Greg Blogging On Software Dev : Community

Detroit Launch Event

greghuber — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 14:08:00 GMT

The Detroit Launch event was GREAT. The event was at the Renissance Center in downtown Detroit. I got there a bit early to set up for the Heartland District / INETA user group booth. As an INETA Liaison for MI, OH, and PA I was excited that so many user groups would be represented at this event. We had user groups leaders from as far as Dayton, OH (Jim Holmes) come out to the event and help man the booth. A big thanks to everyone who helped us man the booth- Joe Kunk, Jim Holmes, Jason Follas, Paul Kimmel, Bill Wagner, Josh Holmes, Doug Coates. Apologize if I missed anyone. We had over 200 people sign up through a “user group signup tool“ with “instant winner“ functionality. We had a ton of swag that we gave away, and at one point we had 35 people lined up to sign up at our booth. :) Many ug leaders were asking about the sign up tool, and I plan on releasing that here very soon. It is a great tool for running at a user group event to have visitors /members sign up, and to find out more about area user groups.

Upcoming events.. We have a launch event coming up in Toledo, OH (Nov 29) in case you missed it in Detroit. Even if you missed it, you'll still want to make it out! John Hopkins from the Great Lakes Area .NET User Group (Detroit) will be presenting. We'll have some great swag as usual. More info forthcoming on our web site.

There is also a code camp in the Dayton / Cinci area on January 21st. I am planning on presenting there. Getting some requests to do an ATLAS (AJAX for .NET) presentation so I will probably do that.

Lots of other exciting things going on in the Heartland District and I think we're going to see a new level of quality at user groups next year in terms of speakers and sharing resources locally.

NWNUG Presentation 9/27

greghuber — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 13:30:00 GMT

I will be presenting in Toledo at the Northwest Ohio .NET User Group on Tues, Sept 27. The topic will cover writing .NET applications using XML. I'm going to be talking about the differences of using some of the more popular .NET XML classes including XmlDocument, XpathNavigator, and XmlReader.

After that I'll introduce a great shared source library as well as the Microsoft shared source concept. The particular framework/classes I'm going to introduce is the XpathReader, which allows for streaming XPath queries (and thus more scalable XML based applications). I have also been contributing to this via the GotDotNet workspace and will share my experiences. This framework/library is a great way to use XML in your application. Slides will be posted for those of you who cannot make it :)

Xbox 2 - Media Center Like Device

greghuber — Tue, 03 May 2005 17:48:00 GMT

I just came accross this article, which mentions that the next XBOX will have Media Center type capabilities (in addition to being a kick-butt gaming system!). I'm pretty excited about that, as I am a big fan of the MCE and Xbox (I play Halo 2 a lot). I think this is a step in the right direction and it will be interesting to see how well the MCE capabilities tie in, especially in terms of software development opportunities. This could be the vehicle for Bill to get a windows PC in every living room. :)

NWNUG meeting tonight! .NET Pub Club

greghuber — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 18:37:00 GMT

This month the Northwest Ohio .NET USer Group is going to "NetWork KNow, Use and Grow" at Mr. Beefy's in Perrysburg, OH tonight at 5:30 pm. There is an MSDN event that same day, and we are teaming up with Microsoft to host a .NET PUB Club in lieu of our regular meeting. You will be able to network with other area professionals, meet other members of the user group, and ask any technology questions you may have. We will also get some tidbits about upcoming presentations in May and June! We will also be giving away some books and magazines at the pub club.

If you are planning on coming, please email me. We need to have a good idea of how many are coming so we can order enough food.

Location: 27096 Oakmead Dr. Perrysburg, OH
Mapquest link:

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?country=US&addtohistory=&formtype=address&searchtype=address&cat=&address=27096%20Oakmead%20Dr&city=Perrysburg&state=OH&zipcode=43551%2d2657&searchtab=home
Cost: Nothing. Food and non-alcoholic beverage will be
covered.

Web site: http://www.nwnug.com

Great HTPC / Media Center Writeup

greghuber — Fri, 08 Apr 2005 00:50:00 GMT

If you are looking into exploring options on Windows Media Center, Beyond TV, Sage TV, and Myth TV- take a look at this article. It is one of the most comprehensive I have seen on the subject and highly recommend a read. The article is a well-thought out, factual presentation of all the features from a consumer perspective (doesn't dive too deep into development).

A couple of quotes that I really like:

“Comparing the HTPC with the VCR is like comparing a truck with a horse and wagon. It can do so much more for you.“

Favorite quote from conclusion:

“When you work in IT and you're pounding away on workstations and servers all day, every day... sometimes the love for computers and what they can do starts to wane. I've fallen prey to this myself over the years. The innovation of the HTPC gave me a jump start, so to speak. It was something that really excited me again and that was why I set out to write this article. I knew when I set out on the journey that it was going to be a long one, but the amount of words I've managed to share with you all has even surprised myself.“

Amen to that!

SQL Server Reporting Services

greghuber — Wed, 30 Mar 2005 13:03:00 GMT

We had a great presentation on SQL Server Reporting services at the Northwest Ohio .NET User Group given by Cem Demircioglu (Hirzel Canning Company) on March 28th. This is a product that I have been wanting to experiment with for a while now, and after seeing the presentation I can think of some great applications for it.

A few take aways:

I thought it was very interesting how you can easily extend SQL Reporting services to generate any type of output. Out of the box it supports Excel, CSV, PDF and some others.
The charting capabilities look really nice. There are a ton of great charting features and very easy to manipulate.
You can integrate 3rd party objects to obtain data. The presentation that we saw had a 3rd party DLL (I beleive it was written in C++) that ran and returned data that was then integrated into a report. In this particular demonstration, it was a forecasting model that ran.
Not bad for a v1 product. It looks like MS is planning to contine and improve SQL Reporting Services in the Yukon version.

Visit an article on MSDN's SQL Reporting Services for more information and a good overview for developers.

Media Center Presentation Tonight- Findlay Area .NET User Group

greghuber — Wed, 30 Mar 2005 12:56:00 GMT

In case you are in Northwest Ohio today, please come check out my presentation on Media Center at the Findlay Area .NET User Group. Visit http://www.fanug.org for more information.

Greg Huber (President of NWNUG, Microsoft MVP) will be presenting on "Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005" (MCE 2005). MCE 2005 helps bring the power of the PC to your living room and developers can easily take advantage of its API to develop applications. Come find out if Media Center is all it's hyped up to be!

Greg will cover the following-

1st Half of Presentation:

MCE 2005 Overview
Getting started
Setting up a Media Center 2005 PC (cost effectively!)
Community Support Forums
2nd Half of Presentation:
Developing Add-ins for MCE 2005
Integrating ASP.NET Web Services to Media Center

2nd Half of Presentation:

Developing Add-ins for MCE 2005
Integrating ASP.NET Web Services to Media Center

Drewby Great Lakes Evangelist

greghuber — Wed, 09 Mar 2005 21:47:00 GMT

Just in case you hadn't heard yet, Drew Robbins will be working as the Great Lakes Developer Evangelist for Microsoft! While I am said to see Alex go (he will be missed!) I think we will get along well with Drew. I've known Drew for a little while now- we did a speaker swap for our user groups last year.

Looking forward to it Drew!!

Agile development with ASP.NET, upcoming UG presentation

greghuber — Wed, 16 Feb 2005 22:40:00 GMT

I am currently learning a lot about agile development, test driven design, etc. in .NET. Development methodologies are very interesting to me, and I would like to do some more research on what kind of impact a methodology really has on a project. I did some basic research for my masters degree on this topic recently and it seems that the methodology has a significant impact on the overall success of a project- especially in terms of understanding user requirements. I think agile development is a great methodology for doing just that. However, I do have some reservations in terms of agile development when creating larger projects that tend to have strict budgets. One big question- if you need to estimate out a project and do not know the requirements, how can you promise functionality for a certain price (this is a pretty big issue for most businesses where IT is treated as a cost center)? It would seem that you can only deliver as much as you can deliver in the amount that the user is willing to pay for the project.

At any rate, NWNUG has an upcoming user group meeting that will discuss agile software development using ASP.NET. Ken Kutz will be giving the presentation. Ken and I go “way back“- he is a former boss and great friend of mine. He has a really unique view on software development- really puts a lot of emphasis on the relationships, processes, etc. Something I think any software developer would find comforting and helpful. Ken has also developed a really great tool (dubbed 'The Code Generator') and will be demonstrating an “agile” technique for software development using it. If you can make it out to the user group Tues (Feb 22nd) you won't regret it!

Presentation information:

Ken Kutz will present on Agile Software Development and also demonstrate an automated ASP.NET code generator. Ken will explain how Agile methodologies can reduce cost and risk while improving customer satisfaction and maximimizing return on investment. The presentation will emphasize the "People and Process" aspects of software development. Ken will also demonstrate a web-based ASP.NET code generator he has created (with some help) that generates T-SQL stored procedures, data access classes, edit pages, feature-rich data grids, dynamic data-driven email lists, statistics, Flash-based graphs, Excel and PDF output, web services, and dynamically generated clickable flowcharts that work with SQL Server databases

MSDN Post-event: .NET "Pub Club"

greghuber — Mon, 07 Feb 2005 19:12:00 GMT

If you are planning on going to the Perrysburg, OH MSDN event on 2/8, please come and join us for a .NET “Pub Club“. We will be meeting at Mr. Beefy's, almost right accross the street from the venue (Holiday Inn). You will have the chance to meet and greet the speakers, MVP's, and other area professionals.

Michael Benkovich (MSFT) will be speaking at the MSDN event and heading up the Pub Club. He will be covering the following topics:

Session 1: WinForms - Produce, Extend, Enhance

This session will school you in several powerful aspects of WinForms development that you may not already know. By using new techniques and best practices, you’ll gain more control over the user interfaces you create and save valuable time when developing your applications.

Session 2: ASP .NET – Fixing that last bug in your Web App.

In this forensics session you’ll learn best practices for how to effectively troubleshoot an ASP.NET application - for both Web Forms and ASMX Web Services. You see techniques for debugging, working with tracing, and using event logs.

Session 3: Visual Studio Team System – A Technical Tour

This session will detail an end-to-end lifecycle scenario that not only demonstrates major components of Team System, but also illustrates the value of having a customizable integrated process in breaking down information silos and providing friction-free flow of data between team roles.

We will be meeting at “Mr. Beefy's” in Perrsyburg. Location is here: 27096 Oakmead Dr. We will be meeting there after the event- most likely around 5:30-ish.

In addition, Mike will have some great SWAG to give away. Oh, and did I mention the food would be covered (beverages NOT included) ?! You won't want to miss it :)

Upcoming MSDN Events

greghuber — Mon, 07 Feb 2005 14:01:00 GMT

Just a note to everyone- there are many areas having upcoming MSDN events. There are also many webcasts available in case you can't make it in-person. You can easily search and see if any events are coming to your area. A quick search for “February” yields some of the following topics:

Exception Management in .NET
Patterns & Practices
Developing an Effective Approach to Patch Management

I will be going to an MSDN event tomorrow in Perrysburg, OH covering Windows Forms, ASP.NET, and the new Visual Studio Team System. Looking forward to it. For any user group leaders out there, this can also be a great opportunity to get the word out on your group- so bring some fliers!

Some areas will also be having a get-together afterwards. You will have the chance to meet and greet the speakers, MVP's, and other area professionals. We will be having one in Perrysburg as well so don't make any dinner plans- details will be posted to this blog soon.

Media Center Presentation at NWNUG

greghuber — Wed, 26 Jan 2005 13:05:00 GMT

Last night I presented Windows Media Center Edition 2005 at the Northwest Ohio .NET User Group. I demo'd many of the features of MCE- including Live TV, Recorded TV, Music, Pictures, and More Programs (including the MCE version of Solitaire!). There seemed to be quite a bit of interest in the product- I think I got the most questions I've ever had for a presentation! We talked about building an MCE PC for $400 or less. Many of the attendees were already working on ways to justify an MCE purchase to their wives by the end of the meeting so I took that as a good sign (where's my commission, Microsoft? <grin>) .

Truly, MCE is a great product. There are many features and once you see it in action, it's hard to resist.

In case you happened to miss the presentation, I will be presenting it again in Findlay on March 30. I will be going into a little more depth on developing add-ins as well. (Time pending of course!)

I have also posted the presentation that I gave here. Be sure to check it out. The source code for the add-in demo isn't quite in a polished format, so if you want that please email me privately.

Setting up DotNetNuke Portal for User Group Site

greghuber — Fri, 21 Jan 2005 13:46:00 GMT

Members of the Northwest Ohio .NET User Group are currently redoing our site in Dot Net Nuke. Patrick Santry came and presented at our group last year, and we got a good overview of DNN and decided we wanted to implement it for our user group. (By the way, Patrick will be back again this year ...)

I am really impressed with the level of quality and robustness in DNN so far. We are currently running the user group site on the original IBuySpy portal, and it is great to see where DNN has taken it.

There seems to be some great community behind DNN and I definitely would recommend it for anyone building a portal- especially a .NET user group :) DotNetNuke 3.0.8 is the latest beta version and can be downloaded here.

If you're not absolutely crazy about VB.NET, there are other alternatives out there (such as Rainbow). I use primarily C# for most of my development, but I like VB.NET just fine. Also- not real sure how the capabilities compare between the two. One of the big differences is that Rainbow seems to have more of an “international“ feel to it.