Please joind me for these 2 webcasts this Thursday and Friday. VWG is a cool FREE set of tools to accelerate your ASP.NET AJAX and Silverlight Web Development. Guy Peled, CTO of Visual WebGui is joining me and he will build applications live during the webcats.

Click below to register - attendance is FREE !

Live From Redmond: Visual WebGui: An Enterprise AJAX application in 20 minutes.

It is all about simplicity: Simplicity in programming next generation complex AJAX application that makes the productivity difference.   In this Webcast we will demystify Visual WebGui. We will build a fully blown application in less than 20 minutes, and strip off the covers, showing you how you can cut your development cycle by as much as 90% .   Visual WebGui is open source, so you can dive into the code. Throughout the webcast we will demonstrate that while VWG enables rapid application development (RAD) , the developer is free to create custom controls, wrap third party controls , invoke HTML resources and interop with standard ASP.NET applications like DNN and others, all in a matter of minutes.

3/27/2008 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada)| Duration:60 Minutes

Live From Redmond: Visual WebGui: Silverlight for line-of-business application.

In this webcast we will "light up", in minutes, the fully blown line-of-business application that we built in our previous webcast adding the rich look and feel of Silverlight as well as its enhanced performance. You will see how we accomplish this by a "push of a button". We will demonstrate how to make WinForms controls available to your web application and  how you can style your UI by using fully enabled Expression Blend. The outcome is a very light footprint client, unaffected by application size and weight, and as a bonus, secured by design.  You will be shown how you  can, extend, invoke, interop and customize your application using Visual WebGui. 

3/28/2008 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada)| Duration:60 Minutes

-----

About the Live From Redmond series. This series of Live Meeting presentations are designed specifically for the community by members of the Microsoft product teams. The presentations are all done by actual team members working on the specific technology, and are a great way to hear from and ask your questions directly to the product team.

Some time ago I posted a list of links to Windows Workflow Foundation Tutorials and since then I've been getting an increasing number of requests for a list of links to WCF tutorials.

So, here you go!  Sixty Five Videos and Virtual Labs to make you a WCF Expert !

Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 01 of 15): Overview

Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 02 of 15): Contracts 

Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 03 of 15): Contract Versioning

Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 04 of 15): Exceptions and Faults

Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 05 of 15): Bindings

Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 06 of 15): Hosting

Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 07 of 15): Messaging Patterns

Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 08 of 15): Instancing Modes

Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 09 of 15): Concurrency, Throughput, and Throttling

Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 10 of 15): Security Fundamentals

Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 11 of 15): Federated Security

Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 12 of 15): Reliable Messaging

Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 13 of 15): Transactions

Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 14 of 15): Message Queuing

Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom (Part 15 of 15): Extensibility

Programming the Windows Communication Foundation

The Lifetime of a Message in Windows Communication Foundation

A Sneak Preview of Windows Communication Foundation from an Early Adopter's Perspective

Management and Diagnostics for Windows Communication Foundation

Load Balancing, Deployment, and Performance for Windows Communication Foundation

Taking Advantage of TCP/IP Reliability in SOAP

MSDN Webcast: Introduction to Windows Workflow Foundation

MSDN Webcast: Windows Communication Foundation

MSDN Webcast: In-Depth Answers to Your Questions About Windows Communication Foundation

Calling Windows Communication Foundation Services with ASP.NET AJAX Client Libraries (Part 1 of 2)

Calling Windows Communication Foundation Services with ASP.NET AJAX Client Libraries (Part 2 of 2)

 MSDN Webcast: Advanced Serialization

MSDN Webcast: Building Distributed Applications with Windows Communication Foundation 

MSDN Webcast: Building Connected Systems Using Windows Communication Foundation and Windows Workflow Foundation

Exposing Your Content as a Service Using Windows Communication Foundation

Building Powerful AJAX-Style Solutions with ASP.NET "Atlas" and Windows Communication Foundation

Extending Windows Communication Foundation

Working with Windows Communication Foundation

Windows Communication Foundation Web-Centric Capabilities in .NET Framework 3.5

Working with Operations and Calls in Windows Communication Foundation

Introducing Web Services Enhancements for Microsoft .NET (WSE) 3.0

Dissecting Contract-First Web Services

Live From Redmond: VB9 – Building Service-Oriented Applications with WCF

Migrating .NET Applications to Services Oriented Solutions with WCF

Writing Custom Channels for Windows Communication Foundation

Transactions in Distributed Solutions with Windows Communication Foundation

.NET 3.0 Series: Windows Communication Framework Overview

Transactions in Distributed Solutions with Windows Communication Foundation

Building Powerful AJAX-Style Solutions with ASP.NET "Atlas" and Windows Communication Foundation

Exposing Your Content as a Service Using Windows Communication Foundation

Web Services Interoperability with Java and J2EE Using Windows Communication Foundation ("Indigo")

Understanding Windows Communication Foundation Contracts

Building Microsoft Windows Communication Foundation and Windows Workflow Foundation Applications with Microsoft Visual Studio Codename "Orcas"

Windows Communication Foundation, Windows Workflow Foundation, and "InfoCard" in the Public Sector

Windows Communication Foundation, Windows Workflow Foundation, and Identity in Financial Services

The Web Service Software Factory Using WCF

Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) with Justin Smith

Building Workflow-Enabled Services with Windows Communication Foundation

A Sneak Preview of Windows Communication Foundation from an Early Adopter's Perspective

Live from PDC: A Guided Tour of "Indigo

Connecting Windows Workflow Foundations to Lotus Notes/Lotus Domino

Virtual Labs

Understanding Windows Communication Foundation Virtual Lab

Reliable and Transacted Messaging with the Windows Communication Foundation

A Server Scenario Lab with Windows Communication Foundation

WCF Introduction - Building a WCF Service

The Fundamentals of Programming the Windows Communication Foundation

Building a Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) Adapter using the WCF LOB Adapter SDK

Understanding Windows Communication Foundation Virtual Lab express

Links

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa663324.aspx

Also - Check out the WCF Security Guide !

http://www.codeplex.com/WCFSecurityGuide

I've known Scott for almost 10 years but when he hired me a few years ago I had no idea how much work he gets done.

Apart from managing the teams that deliver a dozen products for Microsoft, he travels and speaks everywhere, writes these detailed blog posts, and seems to know everything that's going on everywhere. (Like if the www.asp.net site if down for 40 seconds in the wee hours of the morning.)

Well, I've finally figured it out !

Check out this rare photo that PROOVES Scott Guthrie is actually triplets !!!

This explains ALOT !

I get hundreds of email a day from customers. Yesterday I received three email with the same question.

Do you have a few good links for getting up to speed with ASP,NET 3.5

So.... Here you go.

ASP.NET 3.5 and Visual Studio 2008

http://www.asp.net/downloads/vs2008/

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/s57a598e.aspx

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/aa700830.aspx

http://csna01.libredigital.com/?urvs5cn3s8

3.5 Extensions Links

http://www.asp.net/downloads/3.5-extensions/

http://www.asp.net/learn/3.5-extensions-videos/

http://www.asp.net/downloads/3.5-extensions/readme/

THEN .........................

Just subscribe to http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu where you can get great detailed stuff.

The 2nd presentation at next week's AJAX World is on AJAX Security.

After just coming back from MI 08 last week where Silverlight 2.0 was the hot topic, I've been thinking about the Silverlight security model. After all, anytime you install a binary extension to the browser there is a security consideration.

ActiveX was sort of all or nothing, Adobe Flash has had security challenges, Java Applets, Windows Forms browser controls, etc.

Shawn Farkas, who keeps a .NET Security log HERE has written several interesting entries on Silverlight security.

Here is a list for your enlightenment.

The Silverlight Security Model

Silverlight Security II: What Makes a Method Critical

Silverlight Security III: Inheritance

Silverlight Security Cheat Sheet

AJAX opens many interesting new doors in terms of how we can tailor the user experience to the customers needs and how we can display content based on any number of state context.

This sometimes means fetching and manipulating HTML or XML in our server side code and sending it to the browser as execution time via an AJAX request.

Earlier today I was "sprucing up" a demo on implementing the "Partial Page Update Pattern" in preparation for a talk on AJAX Patterns that I'm giving at AJAX World next week in New York.

I always try to minimize my demo application dependencies and isolate the concept that I'm talking about as much as possible and I wanted to return some markup to my web page and dynamically update the DOM, but I didn't want to add a file or database dependency so I decided to just store HTML in a VB string.

I wanted more than trivial markup and HTML is time consuming to convert to a programming friendly string, what with all those quotes and all.

I decided to write a little quickie utility to do string conversion of cut-and-paste HTML when a little searching produced a free utility to do just what I wanted.

It's great for testing, demos, or if you have a manual cut-and-paste editing process. (But don't REALLY store HTML in your source code !)

Try it out.

[Just Click Here to get your copy - it's free.]

I Love SQL Server Express. I write demos. Lots of them. SQL Express is great because it's free and works with .MDF files so that I can just bundle up the database with my demo and folks can download a demo, run, and experiment.

I'm "learning" to love Windows Vista.

My only real complaint is that we OVER DID security. I want a switch that says.....

1. Use Vista's Maximum Security (I never would.)
2. Lighten Up a Bit (You know, turn of UAC and such.)
3. Make security on this vista box just like Windows XP
4. Make me a GOD on this box (Super Grand Admin - I accept the responsibility.)
5. Windows 98 Mode (TURN IT ALL OFF.)

Life's been very busy these days and I'm working on some new illustrative demos for my AJAX World Talks next week.

Trying to connect to my SQL Express database from my ASP.NET code yields the following message.

"Failed to generate a user instance of SQL Server due to a failure in starting the process for the user instance. The connection will be closed."

... "a failure."

CAN YOU BE A BIT MORE SPECIFIC ????????

I know, I know, this is a typical Microsoft error message.

I know SQL Express installers locked down to some extend so I thought maybe the issue was disabled protocols as I was carrying forward some code, but alas - nothing seamed to help. I tried all the configuration tools, used the surface area tool and added everyone to the SQL admin's groups. NOTHING

After searching and playing for some time I got things working again and wanted to share the solution.

If you're running from the IDE then you are running as yourself so:

Delete C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server Data\SQLEXPRESS.

If you're running via IIS the user is usually ASPNET so....

Delete C:\Documents and Settings\COMPUTERNAME\USERNAME\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server Data\SQLEXPRESS

Hope you found this and it saves you some time.

Please joind me for these 2 webcasts this Thursday and Friday. VWG is a cool FREE set of tools to accelerate your ASP.NET AJAX and Silverlight Web Development. Guy Peled, CTO of Visual WebGui is joining me and he will build applications live during the webcats.

Click below to register - attendance is FREE !

Live From Redmond: Visual WebGui: An Enterprise AJAX application in 20 minutes.

It is all about simplicity: Simplicity in programming next generation complex AJAX application that makes the productivity difference.   In this Webcast we will demystify Visual WebGui. We will build a fully blown application in less than 20 minutes, and strip off the covers, showing you how you can cut your development cycle by as much as 90% .   Visual WebGui is open source, so you can dive into the code. Throughout the webcast we will demonstrate that while VWG enables rapid application development (RAD) , the developer is free to create custom controls, wrap third party controls , invoke HTML resources and interop with standard ASP.NET applications like DNN and others, all in a matter of minutes.

3/27/2008 11:00 PM Pacific Time (US & Canada)- 3/13/2008 2:00 PM | Duration:60 Minutes

Live From Redmond: Visual WebGui: Silverlight for line-of-business application.

In this webcast we will "light up", in minutes, the fully blown line-of-business application that we built in our previous webcast adding the rich look and feel of Silverlight as well as its enhanced performance. You will see how we accomplish this by a "push of a button". We will demonstrate how to make WinForms controls available to your web application and  how you can style your UI by using fully enabled Expression Blend. The outcome is a very light footprint client, unaffected by application size and weight, and as a bonus, secured by design.  You will be shown how you  can, extend, invoke, interop and customize your application using Visual WebGui. 

3/28/2008 11:00 PM Pacific Time (US & Canada)- 3/14/2008 2:00 PM | Duration:60 Minutes

-----

About the Live From Redmond series. This series of Live Meeting presentations are designed specifically for the community by members of the Microsoft product teams. The presentations are all done by actual team members working on the specific technology, and are a great way to hear from and ask your questions directly to the product team.

Scott Galloway, PM Extraordinaire on the UI team, compiled this cool list of resources concerning the cool stuff for Web Developers at MIX08.

You can also posthumously attend MIX08 here http://visitmix.com/

Downloads:

- MVC Preview 2 is live at:

o English - United States

o http://download.microsoft.com/download/7/9/a/79a7153c-4cb4-4898-a984-6f01d565cba9/AspNetMVCPreview2-setup.msi

- Silverlight tools (includes the ASP.NET server controls for Silverlight) is live at:

o http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=E0BAE58E-9C0B-4090-A1DB-F134D9F095FD&displaylang=en

- ASP.NET 3.5 Extensions Preview (December) Download page is updated and live at:

o http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=a9c6bc06-b894-4b11-8300-35bd2f8fc908&displaylang=en

ASP.NET Updates:

- ASP.NET home page announcement:

o http://www.asp.net/

- ASP.NET 3.5 Extensions download “page” is updated and live at:

o http://www.asp.net/downloads/3.5-extensions/

- ASP.NET 3.5 Extensions quickstarts is live at:

o http://quickstarts.asp.net/3-5-extensions/default.aspx

- ASP.NET MIX readme is live at:

o http://www.asp.net/downloads/3.5-extensions/readme/Preview2.aspx

- Forums Updates are live:

o http://forums.asp.net/default.aspx?GroupID=7. New ASP.NET server controls for Silverlight forum added.

o http://forums.asp.net/1147.aspx

- Videos are new and live at:

o http://www.asp.net/learn/3.5-extensions-videos/default.aspx#mvc

We've added a new comments feature to all the Videos posted at www.ASP.net .

Complete with a RSS feed for the comments.

Check it out and tell us what you think !