At Your Service

Nice sample of WCF client using RESTful Twitter API

2008-07-31T19:56:00Z

Check out Kirk Allen Evans posting about how to create a Twitter client using its RESTful API and WCF. I'm a sucker for simplicity and this hits the spot.

Windows Live Messenger Facebook Application

2008-05-03T16:53:00Z

Here's a very cool app on Facebook that leverages the Windows Live APIs to tie the two populations together. You probably already have an ID in both, so this links the two. Wonder when someone will do the same for Linked In?

Silverlight 2.0 and WCF sample

2008-04-30T04:53:00Z

Want to create a nice Silverlight 2.0 app using WCF services for data? Check out Bob Familiar's post for code and links to great resources.

Source Code for Essential WCF

2008-03-20T22:10:00Z

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.

Job Posting: Web Engineer for Emergent Music

2008-02-26T17:48:00Z

A good friend a mine, Barry Kurland, just joined Goombah, a company that connects people to their music and like-minded people. They have big plans and are looking to hire a top-notch web engineer. Job description attached; let me know if you're interested.

What's in Essential WCF?

2008-02-25T18:31:00Z

Now that Essential WCF is out, we're seeing interest from many places. Rich, Chris and I were contacted by InformIT to do an interview and talk about the book. Separately, I'm hearing from readers looking to do big and small things with the technology. And here in Boston this week, we have a sold out Pluralsight course that covers WCF and WF. Good fun!

Web Service Registry codebase

2008-01-24T19:11:00Z

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.

Using SyndicationFeed to display photos from spaces.live.com

2008-01-20T22:21:00Z

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);

}

Consumer Web API is easy!

2008-01-15T19:14:00Z

I’ve been experimenting with the consumer Web API (Amazon, flickr, Google, facebook, Virtual Earth) and WOW is it easy! Takes just a few hours to learn an API, register for dev keys and start building apps. Samples at steveres.com. Funny how easy things can be when you remove enterprise class requirements like SSO, secure messaging and SLAs.

Looking for an amazing job at Microsoft?

2007-12-06T01:22:00Z

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.

S+S: Check out Zune

2007-12-02T00:02:00Z

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.

Introduction

2007-11-09T00:36:00Z

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!