First off, a reminder - we're exactly 4 weeks from ODC 2008! If you haven't done the registration and/or made travel arrangements, now's a good time to do so while you can still get decent air fares and choice of hotels. Register here.

We also wanted to share our final list of content for ODC 2008 - Hand-on lab session abstracts for about 20 unique interactive, self-paced labs. Details below.

 - Khawar

Session Title Abstract
ASP.NET 2.0 Interoperability with Microsoft® Windows® SharePoint® Services 3.0 - Web Parts Learn about the Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Web Part framework, designed and built on the Microsoft ASP.NET 2.0 Web Part infrastructure. The Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Web Part framework uses many controls in the ASP.NET 2.0 Web Part control set, and introduces several of its own that inherit from base classes supplied by the ASP.NET 2.0 Web Part control set.  As part of the Web Part Framework Web Part connections can be used to drive interactive content between Web Parts either on the same part or the same site.
Binding Data to Word Content Controls This session shows you how to create smart documents using Visual Studio Tools for Office (VSTO). This HOL will show you how to add a data grid, bind that to a data source, and then bind the data grid to Word Content Controls in your VSTO project. Other skills covered will be how to create a custom actions pane and use that actions pane to help browse data which is linked to your document.
Building Microsoft® Office InfoPath® 2007 Forms that Run as Both Rich Client and Browser Applications The objective of this lab is to become familiar with browser-based scenarios for Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 forms.
Creating and Deploying Microsoft® Visual Studio 2005 Workflows for Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007 In this lab, you will complete a partially built Visual Studio workflow, deploy that workflow, and test it's functionality in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.
Creating Custom SharePoint Workflow A major integration point between Visual Studio 2008 and MOSS 2007 is the ability to create, debug and deploy SharePoint workflow to a SharePoint site. This HOL shows you how to create and add activities to a SharePoint workflow and then test that workflow on a SharePoint site. 
Creating Custom Task Pane in Excel 2007 Add-in Custom task panes are great ways to integrate a variety of external features into your Office experience - e.g. connectivity to data sources or web parts. This HOL shows you how you can take advantage of the custom task pane to build complex functionality into Microsoft Excel 2007. 
Creating Workflows for Microsoft® Windows® SharePoint® Services 3.0 In this lab, you will use Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 to design a custom workflow that is triggered on file creation or change. Within the workflow designer, you will use out-of-the-box actions such as assigning a task or sending an e-mail message based on promoted values in your form data. In addition, you will learn how to build a custom workflow using the Windows Workflow Foundation plug-in to Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 and deploy that workflow to Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. Both exercises demonstrate how workflow functionality can be seamlessly integrated with the 2007 Microsoft Office system release.
Customizing the 2007 Microsoft® Office System User Interface for Your Solution The objective of this lab is to become familiar with the programming model behind the new user interface features of 2007 Microsoft Office programs. This includes both the ribbon as well as the custom task pane.
Developing Custom Outlook Form Region Custom Outlook form regions are an exciting way to integrate functionality into the context of the Outlook experience. This HOL will show you how to create a custom Outlook form region and add data connectivity to a data source (external to Outlook) and add Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) controls that are dynamically updated when browsing through the data controls. 
Getting Started with SharePoint Products and Technologies 2007 Development for the SharePoint Products and Technologies 2003 Developer Learn about SharePoint SDK items that are new to Microsoft SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows Sharepoint Services 3.0.  You will discover how to programmatically work with item level permissions, use the new SPContext object, utilize the site collection data query and make use of the elevated administration capabilities within SharePoint.  These components add to the breadth of the SharePoint platform and give a developer a new level of control over the the user and programmatic interface of SharePoint. 
Microsoft® Office InfoPath® 2007 Forms Development The objective of this lab is to become familiar with some of the new development features of Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007.
Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Designer 2007 - CSS and the Data Form Web Part This lab will give the participant an understanding of how Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 can customize SharePoint pages and applications using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and the Data Form Web Part.
Programmatic Manipulation of the Microsoft® Office Open XML Formats The goal of this lab is to show you how you can manipulate Microsoft Office programs documents using the Microsoft Office Open XML Formats without using 2007 Microsoft Office programs. The exercises will lead you through scenarios involving programmatically manipulating documents using the Microsoft Office Open XML Formats.
Synchronizing Data Between Microsoft® Office Groove® 2007 and Microsoft SharePoint® Products and Technologies With Microsoft Office Groove 2007 project teams collaborate inside contextual workspaces, providing one place for teams to share information and work together more securely. This Lab will help you learn about the architecture and design of Office Groove 2007 applications and how they can be connected to enterprise systems such as Microsoft Windows® SharePoint Services.
Understanding the 2007 Microsoft® Office System User Experience and Interface Design The objective of this lab is to become familiar with the new 2007 Microsoft Office programs user interface.
Understanding the Structure and Solution Capabilities of the Microsoft® Office Open XML Formats The objective of this hands-on lab is to help you become familiar with the new 2007 Microsoft Office programs file formats. During this lab, you will examine sample documents for each of the 2007 Office programs that implement the Microsoft Office Open XML Format. You will also learn how you can edit documents by directly manipulating files without the use of the Microsoft Office programs. The following exercises will help you explore the new default Microsoft Office programs file formats and allow you to gain insights on the new solution possibilities they enable for creating solutions.
Using InfoPath 2007 forms with the Business Data Catalog in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Learn how to configure the Business Data Catalog (BDC) to read and write data to SQL Server using InfoPath 2007.  The level of integration between backend systems and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 has never been higher. SharePoint now offers a common set of interfaces. These interfaces simplify communication, resulting in a significant decrease in the complexity of integration projects and an increase in new cross-system business scenarios.
Using List Events in Microsoft® Windows® SharePoint® Services 3.0 In this lab, you will create an Event Handler that is associated with a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 list. List events were not available in preview versions of Windows SharePoint Services.
Using SilverLight to Enhance the Look and Feel of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Learn about developing Silverlight enhanced SharePoint Web Parts and Navigation controls.  SharePoint makes use of the ASP.NET 2.0 provider model and you will go through the process of extending this model to create a control that is Silverlight based.  You will also learn the basic techniques of how to deliver Silverlight 1.0 and Silverlight 1.1 applications in a SharePoint Web Part.
VBA and VSTO Interoperability A new feature within VSTO 3.0 is the ability to call VSTO managed add-ins from VBA and VBA from VSTO assemblies. This hands-on lab walks you through how you can develop interoperability between your VBA code and your VSTO managed add-ins.