- Posted by christhi on October 23, 2008
I just put together this sample on creating a SilverLight 2.0 RSS Reader that leverages databinding and observable collections. I will present this at the Minsurf conference in Minneapolis on October 28th, 2008. You can also find this sample in the MSDN code gallery at http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/flyover18 .
In a future post I will provide step by step instructions on how I built this to stay tuned...
- Posted by christhi on October 4, 2008
Improvements to Microsoft's existing Windows Server capabilities in the form of enhancements to both the .NET Framework and extensions to the application server role, codenamed “Dublin” (application server) are coming. Microsoft disclosed a set of new enhancements coming in .NET Framework and Windows Server, including key enhancements to Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) and Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) in the .NET Framework 4.0 release and an enhanced set of application server capabilities in Windows Server codenamed “Dublin.”
§ Windows Communication Foundation 4.0: Microsoft is adding new capabilities to WCF to further simplify the creation of RESTful services, including REST Singleton & Collection Services, ATOM Feed and Publishing Protocol Services, and support for an HTTP Plain XML Service. Additional messaging and correlation enhancements enable customers to work with the most recent transports and protocols. By further extending WCF to enable seamless integration between WF and WCF and enabling a unified XAML model, developers can build an entire application in declarative XAML code from presentation to data to services to workflow.
§ Windows Workflow Foundation 4.0: Applications built using WF will realize significant improvements in performance (on the order of ten-fold performance enhancements) and scalability. There are also new workflow models and pre-built activities (PowerShell, messaging, etc.). An updated visual designer will be easier to use by developers to use and be easier to rehost by ISVs.
§ “Dublin”: This consists of a set of enhancements to Windows Server application server capabilities that – when combined with WCF/WF 4.0 –represent a major step forward for our application server. “Dublin” will offer greater scalability and easier manageability, and will extend Internet Information Services (IIS) to provide a standard host for applications that use workflow or communications. Taken together, these enhancements will extend Microsoft’s application server and simplify the development, deployment, configuration, management, and scalability of composite applications. Microsoft will be providing a first CTP of these technologies at PDC. We will also be releasing some of the REST enhancements separately via Codeplex to allow for early trial and adoption via our WCF REST Starter Kit.
- Posted by christhi on October 4, 2008
As part of the VSTS 2010 announce on Sept 29, Visual Studio Team System Development Edition and Visual Studio Team Database Edition will be merging into a single product. On October 1st, customers who purchase VSTS Developer Edition or VSTS Database Edition will get the features available in both products. Not is great opportunity to get two editions for the price of one and with the GDR release of the Database Edition soon to be released this will make a compelling bundle.
"In the next release of Visual Studio Team System we will be merging the feature sets of the Development Edition and the Database Edition into a single product. The new product – part of Visual Studio Team System codename “Rosario” – will include all of the features in both the Development Edition and the Database Edition as well as new capabilities delivering even more value in a single product. This will provide a more complete set of capabilities for building software in today’s data-driven environments. Bringing these two feature sets together enables you to take advantage of the core tools for application development as well as the necessary tools for database development, including performance profiling, code analysis, code metrics, code coverage, database refactoring, Schema Compare, Data Compare, and more. As an MSDN subscriber we want you to realize the benefit of this merged feature set now, which is why we are extending this exclusive offer. If you have either the Visual Studio Team System 2008 Development Edition with MSDN Premium subscription or the Visual Studio Team System 2008 Database Edition with MSDN Premium subscription, on October 1, 2008 you will have access to both the Development Edition and Database Edition through MSDN Subscriber Downloads. This change also applies to customers who purchased Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Software Developers with MSDN Premium Subscription and Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Database Professionals with MSDN Premium Subscription."