Visual Studio 2010 offers many improvements over the current retail version Visual Studio 2008. It features a redesigned streamlined IDE that has been optimized for multiple document windows and multi-monitors. The new version of Visual Studio comes with The Microsoft .net Framework 4.0 which is currently also available as a release candidate.

Other additions include integrated support for developing Microsoft Silverlight applications, parallel computing enhancements and support for IBM DB2 and Oracle databases.

Interested users can take a look at the official Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 website for additional information about the changes and additions of that new version.

Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 RC Downloads:

• Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 Training Kit
• Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2010 Ultimate RC ISO (DVD-5)
• Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2010 Premium RC ISO (DVD-5)
• Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2010 Professional RC ISO (DVD-5)
• Microsoft® Visual Studio® Agents 2010 RC ISO (DVD-5)
• Microsoft® Visual Studio® Test Professional 2010 RC ISO (DVD-5)
• Microsoft® Visual Studio® Team Foundation Server 2010 RC ISO (DVD-5)
• Microsoft® Visual Studio® Team Explorer 2010 RC ISO (DVD-5)
• Microsoft® Visual Studio® Lab Management 2010 RC
• Microsoft® .NET Framework 4 RC (x86, x64, ia64)
• Microsoft® .NET Framework 4 Client Profile RC (x86, x64)
• Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2010 SDK RC
• Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2010 Visualization & Modeling SDK RC
• Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2010 Remote Debugger RC (x86, x64, ia64)
• Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2010 Shell (Integrated) RC
• Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2010 Shell (Isolated) RC
• Microsoft® Visual FSHARP 2.0 Runtime RC

The final version of Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 is scheduled for a world wide release on April 12, 2010.

Facebook SDK helps writing both Canvas and Facebook Connect type of applications on all major .NET platforms. The toolkit contains the following assemblies:

• Facebook.dll: This is the main assembly that will be used by all applications. This has all the logic to handle communication with the Facebook application. This assembly also has specific support of XAML applications (Silverlight and WPF) to enhance the Facebook platform to make data binding and data caching easier.
• Facebook.Silverlight.dll: This is the Silverlight version of the main assembly that will be used by all Silverlight applications. This has all the logic to handle communication with the Facebook application. This assembly also has specific support of XAML applications to enhance the Facebook platform to make data binding and data caching easier. The REST API in this assembly is Asynchronous only.
• Facebook.Web.dll: This assembly should be used by Canvas applications. The main functionality supported in this assembly is to encapsulate the handshake between the Facebook application and a canvas application (both FBML and IFrame)
• Facebook.Web.Mvc.dll: Provide a support building canvas applications using ASP.NET MVC. Separated from Facebook.Web.dll to avoid all developers from needing to install the MVC bits.
• Facebook.Winforms.dll: This assembly provides support for writing Facebook applications using Winform technology. This provides a Component that wraps the API to make it easier to use from Winforms. This also contains some user controls to help display Facebook data easily.

This release removes some architectural inconsistencies introduced in earlier versions and makes use of an asynchronous interface to connect to Facebook. Other enhancements are:

• Support for Silverlight and ASP.NET MVC
• Better support for WPF and FBML (Facebook Meta-Language used to create Canvas applications)
• Login control replacing BasePage and/or MasterPage for Canvas Development
• Source code refactoring
• More complete help documentation and samples

The refactoring of the source code done to align it with Microsoft’s guidelines has introduced some breaking changes.

Start developing Facebook applications now and, just in case you need a help, head over to Facebook SDK support page.

Via infoq.com.

At first Win7 taskbar seemed cool: grouping, Aero Peek preview, effects and so on are fun to observe. But when it comes to productivity, especially when you are used to work with a number of programs opened, then new taskbar will force you to work harder.

Previously, in times of Windows XP and Vista, I used to stretch the taskbar to occupy two rows, which enabled me good overview of the stuff running and combining it with Quick Launch toolbar, it was perfect.  Now, with Windows 7 that is not possible anymore.

Worried, I have been looking for a solution and luckily, it was a success. Here are the steps that will get you back the Vista taskbar:

Right click somewhere on the taskbar and select Properties. Now, select the following options:

1. Check “Use small icons”
2. Select “Never combine” from the “Taskbar buttons” combobox.

Windows 7 original:

And the settings and the taskbar after:

So far so good.

Where Is My Quick Launch Toolbar?

Yep, the Quick Launch toolbar is also missing. To get it to its place, please follow:

1. Right click the taskbar, go to Toolbars, choose New Toolbar.
2. In the field Folder paste exactly this text: %SystemDrive%\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch, then press Select folder button.
3. The Quick Launch toolbar is now on the taskbar.
4. If the taskbar is locked, unlock it and then right click the Quick Launch toolbar. Uncheck “Show Text”, “Show Title”.
5. Arrange the toolbars.

And voila, here we have it:

Move Windows Live Messenger to Tray

This one is also an annoyance. Messenger stays glued to Windows taskbar, no matter is it active or not.

To resolve this, find Windows Live Messenger shortcut, then right click it to bring forth the Properties window. Go to the tab Compatibility and choose to run the program in the Vista compatibility mode. Restart Messenger and now it should reside in the tray.

That is it. Windows 7 as we like it.

The angst played out as many who build applications designed to access Microsoft’s SQL Server felt left holding the bag as reported here. Make no mistake: the Entity Framework is Microsoft’s object relational mapping (ORM) technology of choice and that will become even more evident next year with the release of Entity Framework 4, Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET Framework 4.

Hence there will be no major emphasis on LINQ to SQL from Microsoft other than some fixes and occasional tweaks. To many that decision was an unfortunate turn of events because LINQ to SQL is faster and easier to work with than the Entity Framework, many developers say. And if all you’re trying to connect to is SQL Server, it does the trick, whereas the Entity Framework at some point will become more appealing to those looking to connect with multiple vendors back-end databases.
But there have been some positive developments for those who intend to stick with LINQ to SQL. For example, Microsoft did make some improvements to it in the .NET 4 Framework, as noted Damien Guard, a software development engineer within Microsoft’s Data Programmability Group. Here are the changes to expect when .NET 4.0 arrives:

LINQ to SQL Change List

Performance

• Query plans are reused more often by specifically defining text parameter lengths (when connecting to SQL 2005 or later)
• Identity cache lookups for primary key with single result now includes query.Where(predicate).Single/SingleOrDefault/First/FirstOrDefault
• Reduced query execution overhead when DataLoadOptions specified (cache lookup considers DataLoadOptions value equivalency)

Usability

• ITable<T> interface for additional mocking possibilities
• Contains with enums automatically casts to int or string depending on column type
• Associations can now specify non-primary-key columns on the other end of the association for updates
• Support list initialization syntax for queries
• LinqDataSource now supports inherited entities
• LinqDataSource support for ASP.NET query extenders added

Query stability

• Contains now detects self-referencing IQueryable and doesn’t cause a stack overflow
• Skip(0) no longer prevents eager loading
• GetCommand operates within SQL Compact transactions
• Exposing Link<T> on a property/field is detected and reported correctly
• Compiled queries now correctly detect a change in mapping source and throw
• String.StartsWith, EndsWith and Contains now correctly handles ~ in the search string (regular & compiled queries)
• Now detects multiple active result sets (MARS) better
• Associations are properly created between entities when using eager loading with Table-Valued Functions (TVFs)
• Queries that contain sub-queries with scalar projections now work better

Update stability

• SubmitChanges no longer silently consumes transaction rollback exceptions
• SubmitChanges deals with timestamps in a change conflict scenario properly
• IsDbGenerated now honors renamed properties that don’t match underlying column name
• Server-generated columns and SQL replication/triggers now work instead of throwing SQL exception
• Improved binding support with the MVC model binder

General stability

• Binary types equate correctly after deserialization
• EntitySet.ListChanged fired when adding items to an unloaded entity set
• Dispose our connections upon context disposal (ones passed in are untouched)

Database  control

• DeleteDatabase no longer fails with case-sensitive database servers

SQL Metal

• Foreign key property setter now checks all affected associations not just the first
• Improved error handling when primary key type not supported
• Now skips stored procedures containing table-valued parameters instead of aborting process
• Can now be used against connections that use AttachDbFilename syntax
• No longer crashes when unexpected data types are encountered

LINQ to SQL class designer

• Now handles a single anonymously named column in SQL result set
• Improved error message for associations to nullable unique columns
• No longer fails when using clauses are added to the partial user class
• VarChar(1) now correctly maps to string and not char
• Decimal precision and scale are now emitted correctly in the DbType attributes for stored procedures & computed columns
• Foreign key changes will be picked up when bringing tables back into the designer without a restart
• Can edit the return value type of unidentified stored procedure types
• Stored procedure generated classes do not localize the word “Result” in the class name
• Opening a DBML file no longer causes it to be checked out of source control
• Changing a FK for a table and re-dragging it to the designer surface will show new FK’s

Code generation (SQL Metal + LINQ to SQL class designer)

• Stored procedures using original values now compiles when the entity and context namespaces differ
• Virtual internal now generates correct syntax
• Mapping attributes are now fully qualified to prevent conflicts with user types
• KnownTypeAttributes are now emitted for DataContractSerializer with inheritance
• Delay-loaded foreign keys now have the correct, compilable, code generated
• Using stored procedures with concurrency no longer gets confused if entities in different namespace to context
• ForeignKeyReferenceAlreadyHasValueException is now thrown if any association is loaded not just the first

Potentially breaking changes

We worked very hard to avoid breaking changes but of course any potential bug fix is a breaking change if your application was depending on the wrong behavior. The ones I specifically want to call out are:

“Skip (0)” is no longer a no-op

The special-casing of 0 for Skip to be a no-op was causing some subtle issues such as eager loading to fail and we took the decision to stop special casing this. This means if you had syntax that was invalid for a Skip greater than 0 it will now also be invalid for skip with a 0. This makes more sense and means your app would break on the first page now instead of subtlety breaking on the second page.

ForeignKeyReferenceAlreadyHasValue exception

If you are getting this exception where you weren’t previously it means you have an underlying foreign key with multiple associations based on it and you are trying to change the underlying foreign key even though we have associations loaded.Best thing to do here is to set the associations themselves and if you can’t do that make sure they aren’t loaded when you want to set the foreign key to avoid inconsistencies.

Alternative

One viable alternative to LINQ to SQL is, certainly,  PlinqO, a technology developed by code generation tool supplier, CodeSmith, that brings a bunch of features that we are missing with LINQ to SQL. More about this in some of the next posts.

Sources: visualstudiomagazine.com, damieng.com.

ASP.NET MVC 2 will include the jQuery validation library to provide client-side validation based on the model’s validation metadata. With Preview 2, it is also possible to “hook in alternative client-side validation libraries by writing an adapter which adapts the client library to the JSON metadata in a manner similar to the xVal validation framework.”

An important feature introduced in V2 Preview 1 was the concept of Areas. Areas provide a means of dividing a large web application into multiple projects. Preview 2 further refines this idea to allow using Areas within a single project, still providing most of the organizational benefits.

Preview 2 also adds Model Validation Providers and Metadata Providers. These providers allow hooking in alternative validation logic for model binding and alternative sources of metadata for models. The default providers use Data Annotations, a validation and metadata approach introduced in Preview 1.

According to Phil Haack, Senior Program Manager on MVC team:

… you’ll notice a theme where in Preview 1, we tied much functionality directly to Data Annotation attributes, in Preview 2 we inserted abstractions around our usage of Data Annotations which allow hooking in custom implementations of validation and metadata providers.

This will allow you to do things like swapping out our default validation with the Enterprise Library Validation Block for example. It also allows providing implementations where model metadata is stored in alternative locations rather than via attributes, with a bit of work.

ASP.NET MVC 2 Preview 2 can be installed side-by-side with MVC 1, but MVC 2 Preview 1 should be uninstalled before installing Preview 2. In VS 2008, it is registered as separate project types. Those experimenting with VS 2010 users will have to wait for VS Beta 2, which will include MVC v2.

From InfoQ.com.

Here comes one of the, very probably, first public websites in Bosnia that were developed using a brand new ASP.NET MVC framework. The work has begun somewhere in June, this year and although done in my spare time, it was a pleasure from a day one.  ASP.NET  MVC contains a bunch of some really good stuff, but let’s point out the most important ones:

• Clear separation of the concerns
• Full control over the rendered HTML
• Easy integration with JavaScript frameworks
• TDD
• and many others…

Separately from this, the website is making a use of the following technologies as well:

• Linq to SQL to build a data access layer
• Enterprise Library for caching scenarios
• Unity dependency injection
• iTextSharp for creating on-the-fly PDF documents
• Elmah for exception logging
• and speaking of the client side, jQuery (can’t miss it), Yahoo YUI library and so on…

Back to the actual product. The website was built with the intention in mind to enable an affordable advertising platform for small and middle-sized businesses and to give a chance to a general population to be informed, when it comes to latest news, promotions, giveaways, products of the companies in their surroundings.

Sounds interesting, right? Then pay a visit.

The link: http://www.adspace.ba.

Web development companies with less than 10 employees can apply for the new WebsiteSpark programme, which was unveiled at the PICNIC conference in Amsterdam.

The program is similar to Microsoft’s BizSpark programme launched last year, which provides software and other resources to startups, and the DreamSpark program, which does the same for students.

Eddie Amos, general manager for Microsoft’s developer platform and tools group, said the company added WebsiteSpark because it realised there was a “hole” in the enablement programs where web professionals are concerned.

The programmes also provide a way for Microsoft to get young companies and developers using its software in their businesses. In the Web development and web design space many companies already use products from Adobe and other Microsoft competitors.

Through WebsiteSpark, which companies can apply for online, Microsoft will provide three licences for Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition, two licenses for Expression Web 3 and one license for Expression Studio 3. Qualifying companies also receive four processor licenses for production use of both Windows Web Server 2008 and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Web Edition.

The program also includes two technical-support incidents per company, access to community support through connections with other Microsoft partners and unlimited access to technical managed newsgroups on the Microsoft Developer Network.

In addition to unveiling WebsiteSpark, Microsoft also updated its Web Platform Installer software, which simplifies the installation of Microsoft Web development software to make it easier to build web applications.

Get them here:

• WebsiteSpark program
• Web Platform Installer

From Techworld.

1. To provide a sample of ‘core blog functionality’ in a reusable fashion, because, despite the fact that the blogs are simple and well understood by many developers, the set of basic functions that a blog needs to implement (trackbacks, rss, comments, etc.) are fairly complex.

2. To provide a real-world sample written using ASP.NET MVC.

Regardless, this project has become even more than just an ASP.NET MVC demonstration. Oxite provides you with a foundation for pingbacks, trackbacks, anonymous or authenticated commenting (with optional moderation), gravatar support, RSS feeds at any page level, support for MetaWebLog API (think Windows Live Writer integration made easy), web admin panel, support for Open Search format allowing users to search your site using their browser’s search box. Enough reasons to give it a try. Maybe even this website should consider a switch.

• Improved native/managed interop
  .NET 4.0 will include a new native wrapping tool, which reads windows.h and an associated annotation file to create the managed wrapper. This tool will clearly reduce the burden on .NET programmers who need access to the Windows APIs, and free us up to work on the more important parts of our applications.
• New languages
  .NET 4.0 will include IronPython, IronRuby, and F#, among others. The three named languages have been available in some form for a few years now, but it appears that with .NET 4.0 they become “official” in the same way as C#, Visual Basic .NET. Both IronPython and IronRuby leverage the Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR), a subsystem that supports dynamic languages on .NET. The DLR has been around for a couple of years now, but with .NET 4.0 becomes an integral part of the .NET runtime.
• Threading improvements
  .NET Framework 4.0 includes the Task Parallel Library (TPL), a library of objects that make it easier to write code that takes advantage of multiple cores.
• WCF 4.0 enhancements
  WCF 4.0 will simplify the building of REST Singleton & Collection Services, ATOM Feed and Publishing Protocol Services, and HTTP Plain XML Services using WCF. Furthermore, there are number of messaging and correlation enhancements to expect.
• WF 4.0 enhancements
  Ten-fold improvement in performance, new workflow flow-control models and pre-built activities, enhancements in workflow modeling, updated visual designer etc.

Here is the download link. Beware, the system requirements are lavish, even the download image occupies around 7 gigs.

Nevertheless, to make things better, head over to Microsoft Connect page and leave your feedback regarding these products.

Download now at: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/cc533448.aspx

Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5 enable developers to rapidly create connected applications that deliver high quality and rich user experiences. Visual Studio 2008 enables organizations of every size to rapidly create secure, manageable, and reliable applications that are optimized for Windows Vista, SQL Server, the Microsoft 2007 Office system and the Web.

Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1

Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 is a full cumulative update that contains many new features building incrementally upon .NET Framework 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, and includes cumulative servicing updates to the .NET Framework 2.0 and .NET Framework 3.0 subcomponents.

More news are coming a bit later today.