The .NET Endpoint : 3.5

WCF Interoperability Highlighted at PDC and ApacheCon

KentBrown — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:12:52 GMT

At PDC this week we had a booth to showcase the interoperability that WCF gives you through its support for the WS-* protocols. In particular, we highlighted an Apache incubator project called Stonehenge.

At Stonehenge we work together with a growing list of WS-* vendors (WSO2, Sun, SpringSource, and soon Progress) to build samples and prove out interoperability between the stacks.

At the PDC booth we had a demo of the soon to be released ’M2’ version of the StockTrader Sample application. Check out the Channel 9 video here.

We also talked about Stonehenge at the ApachecCon conference in Oakland a couple of weeks ago where Apache celebrated their 10 year anniversary. If you are in the mood for some geek entertainment you might want to see this from the Lightening Talks.

If you are doing cross-platform interop with WCF, I would encourage you to get involved in Stonehenge. You can contribute by suggesting important test scenarios and/or helping build and test one of the samples. To get started go to the project wiki: Apache Stonehenge and subscribe to the dev email list.

To learn about other interop activities at PDC check out the Interoperability Team Blog.

3.5 SP1 RTM WCF Source Code Available

kmouss — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 01:36:00 GMT

Late in the summer we have released WCF sources publically in the reference source. You can now browse and debug WCF source code through Visual Studio. We are working to get the WF in reference source later this year. I will provide an update when WF is also available.

Please note that this is version-dependent and we currently support this for 3.5 SP1 RTM only. Any support QFE or GDR upgrades for the assemblies aren't currently part of the package. New updates will be available in future. Here are the options to browse or debug thorugh WCF sources:

Option 1 – Install & Local Debugging

Download Reference Source Code Center.
Install Reference Source WCF MSI in your local machine say under: 'C:\ReferenceSource'.
Launch Visual Studio 2008.
From the Tools menu, choose Options.
In the Options dialog box, open the Debugging node and select General

Uncheck "Enable Just My Code (Managed only)"
Check "Enable source server support"
Uncheck "Require source files to exactly match the original version"

Select Symbols under Debugging.
In the Symbol File Locations box, validate the location where the installed symbol files (.pdb) are present. If not, then add originally downloaded symbols location: C:\ReferenceSource\Symbols
Build you app, set breakpoints and F5 to debug..

Option 2 - Remote Debugging

You will need to make sure that the version of the framework is 3.5 SP1 RTM (no GDR update for now) as the project assemblies' versions and symbols must match. With this option you can debug and step through WCF framework code remotly through the reference source server.

Reference instructions under: http://referencesource.microsoft.com/serversetup.aspx

( Same as above, just set your .pdb location to: http://referencesource.microsoft.com/symbols )

Litware Training sample Mashup app

KentBrown — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 23:20:09 GMT

We've all heard of a "mashup" because its one of those buzz words, like "Web 2.0", that is picked up and repeated over and over again by the journalists and analysts. But have you actually seen one up close in the wild? Or do you have suspicions that its an elusive beast or a myth like Big Foot or Nessie? Well, we've got one of these critters in captivity for you to take home as a pet. Play with it. Get comfortable. See what makes it tick. See what tools from Microsoft are useful in building a mashup. And see if this programming style applies to something you want to do with your next application.

Litware Training is a sample "mashup" app built using ASP.NET and the WCF REST Starter Kit Preview 2. It demonstrates how to build a Web 2.0 application, tapping into popular search, geographic information, and social networking APIs on the internet. It shows how to consume and expose RESTful services.

Thanks to Ben Dewey of twentysix New York who built the sample.

WF 3.5 Hands On Labs Updated

Cliff Simpkins — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:39:18 GMT

The ten Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) hands-on labs were updated today on Microsoft download center for your coding enjoyment!

These ten labs were initially posted when WF was new to the world and .NET 3.0 was hot off the presses. This past winter, the product management team worked with David Starr to get the labs converted to .NET 3.5 and Visual Studio 2008, make the manuals consistent, and bring the VB.NET code up par to follow the same best practices as the C# code.

Once installed, you will have the following labs installed on your machine:

WF01: Getting Started with WF
WF02: Creating Custom Activities with WF
WF03: Hosting Workflows in WF
WF04: Creating State Machine Workflows in WF
WF05: Communicating with the Host Application for WF
WF06: WF and Web Services
WF07: Creating Rules Driven Workflow in WF
WF08: Transactional Behavior in WF
WF09: Modifying Workflow Models at Runtime with Workflow Change in WF
WF10: Embedding the Workflow Designer for WF

About half the labs saw some significant updating and clean-up – and they should yield a greatly improved experience for the learner; we applied feedback from HOL participants who took the labs at our events and provided an evaluation. The second half of the labs were more simply migrated and cleaned up for consistency.

But wait! There’s more! :)

While we were at it, we added an eleventh lab to the mix. Because the labs were developed before the new WCF activities were introduced, we dug into the excellent Visual Studio 2008 training kit done by the DPE folks, we updated and cleaned up the lab that walked a user through using the new WCF Send and Receive activities for WF in .NET 3.5:

WF11: Workflow Enabled Services and Other New Features in the .NET Framework 3.5

The product management team will be making three additional hands-on labs available in the near future: unit testing WF workflows (currently available on MSDN Virtual Labs), unit testing WCF services, and advanced context management in WF 3.5 (built by Matt Milner, and unveiled at TechEd 2009 North America). All three labs have scored pretty well at events, and we’re looking forward to sharing them with you for direct download.

We hope that you find these updated labs useful; and, as always, welcome your feedback and comments.

Enjoy!
- Cliff