At Your Service

Many people have asked us for the source code used in Essential WCF.  We've cleansed it, re-tested (again!) and published it to our page on InformIT under the downloads tab. Feel free to use and experiment as you learn this way-cool technology.

Deploying a SOA requires a good registry for services, if not supporting repository.  Microsoft has big plans for both and other vendors, like SOA Software and AmberPoint, have products in the market today. If you're game for building your own, there are two interesting approaches.  First is a kit built by some Microsoft consultants, called Managed Service Ending, that you can download from Codeplex.  Second is a nice article by Boris Lublinsky that describes a relatively thin layer over a relational model, with both design time and runtime components.

The SyndicationFeed class from System.ServiceModel.Syndicatation makes it easy to work with feeds and extensions. The code below uses an RSS feed from space.live.com to show photo albums on a page.  Of course there are many ways to consume RSS with and w/o code, but the WCF enhancements with .NET 3.5 are a nice new trick. You can see the result at http://www.steveres.com/SpacesPics.aspx

r = XmlReader.Create("http://yournamegoeshere.spaces.live.com/photos/feed.rss");
albums = SyndicationFeed.Load(r);
r.Close();
foreach (SyndicationItem album in albums.Items)
{

// album.links[0].URI points to this album page on spaces.live.com
// album.Summary (not shown) is an HTML block with thumbnails of the album pics
cell.Text= string.Format("<a href='{0}'>{1}</a>", album.Links[0].Uri, album.Title.Text);
albumRSS = GetAlbumRSS(album);
r = XmlReader.Create(albumRSS);
photos = SyndicationFeed.Load(r);
r.Close();
foreach (SyndicationItem photo in photos.Items)
{
// photo.Summary is an HTML block with a thumbnail of the pic
      cell.Text = string.Format("{0}", photo.Summary.Text);
}

}
//
// helper to extract the feed to one album from the albums feed
//
private string GetAlbumRSS(SyndicationItem album)
{

string url = "";
foreach (SyndicationElementExtension ext in album.ElementExtensions)
       if (ext.OuterName == "itemRSS") url = ext.GetObject<string>();
return (url);

}

The Microsoft Technology Centers are hiring in the US! We have immediate openings for talented .NET Architects in NYC and Irvine, CA. We also have an opening for a SQL/BI expert in Atlanta GA. The pace is fast and the work is demanding, but we get to design and prove the biggest, baddest apps around. Interested? Drop me a note - steveres at Microsoft.

Curious about Microsoft’s strategy of Software Plus Services (S+S)?  The S+S Strategy moniker actually refers to local + cloud-based software, but S+S sounds much better. 

For a simple example of S+S, look no further than the new Zune.  The devices are cool, both the stock models or your own Original, but the software makes it shine. It has a clean, simple, fast UI. It works great with local music and seamlessly connects to the cloud for browsing and purchasing music.  Subscription services are a snap, just making the experience better.

With consumer or business software, the UI makes a huge difference.  Reliance on web services makes this a world-class app. You don’t need Zune to use it, it's a free download. So that's it: Zune shows that local + clould-based softare is the way to go.

Welcome to my blog; glad you found it.

I work at the US Microsoft Technology Centers. Strictly speaking, I work at all 9 of them since I’m responsible for our overall technical direction. I spend lots of time with customers discussing Microsoft's strategy so they can make their best business and IT decisions.  I also spend time ensuring that we’re working with the right technologies and that we have the best people. Overall it's a great gig.

On the technology front, I'm a services geek. Web services that is. I began looking at Indigo a few years ago and became so enamored with its potential that I spent the next 2 years learning it, testing it and writing a book about it. There result is Essential WCF, which I'm co-authoring with Rich Crane and Chris Bowen.

Before WCF, I did all things BizTalk, which was the coolest way to unleash business apps from their IT shackles to combine them in new and profitable ways. I still do BizTalk since it's still fun and that led to other parts of IT, so I got deep into SQL, XML, portals, adapters and finally web services. Along the way, I designed and built the BizTalk Adapter for Sharepoint, which eventually found its way into the product. Before that was the dot-com bubble, which is another story altogether.

In this blog, I hope to write about challenges and opportunities in the world of services. Given my background that will center mostly around WCF, BizTalk and the way those will change the world. It's a great time to be in this space!