Rob Windsor's Weblog

Toronto Code Camp 2010 Resources – Building Apps with ASP.NET MVC

Thanks to all of you who came out to the Code Camp and kudos to the Chris Dufour and the volunteers for running a great event.

Building Applications with ASP.NET MVC
ASP.NET MVC represents an alternative framework for developing web applications on top of the ASP.NET runtime. It provides strong support for testing, extensibility and routing, giving developers control over their code, markup and URIs. This session will introduce the basic concepts and conventions of an MVC application and explain how to build applications using the pattern.

Download the demo application built during the session.

For more on the topic, check out these recorded presentations by Scott Guthrie and Scott Hanselman.

Scott Guthrie on ASP.NET MVC 2 (using the Beta) – Part 1 of 2

Scott Guthrie on ASP.NET MVC 2 (using the Beta) – Part 2 of 2

Scott Hanselman on ASP.NET MVC 2 at DevDays 2010

Frequently Asked Questions about the Visual Studio 2010 Tools for SharePoint

I've seen several questions about the Visual Studio 2010 tools for SharePoint development coming up quite frequently. I’ll use this blog post to compile them along with answers and links to associated resources:

Question: Can I use the Visual Studio 2010 tools for SharePoint to develop against a remote server?

No. The tools are designed to work against a local SharePoint server only. In fact, if you try to create a new SharePoint project without SharePoint deployed locally you will see this dialog:

Question: Can I use the Visual Studio 2010 tools for SharePoint to develop for SharePoint 2007?

No. Well, not really. The artifacts generated by the Visual Studio 2010 tools (e.g. XML documents, webpart files, user controls) are generally compatible with SharePoint 2007. So, you could create an element (e.g. a Visual Web Part) using the new tools and copy the generated files over to another project. You can also build SharePoint 2007 projects in Visual Studio 2010 in the same way you would in Visual Studio 2008 (i.e. using a Class Library). The people from the WSPBuilder project have a Beta version that works with Visual Studio 2010 that can target both SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint 2007 (http://keutmann.blogspot.com/2009/12/wspbuilder-2010-beta.html).

Question (related to the one above): Can I use Visual Web Parts developed with Visual Studio 2010 in SharePoint 2007?

The answer is pretty much the same as the one above. However, you can easily employ the same strategy used by the Visual Studio 2010 tools to build Visual Web Parts for SharePoint 2007 in Visual Studio 2008. Check out this video for step-by-step instructions:

Question: Can I use the visual designer when developing application, site, or master pages?

No. Visual Studio 2010 does not have designer support for anything other than Visual Web Parts. You can use SharePoint Designer to prototype a page and then put the generated markup into a page in your Visual Studio project.

DevTeach 2010 – Lap Around ASP.NET 4 Session Materials

Abstract:
There are a significant number of changes for web developers in Visual Studio 2010 and .NET 4. Visual Studio offers new project templates, markup snippets and integrated web deployment features. WebForms adds routing, greater control of client identifiers, and easy integration between the data controls and dynamic data. ASP.NET AJAX gets a new name and adds client templates, the observer pattern, and jQuery out-of-the-box. Finally ASP.NET MVC is getting a whole new version. In this demo heavy session we will cover and many of these new features as time allows.

Slides and Demos:
http://cid-b810a8a4579bd670.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Talks/2010/DevTeach/Lap%20Around%20ASP.NET%204

Resources:
VS 2010 and .NET 4 Web Development Part 1 with Scott Guthrie
VS 2010 and .NET 4 Web Development Part 2 with Scott Guthrie
Channel 9 – The 10-4 Show

Toronto SharePoint Camp – March 20

The third annual Toronto SharePoint Camp will deliver over 20 sessions by the best Canadian and international SharePoint experts on a wealth of topics. Whether you're a developer, server administrator, architect, power user, or business sponsor; whether you're learning about SharePoint for the first time or a seasoned pro; whether you're migrating, developing, designing, or planning; this is the event for you!

FREE Registration includes lunch. Walk-up registration stays free, but to control waste we will charge $5 per lunch if you're not pre-registered. If you plan to be there, register today!

Thanks to our wonderful sponsors for keeping the Toronto SharePoint Camp free for all: Microsoft Canada, KwizCom, Infusion Development, Navantis, and Marlabs.

To register, please visit:  https://www.clicktoattend.com/invitation.aspx?code=145978

Installing SharePoint 2010 RTM

I installed SharePoint 2010 on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 recently. There were several resources on the web to use as a guide, I found this one to be the best:

Setting Up the Development Environment for SharePoint Server

There are a couple main points you need to be aware of:

• The setup contains a config file that must be edited to allow SharePoint to be installed on a Windows 7 or Vista
• There are several prerequisites required before you install
• There are a few hotfixes required after the install but before running the SharePoint Configuration Wizard
• Install Visual Studio after you install SharePoint (this isn’t in the guide)

How LINQ Works in Visual Basic 9.0

I recently did a talk at DevLink that covered the language enhancements in VB 9.0 and C# 3.0 that support LINQ.  I was looking around Channel 9 last night and I noticed that Beth Massi and Johnathan Aneja from the VB team had a video covering the same material. It only covers VB, but almost of of the language enhancements they discuss were also implemented in C#.

LINQ Language Deep Dive with Visual Studio 2008
Ever wonder what really happens when you write a simple LINQ query? A lot of new language features went into the compilers in Visual Studio 2008 to make LINQ work. In this interview I sit down with Jonathan Aneja, a Program Manager on the Visual Basic Compiler team, who dives deep into these features like Type Inference, Anonymous Types, Lambda Expressions, Expressions Trees, and more. He explains what's actually happening behind the scenes and all the work the compiler is doing for you when you write a LINQ query.

ASP.NET AJAX Tips and Tricks Session Materials

Thanks to all of you who came out last night for the August meeting of the Canada's Technology Triangle .NET User Group. It was nice to see such a large turnout, particularly considering it was a beautiful summer night.

You can download the slides and demos I used in my session by clicking the link below.

ASP.NET AJAX Tips and Tricks

SharePoint Site Columns and Content Types via a Feature

A few months ago I recorded a video for TechNet on Using Content Types in SharePoint 2007. This video focused on the end-user experience, creating site columns and content types using the browser. This week a colleague of mine, who is fairly new to SharePoint development, was tasked with building a Feature that would create a couple content types when activated. He wasn’t really sure where to start so I sat down with him to walk through the process I use.

Here are the steps in a nutshell:

• Prototype out the content types using the browser.
• Create a Visual Studio project with a feature and two element manifests. One for the site columns and one for content types.
• Use SharePoint Manager (a free utility from CodePlex) to extract the CAML that defines the site columns and it to your Visual Studio project
• Add the CAML for the content type, getting the ID from SharePoint Manager and adding the FieldRefs for the site columns that make up the type

Once you’ve gone through the process once, it’s pretty easy to repeat. Check out this video for an end-to-end walkthrough.

Watch the video on Vimeo.

SharePoint, AJAX, the UpdatePanel, Publishing Sites and BlueBand.master

I ran into this issue recently and it took me a long time to Google the answer. I've reposted with what I think is a title that will be more obvious to someone searching for the problem. Basically, web parts that use the UpdatePanel don't work properly in BlueBand.master (and possibly other standard master pages) because the WebPartManager is outside the form tag. Move the WebPartManager and all will be good.

You can find the original post on Gary Bushey's blog.

Customized versus Uncustomized Site Pages in SharePoint 2007

I taught our SharePoint developer class last week, and a couple people who were relatively new to SharePoint had a hard time understanding the difference between Customized and Uncustomized Site Pages. I explained the process a couple times and add the explanation here for others who may share the same confusion.

Let’s say I’m creating a new Visual Studio project for a SharePoint Feature. This Feature includes a page template and will provision an instance of the page template into the virtual file system of the current site when the Feature is activated.

Provisioning an instance of the page means that SharePoint will update the content database to indicate that there is a new page in the site. The database will also contain the path to the the page template in the SharePoint system folders and a placeholder for a customized version of the page. Originally that placeholder will be empty, indicating that the page is in an uncustomized state. If a user requests the page, SharePoint will see that it is uncustomized and will go to the system folders, load the page template, compile the page template into a DLL, and use the compiled image to render the page. If there is an instance of the same page template in another site, and that instance is also uncustomized, requests to this second page will use the complied image when rendered.

Later, a user may come along and edit one of the instances of the page template with SharePoint Designer (they may change fonts or styles, add text, add web parts, etc). When they save their work, SharePoint Designer will put the updated markup for the page instance into the placeholder in the database mentioned earlier. That is, the page for the site the user was editing is now in a customized state. When a user requests this page, SharePoint will load the markup from database and dynamically parse it using the no-compile mode feature that was introduced with ASP.NET 2.0.  Customized pages do not get complied.

Finally, let’s say that the site page in question supports web parts. While we refer to the act of adding, removing, or editing web parts as a customization of the page, it is not a customization in the context being discussed. Information about web parts is stored separate to the page in the content database, so the act of adding a web part to a page using the browser interface does not put the page into a customized state.

For more information, check out Inside Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Understanding and Creating Customized and Uncustomized Files in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 on MSDN.

ObjectSharp Presents ‘Silverlight on the Silver Screen’ – July 9

Last year ObjectSharp took Toronto by storm with the blockbuster hit Visual Studio 2008 at the Movies. That was so 2008.

This July, the much anticipated SQL comes to a theatre near you (assuming you live near John and Richmond in Toronto). Silverlight on the Silver Screen will make you laugh, make you cry, and make you see the beauty that is XAML data binding. See Sith Lord Barry Gervin use the Force to move Silverlight apps out of the browser. See Dave ‘Binary Dump’ Lloyd take debugging to the next level with VSTS and TFS. See Princess Bruce Organa-Johnson in his breakout role, multi-touching his way to your heart.

OK, a little more seriously – please join us on July 9 for an event that showcases what’s new in Silverlight as well as some of exciting technologies coming up in Visual Studio 2010, .NET 4.0, Expression Blend 3, and Windows 7. It will be fun and informative and there may even be a prize or two being given away.

http://www.objectsharp.com/about/events/Pages/silverlight-on-the-silver-screen.aspx

Dev Teach/SQL Teach Education Stimulus Package

DevTeach Vancouver is only a few months away, and there’s another great new promotion for you to consider. As if the user group and early bird discounts were not enough, there is one more way you can save. If your user group or organization registers two people for the conference, you’ll get a third registration for free.

This promotion can be combined with the other discounts and will run until June 8th.

For more details, visit the DevTeach website:  www.devteach.com

Toronto SharePoint Camp - January 24

It is that time of year again - the Toronto SharePoint Camp taking place next Saturday at Manulife Financial (200 Bloor Street - between Yonge and Jarvis) .  This free event is organized by the people from the Toronto SharePoint User Group and will be of interest to developers, administrators, and end-users alike. 

 I'll be doing two developer talks:
- SharePoint 2007: A Developers Primer, and
- Building SharePoint Web Parts from A to Z

The other topics for the 2009 Camp include:
- Integrating SQL Server with MOSS,
- Social Computing with SharePoint and Silverlight,
- Advanced InfoPath Development with SharePoint, and
- MOSS Search: Why it’s not enough to just turn it on

It should be a great turnout so please visit the website and regsiter ASAP to secure your spot.

Easy(er) ASP.NET Workflow Forms with the WSS 3.0 Workflow Tools

[via Wouter Van Vugt]

WSS3 Workflow Tools helps developers create better WSS 3.0 workflows by providing a development framework and by integrating into the Visual Studio development environment. The primary focus for this first release is on making it easier to create ASP.NET workflow forms.

The first release consists of:

• Base classes for all workflow form types
• UserControl framework, quite similar to what InfoPath is providing in MOSS
• Visual designers for InputForm, InputFormSection, InputFormControl and ButtonSection
• Visual Studio templates for VS2005 / VS2008, for all forms and controls
• Easy to use installer

Check it out at http://www.codeplex.com/wss3workflow.

Technorati Tags: [SharePoint], [WSS], [Workflow]

ObjectSharp Announces The "BIG" Netbook Giveaway

Take at least seven days of public training with ObjectSharp between now and December 31, 2009 and they will give you sweet Acer Aspire One NetBook computer. I've been using the Acer Aspire One for about a month now and I love it - I'm sure you will too.

Staying Sane in Today’s Software Development World with Billy Hollis

I'm a big fan of Billy Hollis. He just seems to really get what's going on in the .NET development world and the issues that today's developers are facing. I just finished listening to a Deep Fried Bytes podcast where Billy spoke with hosts Keith Elder and Chris Woodruff about the flood of new technology coming from Microsoft and how developers are dealing with it. It's definitely worth a listen.

http://shrinkster.com/13ev

TechEd EMEA Resources and Demos - Integrating ASP.NET AJAX with SharePoint 2007

I'm about two hours away from delivering my SharePoint/AJAX at TechEd EMEA and I realized my Resources slide is a little thin. Here are some additional links to resources along with a link to the session demos. I'm sure I've missed some so please feel free to suggest others via comments.

Slides
http://www.slideshare.net/rob.windsor/integrating-aspnet-ajax-with-sharepoint-presentation

Session Demos
http://shrinkster.com/12wg

ASP.NET AJAX Developer Center
http://www.asp.net/ajax/

mssharepointdeveloper.com
http://www.mssharepointdeveloper.com

MSDN RampUp - SharePoint Developers
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/rampup/dd221355.aspx

SharePoint Team Blog
http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint

AJAX Toolkit for SharePoint
http://www.codeplex.com/sharepointajax

Inside Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
http://shrinkster.com/y2w

Technorati Tags: [Sharepoint, AJAX]

TechEd Developer EMEA 2008

I found out a few days ago that I've been selected to speak at TechEd EMEA in Barcelona. I'm really excited as this is not only my first time speaking outside of North America, it's my first trip to continental Europe. My session is on using ASP.NET AJAX with SharePoint 2007.

Integrating ASP.NET AJAX with SharePoint.
SharePoint provides a great infrastructure for quickly building intranet and Internet applications. ASP.NET AJAX provides a foundation for creating highly productive Web interfaces. Combined they are two great tastes that taste great together! In this session we will cover the basics of working with ASP.NET AJAX inside of SharePoint 2007. We will take a look at how to prepare a Web Application for ASP.NET AJAX and how to use various ASP.NET AJAX tools such as the JavaScript libraries, JSON-enabled Web services and UpdatePanels to build add rich interactivity to your SharePoint sites.

If you're attending the conference and find the session interesting the please feel free to go to the session list and rate it. I don't know for sure but I think that your rating and the number of people who give a rating have an effect on the scheduling of the session. I'm positive that the number of ratings you receive helps determine if your session will repeat.

I'm not going to be able to attend the PDC this year (this event and the PDC were too close together) so I'm glad there's a PDC track at TechEd. From all reports PDC is going to rock so at least I'll be able to get a taste of the content.

I'll be Twittering (http://twitter.com/robwindsor) and hopefully blogging from the conference. If you're there feel free to look me up or better yet drop by my session.

Technorati Tags: [TechEd, SharePoint, AJAX]

Tech Days or DevTeach - Which Should I Choose?

A colleague of mine was considering attending a conference this fall and, knowing that I'm pretty connected with the community, asked if he should go to TechDays or DevTeach. I thought other people may be wondering the same thing so I decided to put together a comparison chart to assist in making an informed decision.

So, I guess the choice comes down to what you're looking for. While DevTeach is more expensive, it offers more that three times the number of sessions and covers a much wider range of topics. Both are more than worth the cost to attend - just make sure you check out the session lineups before deciding where to spend your conference dollars to ensure you get the experience you are looking for.

Technorati Tags: [DevTeach], [TechDays_CA]

REST, JSON and RSS with WCF 3.5 - QCon San Francisco

The people at InfoQ just posted a recording of a session I did on WCF at QCon San Francisco last November. Here's the session information along with some links to related materials.

REST, JSON and RSS with Windows Communication Foundation 3.5
WCF is not just for SOAP based services and can be used with popular protocols like RSS, REST and JSON. Rob Windsor covers URI templates, the importance of HTTP GET in the programmable web, how to expose service operations via HTTP GET, how to control the format of data exposed by service operations, and finally how to use the WebOperationContext to access the specifics of HTTP.

Recorded Session:  http://www.infoq.com/presentations/rest-json-wcf-windsor

View Slides Online:  http://www.slideshare.net/rob.windsor/rest-json-and-rss-with-wcf-35-presentation/

Download Slides and Demos:  http://shrinkster.com/13er

Related WCF Screencasts:  http://www.objectsharp.com/devlounge/videos/default.aspx

Technorati Tags: [WCF]