Jamie has released an updated version of TestDriven.NET with support for Visual Studio Orcas, together with Lutz Roeder's Reflector 5.0 which supports C# 3.0.

Read more and watch a screencast over on his blog:
TestDriven.NET 2.2 Beta + VS Orcas / Reflector 5.0

The ZaneBug 1.7 beta has been released, this includes MbUnit 2.3 support.

I have just downloaded Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC SDK.msi, after installing this, it gave me project templates within Visual Studio 2005 for Windows Mobile Pocket PC using .NET Compact Framework 2.0 and 1.0 (2.0 is not included by default in Windows Mobile 5.0).

The package also includes:

1. Windows Mobile 5.0 based Pocket PC Device Emulator images & skin files
2. Headers, Libraries, IDL files, and Managed reference assemblies
3. Sample Code
4. Documentation in CHM Format
5. Tools, Sample Configuration files, and Test Authenticode Certificates

Visual Studio 2005 installer only installs the SDK for Windows Mobile 2003.  This SDK includes everything required to get started developing for the Pocket PC.  Smartphones have a different SDK.

At the same time, I also downloaded the Developer Resource Kit which includes the SDK, but also the SDK for smartphones and loads of developer sources such as the WeFly247 sample application, white papers and webcasts and hands on labs.

Tools and Technologies:

Rory from Channel 9 have also done some excellent screencasts on how to program WM5 which I'm looking forward to watching.

Its all mobile today!

The .Net CF framework 3.5 has been included in the January CTP of Orcas.  I haven't tried it yet, but something to be aware of and to have a look at if you have time.  I'm not going to be able to try it this month, but might look at it in more detail next month (March).

Read the post here, includes feature list:
.NET Compact Framework 3.5 included in Orcas January CTP

To transfer all of my contacts and calendar (capable of more, but I didn't have anything else) from my old phone I used ActiveSync and was surprised how easy it was.

First, sync my old smartphone with PC via USB

Secondly, plug in new phone via USB and setup partnership with ActiveSync

Finally, wait for it to finish (about 30 seconds)

My phone now has all of my calendar and contacts which where on my old phone - Excellent!!

Would be nice if I could transfer the text messages as well - anyone know how?

As for usage, I have found the PPC to be a lot more usable and feature rich, as you would expect as I also went from 2003SE to 5.0, but I can see this changing as more smartphones come out and the two operating systems merge (which is due in 7.0), also found it really easy to move from the standard keyboard to a stylus + keyboard - can't imagine going back now...

I've got a new phone!! I decided to go ahead and buy it after getting frustrated with my existing phone, the Samsung i300 (Windows Mobile 2003SE).

Had it since Saturday and been really pleased with it.  I love the fact that it has got GPRS, 3G and WiFi so I can check anything online when I need to. I went with T-Mobile as they offered me unlimited web and email for £7.50 a month and the tariff at £15 a month - fits in with my budget, the phone costs a little bit more, but it works out cheaper in the long run for me.

Downloaded .Net CF 2.0 onto the phone, just need to have a play around with some code now.  I have got a great (well, good) idea for an application so watch this space ;)

Also started writing down all my ideas on the phone, following GTD style, which is great and finding it really useful to be able to write down notes and keep them safe (paper tends to go in a pile and get lost).

Good Points:
Lots...

Bad Points:
I haven't been able to download my IMAP email yet.  My university works great, so does googlemail and hotmail but my main account doesn't work. 
Can't have the phone on silent, but an alarm yet - what happens if I forget to turn it off silent and use it as a wake up alarm?
Doesn't have Crossbow/WM6 and unlikely to be upgradeable.

I will blog more as I find more...

Richard Costall have just posted pictures from the NxtGenUG Vista event with the DPE team.

Find info here:

http://www.nxtgenug.net/Article.aspx?ArticleID=136

and here

http://ukvistaofficelaunchtour.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!FC6E5398911CFD21!216.entry

Charles Torre was there from Channel 9, can't wait to see what they have to say...

On a side note, HMV have sent me a email saying Halo 2 has finally been sent out to me :D

ASP.net Ajax 1.0 has been released!!

Download it here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ca9d90fa-e8c9-42e3-aa19-08e2c027f5d6&displaylang=en

We also have new controls in the Ajax Control Toolkit, including tabs, Calendar, Autocomplete and MaskedEdit - cool cool and cool!

http://ajax.asp.net/ajaxtoolkit/

Keep an eye on the blog for something cool relating to this ;)

Mikhail Arkhipov has posted some screenshots of the new Web Form Designer planned for Orcas, with the designer being based on Frontpage, like Expression Web, and not IE.

I'll let you go to his blog to view the screenshots, however it is interesting to note that this will be in the February CTP of Orcas, I have a feeling Scott Gu will be using this at WebDD ;).  It looks really good from the screenshots, can't wait to have a play (might even with a screencast....).

February is going to be a great month if your a web designer/developer, its going to be busy.

Yesterday and today I have attended the UK developer Vista and Office launch at Reading.  Really enjoyed the event, there was a great buzz around with everyone seeming to enjoy what Microsoft was offering.

I missed the keynote and Mark's, but they are downloadable on the Microsoft site so I will be watching them tomorrow, along with the Office track videos.

Daniel Moth gave a great presentation on whats new in Vista for the developer, not touching the .net framework features, but instead the core APIs included.  Covered a lot in a short space of time, but it was great to see how easy it was to use the APIs (via PInvoke) even without having the managed wrappers.

Martin Parry gave us an insight into the security and reliability aspects of Vista which was good to see.

Mike Ormond went over WF (Workflow),  gave some really useful tips on creating your own activities and it was good to see not just drag and drop stuff.  He also went over the RSS platform in Vista as part of what he was building (WF RSS Reader), not heard much about this but sounds really interesting, might blog more about it soon.

Mike Taulty ended the day talking about WCF,  Mike is such a great presenter (like all the DPE team) and really gave a great insight into WCF showing a lot of the new uses having a simple demo but yet demonstrating the power of WCF. Really good, wish I had a use for it.

The day was excellent and has started to get me more excited about Vista.

After the day, I went to the Geek Dinner, this was my first one so I wasn't sure what to except.  Great to have a chat with people about technology and the world over Pizza and Wine.  If you haven't attended one before, definitively would recommend it, its has a great atmosphere and everyone attending is really friendly.  Simon Middlemiss, who I with on the table, has some of the pictures he took on his blog (one including me, I'm the one in the blue....)  .

After the dinner, some of us continued at the hotel bar for more chat and drinks, this continued into the small hours (got to my room at about 2am) with the NxtGenUG boys (Richy, Dave, John), Zi and me having a really great time (or at least I did ;)), it was a great end to a great evening.

Zi took some pictures of the whole evening, which could be interesting...., once I have the link I'll post it.

On Saturday, I attended the coding session creating a Vista chat application using WCF and WPF.  Was an interesting setup (90 computers in the cafe in Building 2), afterwards there was a quiz with everyone in teams while having lunch.  That was fun but sadly I didn't win anything.

Two great days, meet loads of cool people and had great fun.  Bring on WebDD!!

For those of you who have used the Orcas January CTP you may have noticed a lack of Linq templates.  According to the forums (http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1100902&SiteID=1) this was intentional and Linq is still included and useable.

Steps to creating a Linq project using the CTP are as follows:

1. Create a new project
2. Linq assemblies are then required to be referenced, they can be found here : C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5.11209
   The important ones are System.Core.dll, System.Data.Entity.dll, System.Data.Linq.dll and System.Xml.Linq.dll
   The core is for the standard linq queries, where Data.Linq and Xml.Linq are what the old DLinq and XLinq were.
3. Depending on what your planning on doing, add the required references.
4. The using statements are as follows for the various parts of Linq
   using System.Linq;
   using System.Data.DLinq; //Haven't migrated it yet, guessing this is what will be done in February CTP and why this CTP doesn't include much Linq to SQL
   using System.Xml.Linq;
5. Sample code to check it all works (Linq to Objects)

   int[] numbers = { 5, 4, 1, 3, 9, 8, 6, 7, 2, 0 };

   var lowNums =
   from n in numbers
   where n < 5
   select n;

   Console.WriteLine("Numbers < 5:");
   foreach (var x in lowNums)
   {
   Console.WriteLine(x);
   }

   Console.ReadLine();

That is how to setup Linq for a project.  I will discuss Linq to SQL in another post and how you can use it with your database.

Now, back onto my degree.

Zi has arranged yet another geek dinner for after WebDD.  Plus it looks like GrokTalks are being planned for the day.

All the information can be found on the new wiki : http://wiki.webdd.org.uk

Registration is still open, but I think its down to the last few places now....if not already full.

Last night I sat in on a geekSpeak chat regarding Linq, it was really cool and got me thinking so tonight I decided I would do some work using it - they then go post the new CTP of Orcas. Improved support for Linq to SQL will be in the next CTP, due February.  I'm going to be using this as part of my final year project (decided last night) and so I will be blogging about it more soon.

Download it here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=1FF0B35D-0C4A-40B4-915A-5331E11C39E6&displaylang=en

The highlights of this CTP include (taken from download site):

• Extended, more powerful data APIs with the ADO.NET Entity Framework and LINQ to ADO.NET
  • With the ADO.NET Entity Framework developers will be able to model the view of the data that is appropriate for each one of the applications they are building, independently of the structure of the data in the underlying database. The use of the Entity Data Model (EDM) enables developers to design models that follow the concepts built into the application, instead of having to map them to constructs available in relational stores. Once the model is in place, the powerful ADO.NET Entity Framework API is used to access and manipulate the data as .NET classes or as rows and columns, whatever is appropriate for each application.
  • ADO.NET is fully integrated with LINQ and offers many options for using LINQ in various scenarios: LINQ to SQL provides direct access to database tables from the programming environment, LINQ to Entities enables developers to use LINQ over EDM models, and LINQ to DataSet allows the full expressivity of LINQ to be used over DataSets.

• C# 3.0 Language Support: This CTP implements all of the C#3.0 language features from the May LINQ CTP including:
  • Query Expressions
  • Object and Collection Initializers
  • Extension Methods
  • Local Variable Type Inference and Anonymous Types
  • Lambdas bound to Delegates and Expression trees

• LINQ to Objects API
  • The LINQ to Objects API supports queries over any .NET collection, such as arrays and Generic Lists. This API is defined in the System.Linq namespaces inside System.Core.dll. Click here for more details about LINQ.

• ClickOnce improvements
  • This CTP delivers ClickOnce improvements for the deployment of Windows Presentation Foundation applications, alternative browser support and ISV rebranding.

• Managed classes for Elliptic Curve Diffie Hellman and Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm cryptographic functionality
  • With the addition of these classes, cryptographic developers now have managed classes for Elliptic Curve Diffie Hellman secret agreement and Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm signing. These classes are built on the new CNG cryptographic libraries in Windows Vista, but still follow the familiar patterns of the cryptographic classes in .NET Framework 2.0.

• Runtime and design-time support for Office 2007 (including Outlook 2007)
  • Customers can build managed code add-ins with a consistent development experience, regardless of which version of Office they target, which Office application(s) they target, and which programming language they choose. Managed code add-ins enable developers to use strongly-typed class members, with the help of modern development tools, including intellisense and auto-complete. Additionally add-ins can potentially run in multiple versions of Office, enabled by abstracting version-specific code and supported by a version-resilient infrastructure.

• Support for advanced lifetime management of add-ins and their AppDomains
  • We’ve added the helper classes that manage the lifetime of add-ins, the objects passed between the host and add-ins, and even of the AppDomains the add-ins live in. By using the ContractBase and LifetimeToken handle, pipeline developer can let the hosts and add-ins act as if everything, including the AppDomain the add-in was activated in, was controlled by the garbage collector even though .Net Remoting would normally make that impossible.

• Client service support for Login/Logout, Role management and Profiles
  • ASP.NET 2.0 shipped with new application services for authentication, authorization and personalization. Most of these services are not tied to ASP.NET and can work in non-web applications. This CTP enables the use of these services in smart client applications for Logon/Logoff, Role management and profiles.

• A trace listener that logs event to ETW, event tracing for Windows in Vista
  • Event tracing for windows is greatly improved in Vista and the most performant loggings facility available in Windows. The System.Diagnostics.EventProviderTraceListener allows managed tracing to provide events to the Vista’s ETW infrastructure. This is a highly performant, thread-safe listener.

• Jscript Intellisense support
  • Jscript code formatting and Intellisense support provide developers with a richer editing experience. These improvements enable the IDE to provide statement completion, color syntax highlighting and in-place documentation to Jscript and associated script models such as ASP.NET AJAX.

• A new numeric type that provides support for very large numbers (Beyond the range of In64)
  • All existing numeric types in the Framework have a limited range. This is the first type that supports arbitrary range and will extend to accommodate any large number as needed. This type lives in the new System.Numeric namespace where all new numeric and arithmetic features are going to reside. It supports all the basic arithmetic operations including things like Pow, DivRem and GreatestCommonDivisor. It implements the following interfaces: IFormattable, IComparable, IComparable<BigInteger> and IEquatable<BigInteger>. It is serliazable and immutable. It has implicit casts from all basic integral types and explicit casts to/from all numeric type. To learn more about this type – please visit the BCL team blog.

• LINQ over XML (XLinq)
  • Enable further LINQ over XML feature support (in addition to the functionality available in the Oct 2006 CTP) such as the ability to apply XLST to transform into and out of XLinq trees, support for System.XML reader/writer interfaces for improved XML sharing with DOM applications and System.XML schema validation for XLinq nodes.

• SQL Server Compact Edition (SSCE)
  • SQL Server Compact Edition (SSCE) provides a local relational data store for occasionally connected client applications from desktops to devices. SSCE is light weight, embeddable and is easy to deploy with your client applications without requiring complex administration work from users. Timestamp (row version id) data type, improved table designer, Query processor enhancements and support for local transaction scope are some of the new features you find in this version of SSCE.

Some of you might have heard but Pastie McCode and the UK DPE team are touring the country providing UK Vista and Office Launch events for local parties.  In the week they hope to deliver 12-15 sessions of around 90 minutes each – depending on the amount of traveling between each location.

NxtGenUG have organised one of these events for January, 23, 2007 at Coventry 7pm - 9pm

ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS REGISTER ON THE SITE AND THEN REGISTER FOR THIS EVENT - HURRY AS PLACES ARE LIMITED!

Sounds like a great event, especially if you can't make the event on the 19th - or if you just can't get enough of Vista. 

More information and sign up at:
http://www.nxtgenug.net/ViewEvent.aspx?EventID=48

Zi Makki is organizing a Geek Dinner for January 19th, after the Vista launch event.  This will be held at Pizza Express and looks to be a good night. 

Signup:

http://www.thehughpage.com/VistaOfficeLaunchGeekDinner

Not sure if I will be able to make it yet.....but this might just encourage me to stay overnight.  Where is everyone staying?

The registration for WebDD on February 3rd 2007 is now open.

To register visit:
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032323795&Culture=en-GB

Looking forward to seeing you there (hopefully).

"Standards. Design. Future. Three topics that are on everyone's wish list, but that often get left by the wayside as time rolls by. If you're interested in all three, then WebDD is for you.

WebDD is a new conference covering both design and development, with a focus on design standards, best practices, and emerging  and future technologies. There will be a variety of talks covering topics such as Accessibility, CSS, Standards, ASP.NET, and Ruby, with the aim of bringing developers and designers together to share ideas.

If these sound like the sort of topics you want to learn about then sign up. The best part - it's free and on a Saturday, so you don't even need to take a day off from work.

WebDD is not a Microsoft event but is organised by the web community for the web community with Microsoft as our premier sponsor.

For further details and the full agenda, please visit: http://www.WebDD.org.uk "

The CES keynote has held early this morning, just watched the very interesting keynote and this is just a quick round up of the announcements.

1. Vista demo of shadowcopy, Office, Live Search + Virtual Earth 3D (using a xbox 360 controller which was very cool) and Media Centre.
2. Vista Ultimate Extras was announced, Microsoft research software Groupshot was demo'ed, which combines the good features from two bad photos.
3. Also on Vista Ultimate Extras where DreamScene, full motion desktops which looked just great!! Allows a full motion image to be as your background, but also pauses the video to save battery life when its not required. More information over on Channel 10 http://on10.net/Blogs/larry/windows-vista-ultimate-extras/
4. New hardware has been designed for user's appeal. Images of new hardware, looks good.
5. Windows Home Server which I discussed just the other day.  This is real.  Coming 2nd half of the year.  "Features: automated backup, connectivity to all PCs, Zune, Xbox, and remote connectivity, if you're somewhere else, can come in and get files in secure way. No complexity. If you want to grow capacity, just plug new storage in, lots of expandability, software automatically detects it. Can get terabytes of data on this device." More information over on Channel 10 http://on10.net/Blogs/jesse/windows-home-server-will-live-in-your-closet-simplify-your-life/
6. IPTV running on a xbox 360!! Available by the end of the year. Going to be good.
7. Windows/PC based games are going to integrate into Live (xbox live) and allow cross platform players to play against each other - excellent for Halo 3 and GTA 4 then they are released on both platforms.  I think this is required for online gaming.
8. Discussion regarding Ford Sync and Car integration.
9. Bill then shows the bus stop, kitchen and bedroom of the future, totally connected experience.

It was a very good keynote, looks of exciting announcements for the year.  Its going to be good....

I can go get a cup of tea now.

Microsoft have launched a new site Windows Vista Business Test Drive to allow users to use the latest operating system without having to install it on a machine.  Its ready to go.  If your not sure what your doing, then it has videos and sceneries to help you.

http://www.windowsvistatestdrive.com/

This is great if you need to demo the application without powerful enough hardware as well, all you need is a Internet connection.  Don't expected any aero effect as its done over Terminal Services.

Really impressed with the look of Microsoft's new desktop combo keyboard / mouse combo.

http://microsoftatces.com/archive/2007/01/03/wireless-desktop-system-wins-2007-international-ces-innovations-design-and-engineering-award.aspx

I think I'll get one of these at some point, the current combo I have is really good.  Had it a few years, but it doesn't feel like it and still feels great.   Highly recommend them. Much better than others I have tried...

Just been playing around with the Accordion control from the toolkit and I was trying to change the selected panel via JavaScript.  After a bit of looking around on the ASP.net forums and the VS debugger I managed to do it, so I thought I would share the code with you here.

My server control looks like this:

<ajaxToolkit:Accordion
Height="600px"
ID="navigation"
runat="Server"
SelectedIndex="0"
HeaderCssClass="accordionHeader"
ContentCssClass="accordionContent"
AutoSize="Fill"
FadeTransitions="true"
TransitionDuration="200"
FramesPerSecond="40">

.

</ajaxToolkit:Accordion>

My javascript is then:

function ChangeIndex()
{
var accHost = $find('navigation_AccordionExtender');
var i = accHost.get_SelectedIndex() + 1;
accHost.set_SelectedIndex(i);
}

Whenever ChangeIndex() is called, it moves the Accordion control to the next panel.  Of course needs some error checking to make sure you do not go past the end but you get the idea.   Hope it helps.

Engadget are reporting that Microsoft will be launching a home server (codename Quattro) at CES.  I've heard reports about Quattro before being a cut down version of 2003 but I'm not sure it would be released a CES - if anything it will just be an announcement that its coming.

Windows Connected has a image of the CES guide with Microsoft having an ad regarding data storage.  They are suggesting the Windows Live Drive launch, this I feel is a lot more likely than a server product and what I predict will be announced (in beta format of course).

I know this is required, with more and more data and computers in the house there needs to be a good reliable way of storing data.

Personally, I would like both :)

Time will tell, but not much time as CES is January 8-11.

The back network for WebDD is up and running.  This is new and "is a social networking site aimed at linking people and blog posts".

I just registration and it looks cool and will be interesting to see how its used. 

THIS IS NOT REGISTRATION FOR THE EVENT

Recommend you check it out.

Visit http://www.webdd.org.uk/

I wrote an article on IronPython for the UK Student Zine newsletter which Microsoft sends out. The article is based around IronPython and has just been published.

You can read the article here : http://blogs.msdn.com/ukstudentzine/archive/2007/01/04/ironpython-python-net-framework.aspx

The MacWorld keynote is just around the corner (9th January) and its been announced that Steve Jobs is going to give a two hour keynote, instead of the usual 1-1 1/2 hours.  Guessing he has got a lot to talk about.

Rumors include:

iPhone (or whatever Apple will call it)
iTV
Leopard
8x Core Xeon for Mac Pro
iWork / iLife 07
One more thing - new video ipod?

Wonder if there is going to be new MB or MBPs, not sure if now is the best time to buy...

At DDD4, WebDD was annouched and it would take place on Saturday 3rd February. This is an event run for Web Developers and designers at Microsoft HQ UK (Reading). 

The organizes have just annouched the speakers and sessions, with Scott Guthrie (General Manager for ASP.net, WPF, WPF/E, WinForms, IIS7 - all the cool topics atm (apart from C# 3.0)) doing a couple of sessions.  How cool is that!!  They have also got some other great speakers with some great sessions.  Sounds like an amazing event!!! Can't WAIT! 

More info at:

http://www.webdd.org.uk

UPDATE:  Plip just posted regarding registration

"Space is strictly limited and when all the places are gone, that's it.

We'll be opening registration fully within the next 48 hours."

If its anything like DDD4 it will be gone in a couple of days...

The registration for the second Mix event is now open.  Mix is a Microsoft conference for web developers and designers with two great keynote speaks - Ray Ozzie and Scott Guthrie.  Also at a very cool location - Las Vegas!!

Sounds like a great event if you can go...

http://www.visitmix.com/

It looks like Microsoft are planning new exams for the .Net 3.0 MCTS technologies (WPF, WCF, WF).

At the moment they are planning 2-3 different exams (WPF + WCF/WF or WPF + WCF + WF).  They will be available to take as part of the Orcas' release.

Guessing I will take the WPF exam when its released.  But I am starting to ask - is it really worth it?

Source:

http://blogs.msdn.com/howard_dierking/archive/2006/12/08/what-are-we-planning-for-net-3-0.aspx