Visual Studio 2008 released!

by Matt Milner 19. November 2007 11:25

Hot off the presses, you can get it now from MSDN subscriber downloads or the trial version.  See Soma's blog for more details on the new features, etc. 

Surprisingly, being a WF and BizTalk guy, I'm least excited about the WF/WCF integration.  I'll talk more about what I dislike later, but this is a happy post!  I'm jazzed about the new web models in WCF if only because it provides a nice affirmation of the extensibility of WCF.  I might not like all of the details of how they have accomplished things, but the CSD team has certainly shown that WCF is a solid platform with all the extensibility hooks you need. 

I'm also excited to spend some time with LINQ now that I'll have the bits on my main PC (I have only put the beta on VMs or my secondary machine in my office).  Like everyone else, I've done the simple examples to get some data out of a database and bind it to a UI, but I really want to dig in and see how it works after I have some code written and want to change something in the database. I want to see what the visual modeler/designer can and cannot do, and how using XML files might benefit me more than using the simple path that is there in V1.  

The main thing that really sells this, and some folks don't know this, is that VS 2008 and .NET 3.5, build on the existing .NET 2.0 framework.  So, it should be close to a no-brainer for organizations to upgrade because they can still build their 2.0 applications without having to worry about using 3.5 assemblies if they use the multi-targeting correctly in VS / MS Build.  That's right, there are only additive changes and bug fixes in 3.5 and it uses the same 2.0 runtime that you are using today.  So there should be no issues with breaking changes to core things like datasets and remoting like there were moving from 1.1 to 2.0.  I'm upgrading all my boxes to take advantage of the new features and perf improvements.  The only reason I could see for not updating is if you have other tools like BizTalk or Commerce Server that depend on the 2005 version.  Then you can run both side-by-side, and maybe strip out some of the tools from 2005 that you no longer used to free up some space on your hard drive.   

So, download, enjoy, and happy coding! 

Tags:

General Musings | Windows Workflow Foundation | Windows Communication Foundation

Microsoft announces next big wave of products "Oslo"

by Matt Milner 31. October 2007 14:00

I attended the Microsoft SOA and BP conference this week in Redmond where they announced their plans for future of connected systems (the division responsible for BizTalk, WCF, WF, AD, and much more).  You can read more about the announcement and what impacted products are on the Microsoft SOA site.  What I found most interesting is that this effort is not just about the Connected Systems Division (CSD) but also includes the Developer Division with the next release of Visual Studio and the .NET Framework, as well as the System Center products.  The close alliance of those product groups is something we don't often see from Microsoft and can only be better for customers as we'll get a better story about using those products together. 

Now being a BizTalk/WCF/WF guy, I'm pretty interested in how all of those technologies get impacted by the modeling and management tools as well as how the integration of these technologies continues to improve.  It's only going to get better, but like all technology, we'll continue to have things to learn and understand about these technologies and how they get leveraged in different environments. 

Most interesting to me is that the keynote included information stating that CTPs and Betas would be available in 2008. That makes this stuff much more real for the near term than say a 5 year timeline.  Microsoft obviously won't be able to create the entire vision in a single release of each product, but the next phase is pretty exciting and being able to get your hands on the technology and see what they are doing and thinking can be critical as you plan for your future projects.  It's also a great way to give feedback and help direct the product team about what is important to you as a customer. They really do listen, even if you don't always get exactly what you want, significant changes happen based on customer feedback.  

We also had our two day pre-conference training on the new features in BizTalk R2 and .NET 3.5.  In addition we had some fun talking about "Astoria" and BizTalk Services which are emerging technologies built on WCF and other CSD technologies that provide some really compelling options for messaging and data access.  The class went really well and we're thinking about making it available as a seminar course for people who want to get a good deep dive into the broad range of technologies.  Let us know if you are interested in the class for your company. 

Tags:

BizTalk Server | General Musings | Windows Workflow Foundation | Windows Communication Foundation

Upcoming talk at the Heartland Developer's Conference - October 19

by Matt Milner 24. August 2007 17:42
I've got an upcoming talk at the Heartland Developer's Conference coming up in Omaha in November.  If you are a developer in the Midwest, you should definitely check out this event.  These guys put on a nice two day conference with some great technical content and  fun atmosphere.  Despite what you might think, downtown Omaha can be fun after all the technical sessions.  :)   I love doing these smaller regional events because the people are so much fun and put so much into making sure the show is an awesome experience for the attendees. 
 
I'll be talking about extending the WCF runtime so come check it out if that sounds interesting. 
 
 

Tags:

General Musings

Downloads for my presentations at the Minnesota Developer's Conference

by Matt Milner 24. August 2007 17:37
If you joined me for the two presentations I did Wednesday here in Minneapolis, then you'll find the code downloads for those sessions here(WCF/WF) and here (SharePoint and WF).  If you weren't there, then never mind. 

Tags:

General Musings

BizTalk R2 class with Jon Flanders

by Matt Milner 2. July 2007 09:47
As many of you know, Jon Flanders recently joined us here at Pluralsight.  In just a couple of weeks Jon is going to be delivering our first public offering of the BizTalk R2 class.  If I weren't already committed, I'd be at this course as Jon has some great material on the new features in the upcoming R2 release including the integration with WCF / WF and all the cool RFID stuff.  Be sure to check it out if you are using or plan to use R2. 

Tags:

BizTalk Server | General Musings

Tech Ed Demos for WCF Adapter session and chalk talk

by Matt Milner 9. June 2007 03:21
For those of you who attended Tech Ed and wanted the demos from the breakout and chalk talk about the WCF adapter, you will find them below.  Thanks to all who attended, and enjoy. 
 
Breakout session (445 kb) (Connected Systems application) includes transaction flow example and basic adapter configuration. See the setup folder for db scripts and setup directions.
 
Chalk Talk (5.5 MB) -- includes three demos: BTS as WCF message router, WCF channel extensibilty in BTS (PO + line items = single transaction), and using BizTalk Services in the cloud (multi-cast vendor request).  Each demo should have an installer for the BTS portion and other files to update configuration etc. 
 
any questions, just add them in comments on this blog post, or contact me through this blog. 

Tags:

BizTalk Server | General Musings | Windows Communication Foundation

Our first Applied Windows Workflow Foundation training is coming to London!

by Matt Milner 31. May 2007 16:43
OK, Reading actually, but if you are in the London area and interested in workflow, then this is your chance to get a thorough understanding of not only the how of WF, but the why.  We will look deep under the covers of building WF programs, hosts and activities/components.  Check out the course information for more details and to register. 
 
July 30 - August 2
Microsoft Technology Center in Reading
 

Tags:

General Musings | Windows Workflow Foundation

Workflow Foundation Tracking Birds of a Feather (BOF) at Tech Ed 2007

by Matt Milner 31. May 2007 05:40
I'm excited to be hosting a BOF this year at Tech Ed on the tracking services in Windows Workflow Foundation.  If you are interested in talking about tracking in general, the use of the included SQL tracking and query APIs, or custom tracking services to solve real business problems, then be sure to attend.  I think it will be a lot of fun to see how people use this technology as it is the key piece to real visibility in your workflows.  Hope to see you there. 
 
Session details (check schedules at Tech Ed to verify time and room):
BOF24: Windows Workflow Tracking in Action
Thursday, June 7, 2007 at 4:30 PM
Room S331

Tags:

General Musings | Windows Workflow Foundation

Double-clicking to open Visual Studio solution files on Vista

by Matt Milner 21. May 2007 08:11
I got so tired of not being able to double-click my solution files in the Windows explorer that I finally figured out how to fix it.  First of all, I should mention that I'm running with UAC on in Vista and that I have VS configured to run as an admin.  So, I get prompted each time I start it, but that's OK, it’s a good reminder that I am running elevated and should test my code without the admin privileges. 
 
I was trying to figure out why, when my VS is set to run as admin, double-clicking would not work.  The thing that jumped out at me is that VS is not the default program for SLN files.  The Visual Studio Version Selector is the default program.  My first thought was to run that selector as admin all the time, but that didn't work.  So, I decided I don't need a version selector since I only have one version of VS on my machine right now, and mapped SLN files to DevEnv.exe.  Now, when I double click them, I get the UAC prompt and then it opens right up in Visual Studio. 
 
Hopefully this helps someone else with this little annoyance. 

Tags:

General Musings

My Tech Ed Presentations

by Matt Milner 14. May 2007 06:01
I'm excited to be presenting at the upcoming Tech Ed 2007 event in Orlando next month.  I'm doing two different sessions for the Connected Systems Division (SOA track); one on BizTalk R2 and one on Windows Workflow.  If you are heading to Tech Ed, I hope you'll join me if the topics interest you (which presumably they do or you wouldn't be reading this blog!). 
 
SOA317 - Building Connected Systems on the Microsoft .NET Framework Using the Windows Communication Foundation Adapter in BizTalk Server 2006 R2
Tuesday, 8:30 AM
Deep Dive Chalk talk to follow at 10:15 in the Blue Theater
 
SOA223 - Custom Activities with Microsoft Windows Workflow Foundation: A Developer's Primer
Monday, 4:45 PM
 

Tags:

BizTalk Server | General Musings | Windows Workflow Foundation