Gold Coast : .NET Framework 3.5

Integrating Virtual Earth 3D into WPF and Surface Applications for Mere Mortals

marcsc — Mon, 18 May 2009 22:28:04 GMT

I just published a Channel 9 interview with Josh Wall and Josh Blake from InfoStrat about their Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Surface controls that make integrating Virtual Earth 3D a breeze. Check it out:

http://tinyurl.com/Ch9InfoStratVE

“Virtual Earth 3D has many applications, but until recently has only been practical on the web with a JavaScript interface. WPF applications could not use the full potential of Virtual Earth 3D without requiring a WPF wizard and some XAML magic due to Win32 interop limitations.

Information Strategies (InfoStrat) has the solution. They created a WPF / Surface control, InfoStrat.VE, and are sharing with the community on CodePlex. This control provides a WPF interface for the Virtual Earth 3D control, complete with data binding for camera control and WPF-based pushpins. All Win32 restrictions (air space control, no rotation or visual brush) are eliminated. Microsoft Surface is also supported.

Watch the interview to learn the history behind the control, see it in action, learn how to get started, and even contribute back to the community.”

UPDATE: Interested in learning about a pretty cool solution that uses InfoStrat.VE? Check out Sam Chenaur’s post:

John L Scott Real Estate Looks to WPF and Software + Services

InfoStrat.VE – Intermediate fix published for the latest 3D control

marcsc — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:44:28 GMT

Due to popular demand, InfoStrat just published an intermediate fix to get their InfoStrat.VE control working on top of the latest Virtual Earth 3D release. You will notice that they just made a changeset available. What they made available is not fully tested. Once it is, they will publish a new release in the Downloads tab. Here’s the post announcing the interim fix:

http://tinyurl.com/csxhnj

If you aren’t familiar with their control, then check out my blog post for a little background:

http://tinyurl.com/b3a5ps

This control is a must have for any WPF or Surface developer looking to get Virtual Earth 3D working optimally in their app.

DevDinnerOnDemand: Overview of the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1

marcsc — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 05:31:44 GMT

With the .NET Framework 3.5 (the version native to Visual Studio 2008) coming up on its first anniversary, Microsoft is poised to release the first update to the framework in the form of Service Pack (SP1). This Service Pack is unlike your standard Service Pack, in that it will introduce new features/capabilities to the .NET Framework. Some of these features where originally planned to be in the initial release of the framework and others are features/capabilities added to enhance or further secure the core .NET Framework. The August Developer Dinner is going to focus on some of the new features as well as a few of the new enhancements, to give you an introduction of the improved capabilities of the Microsoft Developer Platform.

What you will learn:

This evenings presentation will be a running stream of demonstration focusing on new features and functionality coming in the new Service Pack for several of the key areas of .NET Development today, including Web Development (ASP.NET), Database Development (ADO.NET), Web Services/SOA (Windows Communication Foundation) and User Experience (Windows Presentation Foundation).

You will see demonstrations that will include:

Making data access easier with the ADO.NET Entity Framework.
Exposing your data access layer using ADO.NET Data Services
Building “Data Entry” Web-based applications faster than ever using ASP.NET Dynamic Data.
Making AJAX Applications faster with script combining and easier with built in support for handling browser history (i.e. back/forward buttons).
How to achieve up to 40% faster startup performance for your WPF applications and further improve the startup experience using a splash screen.
Reducing the time it takes to deploy your WPF applications using the New .NET Framework Client Profile.
Build services faster using enhancements in WCF.

View Recording:

http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/keydet/US-Public-Sector-Developer-Dinner-for-Partners-NET-Framework-35-SP1/

The follow up post for this developer dinner is http://blogs.msdn.com/devkeydet/archive/2008/08/21/follow-up-developer-dinner-on-net-framework-3-5-sp1.aspx.

Improve WPF application deployment with the Client Profile Designer

marcsc — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 04:25:34 GMT

Sorry for repurposing content, but this one is easy to miss so I think it is worth it

“The Client Profile Configuration Designer is the designer for the .NET Framework Client Profile. It will allow developers to customize the end-user deployment experience. The customizations allowed using the Client Profile Configuration Designer are:

Customization of the user interface
- Customize the size, position, framing, background colors, fonts, etc. of the installation window
- Choose to display the license agreements required by the products being installed
- Choose whether or not to acknowledge the end of the installation process or immediately launch an application
- Choosing the products to deploy with your application
Choosing the products to deploy with your application
- Choose what prerequisites are required by the application and install them
Choosing how to deploy your application
- Application deployment can be done over the web or from Media for an “offline” deployment experience”

The Client Profile Designer was released as part of the WPF Futures release of the WPF Toolkit:

http://windowsclient.net/wpf/wpf35/wpf-35sp1-client-profile-config-overview.aspx

http://windowsclient.net/wpf/wpf35/wpf-35sp1-client-profile-config-part1.aspx

http://windowsclient.net/wpf/wpf35/wpf-35sp1-client-profile-config-part2.aspx

http://windowsclient.net/wpf/wpf35/wpf-35sp1-client-profile-config-part3.aspx

http://windowsclient.net/wpf/wpf35/wpf-35sp1-client-profile-config-part4.aspx

FOLLOW UP: Developer Dinner on ASP.NET MVC

marcsc — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 16:09:21 GMT

UPDATE: I had technical difficulties with the recording yesterday. Therefore, we were unable to record the dinner. However, I do plan on recording both last night’s presentation and the 3.5 SP1 presentation from the last dinner. I hope to have them recorded and published some time soon. Stay tuned.

Thanks to everyone who attended! You can download the deck and links to the code here:

You’ll find the code for my ajax samples and links to other samples I showed there. Normally, I write my own demos and make code code available for download. However, this time around, most of my demo code was based on the .NET 3.5 Enhancements Training Kit. I blogged about the kit here:

http://blogs.msdn.com/devkeydet/archive/2008/08/18/free-training-on-net-framework-3-5-sp1-and-asp-net-mvc.aspx

The kit has just about everything I showed in my demos and more! I did make some updates to the training kit code to reflect ASP.NET MVC preview 5 and my own coding preferences. However, I need to check with the team that built the training kit before I can share the code.

I am also keeping a running list of ASP.NET MVC sites/blogs I follow:

http://devkeydet.spaces.live.com/lists/cns!1F72DA7294089597!894/

Although it is already in the list linked to above, I want to call out Stephen Walther’s blog. If you have a “How do I..” kind of question, chances are Stephen answers it on his blog.

During the presentation, I called out a few specific urls:

ASP.NET Routing Debugger

ScottGu on ASP.NET MVC Preview 5 (validation is discussed here)

Web Client Software Factory (WCSF) Testability Guidance (for those of who want to stick with WebForms)

MVC Storefront

Here’s a description of the MVC Storefront from the http://www.asp.net/mvc site:

“The MVC Storefront project documents the building of an Ecommerce application using ASP.NET MVC and Test-driven development. The goal of this starter kit is to introduce the development process of a large-scale application that goes beyond the typical demo or sample application and to create something applicable and reusable in a very open, transparent way.

Rob Conery has documented the development process on his blog and created a video series for many of the development steps. During the process Rob has solicited feedback from members of the community and also held design sessions with prominent Microsoft MVPs. The Project is ongoing and will update with each change in the MVC Framework.”

Tonight’s dinner in Reston, Va will be recorded. I will try to make the recording available by Friday.

Virtual Earth, SQL 2008, & GeoJSON

marcsc — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 01:49:29 GMT

I've been chatting with Vish over email. He made me aware his approach to getting SQL 2008 & Virtual Earth to play well together using GeoJSON. I actually didn't know about GeoJSON. Thanks Vish! Check out his post explaining the approach:

http://viswaug.wordpress.com/2008/06/02/sql-server-2008-virtualearth-made-easier-and-building-a-rest-api/

Technorati Tags: .net framework,sql server 2008,virtual earth,wcf

Preventing SQL Injection with the Entity Framework and Data Services

marcsc — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 20:14:15 GMT

Yesterday, at the Developer Dinner, I answered a bunch of questions around SQL Injection in the various usage scenarios of the ADO.NET Entity Framework & ADO.NET Data Services. For the most part, my responses were correct. However, the last question asked was specific to Entity SQL queries. I misspoke. This post is to clear things up.

Because Entity SQL is string based, it is susceptible to SQL Injection. From Security Considerations (Entity Framework):

"Entity SQL injection attacks:

SQL injection attacks can be performed in Entity SQL by supplying malicious input to values that are used in a query predicate and in parameter names. To avoid the risk of SQL injection, you should never combine user input with Entity SQL command text.

Entity SQL queries accept parameters everywhere that literals are accepted. You should use parameterized queries instead of injecting literals from an external agent directly into the query."

Therefore, if you decide to execute queries using Entity SQL, then will want to review How to: Execute a Parameterized Query (Entity Framework). I will be sure to update my Entity SQL demos to use parameterized queries.

The good news is that if you are using LINQ to Entities, then you are covered:

"LINQ to Entities injection attacks:

Although query composition is possible in LINQ to Entities, it is performed through the object model API. Unlike Entity SQL queries, LINQ to Entities queries are not composed by using string manipulation or concatenation, and they are not susceptible to traditional SQL injection attacks. "

If I remember correctly, the originating question starting the series of SQL Injection questions was about introducing SQL Injection into an ADO.NET Data Services query. ADO.NET Data Services queries go through a translation layer from the http request to the actual query execution. Although this translation is not exactly the same, it is conceptually similar to what happens when you create LINQ to Entities queries in code. Because of this translation layer you get the same protection from SQL Injection.

FOLLOW UP: Developer Dinner on .NET Framework 3.5 SP1

marcsc — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:20:50 GMT

Thanks to everyone who attended! You can download the deck and links to the code here:

Normally, I make my actual demo code available for download. However, this time around, my demo code was based on the .NET 3.5 Enhancements Training Kit. I blogged about it here:

http://blogs.msdn.com/devkeydet/archive/2008/08/18/free-training-on-net-framework-3-5-sp1-and-asp-net-mvc.aspx

The kit has everything I showed in my demos and more! I also promised to link to a bunch of good content out there on the various topics.

General

MSDN -> Data Platform Development

“How Do I?” Videos — Data Platform Development

ADO.NET Entity Framework

MSDN Library -> ADO.NET Entity Framework

ADO.NET Team Blog

Entity Framework Design Blog

Sample provider for Oracle

Third Party Provider Support for the Entity Framework RTM

Updated Entity Framework Samples for RTM

ADO.NET Data Services

MSDN Library -> ADO.NET Data Services Framework

MSDN -> ADO.NET Data Services

ADO.NET Data Services Team Blog

http://channel9.msdn.com/tags/UK/ Has a bunch of GREAT screencasts from Mike Taulty.

ASP.NET Dynamic Data

MSDN Library -> ASP.NET Dynamic Data

http://www.asp.net/DynamicData/

David Ebbo's blog (Dynamic Data and other ASP.NET topics)

WPF

http://windowsclient.net/wpf/default.aspx

What's New in .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 (for WPF)

WPF DataGrid CTP Preview (Video)

cheat-sheet to some of the WPF 3.5 SP1 features..

WPF Control Toolkit (DataGrid CTP)

WCF

New WCF Features in 3.5 SP1

WCF Tools in VS2008 SP1: Introducing the new features and enhancements

Technorati Tags: .net framework,ado.net,linq,asp.net,ajax,visual studio,wcf,wpf

Free training on .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 and ASP.NET MVC

marcsc — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 21:23:45 GMT

Looking for free introductory training on the .NET 3.5 SP1 & ASP.NET MVC? Head over to Jonathan Carter's blog to get all the details on the .NET 3.5 Enhancements Training Kit RTM. What will you find? Information and links to download a kit that has presentations, demos, and labs covering what's new in ASP.NET AJAX, ASP.NET Routing, ASP.NET MVC, ASP.NET Dynamic Data, ADO.NET Data Services, ADO.NET Entity Framework, WCF, and Visual Studio 2008 SP1. If you've seen any of my 3.5 SP1 or my older "ASP.NET Futures" presentations, then you are already familiar with some of the content in the kit. I used an early release of the kit as the foundation for some of my demos. The kit has come a long way since I used it. I skimmed through everything last week. There is lots of good content in here!

Technorati Tags: asp.net,ajax,mvc,ado.net,wcf,visual studio

WPF Datagrid & the WPF Toolkit

marcsc — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 18:06:34 GMT

In addition to releasing the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 last week, which included a number of improvements to WPF, the WPF Codeplex site went public. This site is the home for the WPF Toolkit and WPF Futures.

From the site:

"The WPF Toolkit is a collection of WPF features and components that are being made available outside of the normal .NET Framework ship cycle. The WPF Toolkit not only allows users to get new functionality more quickly, but allows an efficient means for giving feedback to the product team. Many of the features will be released with full source code as well. The Toolkit Roadmap outlines some of the upcoming features we have planned."

"WPF Futures includes sample controls and features, many of which are being considered for the Toolkit. Check out the Futures Roadmap to see some of the features we have planned."

The first CTP of the WPF Toolkit includes the new WPF Datagrid. Future releases will include a DatePicker/Calendar and more. Jaime Rodriguez already has 3 posts on the Datagrid:

dabbling around the new WPF datagrid (part 1)

datagrid (part 2) -- Show me some code

Datagrid (part3): styling

While I am at it, Jaime has a nice little "cheat-sheet to some of the WPF 3.5 SP1 features" at http://blogs.msdn.com/jaimer/archive/2008/08/15/cheat-sheet-to-some-of-the-wpf-3-5-sp1-features.aspx.

Technorati Tags: wpf,.net framework

Looking for updated documentation on Visual Studio 2008 SP1 Beta?

marcsc — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:44:20 GMT

http://vs2008sp1docs.msdn.microsoft.com

I've found the ADO.NET Entity Framework, ADO.NET Data Services Framework, and ASP.NET Dynamic Data sections very helpful lately.

Technorati Tags: .net framework,visual studio

WEBCAST RECORDING: Adding Mapping Capabilities to your Applications with Virtual Earth and ASP.NET AJAX

marcsc — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:25:59 GMT

First, let me apologize since I promised to make this recording available almost two months ago. I was trying to get the recording uploaded to the same Live Meeting servers as my other webcasts. Needless to say, I had some challenges. I decided to upload it to Silverlight Streaming. I had to split the presentation into two files since this is a 90 minute presentation and Silverlight Streaming has file size limits.

In this presentation, I show you the fundamentals of the Virtual Earth Map Control 6.1 using JavaScript. Then, I show how you can use ASP.NET AJAX and the Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) to make building Virtual Earth solutions easier. Finally, I show you how you can host Virtual Earth in a desktop application.

Part I:

[Double click the video to view full screen]

Click here to download Part I wmv

Part II:

[Double click the video to view full screen]

Click here to download Part II wmv

So what's the benefit of this recording? First, it is much higher quality than the Live Meeting recording since I used Camtasia Studio. Second, the content is updated to use the Virtual Earth Map Control 6.1 and the Virtual Earth JavaScript Intellisense Helper. Finally, since it's hosted using Silverlight Streaming, you don't have to register to view it.

Here are some download links for the webcast:

Deck:

Code:

The sample demonstrating hosting Virtual Earth in a Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) is old. I have an updated sample. Details about the updated sample are available at http://blogs.msdn.com/devkeydet/archive/2008/06/24/wpf-and-virtual-earth-revisited.aspx. You can also watch a screencast about the updated sample at http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/keydet/Using-Virtual-Earth-in-a-WPF-Application/.

Technorati Tags: virtual earth,asp.net,ajax,wcf,wpf

Installing SQL Server 2008 RC0 & Visual Studio 2008 SP1 Beta on the same machine

marcsc — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 22:36:58 GMT

I've been having some issues getting my VPC updated to SQL Server 2008 RC0 and Visual Studio 2008 SP1 Beta so I can record a couple screencasts on using Virtual Earth with SQL Server 2008. I swear I read through the readme docs:). However, I could not get Visual Studio 2008 SP1 to install. I'm in the process of building a new VPC. I probably should have done this in the first place since my original VPC had so much beta software installed (including the SQL Server 2008 Feb CTP). Before I tried to install either, I decided review the readme again and do some basic Internet searching before I started. Turns out I should have searched around the first time. There is a known issue related to the order in which you install the two. I found the following entry in the forums:

http://forums.microsoft.com/msdn/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=3523799&SiteID=1

which states:

"SQL Server Compact installation fails when the products are installed in the following order:
1. Install SQL Server 2008 RC0
2. Then install Visual Studio 2008 SP1 Beta

The workaround for the issue is as given below:
1. Install SQL Server 2008 RC0
2. Go to the Add/Remove Programs
3. Uninstall SQL Server Compact 3.5 SP1 Query Tools Beta and SQL Server Compact 3.5 SP1 Beta
4. Install Visual Studio 2008 SP1 Beta
5. Install SQL Server Compact 3.5 SP1 Query Tools Beta (SSCESqlWbTools.msi) from the folder - Servers\Setup on the SQL Server 2008 RC0 installation media (CD/DVD/Layout)
6. Go to the Add/remove programs and verify that the following are installed:

a. SQL Server Compact 3.5 SP1 Query Tools Beta;

b. SQL Server Compact 3.5 SP1 Beta;

c. SQL Server Compact 3.5 SP1 Design Tools Beta

The reason for the failure is that SQL Server 2008 RC0 and Visual Studio 2008 SP1 Beta install the same version of SQL Server Compact 3.5 SP1 Beta MSI's. If SQL Server Compact is already installed on the machine SQL Server 2008 or Visual Studio 2008 SP1 Setup has to skip the installation. There was a bug in the Visual Studio Setup and it has been fixed. The fix will be available in the released version of Visual Studio 2008 SP1"

Hopefully this saves some headaches for anyone who is trying to install both on the same machine.

Technorati Tags: .net framework,sql server,visual studio

SCREENCAST: Using Virtual Earth in a WPF Application

marcsc — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 23:24:17 GMT

As promised, here is the screencast for my previous post:

http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/keydet/Using-Virtual-Earth-in-a-WPF-Application/

WPF and Virtual Earth revisited

marcsc — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:34:16 GMT

I've been pretty quite on the blogging front lately. Every once in a while, I get the opportunity to work on something a little meatier than writing demo code. Almost all of my time over the last month or so has been spent working on a couple such opportunities. During this time, I worked on a more creative/reusable approach to hosting Virtual Earth in a WPF application. If you have looked at any of my previous samples showing how to host Virtual Earth in a WPF app, you'll recall I was using the WinForms WebBrowser control to host an html page that in turn hosts Virtual Earth. Additionally, I used the WebBrowser control's ability to enable communication between managed code and JavaScript. One of the frustrations with this approach is that when using WinForms interop, all WinForms controls take the highest z-order in your app which means you cannot render WPF elements on top of the map. The other thing that has always bothered me about my sample is although it showed how to implement the general approach, it did not wrap all the functionality into a reusable WPF Virtual Earth control. Good news! I have an updated sample.

I created the beginnings of a WPF Virtual Earth control. That's right, one you can just reference, add to your XAML, and start programming against without having to know the dirty underbelly of how it is implemented.

...

You simply use your .NET language of choice to program against the control's API like you would with any other WPF control. No need for JavaScript.

The control is a WPF wrapper around the Virtual Earth Map Control 6.1. In the interest of time, I mirrored the the Virtual Earth Map Control 6.1 API. However, there are a few deviations. The control really should, but doesn't, follow .NET coding and naming conventions. For the most part, it mirrors the JavaScript API. The control is far from perfect and it is currently only a subset of the JavaScript API. I implemented the subset of API I needed for the work I was doing. Having said that, I think I have created a decent foundation that could be built upon to have a full WPF wrapper around the Virtual Earth Map Control 6.1.

I decided to use the new WPF WebBrowser control that is in the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1. The WPF WebBrowser control is similar to the WinForms WebBrowser. The WPF WebBrowser control has the same z-order as it's WinForms counterpart, but it eliminates the need for WinForms interop.

The WPF map control allows you to create WPF UserControls and have them appear on top of the map:

In the picture above, the InfoBox, which is the term Virtual Earth uses for the UI that pops up when you hover over a pushpin, is a UserControl that uses WPF databinding to show Title and Description. I am clearly not taking advantage of the power of WPF in this example, but you get the point:). You achieve this through the following code:

You set the InfoBox property of the map to an instance of your UserControl. The map control does all the heavy lifting of positioning/showing/hiding your UserControl. The map control also allows you to add as many UserControls as you'd like through map.AddControl. However, you are responsible for positioning the controls yourself. In the picture below, I have replaced the default Virtual Earth Dashboard control with a UserControl containing WPF buttons:

If the WPF WebBrowser control still has the z-order issue, then how am I rendering WPF content on top of the map? I am using what I have been calling "layered window trickery" for lack of a better term. The map control loads a transparent window with a higher z-order than the window the control is in. The map control places the transparent window itself "covering" the area of the map control. Since the top window is transparent, interaction with the map below behaves as if there isn't a window over the map control. When a call is made to map.AddControl() or to set the map.InfoBox property, I actually add the UserControl to the top window. As you can imagine there is a bit of repositioning logic for the top window & WPF UI over top of the map. I plan on recording a Channel 9 Screencast walking through the code. If you can't wait, then you can just download the sample here and dig through it yourself. The control uses new features in the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1. Make sure you install Visual Studio 2008 SP1 Beta before trying to open it. Details here.

Technorati Tags: .net framework,wpf,virtual earth