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Français · Montreal, May 17, 2008 18:29 ET
 
   

Sessions

.NET Rocks (DNR) will record a show at the DevTeach Toronto
Carl and Richard will host a panel discussion on The Future of .NET at the DevTeach developer conference in Toronto. Panelists: Ted Neward, Oren Eini, Scott Bellware.

SQL Server IT Track

Additivity in SQL Server Analysis Services
Val Matison - SQL394 -> Evaluation
Summarizing data quickly and accurately is the ultimate goal of any OLAP system. SQL Server Analysis Services facilitates this requirement by supporting many types of additive behaviors. This session will discuss the unique requirements of measures that are additive, semi additive or non additive across dimensions. The session will address potential errors when using the sum operator in strict and non-strict hierarchies and alternate or multiple path hierarchies. These issues are faced when analyzing optimized inventory levels problems or when dealing with accounting or banking data.

DBA 101: Best Practices for DBA
Brad M. McGehee - SQL101 -> Material Evaluation
DBA 101: Best Practices Every Beginning DBA Should Know

With the continued popularity of SQL Server, more and more people are becoming SQL Server DBAs, whether they planned to or not. Many new DBAs come from the development side, while others come from the IT/networking side. But what these new DBAs find in common is a lack of a basic knowledge of what it really means to be a DBA. In this session, you will learn the basics of what is means to be a DBA, with pointers on how to make becoming a DBA a smart career choice.

Govern This!
Rick Heiges - SQL329 -> Material Evaluation
One of the coolest features in SQL Server 2008 is the Resource Governor. In this session, we will discover how to configure this new feature and where it can be useful. Demos will also be a key feature of this presentation to illustrate the effectiveness of this new feature.

How to Use SQL Server Hints
Brad M. McGehee - SQL243 -> Material Evaluation
Most of the time, the SQL Server query optimizer does a great job of selecting an optimal query plan. On a rare occasion it does not, and when it does not, then hints are sometimes needed to help the query optimizer create an optimal query plan. In this session we learn what hints are, learn when they should be used, and how they should be used. Best practices for using hints will also be discussed.

Introduction to Business Intelligence
Jessica Moss - SQL201 -> Material Evaluation
More details soon...

Key Database Trends
Paul Nielsen - SQL240 -> Material Evaluation
The database world is evolving at a rapid pace with new ideas and completing features. But not every new idea has merit. SQL Server 2005 was criticized by the Gartner Group for being a everything-but-the-kitchen-sink collection of mismatched features. In this highly controversial session, we’ll take a look at the plethora of new features and attempt to prognosticate their fate.

Life in the Express Lane
Rick Heiges - SQL211 -> Material Evaluation
What can express really do? What are the limitations? Can I make a scalable application with SQL Server Express? What do I do if I need to grow beyond Express? These questions will addressed as well as an overview of features and gotchas as your application grows out of express.

Migrating DTS Packages to SSIS
Jessica Moss - SQL387 -> Material Evaluation
Upgrading to SQL Server 2005 can be a major challenge for companies, but migrating your DTS packages to SSIS packages doesn't have to be. This session will walk you through the steps needed to migrate your packages, including using the Upgrade Advisor and the Package Migration Wizard. We will discuss the items that the Wizard can handle, how to adjust for items that the Wizard can handle, and when it is best to throw the Wizard out the window.

Most common SQL Server Design Blunders
Paul Nielsen - SQL371 -> Evaluation
10 most common SQL Server Design and Development Blunders

In my consulting practice, I specialize in troubleshooting ISV database performance and integrity issues. In this session I’ll walk through the steps I take on the job to discover the problems and detail the 10 most common errors I see in these high-priced databases.

SQL Server 2008 Performance Data Collector
Brad M. McGehee - SQL276 -> Material Evaluation
Introducing the SQL Server 2008 Performance Data Collector

In previous versions of SQL Server, performance tuning was often difficult because the available tools weren’t always easy to use or interpret. In SQL Server 2008, Microsoft is introducing the new Performance Data Collector. This comprehensive new toolset has been designed integrate the collection, analysis, troubleshooting, and persistence of SQL Server diagnostics information, making the jobs of DBA much easier. In this session, you will learn about the Performance Studio’s many powerful features, along with best practices to get the most out of this new tool.

SQL Server 2008 Performance Monitoring...
Damir Bersinic - SQL233 -> Material Evaluation
SQL Server 2008 Performance Monitoring Using Management Studio

In this session you will learn about the new enhancements to Management Studio that allow you to monitor database performance and activity, and create a performance data warehouse to track performance over time. You will learn about the new Performance Studio architecture and features, as well as some best practices for using it. You will also find out server and client side components of Performance Studio including the Data Collector, the Management Data Warehouse, and the SQL Server dashboard. Finally, you will learn about how Performance Studio integrates with the System Center product family.

SQL Server Dynamic Management Views
Randy Dyess - SQL210 -> Material Evaluation
SQL Server 2005 introduced the new performance and diagnostic capabilities of dynamic management views and functions and with the release of SQL Server 2008, these views and functions have been extended. Attendees of this session will be introduced to many of the new DMVs and DMFs found in SQL Server and how those views and functions can be utilized by the DBA to manage their SQL Server environments.

SQL Server Worst and Best Practices
Peter DeBetta - SQL262 -> Evaluation
Duo with Roman Rehak.

Time and again, you will hear people speak about "best practices" and "preferred practices" in SQL Server 2005 and 2008, but nobody ever warns you about the things you shouldn't be doing. Learn how to make your SQL server prone to SQL Injection, how to use the CLR for all data access, how to use cursors instead of DML, and so on. Come and learn from the masters of worst practices! Of course, we will cover best practices as well.

SSIS Tips & Tricks
Jessica Moss - SQL330 -> Material Evaluation
SQL Server Integration Services is an essential part of a company's data process. Used for ETL and control flow, SSIS can be a boon for many enterprise solutions. Because this product offers such a steep learning curve for the uninitiated, take advantage of my experience by hearing some tips to get the most out of your packages. This session will offer tips and advice on common business problems, including code re-use, configuration, and logging.

Understanding SQL Server Execution Plans
Randy Dyess - SQL267 -> Material Evaluation
Need to optimize your queries but do not know where to start? Have you been told to review the execution plan but do not know what to look for? In this session, you will learn how to review a stored procedure’s execution plan to understand the flow of the stored procedure as well as determine likely areas needing to be optimized. This session will present a few of the top performance issues that are common in a large number of queries and how you can easily spot these areas by reviewing the execution plan.

Upgrading to SQL Server 2005 and 2008
Rick Heiges - SQL343 -> Material Evaluation
Need to upgrade? Find out the latest on the Upgrade process to 2005 and 2008. With a large majority of the SQL Server installations still on SQL Server 2000, this session will discuss the tools available to help you get up to the latest generation of SQL Server.

SQL Server Dev. Track

Authorization, Privilege, and Access ControlAcc
Adam Machanic - SQL374 -> Material Evaluation
SQL Server 2005: Authorization, Privilege, and Access Control

Data security is a big topic, but it all boils down to one simple principle: Least privilege. At any given time, a user should have direct access to only the bare minimum resources required to do whatever it is the user needs to do. SQL Server 2005 offers several new features to help developers more granularly control access and dynamically authorize users, in order to support least privilege design methodologies. In this session you will learn about schemas, ownership chaining, impersonation, and module signing, and how each of them plays into the security puzzle and help you to create simple yet robust schemes to make sure that only properly authorized users can access your data.

Designing Concurrent SQL Server Database App.
Adam Machanic - SQL327 -> Material Evaluation
Designing Highly Concurrent SQL Server Database Applications

Our jobs as developers would be so much easier if we didn't have to worry about any users using the software we created—it's amazing how well an application can scale with zero concurrent users. But fortunately for our careers (and unfortunately for our stress levels), we often have to deal with the opposite problem: Lots of users, all trying to manipulate the same data at the same time. In this session we will start with a discussion of the various types of concurrency issues you might encounter in different scenarios, and then move on to an analysis of techniques for solving the problems that concurrency brings to the table. We will look at both the tools SQL Server provides natively (such as isolation level settings), as well as database and application design strategies that can help to maximize the user experience in highly concurrent applications.

Identifying Performance Bottlenecks
Joe Webb - SQL341 -> Material Evaluation
When a SQL Server application is under performing, how can you isolate where the actual problem is? Would more memory help? What about adding additional processors? Or maybe some indexes are missing? In this session, we will explore how SQL Profiler and Performance Monitor can be used to uncover your SQL Server's bottleneck.

Managing Hierarchies in SQL Server 2008
Peter DeBetta - SQL292 -> Evaluation
Managing hierarchical and tree structure data in any data store can be challenging. Several techniques exist that can solve the problem of modeling and implementing this type of data. This session shows you how to design and implement these different techniques, including the new HIERARCHYID, for managing hierarchical data structures in SQL Server 2008.

Message in a bottle: Service Broker in 75 minutes!
Klaus Aschenbrenner - SQL311 -> Material Evaluation
Message in a bottle: Service Broker from 1 to 100 in 75 minutes!

Service Broker provides several new key features for building SOA applications directly with SQL Server 2005. This "No slides – just code" session shows you, in just 75 minutes, how to build an SOA-based, secure, reliable, and distributed messaging application with SQL Server 2005 Service Broker from scratch. We’ll cover:

Reporting (ReportViewer and related technology)
William R. Vaughn - SQL282 -> Material Evaluation
Based on Bill’s latest book, this session walks you through a series of live code examples that illustrate how to leverage the new Visual Studio and SQL Server 2005 RDL-based reporting features. We’ll see how to create a new report from scratch and how to import a report created with SQL Server Reporting Services. We’ll setup a report-specific data source, capture user parameters to focus the report data, capture multiple-select parameters, pass parameters to the queries and execute stored procedures to return data for the report. We’ll build table and chart reports and applications used to launch the reports. We’ll show how to deploy the reports and implement (fake) some of the features you’ll only find on Reporting Services. We’ll also look at the new SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services features that can leverage this same technology as implemented in SQL Server Express and other editions. When you’re done you’ll have a better understanding of the differences between the Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services implementations.

Searching and Sorting Problem with Encrypted Data
Don Kiely - SQL232 -> Material Evaluation
Solving the Searching and Sorting Problem with Encrypted Data

Native support for encryption was one of the most compelling reasons to upgrade to SQL Server 2005 oh so long ago. But it brought along a niggling problem: how do you search or sort encrypted data? Those operations by their nature require exposing data, violating the protection that encryption offers. Several solutions have been floating around, but most are a bit convoluted to implement, to say the least. During this session we'll look at the problem and explore how to solve it, selecting the best for your particular scenario.

Service Broker Enhancements in SQL Server 2008
Klaus Aschenbrenner - SQL352 -> Material Evaluation
SQL Service Broker 2008 provides you several new features for building scalable, reliable, and distributed database applications. This session looks at these new features and show you how you can use them in your Service Oriented Database Architecture:

SQL Server 2005 CLR Executables
William R. Vaughn - SQL257 -> Material Evaluation
Using a series of demos drawn from his latest book, this session walks developers through the process of creating each of the CLR executables including Stored Procedures, Functions, UserDefined Types, Aggregates and Triggers. We’ll talk about what kind of executables make sense and which don’t. I’ll show examples that have never been shown by anyone else that really push the CLR executable technology to the limits.

SQL Server 2008 - New Features for Developers
Peter DeBetta - SQL265 -> Evaluation
SQL Server 2008 has a host of new features for developers. This session will introduce attendees to topics such as the new Geometric, Geographic and FileStream data types available in SQL Server 2008, new XML features, new T-SQL features, and so on....

SQL Server 2008 and the GEOGRAPHY data type
Klaus Aschenbrenner - SQL242 -> Evaluation
The introduction of the GEOGRAPHY data type in SQL Server 2008 provides you a lot of new features for location-aware database applications. This session shows you with a real world scenario how you can enhance a CRM (customer relationship management) application with the GEOGRAPHY data type. To better visualize your query results, this session also shows you how the GEOGRAPHY data type works together with the Virtual Earth platform.

SQL Server 2008 Database Engine Enhancement
Damir Bersinic - SQL213 -> Material Evaluation
In this session you will learn about the enhancements made to the SQL Server core database engine in the 2008 release. You will learn about the new auditing capabilities of the SQL Server 2008 engine, as well as how transparent data encryption works, and the management of your encryption keys and certificates. You will also find out how to make use of Table Valued Parameters (TBVs), and how integration of Full Text Indexing and the new FILESTREAM data type within the engine streamlines database backup and recovery issues. The new spatial data types, as well as compression and other engine enhancements will also be covered.

SQL Server Indexes for .NET developers
Randy Dyess - SQL261 -> Material Evaluation
Most developers and DBAs have a basic understanding of the differences in SQL Server indexes. This presentation takes that knowledge one step further by building on that knowledge and trying to explain what makes a good index, what are index and column statistics, how you can maintain your indexes for peak query performance, how you can utilize indexes in your queries, and how the query optimizer interacts with the indexes and statistics to create a valid execution plan. This session covers both SQL Server 2005 and 2008 indexes.

Table Value Parameters Revolutionize Programming!
Don Kiely - SQL433 -> Material Evaluation
Such an innocuous name—table value parameters—for a radical new feature in SQL Server 2008! It’s the sort of thing that sounds like only a geek could love: pass a table to a procedure and/or get a table back. But it will change the way you think about programming SQL Server forever! If you’ve ever passed a comma or other delimited list of data values to a stored procedure, then split them up and processed them, or bumped up against the parameter limits, you know the pain that is now forever gone. In this session we’ll explore this new features, including the syntax and how to make use of it, both in SQL Server code as well as client code. You’ll leave the session wondering how you ever programmed without them!

The 64-bit Question: Which Platform?
Rick Heiges - SQL231 -> Material Evaluation
Why should I think about 64-bit now on SQL Server? What are some of the benefits that I can realize right now if I upgrade to 64-bit? Can I consolidate multiple servers on to a single 64-bit server? How do I know it will work? What is the difference between IA64 and x64? These questions will be answered as well as a comparison of current and expected 64-bit offerings available in the workplace and also a discussion of 64-bit SQL Server 2000/2005/2008.

Tips & Tricks for Writing Better Queries
Joe Webb - SQL326 -> Material Evaluation
Transact-SQL is not a very difficult language to learn. As long as the syntax is correct, it can be quite forgiving. However to truly get the best performance from your SQL Server, careful consideration should be given to the structure and logic of the queries. In this session, we'll discuss some Transact-SQL tips and tricks that can be employed to help you write better queries, allowing your server to perform better.

VS2005 Team Edition for Database Professionals
Chris Dufour - SQL272 -> Material Evaluation
Introduction to VS2005 Team Edition for Database Professionals

Microsoft Visual Studio Team Edition for Database Professionals enables database professionals with more control over their Microsoft SQL Server databases throughout the application life cycle, and with a foundation of change management and process integration through an integrated set of functionality that enables database developers and administrators to be more productive, increase security and drive quality.

Workflow driven Service Broker solutions
Klaus Aschenbrenner - SQL338 -> Material Evaluation
Service Broker is an asynchronous messaging framework directly built into SQL Server 2005. Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) on the other hand is the new workflow framework that is part of the .NET framework 3.0. This “No slides – just code” session shows you, how you can create Service Broker solutions that are driven by a workflow implemented with WF. We’ll cover:

IT Pro/Server Track

BizTalk 2006 R2 EDI/AS2 capabilities. Deep Dive
Matt Meleski - ITP351 -> Material Evaluation
BizTalk 2006 R2 has finally hit the mark when processing EDI messages. This session will explore the completely re-written and re-architected EDI/AS2 functionality in BizTalk 2006 R2. Numerous demonstrations will describe how to process EDI messages in BizTalk 2006 R2. Demonstrations will include: Modifying the supplied X-12 and EDIFACT Schemas (BizTalk ships with 8000+ EDI schemas), setting up batching, mapping EDI messages ,automatically processing 997 acknowledgement messages , using the new EDI/AS2 send and receive pipelines, creating EDI parties.

BizTalk 2006 R2 WCF Adapters. An in Depth Look.
Matt Meleski - ITP352 -> Material Evaluation
One of the additions to BizTalk 2006 R2 is the suite of new WCF Adapters. This session will demonstrate the new adapters in depth. Numerous demonstrations will include advanced WCF adapter topics such as: error handling, hosting, security, message processing, handling transactions. Additionally custom WCF Binding and the out of the box WCF adapter bindings will be covered. Finally , we’ll introduce the new adapter framework where an adapter built with this framework can be used in BizTalk and any .Net application.

Customizing the Team System Web Test Framework
Benjamin Day - ITP391 -> Material Evaluation
At first glance, the Web Tests in Visual Studio Team System might not seem very powerful or interesting but the web test framework can actually do a lot – it just takes a little customization.

Developing using virtualization technologies
Etienne Tremblay - ITP245 -> Material Evaluation
Are you a consultant? An enterprise developer? Do you have multiple customers for which you develop solutions and maintain them, well virtualization is for you! Come and see why in this session. Virtualization is more and more important in this day and age and to start using it the right way, we will cover those specific subjects in this session: Installation, Virtual Networks, Virtual Machines, Simple and group development environments, tips and tricks.

Evaluating Virtualization Tools and Technologies
Anil Desai - ITP247 -> Material Evaluation
There’s far more than one way to implement virtualization. For example, Microsoft has several different products which are designed to help solve organizations’ largest IT challenges. This presentation will cover information about presentation virtualization (Citrix and Windows Terminal Services), application virtualization (Virtuzzo and Microsoft SoftGrid), and server virtualization (including products from VMware, Microsoft, and other vendors). The goal is to help IT professionals determine the best solution(s) for implementing virtualization in their environments.

Introduction to BizTalk Server 2006 R2
Matt Meleski - ITP350 -> Material Evaluation
An Introduction to BizTalk Server 2006 R2 for .Net Developers and Architects

Building an integration solution can be a daunting task. Some of the challenges to consider when building a B2B or Enterprise Application Integration are: receiving messages over different transports, encrypting messages, decrypting messages, dynamically sending messages over various transports, transforming messages, persisting messages, handling server failures , tracking messages ,long running and atomic transactions, scaling out a messaging solution , handling different message formats (XML, Flat File, EDI, Spreadsheets, binaries etc). BizTalk Server provides a framework and infrastructure for all of the above and more. Using numerous demonstrations, this presentation will highlight the messaging framework that BizTalk provides and will contrast BizTalk with other technologies such as WCF, WF. Other features of BizTalk will also be covered such as: The Rules Engine, Business Activity Monitoring and handing EDI messages with BizTalk.

Project Management
Michael Lato - ITP203 -> Material Evaluation
Would you like your projects to complete on a high note? This session will provide the project management tools needed to produce a successful production release for your code. Highlights include writing successful beta tests, quality review and rollback plans.

SQL Server Data Protection and High Availability
Anil Desai - ITP233 -> Material Evaluation
SQL Server includes numerous features for protecting important data and ensuring high-availability. This presentation will provide live demonstrations of implementing backup and recovery plans, log-shipping, database mirroring, Fail-Over clusters and database snapshots. The presentation includes recommendations for choosing the best approach given a set of requirements. Presentation scripts and sample code will also be made available.

Successful Design Planning
Michael Lato - ITP269 -> Material Evaluation
We all complete a full design document prior to coding, don’t we? What elements should be included in the design document? This session will explore a number of techniques for producing a solid design document and obtaining buy-in from the end users.

Unit Testing with Visual Studio Team System
Mike Diehl - ITP366 -> Material Evaluation
Unit Testing with Visual Studio Team System for Database Professionals

In this session we will use the unit testing framework and T-SQL to test functions and stored procedures in a Database project, using Data Dude.

Windows Server 2008’s Hyper-V: Inside and Out
Anil Desai - ITP288 -> Material Evaluation
One of the most compelling features of Windows Server 2008 is its completely new virtualization feature. This presentation will provide details related to the architecture of Hyper-V and what it means to IT departments. Details related to deploying and managing VMs will be presented, with a focus on virtual hard disk and virtual network management. Attendees will also learn how to automate virtualization using WMI and Windows PowerShell.

Post-Con

Building Business Applications with Silverlight 2.
Rod Paddock - POS277 -> Material Evaluation
Make plans to stay an extra day after the conference to take advantage of this opportunity to join veteran software developers 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. Make it a priority to not let yourself or your organization get left behind. Come join Rod and Jim as they provide an in-depth look at the future of Rich Internet Application development with Microsoft Silverlight 2.0.

SQLCLR from Beginner to Expert By Adam Machanic
Adam Machanic - POS259 -> Material Evaluation
The integration of the Common Language Runtime into SQL Server 2008 provides SQL Server developers and DBA with a vast new toolset for solving complex business and technical problems. This full day post-con event is designed for SQL Server DBA and developers who know some .NET or .NET developers with a strong interest in databases, and is designed to take the attendee from SQLCLR beginner to expert. You will learn all of the ins and outs of working with SQLCLR routines, including best practices for leveraging them in real-world scenarios.

TDD workshop by Scott Bellware & Jean-Paul
Jean-Paul Boodhoo - POS101 -> Evaluation
Through test-driven development, programmers learn how to produce systems of objects that are easier to understand and learn, more appropriate to the requirements at hand, and more resilient to change. Additionally, by introducing thorough testing early into the process, bugs are found and fixed quicker, reducing cost, increasing predictability and driving better software.

Vendor sessions

Changing role of the SQL Server DBA
Bryan Oliver - VEN133 -> Evaluation
In today’s world the role of the DBA is fast changing from been task orientated trouble shooter to the pro-active DBA who is monitoring the activities and resolving issues before the become apparent to the end user. Through the use of better tools both from with in SQL Server Management Studio and Third Party Vendors the ability of the DBA to monitor all the activities of a SQL Server makes the role of the DBA more pro-active. The metrics that a DBA uses requires an increase in skill level of the DBA in both understanding and interpreting the information presented to him. How we collect what we store and this information is presented to both the DBA and further more his management team is vital in taking advantage of the full use of the DBA’s skill level.

Consuming SAP data with K2 Connect
Tim Knechtel - VEN255 -> Evaluation
Consuming SAP data within your .Net applications with K2 Connect

Connecting to SAP data has always been a challenging, time consuming process for any .Net developer. In this session we will show how developers can easily work with SAP data using K2 Connect. K2 Connect functionality provides a deep integration point between K2 and SAP that allows designers to build K2 service objects that surface SAP data for use in any process-driven application without having to write code. Service Objects built with K2 connect for SAP can be used to not only surface SAP data within your applications but can also update data directly in SAP that has been modified as part of any of your process applications.

Pre-Con

Design and Optimization Best-Practices with SQL Se
Paul Nielsen - PRE202 -> Evaluation
Learn how to develop high-performance databases with Paul Nielsen. The Design and Optimization Best-Practices Seminar details each layer of optimization theory, so you'll know exactly how to develop, refactor, or tune databases for high-performance. I've packed all my favorite database design and development techniques into this intense practical seminar.

Pragmatic Application Design
William R. Vaughn - PRE101 -> Material Evaluation
This series of sessions is designed to take a developer, architect or database administrator through the fundamentals and many of the more technical details of designing and implementing applications using the .NET Framework, Visual Studio and SQL Server. This workshop is not so much about future or expected versions of Visual Studio or the unreleased tools and platforms you hear so much about—it’s about how to use the current, stable and trusted versions of the .NET Framework, Visual Studio and SQL Server. The sessions discuss real-world and practical solutions to the problems most companies face—especially smaller companies or smaller departments in larger companies that have to interface with existing data stores of all shapes and sizes.

William Vaughn has been mentoring, teaching, consulting and writing about .NET since its inception and about SQL Server since it was first brought to Microsoft by Sybase in 1989 about 16 years ago. His 11th and 12th books focus on these very subjects—Hitchhiker’s Guide to Visual Studio and SQL Server (7th Edition) and Hitchhiker’s Guide to SQL Server 2005 Compact Edition—each attendee will receive a copy of the 7th Edition.

WPF at Work in the Real World
Kevin McNeish - PRE201 -> Material Evaluation
Windows Forms technology has been officially “dead-ended” by Microsoft and its replacement is Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)! This full day, pre-con gets you up to speed quickly in a content-intensive presentation of WPF. During this training you will see the iPhone™ user interface recreated from scratch using WPF and running under Windows on your laptop . We find using this practical (and fun) example helps students understand WPF concepts better as they see them implemented in a real-world user interface.

SharePoint Track

Accessing External Data Sources Through SharePoint
Reza Alirezaei - NET309 -> Material Evaluation
Imagine that your SharePoint sites must contain structured data in a high volume and you need to perform complex queries and actions against it. Obviously, there are pros and cons of storing such information in SharePoint lists or in a custom SQL database. Realistically speaking, neither of these approaches alone nor Business Data Catalog (a.k.a BDC) is the answer to all of your data integration woes. You like the versioning, approval, bulk editing , rich UI and other good features that SharePoint lists offer but you are also concerned about the performance of your complex cross-list queries, CAML limitations (like 'join' , 'Select distinct') and optimized searching. You need to provide a common metadata repository and a hybrid framework for accessing external data sources through SharePoint utilizing all your options including BDC, Data View Web Part and custom code to keep both data structures in sync. In this session I will show you how you can surface information from your backend databases into your SharePoint sites, when to keep structured data in SharePoint lists and when not and eventually how in real world implementation you will end up combining all your options to come up with a robust solution with much better performance!

External Facing Web Sites with SharePoint
Barry Gervin - NET313 -> Material Evaluation
Building External Facing Web Sites with SharePoint

SharePoint is not just for intranets any more. With SharePoint 2007, features from the old Content Management Server have been enabled to support Web Content Management Scenarios. In this session, we’ll talk about the process of branding a site so it looks the way you want (and not like SharePoint) and then show you how to allow your authors to create, publish, schedule and approve their own content, complete with their own version control system. We’ll examine the art of information architecture and how it applies to defining WCM content types and page layouts. Understanding site hierarchy and navigation is also important for site design as is the approval workflow process and security for each of those sites.

Forms Based Authentication in SharePoint
Reza Alirezaei - NET308 -> Material Evaluation
Forms based authentication in SharePoint with the SQL Server membership provider

In ASP.NET 2.0 , there is an important concept called provider model which is used for many new feature such as Membership/Role Management, Profiles, etc. SharePoint is built on the top of ASP.NET 2.0 which means it can utilize everything that ASP.NET 2.0 offers including SQL Membership provider. In this session learn how to set this up, get yourself familiar with issues/workarounds, managing your custom profiles and finally how to leverage this solution for exposing your SharePoint sites to external users. This is an advanced session, targeting both IT Pros and Developers and attendees will receive fully commented source code with step-by-step walkthroughs for the exercises shown during demo.

Integrating ASP.NET AJAX with SharePoint
Rob Windsor - NET361 -> Material Evaluation
SharePoint provides a great infrastructure for quickly building intranet and Internet applications. ASP.NET AJAX provides a foundation for creating highly productive Web interfaces. Combined they are two great tastes that taste great together! In this session we will cover the basics of working with ASP.NET AJAX inside of SharePoint 2007. We will take a look at how to prepare a Web Application for ASP.NET AJAX, and how to use various ASP.NET AJAX tools such as the JavaScript libraries, JSON-enabled Web services, and UpdatePanels to build add rich interactivity to your SharePoint sites.

Introduction to Programming Workflows SharePoint
Bill Brockbank - NET245 -> Evaluation
With the addition of workflow into Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, you are now able to add your business processes to SharePoint. In this session we'll cover the role of workflow in SharePoint, and see what Microsoft gives you out-of-box in way of activities and workflow templates. We will discuss how to create custom activities and workflow associations using Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer and then see how to build and deploy reusable workflow templates with Visual Studio.

Introduction to the Business Data Catalog
Jeff Kelly - NET122 -> Material Evaluation
The Business Data Catalog lets you create schema definitions to expose data from back end systems and databases. We will look at the internals of an “application definition file” and the tools used to create one. We will deploy this file to SharePoint and look at all the powerful capabilities to define actions against the application, the web parts used to interact with data, and other key integration points (e.g. lists). We will also look at programmatically executing one of queries contained the application definition.

SharePoint 101
Medhat Elmasry - NET101 -> Material Evaluation
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 provide a collection of tools and services you can use to improve user and team productivity, effectively share information, and facilitate decision making. This session will introduce you to SharePoint. You will see how easy it is to create a website, install templates, configure the look and feel, create custom lists, modify pages, add WebParts, and modify views. We will also look at the SharePoint permission model. We will be using the free Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (WSS 3.0).

SharePoint 2007 Advanced Development
Medhat Elmasry - NET367 -> Material Evaluation
The latest incarnation of SharePoint provides developers with many opportunities to extend SharePoint's functionality. We will look at some very practical solutions involving web services, accessing the SharePoint SDK using the Object Model, Event Receivers, and creating your own Custom Field Types. Solutions will be deployed as SharePoint features. The programming language is C#. Although examples will be demonstrated using the free Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (WSS 3.0), knowledge acquired is equally transferable to MOSS 2007.

Ten Tricks Every SharePoint Developer Should Know
Mauro Sant’Anna - NET201 -> Evaluation
Ten tricks every Sharepoint developer should know but is afraid to ask

When developing for Sharepoint, there are many tricks and tips that help you be much more productive. This demo-filled presentation will show the ten most important tricks to help you accelerate your Sharepoint development. All those tricks are based on real-work, hands-on experience.

Using Excel, the BDC, Dashboard Web Parts, and TFS
Joel Semeniuk - NET255 -> Evaluation
Using Excel Services, the BDC, Dashboard Web Parts, and Team Foundation Server together

Both SharePoint and Team Foundation Server provide power tools that work to help your team collaborate with one another. Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) also contains some additional features you could use to increase the visibility of your project and level of collaboration across team members. In this session the presenter will explore real world scenarios that will help you use Excel Services, the Business Data Connector, and Dashboard web parts to surface valuable information stored within the Team Foundation Server's OLAP cube.

VSTO Does SharePoint
Mauro Sant’Anna - NET211 -> Evaluation
The ability to extend Office by developing VSTO extensions is an exciting one, as well as developing client applications that interact with data in SharePoint. Marrying the two capabilities allows the development of very powerful integrated office applications. However there are some tricks and pitfalls that you must know in order to call SharePoint from Office. This example-based session will show you how to integrate VTSO with Windows Sharepoint Services.

WebParts for SharePoint 2007
Medhat Elmasry - NET365 -> Material Evaluation
WebParts provide the fundamental building blocks for creating custom applications in SharePoint. This session will show you how to efficiently and quickly use your ASP.NET 2.0 and C# skills to develop WebParts for deployment into SharePoint 2007. Most of the development, testing and debugging will be done in Visual Studio .NET 2007. We shall then deploy the WebPart as a feature into Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (WSS 3.0).

Software Architecture Track

AOP and IoC using Enterprise Library 4.0 and Unity
Francois Tanguay - ARC491 -> Material Evaluation
Duo with Erik Renaud

Everybody has heard about Aspect Oriented Programming (AOP); so let's get inspired by those ideas and inject policies into our applications using Enterprise Library. You'll never have to worry about duplicating, or forgetting to duplicate all that exception management code, not forgetting security, caching.... This method of programming will make your software even easier to develop, you'll finally be able to concentrate on business requirements.

Blackbelt configuration for new projects
Jeffrey Palermo - ARC439 -> Material Evaluation
Any architect knows the challenges of setting up configuration management for a new project. Architecture isn't just for the application. The manner in which source control, dependencies, and the Visual Studio solution is set up can have profound impacts on the productivity of the team. In this session, we'll set up a source control repository, a VS.Net solution and a build script to enable a team to move quickly on the project. We'll used advanced techniques to reduce friction while working with the code base on a day-to-day basis.

Busy .NET Developer's Guide to F#
Ted Neward - ARC367 -> Evaluation
F# represents Microsoft's entry into the functional programming world, and for many .NET developers it represents both an opportunity and a challenge. Opportunity, in that functional programming can make a whole range of tasks much, much easier; challenging, in that functional programming represents an entirely new way of looking at how to think about designing and writing .NET code. In this presentation, we'll examine the syntax of F#, see how it maps to the underlying CLR concepts, talk about how F# implements functional concepts without losing many of the benefits of object orientation, and finally, how it can be used to make the CLR developer's life much easier

Core WCF Patterns
Ted Neward - ARC321 -> Evaluation
There's a whole other enterprise development world out there, and they've been building enterprise systems for close to a decade now. As a result, the Java community has long had a collection of patterns by which to be guided when building enterprise systems, one of the most popular of which is Crupi, Alur and Malks' "Core J2EE Patterns". In this talk, we'll examine some of the popular J2EE enterprise design patterns, discover what the problem, context and consequences were for each, and discuss how they might relate to the world of Windows Communication Foundation and .NET.

DDDD, Unshackle Your Domain
Greg Young - ARC415 -> Evaluation
Dynamic Domain Driven Design,Unshackle Your Domain

Its time we re-think the RDBMS as the centerpiece of our applications. Tools like OR mappers while helping domains become the behavioral centers of our applications still force us to deal with an impedance mismatch that gives little benefit. This session looks at our current architectures and identifies new approaches for us to deal with these issues in a more scalable, reliable, and behaviorally centric manner.

Topics include :

  • How the OLTP RDBMS is currently failing us. Command and Query Separation.
  • Importance of the life cycles of objects.
  • Introduction of SLAs to the ubiquitous language.
  • Introduction of business value for prioritization to the ubiquitous language.

Effective Enterprise Library 4.0
Erik Renaud - ARC374 -> Material Evaluation
Duo with François Tanguay

Anybody can make a sample application; drag a control here, drag a database there, two lines of code and voila! But what happens when there is unexpected input? What happens if the wrong person clicks the button ? We will show you how to leverage Enterprise Library in your applications to make them robust and flexible. We guarantee you'll like these ideas so much, your team mates will be jealous when your application starts performing security checks and validate data entry in so little lines of codes. This session will treat the security and validation blocks.

Home-grown Production System Monitoring and Report
Owen Rogers - ARC324 -> Material Evaluation
Within most enterprises, development rarely has any visibility into the operation of their system in the production environment. Conversely, IT Operations has relatively little visibility into the failure modes of the system and have little ability to directly resolve problems when they arise. This session is about assembling an Operations Database to open a small window into the production environment for development to analyze the behaviour of the production system. This session demonstrates how to quickly assemble an operations database using log4net, LogParser, SQL Server SSIS and Reporting Services.

Object-Relational Mapping in the Microsoft World
Benjamin Day - ARC387 -> Material Evaluation
It’s coming. Some developers have pushed back against it for a long time and called it the domain of hacks and crazy people but it’s coming. Object-Relational Mapping – also known as ORM – has been viewed with passionate skepticism for years but with the LINQ to SQL and Entity Framework, Microsoft has started to publicly endorse this data access technique. In this talk, Ben will compare three of the major ORM solutions: LINQ to SQL, Entity Framework, and NHiberna