February 2005 - Posts
Are the developers in KZN hiding away. I know many of them come out on Saturdays to listen to Ayal but they do not seem to like MSDN Essentials too much based on our registration numbers (not the evaluation ratings). So tell me- where are they and if they out there is there a particular reason they don't like to attend events? -- or is the market just much smaller?
Office 2003 provides a number of features that developers can leverage when building applications. With Visual Studio Tools for Office, Information Bridge Framework (IBF), Office Research Services, XML support in Access, Word and Excel, Smart Documents and Infopath amongst others, there is vast opportunity for developers to leverage Office in a solution
This
article provides more information
If you are an software vendor that builds solutions typically for resell we would be very interested in hearing from you if you either (1) have already built something that leverages Office 2003 or (2) see some potential and intend to develop and application using these technologies.
We might even showcase your solution. And while on the topic if you are an ISV be sure to attend ISV Community Days. See
here for more information.
And if you are a developer interested in Office as a development platform be sure to attend MSDN Essentials. Check http://dotnet.org.za/ahmeds/archive/2005/02/10/14314.aspx for the details
Ahh, now I know what Armand meant with linebreaks on w.blogger. My previous post looks very different to what I created. You need to explicitly go to the menu to insert a line break or paragraph. So much for wysiwyg. The preview showed me what I wanted. Am I missing some option?
I guess I will know now if anyone reads my blog :-). One of the things I do (sometimes quite often and other times not so) with customers is to run what I call whiteboard sessions. These sessions are similar to some of the sessions we have at TechED etc. Essentially you have a session with a bunch of a developers at a company -- it does not have to be lots of developers (even 1 is ok and often too many is not good) and we have discussion around a set of questions that they have. The questions are usually sent to me before hand.
The questions typically have to focussed on either
1) high level application architecture OR
2) evaluating some technology
It is not support
Typically we would have discussions on things like:
1) When would I use Winforms vs Webforms
2) What are smart clients
3) Web Services vs. Remoting
4) This one I like and is the main focus: They draw/explain their architecture and ask for feedback
etc etc
I am thinking of doing this (maybe even using MVPs, SADEV lead and other MSDN speakers where I can down the road) for the wider community. The idea is for me to leave certain days (or mornings and afternoons) free. Advertise on this blog (if anyone reads this blog!) what so days are and then just do it - each session would typically be an hour. I would need to define what areas I can talk about so don't ask me how you build a device driver or aggregate the FTM (a weekend off for the one who can tell me what the FTM is)
What do you think? Would you find this useful? Maybe you even want to join me to assist others?
According to the keynote by Eric Rudder at VSLive and
this page -- Microsoft will make a WinFX Community Tech Preview (CTP) available in March, which will include an Indigo CTP, a second Avalon CTP (following up on the first release in November), and a build of Visual Studio 2005.
The same page has a link to see Eric's session. You can also check out
Soma's session
An
MSDN page with information on how the .NET Framework APIs map to some of the Win32 APIs. I am sure many of you also know about http://pinvoke.net/
Check out
this msdn download. It contains an ISO image with training materials
Check out this
nice article introducing Indigo. It is by David Chappel is a nice introduction. Enjoy
BTW - I just started using w.bloggar v4. Nice
This is a test post from w.bloggar
MSDN Essentials - March 2005:
Microsoft and the Developer and Platforms Group are pleased to invite you to MSDN Essentials.
Building Mobile Smart Client Applications using the .NET Compact Framework (Level 300)
This session will start off with a short discussion on building mobile smart client applications with the .NET Compact Framework. The remainder of the session will focus on two areas. The first will focus on tips and tricks when building .NET Compact Framework applications. In this session you will learn the techniques that can be used to increase the responsiveness of user interface and network operations for users of applications built on the .NET Compact Framework. We will cover general UI, data access, deployment, interop and performance tips as well as architectural guidelines for creating applications that perform well under frequently changing network conditions. The second focus of this session will be on leveraging the telephony and messaging API’s as well as SmartPhone development. This presentation will cover the following topics: Features of the Microsoft SmartPhone; Developing for the SmartPhone; NET Compact Framework Overview; Phone Specifics and PInvoke; Using the Telephony API; Network Programming; Accessing SIM Data and Using the Pocket Outlook.
Leveraging Office as a Smart Client – featuring IBF and InfoPath (Level 300)
Smart clients are applications that take full advantage of information exposed by web services are easily deployed and managed client applications that provide a smart and rich interactive experience by leveraging local resources and intelligently connecting to distributed data sources. Because the Microsoft Office System offers native support for XML, application data can be described by the same customer-defined XML schemas across multiple applications. The session starts off by describing the technologies available to developers to leverage Office as Smart Client. The session is then broken down into 2 main areas. The first is focused on building an Office Solution Using the Information Bridge Framework. The Microsoft Office Information Bridge Framework (IBF) is a brand new technology that builds on the vision of connecting Office users to line-of-business data. A metadata-driven development platform, IBF enables solution developers to target the Office task pane or IBF floating pane with contextual data offered up in .NET User Controls or Html, leveraging smart tag and smart document technologies in Office 2003. This overview session introducing IBF will explain the architecture, developer, and user experience. The second portion of the session will focus on Building Solutions with InfoPath. Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003 is a hybrid tool that combines the best of a traditional document editing experience, such as a word processor or e-mail application, with the rigorous data-capture capabilities of a forms package. This session will show the value of InfoPath, how to build solutions and review many of the new features and managed code support.
DURBAN: Thursday 3 March 2005 (Riverside Hotel) - (Morning and afternoon sessions)
Session 1: Building Mobile Smart Client Applications using the .NET Compact Framework (Level 300)
Time: 09:00 – 12:00
To register: http://msevents-eu.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?culture=en-ZA&EventID=118756100&EventCategory=1
Session 2: Leveraging Office as a Smart Client – featuring IBF and InfoPath (Level 300)
Time: 14:00 – 17:00
To register: http://msevents-eu.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?culture=en-ZA&EventID=118756101&EventCategory=1
JOHANNESBURG: Monday 14 March 2005 (Microsoft, Bryanston) - (Morning and afternoon sessions)
Session 1: Building Mobile Smart Client Applications using the .NET Compact Framework (Level 300)
Time: 09:00 – 12:00
To register: http://msevents-eu.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?culture=en-ZA&EventID=118756102&EventCategory=1
Session 2: Leveraging Office as a Smart Client – featuring IBF and InfoPath (Level 300)
Time: 14:00 – 17:00
To register: http://msevents-eu.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?culture=en-ZA&EventID=118756103&EventCategory=1
CAPE TOWN: Thursday 17 March 2005 (Peninsula Hotel) - (Morning and afternoon sessions)
Session 1: Building Mobile Smart Client Applications using the .NET Compact Framework (Level 300)
Time: 09:00 – 12:00
To register: http://msevents-eu.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?culture=en-ZA&EventID=118756104&EventCategory=1
Session 2: Leveraging Office as a Smart Client – featuring IBF and InfoPath (Level 300)
Time: 14:00 – 17:00
To register: http://msevents-eu.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?culture=en-ZA&EventID=118756105&EventCategory=1
Via Joe Stagner's blog post http://blogs.msdn.com/joestagner/archive/2005/02/04/366974.aspx I found out that Softwire is now free. This is a nice tool that integrates with VS and is great for hobbyists and beginners.
Check out http://www.softwire.com/
Do not forget MSDN Essentials next week - sessions on Windows Server 2003 and Connected System (BTS and WSE). Feb starts off a busy few months of developer and architect sessions. We have
- the Patterns and Practices sessions being run on Saturdays by Ayal - starting this Saturday in Durban and then hitting other cities in the forthcoming months
- MSDN Essentials in Feb (mentioned above)
- The Architect Events -- viz SAF in Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg
- Other small Architect events (these I think are by invite)
- MSDN Essentials in Mar -- covering Mobile Dev with the .NET Compact Framework (tips and tricks and some smartphone development) and Office Smart Client dev (covering IBF and Infopath). the invites for this should go out next week.
- early adopter Visual Studio 2005 training being held for software vendors and customers who are using early bits of VS05 in their applications (by invite only for customers/partners who are already enrolled on an early adopter program)
- Devdays - probably in middle May - sessions on Visual Studio 2005, hopefully 3 tracks on Web Dev, Smart Client and Visual Studio Team System. We are hoping to get guys out from the product team too
-And maybe SQL Server 2005 for developers in June
++ all the user group sessions etc
Check out http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1757512,00.asp for the interview with Soma -- who is the corporate VP of the developer division