Nigel Parker's Outside Line : msdn

Wellington Code Camp Completed, SharePoint Conference Tomorrow

nparker — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:00:37 GMT

This week the MSDN Flash is all about spreading the word of three awesome community run events past and present.

The Wellington Code Camp. took place on the 13/14th June
The New Zealand Community SharePoint Conference is tomorrow in Wellington.
Barcamp Auckland 3 is coming up on the 11th July in Auckland.

Although I didn't attend Code Camp I hear that Ivan's dance moves were legendary. Code Camp was enthusiastically organised by Kirk, Ivan, JD, JB and Owen. Here are a few blog posts that I found summing up the event:

Building Solutions Using Microsoft Products - Andrew Tokeley
Code Camp learnings - Kirk Jackson
Maintainable Code: one step further - Bevan Arps
.NET 4.0 Code Contracts - James Newton King
The Microsoft Sync Framework - James Hippolite
LINQ, lambdas and extensions - Matthew Hintzen
Owen Evans promises to have videos of the sessions for you all shortly.

Off the back of the Code Camp, the new Wellington Silverlight User Group was formed. Their first meeting is tonight, so try to get along to it!

The buzz is really starting to build around the New Zealand SharePoint Conference that is set to kick off tomorrow. Word is that there are still a few tickets available so register now if you can make it along! If you can't get there follow NZ SharePoint to stay up to date. The New Zealand Community SharePoint Conference is the brainchild of three SharePoint MVPs Debbie, Mark and Chandima.

Not to be outdone by Wellington, Auckland is hosting BCA3 on Sat 11th July. BCA is focused on the cross-pollination of ideas and knowledge.

Finally on the topic of awesome events don't miss out on the NZ IT Industry's best technical training event. Tech-Ed NZ is taking place in Auckland on the 14/16th September. We have 14 simultaneous tracks of content and have sold more than half of our event tickets!

Register for Tech Ed before 31 July and you will automatically go into the draw to win one of seven Canon IXUS 100 IS digital cameras. Full details of the Tech Ed special offer are here.

UNPLUGGED – Building Line of Business Applications with Silverlight 3

nparker — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 01:25:00 GMT

I have previously written about the UNPLUGGED road trip that Mike, Nathan and I have been on.

I also mentioned that I would be making a screen cast and sharing the source code from the Silverlight 3 Line of Business demo that I delivered. The demo that I presented was based on Scott Morrison’s two sessions from Tech.Ed North America.

Watch a video of my session using Smooth Streaming.

Also on Channel 9…

The source code for these presentations is available below (includes activity control):

I also updated my presentation to cover the May release of RIA Services from http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/RiaServices (this site also includes tutorials and white papers).

I will do another post shortly on how I built the Tech.Ed Tweet Vote demo that I showed in the first part of my UNPLUGGED session.

Other Posts that are worth checking out:

Microsoft UNPLUGGED

nparker — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:24:12 GMT

Last week we kicked of the Microsoft UNPLUGGED Road show visiting locations around New Zealand including Palmerston North, Tauranga, Hamilton and Auckland presenting technical sessions for Developers and IT Pros on Windows 7 and Silverlight 3.

Check out this short video of the events so far and the photos on DeepZoomPix.

Today we’re presenting in Christchurch heading to Dunedin and Wellington over the next two days. There is still space if you’d like to attend the Dunedin or Wellington sessions.

For those that are not able to attend in person the sessions will be recorded and made available at microsoft.co.nz/unplugged some time next week.

ROAD TRIP! MSDN Unplugged Coming to a Town Near You

nparker — Sun, 10 May 2009 23:21:36 GMT

Join us for the May - June 2009 UNPLUGGED Roadshow as we visit locations around New Zealand presenting technical sessions for Developers and IT Pros.

Choose from either the MSDN Stream for Developers or TechNet Stream for IT Pros. At the end, get the opportunity to install Windows 7 RC on your PCs too at the Installfest. We'll have Window 7 RC DVDs to giveaway too.

MSDN Stream: Developing for Windows 7 and Silverlight 3
Find out how to get started developing rich applications for Windows 7 and Silverlight 3. Two sessions, presented by Microsoft New Zealand Developer Advisors, Mike Zeff and Nigel Parker.

Session 1: Windows 7 for Developers

Windows 7 contains many new features for developers that allow you to create very rich applications for your users, including the ability to touch-enable your own applications. This session will cover how you can take advantage of new Windows 7 features using .NET 3.5 to build rich client applications and we’ll also take a look at what’s coming in .NET 4.0. Presented by ISV Developer Advisor, Mike Zeff.

Session 2: Taking your Web experience to the next level with Silverlight 3

Internet Explorer 8 has been released and Silverlight 3 was announced recently at MIX ‘09. This session will show you how you can take advantage of Visual Studio and Silverlight 3 (with a touch of Expression Blend 3) to create line of business web applications that can run both inside and outside the browser. We’ll also show you how to take advantage of exciting features in IE8 that make your web site more ‘sticky’ for your users. Presented by Web Developer Advisor, Nigel Parker.

Installfest (Optional)
At the end of the sessions, you will have an opportunity to install the Windows 7 Release Candidate on your own machine. You bring your computer - we bring the Windows 7 installation and a Microsoftee to help.

A test PC for the Windows 7 RC should meet these minimum hardware recommendations:
1 GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor
1 GB of system memory
16 GB of available disk space
Support for DirectX 9 graphics with 128 MB memory (in order to enable Aero theme)
DVD-R/W Drive or machine that supports booting from USB
Please bring a spare, non-production computer to install the software onto. We will help with loading Windows 7 onto your machines, and will have wired or wireless Internet connections available for drivers and updates. If for some reason, Windows 7 does not have the appropriate driver for your computer hardware, we will do our best to download drivers off the Internet and get them onto a USB key for you. We won’t be able to provide “support” afterwards, but we’ve created an online forum where you can ask questions.

If you didn’t get a chance to download your own copy of Windows 7 RC we will have a supply of Windows 7 DVDs.

What you need to know before installing the RC.

Optional Installfest 12.30pm - 1.30pm.

Level 300 for Developers, free to register.

Dates and Location
25 May: Palmerston North - register
26 May: Tauranga - register
27 May: Hamilton - register
28 May: Auckland - register
3 June: Christchurch - register
4 June: Dunedin - register
5 June: Wellington – register

TechNet Stream: Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2
If you're an IT Pro, join Microsoft IT Pro Advisor, Nathan Mercer as he presents these technical sessions demonstrating the essential features of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. More information and details.

MSDN Flash - Web 09: It's about User Experience, and the tools to create it.

nparker — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 06:01:00 GMT

Software developer and entrepreneur John Ballinger has been running the Auckland Web Meetup for the last two years. During this time, the group has grown from about 20 to an incredible 550 members.

The group meets once a month at the Media Design School in central Auckland for an evening of presentations on web-related topics, with a break for beer and pizza halfway through. The response Ballinger got from the web community, and the huge interest he saw in joining the group, made him think there was demand for a bigger web event in Auckland.

"I wanted to create an event that would inspire web developers and designers, as well as online entrepreneurs, by bringing some of the rock stars of the web to Auckland." says Ballinger.

Web09 is now a reality, and despite the harsh economic climate Ballinger has managed to book a list of high-profile international speakers. I have worked with John to ensure that the best Microsoft has to offer are part of the billing.

Web09 will be held on 17-18 April, as part of the event, there is an exclusive one-day Microsoft pre-conference workshop, featuring for the first time in New Zealand Tim Heuer, Corrina Barber and Arturo Toledo. The workshop is happening on the 16th of April covering the essence of content presented at MIX09 in Las Vegas.

The good news is that I have negotiated hard to get an exclusive deal for MSDN Flash subscribers to attend the event.

By subscribing to the NZ MSDN Flash Newsletter (if you haven’t already) and entering the coupon code MSDNWEB09 in the signup page at http://www.web09.org/tickets.php you can receive a whopping 20% off the $745 conference price and a massive 50% off the $115 MIX essentials workshop valid until Friday the 13th March.
This offer won’t last... sign up now and be one of the first in New Zealand to get trained on Silverlight 3.

Thanks for reading! Until next time.

Nigel Parker
Web Development Advisor
Blog

Check out http://blackcaps.co.nz/. Microsoft gold partner NV Interactive has added mark-up to support for IE8 Web Slices to track the live cricket scores for the upcoming State Shield and Indian cricket tour of New Zealand starting this week.

Microsoft Expression Newsletter
Are you interested in creating rich desktop and Internet applications? Get into the act immediately, learn how to use the new stuff before everybody else does, sign up for the Microsoft Expression Newsletter.

Don’t forget the Internet Explorer 8 Competition
We’ve had lots of entries for the IE8 compatibility competition, everyone is very keen to win the “I’m a PC” skateboard obviously! Send a screenshot of your company’s homepage in IE8 to mailto:nzeditor@microsoft.com?subject=IE8%20Competition by 6 March (extended from 28 February)! More details here.

Sneak Peak of the Windows 7 MSDN Flash Newsletter.

nparker — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 23:12:00 GMT

If you’ve been missing these updates previously subscribe to MSDN Flash...

If you have disconnected yourself over the holiday period you may not have caught up with the news that we have released the first beta of Windows 7.

I recommend that you join the Windows 7 Beta Customer Preview Program to get on the inside track. Brian Keller shows how to virtualize the Windows 7 Beta if you are that way inclined. Once you have Windows 7 up and running Tim Sneath has published a Bumper List of Windows 7 Secrets.

The Windows 7 Beta was announced by Steve Ballmer at the consumer electronics show in Las Vegas on the 8^th of Jan. You can watch the keynote on-demand.

Another interesting point is that some applications that have been included with prior releases of Windows (Mail, Calendar, Movie Maker and Photo Gallery) are no longer included and are instead offered separately (free of charge) as part of the Windows Live Essentials suite for Windows XP, Vista and 7. I personally love the updated Windows Live Photo Gallery application that ties in well with the new Silverlight 2 based photo slideshow.

Along with Windows 7 the first beta of Windows Server 2008 R2 is also available for download. Read how the new server is improving the Web Application Platform. Of note you not get a subset of .NET 3.5 with a server core installation. Check out the Developing with Microsoft .NET and ASP.NET for Server Core session from PDC.

As always the best way to get Microsoft news as it breaks is to subscribe to the Microsoft Press Pass RSS feed.

So what are you waiting for go get it!

Editor’s picks

The source code for the Silverlight 2 controls has been released under the Microsoft Public License (Ms-PL). With the release of this source code as well as having access to the source for the Silverlight Toolkit, you should have some great base implementations to extend and learn from!

PhotoSuru is a new sample from the WPF team that provides a unique way to browse photos. The application takes advantage of some of the richer WPF features such as pixel shaders, adaptive layout, custom themes and offline storage. The sample is based on the SCE Starter Kit which is available for download and includes the full source.

MSDN Flash Christmas Special

nparker — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 23:01:00 GMT

Welcome to the MSDN Flash Christmas Special,

If you’ve been missing these updates previously subscribe to MSDN Flash...

As work winds down for the year developers all over NZ are venturing out into the sunlight. Like any good movement some will be left behind. If you find yourself stationed by a computer and are looking for something to fill your days look no further!

Following on from the Coding4Fun Talk at PDC (Watch the session video) Dan Fernandez and team have released the Coding4Fun book just in time for the holidays (listen to the Hanselminute podcast). The book comes complete with ten interesting .NET projects. My personal favourite is WiiEarthVR a fully immersive 3D experience with Virtual Earth 3D by Brian Peek.

If Coding4Fun is not your thing, check out the projects over at Microsoft Research. One that I have been using extensively and can highly recommend is Microsoft Image Composite Editor.

Along with Parallel Programming, Genetic Programming is getting quite a bit of coverage of late. I love this little .Net example. Make sure you grab the source code from here.

Have you heard that NUI is the new GUI?

If you are getting a new computer for Christmas I hope it is an HP TouchSmart IQ800 series or the Dell Latitude XT. That way you can load Windows 7 onto it and build MultiTouch applications using .NET 4.0.

Happy Coding everyone and have a very Merry Christmas!

Sneak Peek of the Next MSDN Flash Newsletter

nparker — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 07:57:31 GMT

Next week my focus turns to an eight city series of MSDN Unplugged events to help web developers get ready for the upcoming release of Silverlight 2 and prepare for what you will see announced at PDC in late October.

The session is titled Get Ready for Cloud-Based Services, IE8 & Silverlight 2. I will discuss briefly readiness and enhancements with Internet Explorer 8. I will introduce Silverlight 2 and WPF 3.5 for developers focused on service enabled rich client development and then lead into a discussion on cloud based services including WCF, REST and JSON.

If you would like an injection of the latest technology trends from Microsoft register your place today:

DUNEDIN Tue 23 Sep

CHRISTCHURCH Wed 24 Sep

WELLINGTON Tue 30 Sep

PALMERSTON NORTH Wed 1 Oct

Changing tact with the dust clearing on another successful Tech.Ed conference in Auckland we have a wealth of resources online for your enjoyment. As discussed in the previous MSDN Flash Tech.Ed live is jam packed with content for developers including:

DAT302 Overview of SQL 2008 – New Features

WEB304 Web Futures – The next 18 months

WEB309 Silverlight 2 for Developers

WEB311 Designing Compelling User Experiences with Expression Studio 2

SEC305 Virtualisation and Security – What does it mean for me?

Also last week Matt Heller (from the IE team) and I embarked on a short 3 city trip around New Zealand to present 17 sessions to 750 web developers on the new Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2. If you were unable to make one of the presentations a video of the Auckland Unplugged session is available online.

See you on the road!

Counting the days... 26 work days, 3 keynotes, 3 presentations and 1 external conference.

nparker — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 02:55:00 GMT

I just planned my time for the rest of Feb and March and I am overwhelmed by how much work I have left to do. But there is light at the end of the tunnel, on the 24th of March I am flying my family to Europe for a month long holiday!

I am going to be blogging infrequently over the coming weeks sorry about that!

The good news is that I have a bunch of stuff to share with you today!

1. Please if you are not already booked to attend the March Technical Briefing Events in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch book yourself a ticket today - www.microsoft.co.nz/techbrief. The events cost $199 plus GST and all attendees will receive a complimentary copy of Windows Vista Ultimate or Office Professional 2007! (conditions apply).

This event is going to be a bit different to what we have done before and I'm excited by the "Real World" scenarios we are building into the development track that if successful may be adopted by Microsoft worldwide!... That's all I'm saying for now but come along as there is no fabrikam here ;)

Also since Nathan, Darryl and myself have been charged with the keynote we are going to try and make it not suck (but we need your help). Create a 15-30 second video showcasing Windows Vista... you become part of the keynote and win some cool prizes. See http://www.geekzone.co.nz/vistavideo for details. Looking at the couple that have already been submitted don't rule out using humor and you could always try something like this... if 30 secs isn't long enough submit a series... get innovative... get funny... get going :)

Thinking of partners that you might like to see in the keynote, are you interested in seeing Right Hemisphere present? I mentioned a few times that I was working with them and their Vista support, they were even covered in the Campbell Live piece at launch.

2. The other conference I'm speaking at is this Emerging Web Technologies & Trends conference in Auckland. I didn't choose the title or the abstract so any feedback on what I should include in this presentation will also be greatly appreciated :)

3. On that note we have recently released MIX University as a place for you to learn more about some of the web and user experience technologies that I have been discussing on this blog... take a look here to get yourself up to speed.

If you want more check out this growing list of WPF applications in the wild and try this incredible 3D WPF visualisation of molecular structures, learn more here.

Hope to see you at an event in March!