Twin Cities Code Camp

Spring 2008, Tue, Apr 01, 2008


  • Introducing the ASP.NET MVC Framework

    by

    The new MVC framework is poised to turn ASP.NET development on its head with a new processing model, better usability with open source tools, and the return of the angled-bracket-percent-sign combo. If you've been wondering what the MVC pattern is all about, and how it might impact your web development, this is the talk for you!

  • Jon Stonecash

    ORM – Not Just for Meditation Any More

    by Jon Stonecash

    The "shape" of data in a relational database is not the same as the "shape" of data in an object oriented application. That is as it should be; for both efficiency and effectiveness, the goals for storing data are different from those of manipulating it within the application. The question is how to bridge the inevitable gap between the two environments. For an increasing number of projects, an Object Relational Mapping (ORM) package is the answer. An ORM allows the developer (1) to declaratively define a conceptual model of how the application wants to see the data, (2) to point to an existing data store (e.g., a database), and (3) to define a mapping between the conceptual and physical data. From this declarative model, the ORM generates the code to move data back and forth between the application's view of the data and the data store's view of the data. We will write several versions of a simple (yet compelling) application using the new Entity Framework ORM package from Microsoft, using NHiberate from the open source world, and using LLBGenPro from the non-Microsoft commercial world. Comparing and contracting will take place. Look for a few "Top Ten" lists about ORM: features to look for, reasons to use ORM, functionality other than data mapping that ORM provides, and ORM practices to avoid.

    Presentation Material

  • Jason Bock

    Writing Better Code

    by Jason Bock

    It's one thing to write code that will do the job in the short-term; it's another challenge to write code that can stand the test of time. In this session I'll show you how you can use tools and features in VS 2008 (e.g. unit testing, Code Analysis, Code Coverage, etc.) to assist you in making your code maintainable over time, easy to understand, and resilient to defects.

    Presentation Material

  • Carl Boudreau

    Web Parts for Web Pages

    by Carl Boudreau

    Web Parts for Web Pages will demonstrate how easy it is to build a personalized and customizable web page for your Users with that iGoogle or Yahoo functionality we all love to use. Time will be short so we will start with a partially built web application that uses a master page, menu control, and the new user authentication controls. Then I will demonstrate how to add User Controls that your user can add or remove from their home page.

  • Aaron Erickson

    F#, The Business Case

    by Aaron Erickson

    You are geeked about F#, you know functional programming will be relevant in the future. So, how do you get a F# project? This demonstration will show two examples of solutions that prove the value of F# to the business you work for.

    Presentation Material

  • Kent Tegels

    A Developer's Introduction to Spatial Computing with SQL Server 2008

    by Kent Tegels

    SQL Server 2008 introduces a number of features supporting Spatial Computing. In this talk, we will overview the new GEOMETRY and GEOGRAPHY datatypes. We will look at the methods on these types and how to use them relational queries. We will also look at how to index these data types and work with them using a .NET client and SQL Server Integration Services.

    Presentation Material

  • Mike Hodnick

    Extending SharePoint Search with the Search API

    by Mike Hodnick

    Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 provides a very powerful search engine, but the out-of-the-box search features can only take your apps built in MOSS so far. In addition, you can't use the out-of-the-box capabilities in an application that doesn't run in the context of MOSS. This presentation will walk through the MOSS search API (including the search web service) and demonstrate how to execute MOSS searches programmatically. We'll touch on executing Full Text and Keyword searches, as well as writing better code to wrap all types of calls and searches into a reusable set of classes.

    Presentation Material

  • Jeff Ferguson

    A Tour of the Parallel Extensions to the .NET Framework

    by Jeff Ferguson

    Microsoft recently released a Community Technology Preview (CTP) of the Parallel Extensions to the .NET Framework, a managed programming model for data parallelism, task parallelism, and coordination on parallel hardware unified by a common work scheduler. Parallel Extensions provides library based support for introducing concurrency into applications written with any .NET language, including but not limited to C# and Visual Basic. In this talk, Jeff will provide an oveview of this exciting new breakthrough in muti-core processing using the .NET framework and will walk through code samples illustrating the technology.

    Presentation Material

  • David Baldauff

    A Code Review of SQL Server 2008 Features

    by David Baldauff

    In this presentation we will take you through the features in the new version of SQL Server – SQL Server 2008. We will review new Engine and TSQL features like the new separate Date and Time types. We will also review changes in Reporting Services, Integration Services and Analysis Services. This presentation will give you a good feel from a developers perspective of what to expect in SQL Server 2008 and short code examples of the new features in action. So, for a trip though what's new in SQL 2008, don't miss this presentation!

  • Part of

    ASP.NET Webforms and MVC...Without The MVC Framework

    by Part of

    You don't need the ASP.NET MVC Framework to implement MVC with the current Web Form implementation of ASP.Net. In this session we'll talk about how to architect a web application using the MVC pattern, but not the MVC framework, and discuss what the differences/tradeoffs are between the two.

  • Jeff Knutson

    What Can I do With WCF in .NET 3.5?

    by Jeff Knutson

    In this session I will demonstrate new features of WCF including:

    • REST endpoints
    • Calling a WCF service in an AJAX style application (JSON formatting)
    • Exposing RSS/ATOM data

    Working knowledge of WCF/ASMX/WSE will be helpful, but not required.

    Presentation Material

  • Javier Lozano

    Silverlight For Developers - Making it Pass the Glitz

    by Javier Lozano

    This is an overview presentation of the feature set that Silverlight 2.0 has to offer to developers. We will also cover some of the current tools available for both designers and developers to create Silverlight applications.

    Presentation Material

  • Rockford Lhotka

    First Look at CSLA .NET 3.5

    by Rockford Lhotka

    Get a first look at CSLA .NET 3.5 with support for .NET 3.5 including LINQ to Objects and LINQ to SQL. CSLA .NET 3.5 builds on versions 2.0 and 3.0 and so supports Windows Forms, Web Forms, WPF, WCF, Web services and Windows Workflow style application development. CSLA .NET 3.5 also incorporates new features that can result in a 35% reduction in the amount of code required to implement a typical business object.

  • Chris Johnson

    Introduction to Ruby on Rails

    by Chris Johnson

    Have you ever wondered what Ruby and Rails was all about, and why Microsoft has started to lure some of leading RoR experts to work for them in Redmond? Ruby on Rails is a full-scale framework for developing web applications. During this talk we'll explore the Rails framework, how it encourages test driven development, and team collaboration. As we explore the framework we'll actually build a working application from scratch.

    Presentation Material

  • Scott Yokiel

    User Defined Functions and Excel Services in MOSS 2007

    by Scott Yokiel

    User defined function in combination with excel services in Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server 2007 are a powerful tool for any organization. We will look at what and how these pieces work togehter and talk about the benifits of implementsing such a tool. Have you ever had your requirements be an excel sheet and the customer ask for it to be online reporting tool, well here's one way to get this done via a thin cleint.

  • Peter Stromquist

    Tapping the Power of LINQ

    by Peter Stromquist

    Language Integrated Query (LINQ) is one of the most important new features of the .NET Framework. It has the potential of affecting just about every area of the software we write, from the data access layer all the way up to the UI. In this session we will take a top-to-bottom look at LINQ. We will understand where it came from, how it works, and, most importantly, how we can tap its full potential in our daily coding life. I will include examples on LINQ to Objects, LINQ to SQL, and LINQ to XML.

    Presentation Material

  • Saviz Artang

    The Asteroid's Game From Scratch in 60 Minutes, With ActionScript 3 and Flash CS3

    by Saviz Artang

    I'll create the Asteroid's game from scratch in 60 minutes. No ActionScript experience required. If you've coded before you can follow along and see how easy it is to make web based games in the recently released OO based ActionScript 3 and Flash CS3.

    Presentation Material

  • Chris Sutton

    More Advanced ASP.Net MVC

    by Chris Sutton

    So you've worked with the basics of ASP.Net MVC and you are ready to delve into more advanced topics. Chris will give quick overview of the ASP.Net MVC framework and why it is important. Then we will jump right in to integrating the jQuery javascript library with ASP.Net MVC. We'll show how to do partial postbacks and how to make use of other advanced jQuery capabilities and effects. One of the benefits of ASP.Net MVC is that unit testing your page actions becomes much easier than in the current ASP.Net model. So we'll look a look at the basics of unit testing your MVC sites. Last, we'll talk about MVC deployment issues you may run into with IIS and how you can work around them.

  • Neil Iversen

    Extending PowerShell for Developers

    by Neil Iversen

    PowerShell provides a great set of commands to help with common administrative and development tasks, but sometimes more specialized options are needed. This session will focus on how to extend PowerShell to fit your organizaion's unique needs. We will cover the creation of new cmdlets, snapins, providers and extending .Net types and the reasons for doing each type of customization.

    Presentation Material

  • Colin Harrington

    Microsoft Silverlight and the SOA Architecture

    by Colin Harrington

    One of Silverlight's strong suits is its ability to leverage web services for a full SOA application. This presentation will demonstrate patterns and practices in consuming and interacting with different types of web services including WCF, JSON, regular asmx among other types of services. Utilizing Silverlight video, we will explore how to create a Rich Internet Application, and show how flexible and interoperable Silverlight can be.

    Presentation Material

  • Raymond Mitchell

    SharePoint Development - Beyond the Object Model

    by Raymond Mitchell

    A look at some of the behind the scenes technologies related to SharePoint including JavaScript, RPC, XSLT, and Web Services. We'll take a look at how SharePoint works some of its UI magic and how to make it do what we want it to do without jumping into .NET.

  • Robert Boedigheimer

    Things Every ASP.NET Developer Should Know

    by Robert Boedigheimer

    There are many things you need to know to be a good ASP.NET developer. Do you understand the basics of HTTP? Do you know what a request and response look like "on the wire"? Do you take advantage of HTTP compression and expirations to reduce bandwidth and requests to your web site? Benefit from many years of experience with web development and discover features, tools, and techniques that you may have never used before. Utilize response filters and adapters to modify the output of your pages. There will be a wide variety of useful tips that can be taken and used today on your ASP.NET web sites.

    Presentation Material

  • Justin Chase

    How to Build Your Own Visual Studio Integration Package

    by Justin Chase

    This session will discuss various types of visual studio integration scenarios, from custom tools to custom programming languages. We will be talking about the Visual Studio 2008 Shell in isolation mode, DSL Tools, Visual Studio Integration Packages and end with an example of a custom code generation tool.

    Presentation Material

  • Jerry Sevier

    Making SharePoint WCM Work for You

    by Jerry Sevier

    Whether upgrading from CMS 2002, converting your existing site, or starting from Scratch, there are a vareity of tools to make your migration to SharePoint 2007 easier. With the introduction of WCM into SharePoint 2007, the product is no longer just or corporate Intranets and/or collaboration portals. We'll show you how to have the flexibility and freedom of your own website yet programmatically exploit all the power of SharePoint.

    Presentation Material

  • John Thurow

    Explore What's New in SQL Server Reporting Services 2008

    by John Thurow

    Since it's release with SQL 2000, Report Services has provided an easy and scalable solution for providing end users with a view into their data. Taking advantage of a structured RDL model, developers can design and deploy reports quickly to a variety of formats. In this session we look at what's new in SSRS 2008 from architecture to design to deployment and how developers can take advantage of these great new features.

  • Greg Wilson

    Becoming 'The SQL Guy' in your Organization

    by Greg Wilson

    As we learned our first programming languages, most developers learned a little bit about SQL. But, for many, their understanding of SQL never grew much beyond the basic CRUD (Create/Read/Update/Delete) operations, some joins and occasionally the basics of using a cursor. Are you tired of taking all your SQL problems to other developers, begging for help? Want to become β€˜The SQL Guy' that everybody else brings their questions to? Join me for a rapid fire session that will help transform you from SQL White-belt to SQL Black belt. We will hit things like query optimization, recursion, tips on data-access layers in your apps and much more. Designed for the average developer who wants to step-up their SQL skills.

  • Chris Williams

    Game AI: Creating the Illusion of Intelligent Behavior in Your Characters

    by Chris Williams

    This talk will cover some of the basic AI techniques along with some brute force shortcuts and "good enough" AI.

  • Ron Hovland

    Windows Workflow Steppin' Out

    by Ron Hovland

    Is Workflow Foundation going to be the ugly-haired step-child in the . Net Foundations touted threesome of WCF, WPF, and WF? Only time will tell. We'll give it a walk around the block by taking a look at the two workflow structures: sequential and state machine. We will also highlight these features specifically: Branching Activities, Policy Activity, Workflow Persistence, and passing data into and out of the workflow.

  • Jim Ferguson

    SharePoint MasterPages: Through the Looking Glass...

    by Jim Ferguson

    Through attending this session you will gain a good deal of knowledge to help you begin/continue your journey into Moss Branding. We will begin with an overview of the Master Page Architecture, examine the possibilities available with CSS & Master Pages & Themes, discuss deployment scenarios and then touch on the issue of dealing with Application vs Site Master pages. This presentation presumes a basic familiarity with SharePoint and with ASP.Net.