Introduction to VS2010 and Framework 4.0

I had fun last night presenting to the Sydney Business and Technology User Group. We chatted about the productivity improvements that we get as developers and managers from the professional version of Visual Studio and the great enhancements to the platform provided by the new version of the .NET Framework.

I've posted my slides on skydrive, but as I said last night the slides and demos were shamelessly stolen from the Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 Training Kit. That's what you really want to download.

Thanks to Craig and Nick for inviting me to present.

TechEd ANZ Call for Content Closed

As I said in my update, we've had an overwhelming response to our Call for Content for TechEd Australia and New Zealand. Submissions are now closed and the Track Owners are beavering away making final decisions about which of the huge selection of content they have to choose from they can actually fit into the schedule.

Look out for a first pass at about 75% of the content by the first week of July.

Thanks to everyone who's submitted content – I really believe our TechEd this year will be the richer for it.

Lighting up your Apps with Windows 7 - User Group Sessions

Yesterday I had the pleasure of presenting at the two Canberra .NET User Group meetings (I'll be presenting the same session tomorrow night at the Sydney .NET User Group).

My topic was an introduction to developing on Windows 7. We discussed the value of the platform and  I reiterated the benefits of leveraging the huge amount of work done by the Windows 7 team, not just in the programming of the operating system, but also the enormous investment in usability testing and user experience design. There's some great explanation of all of the work being done in Windows 7 on the Engineering Windows7 Blog.

The slides and demos came from the excellent Windows 7 Training Kit.

I talked about the importance of using the Application Quality Cookbook to guide your development of Windows 7 applications.

The demos used the managed wrappers from the Windows API Code Pack.

I also showed off some little known windows shortcut keys, some shamelessly pinched from Jeffa's blog.

I've uploaded the deck I used to my SkyDrive.

Why should Partners come to TechEd?

Kim Partridge, from the PartnerTV team interviewed me last week about TechEd and why partners, in particular, should make sure they're there.

Check it out

TechEd Registrations Streaming In

We opened the TechEd registration flood gates a couple if weeks ago and I've just been having a look at the registration data. Proving that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Here's a little teaser:

Top 10 Names

Don't forget that the Early Bird offer expires on July 14 (notice how we've made it span the Financial Year so you can do the expenditure in either).

TechEd ANZ Call for Content Update

We’ve had a great response to the TechEd ANZ Call For Content we announced a couple of weeks ago. Here’s the submission count as of this morning:

I’ve had a couple of questions around this and while I’ve answered them directly, I’ll also post the answers here.

When do submissions close?

The answer is "it depends". Track owners will close off their tracks for submissions when they feel like they’ve got enough submissions. Having said that, we’ll leave all tracks open until at least the 1st of June, so you’ve still got a week or so as a minimum.

What’s the difference between a Breakout Session and a Birds of a Feather Session?

A breakout session is one of the main sessions that are held during the conference. There are 9 rooms available in each of 15 time slots across the 3 days. You can expect anywhere between 20 and 1000 people at a breakout session. The content and presenters for these sessions are determined by the track owners.

Birds of a Feather sessions are designed to be informal gatherings of like-minded people. This is a community-driven session held outside the timeslots for breakouts. It's likely that there will be perhaps as many as 10 BoF sessions and they’ll be scheduled for lunchtimes and perhaps on Wednesday evening. We're planning to make the BoF selection something that attendees can contribute to. The current proposal (subject to change, no promises etc) is to publish a list of the submissions and have people vote.

How Many Submissions Will You Accept?

There are only 135 slots for TechEd this year and so there are obviously going to be many more public submissions than available slots. There's no hard number we're aiming for, but please don’t be too disappointed if your session isn't selected this time. One of the things I’d love to do though is publicise the sessions that weren't selected with a view to local User Groups picking them up as presentations through the year. I won’t do that without the submitter's permission though.

Are You Paying Presenters?

No – there's been some confusion because the link from my original post to the rules for submitting content was a generic link that triggered some "smart" stuff server-side to determine where you were submitting from and displayed the rules appropriate to that region. A number of people got the TechEd North America rules (it explicitly said that at the top of the page) and they do have a stipend for speakers. We don't have the budget for that.

So there's no more confusion, here are the rules for submitting content for TechEd Australia and New Zealand.

TechEd Online – Chat with Michael Kleef

I had a chance to catch up with former IT Pro Evangelist Michael Kleef yesterday at TechEd in LA and  we had a chat about what he’s doing now, how he’s found the transition from a customer facing role in Australia to a corporate role in the US and about a bunch of other things.

The interview’s up on TechEd Online. Check it out.

Free training in Sydney May 19-21. Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4.0

Upgrade your MCP for only $25 US*

I had a great response from the certification vouchers I gave out three months ago. Unfortunately I don’t have any more of those to give away, but Microsoft Learning have announced an offer that’s almost as good. If you’re a MCP and you got your last certification before July 1 2007, you can get a voucher to sit an exam between now and 30 June this year for only $25 US.

MSL launches up to 80% off exams to help you up-skill!

We have taken off up to 80% off the price of exams for any MCP who has not attained a new Microsoft Certification Credential since July 1, 2007. From now to June 30th, 2009 MCPs are eligible for a Microsoft Certification exam at a special price of US$25.

Get up-skilled in new Microsoft technologies so that you remain competitive in the market. Visit the website for terms and conditions.

Tech.Ed Australia and New Zealand Call for Content Now Open

2009-05-22 Updated the link for the rules for submitting content

The Tech•Ed 2009 season kicks off next week in LA, and the show comes to Australia and New Zealand in mid-September. We’ve just opened the Call for Content tool so now’s the time to submit that great idea for a session. Details about how to submit are at the bottom of this post.

Here are the rules for submitting content and what we’ll cover/not cover if the track owners select your session(s).

All the way through the process you’ll be able to review your submission and track its status. This is the first time we’ve opened up the Call for Content publically like this and we’re likely to receive many more proposals than we’ve got slots to fill, so please don’t be disappointed if your submission isn’t selected.

Tips for Successful Submissions

• Write a descriptive, fun and enticing title
• Target 300-400 level technical content; 200 level content is in low demand
• Describe content that is new, unique or significantly refreshed from a previous presentation.
• Take a solution oriented approach
• Align your topic to the technologies listed for the track
• Ensure there is no marketing in your content
• Showcase your speaking experience
• Focus on currently released technologies, technologies in beta or technologies that will be released within 12 months of Tech·Ed
• Include one or more live demos. Historically, sessions with strong demos receive higher audience scores

By the way, Tech•Ed veteran Greg Low’s done a wonderful screencast series on presenting at large events. Well worth a look if you’re considering submitting content for any event.

Tracks and Technologies

There are 13 tracks at Tech•Ed this year and each one is owned by one or more local Microsoft folk. Here are the tracks, a quick abstract of what they will cover and the owner of each track. You may want to use this to guide your submission.

Windows Client and Server

Owners: Jeff Alexander, Philip Duff, Adam Hall and Deannah Templeton.

The basis of any strong data centre now and for the future starts with the core operation system. The Windows Server® family of products provides you with the best solution to build your IT infrastructure for any size organization. From the Essential Server Solutions to Windows Server 2008 R2, this track shows you the solutions and set of technologies to ensure success.
In addition, this track covers the comprehensive set of management products and solutions enabled by the Microsoft® System Center product suite as well as various Windows Management Technologies to help you gain back control of your environment. The sessions presented provide you with in-depth guidance and technical background in "Managing the Data centre" and "Managing the Desktop" while also covering the management of heterogeneous IT environments.
Finally, the Windows Client and Server track has everything you need to know about adoption, deployment, management, and virtualization of the Windows® Desktop Environment, including a technical introduction into Windows 7 and Microsoft® Internet Explorer® 8. Come learn best practices and hear about the advancements in the Windows Client technologies which will help you manage and accelerate your desktop deployment efforts. Get real-world guidance from our industry experts via sessions that span client-side development, readying applications for your OS roll-out, deployment tools and technologies, virtualization, and much more.

Office System

Owners: Alistair Speirs, Ian Palangio and Paul Quirk

The Office and SharePoint® track provides IT professionals and developers with a deep technical arsenal for the 2007 Microsoft® Office system. Come and learn from industry experts the best practices and advice on how to architect, design, deploy, and implement world-class solutions built on the Office and SharePoint platform technologies. Be prepared to learn more about the next wave of innovations while also going deep into 2007 Office system products and technologies such as SharePoint Server 2007, Office Enterprise, Open XML File Formats, InfoPath® 2007, SharePoint Designer, Project Server 2007, and SharePoint Online. As an IT professional, learn about Office server and client applications with sessions covering security, deployment, management, customization, and administration. As a developer, learn how to take your ASP.NET expertise to the fast-growing SharePoint ecosystem, how to craft the next generation of "Office Business Applications" and about the latest techniques for creating applications involving Microsoft Office, composition, collaboration, software-plus-services, VOIP, Open XML, Silverlight™, and more!

Unified Communications

Owners: Johann Kruse and Paul Dolley

Microsoft unified communications technologies use the power of software to deliver complete communications-messaging, voice, and video-across the applications and devices that people use every day. The Unified Communications track strengthens your knowledge of Microsoft Unified Communications platform and technologies, including Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Microsoft Office LiveMeeting and Microsoft® Exchange Online. Explore how you can streamline your organization's communications, build presence aware applications, roll out an on-premise, hosted messaging and collaboration system, and much more!

Web

Owner: Michael Kordahi

The Web and User Experience track brings you all the latest information on cutting-edge Web technologies and provides you with the latest in developing great user experiences from the Windows® desktop to mobile devices to cross-browser and cross-platform on the Web. Get the latest information on Windows Presentation Foundation, XAML, Microsoft® Expression® Studio, and Microsoft® Silverlight™, as well as all the in-depth coverage of Microsoft® Internet Information Services (IIS), ASP.NET, ASP.NET AJAX, Microsoft® Internet Explorer®, Windows Live™ Platform, and Commerce Server. Whether you are interested in taking your ASP.NET development to the next level, or finding out how you can use your .NET development skills to build rich experiences that run in the Safari browser on the Mac, the Web and User Experience track is for you.

Developer Tools and Practices

Owner: Dave Glover

Your knowledge of development languages and proficiency with the tools you use to create software are the core of your skill set. The Developer Tools, Languages, and Frameworks track is packed with deep technical training that covers the best of Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2008, and the upcoming Visual Studio® 2010. Get in-depth information on building mission-critical software using Microsoft® Visual Basic® and Visual C#®. Amplify your application development impact with Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) best practices using the Visual Studio Team System. Acquire the skills that you need to make an immediate impact in your organization while preparing for future versions of Visual Studio.

Architecture

Owner: Nigel Watson

The Architecture track offers sessions focused on Architecture of technology and Architecture as a practice. Elements include the architectural process of translating business vision, intent, and strategy into effective technological change in the Enterprise; addressing the skills of creating, communicating, and improving the key tenets, principles, and models that describe the Enterprise's future state and enable its transformation, evolution, or migration.

SQL and BI

Owner: Ron Dunn

The Microsoft® SQL Server® data platform helps your organization manage any data, any place, any time with the security, reliability and scalability that your mission-critical applications require. The SQL and BI track offers the knowledge you need to maximize your Microsoft SQL Server investments and gain the skills needed to seamlessly run a mission-critical environment. Gain insights into future SQL Server technology investments so you can rest assured knowing the bets you make today will continue to pay off in the future.
Now more than ever, your business needs a quick means of getting the right information to the right people so that they can make smarter, more informed decisions. Microsoft's Business Intelligence solutions enable you to do just this. The SQL and BI track also offers sessions covering how to integrate, analyse, and report on all of your corporate data easily using the Microsoft Business Intelligence platform, end-user tools, and analytics applications. Learn how to build custom, robust Business Intelligence solutions using Microsoft® SQL® Server 2005 and 2008 (Integration Services, Analysis Services and Reporting Services) and the 2007 Office system (Microsoft® Office Excel®, Excel Services and Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server technologies) and how to easily manage them.

Security

Owner: Rocky Heckman

Security continues to be a major concern for almost every company in business today, and technology professionals are always looking for ways to improve and bolster their security strategies and tactics. Microsoft brings unique capabilities together to deliver comprehensive, integrated solutions across IT security, identity, access, and management. The Security, Identity, and Access track provides guidance and technical detail on Microsoft® Forefront™ products, identity-based access technologies, Windows® security technologies, and more!

SOA and Business Process

Owner: Graham Elliott

Organizations of all sizes use technology to automate, manage, and improve business processes, and many are using SOA to create a more flexible set of IT assets. Designing, building, deploying, and managing these distributed applications can be difficult and complex. There are a range of capabilities, products, and technologies that you will need to understand in order to do your job effectively. The SOA and Business Processes track helps to explain these choices, give you concrete approaches to designing distributed applications particularly around loosely coupled service oriented architectures, and to show you the Microsoft products and technologies that you will use to develop and manage these systems. See products such as Microsoft® BizTalk® Server 2009, .NET LOB Adapters and the Microsoft® .NET Framework 3.5, in addition to some major new technologies that are in development and soon to be released.
With a multitude of new tools and technologies in the middle tier, Microsoft's broad platform offering has created tremendous opportunities for you as a developer. Our experts show you products and technologies that provide successful strategies to take advantage of the platform and development tools.

Dynamics

Owner: Catherine Eibner

The Microsoft Dynamics suite of products provide a comprehensive platform for developing and deploying applications and services for retailers, manufacturers, wholesale distributors, and service companies, doing business domestically or in multiple countries. With these tools in hand, people in every key position in your organization can contribute to the success of your company. Microsoft Dynamics enhances all lines of business in your organization and delivers exceptional benefits. Come and hear how to deploy enhance and leverage the base Dynamics products and integrate them with Line of Business Applications through the extensive services interfaces provided.

Mobility

Owner: Rick Anderson

With the increasingly mobile nature of computing today, the Windows Mobile® track gives you the background that you need for selecting, developing for, and securely managing Windows Mobile phones. Did you know you can build for Windows Mobile with Microsoft® Visual Studio® skills you already have? Did you know that you can securely manage your mobile devices with Microsoft® System Center Mobile Device Manager? Find out this and much more in the Windows Mobile track

Azure Services Platform

Owner: Greg Willis

With the new Azure Services Platform, developers can take advantage of an Internet-scale cloud services platform hosted in Microsoft data centres to build new applications in the cloud or extend existing applications quickly and easily, using a flexible and interoperable platform. The Azure Services Platform track explores Azure's cloud operating system and set of developer services, including Windows Azure, SQL Services, .NET Services, and Live Services. Sessions provide an overview of services currently in Community Technology Preview (CTP) and beta release, in addition to discussions on the future of the Azure Services Platform and the possibilities it provides for your business to reduce costs and accelerate innovation.

Virtualisation

Owner: Amit Pawar

With today's IT budget constraints, virtualization enables you to maximize your current hardware investments and provide increased services. The Virtualization track covers all of Virtualization from the desktop to the data centre. Learn about Microsoft's virtualization strategy, as well as our current solutions: Windows Server® Hyper-V, Microsoft® Hyper-V™ Server, App-V, MED-V, System Center Virtual Machine Manager, and Terminal Services (Remote Desktop Services). Sessions include real-world lessons from both Microsoft and industry experts. Come learn all about the present and future of Virtualization at Microsoft.

Submitting a topic

So how do you go about submitting a session? Go to the Call for Content tool and register with your email address and the RSVP code TechEdANZ. Fill in all the details and hit submit. You can come back to the site at any time to update or review the progress of your submission.

Live Q&A with Scott Guthrie

Brian Madsen and his mates at LIDNUG have done it again. Following on from hugely successful meetings with Brian Harry and Greg Low, they’ve managed to secure Scott Guthrie for an intimate Q&A. Don’t forget that previous recording are archived here.

Upcoming Talks

Stephen Toub talks about the .NET Parallel Extensions, May 7, 12:00 PM PST

• Learn the ins and outs of .Net Parallel Extensions - puzzled? come along and get the details first hand from one of the industry's leading technologists.
• http://events.linkedin.com/LINDUG-Stephen-Toub-NET-Parallel/pub/60569

Scott Guthrie talks shop with developers, May 11, 11:30 AM PST

• Scott Guthrie is corporate vice president of Microsoft’s .NET Developer Division, where he runs the development teams responsible for delivering Microsoft Visual Studio developer tools and Microsoft .NET Framework technologies for building client and Web applications
• http://events.linkedin.com/LIDNUG-ScottGu-talks-shop-developers/pub/60571

Sara Ford talks about Open Source with CodePlex, June 21, 9:00 PM PST

• If you’re a software developer interested in running an open source project or just looking around for a particular tool to download, come check out the latest from CodePlex.
• http://events.linkedin.com/LIDNUG-Sara-Ford-Embrace-Open-Source/pub/65637

Also, don't forget that by simply registering and attending the Scott Guthrie event, you could be in the running to win a 1 year MSDN Premium VSTS Subscription, worth US$10,000+.

Launching a website from a button in Office

There was a question on one of the internal lists today: "Looking for a no-brainer way to demo just adding a simple button to Office that goes to a URL."

It’s going to work a little differently in Word & Excel than it does in Outlook.

Word/Excel/Etc (apps with Ribbon)

For a Word/Excel addin, add a ribbon control and then add a button to that control.

For example, create a new Word 2007 Addin

Add a ribbon control

3

Change the caption of the Ribbon Group, drag a Button onto the group, change it’s image and caption etc

In the button click event use

System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(http://blogs.msdn.com/acoat);

Press F5 and look in the Addins tab in Word when it launches.

Click the button and the site launches in the system default browser.

Outlook

For Outlook of course, there’s no ribbon in the main app, so you need to add this code to the ThisAddIn_Startup event like Kirk Evans does it here to add the button:

public partial class ThisAddIn
{
    
    Microsoft.Office.Core.CommandBar bar;

    Microsoft.Office.Core.CommandBarButton button;


    private void ThisAddIn_Startup(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
    {
        AddCommandBar();
        AddCommandButton();
    }

    private void ThisAddIn_Shutdown(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
    {
    }

    #region VSTO generated code

    /// <summary>
    /// Required method for Designer support - do not modify
    /// the contents of this method with the code editor.
    /// </summary>
    private void InternalStartup()
    {
        this.Startup += new System.EventHandler(ThisAddIn_Startup);
        this.Shutdown += new System.EventHandler(ThisAddIn_Shutdown);
    }
    
    #endregion

    private void AddCommandBar()
    {
        //Add the command bar
        bar = Globals.ThisAddIn.Application.ActiveExplorer().CommandBars.Add(
            "Launch Site",
            Office.MsoBarPosition.msoBarTop,
            false,
            true);
        bar.Protection = Office.MsoBarProtection.msoBarNoCustomize;
        bar.Visible = true;
    }

    private void AddCommandButton()
    {
        //Add a command button to the bar
        button = bar.Controls.Add(
            Office.MsoControlType.msoControlButton,
            Type.Missing,
            Type.Missing,
            Type.Missing,
            true) as Office.CommandBarButton;

        button.Caption = "Launch the Site";
        button.Click += new Office._CommandBarButtonEvents_ClickEventHandler(button_Click);
    }

    void button_Click(Office.CommandBarButton Ctrl, ref bool CancelDefault)
    {
        System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("http://blogs.msdn.com/acoat");
    }
}

Pressing F5 here will launch Outlook and add a new CommandBar and a new button to that CommandBar.

Clicking the button will launch the web site in the system default browser.

Free Windows 7 Developer Training in Sydney April 28-30

As part of the Metro program, we’re running a 3-day Windows 7 Developer Training course in the Sydney CBD April 28-30th. There are a few places left for this course and they’re available on a first-come, first-served basis. The agenda looks pretty compelling:

So if you’re interested in getting in on some great training and getting your apps ready for Windows 7, then email Shuk Chan to confirm that there’s still a place for you.

Want to go to JAOO in Sydney or Brisbane next month?

The JAOO conference in Sydney May (5)7-8 and Brisbane May (9)11-14 looks great.

The speaker list reads like a who’s-who with Greg Willis, Nick Hodge, Joel Pobar and a whole lot more.

We’ve managed to find a comp ticket to each of these events to give away. Drop me a note telling me why you should have one (and which city you’d like to go to).

Even if you don’t get one from me, you can still get a 10% discount just by entering the code jaoo2009_MSDN when you register.

Linked .NET User Group – April Events. SQL 2008, VSTS 2010

Brian Madsen pinged me today, at almost the same time as my automatic notification arrived. This month the Linked .Net Users Group has two great Live Meetings as pare of their ongoing program (recordings of previous sessions are archived here).

Session 1 – register here

April 8th 03:00 Sydney time - Greg Low - iFTS on SQL Server 2008

Our April Speaker is going to be Greg Low. He’s a Microsoft MVP from down under.

Here is some information: Developers like queries that are very constrained. Users don’t. In this session, Greg will show how iFTS in SQL Server 2008 allows developers to build systems that answer the queries the users really want to ask. This session got great reviews when Greg delivered it at TechEd Developers in Barcelona recently.

About Greg Low: Greg is an internationally recognized consultant, developer and trainer. He has been working in development since 1978 and holds a PhD in Computer Science. Greg is the country lead for Solid Quality (www.solidq.com.au), a SQL Server MVP and a Microsoft Regional Director.

He is currently one of only two people in the world to hold the new Microsoft Masters certification for SQL Server 2008 and teaches internal SQL Server classes for Microsoft on their Redmond campus

LiveMeeting address: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/microsoft/join?id=G2K4BH&role=attend&pw=PN6.%3CQ%5Drb

How-to: Join a LiveMeeting http://office.microsoft.com/en-au/livemeeting/HA102308521033.aspx

Register for this event: http://events.linkedin.com/LIDNUG-Greg-Low-iFTS-SQL-Server-2008/pub/53480
Prizes:
1 ReSharper license per 25 attendees - Courtesy of JetBrains
1 Nevron Developer License - Courtesy of Nevron

Session 2 – register here

April 30th 09:30 Sydney Time - Brian Harry - Visual Studio Team System 2010

We’re delighted to announce further details of an upcoming event this month:

Brian Harry - Visual Studio Team System 2010 - 30 April 2009 @ 19:30 GMT

Brian Harry is a Microsoft Technical Fellow who is the Product Unit Manager for TFS, and has been working on TFS since its inception in 2002. He has plenty of experience in working with source control systems - prior to working on TFS he formed One Tree Software back in 1992 and developed SourceSafe, which ended up becoming part of the Microsoft product set in 1994. Brian also worked as Developer Manager of the CLR from the initial creation of the .NET framework through v1.1.

The content of this event will be covering the new features of TFS 2010 (codename Rosario) and what benefits it will bring to software development and project management.

You can read more about Brian on his blog - http://blogs.msdn.com/bharry/.

LiveMeeting address: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/microsoft/join?id=G2K4BH&role=attend&pw=PN6.%3CQ%5Drb

How-to: Join a LiveMeeting http://office.microsoft.com/en-au/livemeeting/HA102308521033.aspx
Register for this event: http://events.linkedin.com/LIDNUG-Brian-Harry-Visual-Studio-Team/pub/54208
Prizes:
1 ReSharper license per 25 attendees - Courtesy of JetBrains
1 Nevron Developer License - Courtesy of Nevron
1 year full subscription to InnerWorkings catalog - Courtesy of InnerWorkings (valued at approx. $2500)

PS, next month’s speaker is pretty good too (perhaps even more exciting than Brian)