Multitargeting is targeting specific versions of the .NET Framework, in the Visual Studio 2008 Betas and later you can target the 2.0, 3.0 and 3.5 frameworks for development. 

So, why multitarget?  You may have to support existing code bases that were previously written using Visual Studio 2005 targeting the .NET 2.0 Framework with AJAX 1.0 and want to upgrade just your Visual Studio IDE to take advantage of new feature sets.  Or, you may have directives from management, company or client policy to keep creating on the 2.0 codebase until further notice.   Whatever the reason, you can target the version that’s right for your project.

How to target different framework versions: 

You can select the framework version you want when you start a new project or website.  The project type doesn't matter, multitargeting is available for Winforms, ASP.NET or any type of project template you decide to use.

Once you've started your project, if version requirements change at any time, you can adjust easily.  You can target different versions by visiting the project properties dialog box and selecting the Build tab (left side).   The versions available to target will display on the right (circled below).

And that's all there is, it's easy to try out different .NET framework versions or switch versions using Visual Studio 2008.

 

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.

 

Download the VB9 Beta language specs here.  And the C# version is here.  There's some new great features listed in the VB9 specs, I'm looking forward to digging into query expressions, generic type inference and partial methods (all described in the VB doc).

 

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.

 

Start here: http://www.microsoft.com/sql/2008/learning/whitepapers.mspx.

Data Programmability http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinfo/whitepapers/sql_2008_dp.mspx

What's new for XML in SQL Server 2008 http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinfo/whitepapers/sql_2008_xml.mspx

Performance: http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinfo/whitepapers/sql_2008_perfandscale.mspx 

Manageability http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinfo/whitepapers/sql_2008_manageability.mspx

SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinfo/whitepapers/sql_2008_ssrs.mspx

 

Software developers need to be aware of security but oh so many aren’t.  Security shouldn’t be an afterthought, it should be right up front with the rest of your project’s requirements and built in from the start.  We should always think about being secure and developing our applications securely.  Nowadays we cannot leave it to the systems administrator to lock down a few files or directories for us, we need to be proactive in our approach and development methodology, as it’s our responsibility just as much to ensure that data about our customers or coworkers is safely kept and transported.  Here's a few security related issues to think about when starting your next development project:

Evaluating Threat Potential & Risk
Preventing SQL Injection
Preventing common attacks (buffer overruns, xss scripting, etc…)
Encrypting data
Securing the layers
.NET Security specifics
    Securing the web.config file,  IIS  & ASP.NET
    Forms, Windows or other authentication types
Database security
Human factors

 

Use the above list (and there’s more to be aware of, but for now this will have to do) in your next project, and you’ve already taken steps to make your apps a little more secure.  I will try to break out some of these items and write more about them in upcoming posts, but this is definitely something to get you started thinking about security, andI cannot stress enough to developers to focus on this area more.