Next Meeting: Lunch with .NET - August 25, 2008
Time: 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM
Location: Auburn Montgomery (AUM) Taylor Center, Room 214
Directions

Topic: Embrace Open Source on CodePlex
Presenter: Sara Ford, Program Manager for CodePlex.Com at Microsoft
Embrace Open Source on CodePlex - a look at the codeplex feature set, how codeplex operates, what projects we host, and why Microsoft is doing this open source thing. CodePlex is Microsoft's open source project hosting web site. You can use CodePlex to create new projects to share with the world, join others who have already started their own projects, or use the applications on this site and provide feedback.

Topic: LINQ in Action
Presenter: Jim Wooley, Microsoft MVP and author of the book "LINQ in Action"
LINQ, Language INtegrated Query, is a new extension to the Visual Basic and C# programming languages designed to simplify data queries and database interaction. It addresses O/R mapping issues by making query operations like SQL statements part of the programming language. Adding to its power, LINQ is extensible and can be used to query various data sources. It offers built-in support for querying in-memory collections like arrays or lists, XML, DataSets, and relational databases. Jim Wooley has been working with .Net since PDC 2000 and has been actively evangelizing LINQ since its announcement in 2005. He leads the Atlanta VB Study Group and serves as INETA Membership Manager for the Georgia region.

Topic: MSDN Roadshow
Presenter: Microsoft
More details to come…

Just a reminder...if you missed the Birmingham VS2008 launch you still have a chance to catch the event (even bigger) in Atlanta on April 29^th (Tuesday). The Birmingham event was sold out (as much as a free event could be) but there may still be some seat available in Atlanta. Unfortunately, I won’t be doing the VSTO and MOSS demos as I did in Birmingham due to another travel conflict. Hope you can make it!

I am speaking from 11am – 1pm today at the Montgomery Area .NET Developer Group (MADEV). The topic is “Sync Services for ADO.NET: Developing the Occasionally Connected Application.
Hope to see you there!

Add this event to my calendar
http://www.simplifi.com/madev/downloads/madevmeeting.ics

Get there using Live Search Maps
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=pcwcdq7t7jb5&style=o&lvl=1&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=8737170&encType=1

Citing a complex user-experience and poor data transmission strategies, the U.S. Census Bureau is considering dumping it newly developed handheld application and return to the old tried-and-true of using pencil and paper for the next census count in 2010. Obviously, these guys never attended one of my talks on the key success factors for developing mobile applications . Not so funny, is the $637 million spent to date on the system with it possibly ballooning to $2 billion.

So, how could this have possibly been avoided? Here’s are the five key success factors I subscribe to when designing and building mobile applications:

(1.) Define the application scope (based on concrete usage scenarios)
(2.) Performance (start with, stay with great performance)
(3.) User Interface (think device, not desktop)
(4.) Data and Memory (have a explicit and efficient plan)
(5.) Input/Output Communication (maintain a good and secure data flow strategy)

To read more about the Census Bureau’s mobile computing troubles check out the following link:
Hi-Tech Census Costs, Accuracy in Doubt

It would appear that a CTP of Silverlight 2.0 is imminent (Mix08?) given the recent post on Scott Guthrie’s blog. Scott outlines a series of tutorials that are very WPF-ish and even demos a new data-binding grid control (sweet). Also to be included, is a standard set of rich controls (thank goodness) and out of the box rich networking support (game changing). Check out the walkthrough…

http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2008/02/22/first-look-at-silverlight-2.aspx

Time: 6:00 PM to 7:45 PM
Auburn Montgomery (AUM) Taylor Center, Room 214
Montgomery, AL

Directions

Topic: Visual Studio 2008 Overview and New Language Features
Presenter: Doug Turnure, Developer Evangelist, Microsoft

In this talk we’ll talk about what is new in Visual Studio 2008, both in the tool, and in the languages. We’ll begin with a walk through the .NET Framework, and how we arrived at .NET 3.5. Then we’ll examine the new components in Visual Studio 2008, and how they align with previous releases and downloads. Finally, we’ll drill into specific new features in C# and Visual Basic with Visual Studio 2008.

In addition, we'll bring in a massive Xbox gaming setup that will be open to attendees. 4 Xbox 360 elites, 4 speaker systems, and 4 high definition projectors. Halo 3, Guitar Hero 2, Rock Band, and Project Gotham Racing!!!

Finally, we’ll give away about 20 copies of Visual Studio 2008 Pro!!!


Add it to my calendar

It’s that time again! We are back in Huntsville for our sixth .NET code camp. If you are up for an all day geek fest then join us for 6 developer-oriented tracks, 36 sessions, 7 Microsoft MVPs, lots of code, numerous give-a-ways, post-event gaming with a massive Xbox setup, and absolutely it’s free!!!

For more information and registration, check out the Alabama Code Camp Web Site!

Location:
Virginia College at Huntsville
Network Engineering Department
2800a Bob Wallace Avenue
Huntsville, AL 35805

Register:
https://www.clicktoattend.com/invitation.aspx?code=124330

Happy New Year!
What a great way to start off the new year! The latest version of Visual Studio 2008 is golden and we got the DevFish himself, Joe Healy stopping over to give us a preview of some the new and exciting features of Microsoft’s latest and greatest developer tool.

January 14, 2008
Time: 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM
Location: 135 North Union Street (RSA Building, 1st Floor Training Room), Corner of Union Street & Adams Avenue
Alabama Center for Commerce (ACC)
401 Adams Avenue, Suite 740

Seating capacity is limited, so if you plan to attend,  please reply to madev@simplifi.com
Bring a friend!

If you are up for some deep required reading on Windows Mobile (WM) memory management, below are links to two excellent articles. Included is a great explanation of the complex virtual memory management that takes place with WM apps and how in some ways managed coded does a better job of handling the limited resources available to your applications.

Slaying the Virtual Memory Monster
http://blogs.msdn.com/hegenderfer/archive/2007/08/31/slaying-the-virtual-memory-monster.aspx

The Design of the .Net Compact Framework CLR, Part 1: Overview and Background
http://blogs.msdn.com/stevenpr/archive/2005/12/12/502908.aspx

 Just another reminder…

The 5^th Alabama .NET Code Camp will be held in Birmingham on Saturday, October 6^th at the University of Alabama Birmingham. For more information and to register for this event go to www.alabamacodecamp.com.

What is Code Camp?
The Alabama Code Camp is an all day free event where developers can learn from their peers and each other. Presentations are code intensive, focusing less on hype and marketing, and more on applicable code examples. The presenters are community leaders, peers, and you! Anyone can present and share their experiences and knowledge. Alabama Code Camps are held one Saturday in April and October. They take place somewhere along the I-65 corridor in Alabama.

Are you interested in learning more about the next generation of web-oriented technologies? If so, please join us for a half-day seminar on the new and improved suite of tools and technologies from Microsoft that will better empower you to design and develop Rich Internet Applications (RIAs). This road show will highlight how Microsoft is putting the final touches on a new suite of services and technologies that will help you build visually stunning, yet amazingly lightweight applications designed for the web. You’ll also see how web technologies like AJAX, Virtual Earth, and Web Services can all be easily leveraged by all developers, from hobbyist to Enterprise. Don’t miss the opportunity to learn how you can put Microsoft technology to work for you!

Please registered for this event using the following link:
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032350475&Culture=en-US

Meeting Location and Directions:
Alabama Center for Commerce (ACC)
401 Adams Avenue, Suite 740
Time: August 30^th , 8:30 AM to 12:00 PM

Greeting from Tech-Ed!
If you are attending, then stop by for a chat with me at the Microsoft MVP booth located in the Community Lounge area of main showroom floor. 

 Here are a couple of development positions that are available with our friends over at RSA. If you are interested, send your resume to resumes@rsa.state.al.us. All positions are located in Montgomery.

SENIOR SOFTWARE DEVELOPER - .NET TEAM LEAD
You must have all of the following:
                Ø A Bachelor’s degree from an accredited 4-year college with course work in Information Technology or Computer Science, and Business Administration (Consideration will be made for a degree in progress if graduation is within one year of hire date)
                Ø Full lifecycle experience developing medium to large scale, scaleable business applications
                Ø Familiarity with relational database concepts
                Ø Minimum 6 years computer programming experience including:
                o 1+ years experience in solutions development extensively leveraging the Microsoft .Net Framework
                o 1+ years experience with C# or VB.NET/ASP.NET language
                o strong knowledge in one or more of the following:
                Service Oriented Architecture
                Object Oriented Development
                Component Based Development
                Design Patterns
                Design for Reuse.

Preferred Qualifications:
                Ø MCSD Certification
                Ø Strong knowledge and proficiency with Microsoft BizTalk Server
                Ø Strong knowledge and proficiency with Microsoft SharePoint Server

SENIOR SOFTWARE DEVELOPER
You must have all of the following:
                Ø A Bachelor’s degree from an accredited 4-year college with course work in Information Technology or Computer Science, and Business Administration (Consideration will be made for a degree in progress if graduation is within one year of hire date)
                Ø Full lifecycle experience developing medium to large scale, scaleable business applications
                Ø Familiarity with relational database concepts
                Ø Minimum 4 years computer programming experience including:
                o 1+ years experience in solutions development extensively leveraging the Microsoft .Net Framework
                o 1+ years experience with C# or VB.NET/ASP.NET language
                o strong knowledge in one or more of the following:
                 Service Oriented Architecture
                Object Oriented Development
                Component Based Development
                Design Patterns
                Design for Reuse.

Preferred Qualifications:
                Ø MCSD Certification
                Ø Strong knowledge and proficiency with Microsoft BizTalk Server
                Ø Strong knowledge and proficiency with Microsoft SharePoint Server

SOFTWARE DEVELOPER
You must have all of the following:
                Ø A Bachelor’s degree from an accredited 4-year college with course work in Information Technology or Computer Science, and Business Administration (Consideration will be made for a degree in progress if graduation is within one year of hire date)
                Ø 1+ years experience in solutions development extensively leveraging the Microsoft .Net Framework
                Ø 1+ years experience with C# or VB.NET/ASP.NET language
                Ø Full lifecycle experience developing medium to large scale, scaleable business applications
                Ø Familiarity with relational database concepts
                Ø Minimum 2 years computer programming experience including:
                o 1+ years experience in solutions development extensively leveraging the Microsoft .Net Framework
                o 1+ years experience with C# or VB.NET/ASP.NET language
                o strong knowledge in one or more of the following:
                 Service Oriented Architecture
                Object Oriented Development
                Component Based Development
                Design Patterns
                Design for Reuse

Preferred Qualifications:
                Ø MCSD Certification
                Ø Knowledge and proficiency with Microsoft BizTalk Server
                Ø Knowledge and proficiency with Microsoft SharePoint Server

I recently had the need to insure that a mobile application I wrote, run full screen on a Windows Mobile device.  Since I couldn’t find a clear example of how to control the display of the taskbar on a device running Windows CE 5.0. I thought I would post this code snippet from a project I just completed.

const uint SPI_SETWORKAREA = 0x002F;
const uint SPIF_SENDCHANGE = 0x0002;

const UInt32 SWP_NOSIZE     = 0x0001;
const UInt32 SWP_NOMOVE     = 0x0002;
const UInt32 SWP_NOACTIVATE = 0x0010;
const UInt32 SWP_HIDEWINDOW = 0x0080;
const int HWND_NOTTOPMOST   = -2;

[DllImport("coredll.dll", CharSet=CharSet.Auto)]
private static extern IntPtr FindWindow(string lpClassName, string lpWindowName);      

[DllImport("coredll.dll")]
private static extern bool SetWindowPos(IntPtr hWnd, int hWndInsertAfter, int X, int Y, int cx, int cy, uint uFlags);

[DllImport("coredll.dll")]
private static extern bool SystemParametersInfo(uint uiAction, uint uiParam, Rectangle rect, uint fWinIni);

private void HideTaskBar()
{
    IntPtr hWndTaskBar = FindWindow("HHTaskBar", "");
    SetWindowPos(hWndTaskBar, HWND_NOTTOPMOST, 0, 0, 0, 0, SWP_HIDEWINDOW | SWP_NOACTIVATE | SWP_NOSIZE);
    Rectangle r = Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds;
    SystemParametersInfo(SPI_SETWORKAREA, 0, r, SPIF_SENDCHANGE);
}

Basically, the code (C#) above uses P/Invoke to acquire a handle to the taskbar window using FindWindow. Next, a call to SetWindowPos is used to change the topmost status,  reposition the taskbar to the top of the screen and hide it. In this case, the Start Menu can still appear (at the top of screen) using Ctrl+Esc but the taskbar is hidden and now my application can consume the entire desktop. If you want to disable the taskbar and Start Menu all together, then call the EnableWindow API function. The last call to SystemParametersInfo is necessary to reclaim the space consumed by the taskbar. The SPIF_SENDCHANGE flag is included to announce the change to other desktop windows.

Lunch with .NET - Next Meeting -  March 22nd, 2007
Time: 11:15 AM to 1:00 PM
Location: 135 North Union Street (RSA Building, 1st Floor Training Room), Corner of Union Street & Adams Avenue

Topic: Visual Studio Team Services Testing and Advanced Design
Presenter: William Howell (Local Speaker)
Overview of web programs, new changes made and testing performed the (old way). The new way with automated tests (unit, web, manual, load, test case).

Seating is limited so please RSVP to madev@simplifi.com

Upcoming Events
Alabama .NET Code Camp IV
Date: April 14, 2007
Location: Mobile, Alabama

The fourth Alabama .NET code camp is set for April 14th in Mobile, Alabama. A code camp is an all day developer geekfest and is all about knowledge sharing. Basically, it’s FREE, NO MARKETING, by and for the .NET developer community. This is Alabama’s fourth event and they just keep getting bigger and better.  For more information visit, www.alabamacodecamp.com. Hope to see you there!

The Microsoft MVP Summit 2007 was held in Seattle last week and it was a fantastic event. I am already looking forward to attending in 2008. I got to see a lot of familiar faces, put a lot of familiar names with faces, in addition to meeting a lot of new faces and names.

The great thing about an event like this, is that you can learn and share more over a two hour dinner, than spending a week in any other setting, the talent is just that good. The chance to hear Bill G’s and Anders Hejlsberg up close, and speak directly to the C# product team wasn’t bad either [grin].

Here are a few of images from the event:

A very late “Happy New Year” to everyone! I have been a little behind on my posting lately due to a few mad project schedules, but I’ll do my best to catch up.

On Monday Gates kicked off the official launch of Windows Vista and Office 2007. Personally, I drove head first about six weeks ago by upgrading my primary dev machines. I can’t say that the entire experience has been the “Wow” Microsoft expected, but more like wow, Intel hasn’t release a Vista compatible configuration manager for the wireless adapter in my DELL laptop (not LEAP support). Wow, DELL doesn’t have updates for many of my laptop utilities. But these rough edges are to be expected if you know what you are getting into. Overall, Vista looks great (especially on a 17 inch laptop screen with Aero) and so far my only major complaints are: the way User Account Control (UAC) was implemented and the lack of automatically power scheme switching.

User Account Control (UAC)
If you are unfamiliar with UAC, then you will be. This is Vista’s way of stop unauthorized changes to your computer and I’ll be the first to said “it’s about time” for UAC. Here’s the premise (admittedly very simplified), applications must contain themselves, no more reading/writing to disk all over the place, accessing system files at will, or treating the registry like it’s a data landfill. With Vista, applications must have permission to do those things. Better yet, Vista-aware applications should just stay in their own private little sandbox and play with their own toys. Sounds like a great idea, right? And it is, except most existing applications haven’t been updated for Vista and it will be some time before that happens. In the meantime, you will be bombarded with grayed-out screens and UAC dialogs asking for permission to things you have always done without an UAC message. Within the first week or so after I upgrade to Vista this drove me crazy, now I don’t really notice it as much and I am sure that’s what Microsoft is counting on from users because turning off UAC is not a viable security option for me. I know this is one of those transitional features that will get better with time, but I wonder will end-users just become numb to it and less attentive to what’s happening on the machine. In any case, I think a more graceful and eloquent UI implementation of this feature should have been considered.

Power Schemes
This one I just don’t get…if I can have all this granular control to setup power management schemes on my mobile computer, why wouldn’t I want the operating system to automatically manage those schemes for me. Even the scheme names (Balanced, Power Save, Full Performance) imply its purpose. If I am on AC power, then Full Performance, battery then change to Power Save. Instead, I have to remember to do this manually, and if I forget, which I always do, then my machine is performing slower then need be or my laptop battery is drained in about an hour. In Windows XP this happen automatically using DELL’s QuickSet utility and you guess it, QuickSet doesn’t run under Vista. Currently, I am not sure how good Vista is at power management because I always find myself under the wrong power scheme when it matters the most.

The “Wow” starts now
The real “Wow” for me is as developer and Vista is certainly the most exciting OS I have worked with. Besides all the Aero-candy, there are some really amazing things here for developers and an entirely new breed of engaging applications will really generate some “Wow” for users. In future postings, I’ll talk and demonstrate some of the exciting things you can do with Vista, XP and .NET 3.0.