CodeStock 2008 Developer's Conference

CodeStock's mission is to bring the best and brightest code experts to East Tennessee for a one day conference open to all developers. This is not a trade show with slick salesman giving prepared demos - this is a gathering of real programmers learning about the latest in technology from each other. Sign up now to learn how you can join us for CodeStock 2008!

Speakers and Agenda

We have lined up 30 sessions, a keynote address by respected author and MVP Jeff Prosise, and a place to hang out with speakers and attendees in open spaces style. Check out the list of amazing sessions by awesome speakers. I will be speaking on ASP.NET Dynamic Data, catch it here.

Registration

Registration is open! You can register for CodeStock 2008 now, and reserve your seat at the greatest developer's conference Knoxville has ever seen!

 

Tonight – June 17, 2008 Central-Penn.NET:

Computer Aid, Inc. (CAI), 470 Friendship Road, Harrisburg (3rd floor)

5:30 - 6:00: Content Management and Workflow with SharePoint (Andy Heller)
Microsoft Sharepoint is a platform for information.  One core component that is gaining traction among users is content management and workflow.  We will take a view at how content management and workflow in SharePoint can be relevant to the developer community.

6:00 - 6:30: Pizza and business meeting

6:30 - 7:30: SharePoint and Applications:  Workflow Designer (Alejandro Rosado)
The Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 provides tools to automate business processes and build efficient applications on top of the Microsoft SharePoint platform. Specifically, we will look at the Workflow Designer and see how to create custom event notifications and other collaboration tasks.

7:30: Q/A and cleanup

I will be attending this meeting, see you then!

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 Tomorrow - June 18, 2008 .NET VALLEY:

Session 1 : 6:00 PM

What’s next for SBS?

Presented By: Michael J. Murphy

Tags: IT Professional | Small Business Server
Session Length: 60 minutes
Session Summary:
SBS 2003 is 5 years old. When can you expect SBS 2008? What should you know about the move to 64x only? What versions will be available? Have you heard about the mid-size server solution Windows Essential Business Server? What technology gap will this technology fill? How can I take advantage of it? If you want answers to these and other questions join us for a discussion of the upcoming release of SBS 2008 and EBS.

Session 2 : 7:15 PM

Providing Your LINQ to SQL

Presented By: Jason N. Gaylord

Tags: Application Development | LINQ | SQL
Session Length: 60 minutes
Session Summary:
One of the issues many developers have is generating a solid data layer for their applications. Microsoft realized this and developed LINQ (Language Integrated Query). LINQ can be used to provide the data layer for nearly anything including XML, Objects, and SQL Server. During this talk you'll see how to use LINQ to SQL, build Lambda expressions, and provide a complete data layer with doing very little work.
 

It looks like this will be Philly.NET's BIGGEST EVER code camp.  Check out these stats, sent from Bill Wolff:

· 590+ registered, expect close to 450 attending
· 8 rooms like last time
· Park on the west or north side, north (back of building) is closest to the common and session rooms
· Attendees and speakers must register, all get a badge, speakers get a shirt (please wear it!)
· Several of the partners will have a table for the day, stop by and say hello
· There will be empty attendee bags and a few tables full of goodies
· Volunteers (see below) should start showing up at 7:30 to set up
· We have three high school kids for the day to handle food, trash, and heavy lifting
· The first session is at 8:30
· Lunch is earlier this time – 11:30, Primo Hoagies
· Afternoon snack are hot soft pretzels
· Closing and raffle happen at 4:50 in the common room
· Volunteers are always welcome to help clean up
· The speaker party immediately follows (5:30-7:30) at the Bent Elbow
· Evaluations will happen online this time using SharePoint, results will be posted in less than a week
· Attendees can win one of three Zunes by completing evaluations

 

My session is "An Intro to ASP.NET Dynamic Data".  You'll get the basics of ASP.NET Dynamic Data in about an hour.  You should be able to be up and building some apps w/it after sitting in the session.

 

Friday starts my Tour de' PA, when I leave for the Bloomsburg area then head over to Philly on Saturday then Harrisburg on Sunday.  What a weekend it's going to be!

 

The Strong Coders Community will be hosting its Ask An Expert Live chat on Thursday, May 1, 2008 at 6:00 PM Pacific Time and I've been invited to sit in on the expert panel.

 

Get your tough development questions answered by Microsoft MVPs, Regional Directors, and other industry experts. Community experts will be on hand to answer your .NET- and Visual Studio-related questions. No off topic questions please.

 

Please note that questions regarding upcoming products and future product specs might not be answered.

 

 

MSDN Online Chats - http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/chats/default.aspx
Chat Room - http://www.microsoft.com/communities/chats/chatrooms/msdn.aspx
ICS - http://www.microsoft.com/communities/chats/vcs/08_0501_msdn_DEV.ics

 

Since its inception in 2005, TECHbash has evolved into the premier technology conference in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Join an estimated 300 Developers, IT Professionals, CIO’s and Industry Experts from Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and host-state, Pennsylvania. This one day event brings together a broad spectrum of Technology Professionals to network, knowledge share and discuss existing technology solutions to business challenges, as well as preview prerelease products on the bleeding edge.
This year, we expanded to three tracks offering more presentations and providing you with more content choices representing a greater breadth of Industry insight. We will open the event with a keynote presentation from the unstoppable juggernaut, Joe Stagner, Program Manager for Microsoft’s Web Tools and Platform Division.Attendees will have the opportunity to:

• Enhance technical knowledge with comprehensive and relevant educational content
• Build experience on current and soon-to-be released technologies and products
• Engage with sponsors, presenters, and other technology professionals
• Learn how to get involved with .NET Valley, Northeastern Pennsylvania’s Technology User Group
• Leave with software and other swag

For more information and to register for the event, visit the TECHbash website at techbash.com
 

DDD Community Event.  May 3, 2008. More at Plip's.

 

.NET Valley Pre-Bash Party at Sidel's

Wednesday, April 30, 2008
5:30 PM - 8:30 PM

If you've never been to a Pub Night before, you don't know what your missing. It's time to roll up the sleeves and dig in to some great food from Sidel's. We'll have Bruschetta, Fried Mozzarella, Antipasta, Tortellini salad, Mini-beef Wellington’s, and Shrimp. It all begins at 5:30pm. We have limited seating available so if you're sure you'll be there, register today!

 

WOOT!

 

 

 

Philly.NET Meeting

Wednesday April 23

 

Brian Donahue, Vitreo Solutions The Evolution of TDD

 

Test Driven Development has been gaining prominence, and many developers recognize the value it provides. Still, TDD adoption can be a slow and painful process, and often results in early abandonment as challenges mount. Many believe the current body of TDD knowledge puts too much emphasis on testing implementation details, and not enough on testing behavior. Behavior Driven Development (BDD) takes a more focused approach to TDD that can help clarify the testing process, and create a meaningful, readable suite of tests that not only helps you and other developers understand your application, but can be used to show your client that the application is meeting their needs. When developers, customers, and managers can clearly see the value of writing tests, everyone wins.

 

Thanks to everyone who came to the launch, especially those folks who stayed for the last session of the day when Lindsay and I presented. We were the last session in the afternoon and by then everyone is just darn tired after a full day of sessions and excitement!

Below I've compiled a list of some questions from attendees that I think were great questions worth sharing:

Question: What type of applications are best suited Sync Services

Answer: Here's some programs that would fit nicely - field service, CRM apps, anything for sales folks, trade show management & leads, or any desktop app where you do not or can not have constant connectivity. 

Question: Is it really that easy to share your project with designers, even a desktop app using xaml?

Answer: Why yes it is!  You saw the demo after all!

Question: Can you use Microsoft Access with Sync Services to create a local database cache?

Answer: No, you cannot.

Question: Is Sync Services available for file systems?

Answer: Yes (link below)

Question: Is it possible to add an amination to a xaml form in Visual Studio 2008 or must you use Expression Blend?

Answer: Yes, you can use VS2008 but I'll warn you - the storyboards are much easier w/Expression Blend, as you'd need to hand craft the XAML in VS08, there's no storyboard control. (see link below)

Resources:

Sync Services Whitepaper

Sync Services for File Systems

XAML for Storyboards

 

Yesterday I've received the MVP 2008 award for ASP.NET.  Woot!

 

I will be presenting at the HHH event in Philadelphia, Pa on April 3rd, 2008 in the afternoon.  The session title is "Defying Occasionally Connected Challenges with Smart Client Applications" and in this talk, I'll be discussing some of the hottest technologies available and below is the topic breakdown:

• Designers & Developers:

  See how using Visual Studio 2008 and Microsoft Expression Blend together to boost team productivity by using familiar tools and technologies on both sides of the web application.

• Lighting up an MFC Application:

  Upgrading legacy applications to work with Microsoft Windows Vista is a snap with new MFC controls that ship with Visual Studio 2008

• Windows Communication Foundation & Workflow Foundation Integration:

  Learn how you can benefit from Microsoft’s new communication and collaboration technologies as well as how you can integrate them to work together to create robust smart client apps

• SQL Server & ADO.NET Sync Services:

  Create applications that allow users to take data offline, where and when they want to, then synchronize and manage conflicts will little effort using the ADO.NET Sync service framework.

 

.NET Valley Live!

Add this event to your calendar

Location: At Luzerne County Community College

Wednesday, March 19, 2008
5:30 PM - 9:00 PM

This event will begin at 5:30pm in room 712 in building 7. Be sure to register for each session in this event by clicking the register button under each presenter's picture. The agenda is as follows below:

Time
Happening

5:30pm
Pizza, Soda, and Social Gathering

6:00pm
Application Development: Mobile Development

7:00pm
Break

7:15pm
IT Professional: What’s New in Windows Server 2008

8:15pm
Raffle and Closing

Session 1 : 6:00 PM

Mobile App Development with .Net Compact Framework, SQLCE and PPC’s

Presented By: John Baird

Tags: Development | .NET | Mobile App | .NET Compact Framework | SQLCE | PPC
Session Length: 60 minutes
Session Summary:
This introductory presentation will cover the basics of setting up the compact framework, SQLCE, working with emulators, active sync and the differences between developing using the regular .net framework and the compact framework.

Session 2 : 7:15 PM

What’s New in Windows Server 2008

Presented By: Michael J. Murphy

Tags: IT Professional | Windows Server 2008
Session Length: 60 minutes
Session Summary:
Windows Server 2008, in addition to incorporating new capabilities and enhancements to existing features, includes a number of improvements in the core OS that enhance the Operating System’s capabilities in this area. Features aimed at increasing the ability of Windows Server 2008 to support highly critical workloads by improving operational reliability, reducing system failures, and easing management. We will also discuss improvements in other related elements in the platform that help Windows based systems and services help move an organization's IT Department
 

Tomorrow I will be presenting a talk on Attributes  & Reflection and Mike Murphy will be presenting on Windows topics at the .NET Valley user group meeting at the Univ of Scranton.  Event details are here. See you tomorrow.

 

Visual Studio 2008 Install-fests (already done & gone in Philly and Pittsburg)

December 17th : Allentown, PA
December 18th: Scranton, Pa
January 15th : Harrisburg, PA

The .NET Valley User group meeting will be held the 18th - our group meeting is the install fest!

 

Download Exception Management Strategies & Best Practices

Download Accessing Data using the ObjectDatasource

 

I am giving a presentation titled "Exception Management Strategies" at Luzerne County Community College for the .NET User Group's monthly meeting.  If you haven't done so yet, please register and I'll see you there.

 

That's this Saturday folks!

Where: Harrisburg University (downtown Harrisburg, Pa)

When: 8:00am-4:00pm

What's the scoop:  There are several sessions you can attend, and you are should to register for the event.

I have two talks: Exception Management and Using the ObjectDataSource/Data Source Controls in Web Applications.  I'll be posting the slides and samples after the code camp.

 

November 13^th: Central Penn.NET User Group Meeting
Scott Allen’s topic is titled “Going Asynchronous with ASP.NET AJAX”.    Judy Calla will be speaking about SQL Reporting Services.

November 19^th: Lehigh Valley .NET UG Meeting
The topic and speaker are TBD.

November 27^th:  .NET Valley Live Event
Our local guys Jason Gaylord and Mike Murphy will be speaking on developer and IT topics that are still TBD.

November 20^th: Philly .NET Group Meeting
This month’s meeting is the “15 minutes of fame” where 10 presenters will be presenting for 15 minutes on their favorite topics.

Special Event - December 1^st: Harrisburg, Pa Area Code Camp! 
A code camp in the state capitol!
Along with other presenters, I will be speaking on Exception Management Strategies & Best Practices.  Check out the Central-Penn.NET user group website for more information.

 

Raging wildfires are burning throughout portions of Souther California, with seemingly no end in sight.  During our user group meeting last night, we called for donations to send to the Red Cross of San Diego to help the citizens of Southern California in their disaster relief efforts.  This is a personal matter to me as well as a general charitable one, as I have friends & family that lives within a few miles of some of the worst fire zones, and some of which had to evacuate and may have lost their homes.

Help out Southern California! Click the link below to directly donate to the Red Cross to get the efforts started!

And I'd also like to send heartfelt thanks to all those firefighters, emergency and relief workers doing their part to contain the fires and save lives.

 

On October 24th at our monthly .NET Valley meeting, we are pleased to have Steve Andrews from RDA Corporation speaking at on Visual Studio 2005 tips and tricks.   It looks like a fun night for developers!  Welcome, Steve!

I also am preparing to speak at the Harrisburg Area Code Camp 2007 on Dec 1st.  As the date approches, I will have more information.

 

September 15th:  Philly .NET is hosting a Code Camp!  I will not be able to attend myself, but it looks like there's a great line up of speakers and topics. 

September 16^th:  Central Penn.NET Meeting

Topic to be determined.  I'll update this as soon as I know.

September 19th: .NET Valley Live Meeting

It's IT Pro night at DNV! Our own Michael Murphy will be hosting both sessions:

Sesison 1: Optimizing your IT Infrastructure with Microsoft Forefront and Microsoft System Center

Session 2: Next Generation Networking with Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista

 

 

Here's the rundown on this months events:

July 16th: Lehigh Valley .NET User Group Meeting

This event will feature Peter Laudati from Microsoft.

July 17^th:  Central Penn.NET Meeting

Kevin Goff will be doing an Intro to WCF (Windows Communication Foundation). 

July 18th: Philly .NET Meeting

The Philly .NET group has several topics going on this night.  Silverlight w/Aaron Shafer, Acropolis w/Bill Wolff and PowerShell for Developers w/Rob Keiser. 

July 18th: .NET Valley Live Meeting

I will be presenting on WSS Content Types & Site Columns and Jason Gaylord will be presenting on Using the Design Controls in ASP.NET.

It looks like another great month to be a developer in Pa.

 

 

June 17^th:  Central Penn.NET Meeting

Hands On FUN!!! This sounds great! You get to try out new things in a round table style meeting with helpful developers around.  This should be a great time indeed.

June 18th: Lehigh Valley .NET User Group Meeting

Tim Yocum from HLN Consulting will be the presenter.  Check the LV UG website for more details on the topic.

June 27th: .NET Valley Live Meeting

Mike Murphy will be presenting on Exchange 2007 Routing & Transport. The developer session is AJAX Best Practices given by Lindsay Rutter, a developer evangelist from Microsoft Corp. 

 

May 19^th : TECHbash 2007.

This is for both ITPros and Developers, there's several sessions available as well as tons of free software and goodies.  There's still some room left so register now!

May 15th : Central-Penn.NET Meeting, presentations by David Laribee:

Drive by Enterprise Library 3.0: Validation and
Test Driving NHibernate and the Domain Model

May 15th : Lehigh Valley.NET User's Group Meeting

Peter Laudati from Microsoft will be presenting this month.

May 16^th : Philly .NET Code Camp

It's the pre code camp kick-off PUB.NET night at Philly.NET.  There are no more seats available for the Philly.NET Code Camp on May 19th, so you might want to catch this meeting instead. 

 

April 16^th - Lehigh Valley .NET user group

Dani Diaz from the Philly .NET user group will be speaking on the .NET Provider Model.

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April 17^th - Central Penn .NET user group

Robert Green (INETA Speaker) will be discussing these two topics:

Building Office Solutions with Visual Studio Tools for Office
Developing Office 2007 Solutions with Visual Studio Tools for Office Second Edition

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April 18th - Philly .NET user group

Robert Green makes the rounds to yet another PA user group event!

Building Office Solutions with Visual Studio Tools for Office
Developing Office 2007 Solutions with Visual Studio Tools for Office Second Edition

 

Run over right now to the TECHbash website and register for Northeastern Pennsylvania's premiere technical event!  There will be sessions for both IT Pros and Developers.

Just a few great things about the event:

• Lots of giveaways - books, magazines, software, t-shirts, etc...
• Premiere software raffles
• Great presentations on the latest technologies available from Microsoft and Cisco.
  • Windows Server Codename "Longhorn"
  • IP Telephony
  • SharePoint*
  • Ajax
  • More...
• Opportunities to network and chat with other industry professionals

*I will be presenting the SharePoint Technologies overview.  This is a great chance to get a look at what MOSS 2007/WSS 3.0 has to offer!

 

Tonight I will be presenting "Using the ObjectDataSource in Web Applications" at the .NET Valley User's group (yesterday I did this same presentation at Central Penn.NET).

The meeting starts at 6:00 pm and there will be some good prizes for those who register and show up!  We have 2 copies of Office 2007 Professional to raffle away!

I've previously posted some notes on the ObjectDataSource and they can be found here.

 

 

It's going to be "Data Controls Day" at the Central Penn .NET user group this month on March 20th.  I will be presenting on the SqlDataSource for the first session and the ObjectDataSource for the last session.

These have been great topics that have been generating lots of interest at my home group .NET Valley.

Hope to see you there.

 

 

The Vista/Office launch event in Scranton yesterday was a smashing success!  The IT morning track was so full there was standing room only, and the dev track had very few seats open.  It seems that the whole NEPA valley came out to play, and some attendees even drove several hours to get here.

Here is the eBook for those of you looking for it that I mentioned during the presentation on OMPM. The eBook is titled "Planning and architecture for the 2007 Office release" so it will you help out with all sorts of planning issues.

We had excellent topics to listen to delivered by top-notch presenters including our own local IT Pro and Microsoft employee Michael Murphy, and from the Philly area, Lindsay Rutter (also from MS).  We can't wait for her to come to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area and present at one of our .NET Valley user group meetings.

 

Don't forget, the Ready for a New Day tour is coming to the Hilton Convention Center in Scranton, Pa tomrrow!  I will be attending the event - presentation details here.

 

Upgrading or migrating your systems and data can be a harrowing experience.  So it pays to plan it out and get a well rounded view of your environment.  Don't forget, there will be documents (and apps) tucked away in those dusty corners of your network and on various user's PC that can give you quite the surprise if you're not ready.  To help everyone out with their planning strategy, I will be presenting on upgrade planning topics for Office 2007 during our local the Ready for a New Day Vista & Office Launch Tour in Scranton, Pa.  The two key topics are:

1. The Office Migration Planning Manager 
2. Application Compatibility Toolkit

As the name suggests, The OMPM is an excellent planning resource that allows you to scan through documents on the network and client PCs to analyze your environment before upgrading.  OMPM keeps a database (Access or SQL) of documents scanned that you can review and then later report on what documents could be ported automatically to Office 2007 and what documents need some manual adjusting.  More on OMPM 

The Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT 5.0) collects data about the programs installed in your environment and reports on the various issues that can arise from migrating to a new operating system such as Vista.  ACT allows you to report, manage and prioritize what you need to do to get the ugprade done.  Check out ACT here.

Hope to see you at the launch!

 

The .NET Valley user group's website makeover has been completed!  You can view upcoming events sponsored by our group, but we also now provide RSS feeds, enhanced newsletters, MSDN & eWeek content, speaker bios (mine here) and more. 

Since April 2003 the .NET Valley user group has been providing top quality content, lectures, resources and community support for the developers and IT Pros of Northeastern Pennsylvania.

I will be presenting on ADO.NET and the SqlDataSource at the next meeting on Feb. 21st.  Visit the .NET Valley for more details.