ObjectSharp

A quick heads up to let you know that VS 2008 Service Pack 1 is now available (links below). It typically takes a couple of months from this point before we'll see a final release. This Service Pack includes new cool feature: ADO.NET Entity Framework ADO.NET Data Services ASP.NET 3.5 Extensions (aka Cicero) which includes MVC Framework, ...

In Part 0: Introduction of this series after asking the question "Does the Entity Framework replace the need for a Data Access Layer?", I waxed lengthy about the qualities of a good data access layer. Since that time I've received a quite a few emails with people interested in this topic. So without further adieu, let's get down to the ...

During the past month, Danny Simmons let us all officially know that SP1 of VS 2008/.NET Framework 3.5 will be the delivery mechanism for the Entity Framework and the Designer, and that we should see a beta of the entire SP1 very soon as well. No release dates yet. Speaking of the next beta, there have been some improvements in the designer ...

Are you an architect or an aspiring architect interested in learning what's new this year for the MS platform? On February 11th, 2008 come to the MS Canada Office in Mississauga and visit yours truly and some other dazzling speakers to learn more about Visual Studio 2008 and Windows Server 2008. You can choose either the morning or afternoon ...

Last night I gave a presentation to the Toronto SharePoint Users Group on using Visual Studio 2008 to build SharePoint Workflows. I also covered a little bit on LINQ to SharePoint and WCF/WF integration at the end. Attached are my slides. Enjoy.

This coming Thursday, Microsoft is hosting the annual Toronto Architect Forum at their offices in Mississauga. The target audience is architects that are *not* in the financial service industry. Here's the agenda: 8:00 - 8:30 am Breakfast and Registration 8:30 - 9:00 am Welcome by Mark Relph 9:00 - 9:30 am Architectural Agility as ...

One of my readers was watching the DNRTV episode I did on LINQ recently and had this question:  At some point, when you're explaining object initializers and anonymous types, you say something regarding extension methods, like how they could be used with the anonymous types. I'm not sure how that'd work: if the anonymous type gets named ...

If you're not using BizTalk today in your applications, probably the #1 reason is that you can't afford it. “It's overkill” is probably a big reason as well, but I consider that a variation. Seriously, how many applications do you write that don't have some component of workflow? Maybe you don't, but if it was baked into the framework, ...

Microsoft is needs a holistic view of their platforms and development tools. I didn't see that this week, I doubt any of us will. What I did see was 7 data access techniques in various stages of ready now, coming soon, and coming much later: Use a DataAdapter to issue SQL  or stored procedures. Useful for working with a ...