Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Have you heard of Microsoft F# yet?
F# is a functional programming language that runs on Microsoft's Common Language Runtime and the .NET Framework. This means that F# has access to .NET Framework APIs and, conversely, that other .NET languages can use F# libraries. This Fast Guide offers a quick introduction to F# programming best practices and attempts to answer key questions about this new .NET implementation. Click here for more information
Microsoft offers Parallel Programming with .NET 3.5
Late last year, just after Visual Studio 2008 was formally released, Microsoft offered preview software that shows where things may be headed in terms of support for parallelism in future versions of .NET and Visual Studio. Microsoft announced the Parallel Extensions Community Technology Preview (CTP) that runs on the .NET Framework 3.5, thus tapping into features in C# 3.0 and Visual Basic 2008. Parallelism APIs in the new .NET extensions support parallel For and ForEach loops. Declarative data parallelism is supported in the form of a data parallel implementation of LINQ-to-Objects that eases implementation of LINQ queries that run on multiple processors. Meanwhile a new concurrency runtime maps and balances code to available concurrent resources on the execution platform. Pretty cool huh!
Thursday, December 27, 2007
GROUPING SETS - New User defined data types in SQL Server 2008
Other cool features that developers and architects will love are sparse columns, GROUPING SETS, large user-defined data-types (that can exceed the 8000-byte limit), and the new FILESTREAM data type
A new member of the T-SQL Family - the MERGE statement
One revolutionary addition is the new MERGE statement. On par with other core T-SQL CRUD features such as INSERT, SELECT, UPDATE, and DELETE, the MERGE statement is an ISO-2003 compliant command that is primarily intended to handle what many database users refer to as "UPSERT" functionality. For example, say you have an application where you either need to log a new entry for something that hasn't been added to your system, or update it if it's already been added previously. Without the MERGE statement you must either run a SELECT statement to see if a row has already been logged and then UPDATE or INSERT if it's not there. Or you can try to UPDATE first, and then INSERT if the UPDATE doesn't affect any rows. With the MERGE statement you can do this all in one fell swoop. Here's a rather extensive example of the syntax, pulled from the SQL Server November CTP:
MERGE Production.ProductInventory AS pi
USING (SELECT ProductID, SUM(OrderQty) FROM Sales.SalesOrderDetail sod
JOIN Sales.SalesOrderHeader soh
ON sod.SalesOrderID = soh.SalesOrderID
AND soh.OrderDate = GETDATE()
GROUP BY ProductID) AS src (ProductID, OrderQty)
ON (pi.ProductID = src.ProductID)
WHEN MATCHED AND pi.Quantity - src.OrderQty <> 0
THEN UPDATE SET pi.Quantity = pi.Quantity - src.OrderQty
WHEN MATCHED AND pi.Quantity - src.OrderQty = 0
THEN DELETE;Documentation from a previous CTP's Books Online provides an overview, but the syntax has changed a bit between CTP releases. However, if you study that statement listed above, you can see that it's just a built-in switch (or case) that specifies what to check for, and then what to do if the data is found or not. What's cool about this statement, though, is that you can perform the entire check-in a single operation - which drastically increases performance during large-scale UPSERT operations or when you're trying to merge two large tables.
Table-Valued Parameters
Ever wanted - or more importantly - needed to pass in a table or array of values to your stored procedures? Well, now you can with Table-Valued Parameters. Imagine the following:
CREATE TYPE myTable AS TABLE (
key varchar(6),
value varchar(20)
)
GOCREATE PROC dbo.InsertKeyValuesFromWebApp
@tvp myTable READONLY,
@owner int
AS
SET NOCOUNT ONINSERT INTO [dbo].[SomeTable] (key, value, owner)
SELECT key, value, @owner FROM @tvpRETURN 0
GOFor simpler applications, this functionality might seem like overkill, but for many complex applications, having this code on hand will be a lifesaver. This is something I’ve wanted for years (and which I’ve had to get around by sending in XML fragments as varchar parameters and then re-hydrating on the server) , and now we’ll have native support for it – I can’t wait. I can also see this becoming a wicked bit of functionality when combined with LINQ down the road.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
SharePoint / MOSS 2007 User Management Explained
There is a really good article on MOSS User Management published by Bamboo solutions
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Microsoft Codename "Astoria" CTP toolkit enables developers to create and consume Data Services for the Web
The goal of Microsoft Codename Astoria is to enable applications to expose data as a data service that can be consumed by web clients within corporate networks and across the internet. The data service is reachable over regular HTTP requests, and standard HTTP verbs such as GET, POST, PUT and DELETE are used to perform operations against the service. The payload format for the data exchanged with the service can be controlled by the client and all options are simple, open formats such as plan XML and JSON. The use of web-friendly technologies make it ideal as a data back-end for AJAX-style applications, Rich Interactive Applications and other applications that need to operate against data that is across the web.
Read More & Download....
Read More & Download....
Team System Web Access (formerly known as TeamPlain) released
Team System Web Access (formerly known as TeamPlain) is a Web interface to Visual Studio 2008 Team Foundation Server. The following features are available in the new release:
- NEW: Display custom controls on work item forms
- NEW: view queued builds new, queue new builds
- Add new work items or edit existing ones
- Work with any type of work item, including custom ones
- Add new work item queries or edit existing ones
- View, download, upload, check-in and check-out documents on SharePoint team portal
- View reports, export as PDF or Excel
- Browse source control repositories, download files, view changesets, diffs, histories, and annotated views
- View build results, start or stop builds
- Search for keywords in work items
DOWLOAD this awesome tool from Microsoft website today
Thursday, October 04, 2007
SharePoint 2007 / MOSS 2007 Backup Pros and Cons, Evaluation Standards & Strategies (3rd Party tool for MOSS)
With SharePoint quickly becoming the preferred platform for team collaboration, protecting it against data loss and damages is a key concern for today’s administrators. Can you distinguish various types of data based on its importance? Can you backup critical, frequently changing sites and documents to separate storage tiers? Though improved, the native SharePoint 2007 backup tools still have major issues with recovery granularity, performance, fidelity, and usability. This webinar discusses MOSS 2007 backup Pros and Cons, and recommends new evaluation standards and practices for SharePoint backup.
AvePoint specializes in award winning, enterprise-strength backup solutions for MOSS 2007, WSS 3.0 and Project Server 2007. Today, with 700+ production customers (many of them Fortune 500 companies) and well over 2000 trial customers across 6 continents, AvePoint has become the dominant market leader in SharePoint staging, backup, and disaster recovery solutions.
AvePoint specializes in award winning, enterprise-strength backup solutions for MOSS 2007, WSS 3.0 and Project Server 2007. Today, with 700+ production customers (many of them Fortune 500 companies) and well over 2000 trial customers across 6 continents, AvePoint has become the dominant market leader in SharePoint staging, backup, and disaster recovery solutions.
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
eMail Management and Outlook Integration through nSynergy (3rd party tool for MOSS)
I came across a product from nSynergy that specializes in email and document management using SharePoint 2003/2007. They have developed Drag&DropIt™ to integrate SharePoint and Outlook and finally solve the problem of managing emails within SharePoint. Drag&DropIt™ allows you to easily save emails and email fields into SharePoint document libraries both online and offline. View this demonstration to find out more about dragging and dropping emails into SharePoint and accessing your SharePoint document libraries without ever leaving Outlook
Why is eMail Management so critical?
eMail management has become a high priority for all businesses, both large and small, with most written correspondence being delivered in email form. Businesses can use tools like SharePoint to manage most of their important business documents, but the inability to easily place emails into SharePoint and share those files within a document library is a problem that many SharePoint users have encountered.
You can now use Outlook to drag and drop emails directly into SharePoint document library folders. You can also view, open, create and access documents and emails directly within Outlook. With emails, documents and other files being accessible through Outlook, everyone in your workplace can use Outlook and SharePoint together to create a powerful yet simple document management tool.
The ability to automatically move emails from Outlook into SharePoint and create document library folders from Outlook is a process that will energize your SharePoint 2007 workflows.
nSynergy product that leverages the familiarity of the Outlook interface and the powerful searching features of SharePoint is needed. Metadata from emails such as Date Received, Date Sent, From and other fields are transferred automatically into a document library’s columns by simply dragging and dropping emails into Outlook folders. This makes it easier to filter and search for these emails and utilize the power of the SharePoint document library views.
Why is eMail Management so critical?
eMail management has become a high priority for all businesses, both large and small, with most written correspondence being delivered in email form. Businesses can use tools like SharePoint to manage most of their important business documents, but the inability to easily place emails into SharePoint and share those files within a document library is a problem that many SharePoint users have encountered.
You can now use Outlook to drag and drop emails directly into SharePoint document library folders. You can also view, open, create and access documents and emails directly within Outlook. With emails, documents and other files being accessible through Outlook, everyone in your workplace can use Outlook and SharePoint together to create a powerful yet simple document management tool.
The ability to automatically move emails from Outlook into SharePoint and create document library folders from Outlook is a process that will energize your SharePoint 2007 workflows.
nSynergy product that leverages the familiarity of the Outlook interface and the powerful searching features of SharePoint is needed. Metadata from emails such as Date Received, Date Sent, From and other fields are transferred automatically into a document library’s columns by simply dragging and dropping emails into Outlook folders. This makes it easier to filter and search for these emails and utilize the power of the SharePoint document library views.
Monday, October 01, 2007
How to index PDFs in MOSS 2007 document libraries
SharePoint document libraries are phenomenal tools for collaborative environments where files are shared. And SharePoint's ability to search files in document libraries makes finding files easy. Well, unless the document is a non-Microsoft file type, such as the ever-present PDF file.
The sad fact of the matter is that Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 3.0 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 can't index PDFs by default. That's not news to many veteran SharePoint professionals. Nor is the fact that you can add an icon for PDFs, reindex existing documents, and so forth. However, many administrators are new to SharePoint, and will hit their heads hard against this problem. I was disappointed to see that, despite extensive searching on Google, I could find no single, authoritative, and (most importantly) complete guide for how to do so.
The "bottom line" is that you must install an iFilter for PDFs on your SharePoint servers--specifically, any server that performs search, which would be all WSS servers and your MOSS search server. iFilters are plug-ins that enable indexing of file types. Although iFilter is a Microsoft specification, it is generally through vendors or third parties that you'll get iFilters--not through Microsoft itself.
After you add the iFilter, you must configure SharePoint to index the file type (.PDF). But then, you still have two problems. The biggest is that SharePoint will index only files that are added or existing files whose properties change. So SharePoint will not index existing PDFs when you add the PDF iFilter. You must rebuild your index. The second challenge, purely a cosmetic one, is that you enable SharePoint to display an appropriate icon for PDFs.
This installment will focus on 32-bit WSS servers. Both of these documents contain the word "iFilter" in them, but a search produces only the Word document. Now, let's fix the problem!
1. You will need two downloads: The Adobe PDF iFilter version 6.0, available from Adobe click here
An icon for PDFs, also available from Adobe. Check their licensing page then download the gif
2. Install the iFilter. Note: Many guides on the Internet suggest shutting down Microsoft IIS or the Shared Service Provider (SSP) or the WSS application(s). I found this was not necessary, and Microsoft's own KB article 927675 did not specify it was necessary.
3. Add a registry entry for the .pdf extension in the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\12.0\Search\Applications\\Gather\Search\Extensions\ExtensionList. (Open the registry editor. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\12.0\Search\Applications\\Gather\Search\Extensions\ExtensionList\. Identify the highest "number" value in the key. On a default installation of WSS, the highest entry is 37. Note they are not sorted in numeric order because registry value names are strings. Create a registry value for the next number, e.g. 38, by choosing Edit à New à String Value then naming the value the next highest number (e.g. 38). Double-click the value you just created and, in the Value Data box, type: pdf. Note there is no dot preceding the extension.
4. There are two registry keys with specific values that must exist. Verify that these exist and, if not, create them: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\12.0\Search\Setup\ContentIndexCommon\Filters\Extension\.pdf - Value Name: Default; Type: REG_MULTI_SZ; Data: {4C904448-74A9-11D0-AF6E-00C04FD8DC02})
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\12.0\Search\Setup\Filters\.pdf (Value Name: Default; Type: REG_SZ; Data: (value not set) - Value Name: Extension; Type: REG_SZ; Data: pdf
- Value Name: FileTypeBucket; Type: REG_DWORD; Data: 0x00000001 (1)
- Value Name: MimeTypes; Type: REG_SZ; Data: application/pdf
5. Restart the Windows SharePoint Services Search service. Open a command prompt. Type net stop spsearch, then net start spsearch. Perform a search, and existing PDFs will not be returned. But newly added PDFs will (once indexed by SharePoint) appear in search results. If you modify any property of an existing PDF, it will be indexed. But who wants to modify all existing PDFs in a document library? This is where I found a lot of misinformation online. Even Microsoft's KB 927675 didn't suggest the right solution! It's easy! STSADM, SharePoint's ubercommand, to the rescue!
6. Rebuild the WSS search index.- Open a command prompt.- Navigate to Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\BIN and type the following commands
stsadm.exe -o spsearch -action fullcrawlstop
stsadm.exe -o spsearch -action fullcrawlstart
The existing PDFs will, after being indexed, appear in search results. But they will still not have correct icons. So, while your site is being indexed, keep going with these steps to configure the icon.
7. Open the folder Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\Template\Images.
8. Copy the gif you downloaded in Step 1 into the folder.
9. Open the folder Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web server extensions\12\Template\Xml.
10. Right-click the file docicon.xml and choose Open With and select Notepad.
11. In the element, you'll see a number of elements. You will add one for pdf. It does not have to be in alphabetical order. The element you need to add is:
12. Save that file and close Notepad.Now, the moment of truth. A search now provides the results.
The sad fact of the matter is that Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 3.0 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 can't index PDFs by default. That's not news to many veteran SharePoint professionals. Nor is the fact that you can add an icon for PDFs, reindex existing documents, and so forth. However, many administrators are new to SharePoint, and will hit their heads hard against this problem. I was disappointed to see that, despite extensive searching on Google, I could find no single, authoritative, and (most importantly) complete guide for how to do so.
The "bottom line" is that you must install an iFilter for PDFs on your SharePoint servers--specifically, any server that performs search, which would be all WSS servers and your MOSS search server. iFilters are plug-ins that enable indexing of file types. Although iFilter is a Microsoft specification, it is generally through vendors or third parties that you'll get iFilters--not through Microsoft itself.
After you add the iFilter, you must configure SharePoint to index the file type (.PDF). But then, you still have two problems. The biggest is that SharePoint will index only files that are added or existing files whose properties change. So SharePoint will not index existing PDFs when you add the PDF iFilter. You must rebuild your index. The second challenge, purely a cosmetic one, is that you enable SharePoint to display an appropriate icon for PDFs.
This installment will focus on 32-bit WSS servers. Both of these documents contain the word "iFilter" in them, but a search produces only the Word document. Now, let's fix the problem!
1. You will need two downloads: The Adobe PDF iFilter version 6.0, available from Adobe click here
An icon for PDFs, also available from Adobe. Check their licensing page then download the gif
2. Install the iFilter. Note: Many guides on the Internet suggest shutting down Microsoft IIS or the Shared Service Provider (SSP) or the WSS application(s). I found this was not necessary, and Microsoft's own KB article 927675 did not specify it was necessary.
3. Add a registry entry for the .pdf extension in the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\12.0\Search\Applications\
4. There are two registry keys with specific values that must exist. Verify that these exist and, if not, create them: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\12.0\Search\Setup\ContentIndexCommon\Filters\Extension\.pdf - Value Name: Default; Type: REG_MULTI_SZ; Data: {4C904448-74A9-11D0-AF6E-00C04FD8DC02})
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\12.0\Search\Setup\Filters\.pdf (Value Name: Default; Type: REG_SZ; Data: (value not set) - Value Name: Extension; Type: REG_SZ; Data: pdf
- Value Name: FileTypeBucket; Type: REG_DWORD; Data: 0x00000001 (1)
- Value Name: MimeTypes; Type: REG_SZ; Data: application/pdf
5. Restart the Windows SharePoint Services Search service. Open a command prompt. Type net stop spsearch, then net start spsearch. Perform a search, and existing PDFs will not be returned. But newly added PDFs will (once indexed by SharePoint) appear in search results. If you modify any property of an existing PDF, it will be indexed. But who wants to modify all existing PDFs in a document library? This is where I found a lot of misinformation online. Even Microsoft's KB 927675 didn't suggest the right solution! It's easy! STSADM, SharePoint's ubercommand, to the rescue!
6. Rebuild the WSS search index.- Open a command prompt.- Navigate to Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\BIN and type the following commands
stsadm.exe -o spsearch -action fullcrawlstop
stsadm.exe -o spsearch -action fullcrawlstart
The existing PDFs will, after being indexed, appear in search results. But they will still not have correct icons. So, while your site is being indexed, keep going with these steps to configure the icon.
7. Open the folder Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\Template\Images.
8. Copy the gif you downloaded in Step 1 into the folder.
9. Open the folder Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web server extensions\12\Template\Xml.
10. Right-click the file docicon.xml and choose Open With and select Notepad.
11. In the
12. Save that file and close Notepad.Now, the moment of truth. A search now provides the results.
Microsoft is finally using Microsoft Team Foundation Server internally
Microsoft is finally using Microsoft Team Foundation Server 2008 Beta 2 internally. Click here to get some great statistics
Rich Internet application job trends and salaries
This is a good reference for all you interactive developers to know what you are worth in the marketplace
How to generate RSA public and private keys as well as export to XML
The following method shows how RSA keys can be saved to disk as an XML file. The XML files can then be used to make an RSA secure channel -- the public key is used for encryption and the private one for decryption.
///
/// Generates 2 XML files (public and private key)
///
/// RSA private key file path
/// RSA private key file path
/// secure size must be above 512
public static void GenerateRsa(string privateKeyPath, string publicKeyPath, int size)
{
//stream to save the keys
FileStream fs = null;
StreamWriter sw = null;
//create RSA provider
RSACryptoServiceProvider rsa = new RSACryptoServiceProvider(size);
try
{
//save private key
fs = new FileStream(privateKeyPath, FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write);
sw = new StreamWriter(fs);
sw.Write(rsa.ToXmlString(true));
sw.Flush();
}
finally
{
if (sw != null) sw.Close();
if (fs != null) fs.Close();
}
try
{
//save public key
fs = new FileStream(publicKeyPath, FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write);
sw = new StreamWriter(fs);
sw.Write(rsa.ToXmlString(false));
sw.Flush();
}
finally
{
if (sw != null) sw.Close();
if (fs != null) fs.Close();
}
rsa.Clear();
}
///
/// Generates 2 XML files (public and private key)
///
/// RSA private key file path
/// RSA private key file path
/// secure size must be above 512
public static void GenerateRsa(string privateKeyPath, string publicKeyPath, int size)
{
//stream to save the keys
FileStream fs = null;
StreamWriter sw = null;
//create RSA provider
RSACryptoServiceProvider rsa = new RSACryptoServiceProvider(size);
try
{
//save private key
fs = new FileStream(privateKeyPath, FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write);
sw = new StreamWriter(fs);
sw.Write(rsa.ToXmlString(true));
sw.Flush();
}
finally
{
if (sw != null) sw.Close();
if (fs != null) fs.Close();
}
try
{
//save public key
fs = new FileStream(publicKeyPath, FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write);
sw = new StreamWriter(fs);
sw.Write(rsa.ToXmlString(false));
sw.Flush();
}
finally
{
if (sw != null) sw.Close();
if (fs != null) fs.Close();
}
rsa.Clear();
}
Friday, August 24, 2007
Visual Studio Team Foundation Server Web Access Power Tool
Team System Web Access (formerly known as TeamPlain) is a Web interface to Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server. Download this awesome power tool now
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
My TOP 10 Coolest Visual Studio 2008 Features
Visual Studio 2008, due for release at the end of 2007, promises numerous improvements for Visual Basic, a data query called the Language Integrated Query (LINQ), a new Entity Framework for ADO.NET and updated tools for ASP.NET AJAX and Office 2007 development.
My top ten Visual Studio's IDE features are as follows:
1) Multi-targeting
Visual Studio 2008 is billed as the design surface for the .NET Framework 3.5, which itself is the merger of the .NET 3.0 toolset introduced earlier this year with updated versions of ASP.NET, ADO.NET, Visual Basic, C# and the CLR. At the same time, though, Orcas allows developers to work backwards and develop specifically for .NET 2.0 or 3.0. Once a framework version has been selected, Visual Studio 2008 will enable the reference features that are appropriate for that version of the framework. (In other words, don't try using LINQ in a .NET 2.0 application.)
2) N-tier application development
An n-tier application is spread among any number of different systems, typically a service layer, an access layer and a business logic layer. With such a model, it is easy to share validation logic between entities. Unfortunately, developing such applications in Visual Studio 2005 is pretty much impossible because a dataset and the code that connects it to a database are in the same file. The change in Visual Studio 2008 is subtle but important, as the table and the dataset now reside in different layers.
3) An improved designer
Visual Studio 2005 designer is a little more of the Internet Explorer renderer turned into an editor. To improve upon this, the Visual Studio group turned to Expression, the Microsoft product suite for Web designers. The new designer allows developers to apply styles in line, with an existing class, with a new class or with Internet Explorer. In addition, changes such as margins and paddings around images can be applied to rules and not just individually. This also makes for cleaner CSS files.Finally, the designer offers a split view, so developers can look at source code and design simultaneously. This is a response to the growing trend of development using two monitors.
4) ASP.NET AJAX and VSTO for Office 2007
Right now, developers aiming to build cutting edge Web applications have to download the ASP.NET AJAX framework, and those who want to develop for Office 2007 have to download Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office Second Edition. Both ASP.NET AJAX and VSTO 2005 SE will be directly incorporated into Visual Studio 2008. VSTO will come with a new runtime, which will run both Office 2007 and Office 2003 add-ins, while ASP.NET AJAX will come with a variety of JavaScript tools, such as IntelliSense and robust debugging.
5) The ADO.NET Entity Framework
The biggest changes to ADO.NET revolve around its Entity Framework, which, unfortunately, is now slated to be released quite a while after Visual Studio 2008. This framework consists of a conceptual layer, which fits between an application's logical database layer and its object layer, and the Entity Data Model. Run the Entity Data Model Wizard in Visual Studio 2008 and the output is three files - a conceptual model that talks to object classes, a logical model that the relational database talks to, and map between the conceptual and logical models. Within the conceptual layer, one finds entity types bundled into sets, associations that define the relationship between entities, and sets of associations. The information in this layer will handle the back and forth with SQL Server without touching data access code. Once entities have been created, developers can use the either CreateQuery or new LINQ to Entities query to retrieve entity objects, data records or anonymous types.
6) LINQ: The Language Integrated Query
In Visual Studio 2005, querying a dataset typically involves a stored procedure, a newly created view and a bit of ADO.NET filtering. This is the case because data exists in rows, while .NET code deals with objects. They are always two different worlds and LINQ puts queries inside the languages and merges the worlds together.
At its most basic level, the Language Integrated Query, a feature of both Visual Basic and C#, uses the concept of the SQL Select statement to make its queries. However, there are two important differences:
(a) Firstly LINQ statements begin with a From statement instead of the Select statement. By listing the data source first, IntelliSense is triggered.
(b) Secondly, since C# is an object-oriented languages, whatever you can express in C# you can make part of LINQ queries. This encompasses anything that is IEnumerable - entities, collections and even XML. Moreover, since the queries are being made in an object-oriented environment, you can do very complex things that result in a completely different result set, such as calling up an instance of objects that did not exist in the source at all.
LINQ also brings about the introduction of several new language concepts for Visual Basic and C#. The expression tree, for example, is a data representation of the LINQ expression that bridges the gap between the .NET code and the SQL Server. In addition, property initialization makes it possible to create an object and set its properties in a single line of code.
Other new language concepts, which will be discussed below, include implicit types and extension methods.
7) Implicit types
Implicit types provide strong typing without forcing developers to figure out the type they need. The compiler does the work for them, since the type is inferred from the initializer expression. Implicit types work well when looping through a collection, since in such a scenario a developer is likely to be looking only for a key and a value and will not know, or care, what is the index type. In addition, inferring types makes it possible for extensions to bind to data types such as XML. This is fundamental to making LINQ work.
8) Extension Methods
Extension methods is a feature coming straight from LINQ, since all LINQ query operators are extension methods. These methods are marked with custom attributes and are then added to other objects automatically (so long as they are not already there). Extension methods can be used just about anywhere a developer would use a normal function. However, they cannot contain optional parameters, parameter arrays or generic arguments that have not been typed. Also, late binding cannot be done with extension methods.
9) IntelliSense
IntelliSense, already referred to as "Intellicrack" in some development circles, is set to encompass keywords, member variables and anything in scope. Moreover, IntelliSense will work with implicit types, once the compiler has figured out what is the type. In addition, LINQ is set up to take advantage of IntelliSense. In SQL syntax, the Select query comes first, but in LINQ, the From statement comes first. With the data source listed first, IntelliSense has a chance to kick in. Visual Studio 2008 has also added JavaScript IntelliSense to accommodate ASP.NET AJAX development.
10) Relaxed delegates, initializers and more
Check this MSDN article to learn more on relaxed delegates and initializers. The emphasis there is on productivity gains developers can expect to enjoy when building data-oriented applications with an increasingly dynamic language.
My top ten Visual Studio's IDE features are as follows:
1) Multi-targeting
Visual Studio 2008 is billed as the design surface for the .NET Framework 3.5, which itself is the merger of the .NET 3.0 toolset introduced earlier this year with updated versions of ASP.NET, ADO.NET, Visual Basic, C# and the CLR. At the same time, though, Orcas allows developers to work backwards and develop specifically for .NET 2.0 or 3.0. Once a framework version has been selected, Visual Studio 2008 will enable the reference features that are appropriate for that version of the framework. (In other words, don't try using LINQ in a .NET 2.0 application.)
2) N-tier application development
An n-tier application is spread among any number of different systems, typically a service layer, an access layer and a business logic layer. With such a model, it is easy to share validation logic between entities. Unfortunately, developing such applications in Visual Studio 2005 is pretty much impossible because a dataset and the code that connects it to a database are in the same file. The change in Visual Studio 2008 is subtle but important, as the table and the dataset now reside in different layers.
3) An improved designer
Visual Studio 2005 designer is a little more of the Internet Explorer renderer turned into an editor. To improve upon this, the Visual Studio group turned to Expression, the Microsoft product suite for Web designers. The new designer allows developers to apply styles in line, with an existing class, with a new class or with Internet Explorer. In addition, changes such as margins and paddings around images can be applied to rules and not just individually. This also makes for cleaner CSS files.Finally, the designer offers a split view, so developers can look at source code and design simultaneously. This is a response to the growing trend of development using two monitors.
4) ASP.NET AJAX and VSTO for Office 2007
Right now, developers aiming to build cutting edge Web applications have to download the ASP.NET AJAX framework, and those who want to develop for Office 2007 have to download Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office Second Edition. Both ASP.NET AJAX and VSTO 2005 SE will be directly incorporated into Visual Studio 2008. VSTO will come with a new runtime, which will run both Office 2007 and Office 2003 add-ins, while ASP.NET AJAX will come with a variety of JavaScript tools, such as IntelliSense and robust debugging.
5) The ADO.NET Entity Framework
The biggest changes to ADO.NET revolve around its Entity Framework, which, unfortunately, is now slated to be released quite a while after Visual Studio 2008. This framework consists of a conceptual layer, which fits between an application's logical database layer and its object layer, and the Entity Data Model. Run the Entity Data Model Wizard in Visual Studio 2008 and the output is three files - a conceptual model that talks to object classes, a logical model that the relational database talks to, and map between the conceptual and logical models. Within the conceptual layer, one finds entity types bundled into sets, associations that define the relationship between entities, and sets of associations. The information in this layer will handle the back and forth with SQL Server without touching data access code. Once entities have been created, developers can use the either CreateQuery or new LINQ to Entities query to retrieve entity objects, data records or anonymous types.
6) LINQ: The Language Integrated Query
In Visual Studio 2005, querying a dataset typically involves a stored procedure, a newly created view and a bit of ADO.NET filtering. This is the case because data exists in rows, while .NET code deals with objects. They are always two different worlds and LINQ puts queries inside the languages and merges the worlds together.
At its most basic level, the Language Integrated Query, a feature of both Visual Basic and C#, uses the concept of the SQL Select statement to make its queries. However, there are two important differences:
(a) Firstly LINQ statements begin with a From statement instead of the Select statement. By listing the data source first, IntelliSense is triggered.
(b) Secondly, since C# is an object-oriented languages, whatever you can express in C# you can make part of LINQ queries. This encompasses anything that is IEnumerable - entities, collections and even XML. Moreover, since the queries are being made in an object-oriented environment, you can do very complex things that result in a completely different result set, such as calling up an instance of objects that did not exist in the source at all.
LINQ also brings about the introduction of several new language concepts for Visual Basic and C#. The expression tree, for example, is a data representation of the LINQ expression that bridges the gap between the .NET code and the SQL Server. In addition, property initialization makes it possible to create an object and set its properties in a single line of code.
Other new language concepts, which will be discussed below, include implicit types and extension methods.
7) Implicit types
Implicit types provide strong typing without forcing developers to figure out the type they need. The compiler does the work for them, since the type is inferred from the initializer expression. Implicit types work well when looping through a collection, since in such a scenario a developer is likely to be looking only for a key and a value and will not know, or care, what is the index type. In addition, inferring types makes it possible for extensions to bind to data types such as XML. This is fundamental to making LINQ work.
8) Extension Methods
Extension methods is a feature coming straight from LINQ, since all LINQ query operators are extension methods. These methods are marked with custom attributes and are then added to other objects automatically (so long as they are not already there). Extension methods can be used just about anywhere a developer would use a normal function. However, they cannot contain optional parameters, parameter arrays or generic arguments that have not been typed. Also, late binding cannot be done with extension methods.
9) IntelliSense
IntelliSense, already referred to as "Intellicrack" in some development circles, is set to encompass keywords, member variables and anything in scope. Moreover, IntelliSense will work with implicit types, once the compiler has figured out what is the type. In addition, LINQ is set up to take advantage of IntelliSense. In SQL syntax, the Select query comes first, but in LINQ, the From statement comes first. With the data source listed first, IntelliSense has a chance to kick in. Visual Studio 2008 has also added JavaScript IntelliSense to accommodate ASP.NET AJAX development.
10) Relaxed delegates, initializers and more
Check this MSDN article to learn more on relaxed delegates and initializers. The emphasis there is on productivity gains developers can expect to enjoy when building data-oriented applications with an increasingly dynamic language.
What is .NET 3.0?
A lot of people have asked me about what .NET 3.0 is and the features it ships. Here is my quick summary. .NET 3.0, formerly known as WinFX, is the latest version of Microsoft's .NET Framework, which represents both the company's business strategy and its collection of programming support for Web services. .NET 3.0 was released at the same time as Vista, Microsoft's update to its Windows operating system.
.NET 3.0 consists of four news tools. The Windows Communication Foundation lets developers build unified Web services and other distributed systems that can talk to each other. The Windows Presentation Foundation is a development tool for Web applications and rich client applications. The Windows Workflow Foundation is a programming model for building workflow-enabled applications in Windows. Finally, Windows CardSpace is an identity management component.
In addition to those four new tools, .NET 3.0 also includes several key existing pieces of .NET 2.0, such as ADO.NET 2.0, ASP.NET 2.0, Windows Forms 2.0 and the Common Language Runtime, or CLR 2.0. Microsoft's Expression suite, Windows File System and Visual Studio 2005 development suite are also compatible with .NET 3.0.
.NET 3.0 consists of four news tools. The Windows Communication Foundation lets developers build unified Web services and other distributed systems that can talk to each other. The Windows Presentation Foundation is a development tool for Web applications and rich client applications. The Windows Workflow Foundation is a programming model for building workflow-enabled applications in Windows. Finally, Windows CardSpace is an identity management component.
In addition to those four new tools, .NET 3.0 also includes several key existing pieces of .NET 2.0, such as ADO.NET 2.0, ASP.NET 2.0, Windows Forms 2.0 and the Common Language Runtime, or CLR 2.0. Microsoft's Expression suite, Windows File System and Visual Studio 2005 development suite are also compatible with .NET 3.0.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
My TOP 18 Coolest Visual Studio Add-Ons
1) Microsoft Interop Forms Toolkit 2.0 - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=934de3c5-dc85-4065-9327-96801e57b81d&DisplayLang=en "This toolkit helps you bring the power of .NET to your existing VB6 applications, by allowing them to display .NET Forms and Controls from within the same application. Instead of upgrading the entire code base, these applications can now be extended one form at a time. The goal is a phased upgrade, with production releases at the end of each iteration containing both VB6 and VB.NET forms running in the same VB6 .exe process."
2) Application Verifier - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=d2dd7ee0-aaa2-402a-821d-43795d6cf139&DisplayLang=en "Application Verifier is a runtime verification tool for unmanaged code that assists in finding subtle programming errors that can be difficult to identify with normal application testing. Run the Application Verifier tests on your code to identify issues within heaps, handles, and locks."
3) ILMerge - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=22914587-b4ad-4eae-87cf-b14ae6a939b0&DisplayLang=en "ILMerge is a utility for merging multiple .NET assemblies into a single .NET assembly. It works on executables and DLLs alike and comes with several options for controlling the processing and format of the output."
4) XML Notepad 2007 - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=72d6aa49-787d-4118-ba5f-4f30fe913628&DisplayLang=en "XML Notepad 2007 provides a simple intuitive user interface for browsing and editing XML documents."
5) Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e59c3964-672d-4511-bb3e-2d5e1db91038&DisplayLang=en "The Microsoft Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar provides a variety of tools for quickly creating, understanding, and troubleshooting Web pages."
6) Team Foundation Power Tool - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=7324c3db-658d-441b-8522-689c557d0a79&DisplayLang=en "The Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server Power Tool (formerly known as Power Toys) is a set of enhancements, tools and command line utilities that improve the Team Foundation Server experience."
7) ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ca9d90fa-e8c9-42e3-aa19-08e2c027f5d6&DisplayLang=en "ASP.NET AJAX is a set of technologies to add AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript And XML) support to ASP.NET. It consists of a client-side script framework, server controls, and more."
8) Enterprise Library 3.0 - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=62ef5f79-daf2-43af-9897-d926f03b9e60&DisplayLang=en "This release of Enterprise Library includes: Caching Application Block, Cryptography Application Block, Data Access Application Block, Exception Handling Application Block, Logging Application Block, Policy Injection Application Block, Security Application Block and Validation Application Block."
9) Windows PowerShell 1.0 - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=6ccb7e0d-8f1d-4b97-a397-47bcc8ba3806&DisplayLang=en "Microsoft Windows PowerShell is a new command-line shell and scripting language designed for system administration and automation. Built on the .NET Framework, Windows PowerShell enables IT professionals and developers control and automate the administration of Windows and applications."
10) Microsoft ASP.NET Futures - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9323777e-fe78-430c-ad92-d5be5b5ead98&DisplayLang=en "The Microsoft ASP.NET Futures May 2007 release contains an early developer preview of features providing a wide range of new functionality for both ASP.NET and Silverlight."
11) Reflector for .NET - http://www.aisto.com/roeder/dotnet/ "Reflector is the class browser, explorer, analyzer and documentation viewer for .NET. Reflector allows to easily view, navigate, search, decompile and analyze .NET assemblies in C#, Visual Basic and IL."
12) GhostDoc - http://www.roland-weigelt.de/ghostdoc/ "GhostDoc is a free add-in for Visual Studio that automatically generates XML documentation comments for C#. Either by using existing documentation inherited from base classes or implemented interfaces, or by deducing comments from name and type of e.g. methods, properties or parameters."
13) DPack - http://www.usysware.com/dpack/ "DPack is designed to greatly increase developer's productivity, automate repetitive processes and expand upon some of the Microsoft Visual Studio features. DPack includes various browser tools that allow the developer to quickly narrow the search down to a particular class, method or assembly type. DPack includes greatly enhanced numbered bookmarks feature, various code navigation tools as well as streamlined surround with feature, and much more."
14) CodeKeep - http://www.codekeep.net/addins.aspx "With the CodeKeep add-in, you can manage your code snippets and search for other code snippets without ever having to leave Visual Studio."
15) AnkhSVN - http://ankhsvn.tigris.org/ "AnkhSVN is an open-source Visual Studio .NET addin for the Subversion version control system. It allows you to perform the most common version control operations directly from inside the VS.NET IDE. Not all the functionality provided by SVN is (yet) supported, but the majority of operations that support the daily workflow are implemented."
16) VSCmdShell - http://visualstudiohacks.com/vscmdshell "The VSCmdShell powertoy combines the command window and the command prompt and makes them available in a single window. Just about anything you can do in the command prompt you can now do right inside of the IDE. You can also execute Visual Studio commands in the same window by simply prefacing that command with an exclamation point, you will even get IntelliSense for the command list. "
17) Regionerate - http://www.rauchy.net/regionerate/ "Regionerate is an open-source tool for developers and team leaders that allows you to automatically apply layout rules on C# code. Regionerate runs on Visual Studio 2005, Visual Studio Codename Orcas Beta 1, #develop 2.0, NAnt and on command line."
18) Consolas Font Pack for VS 2005 - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=22e69ae4-7e40-4807-8a86-b3d36fab68d3&displaylang=en "The Microsoft Consolas Font Family is a set of highly legible fonts designed for ClearType. It is intended for use in programming environments and other circumstances where a monospaced font is specified. This installation package will set the default font for Visual Studio to Consolas."
2) Application Verifier - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=d2dd7ee0-aaa2-402a-821d-43795d6cf139&DisplayLang=en "Application Verifier is a runtime verification tool for unmanaged code that assists in finding subtle programming errors that can be difficult to identify with normal application testing. Run the Application Verifier tests on your code to identify issues within heaps, handles, and locks."
3) ILMerge - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=22914587-b4ad-4eae-87cf-b14ae6a939b0&DisplayLang=en "ILMerge is a utility for merging multiple .NET assemblies into a single .NET assembly. It works on executables and DLLs alike and comes with several options for controlling the processing and format of the output."
4) XML Notepad 2007 - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=72d6aa49-787d-4118-ba5f-4f30fe913628&DisplayLang=en "XML Notepad 2007 provides a simple intuitive user interface for browsing and editing XML documents."
5) Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e59c3964-672d-4511-bb3e-2d5e1db91038&DisplayLang=en "The Microsoft Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar provides a variety of tools for quickly creating, understanding, and troubleshooting Web pages."
6) Team Foundation Power Tool - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=7324c3db-658d-441b-8522-689c557d0a79&DisplayLang=en "The Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server Power Tool (formerly known as Power Toys) is a set of enhancements, tools and command line utilities that improve the Team Foundation Server experience."
7) ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ca9d90fa-e8c9-42e3-aa19-08e2c027f5d6&DisplayLang=en "ASP.NET AJAX is a set of technologies to add AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript And XML) support to ASP.NET. It consists of a client-side script framework, server controls, and more."
8) Enterprise Library 3.0 - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=62ef5f79-daf2-43af-9897-d926f03b9e60&DisplayLang=en "This release of Enterprise Library includes: Caching Application Block, Cryptography Application Block, Data Access Application Block, Exception Handling Application Block, Logging Application Block, Policy Injection Application Block, Security Application Block and Validation Application Block."
9) Windows PowerShell 1.0 - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=6ccb7e0d-8f1d-4b97-a397-47bcc8ba3806&DisplayLang=en "Microsoft Windows PowerShell is a new command-line shell and scripting language designed for system administration and automation. Built on the .NET Framework, Windows PowerShell enables IT professionals and developers control and automate the administration of Windows and applications."
10) Microsoft ASP.NET Futures - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9323777e-fe78-430c-ad92-d5be5b5ead98&DisplayLang=en "The Microsoft ASP.NET Futures May 2007 release contains an early developer preview of features providing a wide range of new functionality for both ASP.NET and Silverlight."
11) Reflector for .NET - http://www.aisto.com/roeder/dotnet/ "Reflector is the class browser, explorer, analyzer and documentation viewer for .NET. Reflector allows to easily view, navigate, search, decompile and analyze .NET assemblies in C#, Visual Basic and IL."
12) GhostDoc - http://www.roland-weigelt.de/ghostdoc/ "GhostDoc is a free add-in for Visual Studio that automatically generates XML documentation comments for C#. Either by using existing documentation inherited from base classes or implemented interfaces, or by deducing comments from name and type of e.g. methods, properties or parameters."
13) DPack - http://www.usysware.com/dpack/ "DPack is designed to greatly increase developer's productivity, automate repetitive processes and expand upon some of the Microsoft Visual Studio features. DPack includes various browser tools that allow the developer to quickly narrow the search down to a particular class, method or assembly type. DPack includes greatly enhanced numbered bookmarks feature, various code navigation tools as well as streamlined surround with feature, and much more."
14) CodeKeep - http://www.codekeep.net/addins.aspx "With the CodeKeep add-in, you can manage your code snippets and search for other code snippets without ever having to leave Visual Studio."
15) AnkhSVN - http://ankhsvn.tigris.org/ "AnkhSVN is an open-source Visual Studio .NET addin for the Subversion version control system. It allows you to perform the most common version control operations directly from inside the VS.NET IDE. Not all the functionality provided by SVN is (yet) supported, but the majority of operations that support the daily workflow are implemented."
16) VSCmdShell - http://visualstudiohacks.com/vscmdshell "The VSCmdShell powertoy combines the command window and the command prompt and makes them available in a single window. Just about anything you can do in the command prompt you can now do right inside of the IDE. You can also execute Visual Studio commands in the same window by simply prefacing that command with an exclamation point, you will even get IntelliSense for the command list. "
17) Regionerate - http://www.rauchy.net/regionerate/ "Regionerate is an open-source tool for developers and team leaders that allows you to automatically apply layout rules on C# code. Regionerate runs on Visual Studio 2005, Visual Studio Codename Orcas Beta 1, #develop 2.0, NAnt and on command line."
18) Consolas Font Pack for VS 2005 - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=22e69ae4-7e40-4807-8a86-b3d36fab68d3&displaylang=en "The Microsoft Consolas Font Family is a set of highly legible fonts designed for ClearType. It is intended for use in programming environments and other circumstances where a monospaced font is specified. This installation package will set the default font for Visual Studio to Consolas."
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