Get the Most out of WebGrid in ASP.NET MVC

In this article on MSDN Magazine, Stuart Leeks introduces WebGrid and shows how it can be used in ASP.NET MVC 3, then takes a look at how to really get the most out of it in an ASP.NET MVC solution.
This article looks at how to fit the WebGrid component into an ASP.NET MVC environment to enable developers to be more productive while rendering tabular data. Focus is on WebGrid from an ASP.NET MVC aspect:

• creating a strongly typed version of WebGrid with full IntelliSense
• hooking into the WebGrid support for server-side paging
• adding AJAX functionality that degrades gracefully when scripting is disabled

The working samples build on top of a service that provides access to the AdventureWorksLT database via the Entity Framework. If you’re interested in the data-access code, it’s available in the code download, and you might also want to check out Julie Lerman’s article, “Server-Side Paging with the Entity Framework and ASP.NET MVC 3,” in the March 2011 issue(msdn.microsoft.com/magazine/gg650669).

Read the entire article on MSDN

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Internet Explorer 9 Beta

Deliver the Beauty of the Web It's no secret: just having a presence on the Web is not enough. The new Windows Internet Explorer 9 Beta browser leverages the power of the PC to deliver rich Web experiences, together with unparalleled performance. What sets Internet Explorer 9 apart? It saves development time and effort through HTML5 compatibility and deeper compliance with industry standards. It will delight your customers with performance that matches the apps on their PCs. It delivers enhanced integration with the Windows 7 operating system. And it is safer than ever. Ready to start? Explore Internet Explorer 9 features, then try it yourself. Register now for the September 22 webcast. Find product information and development resources. Learn more about the beta release and the Internet Explorer opportunity.

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Couple of fixes for Visual Studio

Microsoft Connect site collected all (OK most of ) the fixes for Visual Studio. You can download them as per your need from this link, however, you should pay attention to the Terms of Use, since you cannot redistribute them.

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Introducing MSVS LightSwitch™

Microsoft is launching Visual Studio® LightSwitch™, the simplest way to build business applications for the desktop and cloud. LightSwitch is a new member of the Visual Studio family focused on making it easy to develop line of business applications. LightSwitch helps you solve specific business needs by enabling you to quickly create professional-quality business applications, regardless of your development skills. 

LightSwitch is optimized to combine data+screens idea by providing developers with tools to not only connect to an existing database, but also create database, tables and associated screens.

Visual Studio LightSwitch Beta will be available on August 23. Come back at that time to download it, plus check back before then for additional LightSwitch videos.

However, a very good preview/introduction is blogged by Jason Zander detailing development using LightSwitch.

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50 Useful Tools and Resources For Web Designers

Smashing Magazine, once again collected 50 most useful tools for you if you are a web developer/designer. This is another great effort by Vitaly Friedman, editor-in-chief of Smashing Magazine.

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Authenticate ASP.Net application using Social Sites Credentials

James Senior's blog details the new social API Web Application Toolkit for .NET web developers. If you’re not familiar with Web Application Toolkits (WATs) then here’s a summary:

FREE Web App Toolkits help ASP.NET web developers complete common web development tasks and quickly add new features to your apps. Whether it’s Bing Maps integration or adding social capabilities to your site, there’s a toolkit for you. For the full list of Web Application Toolkits check out this website.

 Here is a summary of the work they've done in this release:

• Added a new Social API Web Application Toolkit
• Updated all the WATs to be compatible with Visual Studio 2010

The code examples can be found here.

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WebMatrix and a PHP tutorial

During the last week, MS announced the launch of all new tools for developers to ease them creating and deploying websites.

• IIS Developer Express: A lightweight web-server that is simple to setup, free, works with all versions of Windows, and is compatible with the full IIS 7.5.
  
• SQL Server Compact Edition: A lightweight file-based database that is simple to setup, free, can be embedded within your ASP.NET applications, supports low-cost hosting environments, and enables databases to be optionally migrated to SQL Server.
  
• ASP.NET “Razor”: A new view-engine option for ASP.NET that enables a code-focused templating syntax optimized around HTML generation.  You can use “Razor” to easily embed VB or C# within HTML.  It’s syntax is easy to write, simple to learn, and works with any text editor.
  

Together they are termed as WebMatrix, the all new tool for development and deployment integrating the above mentioned technologies. This new tool, WebMatrix, and the first preview beta of it is now available for download.

As usual ScottGu's blog is detailing the use of WebMatrix and creating simple applications utilizing these tools. While Brian Swan is leveraging the power of WebMatrix to another step by explaining how to create PHP websites using WebMatrix.

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Visual Studio 2010 Productivity Power Tool Extensions

Another news from Scott Gu, who just blogged about the cool new VS 2010 Productivity Power Tool Extensions.
Highlight of this is the Add Reference Dialog:

This new Add Reference dialog caches assembly information – which means it loads within a second or two (note: the very first time it still loads assembly data – but it then caches it and makes it fast afterwards). The new Add Reference dialog also now includes searching support – making it easier to find the assembly you are looking for.

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Claims–based Identity and Access Control

Imagine a world where you don't have to worry about authentication. Imagine instead that all requests to your application already include the information you need to make access control decisions and to personalize the application for the user.
In this world, your applications can trust another system component to securely provide user information, such as the user's name or e-mail address, a manager's e-mail address, or even a purchasing authorization limit. The user's information always arrives in the same simple format, regardless of the authentication mechanism, whether it's Microsoft® Windows® integrated authentication, forms-based authentication in a Web browser, an X.509 client certificate, or something more exotic. Even if someone in charge of your company's security policy changes how users authenticate, you still get the information, and it's always in the same format.
This is the utopia of claims-based identity that A Guide to Claims-Based Identity and Access Control describes. As you'll see, claims provide an innovative approach for building applications that authenticate and authorize users.

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Hands-on Labs for Enterprise Library 5.0 and Unity 2.0 Ship

An updated set of hands-on labs were released for C# and VB.NET enterprise developers, including exercises for application blocks, Unity, interception and complex configuration scenarios. 

The set contains a guide to learn about the application blocks included with Microsoft Enterprise Library 5.0 and practice how to leverage their capabilities in various application contexts. It includes Caching, Configuration Sources, Cryptography, Data Access, Exception Handling, Interception, Logging, Security, Validation, and Unity Hands-on Labs.

You can download the hands-on lab using this link, however to download Enterprise Library 5.0 please use this link.

An Introduction to Enterprise Library 5.0

Microsoft Enterprise Library is a collection of reusable application blocks designed to assist software developers with common enterprise development challenges. 

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One Sure-Fire Way to Improve Your Coding

Here I found another good article discussing the improvements in coding...saying:

The most obvious way to improve your coding is to write more code. Everybody knows that. However, another activity which I guarantee will improve your coding is the complete opposite of writing. I will state this as plainly as I possibly can:

If you want to dramatically increase your programming skills you need to be reading other people’s code.

Maybe you believe that, maybe you don’t. You should. And if you’re willing to give it a shot, I believe you will be rewarded greatly for your time.

In this article I will help you choose what to read and give you practical advice on how to go about reading it. If you’re already a code reader you may find a few ways to get more from your efforts. If you aren’t, you absolutely must read on.

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DotNetNuke(DNN) source in C#

Shaun first launched DotNetNuke on December 24, 2002.  I don’t think it’s a stretch to suggest that the first inquiry about a C# version came in on about December 25.  And they have continued to come in on a fairly regular basis igniting all sorts of “language wars” which continue to this day.  Scott Wiltamuth is the Microsoft Product Unit Manager for Visual Studio Languages and recently described the co-evolution of VB and C# from his point of view.

Right now, there are published packages of the C# source for version 5.4.1 and 5.4.2.  The team is working on adding this packaging to our automated build process so that new packages can be created quickly once the conversion has been done.  A normal turnaround should be just a few days after each regular release.

I personally prefer Telerik's Sitefinity CMS due to ease of use, however, the C# port of DNN might help some developers in producing better Websites/CMS.

Here's the entire story...

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Scott Gu: May 20th Links

Scott Gu has come up with another excellent series of his top links related to ASP.NET MVC, ASP.NET, .NET 4, VS 2010, Silverlight.
Thank you Scott Gu.

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VS 2010 and .NET 4 Series at Scott Gu's blog

Another great set of posts at Scott Gu's blog related to VS2010 and .NET 4. This is an ongoing series for the topics comprising new and enhanced features of VS2010 and .NET 4. However, currently following topics are available:

• Clean Web.Config Files

• Starter Project Templates

• Multi-targeting

• Multiple Monitor Support

• New Code Focused Web Profile Option

• HTML / ASP.NET / JavaScript Code Snippets

• Auto-Start ASP.NET Applications

• URL Routing with ASP.NET 4 Web Forms

• Searching and Navigating Code in VS 2010

• VS 2010 Code Intellisense Improvements

• WPF 4

• Add Reference Dialog Improvements

• SEO Improvements with ASP.NET 4

• Output Cache Extensibility with ASP.NET 4

• Built-in Charting Controls for ASP.NET and Windows Forms

• Cleaner HTML Markup with ASP.NET 4 - Client IDs

• Optional Parameters and Named Arguments in C# 4 - and a cool scenarios with ASP.NET MVC 2

• Automatic Properties, Collection Initializers and Implicit Line Continuation Support with VB 2010

• New Syntax for HTML Encoding Output using ASP.NET 4

• JavaScript Intellisense Improvements with VS 2010

• VS 2010 Debugger Improvements (DataTips, BreakPoints, Import/Export)

• Box Selection and Multi-line Editing Support with VS 2010

• VS 2010 Extension Manager (and the cool new PowerCommands Extension)

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Extending NerdDinner: Adding MEF and plugins to ASP.NET MVC

The original NerdDinner Sample was very simple. Two samples, simple, in fact. Perhaps it's the new Northwind, as it's a good way to start working with ASP.NET MVC. However, it's not a perfect sample or an idealized example on how to do many things that users want to do.
Fortunately, there's been lots of cool folks in the community who have "forked" NerdDinner and done interesting stuff with it. Each of these samples is usually focused on a specific scenario, so they won't necessarily be merged with the trunk, but they are educational nonetheless.
Scott Hanselman has a blog upon Extending NerdDinner that details the addition of Microsoft Entity Framework (MEF) and plugins to ASP.Net MVC at his blog...

Jon Galloway and I have also added a few things to NerdDinner, taking it in a more social direction, as Jon's MVC Music Store today is a better "getting started" sample for ASP.NET MVC 2. We'll be doing a series of posts on the interesting things the community 

has added to NerdDinner as well as some of the ones Jon and I added and presented at Mix a few months back. Soon Jon and I will release an updated NerdDinner v2 on CodePlex (although it's been in the source code tab for weeks) with lots of fixes, new features. We'll also add many of these "one off" samples as well and host them on CodePlex.

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Create and share Visual Studio color schemes

As developers we often spend a large part of our day staring at code within Visual Studio.  If you are like me, after awhile the default VS text color scheme starts to get a little boring.

The good news is that Visual Studio allows you to completely customize the editor background and text colors to whatever you want – allowing you to tweak them to create the experience that is “just right” for your eyes and personality.  You can then optionally export/import your color scheme preferences to an XML file via theTools->Import and Export Settings menu command.

Luke Sampson launched the http://studiostyles.info/ site a week ago (built using ASP.NET MVC 2, ASP.NET 4 and VS 2010).

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SQL Server 2008 R2 update finally ships

 Microsoft today released to manufacturing Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, the new version of its relational database management system software.

The software, a major update of the SQL Server 2008 code base, has been in development for almost two years. Thus far, the developer version of the software has been downloaded more than 300,000 times, the company said on Wednesday.

The R2 version updates the SQL Server 2008 in a number of ways, said Mark Linton, director within Microsoft's application platform group.

One notable feature is the scale. A single SQL Server 2008 instance can now be run on up to 256 logical processors. Previously, a SQL Server instance could only scale up to 64 logical processors. It will also run on as much as two terabytes of working memory. This will pave the way for more large scale, enterprise deployments, Linton said.

The software also has been updated to work better in Microsoft's Hyper-Vvirtualized environments. For instance, the virtualized instance of the software can be migrated from one server to another while continuing to run.

The software's administration software has been updated as well. A new feature, called Utility Control Point, enables database administrators to manage the policies of entire farms of SQL Servers from a single console. "Through one control point, you can administrator your entire infrastructure through a standardized set of policies and tools," Linton said.

The software also helps other Microsoft products in providing users with "self-service business intelligence," Linton said. The software can provide live data for a new Microsoft Excel data analysis add-on call PowerPivot, which was designed to manipulate "millions of rows of data" quickly.

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Silverlight Training Course (Silverlight 4)

A Free 8-part Silverlight 4 training course from Microsoft is established. The Training Course includes a whitepaper that explains all of the new Silverlight 4 features, several hands-on-labs that explain the features, and a 8 unit course for building business applications with Silverlight 4. The business applications course includes 8 modules with extensive hands on labs as well as 25 accompanying videos that walk you through key aspects of building a business application with Silverlight. Key aspects in this course are working with numerous sandboxed and elevated out of browser features, the new RichTextBox control, implicit styling, webcam, drag and drop, multi touch, validation, authentication, MEF, WCF RIA Services, right mouse click, and much more!

http://channel9.msdn.com/learn/courses/Silverlight4/

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.NET4 Complete List of Breaking Changes

.NET4 Complete List of Breaking Changes (remember it's sidebyside: apps don't break when you install). This topic describes migration issues between the .NET Framework version 3.5 Service Pack 1 and the .NET Framework version 4, including fixes, changes for standards compliance and security, and changes based on customer feedback. Most of these changes do not require any programming modifications in your applications. For those that may involve modifications, see the Recommended changes column of the table. 

This topic describes notable changes in the following areas:

• ASP.NET
• Core
• Data (ADO.NET)
• Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)
• Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)
• XML

For information about new features, see What's New in the .NET Framework 4.
Read the entire article here...

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ASP.Net and PHP on IIS 7

Great set of articles upon building, deploying and running both ASP.Net and PHP applications on IIS 7 can be found here...

Building and Running ASP.NET Applications
Running PHP Applications on IIS

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