Rob Windsor's Weblog

My Toronto Code Camp Talk: Deploying Smart Client Applications with ClickOnce

Hey, I now get to do an additional talk at the Toronto Code Camp. I psyched because it's a topic I've very excited about, Click Once deployment of Smart Client applications. It looks like the schedule is still in flux so check out the website to find out the Bat Time and the Bat Channel for this talk (for those of ypu who aren't as old as I am, that's a reference to the campy Batman TV Show).

Abstract:
For several years now, organizations have chosen web applications over windows applications when building their internal systems. This choice has been made for one main reason; web applications are much easier to deploy than their windows counterparts. The disparity is so large that these organizations are willing to sacrifice the rich, interactive, and highly productive user experience that windows applications provide just to avoid the headaches in deploying and updating them.

With this issue in mind, Microsoft has added a new deployment technology to Visual Studio 2005. This technology, called ClickOnce, allows Windows Forms applications to be deployed as easily as web applications. The developer copies the updated application to a folder on a web server and the next time the user runs the application the updates are automatically downloaded and applied.

This session will introduce ClickOnce, discuss the basic architecture, and demonstrate how to deploy rich Windows Forms applications over the intranet or internet.

My Toronto Camp Talk: The Visual Basic Language - Whidbey and Beyond

I have the cleanup spot, the last talk of the day in the Futures track starting at 4:00pm. My talk isn't really a futures session since it's mostly (80 -90%) about the new language features in Visual Basic 2005. At the very end I cover the VB team's vision for the implementation of LINQ and the proposed addition of XML syntax directly in the language.

Abstract:
In this session we will discuss the additions made to the Visual Basic language in both the upcoming Whidbey version, now called Visual Basic 2005, and the following version which is know as Visual Basic 9.0.

For VB 2005 we will focus on the three most significant additions: Generics, the My namespace, and Code Snippets. Generics allow classes to be parameterized by the types of data they store and manipulate, the most common example being a strongly typed collection. The My namespace gives quick access to the most commonly used functionality from the Framework Class Libraries (FCL). Because this functionality is centralized under the one namespace it is much easier to explore using Intellisense. Finally, Code Snippets allow you to quickly add a commonly used snippet of code (e.g. declaring a property and it's backing field) and then easily edit the parts that are unique for what you're currently coding (e.g. the name and type of the field and the name of the property).

We will also take a brief look at the plans Microsoft recently unveiled for the version of VB that will follow Whidbey. The most significant of the proposed additions being Language Integrated Query (LINQ) which will allow languages to use SQL like syntax to query data from in-memory objects, XML, and traditional relational data.

[Toronto Code Camp]

The Toronto User Group Community Blog

For some time now I've wanted an easy way for cross promotion of the multitude of Microsoft focused user groups in the city (there are at least nine public groups at the moment), basically one place where a developer or IT Pro could go to see everything that's going on in the Toronto community. This resource would mostly be used for meeting information but would also be useful to spread information about Code Camps, Deep Dives, Webcasts, etc. I know several user groups, TVBUG included, has an "other meetings" page, plus we have the MSDN Canada website and we have the MSDN Flash. All of these are very good but incomplete resources.

During discussions at the user group booth at the Toronto Visual Studio 2005 Launch Event I came up with the idea of having one blog (to rule them all), somewhere where user group leaders could post information related to their groups as well as general information relevant to the developer and IT Pro community. This way interested parties would have one site to visit or perhaps more importantly, one RSS feed to consume, to get all the information they could possibly want about the happenings in and around the city.

With this in mind I created just such a blog at http://www.geekswithblogs.net/torontoug/. So far the response from the local user group leaders has been very positive and several have added content already. It’s my hope that this resource will make it clear what a vibrant developer community we have in Toronto and make it easy for people who want to attend user group meetings, MSDN events, conferences and the like to find out exactly what is available to them.

The Toronto Visual Studio 2005 Launch Rocked!

Kudos to the people from Microsoft Canada for putting on a great event.

I spent the pre-keynote part of the day talking with people at the user group booth. Myself and other group leaders were representing the 10 groups for developers and IT Pros in and around the city. I had some business cards made up with the group names and URLs on one side and the MSDN and INETA logos on the reverse. These worked really well because they were easy to distribute both at the booth and elsewhere around the event.

After the keynote I headed over to the Ask the Experts Cabana where I spent most of the day. Things were pretty busy during the first lunch session (TechNet) and they got very busy during the second (MSDN) lunch. It was a cool surpise to see that in additon to local experts (MVPs, RDs, and people from MSDN Canada), we had several product team members up from Redmond to help answer questions.

I spent most of my time around the Visual Studio experts but there were lots of SQL Server and BizTalk experts in the other parts of the room. On the Visual Studio side the hot topic was Team System so our VSTS go-to-guy Adam Gallant always had a crowd around him.

As the second lunch period finished the room thinned out but several attendees hung around to continue discussions through the final breakout session. Anthony Vranic had a group of six or seven people huddled around an impromptu mini-session on Windows Communication Foundation (a.k.a. Indigo).

I finished the day on stage with the presenters and several other experts for a panel Q and A session. I was surprised that many of the questions related to SQL Server since there was a TechNet Q and A going on in the other room. This a technology where the developer/IT Pro lines blur.

All-in-all it was a great day. I'm looking forward to seeing the video from the sessions and reading the email and blog posts with other peoples reactions to the event.

Tags: [Launch2005]

Channel 6 - Three steps below Channel 9

Welcome to Channel 6 - three steps below Channel 9 (in content and production quality). We have a few video interviews from the “Ask the Experts Cabana” at the Toronto Launch Event. These videos were taken with the very highest quality video and audio equipment available today (on a SmartPhone). They're shaky, the close-ups are waaayyy too close-up, and the audio is pretty poor - all the qualities you'd expect from Channel 6.

For some reason my phone... err, video camera saves files in mp4 format so you'll need QuickTime player to view them.

Interview with MSDN Community Guy, Sasha K (957 Kb)

Interview with Speaker, Regional Director, MVP, and Rock Star, Barry Gervin (1,048 Kb)

Interview with Expert Bruce Johnson and Questioner Chris Dufour (2, 413 Kb)

Editor's Note: A friend of my emailed me after reading this post and watching the videos asking if I was talking a shot at Channel 9. No way, I love Channel 9; these were a spur of the moment, tounge-in-cheek, homage to the little yellow guy with the spiky hair and his friends.

Tags: [Launch2005]

The Pre-Show Countdown to Launch

MSDN Canada held a little soiree (that's probably mispelled French for night party) in preparation for the Toronto Launch event. People from Micorosoft, event speakers, experts manning the Cabana, and several user group leaders and members got together to mingle and talk about tomorrow's event. It was a nice chance for me to talk to some members of my user group in a social setting as well as meet members of the other groups around the city.

Some of the people there had just come from the Congress Center and the word is that this event is going to be something special. If you're there tomorrow drop by the Cabana and say Hi.

Launch2005 Flickr Photos (for some reason I don't see my photos there)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/launch2005/

My Launch2005 Flickr Photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/15413839@N00/tags/launch2005/

A shot of the TVBUG members in attendance

Tags: [Launch2005]

Tons of Great VB 2005 Content

For those who didn't make it to PDC05 or didn't get a “Visual Basic 2005 @ PDC '05” CD, the content is now online. Artcles, videos, quick starts, software, sample applications and the VB sessions are all available. Check it out.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vbasic/pdc05/

Resources for VB Developers Who Want to Learn .NET

Here are a couple good resources for VB developers who want to learn about .NET amd/or want to get some guidance about how to migrate their applications to .NET.

Brain Randell of MCW Technology posts the slides and labs from a VB Roadshow he gave. This material is great for VB, Access or VBA developers who want to learn what VB 2005 has to offer.

http://www.mcwtech.com/CS/blogs/brianr/archive/2005/09/06/109.aspx

The Patterns and Practices group at Microsoft is putting together a VB6 to VB 2005 Migration Guide which describes the best practices for migrating applications. WAIT, I know some of you are saying that you've seen this stuff from Microsoft before - just run the Migration Wizard, fix the syntax errors and you're done - no, not this time. This guide is thorough and comprehensive (the draft copy I have is over 500 pages), it covers the upgrade process from start to finish and leaves no stone unturned. If you are thinking about migrating some code or are in the process of doing so, this guide is a must-read.

http://www.gotdotnet.com/codegallery/codegallery.aspx?id=07c69750-9b49-4783-b0fc-94710433a66d

VB's Mojo is Back!

I just saw this post from Jim Duffy. It really captures the sense of excitement I got from the VB MVPs at the Summit. If you've moved away from VB.NET to another tool or you're a VB6er hesitant to make the move to .NET, pick up a copy of VB 2005 and get the Mojo back. Yeah, baby, yeah!

Via Soma

Finally - A Use for the T-Shirt You Got at DevDays 1998

All developers have a million T-Shirts they received at some event, most of which are gathering dust in a box or closet somewhere. Well now there's a use for at least one of these forgotten relics, the “Wear Your Old Swag and Win a Prize!“ Contest (catchy name, eh?) at the Canadian Launch events.

While it's not old, I'm going to wear my limited edition “VB - Your productivity is our passion“ T-Shirt the VB MVPs were given at the 2005 Summit.

Tags: [Launch2005]

Toronto - The Most Active Developer Community?

I've always contended that Toronto has one of, if not the most active, developer communities in the world. I just put together a business card we’ll be giving out at the user group booth at Launch and I had to squish 10 group names and URLs on there. We have 5 .NET developer groups, plus a SQL Server, a Windows Server, a BizTalk, a SharePoint and an IT Pro group. I know the .NET groups get a combined monthly attendance of around 300 so I think it’s safe to say that all groups get a number eclipsing 500.

I was talking to Sahsa from MSDN Canada on Tuesday about the Toronto Launch event and he mentioned that there were about 3,700 people registered. With almost a week left for people to sign up I’m sure that number will reach 4,000. I’m interested in finding out how many other cities will match or better that number. I assume San Francisco will because it is the world-wide launch event but what about Boston, Chicago, New York or even London, Paris, Tokyo and other major markets around the world? I’ll see if I can get some numbers next week and post them here.

Tags: [Launch2005]

Microsoft Execs Talk Launch While Playing Blackjack

Tags: [Launch2005]