wallym

devLink Session is posted

wallym — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 07:00:00 GMT

http://www.infoq.com/devlink

My session from last fall's devLink in Nashville is posted. One thing to note is that this talk is from the CTP bits from last summer, so this session is a little bit dated, but I think the overall points are still valid. Enjoy.

Sql Server 2008 Forums on MSDN

wallym — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 21:17:00 GMT

http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/default.aspx?ForumGroupID=428&SiteID=1

Enjoy............

Win an XBox @ Web Experience Events

wallym — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 17:45:00 GMT

My buddy, Kirk Evans, is promoting the Web Experience events. Check out http://blogs.msdn.com/kaevans/archive/2007/06/05/just-blog-to-win-a-free-xbox.aspx for more details on how you can win an XBox.

Sql Server 2008 June CTP is now available

wallym — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 15:37:00 GMT

http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodinfo/futureversion/default.mspx

Hmm, it all sounds so yummie.........

Oracle 11.0.5.10 Beta tools for .NET

wallym — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 01:04:00 GMT

http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/tech/windows/odpnet/index_11gbeta.html

Sweet, looks like a new set of tools for working with Oracle in .NET. Too bad its beta.

Tabletop computing coming to you

wallym — Wed, 30 May 2007 12:57:00 GMT

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2007-05-29-microsoft-surface_N.htm

This is a very interesting idea. I can see tremendous usage for this as a better kiosk or anyplace that needs tablespace and information. Imagine a virtual blackjack (or other card) table. How cool would that be?

I do want to mention that this is not a new idea. In my only corporate job, the the person that was at one time in charge of corporate IT (affectionately known as the Iratollah) would sometimes spout some weird ideas. When I saw this article this morning at the coffee shop down the street, I thought back to him and this idea. That was back in the early to mid 1990s. And before you say that flat plane display technology didn't exist back then, I agree it didn't. However, the Iratollah even admitted that the concept wouldn't work until the display could become a part of the table.

Back on topic now, its nice to see all of this technology get pulled together. It will be interesting to see it all in one package and workable.

Silverlight Streaming

wallym — Sun, 27 May 2007 14:07:00 GMT

You may or may not have heard of a new service from Microsoft called Silverlight Streaming. Its an interesting service with the ability to stream video through the Silverlight media control. It also seems to be a mechanism for Microsoft to compete with Google in the area of user video.

Recently I have been playing with producing the podcast in Flash. As a result, I have been getting needled because I don't have it available in Silverlight. Well, I checked out the Silverlight Streaming service. Here's what I have discovered so far:

Is there an easy way to add the necessary control to Community Server? I would think so, but I haven't experimented with it yet. any info on how to add the control would be helpful.
The free silverlight streaming product only supports upto 10 minutes of video. Well, the podcast can take over 10 minutes, so thats out. I thought that this was interesting, however, I looked at this from the standpoint of the marketplace and it made complete sense. YouTube has a 10 minute video restriction also.
There will be a for-pay Silverlight Streaming service. That sounds interesting, but how can I then support direct download of the podcast? What about support for the iTunes podcatcher.

Anyway, just a few things I thought I would throw out.

ASP.NET Podcast Show #92 - Source code

wallym — Sun, 27 May 2007 13:58:00 GMT

Looks like I forgot to add the source code in for the podcast on Silverlight and Managed Javascript Podcast. I have updated the entry and have them at:

http://aspnetpodcast.com/CS11/blogs/asp.net_podcast/archive/2007/05/16/asp-net-podcast-show-9

Video saved the Book Authors?

wallym — Thu, 24 May 2007 15:01:00 GMT

http://news.com.com/Can+video+save+the+book-publishing+star/2100-1026_3-6186169.html?tag=nefd.led

Interesting idea. Jim Minatel from Wiley/Wrox has been doing this for over a year now.

http://www.wrox.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-291881.html

Wally

ASP.NET Podcast Show #93 - ASP.NET ListView in Orcas Beta 1 - Video

wallym — Wed, 23 May 2007 14:00:00 GMT

Original URL: http://aspnetpodcast.com/CS11/blogs/asp.net_podcast/archive/2007/05/23/asp-net-podcast-show-93-asp-net-listview-in-orcas-beta-1-video.aspx

Download WMV

Download MP4

Show Notes:

ASP.NET ListView.
ListView as a Grid.
ListView as a Container of data.

Source Code:

ASPX Page:

<%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeFile="ListView.aspx.cs" Inherits="ListView" %>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head runat="server">
    <title>ListView Page</title>
</head>
<body>
    <form id="form1" runat="server">
    <div>
    <asp:ListView ID="ListView1" runat="server" ItemContainerID="tblData">
    <layouttemplate>
        <table border="1">
            <tr>
                <th>Name</th>
            </tr>
            <tbody runat="server" id="tblData"></tbody>
        </table>
    </layouttemplate>
    <itemtemplate>
    <tr>
        <td><%# Eval("Name") %></td>
    </tr>
    </itemtemplate>
    </asp:ListView>
    <asp:ListView ID="ListView2" runat="server" ItemContainerID="ddlSelect">
    <LayoutTemplate>
        <select ID="ddlS" name="ddlS">
            <asp:PlaceHolder ID="ddlSelect" runat="server"></asp:PlaceHolder>
        </select>
    </LayoutTemplate>
    <ItemTemplate>
        <option><%# Eval("Name") %></option>
    </ItemTemplate>
    </asp:ListView>
    </div>
    </form>
</body>
</html>

Code Behind .cs file:

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    DataTable dtData = new DataTable();
    DataRow drData;
    dtData.Columns.Add( "Name", System.Type.GetType("System.String"));
    drData = dtData.NewRow();
    drData["Name"] = "Wally McClure";
    dtData.Rows.Add(drData);
    drData = dtData.NewRow();
    drData["Name"] = "Paul Glavich - my trusty sidekick";
    dtData.Rows.Add(drData);
    ListView1.DataSource = dtData;
    ListView1.DataBind();
    ListView2.DataSource = dtData;
    ListView2.DataBind();
}

PS. Due to a snafu with my DNS Server, the site was inaccessible for a while today. As a result, I took this post offline and put it back on once the server was back up and going.

Load testing updates - Rob, I feel your pain

wallym — Tue, 22 May 2007 02:10:00 GMT

I just wanted to throw my two cents in on this subject of load testing updates to highly trafficed sites. http://weblogs.asp.net/rhoward/archive/2007/05/21/www-asp-net-update-part-2.aspx

Before a falling out with a customer over contractual issues, we developed code and managed their web servers. We were never able to fully test major changes under load. One update we had caused lingering problems, but it was what they wanted and stated they had to have. Interestingly, I feel that this update led to the contractual issues.

Rob, I feel your pain.

Where are the Microsoft Zealots?

wallym — Tue, 22 May 2007 00:20:00 GMT

A friend of mine sent me some links earlier today that basically asked where were the Microsoft zealots?

http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2007/05/why_doesnt_micr.html

http://arstechnica.com/journals/microsoft.ars/2007/05/14/good-question-where-are-the-ms-fanboys

This is an interesting question. I think that there are several answers to this questions:

I don't think that these self proclaimed "experts" are looking out in the community. I wonder how many times they visit weblogs.asp.net, codebetter.com, dotnetkicks.com, aspnetpodcast.com (couldn't resist that one), or some of the other sites I read every day? There is a vibrant community out there folks. Have these people not been to a CodeCamp or local User Group meeting?
As much as I don't care for being label anyone's b|tch, the reality is that I fall into the Microsoft camp. I am more than happy to tell you the pluses and the minuses of their technology. BTW, I still think Vista stinks and I am hoping that SP1 resolves the problems I have. I guess that doesn't make me a zealot because I can talk about their technology in a realistic light, whereas a zealot would only know one thing, and that is to blindly support someone's technology.
I ask questions in public forums and I get response from the MS developers that are actually building the technology. How can you not love a company for doing that? I guess it is kinda like when you were in high school and you wanted to date the people that treated others crappy................
They ask questions to their customers and then they provide solutions to those problems and pain points. Yeah, that is unexciting. I'd much rather have google technology. They throw a ton of stuff against the wall and look to see what sticks.
Nobody loves a winner. Thats what Microsoft is. Everyone roots for the underdog. Microsoft isn't that. It is hard to root for them the last 10-12 years since they went upscale and corporate.
Microsoft is no longer perceived to be "cool." Coolness left Microsoft about 1995.
I guess that the MS zealots are out making money and the others are trying to figure out how to make money. I got to where the money is and we get money from writing code on Microsoft's platforms. We see less money in other platforms. Yeah, you can make money doing the other platforms, but we haven't seen enough volume in our business to change any focus.
The one place that I think google has a definite advantage over microsoft is in online advertising (duh). We have had no luck trying to contact google regarding their online advertising solutions for a customer/site. They don't take our feedback and they don't respond to questions. We would give up on them if they weren't the big fish in online advertising.

PS. This is a touchy subject, but after discussions at dinner this evening, another issue is that it is perceived by the community that Google, not Microsoft, is hiring the brightest people. This includes hiring people away from Microsoft. This is important not in what it does for you at a particular moment, but it tends to point the company in a direction for the next X number of years.

Professional Sql Server 2005 CLR Programming - Highly Recommended

wallym — Thu, 17 May 2007 02:16:00 GMT

http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470054034.html

I was walking through Barnes & Noble last week and I came across this book from Wiley. I bought it to see what Derek and Doug had to say. I've read a bunch of pieces of this book and it is very informative. They discuss the technical aspects of development and they cover a lot of the whys of doing things, such as TSql vs CLR, along with performance. If you are working in the Sql Server 2005 area and are looking at Sql Server CLR objects, you need this book. It is highly recommended!

Wally

PS. I write for Wiley, but I spent good money on this book on my own.

.NET Framework for the Mac?

wallym — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 22:26:00 GMT

http://news.com.com/Microsoft+takes+Silverlight+beyond+Windows/2100-1012_3-6180322.html?tag=nefd.top

It would seem to me that the ability to write C# and VB.NET code that runs in Silverlight and on the Safari Web Browser on the Mac means that we just might see a full .NET Framework for the Mac sometime in the future. Yes, I know about Rotor, but I mean something that is supplied and supported by Microsoft and runs on the Mac. It would pretty much mean that .NET would win the front end client war again. We would have Microsoft's APIs on Windows (obviously) and the Mac. Realistically, there aren't any other front ends out there as the two of them are at least 90% and probably 95% of the front end desktop marketplace. Thoughts?

May Futures CTP for ASP.NET AJAX - Get it while its HOT

wallym — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 21:37:00 GMT

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=9323777E-FE78-430C-AD92-D5BE5B5EAD98&displaylang=en

Sweet, there is an update Futures CTP. The download is over 50 MB, so I assume that there is documentation included with it.

Overview (from the MS download page):

The Microsoft ASP.NET Futures May 2007 (“Futures”) release contains an early developer preview of features providing a wide range of new functionality for both ASP.NET and Silverlight™. The functionality in the Futures release includes early experimental versions of features currently being considered for future versions of ASP.NET and the .NET Framework. The Futures releases assume prior knowledge of the core features of ASP.NET including the previous ASP.NET AJAX Futures January CTP.

Features in this release include ASP.NET Silverlight server controls, new functionality for ASP.NET AJAX Extensions, dynamic data controls, enhancements to dynamic languages, and more.

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