Adlai Maschiach : ITPRO, .NET General

Express 2010 RTM Download summary

Adlai Maschiach — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 11:58:00 GMT

Express 2010 RTM Download summary

Any one who really knows me , knows that my 2nd passion is the Express toolset :)

Now, that Visual Studio 2010 has RTM-ed a few days (weeks) a go I have decided to build a small collection of relevant URLs :

from http://www.microsoft.com/express/Downloads/

Visual Basic 2010 Express
Visual C# 2010 Express
Visual C++ 2010 Express
Visual Web Developer 2010 Express ( Part of the WebPI Toolkit )
All - Offline Install ISO image file

And the SqlServer Express 2008 R2 – with the new 10GB support :)

Here is the part of the SqlServer 2008 R2 FAQ :

Is the database size limit increased in all editions of SQL Server 2008 R2 Express?
Yes, SQL Server 2008 R2 Express with Tools and SQL Server 2008 R2 Express with Advanced Services will allow 10GB databases as well.
What about CPU and memory limits? Are any other limits changed in SQL Server 2008 R2 Express?
No, the database size limit is the only limit we updated in SQL Server 2008 R2 Express. SQL Server 2008 R2 Express is still limited to 1 CPU and 1 MB or RAM.
Was the database size limit changed for previous versions of SQL Server Express?
No, the database size limit in previous versions of SQL Server Express (including SQL Server 2005 Express and SQL Server 2008 Express) stays unchanged at 4GB.

BTW : International R2 Express download options will be available in May 2010

Visual Studio 2010 Beta2

Adlai Maschiach — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:53:29 GMT

Visual Studio 2010 Beta2 is out

Needless to say that the New Logo

Relates to the new Logo the .NET Framework got ;)

( cross post New times = .NET New logo (!))

Just , the only thing that’s missing is an Express Version of all of this :’(

UPDATE: My mistake ! there is one , here’s the link to the ISO Download Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 ( it’s 736 MB)

Report Viewer for Visual Web Developer Express

Adlai Maschiach — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 15:59:24 GMT

Report Viewer for Visual Web Developer Express

The Visual Web Developer Express is one of my favorites , both the previous 2005 & 2008 versions as well as the new and shining all around fully functional – Visual Web Developer 2008 SP1 Express Edition ( which has support for ClassLibrary & Silverlight 2.0 projects as part of the Solution – Single Environment ! )

It seems that only a few days a go the Microsoft Report Viewer Add-on for Visual Web Developer 2008 Express has been released

Microsoft Report Viewer Add-on for Visual Web Developer 2008 Express is now available for download. It includes the RDLC designer and Microsoft Report Viewer 2008. The RDLC designer creates and edits RDLC files with RDL 2005 schema.

Download: Microsoft Report Viewer Add-on for Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition

Patterns & Practices Application Architecture Guide - v2.0 (Beta 2 Release)

Adlai Maschiach — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 05:22:24 GMT

Patterns & Practices Application Architecture Guide - v2.0 (Beta 2 Release)

After the patterns & practices Application Architecture Guide - v2.0 (Beta 1 Release) , as expected the beta 2 version is now released

from the

Key Changes in Beta 2
Beta 2 is a significant overhaul of the entire guide. We carried the good forward. We made some key additions:

Added a foreword by S. Somasegar.
Added technology considerations throughout the guide.
Added technology matrixes for choosing technologies, including Presentation, Data Access, Workflow, and Integration technologies.
Added a new Agile Architecture Method (see chapter 4.)
Tuned and pruned the recommendations across the entire guide.
Restructured the guide for simpler parts – fundamentals, design, layers and archetypes.

4 Parts

Part I, “Fundamentals”
Part II, “Design”
Part III, “Layers”
Part IV, “Archetypes"

Chapters

Appendix

Key Scenarios
The guide helps you address the following scenarios:

Choose the right architecture for your application.
Choose the right technologies
Make more effective choices for key engineering decisions.
Map appropriate strategies and patterns.
Map relevant patterns & practices solution assets.

Key Features

Canonical app frame - describes at a meta-level, the tiers and layers that an architect should consider. Each tier/layer is described in terms of its focus, function, capabilities, common design patterns and technologies.
App Types. Canonical application archetypes to illustrate common application types. Each archetype is described in terms of the target scenarios, technologies, patterns and infrastructure it contains. Each archetype will be mapped to the canonical app frame. They are illustrative of common app types and not comprehensive or definitive.
Arch Frame - a common set of categories for hot spots for key engineering decisions.
Quality Attributes - a set of qualities/abilities that shape your application architecture: performance, security, scalability, manageability, deployment, communication, etc.
Principles, patterns and practices - Using the frames as backdrops, the guide overlays relevant principles, patterns, and practices.
Technologies and capabilities - a description/overview of the Microsoft custom app dev platform and the main technologies and capabilities within it.

Key Links

Application Architecture Guide 2.0 – The Book (CodePlex)
Application Architecture Guide 2.0 – Knowledge Base (CodePlex)
J.D. Meier's Blog post New Release: patterns & practices App Arch Guide 2.0 Beta 2

Windows 7 Developer Guide

Adlai Maschiach — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 07:29:33 GMT

Windows 7 Developer Guide

Ok, so we all know about The Windows 7 Blog for Developers = yochay , and we wish him all the best in his new job ( and blog ) … so in a related matter here’s Windows 7 Developer Guide available as a DOCX

Microsoft Enterprise Library 4.1 – October 2008

Adlai Maschiach — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 04:51:30 GMT

Microsoft Enterprise Library 4.1 – October 2008

Great news ! Enterprise Library 4.1 is now available.

This is a twin release of Microsoft Enterprise Library 4.1 and Unity 1.2.

What’s New in Enterprise Library v4.1?

This release of Enterprise Library is a service release that includes the following:

Unity interception mechanism and integration of the Policy Injection Application Block with the Unity Application Block.
Performance improvements.
Usability improvements to the configuration tool.
Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 support.
Bug fixes.

For the detailed list of all changes, see About This Release of Enterprise Library.

What’s New in Unity v1.2?

Added an interception mechanism (extension).
Added two instance interceptors (TransparentProxyInterceptor, InterfaceInterceptor) and one type interceptor (VirtualMethodInterceptor).
Improved support for generics.
Added support for arrays.
Registered names are now available as an ObjectBuilder policy so that you can do a ResolveAll from within the strategy chain. The container automatically registers itself with itself.
Added PerThreadLifeTimeManager
Performance improvements.
Bug fixes.

How to Get Started?

If you are new to Enterprise Library:

Read the Introduction to the Enterprise Library.
Download, compile, and run the QuickStart samples, study the code.
Read through the related QuickStart Walkthroughs and “Key Scenarios” sections of the documentation.
Practice the Hands-On Labs.
Review the source and unit tests for deeper understanding.
View webcasts on Enterprise Library and Unity, review demo code.

Summary

The Microsoft Enterprise Library is a collection of application blocks designed to assist developers with common enterprise development challenges. Application blocks are a type of guidance, provided as source code that can be used "as is," extended, or modified by developers to use on enterprise development projects.

Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4.0 CTP on VPC

Adlai Maschiach — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 13:47:38 GMT

Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4.0 CTP on VPC

Download from Microsoft Pre-release Software Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4.0 Community Technology Preview (CTP)

For other VPCs VPC Images ( + Related Testing )

Microsoft Modeling Platform (code named "Oslo")

Adlai Maschiach — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 07:29:26 GMT

Microsoft Modeling Platform (code named "Oslo")

"M" Sounds almost like “Bond, James Bond” ( the M part ), But not exactly. Microsoft Oslo, which is Microsoft’s “Microsoft Modeling Platform (code named "Oslo")” has already updated in the MSDN and has two sub-sections:

As well as it’s own “webSite” : Oslo Developer Center, a downloadable Oslo SDK … and much more. for more information look at:

The "Oslo" Modeling Platform The "Oslo" modeling platform makes it easier for people to write things down in ways that make sense for the problem domain they are working in and makes the things that people wrote down accessible to platform components during program execution.
Models and Modeling This section explains what a model is, explains how models work in code name "Oslo", and provides a tour of the code name "Oslo" repository models provided by the system.
Model Development This topic provides a high-level overview of the design and development process for models.
"Oslo" Repository This section discusses the benefits of using the "Oslo" repository, including the improvements for application lifecycles, the benefits to IT operations, and the features that equip the "Oslo" repository for an enterprise environment.
"M" The Microsoft code name "M" language is a declarative language for working with data and building domain models. "M" lets users write down how they want to structure and query their data using a textual syntax that is convenient to both author and reader.

I've added this picture from the Creating Modern Applications: Workflows, Services, and Models David Chappell’s article in MSDN, just incase you have your doubt about Dublin + .NET Framework 4.0 = "BizTalk/SOA Express Framework" ! (part 4)
Ahh, and another thing about this picture, I’m guessing that when you “see” the “ASP.NET pages” you understand that this in the end means MVC Architecture – That’s why they call it “M” :)

Azure : Start Cloud Application Development

Adlai Maschiach — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 06:41:00 GMT

Azure : Start Cloud Application Development

As expected the knowledge about Azure can to me from the Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog - PDC 2008: Announcing Azure Services Platform and Microsoft SharePoint Services

Looked at a few videos , and this seems like Microsoft is starting to think like a ISV, but with a twist , which means - you “can” use Live.com services from your cloud Application.
Not saying that this is bad, but my feeling is “put your application on our servers, FOR FREE, and we’ll help you: 1. promote it on our search engine, 2. integrate live.com search engine into it, 3. Add Live.com commercials into it ….” and in essence, help you help us (Microsoft) promote our cloud computing platform.
Now you might start thinking I’m against it ? Not at all, why ? let me think … I have a blog ? yes, which means I share with the community personal information ( Technical and Personal ) ? ehh yes :) , now why not this ? hell YES :D

Considering the fact that in the same post we see the Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog mention about Microsoft SharePoint Online – I think that this was what Microsoft realy meant when they invented ( a VERY LONG TIME A GO ) the “MyServices” concept , in essence this would enable us ( the Developers And/Or Entrepreneurs ) to really build our own “MyServices” ! BTW take a look , we have a new “Product” .NET Services ! ( I guess it’s a synonym to ADO.NET Services ;) ). Not only that , but , “Sql Services” keeps it’s fellow products logo ( SqlServer , BizTalk , ForeFront - Is there a new logo for the IT Products in Microsoft? )

( from Azure Services Platform? )

Want more?

General: How Does It Work? & Azure Services Platform?

Web Developers: Solutions - Azure for Web Developers Azure Services Platform

Corporate Developers: Solutions - Azure for Corporate Developers Azure Services Platform

ISV's: Solutions - Azure for ISVs Azure Services Platform

System Integrators: Solutions - Azure for Systems Integrators and Value-Added Partners Azure Services Platform

Business: Solutions - Azure for Business Azure Services Platform

REAL WORLD SOA happens {HERE}

Adlai Maschiach — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 06:13:37 GMT

REAL WORLD SOA happens {HERE}

The

PDC is just around the corner, and from the PDC 08 Timeline we should have noticed just but a few Foundations:

WF 4.0: A First Look, Kenny Wolf
WCF 4.0: Building WCF Services with WF in Microsoft .NET 4.0, Ed Pinto
WF 4.0: Extending with Custom Activities , Matt Winkler
WCF: Developing RESTful Services , Steve Maine
Microsoft .NET Framework: Declarative Programming Using XAML , Rob Relyea/Daniel Roth
WCF: Zen of Performance and Scale , Nicholas Allen

In the end, these are foundations for the next best thing (Conference) - Microsoft SOA & Business Process Conference 2009 , which we all remeber from last year - Microsoft SOA and Business Processes Conference & Microsoft SOA and Business Processes Conference Videos.

This year I expect that the .NET aspect ( along with Dublin + .NET Framework 4.0 = "BizTalk/SOA Express Framework" ! (part 4) ) would have a greater weight than last time. ( not forgetting about the expected release of BizTalk Server2009 by then )

All of this is timed with the new (Silverlight 2.0 based) http://www.microsoft.com/soa WebSite under the refreshed title of "Real World SOA happens {here}”

Dublin + .NET Framework 4.0 = "BizTalk/SOA Express Framework" ! (part 4)

Adlai Maschiach — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 05:27:19 GMT

Dublin + .NET Framework 4.0 = "BizTalk/SOA Express Framework" ! (part 4)

Finally I have a name for what I was talking about – DUBLIN !

With the announcement of Riding the Next Platform Wave: .NET Framework 4.0 and Windows Server "Dublin", and the attached overview of WCF 4.0, WF 4.0, and Windows Server "Dublin" specifications we understand that the unification of “Dublin” and the version of Biztalk that would come after BizTalk 2009 is unavoidable !

Microsoft has laid the foundation ( now we see the true meaning ) of this in the Version 3.0 of the .NET Framework.

Just look at this section from the specification

Q: What Application Server technologies are coming in Windows Server?

Windows Communication Foundation 4.0

Windows Workflow
Foundation 4.0

Windows Server
"Dublin" technologies

RESTful enhancements

Simplifying the building of REST Singleton & Collection Services, ATOM Feed and Publishing Protocol Services, and HTTP Plain XML Services using WCF
WCF REST Starter Kit to be released on Codeplex to get early feedback

Messaging enhancements

Transports - UDP, MQ, Local in-process
Protocols - SOAP over UDP, WS-Discovery, WS-BusinessActivity, WS-I BP 1.2
Duplex durable messaging

Correlation enhancements

Content and context driven, One-way support

Declarative Workflow Services

Seamless integration between WF and WCF and unified XAML model
Build entire application in XAML, from presentation to data to services to workflow

Significant improvements in performance and scalability

Ten-fold improvement in performance

New workflow flow-control models and pre-built activities

Flowcharts, rules
Expanded built-in activities – PowerShell, database, messaging, etc.

Enhancements in workflow modeling

Persistence control, transaction flow, compensation support, data binding and scoping
Rules composable and seamlessly integrated with workflow engine

Updated visual designer

Easier to use by end-users
Easier to rehost by ISVs
Ability to debug XAML

Provide standard host for WF and WCF applications

Pre-built developer services

Message-based correlation
Message forwarding service
Content-based message routing
Compensation service for long-running transactions

Greater scalability and easier manageability

Enable scale-out of stateful workflow applications
Persisting and rehydrating state for high scalability
Enhanced management and monitoring functions
Tracking store for workflow events

Supports “Oslo” modeling platform

So what do we expect to be the difference ?

let’s start with the word light weight or cheap ( or “Express” )
Did some one said LOB / B2B ? in Dublin , officially Microsoft won’t promise this Functionality , why ? The word “Adapters” comes to mind as the first connotation word. But considering the fact that this would give a great Integration solution with current status of richness in .NET Web Service ( ASP.NET & WCF ) based applications that your company might have – then the missing “Adapters” won’t matter to you really
So you want a more “Visual” comparison ? Do you know the Difference between WSS 3.0 and Moss2007 Enterprise ? BDC ( Business Data Catalog ) , Forms Server and Excel Services are just but a few added values to the amount of available scalability that comes already with the Moss2007 Standard.
On the other hand ! to be a “real” “Dublin” programmer it would be best if you’d be also a BizTalk programmer – why ? because of this section:

The integration server and application server workloads are distinct but complementary; customers want to be able to deploy them separately as needed to support their distinct requirements. For example, customers that don’t need the rich LOB or B2B connectivity provided by an integration server, will deploy the Windows Server application server to host and manage middle-tier applications. Likewise, customers that need to connect heterogeneous systems across an enterprise, but don’t need to develop and run of custom application logic, will deploy BizTalk Server. When customers need both capabilities, “Dublin” and BizTalk Server will work together nicely.
which shows to us that in the end this would help Microsoft in the integration of BizTalk into companies that still don’t work with BizTalk , but use .NET as their development platform. OR companies that required an elevated ( Server ) capability of their business logic which was wrote in .NET 3.x WF/WCF

The King ( BizTalk ) is not dead , he just would marry the princess of the neighboring country ;) , just like MFC Still lives among us , it’s just “Managed” now :D

.NET Framework 4.0 = "BizTalk/SOA Express Framework" ? PART3
.NET Framework 4.0 = "BizTalk/SOA Express Framework" ? PART2
.NET Framework 4.0 = "BizTalk/SOA Express Framework" ?

CodePlex From Green To Gray – New Look & Feel on the way

Adlai Maschiach — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 04:38:05 GMT

Hey, take a look at the new look and feel that is incorporated into CodePlex
{ Work In Progress }

FROM: { URL: http://www.codeplex.com/ }

TO: { URL: http://www.codeplex.com/aspnet }