional memory. I then added the eight gigabyte SD card and enabled ready boost. After these changes I did notice improved performance and less lag.

Technorati Tags: Windows 7,Improving Performance,Windows 7 Tips

A Look at Windows Workflow 4.0 by Anderson Imes @ D/FW Connected Systems UG on 02/10/2010

Shawn Weisfeld — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 19:22:24 GMT

Another in the series of recordings I have done for INETA Live.

Abstract:

Come join us as Anderson Imes gives us an overview of Workflow 4.0 features, including Workflow Services and the Windows Server Application Fabric.

Bio:

Anderson Imes is a Senior Programmer for Mary Kay and an active member of Microsoft's Connected Technology Advisor program. Anderson is currently delivering software solutions built on .NET, including Windows Communication Foundation and Windows Workflow. You can learn more about Anderson from his blog http://theimes.com.

Supporting Non XP Mode Virtual Machines on Windows 7 with Virtual PC

Dennis Bottjer — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:55:31 GMT

Issue:

It is widely now that Windows 7 supports a feature know as XP Mode. This feature leverage Virtual PC to load an XP Virtual machine allowing Windows 7 users to continue supporting legacy applications. However, what may not be as commonly known or at least quite as obvious is how to configure Virtual PC to host another Virtual Machine beside the XP Mode VM.

Solution:

The secret is locating the VPCWizzard.exe Executable within the system32 directory. As shown in the screen shot below, you must find the VPCWizzard.exe and run this executable to configure a new virtual machine within Virtual PC on Windows 7.

The VPCWizzard.exe will allow a new virtual machine to be created that uses an existing virtual disk.

Once a new Virtual Machine has been configured using the VPCWizzard.exe the virtual machine can be started and managed just like the XP Mode VM.

Technorati Tags: Windows 7,Virtual PC,Virtual Machines on WIndows 7

Society of Computational Science & Robot Vision: Follow the Leader

Shawn Weisfeld — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:22:23 GMT

While working on my Masters at FIT I wrote a paper about some vision processing that I did with Microsoft Robotics Studio (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/robotics/default.aspx) and and iRobot Create (http://store.irobot.com/shop/index.jsp?categoryId=3311368). I was asked if I would post it on a new website that one of my colleagues at FIT is putting together Society of Computational Science (http://www.societycomputationalscience.org). I thought I would also take the opportunity to post it here (http://cid-80ce78240aa8df49.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/RobotShawnWeisfeld.pdf), as I loose anything that is not on my blog. . . .

Here is a picture of my robot and I at a presentation that I did at the Orlando Bar Camp a few years back.

A Tale of Two Threads by Casey Watson @ Dallas C# SIG on 02/04/2010

Shawn Weisfeld — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:59:04 GMT

Another in the series of recordings that I have done for INETA Live.

Abstract:

A user interface, unresponsive, unable to provide feedback to a frustrated user. A complex back-end process, performing intense calculations, consuming every available resource. A single thread, starving for more processor time than the operating system can possibly provide. In a world of multi-core machines, one framework stands above the rest, ready to take advantage of today's modern hardware. It's journey, fraught with peril and danger. It's weapons, an arsenal of synchronization mechanisms. Coming this Thursday, from the makers of quality software, the Dallas C# Special Interest Group presents "A Tale of Two Threads". Join us as we take a deep dive into the inner workings of the current .NET threading model and learn how to avoid the many dangers that a multi-threaded application can present. Fear multi-threading no longer and learn how to make your application more robust, more responsive and simpler to debug.

Bio:

Casey Watson (http://caseywatson.com/, http://twitter.com/_caseywatson) is a Senior Consultant with Improving Enterprises, Microsoft Certified Solution Developer, avid blogger and proud father. For the last five years, Casey has been focused on helping customers realize business value through the development of quality software products, primarily on the Microsoft .NET platform. As a Certified Scrum Master, Casey is a firm proponent of agile practices and deeply believes in the value of product over process. While at Improving, his focus has been on 3.5 technologies such as WCF and WPF, building rich Windows-based applications for several major financial and retail firms. While not blogging, coding, or updating his Twitter status (@_caseywatson), Casey enjoys spending time with his family and never turns down an ice cold bottle of Blue Moon.

Event Driven Architecture by Chris Patterson @ North Dallas .NET UG on 02/03/2010

Shawn Weisfeld — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 09:43:36 GMT

Another in the series of recordings that I have been doing for INETA Live

Abstract:

In this presentation, I will explain event driven architecture, describe the different types of events, demonstrate how events can be related and orchestrated, and provide a basic understanding of how this method can drive the architecture of enterprise systems. In addition to understanding the concepts of event driven architecture, we will explore a working sample built using an open-source .NET messaging framework called Mass Transit.

Bio:

Chris Patterson (http://phatboyg.lostechies.com/) is a Senior Architect for RelayHealth, the connectivity business of the nation's leading healthcare services company. There he is responsible for the architecture and development of applications and services that accelerate care delivery by connecting patients, providers, pharmacies, and ﬁnancial institutions. Previously, he led the development of a new content delivery platform for TV Guide, enabling the launch of a new entertainment network seen on thousands of cable television systems. In his spare time, Chris is an active open-source developer and a primary contributor to MassTransit, a .NET service bus and messaging framework. In 2009, he was awarded the Most Valued Professional award by Microsoft for his technical community contributions.

Upgrade from SSIS 2005 to 2008 broke SSIS Logging

Shawn Weisfeld — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 12:02:09 GMT

My DBA upgraded our server from 2005 to 2008 and when it did my SSIS packages stopped logging messages.

Problem 1:

Well the default logging mechanism in 2005 logs to the dbo.sysdtslog90 table. Well in 2008 they changed the table name to dbo.sysssislog. Not a big deal, but you will never find something if you look in the wrong place.

Problem 2:

Well now that I am looking at the right table, I noticed that my events were NOT showing up. In particular I was looking for the OnPreExecute and OnPostExecute methods. Poof gone, after many searches I stumbled across the following posts:

https://connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer/feedback/details/491508/logging-of-ssis-tasks-are-incomplete-when-run-by-sql-agent-job?wa=wsignin1.0

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sqlintegrationservices/thread/511502a6-99d6-4693-94da-2c317c3f59c6

Ahh, bug in SSIS, I am not nuts, whew, now what. Well on the forum John Welch suggests adding event handlers to the package and using an Execute SQL task to log the event. I only have two packages, it is late, while painful, I will do that. However, by dumb luck I forgot to add the SQL Task to one of my packages, and it still worked. Interesting.

So long story short all I needed to do was add the event handlers, nothing else.

So my package when from this:

To This:

and Poof Success!

ASP.NET Dynamic Data Quickie: Using an Entity Data Model from a Class Library

Shawn Weisfeld — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 11:11:49 GMT

I have been going around Texas giving a talk on ASP.NET Dynamic Data and got a follow up question: “If my Entity Data Model is in a class library, how to I get ASP.NET Dynamic Data to see it?” I thought I would put together a quick video explaining the steps.

Here is the video:

And if you wanted to see the original presentation here you go!

We Are Microsoft 2010: Thank you

Shawn Weisfeld — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:25:48 GMT

I would like to thank all those that helped put the event together, most notably Toi Wright and Chris Koenig. I had a wonderful team (Cedric, Jag, and Rick) without whom this project would have never been completed. I also have to give a big thank you to Paddy who works with the charity, as she spent many hours with me prior to the event figuring out the requirements. I had a great time working on the website for the Lil Goldman Early Learning Center (http://www.lilgoldmanschool.com) and am honored that the crowd thought our application was worthy of 2nd place. I would also like to thank those that nominated me for the “Loudest Leader” Award, and just remember FIX IT!

Demo of our application

My Awesome Team

From Left to Right: Richard Campbell (of DotNetRocks Fame), me (Shawn Weisfeld), Jag Sandhu, Cedric Yao, Rick Michaels, and Chris Koenig

2nd Place Medal

Loudest Leader Award

Visual Studio 2010 and Team Foundation Server 2010 Overview by Trent Nix@ Dallas .NET Users Group on 1/14/2010

Shawn Weisfeld — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 11:27:01 GMT

Abstract:

Visual Studio2010 with Team Foundation Server 2010 is Microsoft’s latest and most anticipated release of its Application Lifecycle Management tools. Join us as we explore the new features and capabilities of the collection of tools that make up the toolset formerly known as Team System. IntelliTrace, automated UI testing, Test Impact analysis, hierarchical work items, Gated Check-In – it’s all there. Developers, testers, UX designers, and project managers alike will find something interesting in this session.

Bio:

Trent Nix is a Dallas, Texas-based consultant with Notion Solutions, a consulting services firm helping companies improve their software development capabilities through the use of Visual Studio and Team Foundation Server. Trent is a frequent speaker on Team Foundation Server and application lifecycle management topics at user groups and industry events. When he's not immersed in the ins and outs of software process and Team System, Trent hacks away at web application development and Silverlight. Contact Trent via Twitter at @trentnix or at http://www.trentnix.com.

Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate IntelliTrace by Chris Tullier @ Dallas .NET Users Group on 1/14/2010

Shawn Weisfeld — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:32:35 GMT

Abstract:

Traditional debuggers show you the state of your application at the current time with limited information about events that occurred in the past. You must either infer events that occurred in the past, based on the state of your application at the current time, or restart the application to re-create past events. With IntelliTrace, you can actually see events that occurred in the past and the context in which they occurred. This reduces the number of restarts that are required to debug your application and the possibility that an error will fail to reproduce when you rerun the application.

Bio:

Chris is a Principal Consultant at Improving Enterprises and has been helping clients adopt Visual Studio Team System since early 2006. Chris believes that effective software development is achieved through understanding the business opportunity, knowledge of current technology, and use of appropriate software development processes. Chris has consulted with companies in industries including Communications, Energy, Financial Services, Healthcare, Real Estate and Retail to propose, design, and implement custom solutions involving messaging, collaboration, and integration. Currently Chris is a Visual Studio Team System MVP and contributes to the VSTS community by creating and maintaining TeamSystemLive.com and co-organizing the Dallas VSTS User Group. Chris graduated with honors from the University of Texas at Dallas with a Bachelors of Science in Computer Science.

Modeling with “Oslo” by Stuart Celarier @ D/FW Connected Systems User Group on 1/13/2010

Shawn Weisfeld — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 10:35:35 GMT

Another in the series of UG presentations that I have recorded for INETA Live.

Abstract:

Microsoft project codenamed "Oslo" was recently branded as SQL Server Modeling Services, but don't get tripped up by the name. SQL Server Modeling still contains textual and graphical modeling tools and a language for modeling data and creating domain specific languages (DSL) and is still being developed by the Connected Systems team. It is a good choice for building enterprise-level data-driven applications and it is also contains general-purpose technology for raising the level of abstraction for creating other types of systems. We'll explore where "Oslo" has been and where it appears to be going, discuss what it means to model in the first place, and then dive into demos using the November 2009 SQL Server Modeling Community Technology Preview (CTP) and Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2.

Bio:

Stuart Celarier (http://visualstuart.net) is a software architect and technical lead in Portland, Oregon. He is a Microsoft MVP on Connected Systems and a member of the INETA Speakers Bureau. He is a director of Portland Code Camp and a chair of the Birds-of-a-Feather track at seven Tech•Ed and PDC conferences. Stuart is passionate about new and emerging technologies that fundamentally transform software systems and how we create them.

Using Visual Studio 2010 to Improve Software Quality by Chris Menegay on 1/11/2010

Shawn Weisfeld — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 10:27:00 GMT

Another in the series of UG presentations that I have recorded for INETA Live.

Abstract:

Come join Microsoft and Notion Solutions as we present the latest tools and techniques for managing your software process to attain quality software using Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 and Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) tools provided with this release. These new tools provide significant value beyond what is available with Microsoft Visual Studio Team System 2008.

Getting Familiar with the New Visual Studio 2010: This is an overview of Visual Studio 2010 and ALM tools and highlights the difference between Visual Studio Team System 2005/2008 and the new Visual Studio 2010, including the new Team Foundation Server features, the new modeling and debugging tools, as well as the latest in capabilities for managing and performing testing.

Creating and Implementing Team Plans: Quality cannot be assured without a plan for measuring quality. We’ll show how you can use Microsoft test and lab manager to plan your testing efforts.

Managing and Using Test Cases: Once testing is planned, you can create and run test cases, including test automation and results tracking.

Setting Up and Managing Virtual Test Labs: Microsoft’s testing platform leads the way with cutting edge features to manage virtual labs for testing. You will see how to create lab environments, use them for testing and snapshot them for developer reproduction.

Improving Defect Reproduction with Historical Debugging: One of the goals of reporting defects is to give the development team enough information to reproduce and correct the defect. Historical debugging, video capture and system information improves the ability of the development team to reproduce the defect.

Learning What to Test with Test Impact Analysis: Developers and testers often don’t know what the impact is of application changes. Test impact analysis recommends test cases that should be run based on the changes being made to an application.

Bio:

At Notion Solutions, Inc. our primary focus is to maximize your success with Team System. Our process is unique. We work with you to understand your environment and culture. We ask questions. We provide constant communication. And most important, we deliver a truly holistic approach to adopting Microsoft Visual Studio Team System.

Each engagement is designed to support your business objectives. Using this collaborative technique, Notion assists you with solutions to define and implement a consistent and predictable process to developing software that works within the constraints of your organization.

Contact Information

Email us at info@notionsolutions.com or call Becky Madison @ 972.607.4833

Part 1

Part 2

We Are Microsoft (aka GiveCamp Dallas) 2010 Recordings

Shawn Weisfeld — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 02:20:35 GMT

I had a great time at the event this past weekend. With the help of a few stand in camera operators (thanks Todd, Bill & Rick), I was able to capture most of the meetings during the weekend. Here they are for your viewing pleasure.

Click on the image to watch the video.

BravoTECH Hosts 2010 Microsoft Charity Challenge, Dallas TX

Opening Kick Off Meeting
by Toi Wright

Closing Award Presentation
by Toi Wright

SiteFinity for Developers
by Gabe Sumner
http://www.sitefinitywatch.com

DotNetNuke for Developers
by Jason Kergosien
http://dallas.dnnug.net

Team Foundation for Developers
by Omar Villarreal
http://www.ddnug.net

SiteFinity for Charities
by Gabe Sumner
http://www.sitefinitywatch.com

DotNetNuke for Charities
by Jason Kergosien
http://dallas.dnnug.net

Top 10 Extreme Social Media Promotion Tips
by Giovanni Gallucci
http://facebook.com/giovanni.gallucci

Charity Demo's

AVANCE - Dallas

Beacon Hill Preparatory Institute

Bryan's House

Dallas Chinese Community Center

Fine Arts Chamber Players

Grace Flight of America

Legal Hospice of Texas

Lil Goldman Early Learning Center

New Life Children's Home

Pre-GED School

Second Wind Dallas Charities

St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store of Dallas

The Aidmatrix Foundation, Inc.

The Arc of Greater Tarrant County

The Samaritan Inn

The Turning Point Rape Crisis Center

Theatre Three

Therapeutic Riding of Texas (TROT)

Trinity River Audubon Center

We Help Ourselves (WHO)

Entity Framework Day 2 by Zeeshan Hirani on 01/02/2010

Shawn Weisfeld — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 16:12:52 GMT

Another in the series of UG presentations that I have recorded for INETA Live.

Abstract:

Zeeshan Hirani (http://weblogs.asp.net/zeeshanhirani) is working on a new book of Entity Framework Recipes for Apress (http://amzn.com/1430227036). In this talk he gives us a preview of some of the things that he will be covering in his book. Entity Framework Recipes provides an exhaustive collection of ready-to-use code solutions for Microsoft’s Entity Framework, Microsoft’s vision for the future of data access. Entity Framework is a model-centric data access platform with an ocean of new concepts and patterns for developers to learn. With this book, you will learn the core concepts of Entity Framework through a broad range of clear and concise solutions to everyday data access tasks. Armed with this experience, you will be ready to dive deep into Entity Framework, experiment with new approaches, and develop ways to solve even the most difficult data access challenges. If you are a developer who likes to learn by example, then this is the right book for you.

Gives ready-to-use, real-world recipes to help you with everyday tasks

Provides guideposts for learning core concepts

Maps out key landmarks for experimenting with your own solutions

What you’ll learn

Solve the most common data access problems using Entity Framework.

Implement basic data access design patterns using Entity Framework.

Seamlessly model your solutions across both code and data.

Improve data access performance.

Use data binding to simplify and reduce your code.

Leverage the recipes to empower your own exploration of Entity Framework.

Who is this book for?

This book is for anyone learning Microsoft’s Entity Framework—Microsoft’s new and primary data access platform. If you have ever struggled to learn a new technology, programming model, or way of doing something, you know how helpful simple, real-world examples can be. For the beginning developer, this book provides concrete examples for common data access tasks. For developers with experience with previous Microsoft access platforms, this book provides a task-by-task mapping between previous approaches and the patterns used in Entity Framework.

Bio:

Zeeshan Hirani (http://weblogs.asp.net/zeeshanhirani) is a senior developer at CheaperThanDirt.com. He specializes mainly in ASP.NET, AJAX, and leveraging OR-mapping solutions like LINQ and Entity Framework in business applications. He has written several articles for CodeProject.com and is an active member in the user-group community in Dallas/Fort Worth. He is a frequent blogger.

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

MOQ and PEX @ Dallas C# SIG on 1/8/2010 by Latish Sehgal

Shawn Weisfeld — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 16:03:43 GMT

Another in the series of UG presentations that I have recorded for INETA Live.

Abstract:

Do dependencies in your Unit Tests keep you up at night?

Do your tests pass only when the stars are aligned and your database and file system are in a certain state?

Are you tired of seeing your Unit Tests end up as Integration Tests?

What if we told you that you won't have to worry about dependencies in your unit tests EVER AGAIN?

Then join us at the Dallas C# SIG for an introduction to MOQ. MOQ is an intuitive, type-safe and easy to learn mocking library that supports mocking interface as well as classes. Its API is extremely simple and straightforward, and doesn't require any prior knowledge or experience with mocking concepts.
We'll also take a look at PEX, a white-box test generation tool for .NET from Microsoft Research. Right from the Visual Studio code editor, PEX finds interesting input-output values of your methods, which you can save as a small test suite with high code coverage. PEX also enables Parameterized Unit Testing, an extension of traditional unit testing that reduces test maintenance costs.

Bio:

Latish is a .NET consultant with Improving Enterprises (http://improvingenterprises.com), very passionate about software development and can be reached via his blog (http://www.dotnetsurfers.com) or @Latish on Twitter (http://twitter.com/latish).

We Are Microsoft aka GiveCamp Dallas: Developer Orientation by Toi Wright on 01/06/2010

Shawn Weisfeld — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 10:35:12 GMT

Another in the series of UG presentations that I have recorded.

Abstract:

We Are Microsoft Charity Challenge Weekend
January 15 - 17 2010

This 3-day event matches developers with charities to develop applications for those charities. At the end of the 3 days, all of the participants will vote and the winners will be proclaimed champion coders.

More information at http://www.wearemicrosoft.com

GiveCamp: Coding for Charity

GiveCamp is a weekend-long event where technology professionals – from designers, developers and database administrators to marketers and web strategists – donate their time to provide solutions for non-profit organizations. Since its inception in 2007, the GiveCamp program has provided benefits to over 150 charities, with a value of developer and designer time exceeding $100,000 in services!

More information at http://givecamp.org

Enabling Windows 7 God Mode!

Dennis Bottjer — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 22:38:34 GMT

I used Windows 7 Beta, Windows 7 RC, and now the RTM. All three have been quite impressive. Today, I get an email from a friend in LA that I thought was surely too good to be true. But sure enough it freaking works. My jaw hit the floor!

From Email:

As nice as Windows 7 is to use let’s face it — we always want total control over the computing environment. What we really want is to have total control in an easy-to-use form that puts everything at our fingertips. Enter the super secret Windows 7 God Mode.
God Mode is a simple folder that brings all aspects of Windows 7 control in a single place. It collects all of the Control Panel functions, interface customization, accessibility options, just about every aspect of controlling Windows 7 into a single place.

God Mode is easy to set up too, just do this:

Create a new folder anywhere.
Rename the folder by pasting this name exactly as it appears (copy it first):
GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Technorati Tags: Windows 7,Windows 7 God Mode,Tips and Tricks

Cumulative Update Package 2 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1

Dennis Bottjer — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 00:57:06 GMT

Issues:

SharePoint 2010 Foundation and Server require the Cumulative Update Package 2 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 to use SQL Server 2008 as the backend Database.

Solution:

SQL Server 2008 will not install properly on Windows 2008 Server without SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1. Download Download SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1.

To use SQL Server 2008 for the backend database for SharePoint Foundation or Server download Download and Install Cumulative Update Package 2 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1.

Note: Installing the Cumulative Update Package 2 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 will update SQL Server’s build number to 10.00.2714.

Additional Information:

Fixes Contained in the Cumulative Update

Technorati Tags: SharePoint,SharePoint 2010,SQL Server 2008,SQL Server Updates,Installing SQL 2008

Continue Learning, Write Down Goals, and you will Succeed!

Dennis Bottjer — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 00:39:27 GMT

For most of my life I’ve been a fan of goal settings. Furthermore, I usually like writing goals down. However, I must admit that although a fan, I have not remained consistently faithful to the practice year after year. I can tell you though that the practice does work. Sure it may sometimes take a little longer than planned. But the process of setting a goal, writing down, and then periodically checking progress is a good thing.

Last year I set a goal to read six books. The logic was simple. Surely, I could read at least one book every two months. At the end of 2009 here were the results:

Million Dollar Consulting: The Professional's Guide to Growing a Practice

Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time

Secrets from a Creativity Coach

Eric Sink on the Business of Software (Expert's Voice)

Little Red Book of Sales Answers: 99.5 Real World Answers That Make Sense, Make Sales, and Make Money (Jeffrey Gitomer's Little Books)

Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life

One Minute Sales Person, The: The Quickest Way to Sell People on Yourself, Your Services, Products, or Ideas--at Work and in Life

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't

Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction

Carolyn 101: Business Lessons from The Apprentice's Straight Shooter

Inside Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (Pro Developer)

Professional SharePoint 2007 Web Content Management Development: Building Publishing Sites with Office SharePoint Server 2007 (Wrox Programmer to Programmer)

The Facebook Era: Tapping Online Social Networks to Build Better Products, Reach New Audiences, and Sell More Stuff

The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich (Library Edition)

The Change Makers: From Carnegie to Gates, How the Great Entrepreneurs Transformed Ideas into Industries

Why is this Important?

To some a reading list of fifteen books may seem like a lot. To others laughable. I believe Teddy Roosevelt read a book per day. This blog post and list is not intend to gloat but to simply share a few key believes.

Software Development is a career where our skills become obsolete rapidly. So how do we stay valuable? We read about the latest technologies and never stop learning.

Wisdom beyond ones own experiences can be gained, to some degree, through the shared experiences of others. Remember, success leaves clues for us to follow.

It’s important to have an understanding of business environment, because many of, dare I say most of us, don’t design and build operating systems or development environments. Most of us develop software solutions for business users and they don’t speak GEEK!

Unexpected Find:

Secrets from a Creativity Coach – This book was a birthday present from my mother. The book was a quick read and a book I couldn’t put down. Any Geek that believes development is an expression on his/her creativity will find value in this book.

The Book Every SharePoint Developer Should Own!

Inside Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (Pro Developer)

Favorite Business Book:

The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich (Library Edition) - One of the core messages of this book is not work for work sake. Think of Office Space and the TPS Reports. How many employees are involved in creating, reviewing, approving, etc. those TPS reports. This book has value to the employee that wants streamline his / her workday and to the self-employed.

Should have read long, long, ago:

Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction – I’ve read bits and pieces of this book over the years but kept failing to read it cover-to-cover. This book is a cornerstone in good development fundamentals. I plan to review it again this year.

Share Your Recommendations:

If you are reading this and have any goal setting tips or experiences to share, please leave a comment.

Also, I am looking for some new reading material for 2010 so recommendations are welcome. :)

Titanic Easter Egg

Dennis Bottjer — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 04:31:57 GMT

I was watching Dr. Who and The Doctor was stuck in 1969. He communicated with the future by embedding Easter Eggs within DVD’s that a friend from the future would own. This episode made me wonder if any of the DVD’s we owned contained Easter Eggs. A quick search revealed that several movies we owned had Easter Eggs. One particular funny one is on the 3rd Titanic Disk. It is an animated rabbit version of Titanic.

Titanic Animated Rabbit Easter Egg

Insert Disk 3

Select the “Special Features Gallery.”

Next, choose the “STILL GALLERIES.”

Next, choose the “PRODUCTION ARTWORK.” But, don’t click “OK.”

Highlight, “view entire gallery” and press the up arrow on your remote control.

A downward pointing blue arrow should appear.

Click on the arrow and a spoof of rabbits acting out scenes from the movie will play.

Perhaps – Stop, Think, Dev SharePoint?

Dennis Bottjer — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 04:54:19 GMT

Reference: Putting the Brakes on SharePoint with JQuery

Thoughts:

I remember the dinner conversation and follow-up emails quite well. Eric was kind enough to share his opinions and experiences further explaining some points I was confused on. Once we dropped the thread, it seemed more more a lesson in communication and properly articulating a point then a technical debate for me. Thinking back to the original dinner conversation I wish I had articulated my point more clearly. For after an email or two it became clear that we were saying many of the same things just slightly different.

Recommendation:

JQuery is just a tool that can be used to solve a problem. It is not always the right tool. In the example Eric uses he demonstrates a solution where the want to use JQuery outweighs the benefit provided. As a result performance was impacted.

Solution:

It would seem obvious not to use JQuery for such a style modification and accomplish it via CSS. Unfortunately, too often this is not what happens. Basically, we fall into the situation where to a hammer everything looks like a nail. The core of the issue is developing on autopilot and not thinking about what is being developed.

I guess I reminded of a statement my friend Roy often makes “…there’s no patch for stupid.”

Long Story Short:

I agree 100% with everything Eric states.

There is a HUGE potential for overuse and abuse with JQuery. I would even add-in FLASH, Sliverlight, etc.

As Covey’s 7 Habits suggest “Know your outcome.”

What problem are you trying to solve?

How many concurrent users do you need to support?

Think (Design) before you do.

Test, Test, Test (Visual Studio Stress Test, Yahoo YSlow)

Just some additional thoughts. Hope they added some value. If you have anything to add to the conversation please leave a comment.

Entity Framework by Zeeshan Hirani on 12/19/2009

Shawn Weisfeld — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 10:44:18 GMT

Another in the series of UG presentations that I have recorded for INETA Live.

Abstract:

Zeeshan Hirani (http://weblogs.asp.net/zeeshanhirani) is working on a new book of Entity Framework Recipes for Apress (http://amzn.com/1430227036). In this talk he gives us a preview of some of the things that he will be covering in his book. Entity Framework Recipes provides an exhaustive collection of ready-to-use code solutions for Microsoft’s Entity Framework, Microsoft’s vision for the future of data access. Entity Framework is a model-centric data access platform with an ocean of new concepts and patterns for developers to learn. With this book, you will learn the core concepts of Entity Framework through a broad range of clear and concise solutions to everyday data access tasks. Armed with this experience, you will be ready to dive deep into Entity Framework, experiment with new approaches, and develop ways to solve even the most difficult data access challenges. If you are a developer who likes to learn by example, then this is the right book for you.

Gives ready-to-use, real-world recipes to help you with everyday tasks

Provides guideposts for learning core concepts

Maps out key landmarks for experimenting with your own solutions

What you’ll learn

Solve the most common data access problems using Entity Framework.

Implement basic data access design patterns using Entity Framework.

Seamlessly model your solutions across both code and data.

Improve data access performance.

Use data binding to simplify and reduce your code.

Leverage the recipes to empower your own exploration of Entity Framework.

Who is this book for?

This book is for anyone learning Microsoft’s Entity Framework—Microsoft’s new and primary data access platform. If you have ever struggled to learn a new technology, programming model, or way of doing something, you know how helpful simple, real-world examples can be. For the beginning developer, this book provides concrete examples for common data access tasks. For developers with experience with previous Microsoft access platforms, this book provides a task-by-task mapping between previous approaches and the patterns used in Entity Framework.

Bio:

Zeeshan Hirani (http://weblogs.asp.net/zeeshanhirani) is a senior developer at CheaperThanDirt.com. He specializes mainly in ASP.NET, AJAX, and leveraging OR-mapping solutions like LINQ and Entity Framework in business applications. He has written several articles for CodeProject.com and is an active member in the user-group community in Dallas/Fort Worth. He is a frequent blogger.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

SharePoint Saturday Kansas City Presentation

Dennis Bottjer — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:22:28 GMT

Last Saturday (12/12/2009) was the 2nd Annual Kansas City SharePoint Saturday. Unfortunately, this event was bitter sweet in that Becky Isserman is moving to New Jersey. We wish her well. SPSKC was a great event with over 200 people in attendance. I presented after lunch and the session was well attended. Thank you to all those in attendance and as promised you can download the slides used for the presentation below.

SharePoint 2010 Developer Overview Presentation (Download)

Note: The slide deck is a culmination of slides from a variety of sources including the SPC 2009.

This presentation is similar to the presentation I gave a few days earlier at the T.D. Williamson SharePoint Lunch and Learn.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of events such as SharePoint Saturdays are seeing old friends and making new friends. To name a few it was good catching up with:

Becky Isserman @mosslover

Joel Oleson

Kevin Hughes

JD Wade

Joy Earles

Mark Rackley

Corey Roth

Michael Lotter

Cathy Dew

Thanks for a great event and I hope to see you all again next year!

Related Posts:

SharePoint 2010 Foundation Where is the Developer Dashboard?

SharePoint 2010 Foundation Development / Demonstration Installation Guide

SharePoint Team Announces SharePoint 2010 System Requirements

Item	Qty	Price	Ext. Price	URL
VGA2Ethernet (aka Frame Grabber)	1	$ 1,600.00	$ 1,600.00	http://www.epiphan.com/
Wireless Router	1	$ 55.00	$ 55.00	http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/711445/Linksys-By-Cisco-WRT54G2-Wireless-G/
2 Port VGA Splitter	1	$ 30.00	$ 30.00	http://www.frys.com/product/5944664
Plastic Box	1	$ 2.00	$ 2.00
25 foot extension cord	2	$ 15.00	$ 30.00
Power Strip	2	$ 10.00	$ 20.00
JVC GR-D870 Mini DV Video Camera	1	$ 200.00	$ 200.00	http://camcorder.jvc.com/product.jsp?modelId=MODL028241&pathId=26&page=10
Wireless Lapel Microphone	1	$ 550.00	$ 550.00	http://www.shure.com/ProAudio/Products/WirelessMicrophones/us_pro_pg1288-pg185
10 foot 1394 cable	1	$ 46.00	$ 46.00	http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/311615/Iogear-IEEE-1394-Firewire-4-Pin/
Headphones	1	$ 10.00	$ 10.00
Powerful Laptop	1	$ 1,600.00	$ 1,600.00	64 bit, quad core, lots-o-ram
Wirecast from Telestream	1	$ 450.00	$ 450.00	http://www.telestream.net/wire-cast/overview.htm
Camtasia	1	$ 300.00	$ 300.00	http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp
Expression Encoder	1	$ 600.00	$ 600.00	http://www.microsoft.com/expression/
Suitcase for Rig	1	$ 180.00	$ 180.00
Foam Padding for Rig	1	$ 95.00	$ 95.00
			$ 5,768.00

BravoTECH Hosts 2010 Microsoft Charity Challenge, Dallas TX
Opening Kick Off Meeting by Toi Wright	Closing Award Presentation by Toi Wright

SiteFinity for Developers by Gabe Sumner http://www.sitefinitywatch.com	DotNetNuke for Developers by Jason Kergosien http://dallas.dnnug.net	Team Foundation for Developers by Omar Villarreal http://www.ddnug.net
SiteFinity for Charities by Gabe Sumner http://www.sitefinitywatch.com	DotNetNuke for Charities by Jason Kergosien http://dallas.dnnug.net	Top 10 Extreme Social Media Promotion Tips by Giovanni Gallucci http://facebook.com/giovanni.gallucci

Charity Demo's
AVANCE - Dallas	Beacon Hill Preparatory Institute
Bryan's House	Dallas Chinese Community Center
Fine Arts Chamber Players	Grace Flight of America
Legal Hospice of Texas	Lil Goldman Early Learning Center
New Life Children's Home	Pre-GED School
Second Wind Dallas Charities	St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store of Dallas
The Aidmatrix Foundation, Inc.	The Arc of Greater Tarrant County
The Samaritan Inn	The Turning Point Rape Crisis Center
Theatre Three	Therapeutic Riding of Texas (TROT)
Trinity River Audubon Center	We Help Ourselves (WHO)