Monday, March 15, 2010
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.
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.
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Rant start . . . .
I was in a meeting and we were talking about SSRS and I have heard yet again that Excel 2007 is great because it breaks the 65k record limit. That is wonderful, but IMHO, Microsoft has dropped the ball with SSRS 2008 since it is still using the BIFF file format.
From my read of Books Online (
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms159836.aspx), “Excel places limitations on exported reports due to the BIFF's format capabilities” but why are we still using BIFF and XLS? Why are we not using XLSX and the newer (heck it is 3 years old now) file format?
Ok, rant over. . . . thanks for listening.
Monday, March 08, 2010
Saturday, March 06, 2010
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
Friday, March 05, 2010
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:
Here are the details of what is in my recording rig: Click Here
Here is a picture of the case the rig lives in:
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:
Saturday, February 27, 2010
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
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
This Saturday (2/27) I will be giving my .NET Generics talk for the UT Dallas .NET UG in Richardson TX. If you are in the area please check it out (http://www.usergroupsupportservices.com/UGEventView.ugss?EventID=9160). If you cannot make it but are interested in seeing the talk, you can watch it online.
Abstract:
Generics let you tailor a method, class, structure, or interface to the precise data type it acts upon. In this session we will discuss what capabilities Generics provide to you the developer and how to use them in collections, and with delegates. We will also talk about creating your own generic classes and methods.
Download
PowerPoint & Demos
Bio:
Shawn Weisfeld (shawn@shawnweisfeld.com) is a Staff Developer at a fortune 100 company, currently located at Dallas TX facility. 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 (http://www.fit.edu). 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) and is a member of the Board of Directors and Mentor for North Texas. 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 - 2010. Shawn is an avid technology presenter and since July of 2005 Shawn has presented at many user group events, and even got to speak at the launch of Visual Studio. Shawn has served as the President of the Orlando .NET UG (http://www.onetug.org) from 2006 – 2008, and started the Developer Round Table UG (http://www.developerroundtable.com) in 2009. Shawn regularly attends, and records for INETA LIVE (http://live.ineta.org), many of the local user groups in the D/FW metroplex, including; D/FW Connected Systems UG, Dallas .NET UG, Dallas ASP.NET UG, Dallas C# Programming Sig, Dallas VSTS UG, North Dallas .NET UG, North Texas PC UG, UT Dallas .NET UG. So be sure to say hello if you see him.