Odata.zip (4.71 mb)

Finally I am getting out my samples for my "Odata in the Real World" session which I presented at the Fall 2011 Richmond Code Camp, 2011 CMAP Code Camp and the November meeting of the Richmond .Net User Group. These samples contain 3 projects; one using Entity Framework, one using Linq to SQL and the last using POCO classes.

At the keynote; Steven Sinofsky talked about delivering Windows 7 to the marketplace. Then he talked about what’s coming next in IE9 and how IE is working on improving their ACID test scores. He then announce that all a PDC09 attendees will be receiving a brand new Acer laptop with Windows 7 64 bit; 2 gb of memory; with touch hardware (set up for developers).

Now Scott Guthrie, takes the stage. He announces Silverlight 4 beta is available for download. He shows some of the new features. They also added new sessions to show off the new features in Silverlight 4(there goes my perfectly planned schedule). Also .Net RIA Services (one of my favorite technologies) has been renamed WCF RIA Services.

Kurt DelBene then takes the stage and announces Office 2010 public beta and Sharepoint 2010 public beta is available for download.

As I planned I went to the Microsoft Silverlight 4 Overview; it was renamed because of the Silverlight 4 announcement.  They demonstrated the new features in Silverlight 4 such as Webcam support; printing support; the ability to build context menus and the addition of Rich TextBlock.

I was planning to go to a lunch session today; however it was canceled. In fact, I had planned two sessions on office today both have been canceled. It was just as well since there are 3 new Silverlight 4 sessions I now need to consider. Picked up t-shirts for the product teams and again looked at the HOL (Hands-on-labs).

For the next session I had 3 sessions on my schedule; the canceled office session; “ADO.NET Data Services: What’s New with the RESTful Data Services Framework”; “What’s New in Microsoft ASP.NET 4 Web Forms and Dynamic Data”. I choose the new session “Building Line of Business Applications with Microsoft Silverlight 4”. I saw demonstrated the data source window for the datagrid; VS2010 increase XMAL support including binding UI;  setting string formatting in the XMAL binding; binding to a command and a new interface for validation. There was more.

For the next timeslot; I had two sessions on my schedule “Microsoft AJAX Library, jQuery, and Microsoft Visual Studio 2010” and “Networking and Web Services in Microsoft Silverlight”. They had also added the new session “Improving and Extending the Sandbox with Microsoft Silverlight 4’. I decided to go to the networking session, because it is more in line with the application I am working on. I saw demonstrations on the improvements in RIA services; the new ClientHTTP networking stack and the TCP support now in Silverlight. Also the client policy files now have a template in VS2010.

For the last session I had “Microsoft ASP.NET MVC 2: The New Stuff” on my schedule; I however decided to go to the (HOL).  But before I went to the HOL; I picked up my new laptop. I then went to the HOL on Entity Framework 4; I will be using this stuff on my next project. I did not finish it, but it was great.

This was a great day. (new free laptop)

This was the first keynote ever that I was late for; I missed the first five minute. I will have to go back and watch it on line to see what I missed. The highlight of the keynote was, of course, the enhancements to Windows Azure. One of the big things for me was Ray talking about private clouds; hosted clouds and public clouds; this I think will be good way to get the major Corporations on board. They show partners with good stories on why the cloud is important. Another announcement that made at the keynote is that Windows Azure was going to support other development tools like PHP. This could be game changing, because Microsoft is including all developers(I heard them using the word Tomcat).  At the keynote there were also demonstrations with the new Identity frame. The keynote shows functionality in Visual Studio 2010, that I was not aware of like support for multiple monitors. This was also the first Keynote that I can remember that finished early (they usually finish late).

After the keynote was a snack break, good thing there was no breakfast because I would have not been able to resist the doughnuts.

Next on my schedule I had “FT02 - Data Programming and Modeling for the Microsoft .NET Developer “, which I chose, and “FT11 - Future Directions for C# and Visual Basic”. This session was really talking about modeling with the ADO.NET Entity framework. It is focusing on the new features in the Microsoft Entity Framework Feature CTP 2 for Visual Studio 2010.  This session demonstrated the modeling tools “M” and “Quantant” with Entity Framework. This one of the technologies I will be trying out when I return to Virginia.

The lunch buffet followed, I grab too much food, could not finish the salmon (it was good). I did however finish desert.   After eating I did quick walk around the “Big Room” saw the HOL (Hands-on-labs), some looked interesting will have to go back later. There however was a long line for the Windows Azure HOL (there are giving away a Flip Camera for completing one). I decided to go to a Lunch session (It was on my schedule), “CL30 - Microsoft Expression Blend 3 for Developers: Tips, Tricks and Best Practices”. I am trying to use Blend and have been many sessions on it this year (Mix, Tech-ed, local user groups and code camps).  I also bought a book on it. I believe the more exposure the better I will become at it. This session showed me things I need to try. I will have to watch this session again online with Blend opened.

Next on my schedule I had “FT18 - Microsoft ASP.NET Futures”.  Since I am an ASP.Net developer, this was a great session for me.  This session showed the features the ASP.Net team is working on. The ASP.Net Helpers I thought was very interesting (email verification; background task; file upload progress).     

The next session I went to was “FT10 - Evolving ADO.NET Entity Framework in Microsoft .NET Framework 4 and Beyond”, which was on schedule, this was a great follow-up the “FT02 - Data Programming and Modeling for the Microsoft .NET Developer”, I went to earlier. This session show how to use your POCO classes to generate a database from them (very cool). Other things that were demonstrated; the use of Store Procs, doing lazy loading, and the use of the repository pattern in EF.

For the last session of the day I had “CL23 - SketchFlow: Prototyping to the Rescue” and “FT32 - Code Contracts and Pex: Power Charge Your Assertions and Unit Tests”. However at that point in the day I was not in a mode for either topic, so I went to “FT08 - Code Visualization, UML, and DSLs” instead. This session demonstrated some of the new architect features and why they are useful for developers. I especially liked thing how it handle existing code with diagrams to help a developer figure out what the code is doing.

I was then off to the Partner Expo. I have a goal on trying not to bring home too much SWAG. There were great T-Shirts as always. Free beer, hamburgers; still full from lunch (there was a lot of food there).

The highlight of PDC09 Day One – the changes in EF

Attched are the Demos I did at the Nova Code Camp on Oct 10, 2009

These Demos have a simple Silverlight 3 app data binding local object;  talking to SQL Server database using classic ADO.Net, ADO.NET Entity Framework and LINQ to SQL; communicating to an asp.net web project using ASMX web services, WCF web services, ADO.NET Data Services and.Net RIA Services.

Nova Code Camp - Silverlight Data Access.zip (9.90 mb)

Data Access With Silverlight 3.ppt (2.59 mb)