Office Developer Conference 2008 Blog : OBA

Round 1 Finalists of OBA Solution of the Year Award Contest!

khawara — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 00:33:00 GMT

Round 1 of the OBA Solution of the Year Award Contest ended yesterday and finalists have now been announced. Top 3 OBA solutions from among these will be recognized at ODC 2008!

Full details at: http://blogs.msdn.com/oba/archive/2008/02/01/oba-solution-of-the-year-phase-1-winners.aspx

- Khawar

Less than 3 weeks to ODC 2008!

khawara — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 22:04:00 GMT

Hard to believe but ODC is now only 20 days away! We've now published details of all technical content on www.odc2008.com so if you haven't yet, please check out the various tracks and sessions. There are some last minute updates remaining, and those will be posted in the next few days.

Behind the scenes, there are a lot of activities underway. Last couple of weeks, we've been busy finalizing details such sessions, speakers and times, as well as the food menu and the conference guide. There's also staffing arrangements for booths and labs, as well as shipping of collateral and giveways. It's all been a very interesting and an eye opening experience. More on these topics soon in one of the future blog posts.

BTW, if you have already registered and made hotel arrangements, thank you! For those who are still sorting out the details, just wanted to let you know we've been able to obtain an extension on the discounted ODC hotel rates from some of the hotels through Fri 1/25. So you now have a few more days to save on hotels costs. Register now.

- Khawar

Hugh MacLeod ("Blue Monster" creator) will be at ODC 2008!

khawara — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 00:35:00 GMT

The ODC 2008 team is pleased to announce that Hugh MacLeod (“Blue Monster” creator, avid blogger and artist) will be at ODC 2008! ODC attendees will be able to meet him on Sunday Feb 10 during the informal registration get together (5-7pm) and also during the Attendee Party on Tuesday.

o Sunday: Hugh will draw sketches based on audience discussion and interaction

o Tuesday: Hugh will be around to sign Blue Monster T-shirts (yes, we’re providing the shirts! J) , and talk with attendees in an informal environment

Visit www.gapingvoid.com/bluemonster to learn more about Hugh and the Blue Monster, and of course, if you haven’t done so already, signup for ODC 2008!

- John

ODC content - current vs futures

khawara — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:44:00 GMT

Since we’re in the midst of development for the next version of Office and SharePoint (aka Office 14), we have been asked to what extent ODC will focus on the futures vs current products. The majority of content at ODC will be focused on Office and SharePoint 2007, but we will be unveiling a whole set of brand new content, tools, and sample applications for these and other in-market products. We recognize the opportunity to get valuable feedback from the developer community, and as such you will get the earliest peeks into the vision and roadmap for the next versions of Office, SharePoint and Visual Studio. You will also have some important opportunities to connect with key decision makers and influence the plans for how the broad platform evolves.

- Chris

Hands-on Lab sessions

khawara — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 21:54:00 GMT

First off, a reminder - we're exactly 4 weeks from ODC 2008! If you haven't done the registration and/or made travel arrangements, now's a good time to do so while you can still get decent air fares and choice of hotels. Register here.

We also wanted to share our final list of content for ODC 2008 - Hand-on lab session abstracts for about 20 unique interactive, self-paced labs. Details below.

- Khawar

Session Title	Abstract
ASP.NET 2.0 Interoperability with Microsoft® Windows® SharePoint® Services 3.0 - Web Parts	Learn about the Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Web Part framework, designed and built on the Microsoft ASP.NET 2.0 Web Part infrastructure. The Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Web Part framework uses many controls in the ASP.NET 2.0 Web Part control set, and introduces several of its own that inherit from base classes supplied by the ASP.NET 2.0 Web Part control set. As part of the Web Part Framework Web Part connections can be used to drive interactive content between Web Parts either on the same part or the same site.
Binding Data to Word Content Controls	This session shows you how to create smart documents using Visual Studio Tools for Office (VSTO). This HOL will show you how to add a data grid, bind that to a data source, and then bind the data grid to Word Content Controls in your VSTO project. Other skills covered will be how to create a custom actions pane and use that actions pane to help browse data which is linked to your document.
Building Microsoft® Office InfoPath® 2007 Forms that Run as Both Rich Client and Browser Applications	The objective of this lab is to become familiar with browser-based scenarios for Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 forms.
Creating and Deploying Microsoft® Visual Studio 2005 Workflows for Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007	In this lab, you will complete a partially built Visual Studio workflow, deploy that workflow, and test it's functionality in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.
Creating Custom SharePoint Workflow	A major integration point between Visual Studio 2008 and MOSS 2007 is the ability to create, debug and deploy SharePoint workflow to a SharePoint site. This HOL shows you how to create and add activities to a SharePoint workflow and then test that workflow on a SharePoint site.
Creating Custom Task Pane in Excel 2007 Add-in	Custom task panes are great ways to integrate a variety of external features into your Office experience - e.g. connectivity to data sources or web parts. This HOL shows you how you can take advantage of the custom task pane to build complex functionality into Microsoft Excel 2007.
Creating Workflows for Microsoft® Windows® SharePoint® Services 3.0	In this lab, you will use Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 to design a custom workflow that is triggered on file creation or change. Within the workflow designer, you will use out-of-the-box actions such as assigning a task or sending an e-mail message based on promoted values in your form data. In addition, you will learn how to build a custom workflow using the Windows Workflow Foundation plug-in to Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 and deploy that workflow to Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. Both exercises demonstrate how workflow functionality can be seamlessly integrated with the 2007 Microsoft Office system release.
Customizing the 2007 Microsoft® Office System User Interface for Your Solution	The objective of this lab is to become familiar with the programming model behind the new user interface features of 2007 Microsoft Office programs. This includes both the ribbon as well as the custom task pane.
Developing Custom Outlook Form Region	Custom Outlook form regions are an exciting way to integrate functionality into the context of the Outlook experience. This HOL will show you how to create a custom Outlook form region and add data connectivity to a data source (external to Outlook) and add Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) controls that are dynamically updated when browsing through the data controls.
Getting Started with SharePoint Products and Technologies 2007 Development for the SharePoint Products and Technologies 2003 Developer	Learn about SharePoint SDK items that are new to Microsoft SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows Sharepoint Services 3.0. You will discover how to programmatically work with item level permissions, use the new SPContext object, utilize the site collection data query and make use of the elevated administration capabilities within SharePoint. These components add to the breadth of the SharePoint platform and give a developer a new level of control over the the user and programmatic interface of SharePoint.
Microsoft® Office InfoPath® 2007 Forms Development	The objective of this lab is to become familiar with some of the new development features of Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007.
Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Designer 2007 - CSS and the Data Form Web Part	This lab will give the participant an understanding of how Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 can customize SharePoint pages and applications using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and the Data Form Web Part.
Programmatic Manipulation of the Microsoft® Office Open XML Formats	The goal of this lab is to show you how you can manipulate Microsoft Office programs documents using the Microsoft Office Open XML Formats without using 2007 Microsoft Office programs. The exercises will lead you through scenarios involving programmatically manipulating documents using the Microsoft Office Open XML Formats.
Synchronizing Data Between Microsoft® Office Groove® 2007 and Microsoft SharePoint® Products and Technologies	With Microsoft Office Groove 2007 project teams collaborate inside contextual workspaces, providing one place for teams to share information and work together more securely. This Lab will help you learn about the architecture and design of Office Groove 2007 applications and how they can be connected to enterprise systems such as Microsoft Windows® SharePoint Services.
Understanding the 2007 Microsoft® Office System User Experience and Interface Design	The objective of this lab is to become familiar with the new 2007 Microsoft Office programs user interface.
Understanding the Structure and Solution Capabilities of the Microsoft® Office Open XML Formats	The objective of this hands-on lab is to help you become familiar with the new 2007 Microsoft Office programs file formats. During this lab, you will examine sample documents for each of the 2007 Office programs that implement the Microsoft Office Open XML Format. You will also learn how you can edit documents by directly manipulating files without the use of the Microsoft Office programs. The following exercises will help you explore the new default Microsoft Office programs file formats and allow you to gain insights on the new solution possibilities they enable for creating solutions.
Using InfoPath 2007 forms with the Business Data Catalog in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007	Learn how to configure the Business Data Catalog (BDC) to read and write data to SQL Server using InfoPath 2007. The level of integration between backend systems and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 has never been higher. SharePoint now offers a common set of interfaces. These interfaces simplify communication, resulting in a significant decrease in the complexity of integration projects and an increase in new cross-system business scenarios.
Using List Events in Microsoft® Windows® SharePoint® Services 3.0	In this lab, you will create an Event Handler that is associated with a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 list. List events were not available in preview versions of Windows SharePoint Services.
Using SilverLight to Enhance the Look and Feel of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007	Learn about developing Silverlight enhanced SharePoint Web Parts and Navigation controls. SharePoint makes use of the ASP.NET 2.0 provider model and you will go through the process of extending this model to create a control that is Silverlight based. You will also learn the basic techniques of how to deliver Silverlight 1.0 and Silverlight 1.1 applications in a SharePoint Web Part.
VBA and VSTO Interoperability	A new feature within VSTO 3.0 is the ability to call VSTO managed add-ins from VBA and VBA from VSTO assemblies. This hands-on lab walks you through how you can develop interoperability between your VBA code and your VSTO managed add-ins.

Unconferencing @ ODC 2008

khawara — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 04:47:00 GMT

Happy New Year!

By now, you’ve hopefully seen the details of sessions in each ODC track. If you haven’t, check out the various sessions by track: Architecture, Client, Server, Services , & RealWorld .

But if you thought you now know all there is to know about ODC content-wise, read on!

To give an opportunity to attendees at the conference to weigh in on topics or speakers we might have missed, and to those who submitted sessions but couldn’t be accommodated, we have reserved a few slots for an “unconference” at ODC.

If you are not familiar with the unconference concept, here’s how it will work:

- Thru End of ODC Day 1: Anyone attending the conference can nominate themselves to present a session on a specific topic during “unconference”

- Thru End of ODC Day 2: Everyone at the conference gets to vote for their favorite sessions from the submitted session list

- At the end of ODC Day 2: Results of unconference session voting published and final sessions identified

- Day 3: Unconference sessions take place

Additional details:

- Unconference session length: 30 mins max

- Topic requirements: Anything at all, as long as it is related to Office/SharePoint development

- Format: free form (prepared presentation, chalktalk, in-depth code demo, etc)

- Max final unconference sessions: up to 12

- Incentives:

o $1000 for best unconference session (based on session evaluation scores)

o $500 each for second, third place sessions (based on session evaluation scores)

o ODC unconference speaker gift for all others

Stay tuned for more details re nominating a session, voting and the unconference!

- Khawar

ODC 2008 session and speaker stats

khawara — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 22:10:00 GMT

We recently did some internal analysis of ODC 2008 content and speakers and wanted to share some basic stats with you:

FYI - initial session list titles are now posted by track on www.odc2008.com and the abstracts will be published later today.

Total sessions: 82

(note: the total session count may adjust slightly as we fine tune the session list)

We had originally planned a more modest 60-70 sessions but had so many interesting and relevant submissions that we ended up adding some additional slots to accomodate the extra sessions.

MS vs External speakers: ~50% each!

Our original plan was to select the best sessions and then do a sanity check + any necessary adjustments to make sure we have at least 30% external speakers to really have a diverse mix of individuals, ideas and expertize. As it turns out, we are about even for internal vs external speakers, which is great.

Session distribution by track:

Server (primarly SharePoint server but also others such as project server, Duet, Dynamics) leads the pack in terms of total sessions. Client track is a close second in terms of # of sessions, and the rest are about equally distributed. The architecture and services tracks should be very interesting as these are both topics we're focusing on for the first time in an Office developer focused conference.

Session distrubution by level:

We have good 200 level content at ODC, but much of the content at ODC will be at the 300 level, and some 400 level sessions for the experts. BTW, if you are new to Office dev, don't let this discourage your from attending. In addition to the 200 sessions, we have an Office 101 pre-conference on Sun Feb 10 to ramp you up so you will be in good shape to go through the more advanced level sessions during the conference. Check www.odc2008.com for info on the pre-con.

More stats and details to follow :)

Happy Holidays!

- Khawar

ODC 2008 Early Bird registration ends in < 24 hours!

khawara — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 11:22:00 GMT

Time's almost up for the ODC 2008 Early Bird registration. If you have been meaning to but haven't got around to registering yet, today would be a good day to take care of it!

- Khawar

Wouter and Open XML at ODC 2008

khawara — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 04:43:00 GMT

Wouter van Vugt stopped by the Office development booth at TechEd Developer. The name sounded familiar and it turned out he had submitted speaking proposals on Open XML for ODC 2008 in response to my earlier call for proposals on the blog.

He's also the author of the "Open XML Explained" ebook, available from http://openxmldeveloper.org/articles/1970.aspx.

We decided to chat briefly about what's happening in the Open XML world, and key topics he's focused on these days. Check out the video for more about what Wouter had to say!

You can visit Wouter's blog at: http://blogs.code-counsel.net/Wouter/default.aspx

Video: Wouter video - TechEd Developer Barcelona

- Khawar

ODC2008 content, contests and more!

khawara — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 01:24:00 GMT

First of all, thanks to all those who have been submitting proposals for sessions! As of my last count (which was sometime last week), we had ~ 120 sessions identified (both internal and external submissions). This is far more than the total sessions we will have so the track owners have their work cut out for them. At the same time, this is great from an attendee point of view as the list is full of interesting sessions (random sampling of some terms that jumped out: Silverlight, custom workflows, Amazon web services, virtual earth, mashups, presence, OBA, telephony, hosted services, faceted search, SAP, Office 14 insights, and the list goes on). If you haven't sent in your submission yet, do send it in soon because the sessions selection is just getting underway and always great to have additional interesting content.

Many other things have been happening behind the scenes, some of them fun and others because they just have to be done. For example, we've been discussing some ideas for contests at the conference to make it more than just a string of sessions, and I'm definitely pleased with the direction we're headed in. As I am learning, having a contest is easier said than done. For example, you need to follow certain rules otherwise you risk running into gaming laws. There's also the issue of taxability, which depends on residency status, and so on. More on this topic as we work throught these and details are finalized.

We're also actively trying to get the word out about the conference (internally and externally) and that Early Bird Registration ends in just a few weeks on 11/30. So, if you blog, please take a few minutes to chime in with your thoughts and help us spread the word! And if you are planning to attend as I hope, do use the image below to tell everyone you'll be there!

- Khawar

Want to present at ODC 2008?

khawara — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 20:14:00 GMT

Want to present at ODC2008? If so, there's still time to send in your session ideas. We're looking for innovative sessions that are grounded in Office and provide a unique perspective about developing Office applications. Perhaps you are an expert in Outlook development, and have developed some best practices based on our years of experience. Or maybe you are an architect focused on an OBA that involves clients, SharePoint, and multiple LOBs in some complex end to end scenario. Either way, would be great to have you share your expertize and experiences at ODC2008.

Obviously, we can't promise we'll be able to accomodate all submissions, but we can promise you we'll seriously consider each and every submission to make sure we have the best speakers and interesting/useful sessions at ODC 2008.

So, check out the various ODC tracks and send us your submissions by end of this month (Oct 2007)! To submit ideas, send an email to odcspkr@microsoft.com with proposed session title, abstract and a brief bio of yourself (why you would be a good person to present).

Did I mention all speakers get a free conference pass?

- Khawar

Office Developer Conference 2008 Blog : OBA

Round 1 Finalists of OBA Solution of the Year Award Contest!

Less than 3 weeks to ODC 2008!

Hugh MacLeod ("Blue Monster" creator) will be at ODC 2008!

ODC content - current vs futures

Hands-on Lab sessions

Unconferencing @ ODC 2008

ODC 2008 session and speaker stats

More content info: ODC Client track

ODC 2008 Early Bird registration ends in < 24 hours!

Wouter and Open XML at ODC 2008

ODC2008 content, contests and more!

Want to present at ODC 2008?