Mike's Musings

AJAX Components

Mike Benkovich — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 10:24:00 GMT

Today's webcast will be talking about the components that make AJAX work. Specifically we'll look at doing 2-3 demos including showing how you can debug client side scripting from Visual Studio 2005. It will be a lot of fun, and as usual I've posted the code to www.BenkoTIPS.com for you to take a look at.

Hope you can join us!

Testing BlogJet

Mike Benkovich — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 10:37:00 GMT

I have installed an interesting application - BlogJet. It's a cool Windows client for my blog tool (as well as for other tools). Get your copy here: http://blogjet.com

"Computers are useless. They can only give you answers." -- Pablo Picasso

Thinking about Atlas?

Mike Benkovich — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 09:07:00 GMT

In case you're interested, I'm starting a run of weekly webcasts on Atlas/Ajax to help introduce and get developers up to speed with this exciting new technology. So here's the synapsis:

This webcast series is aimed at people who are new to writing AJAX style web applications but can see the value the technology offers. We go from the basics of the what AJAX is, looking at each of the components that make the technology work, and then dive into what the Atlas framework brings to the table to make developing with this technology more intuitive and easier than before.

Atlas: Novice to Pro
Our schedule – Monday's
10/2 – Intro to Atlas: Level 100
If you thought AJAX was for cleaning floors and an Atlas was simply a collection of maps, and you don’t know what all the fuss is about, then this webcast is for you. In this webcast we talk about the technologies available for building highly interactive web applications, the components that make it work, and the tools that are available to the Visual Studio developer for making them work. We cover examples of AJAX style applications, how to install and configure Atlas, and then use the tools to build a simple website.

10/9 – AJAX Components: Level 200
In this webcast we introduce the components and parts that make AJAX work, including the XmlHttpRequest object, the DOM and JavaScript. We explore how these pieces fit together to enable the client application experience. Going beyond naming them we will explore the structure, syntax and the use of these so that we can build a foundation for future webcasts.

10/16 – Writing JavaScript: Level 200
While many people have experience writing .NET applications, learning the syntax and grammar of yet another language can seem like more work than it’s worth. But to take full advantage of what you can do with the Atlas framework there are fundamentals that we need to know and in this webcast we lay it out.

10/23 – Understanding XmlHttpRequest: Level 200
What is the XmlHttpRequest object, and why is it in my browser? In this webcast we cover how the enabling technology for AJAX was introduced and used to allow end users to create browser based applications with a rich user experience. While this is not new technology, we talk about the challenges and complexities that limited its widespread adoption. We dive into the rich set of functionality it offers and take a look at how we can use it in our own applications.

10/30 – Atlas for the masses: Level 200
We have the foundation built, now lets take a deeper look at the framework from Microsoft for building Ajax style applications called Atlas. Using Visual Studio we explore the rich set of components and controls that can be applied to create new web sites and Ajax-ify existing ones.

11/6 – AJAX Control Toolkit: Level 200
When you think about extensibility, look at what AJAX Extensions to ASP.NET offers as a download. Controls you can use, as well as how you can create your own. Join us to learn more about what's possible with this exciting technology.

Other upcoming webcasts...

11/13 – SQL MasterClass: Tuning SQL 2005 Applications
Relational databases let us capture and manage large amounts of information. When the data grows and the application slows, what can you do to make it right? Learn tips & tricks for tuning SQL 2005 databases, using the tools at your disposal and techniques to identify what's the real problem and where to look next.

We're Hot in Dallas!

Mike Benkovich — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 14:34:00 GMT

Hey – I’m back. I just started back in my role as the Developer Community Champion, this time officially as a Microsoft Employee! Whooo Hooo! My first day was Monday, and already in Dallas I got the opportunity to do some presenting. My co-worker Bill Steele and I tag teamed the presentation to a great crowd in a nicely air conditioned theater in downtown Dallas – it was over 120 F in the shade down there…

So we had some great fun. Today I’m presenting a webcast on ADO.NET 2.0 that teaches the essentials that a developer needs to know to get started coding. It’s been rescheduled a couple times, but it looks like this time will be a go.

I’m looking forward to seeing you on the road. Join me at one of our MSDN Events live and stop by to say hi!

As seen on TV...or radio at least?

Mike Benkovich — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 19:25:00 GMT

In case anyone’s listening, I was recently interviewed for TechNet radio to talk about what IT folks need to know about their developers. It was fun to sit down with with the technet expert Michael Murphy and spend some time talking technology.

Developer Essentials...from the DBMS perspective

Mike Benkovich — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 09:45:00 GMT

Well, I’m back at it on Friday with a couple more webcasts. For those who’ve checked out the other series I’ve worked on (SQL Masterclass and SQL BI Quickstart), you might see a trend with these new ones I’m doing. They finish off an existing series of webcasts aimed for the application developer who is working with SQL Server.

The first one – SQL 2005 Essentials – Enhancements to the SQLClient Data Provider talks about what is new for the developer in terms of SQL Client compared to traditional access via MDAC. We’re covering SNAC, MARS, Notification, Dependencies, Bulk Copy and more. I’ve got a bunch of code examples in both VB and C#, as well as the SQL script needed (we’re using AdventureWorks again)…This is available on the downloads page from which registered users can get the code and see for themselves how it works.

The other– SQL 2005 Essentials – ADO.NET 2.0 is a webcast that dives into new features of the new interface, discusses this new model, which includes provider registration, provider factories, data source enumerators, connection string handling, generalized schema handling, and provider and SQL network stack tracingdiscusses this new model, which includes provider registration, provider factories, data source enumerators, connection string handling, generalized schema handling, and provider and SQL network stack tracing... I’ll be posting the code for this one in the near future.

Hope you can join us. I assure you it should be a lot of fun…

Happy Coding!