Visual Studio/SQL Server 2005

The End is Nigh (for Visual Source Safe)

Frank La Vigne — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 01:36:00 GMT

Visual SourceSafe’s will reach its end-of-life support date for is in the middle of next year.

This means that, if you still have source code in VSS, you are brave (or foolish). If you’ll have source code in VSS after the end of its support lifespan, you’re just plain nuts.

Ed Blankenship recently appeared on the geekSpeak webcast talking about migrating to Team Foundation Server from Visual Source Safe. [watch now]

Here are some additional Team Foundation Server resources Ed mentions during his talk.

Whitepaper – “From VSS to TFS”: http://sstjean.blogspot.com/2006/10/document-from-vss-to-tfs-introduction.html
Whitepaper – Exposing TFS to the Internet: http://blogs.msdn.com/ablock/archive/2009/08/24/exposing-tfs-2010-beta-2-to-the-internet.aspx
Visual Studio 2010 and .NET 4.0 Training Kit (Labs, Videos, Slide Decks, etc.): http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=752CB725-969B-4732-A383-ED5740F02E93&displaylang=en

Technorati Tags: VSS,Source Safe,TFS

Visual Studio: The Documentary

Frank La Vigne — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:55:00 GMT

Channel9 has a documentary series on Visual Studio worthy of the History Channel.

Part 1 goes from 1988 to the late 90’s. Part 2 picks up around the .COM boom to today.

Technorati Tags: Visual Studio,History,Documentary

Brian the Build Bunny

Frank La Vigne — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:44:00 GMT

This is a strange, yet interesting, entry from the PDC 2008 ShowOff contest.

The entry is so surreal, you have to read the description for yourself:

A talking, robotic, wifi fuelled rabbit - just what every office needs to keep those pesky developers in check to make sure the Continuous Integration build is working. In this video we introduce you to Brian the Build bunny, and explain how he is connected to Team Foundation Server to notify you of developer check-ins and changes in the condition of your builds. Remember, keep those builds working. You don’t want a hot cross bunny.

Yes, you read that right.

Watch the video to see the serious technology behind the silliness.

Technorati Tags: VSTS,PDC2008,ShowOff,Nabaztag

Old School Wait Cursor

Frank La Vigne — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 13:23:00 GMT

Here is something I was treated to when I installed Visual Studio 2008 SP1.

The backslash character is one in an animation sequence that harkens back to the olden days, when ASCII animation was state-of-the-art.

In this case, the installer runs through the following character sequence:

| / - \ | / - \ |

Which looks like a rotating stick.

Given all the bling-bling power of WPF, you have to admire this amazing act of self-control.

I'm not the only one to get all nostalgic about this.

Technorati Tags: Visual Studio,ASCII Art

Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4.0

Frank — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:15:00 GMT

MSDN has an overview about the next version of Visual Studio and the .NET Framework called Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4.0, respectively.

This week, Channel 9 will have a series of videos about VS2010 and .NET 4.

I sense a real Photochop opportunity here.

[found via Paul Mooney]

Technorati Tags: 2010,Visual Studio 2010,.NET 4.0,Future

ActiveNick on XNA on the UMPC

Frank — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 13:59:00 GMT

Nick Landry (aka ActiveNick) is presenting a session on XNA and the Ultra Mobile PC here at DevConnections.

Any topic about the UMPC gets my attention. Any topic that talks about video games also gets my attention.

Bringing game development to the masses.

Professional game development, while not beyond the reach of the ordinary coder, is not for the timid. There's math, and plenty of it.

If you wanted to target a console like the Playstation, up until recently, you had to get a license to develop for the platform. I don't have the exact numbers, but it's beyond the practical budget for most hobbyists.

This keeps console developers to a limited population of folks who work for game publishers.

The gaming industry has ridden a great wave, but they're in a creative rut.

Sequelitis runs amok and most games are clones of other titles.

This is indicative of the same set of people doing the same thing year after year. It's hard to keep things fresh unless you have a healthy amount of new ideas and talent.

The gaming ecosystem is a closed loop, until now.

However, XNA changes the dynamic:

350,000+ downloads as of August 2007
-- that's roughly 10 time the size of the existing professional game developer population

That means that there are roughly 10 times the number of developers playing around with XNA than there are professional game developers.

Think about that.

Think about what that means for the gaming industry.

Some interesting facts about XNA:

XNA is the term for all game development tools at Microsoft: both managed code and unmanaged code.
XNA targets Windows and XBOX 360.
XBOX 360 is actually a customized version of the Compact Framework.

Networking stack is not present
Next version will have network stack to XBOX Live.

Windows side has full access to the network stack
XNA Framework sits on top of .NET
Currently, only works with Visual Studio Express

it's free
2.0 will run on VS2005 or later

No more VS Express installs

Colleges are using XNA to teach fundamental computer science concepts
Math functions are built-in

Game development is all about mathematics
Math helpers are there, but you need to understand the fundamentals

Starter kits exist

Complete Games

Space Wars
Racing Games
More

Technorati tags: XNA, UMPC, DevConnections, MobileConnections, Games, Game Development

Cap Area .NET Meeting Tonight

Frank — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 17:18:00 GMT

Tonight Chad Boyd presents a A Walking Tour of SQL Server 2008 Code Names Katmai

Chad is an Advisory Support Engineer / Premier Engineer for Sql Server and Clustered systems with Microsoft Corporation responsible for providing onsite and remote support, guidance, and advice with SQL Server products to some of Microsoft’s foremost enterprise customers.

He also likes to dress retro-style.

Technorati tags: Katmai, Chad Boyd, CapArea, SQL Server 2008

SQL Server 2008 July CTP

Frank — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 16:11:00 GMT

The July of SQL Server 2008 is now available for download on Microsoft Connect.

[found via Davy Knuysen]

Technorati tags: SQL Server 2008

Software Testing With VSTS 2005

Frank — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 15:57:00 GMT

Andy Leonard's new book Professional Software Testing with Visual Studio 2005 Team System: Tools for Software Developers and Test Engineers is now available for pre-order at Amazon.com!

The title is quite a mouthful and the contents look really interesting. It should fill a void in the VSTS bookspace.

From the blog post:

The book covers many aspects of testing. More than just what to test, why to test is also covered. Although the book covers testing with Visual Studio, non-Microsoft technologies are referenced.
The book is written for developers practicing test-driven and test-first methodologies, and for test engineers. It provides great insight into the Visual Studio testing framework.
I got to write a chapter on Testing the Database. I use Team Edition for Database Professionals in the chapter to build a database project, then test it. I'm really happy with the chapter. The last section contains a detailed, step-by-step walk-through of building a custom test condition in C#, then integrating it into the TEDP test conditions.

Technorati tags: Andy Leonard, VSTS, Testing, Unit Testing

Free Training on What's New in SQL Server 2008

Frank — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 23:54:00 GMT

Microsoft Learning has a free self-paced training course covering What's New in SQL Server 2008.

Details below:

Title: Clinic 7045: What's New in Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2008
Course Type: Self-paced Course
Available Offline: Yes
Estimated Time of Completion: 2 Hours
Description:
In this clinic, you will learn about the new and enhanced features included in SQL Server 2008. You will explore the new data types and the data management features. Additionally, you will learn about the enhanced Integration Services, Analysis Services, and Reporting Services included in SQL Server 2008. This online clinic is composed of a rich multimedia experience.

To get the most out of this clinic, it is recommended that you have:

Knowledge of general SQL database concepts that are largely independent of a specific version of SQL Server.
Knowledge of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 features.
Knowledge of deploying and upgrading database solutions.
Knowledge of how to solve performance issues related to SQL Server hardware.
Performed the job role of a SQL Server 2005 database administrator or database developer.
Product or technology experience in Microsoft SQL Server 2000 or SQL Server 2005.

Objectives:
At the end of the course, students will be able to:

Describe the features of SQL Server 2008 and their benefits.
Describe the features of enterprise data platform that help you to secure data in applications.
Describe the dynamic development features that facilitate the development of database applications.
Describe the features of SQL Server 2008 that provide data storage solutions beyond relational databases.
Describe the enhanced features in SSIS that help you to integrate data effectively.
Describe the enhanced features in SSAS that help you to improve the BI infrastructure.
Describe the enhanced features in SSRS that help you to improve the scalability of the reporting engine.

[found via Davy Knuysen]

Technorati tags: SQL Server 2008, SQL, Training, Microsoft, Microsoft Learning