My good friend Chris Craft started a 30 days of mobile development series last weekend. If you are into mobile development or would like to learn more about it... Check it out. He explains the app, explains the technology, provides screen shots, and provides code in C#. For you VB.NET people... visit Lou Vega's blog for the VB.NET code.

From Chris' site:

Over the years, I have given many presentations on developing Windows Mobile applications. One thing that I have heard time and time again is that people have a hard time writing their first mobile application. I think sometimes people have a hard time taking those first steps. It is easy to think that it will take too much time, and that it will be too hard. But that is simply not the case.

But instead of telling people, I'm going to show them how easy it really is. The key here is simple: "Taking baby steps is better than taking no steps at all!"

I plan on writing 30 mobile applications in the next 30 days. I will publish both the executable and the source code for each application.

My goal is for each of these applications to be useful, interesting, and straight-forward. Someone considering writing their first Windows Mobile application should be able to look at these applications and "get it".

One of the great things about his series...

He is looking for more ideas for his applications.

I encourage you to go to his site and leave him a comment... you never know, he may choose yours to write as part of his 30 day challenge.

Russ Fustino is coming to Florence, SC this Wednesday! Russ is a MSDN Developer Community Champion for Microsoft. (Register for the event here) Russ is stopping by on his way to Raleigh from Tallahassee!

FYI: A copy of Office Ultimate 2007 will be given away!

Did you ever feel inundated with developer tools? Did you ever feel you are missing something that could make your life easier as a developer and as a power user? There are so many tools available to choose from and it keeps getting tougher to  keep up with. Tool familiarity continues to be one of the top developers challenges. This series of seminars is all about tools for developers, by developers.

Welcome to this new, fresh and original ground breaking MSDN seminar series from Russ’ Tool Shed called … It’s All About The Tools.  This is the first installment of many more to come. This session is tech talk about tools for developers. Join Microsoft Florida Developer Evangelist Russ Fustino for his take on what's hot in the developer's toolbox. There's something here for everyone, from beginners to experts. Oh, by the way, you might want to put your hard hat on for this one!

In this session you will see demonstrations the following tools and a few more surprises…

Fiddler
Web Stress Tool
IE Developer Toolbar
Visual Studio IDE tools
   code convertors
   obfuscator
   snippit manager (and the snippet tool in vista as a bonus)
   toolbox scratch pad
   Refactor
   Visual Studio Express tool’s
   Visual Web Developer Express:
   Web Administrator
   Membership and personalization
Visual Express C#
   XNA Express
Live Services
   Spaces
   Live Writer
   MSDN article on search provider (2007.08)

Silverlight 1.0/1.1 XAML Designer (Expression Blend)
Community Tool Web Site Review 
Top downloaded SDK’s
GotDotNet: http://www.gotdotnet.com/team/ide/
MSDN Dev Center: http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/downloads/powertoys/
CodePlex home: http://www.codeplex.com/Default.aspx
Download center and more!

To find out more and register for the event go here. This is going to be an awesome event!

Florence, Columbia, Charleston, Conway, Myrtle Beach, Fayetteville, Wilmington, Charlotte (anyone from anyplace)...

You are ALL WELCOME to attend this FREE event.

I have known about this for a while, but just recently stumbled upon it again.

Here is a cool site at http://www.databaseanswers.org to assist with data model designs.

They have hundreds of database designs specific for certain types of needs such as...

• Blogs
• Cemeteries
• CD Collection
• Games Store
• Help Desk
• MP3 Music Site
• Tracking Software Problems (naturally I would never need this one...)

163+ data models...

Thanks Chris Craft for first sharing the site with me!

Windows 2008 RC0 was released yesterday. I am really looking forward to using IIS7. I am anxious to setup a few web sites with SQL 2008 and see how it works and performs.

Get it Windows 2008 RC0 here
Get SQL 2008 CTP here

Cool Benefits of Windows 2008 (taken from here)

• Cross-site copy allows you to easily copy Web site settings across multiple Web servers without additional configuration.
• Built-in virtualization to virtualize multiple operating systems—Windows, Linux and others—on a single server. With virtualization built into the operating system and with simpler, more flexible licensing policies, it's now easier than ever to take advantage of all the benefits and cost savings of virtualization.
• Protection of your server with security innovations that reduce attack surface area of the kernel, resulting in a more robust and secure server environment.
• Protection against malicious software with User Account Control with a new authentication architecture. (NOOOOOOOOOOO)
• Simplified management of your IT infrastructure by using new tools that provide a one-stop interface for server configuration and monitoring, as well as the ability to automate routine tasks.
• Effectively pinpointing and resolving trouble spots with powerful diagnostic tools that give you ongoing visibility into your server environment, both physical and virtual.

And the one I really want to see...

• Delegated administration of applications and sites so you can give control to different parts of the Web server to those who need it.

My understanding is that this will allow web hosting companies to give more control of IIS to clients hosting their web applications on your server. Pretty cool!!!

Thanks Somasegar for the announcement.

Jacob Sebastian wrote a very cool article on "power of the merge"...

How many times have you needed to merge data between tables... or mobile devices to central servers...

"MERGE, a new keyword which performs INSERT, UPDATE and DELETE operations at one go"

His example:

Old way to merge tables:

    1 /*
    2 Pseudo code used for saving sales order information with SQL Server 2005
    3
    4 -- save order header information
    5 If OrderNumber found in OrderHeader
    6    Update the information
    7 Else
    8    Insert the information
    9 end
   10
   11 -- save order detail information
   12 Delete from Order detail table all items not in the order info
   13 Update Order detail for all items present in the order info
   14 Insert into order details all new items in the order info
   15 */

New Way using Merge

    1 /*
    2 Pseudo code for saving the same order with the MERGE statement of SQL Server 2008
    3
    4 -- save order header information
    5 MERGE order info to Order Header table
    6
    7 -- save order detail information
    8 MERGE order info to order detail table
    9 */

"No, I did not miss anything. You can write the code in just 2 lines."

Check out entire article here.

Microsoft will stop supporting SQL Server Service Pack 3a next Tuesday, July 10th.

Be sure you update your SQL Server Instances to SP4.

Here is a look into the Google Headquarters!!! Kinda kwel!

http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/2006/inside_google/1.html

Hal, when are we getting the professional massage room?

                                                Thanks Dean for sharing...

Update:
Found a few more:

This one has a video about what it is like to work @ Google. It contains employee interviews and shows Google's approach to ingenuity. The 20% Rule is awesome. This is a Google sales pitch to make people salivate wanting to work for them... let me wipe my drool... 
   http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/want-to-work-for-google-take-a-look-inside

Has a few aditional pictures.
   http://desinotes.com/2007/05/02/the-torture-of-working-at-google-in-googleplex/

Find our more @ http://www.google.com/jobs/

A high-level performance comparison between Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) and existing Microsoft .NET distributed communication technologies.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb310550.aspx

Bottom line conclusion is that WCF is 25%-50% faster than Web services. Way cool!!!

Can't wait to prove it!

Thanks Kirk!

I noticed today that MapQuest now has an Aerial View of their maps. If that has been there long... oh well... shows how long it has been sense my last visit to the site.

I decided to pull up my house (similar to a previous post)

Looks good to me!!! Let's zoom in another click.

Huh... where did my house go??? Hurricane? Tornado? Huh... does not even look like it zoomed in?

Craziness!!! And yes... both of these are from MapQuest!!!

This will be the first time we have done anything like this... so brace yourself. 

Pee Dee Area .NET Users Group
April 10th 6:00 - 8:00
Directions: here

April 10th's Meeting will be held in two parts. (Make plans to attend now)

Part 2: Normal meeting at 6:00. Brian Hitney (structuretoobig.com), a Developer Evangelist with Microsoft will be speaking on Windows Vista Internals and Architecture.

Part 1: Brain will be speaking to the PDANUG users at 2:30 - 5:00. ACS Technologies will be hosting the event at their location in Florence. (Directions below). He will be discussing how to better build scalable web solutions with .NET. He will discuss Windows Communication Foundation if time permits.

**SPECIAL NOTE**
If any member of PDANUG would like to attend the 1st session hosted at ACS Technologies, PLEASE let me know ASAP (). I am trying to finalize plans, space, and snacks!!! Brian said he was going to bring 10 XBOX 360s to give away... Just Kidding...

Special Instructions: Directions here. Google maps does not get the exact location correct but it gets on the correct street. The actual location is closer to the other end of the road near the intersection of I95 & I20. You can't miss the buildings. "ACSTechnologies" will be on the building. If you are attending; the meeting will be in the Khaki colored building on the left... not the "Salmon" colored building.

PDANUG finally has an RSS feed.

Please subscribe to stay informed of future Pee Dee Area .NET User Group Events.

Please, spread the word!!!

There is a cool feature with Google Reader that I recently started using.

They provide a way to share your favorite read items (in your massive blog roll) with others.

While reading blog entries in Reader, simply click the share link and Reader will add it to your shared list.

There are two ways to make this list visible to others.

• You can integrate into your very own blog (For an example, visit the site and look on the left at section titled: What's Chris Reading).
• There is also an RSS Feed.

I got Page hooked on Reader, how about you?

If you have Messenger, this may be for you. You can now help raise money for charity.

It is called "I'm", which is short for "I'm Making a Difference"

From the live.com website.
"Every time you start a conversation using i’m, Microsoft shares a portion of the program's advertising revenue with some of the world's most effective organizations dedicated to social causes"

You simply have to add a special code to your display name in Messenger. That simple.

I am supporting the American Red Cross, but there are other options.

***Windows Live Messenger 8.1 is required

Huh??? Not Implemented???

That is the error I have been "trouble shooting" for the past... seems like forever!!!

We have an application that uses the Microsoft AppUpdate Components (Microsoft.Samples.AppUpdater.AppDownloader) to handle the updates of our application.

Here is the story:

This application was connecting to a IIS setup that had not been used before for this application... (Important for the story)

The application would run, connect to IIS, see that updates were available, then hang... minutes later... would get the error message "The remote server returned an error: (501) Not Implemented"

The call to AppUpdater.DownloadUpdate() is where it would hang.

Hum... No code has changed yet... This should work.

I modified the config file for the same application to point to the other server... WORKED!!!

Changed back... NOPE!!!

I looked at IIS Settings, verified XML files, asked co-workers... no luck.

Found the fix here.

Under IIS, expand the Web Service Extensions. There is a WebDAV service extension. What do ya know... It was prohibited.

I allowed it and all works well... You can bet I won't forget about that in the future.

Get it here.

Includes SP2, Books Online, Feature Pack, etc...

For a list of what is in the Feature Pack, Click here.

Have you ever had a long web site link and wanted to share it with others?

Like:

http://3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592.com/

or

http://www.thelongestdomainnameintheworldandthensomeandthensomemoreandmore.com/

I hope you think someone will remember that.

What if you had to type that in on a Mobile device using that small keyboard.

Using this QurlyQ.com, you can share them like this:

http://qurlyq.com/1m

or

http://qurlyq.com/1n

Where is the best place to Close() a SqlConnection? What about to Dispose() a SqlDataAdapter?

I was writing on some code yesterday when I started getting this compile warning message: (Code displayed below)

Warning 35 Variable 'scon' is used before it has been assigned a value. A null reference exception could result at runtime.

I said to myself... "Self, this is just a warning... move on."

As the quantity of warning messages kept growing... I could not take it any more. I had to get ride of those warning messages.

Now... How to do it? I know... Ask Chris Craft, that is what I will do. He explained about the using statement and then sent me this great link.

He explained, that when using the using (sounds weird), after the using statement is finished, the objects will be closed and disposed automatically.

WOW!!! Here is the before and after.

Initial code:

Dim scon As SqlConnection
Dim sda As SqlDataAdapter
Dim scmd As SqlCommand
Dim ds As New DataSet
Dim sql As String = "SELECT * FROM MyTable"

Try
    scon = New SqlConnection(constring)
    scmd = New SqlCommand(sql, scon)
    scmd.CommandType = CommandType.Text
    sda = New SqlDataAdapter(scmd)
    sda.Fill(ds, "Blah")
Catch e As Exception
    Throw e
Finally
    sda.Dispose()     'Was giving the warning
    scmd.Dispose()  'Was giving the warning
    scon.Close()       'Was giving the warning
End Try

Code using the using:

Dim ds As New DataSet
Dim sql As String = "SELECT * FROM MyTable"

Try
    Using scon As SqlConnection = New SqlConnection(constring)
        Using scmd As SqlCommand = New SqlCommand(sql, scon)
            scmd.CommandType = CommandType.Text
            Using sda As SqlDataAdapter = New SqlDataAdapter(scmd)
                sda.Fill(ds,"Blah")
            End Using
        End Using
    End Using
Catch e As Exception
    Throw e
Finally
End Try

The code using the using looks neater, cleaner, and has no warning messages.

I hate the email game where you receive 99 interesting items about a person, from everyone in your address book...

I almost never read them (unless they are some my lovely wife)

But, I like this idea. Over the past couple of days, I have enjoyed reading people's blogs telling 5 things I did not know about them.

In most cases, I do not know the people (personally) I read, so it gives a great clue to who they really are. Thanks Shawn Twain Wildermuth and Clemens Vasters for the motivation.

1. I was born and raised in Lancaster, SC. My dad purchased our first computer; 486 SX25 with 2 MB of RAM. He let me learn and experiment (Gotta tweak that autoexec.bat and config.sys) on the computer. When it would get to the point that it would not boot anymore, dad would take it to the professionals and let them fix it (and let me watch them do it). Thanks dad for the patience and money spent. It was a memory I will never forget and always cherish. I still enjoy learning things about computers and technology.
2. I love to listen to good music. I listen to mostly Christian Rock. My favorite bands are: Project 86, Thousand Foot Krutch, Red, Family Force 5, Flyleaf, and Mat Kearney.
3. My first professional speaking engagement was June 13th, 2006 at the Pee Dee Area .NET Users Group. I spoke on T-SQL coding practices and a few performance "food for thoughts." I was co-founder of the group with buddies Page Brooks and Chris Craft.
4. Growing up, I wanted to be an Air Force Fighter Pilot. Then I found out I did not have 20/20 vision, loved to draw, and was good at math; so my desire changed to become an architect. Once dad got me a computer (see above), my desire changed once again. I wanted to do something with computers!!! That something is project planning, database design, and application development.
5. I love researching my genealogy. I have collected 50,000+ cousins and relatives in my database. Primary surnames researching: Reeder, Pressley, Baucom, Long, Ferguson, Polk, Whitley, Estridge, Strickland, Allen, and Blackmon.

Now, you have read my five things... So...

Tag goes to: Susanne Reeder, Chris Craft, Page Brooks, Josh Wyse, and Dean Lisenby.

It is not supported per Microsoft Release Notes.

.NET Framework 3.0  can be installed on any of the following systems:

• Microsoft Windows 2003 Server Service Pack 1 (SP1)
• Windows XP SP2
• Windows Vista *

That stinks!!!

A lot of businesses still run Windows 2000 (Pro & Server).

Windows 2000 is pretty solid; so why update?

I guess to be able to implement .NET 3.0 and Windows Communication Foundation (WCF).

Have you ever needed to see what tables a stored procedure references... or what SQL objects are used in a view... or what objects use a function?

There is a way.

A while back, I blogged about SQL Dependency Tracker, which is an awesome product; but there is a free way to do this.

Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio...

Yes... That is it.

Simply Right Click on the Table, View, or Stored Procedure and Voila!!! 

Thanks Don Savage for showing me this!