The .NET Endpoint : MSDN

The New Dev Center Experience – MSDN Articles

Cliff Simpkins — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:56:10 GMT

This is the second part in the series of new things that are afoot with the MSDN websites. In this posting, I would like to discuss some changes in the posting of articles and code samples. As an example of the new experience, I’d like to draw attention to a refreshed article that was recently updated and reposted from Morgan Skinner, ‘Creating a Custom WF Activity.’

In the prior years, we made extensive use of the MSDN Online Library. Information on the MSDN Online Library takes one of two forms. There is the documentation that is written by the product group, which is typically posted under the WF 3.5 documentation node and WCF 3.5 documentation node of the taxonomy tree. There is also the whitepapers that were created outside of the product group – be that folks from the field, Microsoft Consultants, or external MVPs; these typically were posted in the ‘Articles and Overviews’ nodes (one for WCF Articles and Overviews, and one for WF Articles and Overviews) of the taxonomy tree.

Whitepaper Articles

Posting the whitepapers into the MSDN Online Library provided a series of benefits – including the inclusion in the installable documentation and consistency of the MTPS (MSDN & TechNet Publishing System); it also had drawbacks, primarily around flexibility, formatting, and discoverability. A major complaint that has come up about the way we’ve been doing things is that it makes it very hard to find new content that has been published into the system…which is a fair argument - the system has been well designed as a online version of an installed documentation library; it just wasn’t designed for the casual reader to regularly drop in and look for updates.

With the new MSDN Social Content servers, we now additional flexibility. Articles get the benefit of HTML (and are limited more by the CSS and ASP.NET template structure, rather than being limited to a handful of standard HTML tags).

Because of this, we’re trying to make articles posted to the new system a bit more interactive and easier to explore and relate to one another. To the right is a screenshot of Morgan’s article. I’ve called out a few of the new features, that I’m hoping help the reader get a better experience. There will likely be a few changes to the layout over the next couple weeks as we publish a few more articles up to the server and get a feel for what works (and what doesn’t), and based on community feedback (if you have feedback – as always – either post a comment below or use the contact link to the right to send us an e-mail).

In addition to the tagging capabilities (covered in my prior post on the new MSDN Dev Center pages), you’ll notice that we have created a grey ‘About this Article’ box. I know grey isn’t all that inspiring, but we did it to be consistent with the MSDN Online Library ‘This relates to version…’ box, and it’s flexible – let me know if you feel strongly about it. Within this box, we try to provide a list of the related technologies, a link to related downloads and related articles, and a mini table of contents to let users jump to the section of the article they may be most interested in. Additionally, we’ve moved the ‘About the Author’ up from the bottom to the right column.

Code Samples

For code samples, there really wasn’t a convenient place to put them. As a result, many of the code samples were posted up to the Microsoft.com Downloads website. Because of this limitation, the NetFX team had created the NetFX3.com website to host code samples. With the new MSDN platform, we now have two repositories for code samples and sample applications:

CodePlex: CodePlex is Microsoft’s server for hosting open source projects. Projects hosted in the CodePlex environment can be both Microsoft sponsored, as well as community led/owned – and include a TFS backend, an integrated issue tracking database, and discussion boards for hosted projects. A few of the notable Microsoft-sponsored projects on CodePlex that stand out for me include AAA, BBB, and CCC.
MSDN Code Gallery: The MSDN Code Gallery can be thought of as a place to post sample code and articles that involve Microsoft technologies. I believe that it is powered by the same engine as CodePlex, but isn’t intended for team-based development collaboration (Code Gallery doesn’t have the TFS backend for source control and issue tracking).

In the case of Morgan’s article, the source code has been posted up to the MSDN Code Gallery (screen shot of the Code Gallery page to the left). Posting the article via this method has many advantages over the prior method. Primary above them is the inclusion of the author in the project. In this project’s case, Morgan is co-owner of the Code Sample project, and can update the code sample as needed. As well, the author (and the MSDN Dev Center team – us) have the ability to update the project’s wiki page to point to relevant MSDN Forum posts and additional nuggets of wisdom that the community contribute to the project over its lifetime.

We’re hoping that this provides better context to those who come to the project years after it has been posted, allowing them to learn from those who came before them and hopefully not get frustrated with any issues in future service packs or DLL updates (should they occur; although we all know that code samples are perfect and never have quirks ^_^ ).

Over the coming months and years, expect to see WF and WCF projects showing up in these two repositories. We will make announcements on here and on the MSDN Dev Centers, and – as always – are interested in your opinions on what works and what doesn’t.

I hope you enjoy the new additions to the MSDN Dev Center family; happy reading – and happy coding!

This Week on MSDN - New Dev Center Pages

Cliff Simpkins — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 08:34:48 GMT

There has indeed been a lot going on over the last month, and I apologize for the silence over the past couple weeks...but I believe the fruits of the work is now starting to bloom. This is the first in a series of three blog posts that I will be getting out this week; this one lays the foundation for the other two, explaining the new platform that we launched to host leaf-node developer-oriented content around Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) and Windows Communication Foundation (WCF).

On Wednesday of last week, the talented folks over at MSDN launched the latest release of the MSDN Social platform. I'm pleased to say that the WF/WCF technologies were one of three groups to help beta-test the authoring environment, and go live on the new platform this month. Last week, we had a total of nine pages go live on the new server, and we'll be adding additional content over the next few weeks.

Changes to the MSDN Dev Center Main Pages

On the main pages for the WF Dev Center and the WCF Dev Center (as an example, I've placed a screen capture of the WF Dev Center on the left), the change is pretty minimal right now...an updated version of this page will go live next week to try and better rationalize the platforms together and try to help the seams become less obvious. But last week's update really sees two changes: changes in the Getting Started box, and a change to the Videos section.

Getting Started with WF Links

On the WF Dev Center, the first thing you may notice is that the 'Learn WF' text on the upper-left box is now a hyper link. This will now take you to the new 'Getting Started' pages for WF. Also, the links below it now point to sub-pages of the new 'Getting Started' page, instead of the MSDN Online Library documentation (I'll come back to this in a couple paragraphs).

More than More...

The second thing that the reader may notice is that the 'More...' link is now gone from the 'WF Videos' section; replaced with links to the 'WF Screencasts' and 'WF Webcasts' pages on the new MSDN Social platform. Previously, the 'More...' link would take the reader to the same WF Videos RSS feed that the RSS graphic; while this made sense, it seemed a bit redundant and not too terribly useful for folks new to the technology.

Pulling the New Pages Together

In the next update to this page, we'll be trying to pull content from the various MSDN services (Dev Centers, Online Library, Blogs, Social Bookmarking, Code Gallery, and Channel9), and trying to get it to flow better together. The goal is to have the WF and WCF Dev Centers function as a portal or hub for the developer community - helping to rationalize the content into something more cohesive and approachable.

At the moment, this means using a 'Getting Started with...' collection of links, which is done to keep the site in-line with the other MSDN Developer Center layouts. We are considering breaking this one box into a couple boxes, to better help users explore the material out there, both content and documentation. But we'll come back to this over the coming weeks and months, if there is interest in having this discussion publicly.

But that brings us to the next step - what exactly the Dev Center becomes the hub for...

The New WF and WCF Pages on MSDN Social

Visually, the site that the new pages are hosted on retains much of the same look and feel as the MSDN Dev Centers you're familiar with. But the new server uses the same social platform as the new MSDN Forums and MSDN Social Bookmarking site. As opposed to providing a deep dive of the new platform, I hope to provide a quick, 5-minute overview of what we've done, and offer the opportunity for feedback - both publicly and privately (amusing note - I've gotten more private feedback than public...side note that it's okay for folks to comment here ^_^).

To the right is the 'Getting Started with Windows Workflow Foundation' page on the new MSDN Social server. I'm hoping that the page is pretty self-explanatory, over all, but I would like to call your attention to five points about the page layout.

WF Context Header
This is different from the MSDN Dev Center. As the user transitions from the Dev Center to the new MSDN Social content pages, the user loses the breadcrumb trail (which was, unfortunately, unavoidable). It is hoped that this helps to orient the user to where they are (using .NET Framework, and the associated links seemed a bit big/grand...and the links pointing to non-WF/WCF pages when the user is among a collection of 10 pages on that topic seemed to confuse folks, rather than provide consistency). The links within the technology's context header take users to pages that are related to the technology ('Home' takes the reader to the Dev Center; 'Community' to the proper Forum, etc)
MSDN Login
This login is the same as the new MSDN Forums and Social Bookmarking site. Once logged in, this allows you to bookmark these MSDN pages, just as you bookmark forum posts. The largest advantage here is to provide an easy way to track the pages that you find the most useful (much like tracking forum posts). In an upcoming release of the MSDN Social platform, this will provide some great auto-generated portal options, but that's for another post (and another blog ^_^ ).
MSDN Social Bookmarking
These pages are integrated into the Social Bookmarking system, allowing you to easily tag the pages as you find appropriate.
Right Column - Section Pages
The layout of the new MSDN pages is a two-column structure, with the main content web parts being laid out in the body of the page, and a much more narrow column present underneath the sign-in and bookmark web parts. In the layout of the WF and WCF pages, we've chosen to add an HTML web part that lays out the pages within the section the reader is on, along with graphics.
You'll notice, for now, that we also have additional links that have descriptive text along with them. We will be going on way or the other within the upcoming week, and thoughts are welcome on which is preferred.
Right Column - Related Links/Downloads
In addition to the links within the section, we also place web parts in this column to link to related downloads or pages. As an example of non-download related links, we link to the Channel9 webcasts/screencasts in the WF/WCF webcasts/screencasts pages.

The Dev Center Ahead

The first release of the MSDN Social content pages only supports the above layout in this release. We're working with them to help get additional layout capabilities added, and hope to have more options when in their next release. But this offers an excellent and exciting opportunity.

With the new platform, we have the ability to publish content in a faster fashion, with greater control over what the look and feel is in the end. The current MSDN and TechNet Publishing System has been well documented, both in terms of its capabilities and its limitations, but the greatest limitation of the system has been the time it takes to publish, which has forced many groups to turn to using blogs or third-party sites as a mechanism for added user documentation and community engagement. For us, this offers an exciting opportunity to iterate more quickly, and with greater fidelity, documentation and link collections for you and with you - to hopefully make information on WF and WCF easier to find and easier to develop with.

Weekly Update - New REST and 'Oslo' Screencasts

Cliff Simpkins — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:34:09 GMT

I had originally used the title 'This week in downloads'...well, because there were downloads. :) But this feels a bit like hollow advertising, and I may shop around for a new title (suggestions are always welcome), but I'll go with the very bland 'Weekly Update' title for now.

New to the web this past week:

WCF Dev Series: New Screencast on Configuring Services with Endpoints
Rob Bagby: Rob posted a couple new screencasts on using WCF to enable HI-REST style scenarios

Ron Jacobs: Ron posted a couple interviews recorded at TechEd in June

Otherwise, we are continuing to focus on building out materials that will be appearing in the month of September - new MSDN pages, new articles, and a couple virtual labs.

This Week in Downloads

Cliff Simpkins — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 19:07:00 GMT

New to the web this week on the WF/WCF front:

Visual Studio 2008 SP1 (BTW - it shipped! ^_^ )
.NET Framework 3.5 SP1
MSDN Library - WF Tutorials section is fixed!
PluralSight: WF/WCF Screencast: Creating your first WCF Service
Matt Winkler: Advanced WF Services (Part 4/4) - Conversations Patterns

Compared to other weeks in the past month, this has been a relatively quiet one on the publication front. There are a lot of really cool things being brought into the pipeline, especially for around the PDC timeframe.

Also, we have additional functionality coming to MSDN in the coming month. You may have already noticed that the MSDN servers are starting to become more community focused (including the new forums site and the MSDN bookmarks site and the green 'Community Content' sections that appears on the bottom of MSDN documentation). We've been working with the MSDN team to get new content for WF and WCF content to go onto the new service at launch; I'll be interested in your feedback. The initial pages at creation is to place up about four or five initial pages that provide an inventory/collection of videos/screencasts and code samples that are out there. We are also thinking about creating a 'Learning Roadmap' to help those new to the technologies get a grasp on where to start and some help with understanding what's out there today. But - as I said - thoughts/opinions/comments are welcome.

I apologize for the tardiness in getting this posting up. I typically work on these either Friday afternoon or Saturday morning, but it was a busy week in the office and I got drawn into writing my first Windows Mobile application over the weekend (a simple flash card program to help me learn the notes on the grand staff).