Brad Abrams : .NETFx3.0

Silent install of the .NET Framework

BradA — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 06:32:12 GMT

When I talked to ISV, they often just want to use the .NET Framework as an implementation detail of their applications.. they don't want their users to have to go to windows update or MSDN to download the framework, and they don't want to have some Microsoft setup UI popping up during the install experience of their application.

For this scenario, we have a little known feature of setup where you can install it the .NET Framework silently.. that is with no-UI popping up at all. This allows you to have full control of the experience...

For .NET FX 3.0: the magic command line is: Dotnetfx3.exe /q
See this white paper for more details.

Oh, and if you are still on .NET Fx 2.0, the command is: Dotnetfx.exe /q:a /c:”install /q”
And you can find more out here.

How to configure Vista to enable ClickOnce publishing

BradA — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 01:08:00 GMT

This came up recently internally and I thought I'd share it here in case other are running into it..

Because Vista (and Longhorn Server) run the new IIS7, there are a handful of tweaks you have to make to IIS and VS to make clickonce publishing work... Brian Noyes has a good blog on the details... But basically.

1. Configure VS to run in Admin mode:

Go to devenv.exe in the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE directory.
Right click and go to properties.
Select the Compatibility tab.
Check the box at the bottom that says Run this program as an administrator (see below).

2. Turn on IIS 6 compatibility as follows –

Control Panel | Programs | Turn Windows features on or off

You need the “IIS Metabase and IIS 6 configuration compatibility” feature turned on.

Oh, and yes, we are fixing both of these for Orcas RTM ;-)

A great day for shipping…

BradA — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 10:19:48 GMT

Today two of the products I have spent a bunch of time ship!

.NET Framework 3.0 ships! With the 3.0 version of the .NET Framework I can look forward to the day when every application will offer compelling user experiences that that fuse the seamless, immersive nature of TV with the power and productivity of windows applications. These applications will communicate securely and reliable between each other and to a huge array of cloud services offered by a variety of vendors. The business logic for these applications that spans client, server and data tier are no longer locked in code but is accessible, flexible and easily understood by information workers. Finally, I can safely log on to a wide range of services without having to remember any cryptic passwords. Download the final version of .NET Framework 3.0 today!

ASP.NET AJAX Beta2 ships! We have been working hard on customer feedback and getting in the last few features. We believe this release is feature complete and we are well on our way to RTM this important product towards the end of the year. Matt has some good data on the bits and the very few changes from Beta1… All that is left for us to do now is get your feedback in… so PLEASE download the bits and let us hear what you think!

Welcome to TechEd Europe

BradA — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 06:51:00 GMT

I just got in last night into Barcelona for TechEd Europe.. One thing I love about my job is that I get to span the full range of application space supported by the .NET Framework… As such I think I am the only speaker at Teched doing a server based talk and a smart client talk! Should be fun to see how well I bridge those ;-)

The first one is all about the developer designer interaction… For the vast majority of this talk Sam and build up a site from scratch. He plays the role of the designer, and I play the role of the developer… Sam starts with a couple of “comps” (static images of what the site should look like) then uses Expression Web to build up a very compelling site layout and design. Then I use the magic of ASP.NET AJAX to make the site sing and dance and really come alive!

The second talk I am doing is not until Friday (which is good, gives me time to polish the demos!) It is all about how to seamlessly use WinForms and WPF together… I think this will be an extremely common scenario as WinForms gives you an amazing level of RAD productivity and WPF gives you the expressiveness and power that great UX sometimes requires. In this talk I will also take a sneak peak at some of the upcoming investments we have for the client space in “Orcas”. I am super excited about those investments which span WinForms and WPF…

DEV351 ASP.NET: Developer and Designer AJAX Bliss with Visual Studio and Expression
Brad Abrams , Sam Spencer
Tue Nov 7 14:15 - 15:30
This session explores best practices for designers who are tackling the real challenges of building AJAX-style user experiences on the Web. Learn about designing richer user experiences directly from the Expression and ASP.NET AJAX development teams. Explore how the ASP.NET AJAX controls and components remove the complexity from designing rich, interactive experiences, and help you build AJAX-style applications more quickly.

DEV363 Smart Client: Getting the most out of Windows Forms and Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)
Brad Abrams
Fri Nov 10 15:15 - 16:30
In this session we’ll look at the best uses of Windows Forms and WPF. We’ll look deeply at how you can integrate WPF and Windows Forms content together in the same application. We’ll also take a first look at some of the new platform features coming for client applications in the next version of the .NET Framework.

Check out the NYTimes reader...

BradA — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 06:45:00 GMT

The folks over at the NYTimes have released the beta of the NYTimes reader… a .NET Framework 3.0 based application that provides an amazingly rich experience for reading the newspaper… I have been on the internal pre-beta program for a while and I have found it great! A few weeks ago I actually read the newspaper end-to-end… I don’t think I have done that in 10+ years.

The other thing I love about the app is that it has a seamless update stroy, meaning I get new app features regularly as they are released… This was very exciting (and scary for demos) during the pre-beta phase… and I expect somewhat regular updates to continue… I get these new updates with zero additional install work.. it just gets updated in place…

Enjoy!

Even more on .NET Framework 3.0...

BradA — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 05:44:00 GMT

I wanted to respond to a few comments..

Keeron asked about what .NET Framework includes exactly. JasonZ does a good job with this one..

The Linq support for C# (and VB for that mater) is scheduled for Orcas... We have not locked on a final version number, my hunch will be “.NET Framework 3.5”

We do actually have a merged Windows SDK that includes all of the content as of .NET Framework 3.0\Vista...

George asks about SP1 of the .NET Framework 2.0... Again the details have not been 100% worked out, so don’t take this as an official statement, but I expect SP1 of the .NET Framework 2.0 to be at the same time as Orcas .NET Framework ships. For servicing releases we generally do not change the assembly version number at all (this makes it an in place update) and only update the win32 version number by the number of builds it took us to get there. So short answer is no, the core components will not have their version numbers reset.

I certainly agree with you George on driving simplicity here... That is why I’d push folks to simply talk about if an application requires .NET Framework 1.1, 2.0, 3.0 or 3.5 and not delve deeply into how those are actually put together.

Jvierra – we are absolutely looking spending some time on getting great factoring and layering with in the .NET Framework. Today, we don’t have a system that is as pluggable as we’d like (and you describe), but that is the direction we would eventually like to get to.. However it will likely not happen for the orcas timeframe.

Philip – I sure hope we don’t end up in a world like you describe. My strong advice is for customers to simply state the minium .NET Framework version number they support. There is never a need to talk about “.NET Framework 2.0 with .NET Framework 3.0 frameworks”... It will be more clear to customers, admins, developers, etc to simply say “this application requires .NET Framework 3.0”

Dennis – We needed the name change from WinFX to .NET Framework to drive some simplicity with developer customers. I personally spent time with customers where I had to explain the difference between .NET Framework and WinFX.. This confusion was caused by our naming and I am confident it is addressed now.

Chris Nahr – Thanks, I fixed the type-o ;-)

You are right – the packaging issue has nothing to do with the name. This packaging plan was exactly the plan before we did the name change. The name change is intended to make it clear how these new technologies relate to the .NET Framework – that is that the constitute a new version of it.

We are working on our factoring and layering to enable the system to be more pluggable such that different parts can change without breaking other parts. In Orcas, we are making some baby steps in that direction. For example we are adding Linq support to C# and VB without a breaking change and without a requiring a full stack update.

Jonathan Kaufman – I am trying with this post.. Keep the questions coming.. they really do help us hone what we are doing here. I LOVE forwarding my reader’s comments around inside Microsoft as a catalyst for change!

Muhammad Mosa – asked about VSTS and VS generally. While there is clearly a TON of synergy between .NET Framework and VS, one release does not have to require another. Look at .NET Framework 3.0, it does not require a new VS release. And on the other side, look at VSTS new Data SKU we just announced, it does not require a new framework.

Hope this helps – keep the comments coming!

"GoLive" with WinFX...

BradA — Tue, 23 May 2006 19:31:00 GMT

Today at WinHEC BillG announced the Beta2 of WinFX with a Go Live license......

The Go Live is great because it let’s you build apps on WinFX and let customers actually use them! This bits (and the go live ) work great on XP as well as Vista...

I can’t wait to see what you build with it.. I have beta2 installed and I am ready to install the great apps you build, so send me a link!

A new Opportunity for me...

BradA — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 01:10:00 GMT

As many of you know after you ship a major release there is inevitably a re-org as the teams get in alignment to deliver on the next set of opportunities… One of the outcomes of our post-Whidbey shuffle here at Microsoft was to create a product unit that brings together our client and web frameworks and a very close connection to the WPF team with application services (such as user profiles) to deliver an awesome developer programming model experience. Specifically the team owns Windows Forms, ASP.NET, Atlas and a few other exciting incubations in this space. I have been asked to be Group Program Manager of this new team.

Having been a founding member of the CLR team, it is hard for me to think about leaving that team. The CLR is an absolutely amazing team playing a critical role at Microsoft and in the industry. This team has the extremely rare mix of being technically demanding, strategically important and staffed with smart and engaging people. Every day I have been on the CLR team I have been challenged to solve big problems, to innovate and to push harder to make a bigger impact on the company and the industry. I am extremely grateful to have “grown up” on the CLR team. (BTW – they are hiring)

Since the early days of this blog I have talked about issues I directly deal with as part of my job. Issues around API design, inner workings of the CLR and pulling WinFX together. While I am sure I will still touch on those issues (they didn’t give me a lobotomy after all) I’ll try to focus more on my new team and the new challenges we face. I hope I will not lose too many subscribers as I talk about our new innovations in the UI Frameworks and Services space.

I am sure many of you are using WinForms, WPF, ASP.NET\Atlas today – I need to get engaged with that community. Where do you suggest I hang out? What blog should I read? What are the biggest issues I should be aware of? I am spending a bunch of time ramping on this stuff, so I would appreciate all the help I can get.

Also, I am taking my first role as a manger of managers, I’d love any advice, comments, books suggestions, horror stories you’d like to share with me.

Thanks!

PS –I am lucky enough to enough to have some great folks on my team.. you may know a few of them:

http://blogs.msdn.com/dphill/.

http://blogs.msdn.com/mhendersblog

http://blogs.msdn.com/jhawk/

http://blogs.msdn.com/saurabh

Where to find ISV-style C# experience

BradA — Sun, 15 Jan 2006 07:38:00 GMT

I had an opportunity recently to chat briefly to Eric Hahn (of Netscape and Lookout fame) about his next interesting project… which btw, will be built in C# just like lookout. He mentioned that it was hard to find developers with world class ISV-style experience in C#. While there is a healthy market for enterprise developers in C# and VB the ISV developers are harder to find.

I assured Eric that you are out there… I know, because I have talked to you at the PDC, I have seen you on the blogs and in the community in general asking really hard, pointed questions. Do you think I am right? Any thoughts on where ISV likes Eric might find ISV-style developers with deep C#/CLR experience?

Oh, and, BTW – here is the plug for Eric’s openings just in case you are interested in them specifically

Founder-Level Opportunity for C# Gurus

Hi. I’m Eric Hahn, originator of Lookout (100% C#/.Net Outlook search engine, sold in '04 to Microsoft), former CTO of Netscape and accidentally successful industry veteran. We’ve started a way cool new company (disclaimer: I’m biased). Once again we're betting on C#/.Net (why haven’t more start-ups discovered how cool it is?).

We're looking for one or two killer C# architects/developers to join the founding team, ideally here in the Bay Area. This is a chance to put your C#/.Net skills to work on a hugely visible, well-funded, mainstream product. If you’re even slightly interested, please send your resume to jobs@element30.com.

BTW, definitely check out Brad’s book – it is awesome and has become required reading around here.

Update: I just noticed that Jack has a good post related to ISVs and managed code... http://blogs.msdn.com/jackg/archive/2006/04/13/576060.aspx

WinFX Nov CTP for use with VS2005 and .NET Framework 2.0 RTM

BradA — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 21:01:00 GMT

At long last we have a WinFX build to release that works great with “Whidbey” RTM. Here is the low-down:

Uninstall any previous release (you can use the uninstall tool)
Download and install WinFX Runtime bits
Download and install the SDK. Note this is a rather large ISO image this time, we will make the install experience MUCH better in the future. For now we recommend using the Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel for Windows XP tool to mount the ISO image file virtually as CD-ROM devices without burning the image to a DVD. Notice, the VS support does require the SDK to be installed.
Download and install the VS support for WinFX

Thanks and Enjoy!

A great Sparkle blog...

BradA — Mon, 19 Sep 2005 07:35:00 GMT

FYI – one of the designers on Expression Interactive Designer “Sparkle” just started a blog… http://spaces.msn.com/members/manodesign/

Should be a good read..

PDC2005 WinFX Namespace Poster

BradA — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 21:23:00 GMT

The MSDN folks keep giving this morning… They just posted a highres version of the namespace poster we gave out here at the PDC. Enjoy!

I’d still love to hear you feedback…

Download the WinFX September CTP...

BradA — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 00:38:00 GMT

You will love this drop of WinFX… it has the Windows Workflow Services stuff in there as well as Windows Presentation Foundation (“Avalon”) and Windows Communication Foundation (“Indigo”)…

Just a note – it does work only with the BETA2 build of .NET Framework 2.0 and VS 2005… So don’t try to make this work on top of anything more recent.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/winfx/getthebeta/default.aspx

Have Fun!

PDC: What do you think of the updated WinFX poster?

BradA — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 02:30:00 GMT

If you check out your attendee bag you will find a couple of posters… One of which is an updated version of the WinFX poster we first did at the 2003 PDC. Joe Duffy and I worked on it (with help from many others)… It was good fun to take a top-down look at the platform and how it is growing and changing. I hope to see this hanging up in developers office when we do the next CLR roadtrip! ;-)

We focused this poster on the bits that we are giving out at the PDC this year… Anyway, love to hear your feedback… for those you not at the PDC, here is a JPEG version

http://channel9.msdn.com/Showpost.aspx?postid=114855

MSDN goodness today: Cool MSDN Vista site launched and WinFX Runtime Beta1

BradA — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 20:56:00 GMT

Check out… we got some coolness going on the MSDN Vista page and *ANYONE* can download the WinFX Runtime Beta1 bits. They are very close to the RC we posted a while back, mostly just bugfixes, but good to have it done.

We are celebrating the launch of WinFX Runtime Beta1 internally by getting the products teams together tomorrow for an all demo powerpoint free event.. We are going to get to preview a bunch of great demos people are putting together for the PDC…

Enjoy!