Starting today, I will be moving my blog.  This may be a little confusing, so bear with me.  To be clear, http://devkeydet.com (which redirects to http://devkeydet.spaces.live.com) will still be my official browser based web presence.  I will still use Windows Live Spaces for everything but blogging.  This means that any URLs I have sent/published on http://devkeydet.spaces.live.com will continue to work.  I will turn off syndication of my old blog (http://devkeydet.spaces.live.com/blog/) one week from today.  All new blog posts after this one will be syndicated via http://feeds.feedburner.com/devkeydet.  If you want to continue to get my posts in your RSS reader, please subscribe to this feed as soon as possible.

The reason I am doing this is because I need richer metrics about who is viewing my blog.  Windows Live Spaces only gives you Total page views, Page views today, Page views this week, and Page views within the last hour.  Many of my fellow Microsoft blogger's get much richer information through FeedBurner and our new analytics tool code named Gatineau.  I am not aware of any way to get either of these working with the Spaces blogging engine.  I know it is a web "no-no" to change your blog.  I really don't want to put people through the pain of having to subscribe to a new feed, but I need better metrics about my blog.  I sincerely apologize for the switcheroo.

The page that loads when you hit http://devkeydet.com or http://devkeydet.spaces.live.com will continue to surface archived content from my old blog as well as give you access to my new blog.

If you are reading this from http://blogs.msdn.com/publicsector, then you don't have to change anything.  You are covered because my personal blog is "aggregated" to http://blogs.msdn.com/publicsector.

Quite a few questions came up about WPF at our last two Public Sector Developer Conferences in Seattle & Olympia, WA.  I forgot to let people know that I am keeping a WPF Resources list on my Windows Live Space.  I just added a link to a helpful blog post from the WPF Performance blog titled Improving WPF applications startup time. 

Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) and Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) were released in 2006 as part of the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 with separate extensions for Microsoft Visual Studio 2005. These tools were improved on and are now integrated with Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 and enhanced in the .NET Framework 3.5.  This session demonstrates the top new features in Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5 for WF and WCF. This is a demo heavy session, so do not expect many slides.

Topics will include:

• Enhanced tooling for WCF
• REST/Web Programming, Syndication (RSS/ATOM), and AJAX (JSON) with WCF
• Workflow Services (exposing a Workflow as a WCF Service / Calling WCF services from a workflow)
• SharePoint Workflows

A basic understanding of WCF (http://msdn.microsoft.com/wcf) & WF (http://msdn.microsoft.com/wf) is a prerequisite for this session.

When

January 30th 2:00P-3:30P EST (11:00A-12:30P PST)

Register at this link:

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032363513&Culture=en-US

Note: Audio will be via the Internet.  Your machine will need a speaker.

Thanks to everyone who attended.  You can get the deck here and the code here.  The code has been updated for Visual Studio 2008 RTM.

Thanks to everyone who attended.  All of my demos are based on Visual Studio 2008 / .NET Framework 3.5 RTM.  Here are the downloads:

Introduction to LINQ + LINQ to SQL - deck, demo code

NOTE: You will need to install both the Northwind (available here) and AdventureWorks (available here) sample databases for the LINQ to SQL demos to work.  You may need to change connection strings based on you individual dev environment.

What's New in WCF and WF in Visual Studio 2008 & the .NET Framework 3.5 - deck, demo code

NOTE: The SharePoint workflow demo is a walkthrough of the Hands On Lab (HOL) from the Visual Studio 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5 Training Kit (available here).  You will definitely want to check out the kit.  It is chock full of FREE TRAINING in the form of slide decks and HOLs.  BONUS: Recordings of the individual training kit sessions are available on channel9 here.

I was unable to answer a few questions that came up during the conferences.  In Seattle, I tried to jot some of them down.  Unfortunately, I forgot to save the questions in notepad:(.  In Olympia, I just asked people to email me.  Please feel free to email me your questions.  I will hunt down answers and post in the next few days.  Thanks!

SHAMELESS PLUG: Don't forget about my What's New for Web Developers in Visual Studio 2008 & the .NET Framework 3.5 webcast today:).

I know I promised folks I would have all the updated VS2008 RTM code & slide decks for my WCF, WF, & LINQ presentations published by now.  Unfortunately, I am a little behind.  Due to some laptop configuration issues that required support (over many days) from our helpdesk, my demos are scattered between local projects and projects inside a VPC.  The good news is that my configuration issues are fixed.  The bad news is that I still have some work to do to package up my demos for download.  As soon as I returned from Washington State, I pretty much went straight to our Reston, Va office to help set up for the Sleepless in DC event.  I got home, went straight to bed, woke up, and stayed up for two days straight.  They weren't kidding when they said "Sleepless."  Great event!  After the event was over, I watched some playoff football and then crashed!  I still can't believe the Giants beat the Packers.  Monday was my recovery day.  I slept most of Monday:).  Today, I finished getting my demos in order for my webcast tomorrow.  I should be able to package up the code and post answers to some of the questions I couldn't answer during Q&A in the next day or so.  Stay tuned!

NOTE:  This is an updated delivery of a similarly titled webcast.  The demos are update for the final release of Visual Studio 2008.  Due to the amount of content, I have pulled out the "ASP.NET Futures" (now called the Microsoft ASP.NET 3.5 Extensions Preview) portion at the end.  I will be doing a full webcast on the Microsoft ASP.NET 3.5 Extensions Preview in March.

This session will cover some of the great new features in Visual Studio 2008.  Learn how web development with .NET continues to improve and evolve.  We will be covering:

• Targeting a specific version of the .NET Framework (2.0, 3.0, 3.5)
• The new ASP.NET page designer (split view, CSS and improved layout support, nested master pages, etc.)
• Better control of markup & hierarchical data binding using the new ListView control
• ASP.NET AJAX
  • New design time experience for extender controls
  • AJAX Web Part drag and drop
  • More controls supported in the UpdatePanel (menu, treeview, etc.)
  • JavaScript Intellisense
  • Debugging improvements
• Simplify data access with LINQ to SQL & the LinqDataSource

When

January 23rd 2:00P-3:30P EST (11:00A-12:30P PST)

Register at this link:

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032363500&Culture=en-US

Note: Audio will be via the Internet.  Your machine will need a speaker.

I was catching up on some RSS reading and noticed this little nugget via Sean Alexander.  According to their website:

"Xobni Insight is an add-on for Microsoft Outlook that offers effortless email management and provides instant access to the most important information in your email.

After a quick install, you'll see the new Xobni toolbar appear in Outlook - and suddenly your Outlook productivity will burst to life with blazing fast email search, automatic phone number discovery, threaded conversations, and more."

I'm sold after seeing their video at http://www.xobni.com/learnmore/.  I signed up for the beta.  Hopefully I get in soon!  Click the link below for to sign up yourself!

Robert & James each did a webcast for me while I was away on family leave.  I just update My Recorded Webcasts so you can find the recordings.  The titles are Advanced SharePoint Document Workflow with Visual Studio 2008 and Microsoft Silverlight for Designers.

If you've tried, then you probably had a bit of an "ARGH!" moment when you got this:

The first thing you might do is go look for the slipstream installer containing MOSS 2007 + SP1.  You'll have another "ARGH!" moment because it doesn't exist yet.  Have no fear, you can still install MOSS 2007 on Windows Server 2008 RC1.  Ben Curry has the magic recipe for Installing SharePoint Server 2007 on Windows Server 2008 RC1.  I just tired it.  Worked like a charm!

That is a question I recently asked myself.  I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I am unable to provide a solid answer.  I know some of the high level bullet points about what's new in IIS7, but I really need to spend some time dissecting the things developers should know about Windows Server 2008.  Turns out there's a nice little study guide titled Welcome to the Windows Server 2008 Developer Story over at MSDN.  That is where I will start.

My team is sponsoring a pretty interesting free training opportunity in the DC area January 19th-20th.  I'll be there for the whole event.  Hope to see you there!  Here are the details:

Infusion Development and Microsoft are calling all Insomniacs

Sleepless – is back and this time bringing the best of SharePoint, Office Development and Silverlight training to you with a chance at $100,000 in prizes!

The weekend features:

• Training from SharePoint’s Elite including Microsoft Product Team members and SharePoint MVP’s on SharePoint, Office Business Applications and Excel Services
• A Mystery Game-show
• Overnight Developer competition
• An all expenses trip for the winning team to San Jose for Microsoft Office System Developer Conference

Think you’ve got what it takes? Apply Now

Grand Prizes – Choice of:

• “I Love My Home Theater” package: 5.1 theater system, 50” 1080p TV, XBOX 360 HD DVD player, Guitar Hero III
• Las Vegas Racing Weekend: “Ultimate Victory Lane” package for two at the Mario Andretti School of Racing (drive an Indy car up to 170 mph for 34 laps!), hotel, tickets for a Cirque du Soleil show.
• Visit Microsoft Product Teams + Alaskan Cruise: meeting the SharePoint and OBA product teams, Alaska cruise for two with $1500 of shipboard credit to take several excursions!

Local Prizes

• Vista and Office Ultimate
• XBOX 360 Elite systems
• 24”1080p LCD widescreen computer monitors
• All expense-paid trips to Microsoft’s Office System Developer Conference in San Jose to compete for Grand Prizes

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT TO TAKE PLACE AT MICROSOFT OFFICE SYSTEM DEVELOPER CONFERENCE, FEBRUARY 9^TH – 13^TH, 2008

While catching up on 2 months worth of email & blogs I came across this free e-learning.  If you go to the SQL Server 2008 - Learning Portal you will find a link to Collection 6187: What's New in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 which is a collection of the following three e-learnings:

Clinic 6188: What's New in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 for Enterprise Data Platform

Clinic 6189: What's New in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 for Business Intelligence

Clinic 6190: What's New in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 for Database Development

I'm not sure how long these will be free.  Always better to check them out sooner rather than later!

Databinding to KML has to be one of the top requested features I hear when I speak to people about VE.  The good news is that I can now tell people YES when they ask about it!!!  The VE team released a Quick Fix Engineering (QFE) update to Virtual Earth that included some enhancements to the v6 map control (more here).  So how does it work?  The VEDataType enumeration has been updated.  All you need is a slight tweak to the same code you would use for GeoRSS.

map = new VEMap('myMap'):

map.LoadMap(new VELatLong(46.3081, -122.1928), 12);

var l = new VEShapeLayer();

var veLayerSpec = new VEShapeSourceSpecification(VEDataType.ImportXML, "YourKmlFileHere.kml", l);

map.ImportShapeLayerData(veLayerSpec, onFeedLoad);

I have not tried it out myself.  I don't have many KML sources:).  Try it out with yours!

I have not been posting lately because my wife just gave birth to our first child.  I'm taking a couple months off to spend time with my wife and daughter.  I'll be back in action after the new year.  Stay tuned, because I may throw up an occasional post if I get an itching for a technology fix:).  In the mean time, don't forget to check out my team blog as well as blogs from my fellow team members:

Public Sector Developer Weblog

Robert Shelton's Blog

Bloggercoaster (Joel)

Lamont Harrington's Blog

In my previous Silverlight Closed Captioning screencast here, I showed you how to use Expression Encoder to import Closed Captioning information to produce a solution without writing a line of code.  What if you store your Closed Captioning information in an external data source (database, SAMI file, XML file, etc.) and want to keep it there?  Do you have to reprocess all of your videos using Expression Encoder?  Of course not, but you do have to write some code:).  In this screencast, I show you how to use Silverlight, ASP.NET AJAX, and the Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)  to solve this problem. 

You can view the screencast here.

To get the sample code, just click the link below:

The sample requires Visual Studio 2008 beta 2 or later.

If you haven't been paying attention to Pete Brown's blog, then you are missing out.  Pete continues to crank out great stuff on Silverlight.  Have a look at his blog for more. Direct link to TreeView/WrapPanel post here.

I just received the slide decks from the other presenters and published them all to my SkyDrive:

Speaker: Kevin Adler

Vexcel - Extending the Virtual Earth Platform through Geospatial Expertise

Speaker: John Lee

Adding Mapping Capabilities to your Applications with Virtual Earth (more details about my presentation & code here)

Speaker: Me:)

Thanks to everyone who attended one of the VE Roadshow stops.  Just in case you don't remember to where to get my deck and code, here is a direct link:

http://cid-1f72da7294089597.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Public/

As always, you can get to all of my decks, demo code, etc. by clicking the My Presentations & Downloads link in the General Links list. 

If you missed the Roadshow, you can watch a recording of my Adding Mapping Capabilities to your Applications with Virtual Earth webcast.  This is a shorter version of the 2 hours worth of presentation I delivered at the roadshow.  This recording is based on the v5 map control, but the good news is that everything you learn in the webcast still applies to v6!

Argh, I just beat my head against a wall trying to do this for the last couple hours:(.  After a bit of web searching, I finally found this.  So if you try to run the SQL Server 2005 installer to install the full version of SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), you will inevitably get an "Edition Version Conflict" message.  However, the installer sends you on a wild goose chase because it just tells you to uninstall "express tools."  I did what I would guess most of you would do.  I uninstalled SSMS Express.  Then I ran the full installer again.  DOH!  Same error message (head banging began here).  Turns out that you have to do the following (pasted from the link I provided earlier) after you uninstall SSMS Express:

"1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click Add or Remove Programs.
3. In the list of installed programs, click Microsoft SQL Server 2005, and
then click Change.
4. On the Component Selection page, select Workstation components, and then
click Next.
5. Click Next.
6. On the Change or Remove Instance page, click Change Installed
Components.
7. Click Client Components, and then select Entire Feature will be
Unavailable.
8. Click Next.
9. Click Install.
After that, please rerun the setup wizard and then check if the SQL Server
Client tools are able to install on the system."

Hopefully this tidbit prevents someone from banging their head!  Unless, of course, you are a Metallica fan:).