With TechEd Developer closer at hand, I've put together the latest schedule data for sessions of interest to developers for each of the different products. The first group is sessions of general interest. The second group is sessions focusing on WCF and WF development. The third group is sessions focusing on CardSpace development. The fourth group is sessions focusing on BizTalk development.
Services are fundamentally changing the way we build, deploy, and manage applications. In this session we identify common challenges, and share our latest guidance and success stories. In addition, we outline Microsoft's strategy to simplify complexity in a service oriented world using our frameworks, servers, and online services.
Microsoft's "Oslo" project aims at creating a unified platform for model-based, service-oriented applications. This new approach will affect the next versions of several products and technologies, including the Microsoft .NET Framework, Microsoft Visual Studio, Microsoft BizTalk Server, Microsoft System Center, and more. Although many details of "Oslo" won't be public until later in 2008, this session provides an overview of what Microsoft has revealed so far. Along with a description of the problems it addresses, the session includes a look at several new "Oslo" technologies, including a general-purpose modeling language, role-specific modeling tools, a shared model repository, and a distributed service bus.
The .NET and Java/J2EE worlds have been competitors for several years. How do things stack up today? And what will the future look like? This session provides an independent perspective on how these two environments compare, focused on technologies for SOA and BPM. Comparisons include Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) vs. pure BPEL workflow and Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) vs. Service Component Architecture (SCA).
Microsoft has announced "Oslo", the code-name for a wave of technology affecting the Microsoft .NET Framework, Microsoft BizTalk Server, and the idea of building service-oriented systems using Microsoft technologies. In this session we discuss what we know so far about these technologies, and how to think about what you are currently doing with Windows Communication Framework/Windows Workflow Foundation and BizTalk Server to best prepare for the future.
While ASP.NET AJAX has taken center stage, it's only compelling when you have interesting data feeds to call upon. This session shows you how to build AJAX-enabled services using some of the new features in Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) 3.5. We specifically cover how to configure your WCF services to respond directly to HTTP requests with JSON (AJAX- friendly) response messages. Along the way we uncover how the underlying implementation works while providing some design guidance and highlighting potential pitfalls.
Once you understand the basics of Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) and can put together a workflow using the built-in activities, you will need to know how to get that workflow running in a variety of hosting environments and communicate between the workflow and the host application or the outside world. This session gives you a solid foundation to get started with these techniques. Gain a better understanding of how workflows exist in a hosting process and how to control the hosting services. Learn about the various forms of communication that can exist between a running workflow and the hosting application as well as with outside Web and WCF Services. Also, learn about the persistence and tracking features of WF.
This session provides a detailed walkthrough of implementing the Configuration Service 1.5, a published MSDN sample application, in your own applications and services using the base classes/base implementation. The Configuration Service 1.5 provides dynamic clustering of scaled-out service nodes for both scale, and application/service reliability. In addition, the Configuration Service 1.5 provides a central Web-based management user interface that works with any application or service implementing the Configuration Service contract. If you need to manage/monitor multiple nodes in a load-balanced cluster, or want to use WCF to build SOA applications with many connecting service layers, this session is for you!
Consider using Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) to implement long -running workflows or execution sequences that last days or even weeks, where the clients may connect, do some work and disconnect again. There is obviously little point in keeping proxies and hosts in memory, since it is not robust or scalable enough. You can design around this by persisting the state of the service between operations, but that implies some ability to connect back to that state in each operation. The session starts by discussing the challenges of writing such a durable service and the design options, and then demonstrates several ways of managing and binding to the service state, using message headers, or the new Microsoft .NET 3.5 context binding, contrasting and evaluating the alternatives. Through a series of conceptual demos, the sessions demystifies the WCF-solution of persistence providers, and even how to write a custom provider or use the built-in SQL provider. You also see some advanced .NET and WCF programming techniques.
Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) has much more to it than the raw aspects of the technology. This talk is all about how to deal with common real-life hurdles, and how to effectively apply WCF, by presenting a set of tools, tips, tricks, best practices, original utilities, and ideas that can enhance your productivity significantly. This content-packed talk includes working with WCF-provided test host and clients, instrumentation, tracing and logging, in-proc factory, operation overloading, data contract helpers, type-safe callback proxies, fault debugging techniques, turning Windows Forms into services for easy UI updates, and queued services setup helper classes. All the techniques presented are used in real-life projects.
The Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 will introduce the functionality to call services from Windows Workflow Foundation (WF), and to expose workflows as a Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) service. A common pattern is to have a workflow serve as the coordinator between a number of other processes (including workflows). This talk discusses how these conversations are implemented in WF, and common patterns for conversing over a long period of time, including asynchronous messaging, long-running cancellable work, managing m-of-n responses and check pointing of progress.
This session looks at the new .NET StockTrader, which provides bi- directional interoperability between .NET and J2EE using Web services, as well as using the Configuration Service with both .NET clients and hosts via Windows Communication Foundation to interoperate with Java application servers and Java-based clients and services in general. The session is based on fully published sample code, so you can immediately use information from the session in developing your own projects.
State Machine workflows are workflows that transition from State to State where a state is a well know step, stage, or status of a business process. State Machines can also be passed data via external events. A workflow that measures its status via human readable states and can be passed data via external events is a good tool for building Human workflows. This session shows techniques for using State Machines as Human workflows. Specifically, we investigate persistence services for durability, tracking services for workflow reports, and tools for interacting with a state machine from a user interface.
Securing messages between clients and services is essential to protecting data. The Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) provides a versatile and interoperable platform for exchanging secure messages based upon both the existing security infrastructure and the recognized security standards for SOAP messages. In this session learn how to use WCF for transfer security and access control using familiar technologies such as HTTPS, Windows integrated security, X.509 certificates, SAML, and usernames and passwords, and also new technologies such as Windows CardSpace. This session also discusses how to extend WCF security to support custom security tokens, custom authentication methods, claims-based authorization, claims transformation, and custom principals.
One of the key new features of Windows Communication Foundation 3.5 (WCF 3.5) is the Web Programming Model. The Web Programming Model enables developers to build Services using a RESTful architecture. The number of services implemented using this new architectural approach out in the wild is growing by leaps and bounds. In this session we cover the basics of REST versus SOAP/WS-*, and how to build Services using WCF 3.5 that are RESTful in nature. We also talk about adding Web feeds (RSS and/or ATOM) to our Services, which can enable easy access to enterprise data.
Software-plus-services is a major part of the Microsoft strategy for the future. Just as the Microsoft .NET Framework is foundational software that lets you build virtually all manner of applications, Microsoft also hosts a foundational set of services that simplify composite application development. These services allow you to connect applications, implement the publish/subscribe pattern, manage identity and access control across the Internet, and run workflows over services. This talk describes the Microsoft vision for the Internet Service Bus, how to use it via the Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) API, and how these kinds of capabilites impact application architecture going forward. Some knowledge of WCF is useful but not necessary.
Significant momentum is building around the industry vision of an Identity Metasystem. Come to this session to learn about the claims-based model for identity and access that lies at the core of this vision, the fundamental benefits it will bring to the next generation of connected applications, and preview the Microsoft server and framework product roadmap in support of this model. Topics include integration with Windows CardSpace and Information cards.
Windows CardSpace provides users with a convenient way of authenticating themselves to applications. Windows CardSpace was developed in conjunction with others in the industry to ensure that it will work with more than just Microsoft Web sites. Windows CardSpace is the most visible piece of the larger Identity MetaSystem. In this session we discuss the Identity MetaSystem and how Windows CardSpace works to overcome many of the problems with authentication on the Internet today. We then look at the enhancements to Windows CardSpace and the API that were introduced in version 3.5 of the .NET Framework.
Windows CardSpace provides users with a simple, consistent, and secure way to authenticate to applications. Passwords are made redundant by taking advantage of public key cryptography and presenting the user with a set of Information Cards to represent their digital identity. These identities can be provided by the user and by third parties (e.g., banks, employers, government). CardSpace has privacy features, hardening against phishing, and support for multi-factor authentication (e.g., smart cards). By utilizing standard Web and Web service protocols, CardSpace can be used with any Web or Web service application, regardless of platform, with minimal effort from the developer. In this session learn how to modify a Web application to accept Information Card sign-up and sign-in.
Do you work in a Mainframe environment? Are you intimidated by all the jargon? This session arms you with the knowledge you need to connect, speak, and execute with authority. From establishing a simple connection to DB2 and MQSeries, to complying with security and exposing CICS transactions, this session puts it all together to empower the Microsoft .NET/BizTalk Developer to speak and act with authority.
Every day more high-performing companies connect their internal departments, their support networks, and their demand and supply chains. Reducing the cost and complexity of supply chain management, Microsoft and its large ecosystem of hardware and software partners are working to enable mass adoption of RFID, SOA, and B2B solutions by developing feature-rich, low cost end-to-end RFID solutions. These solutions empower people to gain productivity and business efficiencies. This session showcases real-world deployments and shows how BizTalk RFID, which is part of BizTalk Server 2006 R2, can be used at edge of enterprise to capture physical world transactions and integrate these to existing enterprise applications using core EAI, B2B, and EDI capabilities of BizTalk Server 2006 R2. This session will showcase .NET based SDK of BizTalk RFID which enables Developers to build rich RFID enabled applications.
Software-plus-services provides new choices for deploying applications and infrastructure on-premise and online. Over the last year Microsoft has introduced an initial wave of software-plus-services applications (Microsoft Dynamics CRM and CRM Live) and infrastructure (Microsoft BizTalk Server and BizTalk Services). In this session we outline Microsoft plans to extend the Application Platform with cloud services.
The Microsoft ESB Guidance uses Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 R2 to support a loosely coupled messaging architecture, and extends the functionality of BizTalk Server to provide a range of new capabilities focused on building robust, connected, service-oriented applications that incorporate itinerary-based service invocation for lightweight service composition, dynamic resolution of endpoints and maps, Web service and WS-* integration, fault management and reporting, and integration with third- party SOA governance solutions. In this session, we drill down into the capabilities the ESB Guidance provides by stepping through typical use cases. We start by looking at the components that make up the ESB Guidance, including SOA governance integration. Then we show how these components are used to implement dynamic resolution of endpoints and transformations using the various resolvers provided. Lastly, we show how the resolution mechanism can be extended by the creation of custom resolvers.
Do you need to retrieve Siebel contacts from Microsoft Office SharePoint Server? Pull SAP order details into Microsoft SQL Server? Integrate Oracle eBusiness Suite with Microsoft .NET? There are many options for doing this, from disparate API layers offered by the business applications to Web services deployed on different platforms. Now you can access all these business applications on a single platform by using Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) and the BizTalk Adapter Pack. The adapters in the BizTalk Adapter Pack are all based on the WCF LOB Adapter SDK, giving them the look and feel of WCF Bindings. They can be hosted in BizTalk Server, SQL Server, SharePoint Server, and any other .NET-connected application. The first release of the BizTalk Adapter Pack included adapters to SAP, Siebel, and Oracle DB. The next release will add adapters to Oracle eBusiness Suite and SQL Database. In this session, learn about the main features of these five adapters, the different solutions these adapters are applicable to, and demos focusing on Oracle eBusiness Suite integration.
This session introduces the new Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) integration found in BizTalk Server 2006 R2. See how R2 incorporates the WCF runtime into the BizTalk Server messaging layer through a suite of new WCF adapters that map to the built-in WCF bindings. We discuss how the WCF adapters work, along with when and how to use them. We also cover more advanced details related to message processing options, hosting, configuration, security, transactions, and service metadata. This session assumes you have basic experience with both WCF and BizTalk Server independently.
BizTalk Server 2006 R2 includes two new capabilities that really affect the distribution supply chain. First, it includes EDI capabilities which allow trading partners to talk to each other in a more efficient manner. Second, it includes the ability to gather and process RFID information. This presentation focuses on the new EDI/AS2 features of Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 R2 using a real-world example. This example demonstrates how a combination of EDI and RFID can be used to track logistical errors or theft. In this example, we explore how trading partners are managed, how EDI messages are parsed, how (and why) EDI Batching is implemented, and how EDI status reporting data is stored. Using the real-world example, we show how the EDI process is developed, maintained, and monitored using BizTalk Server 2006 R2 out-of-box features. We then show how BAM can be used to extend this solution and provide dashboard-like information to the enterprise overall.
In order to get the most out of your BizTalk implementations you need to understand your options when it comes to binding BizTalk orchestration ports. BizTalk offers many ways to bind ports for the purpose of receiving or sending messages. This session takes an in-depth look at the "degrees of freedom" a developer has when designing port binding strategies for BizTalk applications. Options range from: • Design-time static • Deployment-time static • Runtime dynamic • Runtime direct • Role-based dynamic Furthermore, the relationship that these binding techniques have with correlation and subscription is thoroughly investigated.
Using the code-name "BizTalk Services," Microsoft is building a set of "cloud" technologies that are developed and operated by Microsoft as a logical extension to the .NET Framework and the Microsoft SOA technologies. They aim to enable corporate software developers and ISVs building solutions that require broad, cross-organizational identity management, the ability to safely and securely traverse NATs and Firewalls to enable bi- directional communication, Internet-scale publish/subscribe services, broad interoperability, and services orchestration. In short, these technologies are expanding the reach of the ESB pattern to the Internet—that's why we call it "Internet Service Bus." In this session, Clemens takes you along on a "lots of code" tour through an exemplary solution built using these technologies.