Canadian Developers

MVP Insider - Q & A with Peter Ritchie

John Bristowe — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:13:00 GMT

Peter has been working professionally in software development for over 18 years. He's been writing computer software far longer; since his first computer, an Atari 800.

Starting in C, Peter progressed to C++ not too long after its adoption by the major compilers. With a strong background in C++, Peter has been writing, designing, and architecting Windows-based software and solutions for over 15 years.

Peter got involved in the .NET movement, concentrating on C# and making an effort to try and transfer his knowledge to the community--resulting in becoming an Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for C#.

Peter is an active contributor to the MSDN Forums and .NET newsgroups and also an active moderator of MSDN Forums.

Peter is president of Peter Ritchie Inc. Software Consulting Co, where he provides Windows-based software development services in Canada's national capital region.

1. What does being an MVP mean to you?

Being MVP means to me that I’ve been recognized as providing leadership and contribution to technical communities.

2. If you could ask Steve Ballmer one question about Microsoft, what would it be?

Other than existing products already slated for discontinuation, what current Microsoft product (or products) would you either discontinue or sell-off, and why?

3. What do you think the best software ever written was?

Software has such a short shelf life; it’s hard to pin-point a specific piece of software. One class of software stands-out for me: static code analyzers. The first analyzer I ever used was PC-Lint; but more recently products like FxCop and NDepend provide software programmers and designers the ability to write better software.

4. If you were the manager of Visual Studio, what would you change?

I would move towards a more agile development methodology, with smaller but more frequent releases; keeping large changes at about two-years, but small changes and bug fixes periodically between the two year cycles. I would involve the team with the community more between the two year cycles to ensure what is being produced is relevant and timely.

5. What are the best features/improvements of Visual Studio?

I believe in Visual Studio the best feature is its extensibility. Without that extensibility we would not be able to have great tools like Refactor Pro and Resharper and our ability to write domain-specific languages would be much harder. The best improvement to Visual Studio over the years was the addition of refactoring features.

6. What was the last book you read?

Applying Domain-Driven Design and Patterns by Jimmy Nilsson.

7. What music CD do you recommend?

It would depend on who I am recommending to. My tastes are very eclectic. CCR Chronicles still gets a fair amount of air-time for me, Sam Robert’s Chemical City, or The Best of John Lee Hooker 1965 – 1974.

8. What makes you a great MVP?

I believe I embrace challenges and have the experience and ability to provide guidance and answers to many in the technical communities.

9. What is in your computer bag?

Lots of stuff. I currently have (other than my laptop): a Cat-5 gender-bender; Cat-5 retractable cable; Agile Principles, Patterns, and Practices in C#; Microsoft Wireless Laser Mouse 6000; lanyard, several USB thumb drives; cold medicine; phone charger; CF and SD cards; SDHC/USD adapter; DevTeach 2008 schedule; Microsoft Forums Client Projects Requirements and Specification; batteries; pens; and CodePlex stickers.

10. What is the best thing that has happened since you have become an MVP?

Getting more involved in offline technical communities.

11. What is your motto?

Ostendo non Ostento, which is also a Ritchie family motto and means to me “Show, don’t boast”.

12. Who is your hero?

My parents.

13. What does success mean to you?

Success to me means having the means to do something you like, doing it to best of your abilities, and making a difference.

Surprise! Expression Studio 2 Is Live!

plaberge — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:10:03 GMT

You would be forgiven if you didn't realize Expression Studio 2 is now available. It went up quietly this week on the newly red-designed Expression website. While there will be a bigger splash later in the year to announce the launch of this product, the reason why you haven't heard much about it yet is because while the product is now released by Microsoft, the physical media for the product is in the process of being shipped to retailers.

While the physical media won't be available likely until late May at retailers, if you are interested in trying out the products in the mean time, you can download trial versions today.

There are a number of things that are very important in this release of Expression, many of which are very important to developers. Below are some of the new and improved features you will see with Expression 2 products:

Expression Web

PHP Support in Expression Web: Say what? Really? Yes, really. You may or may not of heard that Expression Web 2 has support for PHP development, but rest assured it does. And when I say "support" I mean everything from PHP tag intellisense to debugging facilities for PHP to publishing capabilities for PHP. A lot of the PHP developers I have talked to have told me that this was one of the most pleasant surprises they have seen from Microsoft in a long time. Quite a few have even switched development environments to Expression Web 2 due to the richness of the functionality it provides.
ASP.NET 3.5 Support: As you might expect, Expression Web 2 provides full support for ASP.NET 3.5 (from intellisense to publishing facilities like PHP).
Standards-Based Web Design: Build websites that conform to the various web standards that exist. The various facilities within Expression Web 2 provide you with tools to determine what is out of compliance so that you can get the problems fixed quickly.
CSS Tools: CSS can be a real pain (I know from experience), but the visual tools and centralized management of CSS within Expression Web are absolutely amazing time (and sanity) savers.
Unified Look and Feel with Expression Studio: Did you like the cool dark IDE presented in Blend and Design? Were you bummed out that Expression Web v1 wasn't aligned with that look and feel? I was. The good news is that slick dark UI is now in Expression Web 2!

Expression Blend

Silverlight 1.0 Support: Full support for Silverlight 1.0 applications is provided with the release of Expression Blend 2. While I am a little bummed out that Silverlight 2 support isn't in Blend 2, there is a beta version of Blend 2.5 available for you to use (for free!) to help you build interactive experiences with Silverlight 2.
Rich Control Sets: More controls are available "out-of-the-box" with Blend 2. Some of the controls that come ready-made include: gridsplitters, ink canvases, treeviews, expanders, sliders, rich text boxes, tab controls, and toolbars.
True Integration with Visual Studio 2008: Designer/Developer workflow was a huge reason why Microsoft introduced Expression. Blend 2 provides true integration with Visual Studio 2008 for both WPF and Silverlight 1.0 projects so you can do the hand off between designer and developer as seamlessly as possible.

Expression Design

Improved Exporting and Slicing Capabilities: With Design 2 comes enhanced capabilities for exporting Expression Design assets to both Expression Blend and Expression Web. One of the cool things that is provided is slicing capabilities so that the image assets you export for Web can be loaded in parts, thereby reducing wait time for page loads.
More Export Options: Design 2 provides many export options, including Silverlight canvas, WPF canvas, WPF resource dictionary, HTML comp, XAML, PSD, and PDF.
XAML Cut and Paste: Leverage the raw XAML markup created by your Design 2 assets by cutting and pasting them directly into other files.

Expression Encoder

Windows Live Silverlight Streaming Export: Seamlessly export video assets to Windows Live Silverlight Streaming with a click of a button.
Improved Overlay and Interactive Support: Create video overlays for professional touches to video. You can even add a poll for users to answer a questions in the middle of a video using Silverlight!
Further Integration with Expression Media: Out of the box integration with Expression Media is provided within the Encoder 2 tool.

Expression Media

Enhanced Tagging and Cataloguing: Tag and index up to 128,000 media assets in a single catalogue, including offline support (i.e.: cataloguing of assets that are currently unavailable).
Backup Capabilities: Media 2 provides backup facilities to protect your media assets.

New with Expression 2: The Expression Professional Subscription!

A new and very exciting purchasing option for Expression is also available with Expression 2, starting in June 2008. This is the Expression Professional Subscription. If you are a developer, designer or wear both hats, this might be an option you will strongly want to consider. The Expression Professional Subscription contains a veritable treasure chest of software for a fraction of the price all of the software combined (Canadian pricing is still being worked out, but numbers I have seen make this a very good deal).

Software included in the Expression Professional Subscription:

Expression Studio 2
Visual Studio 2008 Standard
Windows Vista Business
Windows XP SP2
Microsoft Office Standard
Visio Professional
Virtualized Server Environments
Virtual PC (for use with Virtualized Environments)
Parallels Desktop for Mac (a 3rd party application to run Windows OS on Apple hardware concurrent with OSX)

Stay tuned on pricing and availability. This is a great way to lower the costs for you to build great software solutions.

Get Ready To Be Energized!

jldavid — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:21:00 GMT

In less than a month, Energize IT will be rolling into Toronto on Saturday May 24, 2008! It's going to be an amazing event bringing together Developers, Students, Designers, IT Pros, and IT Managers (and anyone excited about IT for that matter) under one roof! The event will take place at the Toronto Congress Centre. The theme this year is Anything is Possible: we'll be celebrating everything that IT has enabled us to do, and how IT will empower you in the future. It's time to party, learn and connect!

If you want to get an idea of what Energize IT is all about, check out the following video. The event includes 9 tracks on topics such as Green IT, Career, Security and much more. There will be hands on labs and other activities so be sure to bring your laptops!

So the burning question is, what's in store for developers? We have three tracks in the works on topics such as development best practices, cutting edge Web services and PHP on Windows. Also, get a chance to rally for the devs in the morning during a demo competition!

Keep your eye out on the Canadian Developers blog for further details. And be sure to pre-register for Energize IT!

DevTeach Toronto 2008

jldavid — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 18:31:00 GMT

DevTeach Toronto is fast approaching, and features a number of world class speakers including Micorosft Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs) and Regional Directors:

There are a number of reasons why you should attend the event. Here's a few to start:

Keynote by Scott Hanselman, Microsoft
Scott Hanselman is one of the most prolific, renowned and respected blogger (http://www.hanselman.com) and podcaster (http://www.hanselminutes.com) about technologies. Scott is a hands-on thinker, a renowned speaker and writer. He has written a few books, most recently with Bill Evjen and Devin Rader on Professional ASP.NET. In July 2007, he joined Microsoft as a Senior Program Manager in the Developer Division. In his new role he'll continue to explore and explain a broad portfolio of technologies, both inside and outside Microsoft. He aims to spread the good word about developing software, most often on the Microsoft stack. Before this he was the Chief Architect at Corillian Corporation, now a part of Checkfree, for 6+ years and before that he was a Principal Consultant at STEP Technology for nearly 7 years.
http://www.devteach.com/keynote.aspx

Silverlight 2.0 workshop
For the first time an independent conference is having a workshop on Building Business Applications with Silverlight 2.0. Join Rod Paddock and Jim Duffy as they give you a head start down the road to developing business-oriented Rich Internet Applications (RIA) with Microsoft Silverlight 2.0. In case you just crawled out from under a rock, Microsoft Silverlight 2.0 is a cross-browser, cross-platform, and cross-device plug-in positioned to revolutionize the way next generation Rich Internet Applications are developed. Microsoft’s commitment to providing an extensive platform for developers and designers to collaborate on creating the next generation of RIAs is very clear and its name is Silverlight 2.0. In this intensive, full-day workshop, Rod and Jim will share their insight and experience building business applications with Silverlight 2.0 including a review of some of the Internet’s more visible Silverlight web applications. This workshop is happening on Friday May 16 at the Hilton Toronto.
http://www.devteach.com/PostConference.aspx#PreSP

Bonus session: .NET Rock host a panel May 14th at 18:00
This year the bonus session (Wednesday May 14 at 18:00) will be a panel of speakers debating the Future of .NET. Where is .NET going? How will new development influence .NET and be influenced by .NET? Join Carl Franklin and Richard Campbell from .NET Rocks as they moderate a discussion on the future directions of .NET. The panellists include individuals who have strong visions of the future of software development and the role that .NET can play in that future. Attend this session and bring your questions to get some insight into the potential future of .NET! This bonus session is free for everyone. Panelists are: Ted Neward,Oren Eini ,Scott Bellware
http://.devteach.com/BonusSession.aspx

Party with Palermo, DevTeach Toronto Edition
Jeffrey Palermo (MVP) is hosting Monday May 12th in Toronto is acclaimed "Party with Palermo". This is the official social event kicking off DevTeach Toronto. The event is not just for the attendees of Toronto it’s a free event for everyone. It’s a unique chance for the attendees, speakers and locals to meet and talk with a free beer. The event will be held at the Menage club location and you need to RSVP to attend. Get all the details at this link:
http://www.partywithpalermo.com

You can register for Devteach at: http://www.devteach.com/

Want to create Office documents on the fly?

jldavid — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:24:00 GMT

Having trouble manipulating Office documents or creating them on the fly? The Open XML Application Programming Interface (API) allows you to effectively work with Open XML packages. Using the API, you can generate and manipulate Word 2007 documents, Excel 2007 spreadsheets, and PowerPoint 2007 presentations using a few lines of code. Plus since it uses managed code, so it's safe for many server-side scenarios.

Here are a few useful links and resources:

XML in Office Developer Portal
Office Open XML Formats Resource Center
OpenXmlDeveloper.org
Doug Mahugh: http://blogs.msdn.com/dmahugh
Eric White: http://blogs.msdn.com/ericwhite/
Brian Jones: http://blogs.msdn.com/brian_jones/
Wouter van Vugt: http://blogs.code-counsel.net/Wouter/

Call to action: Download the SDK and learn how to use it in your own applications.

Heroes Happen Here Launch Tour Resources (Updated)

jldavid — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 16:15:00 GMT

Post-Event resources:
The videos and slides for the launch tour are now available at:
http://www.microsoft.com/canada/heroeshappenhere2/register/default.mspx

Here are some resources relating to the Developer Technical Readiness events.

Fourth Coffee Store Locator Demo: Similar to the one shown at the event (but using MapPoint instead of Virtual Earth)
http://demo.mappoint.net/fourthcoffee/MainForm.aspx

ASP.NET Club Starter Kit: The basis for the Hockey Club website.
http://asp.net/community/projects/

Virtual Earth Interactive SDK: The map technology for the Fourth Coffee location demo.
http://dev.live.com/virtualearth/sdk/

Community Connection Resources: Feedback from the Community Connection events.
http://blogs.msdn.com/cdndevs/pages/community-connection-resources.aspx

We will post more resources very soon.

Project type between VS2005 and VS2008

christbe — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 16:01:16 GMT

During the Heroes Happen Here events, I received a fair amount of questions regarding the combine use of VS 2005 and VS 2008 in development teams. Since VS 2008 allow the targeting of 2.0 framework, what happens if you open and save the solution with 2008 to the 2005 users. I found this blog post from DJ Park, program manager on the VS team, that does a great job at explaining the differences and how you could use both. Let me know if it helps.

Get Your Architecture On - What's Up at CSAF08

plaberge — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 16:35:00 GMT

This has been a busy week for many of us at Microsoft Canada. We are holding the Canadian Strategic Architecture Forum (CSAF) in Vancouver from Wednesday, April 9 through Friday April 11. This is a forum where we discuss the various disciplines of architecture and where the profession of architecture is going. One of the new things this forum is doing this year is democratizing the information presented during the conference - all of the sessions (with the exception of roundtable sessions due to the form factor of that kind of breakout) are being recorded and made available through Silverlight Streaming.

Aaron, one of the attendees of this conference has excellent write-ups of the sessions for Day 1 and Day 2 (notes and sessions) and I encourage you to read his posts. He also provides links to the streaming content that has been made available to-date.

I am presenting 2 sessions this week. The first I did on Thursday on Rich, Interactive Applications (Silverlight Streaming Link) and the second I presented on Friday on the topic of Web 2.0 in the Enterprise (Silverlight Streaming Link). I will post the link to the streaming video for the Web 2.0 session when it has been made available. In the mean time, I have posted both my decks to Windows Live Skydrive. The RIA presentation can be found here, while the Web 2.0 presentation can be found here.

[Edited (14 April, 2008): Added the Silverlight Streaming Link for the Web 2.0 presentation.]

Canadian Heroes Community Launch

jldavid — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 02:08:00 GMT

Over the next several months Technical communities around the world are hosting Community Launch events focusing on technical dives of Microsoft Windows Server 2008™, Visual Studio 2008™, and SQL Server 2008™. Community leaders have been trained directly from Microsoft and empowered to host technical launch events locally. By attending a Community Launch event in your area, you’ll be one of the first to receive technical demos & training, product readiness resources, and the chance to receive NFR DVDs from all three products!

Here is a list of the different launch events happening across Canada (and at a city near you!):

Date	City	Register	Theme
April 16, 2008 6:00 PM	Vancouver, BC	http://vanpass.com/	SQL Server 2008 Community Launch
April 17, 2008 6:00 PM	Edmonton, AB	http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=127251	Windows Vista SP1 w/ Server 2008
April 21, 2008 6:00 PM	Montreal, QC	http://www.guvsm.net/	Launch 2008
April 21, 2008 6:00 PM	Montreal, QC	http://www.guvsm.net/Menu/PagePrincipale/tabid/36/Default.aspx	Object-Relational Mapping in the Microsoft World
April 23, 2008 6:00 PM	Winnipeg, MB	http://www.dotnetwired.com/	Community Launch
April 24, 2008 6:00 PM	Québec, QC	Contact the organizers	New Security Features with Windows Server 2008
April 24, 2008 7:00 PM	Québec, QC	Contact the organizers	New Security Features of Visual Studio 2008
April 24, 2008 8:00 PM	Québec, QC	Contact the organizers	SQL 2008, the most robust SQL Server Edition ever!
April 30, 2008 6:00 PM	Regina, SK	http://www.reginadot.net/	Windows Server 2008 Demonstration
April 30, 2008 6:00 PM	Regina, SK	http://www.reginadot.net/	Regina.NET: Visual Studio 2008
April 30, 2008 7:30 PM	Regina, SK	http://www.reginadot.net/	Regina IT Pro: SQL 2008
May 06, 2008 5:30 PM	Peterborough, ON	http://gtaeast.torontoug.net/UG_Events/2006.aspx	Introducing Visual Studio 2008
May 09, 2008 5:30 PM	Whitby, ON	http://gtaeast.torontoug.net/UG_Events/2005.aspx	Introducing Visual Studio 2008
May 14, 2008 5:30 PM	Quebec, QC	http://www.cunq.org/	Le lancement: Visual Studio 2008
May 22, 2008 5:30 AM	Ottawa, ON	http://www.ottawasql.net/	OttawaSQL.net Presents SQL Server 2008
June 30, 2008 7:00 PM	Kitchener, ON	http://www.wwitpro.com/	What You REALLY need to Know About Windows Server 2008
June 30, 2008 8:00 PM	Kitchener, ON	http://www.wwitpro.com/	SQL Server 2008, The Untold Story
May 29, 2008 2:00 PM	Calgary, AB	http://www.quadrus.com/	SQL Server 2008 Heroes {Community} Launch
May 29, 2008 6:00 PM	Calgary, AB	http://www.calgaryug.net/	AJAX in Visual Studio 2008

If you are planning to hold a Community Launch, let us know or visit the Heroes Community Launch site!

Silverlight Learning Resources

plaberge — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:06:00 GMT

Qixing on the Canadian User Experience Connection blog created a great post on the various resources available to developers looking to learn Silverlight 2.0.

I highly recommend it to anyone that is looking to learn more about Silverlight 2 as the technology continues to draw more and more attention.

MVP Insider - Q & A with Wes MacDonald

jldavid — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 06:41:00 GMT

Wes MacDonald has fourteen years of EDP experience as a Software Architect, Systems Analyst, Designer, Developer, DBA and LAN administrator. As a Senior Developer/Architect Wes has been responsible for all aspects of software development including installations, configurations of database and application server software required during development. Wes has been involved with Visual Studio Team Foundation Server since its Beta 2 release back in mid 2005 and has since been very involved in the .NET User Group community and federal government departments expressing the benefits of adopting TFS/VSTS for their SDLC requirements.

1. What does being an MVP mean to you?

It is a way of Microsoft giving back to those of us that invest a lot of our personal time and energy behind the products we love so much.

2. If you could ask Steve Ballmer one question about Microsoft, what would it be?

How does it feel to be part of the company that has been at the forefront of changing how people and businesses use computers today?

3. What do you think the best software ever written was?

WinZip, at least until Corel bought it|

4. If you were the manager of Visual Studio, what would you change?

Better SharePoint integration; I mean does Designer actually have to be a standalone product?

5. What are the best features/improvements of Visual Studio?

Team Foundation Server as the successor to VSS

6. What was the last book you read?

Professional Team Foundation Server (WROX)

7. What music CD do you recommend?

Year Zero by Nine Inch Nails

8. What makes you a great MVP?

I believe it has a lot to do with my passion and knowledge of Microsoft technology.

9. What is in your computer bag?

HP Pavillion, Lenovo T60, Microsoft Wireless Notebook Presenter Mouse, 80Gb WD External Drive, Pro Visual Studio 2005 Team System Application Development (Apress), The Rational Guide to Building Technical User Communities, CODE Magazine (Mar/Apr), MSDN Magazine (2008 Launch)

10. What is the best thing that has happened since you have become an MVP?

Being able to go to Microsoft in Redmond, WA for the first time and participate with the VSTS Team for the Rosario TAP. I was also able to visit the company store!

11. What is your motto?

Lunch is for wimps.

12. Who is your hero?

Stan Lee, after all he created Spiderman

13. What does success mean to you?

Being able to provide everything my family needs and sometimes wants.

Get Support From The VSTS Product Team

jldavid — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 03:41:00 GMT

Do you have a pressing issue or do you have any questions about Team System? Join members of the Visual Studio Team System product group to discuss features available in Team Foundation Server, Team Suite, Architecture Edition, Development Edition, Database Edition, and Test Edition. In addition, discuss what's new, problems you may be having, guidance for current projects or suggestions for the team going forward.

Here is a calendar link for the chat scheduled for April 9th - 10:00 AM PST:
http://www.microsoft.com/communities/chats/vcs/08_0409_msdn_VSTS.ics

Announcing Blue Sky from Microsoft Canada

jldavid — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 20:28:00 GMT

There are a lot of Canadian tech companies working on innovative applications. Sadly, there is so much information and noise from blogs and other media sources that inspiring stories are often missed. Does this sound familiar?

If you are working on an innovative application or service, the BlueSky ISV Innovation Excellence Award from Microsoft Canada is a way for you to be recognized.

The deadline for entering the award competition is May 15^th. The winners will get access to Microsoft resources and expertise, increased market visibility, and a custom engagement plan to contribute to the development of your software.

For more information, check out http://www.microsoft.com/canada/bluesky/

Great Install Experience With Expression Web 2 Beta

John Bristowe — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 19:20:00 GMT

Shortly after reading Mike Ormond's blog post about Microsoft Expression Web v2 Beta, I decided to download and install the latest bits. Aside from the numerous improvements that have been cited here, here, here, here, and here, I was immediately impressed by the install experience. Here are a few screenshots that I grabbed during the installation (click for higher resolution photos):

This is how an installer should look. I especially like the animation and transitions that were incorporated during the "Next, Next, Next, Finish" dance. Major kudos to the Microsoft Expression Web team for getting this right.

The installer is a vital component of any application. It's the first thing your users see and it's the first place users go to resolve problems. They can make or break how your users' confidence in your application. Thankfully, both Visual Studio and our partners provide great tools for building robust installers. Personally-speaking, I'm a big fan of Windows Installer XML (WiX) Toolset.

Looking forward to seeing what's new in Microsoft Expression Web v2 Beta.

Very Cool Silverlight Demo

John Bristowe — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 15:23:00 GMT

Earlier this week, I received an e-mail from a colleague, pointing me to a Silverlight application that demonstrates some of the newest capabilities found in the framework. The Silverlight in Financials Demonstrator is a mock-up that shows the interactions and experience you could get from a Silverlight-enabled site:

In addition to visually-rich transitions, there's great support for interactive video that drives charts, client-side charting, drag & drop, client-side calculations (for responsiveness), and cross-domain web services calling. All of these come together seamlessly to create a slightly different banking experience from what we see today. (I would love to see the Royal Bank of Canada provide a similar experience as this.)

You can read more about this application at the following URL:

http://blogs.msdn.com/jaimer/archive/2008/03/13/silverlight-in-financials-demonstrator.aspx

Great stuff!

So, what can you do as a developer to learn more about Silverlight? Go check out our homepage at www.silverlight.net. Download the SDK and go through some of the demos. Then, start building your next application on Silverlight!