Public Sector Developer Weblog

Webcast Schedule for November 2008

Register today for our upcoming webcasts!

-Nandita

IE8 Q&A: Why did you enable Data Execution Prevention (DEP) for Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 installations on Windows Vista SP1?

A: Our goal is to enhance the default security settings for users. We have decided to enable DEP for Internet Explorer 8, starting with the Windows Vista SP1. DEP helps foil attacks by preventing code from running in memory that is marked non-executable (NX). DEP/NX, combined with other technologies like Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR), make it harder for attackers to exploit certain types of memory-related vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer and the add-ons it loads.

Joel Reyes

PARTNER DEVELOPER DINNER: Introduction to ASP.NET Model View Controller (MVC)

Microsoft Developer Dinner Series for Partners

Presenting

Introduction to ASP.NET Model View Controller (MVC)

The "Same Event" on different days in DC and Virginia, pick one!

Topic:

Introduction to ASP.NET Model View Controller (MVC)

Presenter:

Marc Schweigert

Developer Evangelist

Microsoft Public Sector Evangelism Team

Background:

ASP.NET MVC enables you to build Model View Controller (MVC) applications by using the ASP.NET framework. ASP.NET MVC is an alternative, not a replacement, for ASP.NET Web Forms that offers the following benefits:

• Clear separation of concerns
• Testability - support for Test-Driven Development
• Fine-grained control over HTML and JavaScript
• Intuitive URLs

What you will learn:

This session will be demonstration focused covering the fundamentals of the ASP.NET MVC framework.  You will learn how ASP.NET MVC differs from the current ASP.NET Web Forms framework.  Through a series of demonstrations, you will also see how ASP.NET MVC provides you with fine-grained control over HTML and JavaScript.

Who should come:

This is an opportunity to get ahead of the curve before ASP.NET MVC is released.  If you are someone who builds, architects, or manages development teams building Web Applications, this presentation is for you.

Attend this event for your chance to win an Xbox 360

Xbox 360 will be raffled at the conclusion of the dinner.

Your Opportunity to Provide Feedback!

If you are a developer or technology professional who works either directly or indirectly for the U.S. Federal, State, Local governments and educational institutions, please

read on.

Are you interested in sharing your thoughts regarding free Microsoft Public Sector developer online technology presentations? If so, please take 2-3 minutes to provide feedback regarding the type of application development oriented technical training that would be beneficial to you and your organization. Please click here to provide feedback.

Your feedback is highly valued. Thank you for your time.

-Marc

IE8 Compatibility: Resources

To gain a better understanding of compatibility in Internet Explorer 8, below is a list of resources.

· NEW: IE8 Compatibility – Meta tags, HTTP headers, User Agent Strings on from Mike Ormond's (DPE) Blog

· Website Compatibility in Internet Explorer 8: Live Meeting by Scott Dickens

(Recording ID: 76ZKJ5, Attendee Key: 4367kh!V25E-XK6Q)

· Defining Document Compatibility: Step-by-step instructions for meta tag placement

· Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.0 with the IE Compatibility Test Tool

· Internet Explorer Compatibility Center

· Internet Explorer Developer Center

· Internet Explorer 8 Readiness Toolkit

· Internet Explorer 8 Home Page

http://www.ca.gov – First state portal to use IE 8 features?

If you are using IE 8, I encourage you to hit http://www.ca.gov.  Notice the web slice?

Also, on the left, there’s a link to the Accelerators that California is creating: http://www.ca.gov/accelerators

Terrific!

Jeet Jagasia on my team worked with the customer to get it done – great work!

-Keith

IE8 Q&A: If the user doesn't have administrator rights, how do I install add-ons or enable ActiveX components?

A: One of the new features for Internet Explorer 8 (Windows Vista only) is ability to install ActiveX controls on a per-user basis. You can find more information at the Internet Explorer Blog here: http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2008/05/07/ie8-security-part-ii-activex-improvements.aspx

Joel Reyes

IE8 Q&A: Can I install Internet Explorer Beta 2 side-by-side with previous versions of Internet Explorer for testing purposes?

A: No, it is not possible to have more than a single version of Internet Explorer installed at the same time on any Windows platform. People who want to run Internet Explorer 7 and Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 side-by-side have several options:

1. Download the Internet Explorer Virtual PC images for Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, Internet Explorer 7 and Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2

2. Use the Compatibility View Button to display sites in Internet Explorer 7 mode.

3. Use the new Internet Explorer 8 Developer Tools to switch Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 between different rendering modes on the fly. The Developer Tools are installed by default with the browser, and can be accessed by pressing F12 or clicking the icon when running Internet Explorer 8.

Joel Reyes

IE8 Q&A: Is there a new version of the Internet Explorer Administration Kit for Internet Explorer 8?

A: Yes! The new Internet Explorer Administration Kit Beta is available today, in English only. The new Internet Explorer Administration Kit has been optimized to help you build your customized Internet Explorer packages more quickly and to allow you to configure and customize new features in Internet Explorer 8 like Accelerators and Web Slices.

Joel Reyes

Webcast: Touring Internet Explorer 8 – Developer Features

The Developer Tools feature of Internet Explorer 8 enables you to review the internal representation of a Web page from the browser's perspective. You can use the Developer Tools for a variety of tasks, including (but not limited to) viewing individual attributes, determining why a particular CSS rule is applied to an individual element, previewing different document compatibility modes, and so on. By exposing how the browser interprets a Web page, the Developer Tools provide many opportunities to research and resolve problems, and do it faster than has been possible with the previous versions of Internet Explorer. During this Webcast we will start exploring the tools built in to IE8 to assist developers in building standards-based web applications.

Join us tomorrow Wednesday, October 08, 2008 2:00 PM Eastern Time (US & Canada) to explore this exciting new release of Internet Explorer 8. Register Here

Joel Reyes

I’m hiring: Public Sector Platform Strategy Advisor, in the DC area

My name is Keith, and I manage the customer evangelism team for public sector Developer and Platform Evangelism.

I’m looking for a Platform Strategy Advisor (PSA).  A PSA combines proven business development skills and technical skills with knowledge of marketing and public relations to develop and deliver early-adoption design wins that have large market impact.  Of course a strong understanding of the Microsoft application platform and tools is a must, but a great PSA can have meaningful conversations with C-Level executives in government, as well as technical people. 

A PSA works with many teams inside of Microsoft.  Of course you have your immediate team of Architect Evangelists and Developer Evangelists, but to be successful you have to have relationships with the sales teams, marketing teams, industry teams and partner teams to name just a few.

For more information about this position, take a look a this posting: Platform Strategy Advisor

If you think you have what it takes, you can apply for it online, but I’d also like to speak with you directly.  My email address is keith dot hurwitz at microsoft dot com.

-Keith

RELEASED: Virtual Earth JavaScript Intellisense Helper for 6.2

Thanks to the quick effort from Chris Pietschmann, I am happy to announce that we have an updated version of the Virtual Earth JavaScript Intellisense Helper that is in sync with the update Virtual Earth Map Control 6.2.  You can learn more about what’s new in 6.2 at http://blogs.msdn.com/virtualearth/archive/2008/09/24/announcing-the-virtual-earth-web-service-and-virtual-earth-map-control-6-2.aspx. 

UPDATE: I wanted to also mention a special thanks to Nicolas Boonaert.  Chris wrote the updates, Nicolas performed QA/testing, and I packaged up the release.

If you aren’t familiar with the intellisense helper, here’s our description from CodePlex:

“The purpose of this project is to fully enable JavaScript Intellisense for the Virtual Earth Map Control inside of Visual Studio 2008.

Creating Microsoft Virtual Earth mashups and applications just got a whole lot easier. This JavaScript library enables Intellisense for the Microsoft Virtual Earth 6.2 (current release) AJAX control in Visual Studio 2008.”

You can download the helper at http://www.codeplex.com/VEJS/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=17699.

-Marc

New .NET Framework Client Profile Preview Setup Package

.NET 3.5 SP1 introduces a new setup package option for developers building .NET client applications called the ".NET Framework Client Profile Preview." This provides a new setup installer that enables a smaller, faster, and simpler installation experience for .NET client applications on machines that do not already have the .NET Framework installed.

The .NET Framework Client Profile Preview setup contains just those assemblies and files in the .NET Framework that are typically used for client application scenarios. For example: it includes Windows Forms, WPF, and WCF. It does not include ASP.NET and those libraries and components used primarily for server scenarios. This setup package 28mb in size, and it can be downloaded and installed much quicker than the full .NET Framework setup package (around 6 minutes for most users on a typical broadband connection).

The assemblies and APIs in the .NET Framework Client setup package are 100% identical to those in the full .NET Framework setup package (they are literally the same binaries). This means that applications can target both the Client Profile Preview and full profile of .NET 3.5 SP1 (no recompilation required). All .NET applications that work using the .NET Client Profile Preview setup automatically work with the full .NET Framework.

A developer can indicate that the client application they are building supports both the .NET Framework Client Profile Preview and the full .NET Framework by pulling up the project properties page for a client application within VS 2008 SP1. Within the project properties page they can select a new checkbox that indicates it only requires those assemblies included in the .NET Framework Client Profile Preview:

VS 2008 will then ensure that the project can only reference those assemblies shipped in the Client Profile Preview setup package (and it will generate a compile error if you try and use a type in an assembly not included in the client redist). The compiled client application will then run on machines that have both the full .NET Framework installed, as well as machines that only have the .NET Framework Client Profile Preview installed.

If you have a machine that only has the .NET Framework Client Profile Preview installed, and you try and run a .NET application on it that did not mark itself as supporting the .NET Framework Client Profile Preview, then the CLR will refuse to run the application - and will instead prompt the end-user to upgrade to the full .NET Framework package. This ensures that applications always run correctly - and that developers do not need to worry about missing assembly exceptions at runtime if a user tries to run an application that requires the full .NET Framework on a machine that only has the .NET Framework Client Profile Preview installed.

A large class of .NET client applications will be able to use this new .NET Client Profile Preview setup to significantly speed up their installation, and enable a much more consumer friendly experience.

Follow-up: Developer Identity Framework (Zermatt)

Following from our Webcast today, here are a set of references for you to follow to learn more about the development aspect of Identity Framework:

Zermatt Beta on Microsoft Connect http://connect.microsoft.com/site/sitehome.aspx?SiteID=642

The Keith Brown Zermatt whitepaper is also available from the Connect download sit  -- A must read!

Identity Metasystem/Laws of Identity Kim Cameron’s Blog http://www.identityblog.com/

Information Card Foundation http://www.informationcard.net/

Vibro.Net Blog for Zermatt dev postings http://blogs.msdn.com/vbertocci/

Mike Jones’ Self-issued Blog http://self-issued.info/

Joel

Reference: Microsoft Security Development Lifecycle (SDL)

Keep an eye on Microsoft’s upcoming release of SDL-related programs:

• the SDL Pro Network,
• the SDL Optimization Model,
• and the Microsoft SDL Threat Modeling Tool 3.0

For Training and Resources visit http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/security/cc448120.aspx

Security is an important matter for us all, and Microsoft is doing its part in providing you with the right tools, technology, techniques and guidance to ensure you access to the full range of security capabilities within our platform.

I particularly and strongly recommend that you take a look at the Threat Modeling Tool. The current release rocks! http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=59888078-9daf-4e96-b7d1-944703479451&displaylang=en

Joel

LAB: Workflow Services

This may be a good follow-up to our last webcast on Workflow Services.

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

This lab introduces you to new features in the .NET Framework 3.5 for Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) and Windows Workflow Foundation (WF). You are guided through the developer experience of working with the newest parts of these technologies for the first time.

Joel