Wednesday, October 29, 2008

LINQ and Entity Framework Posts for 10/27/2008+

Note: This post is updated daily or more frequently, depending on the availability of new articles.

• Updated 10/29/2008 8:00 AM PDT: Additions

Entity Framework and Entity Data Model (EF/EDM)

Paul Gielens liveblogs Tim Mallalieu’s The Future of the Entity Framework (TL20) PDC 2008 session on 10/28/2008. The Entity Framework Futures video should appear shortly on Channel9.

Danny Simmons used Damien Guard’s T4 templates for LINQ to SQL as inspiration for his Using T4 Templates to generate EF classes post of 10/28/2008. At this point, Danny’s template is an “early draft” and is missing a VB version and some other features. However, it’s a step in the right direction.

Faisal Mohamood’s Foreign Keys in the Conceptual and Object Models post of 10/27/2008 compares the treatment of foreign key values in LINQ to SQL (visible) and EF/EDM (not visible), as well as the trade-offs of both approaches. The topic is controversial, but I’m in favor of making FK values optional in EF/EDM, just as adding the “Set” suffix to entity sets should have been optional (and presumably will be in v2.)  

LINQ to SQL

• Sidar Ok’s Lazy Loading with Linq to SQL POCO post of 10/28/2008 shows you how to implement lazy loading for his earlier Achieving POCO s in Linq to SQL project with the LinFu Dynamic Proxy.

Sebastien Lachance suggests use of the DataContext’s DeleteDatabase() and CreateDatabase() methods to assure that test databases are in the proper state in his Unit Testing, LinqToSql and CreateDatabase post of 10/27/2008.

Ilan Assayag provides links to methods of providing Configurable connection string with Linq to SQL in his 10/27/2008 post.

LINQ to Objects, LINQ to XML, et al.

Charlie Calvert begins coverage of C# 4.0 in his LINQ Farm: Covariance and Contravariance in C# 4.0 post of 10/28/2008.

ADO.NET Data Services (Astoria)

Pablo Castro’s Now you know...it's Windows Azure post of 10/28/2008 describes Azure’s table service for structured storage of entity/attribute/value (EAV) data in row/column (property) containers (partitions). Table service features an Astoria-compatible RESTful external interface, as well as internal ADO.NET connectivity. Azure includes .NET 3.5 SP1 so you can use the current Astoria client to interact with table services.

Pablo and Niranjan Nilakantan will present Windows Azure: Modeling Data for Efficient Access at Scale (ES07 | Wed 10/29 | 1:15 PM-2:30 PM | 403AB):

Learn how to use the highly scalable, available and durable table storage service. This session presents a deep dive with demos into the programming APIs and data models for structured storage.

Brad Calder presented the Windows Azure Storage: Essential Cloud Services (ES04 01:14:50) PDC session on 10/28/2008:

Modern services need available, scalable and durable data in many forms, including both structured and unstructured data. This session presents blob, table and queue storage services and the APIs for manipulating and querying data.

Brad Calder is Director/Architect of Cloud Storage, which is the essential scalable, available and durable storage for Microsoft’s Cloud Platform.

Brad’s session describes Azure’s three basic data abstractions: Blobs, Tables, and Queues. Table-oriented content begins at 00:21:29. ADO.NET Data Services access with LINQ or REST starts at 00:30:00. Queue content begins at 00:40:00.

Matthieu Mezil’s ADO.NET Data Services Hooking POC V4 post of 10/28/2008 improves on Astoria’s rights management approach by moving it from the service to the business logic layer’s entity class. His downloadable proof of concept code is available from CodePlex.

Joe Gregorio, Google’s main man for the Atom Pub Protocol, offers a 15-minute An Introduction to REST video he describes as:

Google Data APIs are based on the Atom Publishing Protocol and both Google Data APIs and AtomPub get many advantages from being RESTful protocols. Often the meaning of REST and the advantages of RESTfulness go unexplained so I put together this short 15 minute video that explains REST and some of the advantages you get with a protocol built in that style.

Steve Maine’s Announcing the WCF REST Starter Kit post of 10/27/2008 describes the REST Starter Kit as follows:

When I talk to customers about the API’s for building REST services we added to WCF in .NET 3.5, most people “get it” at some abstract level but come away really wishing for deeper guidance and samples on how to use the platform to address common problems. To answer some of those questions, we’ve taken about 20 of the top customer questions and put them into the REST Starter Kit download as SDK samples so you can look at code and see how the API’s are used in practice.

ASP.NET Dynamic Data (DD)

Scott Hunter will present ASP.NET Dynamic Data [for MVC] (PC30 | Wed 10/29 | 3:00 PM-4:15 PM | 411):

The next version of ASP.NET MVC contains a new scaffolding feature based on Dynamic Data that provides a rich framework for creating data driven web sites. Learn how to quickly build a Dynamic Data web site using features like model level validation, field and entity templates, and scaffolding.

Mike Ormond’s Lots of new ASP.NET bits post of 10/28/2008 notes that the ASP.NET CodePlex site has the following new items:

    • ASP.NET AJAX 4.0 Preview 3
    • ASP.NET Dynamic Data 4.0 Preview 1
    • ASP.NET MVC Beta Source Code Release

SQL [Server] Data Services (S[S]DS) and Cloud Computing

Jim Nakashima covers the simples way to get a Blob Storage service up and running in his Windows Azure Walkthrough: Simple Blob Storage Sample post of 10/29/2008.

OakLeaf’s Cloud Computing at PDC and Elsewhere: Day 2 (10/28) is the second “daily compendium of PDC keynotes and sessions about Cloud Computing, SQL [Server] Data Services, and related topics.”

• Jim Nakashima’s ASP.Net MVC Projects running on Windows Azure post of 10/28/2008 describes how to tweak an ASP.NET MVC project to run on WinAz and includes a sample application.MSDN’s SQL Data Services Developer Center has updated documentation for SDS (updated from SSDS).

Anthony Carrabino provides an overview of what’s new in SDS in his New version of SQL Data Services part of “Azure” CTP post of 10/28/2008.

Jim Nakashima’s Deploying a Service on Windows Azure post of 10/28/2008 is a detailed, illustrated primer that explains how to deploy as a .NET Service the simple ASP.NET app he demonstrated in his Quick Lap around the Windows Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio article.

Ryan Dunn explains What's new in SQL Data Services for Developers in this Channel9 screencast wherein

Ryan visits Jason Hunter and Jeff Currier, a couple of the lead developers on the SQL Data Services team (formerly called SQL Server Data Services) to find out what the new PDC CTP build of the SDS service brings for developers.

The SSDS Getting Started Forum’s New Features thread discusses the lack of cross-container joins in the new SDS version.

Soumitra Sengupta Microsoft Announces Windows Azure and Azure Services Platform provides a brief synopsis of previous and forthcoming PDC 2008 sessions about SQL Data Services.

Oakleaf’s SQL Data Services (SDS) Update from the S[S]DS Team of 10/27/2008 is a copy of a Soumitra Sengupta’s e-mail sent to all registered SSDS users about the upgrade to SDS coming in “early” and “mid-November.”

OakLeaf’s Cloud Computing at PDC and Elsewhere: Day 1 (10/27) is the first of “a daily compendium of PDC keynotes and sessions about Cloud Computing, SQL Server Data Services, and related topics.”

SQL Server Compact (SSCE) 3.5 and Sync Services

Lev Novik’s Microsoft Sync Framework Advances in v2 PDC 2008 presentation of 10/28/2008 “shows you how the next version of the Microsoft Sync Framework makes it easier to synchronize distributed copies of data across desktops, devices, services, or anywhere else they may be stored.”

Liam Cavanaugh’s Annoucing Sync Framework v2 CTP1 post of 10/28/2008 describes the first glimpse of Sync Services v2, which adds the following new features:

    • Simple Providers
    • Change Unit Filtering
    • Filter negotiation

Liam Cavanaugh explains sync-related SQL Services from the SQL Services Labs incubator in his Introducing SQL Services Labs post of 10/27/2008.

Miscellaneous (WPF, WCF, MVC, Silverlight, etc.)

• Jim Nakashima’s ASP.Net MVC Projects running on Windows Azure post of 10/28/2008 describes how to tweak an ASP.NET MVC project to run on WinAz and includes a sample application. (Repeated from SDS and Cloud Computing.)

Rob Conery is finally getting closer to release of his venerable MVC sample project, as noted in his MVC Storefront Preview 1 Available post of 10/28/2008.

Mike Ormond’s Lots of new ASP.NET bits post of 10/28/2008 notes that the ASP.NET CodePlex site has the following new items:

    • ASP.NET AJAX 4.0 Preview 3
    • ASP.NET Dynamic Data 4.0 Preview 1
    • ASP.NET MVC Beta Source Code Release

(Repeated from the Dynamic Data topic.)

John Papa waxes enthusiastic in his Silverlight 2 - What a Ride! post of 10/27/2008 about Silverlight 2 adoption for O’Reilly’s InsideRIA blog. But the Flash proponents claim Silverlight 2 hasn’t achieved significant usage. I agree with John; until Silverlight 1.0 reared its head, Adobe and Macromedia were resting on their laurels. Flash (and Flex) need competition.

Tim Heuer’s Silverlight Toolkit Released – More controls! post of 10/28/2008 describes the new Silverlight Toolkit that RTW’d on the same date.

Shawn Wildermuth’s

Mike Snow explains that there is now a released version of the Silverlight Tools for Visual Studio 2008 SP1 in Silverlight Tools RTW Released! of 10/28/2008.

Rob Conery’s SubSonic MVC Addin Updated for Beta 1 post of 10/27/2008 announces an updated version of the MVC Add in for his flagship object/relational modeling tool, SubSonic.

Cloud Computing at PDC and Elsewhere: Day 3 (10/29)

A daily compendium of PDC keynotes and sessions about Cloud Computing, SQL Server Data Services, and related topics. This post will be updated frequently from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM PDT or later. Unless otherwise noted all blog posts are dated 10/29/2008.

On-Demand Keynote 3 From Day 2

Don Box and Chris Anderson: A Lap Around the Azure Platform (Day 2, Keynote 3)

Chris Anderson and Don Box take the microphone over in Keynote 3 and explore Microsoft's latest technologies through the eyes of working developers.

Don and Chris write the simplest possible program with HTTP URIs and XML that shows all the capabilities of the Azure Services platform. (This keynote, like Rick Rashid’s Day 3, Keynote 4, wasn’t streamed live. Repeated from Cloud Computing at PDC and Elsewhere: Day 2 (10/28).)

Session Videos From Channel9

Channel9 is posting videos of PDC 2008 interviews and sessions about 24 hours after the session’s end. Here are segments from Tuesday’s sessions that are related to cloud computing:

Mike Flasko: Developing Applications Using Data Services (Tue 10/28 | 1:45 PM-3:00 PM | 151)

In the near future, applications will be developed using a combination of custom application code and online building block services, including data-centric services. In this session we discuss advancements in the Microsoft development platform and online service interfaces to enable seamless interaction with data services both on-premises (e.g., ADO.NET Data Services Framework over on-premises SQL Server) and in the cloud (e.g., SQL Server Data Services). Learn how you can leverage existing know-how related to LINQ (Language Integrated Query), data access APIs, data-binding, and more when building applications using online data.

David Robinson: SQL Services: Tips and Tricks for High-Throughput Data-Driven Applications (Tue 10/28 | 12:45 PM-1:30 PM | 411)

Learn how to use the Authority-Container-Entity (ACE) concepts to build large scale, high-throughput applications using SQL Services and other cloud-based services.

Danny Kim: Full Armor’s Policy Portal (Tue 10/28 | 12:45 PM-1:30 PM | 408A)

Learn how early adopter customers built their services on the Microsoft cloud platform. Hear details about the experience related to design and development of their services, and why they chose to build their service on the cloud platform.

John Shuchuck: Architecture of the .NET Services (Tue 10/28 | 3:30 PM-4:45 PM | Petree Hall CD)

Dive into the architecture that links many of the Microsoft .NET services and lets ISVs and businesses deliver compelling solutions. Learn how to compose these services with SQL Services to create applications in the cloud and connect them with on-premises systems. In this session we cover the next generation of messaging, data, access control, and directory services, and how they help developers.

Soumitra Sengupta: A Lap around SQL Services (Tue 10/28 | 3:30 PM-4:45 PM | 502A)

SQL Services is a set of hosted database services that supports high-scale distributed applications using SOAP and REST interfaces. Learn how to model data for high availability and scale, and see how to create new applications in the cloud or extend on-premises applications and services. Learn how to create, retrieve, and update all types of data-from blobs to flexible entities to schematized entities.

Tim Mallalieu: Entity Framework Futures (Tue 10/28 | 5:15 PM-6:30 PM | 151)

The next version of the Entity Framework adds scenarios in the areas of model driven development, domain driven development, simplicity, and integration. See a preview of production and prototype code for the next version of the Entity Framework as well as a candid discussion with members of the development team. (01:33:26)

Yousef Khalidi: Windows Azure: Architecting & Managing Cloud Services (Tue 10/28 | 5:15 PM-6:30 PM | Petree Hall CD)

From design to deployment, building a scalable, highly available service is different from building other kinds of applications. This session discusses the impact that designing for the cloud has on all stages of the service lifecycle, and how the Microsoft cloud platform works for you to meet the scaling and availability goals of your service. This session will show how automation is used to free the developer from dealing with many hardware and networking issues. Also learn how the cloud services platform is architected to enable a pay-for-use dynamic model.

Liam Cavanagh: Sync Framework: Enterprise Data in the Cloud and on Devices (Tue 10/28 | 5:15 PM-6:30 PM | 408A) Video pending

See how synchronization plays a pivotal role in transitioning to a managed cloud environment by creating a central hub of information in the cloud. Using synchronization, organizations can enable more efficient mobile and enterprise-to-enterprise scenarios.

Cloud-Related Posts

Jim Nakashima: Windows Azure Walkthrough: Simple Blob Storage Sample (10/29/2008)

This walkthrough covers what I found to be the simplest way to get a sample up and running on Windows Azure that uses the Blob Storage service. It is not trying to be comprehensive or trying to dive deep in the technology, it just serves as an introduction to how the Windows Azure Blob Storage Service works.

Cloud Computing at PDC and Elsewhere: Day 2 (10/28)

A daily compendium of PDC keynotes and sessions about Cloud Computing, SQL Server Data Services, and related topics. This post will be updated frequently from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM PDT or later. Unless otherwise noted all blog posts are dated 10/28/2008.

• Updated 10/29/2008 9:00 AM PDT: Additions of remaining 10/27 videos of Cloud Computing sessions

On-Demand Keynote 3 From Day 2

• Don Box and Chris Anderson: A Lap Around the Azure Platform (Day 2, Keynote 3)

Chris Anderson and Don Box take the microphone over in Keynote 3 and explore Microsoft's latest technologies through the eyes of working developers.

Don and Chris write the simplest possible program with HTTP URIs and XML that shows all the capabilities of the Azure Services platform. (This keynote, like Rick Rashid’s Day 3, Keynote 4, wasn’t streamed live.)

Session Videos From Channel9

Channel9 is starting to post videos of PDC 2008 interviews and sessions about 24 hours after the session’s end. Here are some of the first that are related to cloud computing:

David Campbell, Zach Skyles Owens: SQL Server: Database to Data Platform - Road from Server to Devices to the Cloud (Mon 10/27 | 5:15 PM-6:30 PM | 408B)

Cloud-based data services will change the way you develop and deploy applications, and SQL Server technologies are evolving to help you build data-driven solutions that span devices, desktops, servers, and the cloud. Learn how to use ADO.NET Data Services Framework (code name "Astoria"), SQL Server Data Services (SSDS), and the Microsoft Sync Framework. Hear how to build applications that can be deployed using SSDS in the cloud or SQL Server on-premises, and learn how to gain insights using the BI capabilities of Microsoft SQL Server.

Steve Marx: Developing and Deploying Your First Windows Azure Service (Mon 10/27 | 5:15 PM-6:30 PM | Petree Hall CD)

In this session we take a tour of the capabilities of the Microsoft cloud platform by building and running a simple service using the platform SDK. The sample service highlights some of the features of the platform including service management, storage, and an integrated developer experience. This is a demo-heavy session.

Lynn Ayres, Tore Sundelin: Identity: Connecting Active Directory to Microsoft Services (Mon 10/27 | 3:30 PM-4:45 PM | 515B)

Learn how to augment your existing IT infrastructure with Microsoft Services. Manage and secure end-user access to cloud services using your existing investment in Active Directory. Enable end users to access Microsoft services through existing Active Directory accounts, the same way they access your intranet-hosted software today. Hear how to enable existing software to use new service capabilities without re-writes, and do it all through the use of open and standard protocols.

Jitendra Thethi, Larry Beck, Erik Johnson, Brandon Watson Showcase: Industry Leaders Moving to the Cloud (Mon 10/27 | 12:45 PM-1:30 PM | 411)

Senior architects from Accenture, Epicor and Infosys, who have been using Microsoft's cloud platform for the last while, walk through the applications they've built on the platform, the architectures they've used and the lessons they've learned on what works and what doesn't. Get a real world perspective and questions answered from architects who have been getting their hands dirty with cloud services.

• Kolby Avital: "Dublin" and .NET Services: Extending On-Premises Applications to the Cloud (Mon 10/27 | 12:45 PM-1:30 PM | 515A)

Would you like to extend your existing SharePoint and .NET applications both on-premises and to the cloud in a non-intrusive way? This session will show you real-world examples of how to harness .NET Services workflow, access control and service bus to enhance business processes and add new capabilities to your application. We will demonstrate the use of "Dublin" Windows Application Server technologies to build extended application functionality. Lastly, you will see how workflow can be used to integrate across multiple organizations and the cloud. For ISVs, this session will provide a blueprint for how to sell more products to your installed base without requiring them to upgrade.

Brad Calder: Windows Azure Storage: Essential Cloud Services (ES04 01:14:50):

Modern services need available, scalable and durable data in many forms, including both structured and unstructured data. This session presents blob, table and queue storage services and the APIs for manipulating and querying data.

Brad Calder is Director/Architect of Cloud Storage, which is the essential scalable, available and durable storage for Microsoft’s Cloud Platform.

John Shuchuck: A Lap Around the Azure Services Platform (Mon 10/27 | 3:30 PM-4:45 PM | Petree Hall CD)

Learn about the Azure services that enable developers to easily create or extend their applications and services. From consumer-targeted applications and social networking web sites to enterprise class applications and services, these services make it easy for you to give your applications and services the most compelling experiences and features.

Manuvir Das: A Lap Around Windows Azure (Mon 10/27 | 11:00 AM-12:15 PM | Petree Hall CD 00:46:39)

Hear about key problems that cloud computing is solving and how these services fit into the Microsoft cloud computing initiatives. Learn about the pillars of the platform, its service lifecycle, and see how they fit with both Microsoft and non-Microsoft technologies. Also, hear about the services roadmap over the next few years.

Benjamin Ravani: Datacenters and Resilient Services (Mon 10/27 | 12:45 PM-1:30 PM | 408A | 00:52:31)

Microsoft Global Foundation Services (GFS) continues to learn by running online services while also building the next generation of services that are both resilient and cost effective. A key factor in realizing these goals is to apply innovation and lessons learned during the design phase. Take a look at the datacenter operations, and explore the challenges of managing large-scale services, such as Windows Live ID (WLID), which handle billions of transactions per day.

Kim Cameron: Identity Roadmap for Software + Services (Mon 10/27 | 11:00 AM-12:15 PM | 502A | 00:67:21)

The security demands on applications continue to grow in the face of compliance, online threats, and cloud- based software. In this session find out how to use Microsoft's portfolio of identity software and services to advantage your connected applications. Learn about the future roadmap for Identity and the claims-based architecture underlying it all, from Windows Live ID to Active Directory, from on-premises software to the cloud, and anchored in industry standard protocols.

Caleb Baker: Identity: "Geneva" Server and Framework Overview (Mon 10/27 | 1:45 PM-3:00 PM | 403AB | 00:74:21)

See how to use "Geneva" and the claims-based identity model to enable single sign-on, strong authentication, federation, and the ability to flow user authentication between applications. Find out how to use "Geneva" with ASP.NET, WCF, Active Directory, Windows Live ID, and Windows CardSpace.

This section will be updated as segments become available on 10/28/2008.

Cloud-Related Posts

Joe Wilcox: PDC Day 2 Quick Roundup (10/28/2008)

Microsoft saved some of the biggest developer news for the second day of the Professional Developers Conference. … Things were moving so fast during today's keynote, which went way over time, I simply couldn't get to it at once.

Jim Nakashima: ASP.Net MVC Projects running on Windows Azure (10/28/2008)

Strictly speaking, ASP.Net MVC projects are not supported on Windows Azure.  That is to say that we haven't spent the time to fully test all of the MVC scenarios when running on Windows Azure. 

That said, for the most part, they do work, just as long as you know what tweaks you need to make in order to get up and running.

I've attached a sample application that Phil and Eilon on the MVC team put together to help make it easier for you to get started.

Jim Nakashima: Video Walkthrough: A Quick Lap around Windows Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio (10/28/2008)

(A brief 00:05:38 screencast rather than a Channel9 webcast.)

Ray Ozzie: Ray Ozzie: Reflections on Azure (00:06:02)

Microsoft CSA Ray Ozzie joins us for a quick chat (you can imagine how busy he is...) about the complexities of designing and implementing the Azure Services Platform, his key take-aways from the past two days at PDC and his guiding architectural principles for Azure (for those who know Ray, he is a staunch advocate for simplicity and adherence to protocols that already exist and are widely used).

Jim Nakashima: Windows Azure Walkthrough: Simple Table Storage (10/28/2008)

The Windows Azure Table Storage Services provides queryable structured storage. Each account can have 0..n tables.

The UI class (the aspx page and it’s code behind) is data bound through an ObjectDataSource to the SimpleTableSample_WebRole.ContactDataSource which creates the connection to the Table Storage service gets the list of Contacts and Inserts to, and Deletes from, the Table Storage.

Clint Covington: Storing Access apps and data in the cloud (10/28/2008)

Today’s guest writer is Liam Cavanagh from the Sync Framework and SQL Services team. They are doing some cool stuff that allows Access developers to store their app and data in the cloud using SQL Server Data Services. Liam is looking for people that want to beta test an upcoming release early next year. –Clint

Monday, October 27, 2008

Cloud Computing at PDC and Elsewhere: Day 1 (10/27)

A daily compendium of PDC keynotes and sessions about Cloud Computing, SQL Server Data Services, and related topics. This post will be updated frequently from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM PDT or later. Unless otherwise noted all blog posts are dated 10/27/2008.

Ray Ozzie Keynote: Red Dog Turns Azure

Yet another example of a “heap big smoke; no fire” PDC keynote. As expected Ray Ozzie announced the name of SQL Server Data Services’ and Live Services’ underlying cloud operating system that Steve Ballmer recently called Windows Cloud. The new name is Windows Azure (WinAz).

 

Steve Marx built and deployed a “Hello Cloud” service on a machine with WinAz SDK and the Azure Tools for VS 2008 SP1 installed. The newly scaled-up service is live at http://hellocloud.cloudapp.net. Steve Marx: Windows Azure for Developers is a Channel9 video interview with Steve for the developer audience. The Manuvir Das: Introducing Windows Azure interview is directed toward IT management.

Bob Muglia assured developers that WinAz will be the “next generation of platform for developers to take advantage of” with “built-in scale-out Service bus; federated access control; and scale-out workflow services so workflows span from on-premises to the cloud.” A primary feature will be symmetry between on-premises application design and debugging with the Windows Azure SDK and projects deployed to the WinAz cloud.

J. Nicholas Hoover’s Microsoft PDC Live Blog for Information Week is one of the first  reasonably complete and readable synopses of the keynotes, so this completes OakLeaf coverage of the day one keynote.

Mary Jo Foley offers a more technically oriented post, Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform: A guide for the perplexed, and answer the rhetorical Why ‘Azure’? question. She cites the following Azure PDC usage limitations:

    • Total compute usage: 2000 VM hours
    • Cloud storage capacity: 50GB
    • Total storage bandwidth: 20GB/day

Joe Wilcox’s Azure: Windows Becomes the Web post is more marketing oriented. Joe says:

If there was ever a "Microsoft conquers, or perhaps becomes, the Web" strategy, Azure is it. The Web services—cloud computing—platform is brilliant in concept, but execution will determine whether or not Microsoft walks rather than just talks.

Here’s the complete transcript of the Day One keynotes from Microsoft PressPass: Professional Developers Conference 2008 Day 1 Keynote: Ray Ozzie, Amitabh Srivastava, Bob Muglia, Dave Thompson.

Useful Windows Azure Links for Developers

Soma Somasegar provides more details on Windows Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio in his Windows Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio CTP post, which includes Solution Explorer and New Project screen captures. He also discusses the Emerging Trends pillar of VS 2010.

The OakLeaf Blog’s SQL Data Services (SDS) Update from the S[S]DS Team post of 10/27/2008 provides a detailed list of changes to SQL Data Services (SDS) (formerly SQL Server Data Services, SSDS) in Sprint #5.

Ryan Dunn posted a link to the What's new in SQL Data Services for Developers Channel9 screencast that includes details on new relational features (joins) an blob support in the upcoming public CTP.

From the Cloud Computing Tools Team’s Bookmarks: Windows Azure post of 10/27/2008:

Here's a set of bookmarks that you'll find useful as you ramp up and use Windows Azure.

Downloads:

Portal:

Community:

Some of these links haven’t fully propagated yet. If you receive 404’s, try again later today.

Once you have the SDK and Tools, check these links from the Register for Azure Services page:

and the Azure Tools blog:

Note that the SQL Data Services SDK is the SQL Server Data Services SDK with a new name.

Posts About Cloud-Related Sessions

Channel9’s John Shewchuk and Dennis Pilarinos: Inside .NET Services video covers much of the content of  BB01 A Lap Around the Azure Services Platform (Mon 10/27 | 3:30 PM-4:45 PM | Petree Hall CD).

Channel9 describes the Dave Campbell: Inside SQL Services video thusly:

Technical Fellow Dave Campbell digs into the "fabric" of Azure's SQL Services. What are the current capabilities of SQL Services and how will they evolve? Can you upload stored procedures to the cloud and expect them to run? What does extending a shrink-wrapped application to the world of distributed cloud services really mean?

You can expect the video to cover much of the content of Dave’s BB15 SQL Server: Database to Data Platform - Road from Server to Devices to the Cloud (Mon 10/27 | 5:15 PM-6:30 PM | 408B).

Paul GielensA Lap Around Windows Azure post of 10/27/2008 is a detailed analysis of session ES16 A Lap Around Windows Azure (Mon 10/27 | 11:00 AM-12:15 PM | Petree Hall CD)presented by Manuvir Das. Paul has several earlier posts that equally insightful.

SQL Services Incubation Projects

Following are links to descriptions of current SQL Services Incubation projects:

  • Codename “Astoria” Offline - Version 1 of ADO.NET Data Services Framework (a.k.a. Project "Astoria") introduced a way of creating and consuming flexible, data-centric REST services. Now we are working on creating an end-to-end story for taking data services offline using synchronization. Integrating data services with the Microsoft Sync Framework will enable developers to create offline-capable applications that have a local replica of their data, synchronize that replica with an online data service when a network connection becomes available, and use replicas with the ADO.NET Entity Framework for regular data access.
  • Accessing SDS using ADO.NET Data Services - This incubation project focuses on aligning SDS and ADO.NET Data Services. With this alignment SDS will support AtomPub and JSON formats. It will also provide support for established set of conventions for constructing URLs to point to resources. We are also extending ADO.NET Data Services to provide access to the flexible data stored in SDS.
  • Data Mining in the Cloud - The SQL Server Data Mining team is working to extend the power and ease of use of SQL Server Data Mining to the Cloud. Our goal is provide services that allow you to build rich, predictive applications without worrying about server infrastructure, and showcase these services with cool applications that give you a glimpse of what’s possible
  • U Rank – This Microsoft Research project is exploring how personalization, social context, and communication may be used to improve the search experience and leveraging SQL Data Services to power the service. Use the search engine to re-rank search results, move results from one search to another, add notes, and otherwise edit searches. Not only will you see your changes again the next time you come back, but your friends will see the changes too!
  • Project Codename "Anchorage" – We’re evolving the popular SyncToy application to enable much more than just file/folder synchronization between PCs, devices, and services! With this project, providers will be able to register and be discovered in a variety of sync groups including contacts, files, favorites, videos, as well as photos across endpoints such as the Live Mesh, PhotoBucket.com, Smugmug.com, and more
  • Project Codename “Huron”- Leverage the power of SQL Data Services to enable enterprise edge scenarios using the technologies in this incubation! Share data with relational stores like Access, SQL Express, SQL CE, SQL Server, enable B2B data sharing, and push workgroup databases to field workers and mobile users
  • Reporting against SQL Data Services – Leverage SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) 2008 to build and deploy rich reports against data hosted in SQL Data Services (SDS). SSRS data source extensibility framework is used to provide an incubation custom data extension for SDS. Developers can download the custom extension and configure it against their on-premise SSRS 2008 installation. This will allow them to connect to SDS authorities and containers via HTTP SOAP to extract data sets, build rich reports using standard tools like Report Designer / Report Builder and deploy the reports to Report Manager

VS 2010 Prerelease Download

Get your copy from the Microsoft Pre-release Software Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4.0 Community Technology Preview (CTP) page. The CTP is available only as a Virtual PC image and requires Virtual PC 2007 SP1. VS 2010 is not required to run the WinAz SDK or VS 2008 WinAz tools.

Links to Significant Cloud Computing Background Content

The Economist presents a multipart report on cloud computing by Ludwig Siegele in its 10/23/2008 edition:

Click here for an audio interview of the author.

The Seattle Times offers a Details about Microsoft's cloud computing expected at conference preview by Benjamin J. Romano:

Microsoft is expected to sort out its strategy for cloud computing, a broad change in how computer users retrieve and process information and applications, at the company's Professional Developers Conference this week.

Tim O’Reilly attempts in Web 2.0 and Cloud Computing of 10/26/2008 to explain why Larry Ellison is both right and wrong about the future of cloud computing:

A couple of months ago, Hugh Macleod created a bit of buzz with his blog post The Cloud's Best Kept Secret. Hugh's argument: that cloud computing will lead to a huge monopoly. Of course, a couple of weeks ago, Larry Ellison made the opposite point, arguing that salesforce.com is "barely profitable", and that no one will make much money in cloud computing.

In this post, I'm going to explain why Ellison is right, and yet, for the strategic future of Oracle, he is dangerously wrong.

Tim can’t avoid Web 2.0 agitprop in his conclusion:

So here's the real trick: cloud computing is real. Everything is moving into the cloud, in whole or in part. The utility layer of cloud computing will be just that, a utility, without outsized profits.

But the cloud platform, like the software platform before it, has new rules for competitive advantage. And chief among those advantages are those that we've identified as "Web 2.0", the design of systems that harness network effects to get better the more people use them.

SQL Data Services (SDS) Update from the S[S]DS Team

The S[S]DS team sent the following e-mail about the result of Sprint #5 to registered users of SQL Data Services (SDS), formerly SQL Server Data Services (SSDS), which runs under the Windows Azure cloud operating system:

This morning, we announced, the latest upgrade of SSDS [Sprint #5] at the PDC2008 conference in Los Angeles. We have also changed the name of the service from SSDS to SDS (SQL Data Services). In order to support this announcement, the documentation on our DevCenter has been updated to cover the new features in this upgrade.

Key members of our team are at the PDC. We hope to be able to meet with many of you who are attending this event. Please come to our talks, stop by our booth, and say "Hello" to us in the services lounge.

The SDS upgrade announced at the PDC will be made available to you in early November and broadly available as a public CTP (Community Technology Preview) in mid-November. [Emphasis added.]

New features announced today:

Additional Query Support

a) Joins

Join query support in SQL Data Services (SDS) allow you to retrieve entities from a container based on a join condition involving properties on different kinds of entities. For example, if you have a container with customer and order entities, a query to find orders for a given a customer would require you join the customer and order entities based on a common property. Since both the customers and orders are in the same container, you query the same container twice (using aliases); first find the customer and then find orders for that customer using a join condition.

b) OfKind

To simplify the join Syntax, SQL Data Services (SDS) has introduced an OfKind function. This function can specified on the queries From clause to distinguish between multiple Kinds within a container.

An example would be

from c in entities.OfKind("Customer") select c

c) Order By

SQL Data Services (SDS) now supports an Order By clause in our query syntax. This optional clause allows you to have your query results returned order by the property of your choosing in either ascending or descending order

d) Take

SQL Data Services (SDS) now supports a Take function in its query language. This new function can be used to restrict the number of entities returned in a given query.

.Net Access Control Integration (SOAP Only)

The .NET Access Control Service is a hosted, secure, standards-based infrastructure for multi-party, federated authentication and rules-driven, claims-based authorization. SQL Data Services (SDS) supports authentication and authorization via tokens issued by the .NET Access Control Service. This allows applications secure not only their own web service layer, but also their SDS-based data layer using the same, declarative access control mechanism.

Other forms of credentials, besides username/password, can be used to obtain a token from the identify provider. They are:

a) X.509 certificate

b) InfoCard

In this release, using token-based authentication scheme with SDS has the following limitations:

a) When communicating with SDS, the token-based security is available only when using the SOAP protocol. For applications using the REST protocol, only the basic authentication is supported (username/password).

b) Requires a .NET Services solution account.

Metrics

Service users often want to know the usage pattern of the service. Microsoft® SQL Data Services (SDS) user may want to find:

a) How many containers or entities do I have?

b) What is the total storage consumed by an authority or a container?

c) What is the amount storage used by blobs in a container?

d) What is the aggregate number of requests (GET, POST, PUT and so on) sent against an authority or a container?

e) What is the number of request and response bytes sent with a specific authority or container in scope?

The service provides this information as properties on authorities and containers.

User Limits during the public CTP (this will change, when we go "Live")

a) Each user will be allowed 50gb of storage across all Authorities

b) 1000 Containers per Authority

c) 1gb of Blob Entities per Container (up from 500mb)

d) 100mb of Flexible Entities per Container (up from 20mb)

e) Each Blob Entity will be capped at 100mb

For more detail, please visit SDS DevCenter at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/dataservices/default.aspx

Thank You,

The SSDS Team

When this article was posted, there were no more details about the S[S]DS upgrade at the preceding link.

Ryan Dunn posted a link to the What's new in SQL Data Services for Developers Channel9 screencast that includes details on new relational features (joins) an blob support in the upcoming public CTP.

Channel9 presents the Dave Campbell: Inside SQL Services video with the following deck:

Technical Fellow Dave Campbell digs into the "fabric" of Azure's SQL Services. What are the current capabilities of SQL Services and how will they evolve? Can you upload stored procedures to the cloud and expect them to run? What does extending a shrink-wrapped application to the world of distributed cloud services really mean?

You can expect the video to cover much of the content of Dave’s BB15 SQL Server: Database to Data Platform - Road from Server to Devices to the Cloud (Mon 10/27 | 5:15 PM-6:30 PM | 408B).

Saturday, October 25, 2008

LINQ and Entity Framework Posts for 10/20/2008+

Note: This post is updated daily or more frequently, depending on the availability of new articles.

Updated 10/25/2008 3:30 PM PDT: Minor additions
Updated 10/23/2008 9:00 AM PDT: Amazon EC3 (big news), EF, LINQ to SQL, LINQ, Astoria, and SSDS/Cloud Computing additions
• Updated 10/22/2008 3:00 PM PDT: Several additions

Links to Streaming PDC 2008 Keynotes from Guy Burstein:

Monday: 10/27
8:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
100 kbps | 300 kbps | 750 kbps

Tuesday: 10/28
8:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
100 kbps | 300 kbps | 750 kbps

Entity Framework and Entity Data Model (EF/EDM)

••• Jarek Kowalski provides a detailed step-by-step guide for Using EF Oracle Sample Provider with EDM Designer on 10/24/2008. Jarek says:

Many people are asking if it is possible to use EFOracleProvider with EDM Designer in Visual Studio 2008 SP1. The answer is yes, but because the sample doesn't include a DDEX provider required for VS integration, there are certain steps that have to be run manually.

Jarek’s guide has 15 steps.

Steve Lasker offers a tutorial for delivering SQL Server Compact (SSCE) with EF client applications in his Privately Deploying SQL Server Compact with the ADO.NET Entity Provider post of 10/21/2008. The highly detailed process covers SSCE installations on locked-down computers whose users don’t have Administrator accounts.

Bill Vaughn’s Is Microsoft Listening or Open for Output Only? post of 10/22/2008 proposes that Microsoft add semi-mandatory WHERE clauses and remove SELECT * options from SQL-generating wizards.

He also states that devs using the Entity Framework must process schema changes manually. I noted in a comment that “the Entity Data Model Designer has an Update from Database context menu command that opens a tabbed dialog that regenerates the entity classes automatically.”

Saaid Kahn, a Program Manager on the Visual Studio Pro Tools team, describes how to create an n-tier database application  using ADO.NET Data Services (Astoria) and an Entity Data Model, in this Channel 9 Interview: ADO.NET Data Services in Visual Studio 2008 SP1 of 10/21/2008 by Beth Massi. (Copied from Astoria.)

David Sceppa announced on 10/21/2008 that Sybase's SQL Anywhere ADO.NET Provider Supports the ADO.NET Entity Framework!

Julie Lerman’s Best approach for teaching first exposure to Entity Framework post of 10/20/2008 discusses her choice between “teaching EF from the top down (EDM, LINQ to Entities, Object Query then EntityClient) or bottom up (EDM, EntityClient, ObjectQuery then LINQ to Entities).”

LINQ to SQL

••• Anders Janmyr’s TDD and LINQ to SQL post of 10/25/2008 describes two interfaces, IUnitOfWork and ITable<T>, two classes LinqToSqlUnitOfWork and LinqToSqTable<T> and for testing purposes two additional classes InMemoryUnitOfWork and InMemoryTable<T>, which make it “easy to mock out the Persistence Layer when using LINQ to SQL.”

This is another interesting example of the third-party efforts devoted to improving the testability of LINQ to SQL.

••• Jon Skeet asks What other Enumerable extension methods would you like to see? on 10/23/2008. So far, comments have requested a number of candidates.

Michael Minutillo describes an abstraction of LINQ to SQL for his MvcSupportFacility for ADO.NET MVC that uses the Unity Inversion of Control (IoC) container in his detailed Linq Repositories, Lifetime Manaqement and Unity post of 23 October 2008.

Scott Hanselman’s Informal .NET Subsystem Survey shows use of LINQ to SQL is within about 5% of ADO.NET DataSets (1,734 to 1,887) among the 4,899 responses that comprise his Survey RESULTS: What .NET Framework features do you use? post of 10/22/2008.

• Matt Hunter is close to releasing his base class that supports n-tier, disconnected operation of LINQ to SQL. The LINQ to SQL Entity Base Release Candidate 3 post includes links to LINQ to SQL Entity Base - Disconnected LINQ Version 1.0 Release Candidate 3 of 10/22/2008. The project’s CodePlex home page explains its features.

This release features bidirectional serialization with the DataContractSerializer and the IsReference attribute for many:one associations. It requires a licensed version of VS 2008 SP1, not the Express edition.

• Jim Wooley’s Updated source for ThinqLinq now available post of 19/21/2008 offers 18 months of accumulated updates to his LINQ-based blogging application.

 Cirilo Meggiolaro Tip of the day #3 - Getting details of a LINQ change conflict exception explains an “easy way to get a list of tables and columns that have thrown the exception. The [sample] code … catches the exception and loop through conflict objects to generate a full report.”

LINQ to Objects, LINQ to XML, et al.

Agnes Molnar (Aghy) reports on 10/25/2008 that Linq4SP - RC2 is available to download! from here. Her post includes a list of RC1 bugs fixed in RC2.

LinqMaster’s How to Get a List of Installed Applications with LINQ post of 10/22/2008 shows you how to reduce the number of lines of C# 2.0 code in half with LINQ to Objects.

Jay Sawyer conducts a series of performance tests against LINQ to Objects and observes some unexpected results in these two recent posts:

Part II includes comparisons with DataViews, filtered DataSets, LINQ to Objects, and LINQ to SQL.

Eric White’s Creating Data-Bound Content Controls using the Open XML SDK and LINQ to XML explains how to “take a document that has un-bound content controls, generate a custom XML part automatically (inferring the elements of the custom XML from the content controls), and then bind the content controls to the custom XML part.”

Bart De Smet “The C# Programming Language Third Edition” and thoughts on language evolution is a lengthy essay on the history of C# 2.0/3.0 features and features to be expected in C# 4.0.

In his LINQ to Anything – Channel 9 interview and a few more thoughts, Bart expands on Channel9’s announcement with links to related blog posts. He also “elaborate[s] a bit on fan-in and fan-out and [his] statement on the square infinity possibilities of LINQ, and take[s] a look at the following slides from a recent presentation [he] delivered on the topic” of LINQ to ∞ Squared “Proof Obligation” and “Function Composition.”

Jim Wooley’s LINQ is not an excuse for sloppy code post of 10/20/2008 warns developers to limit the number of elements returned to LINQ to SQL projects by LINQ queries by always including a Where predicate or Skip/Take function pairs.

ADO.NET Data Services (Astoria)

••• Pablo Castro mentioned but refused to describe an unlisted PDC 2008 stealth session in Channel 9’s Astoria Design Walkthrough: No design... just plugging our PDC talks! video of 10/24/2008. The session turns out to be ES07 Modeling Data for Efficient Access at Scale (Wed 10/29 | 1:15 PM-2:30 PM | 403AB):

Learn how to model data for cloud services. Topics include: mapping common data idioms to tables, tuning data models for common access patterns, and creating efficient queries.

The interview also includes uninspired descriptions of Pablo’s TL08 Offline-Enabled Data Services and Desktop Applications (Wed 10/29 | 3:00 PM-4:15 PM | 408) and Mike Flasko’s TL07 Developing Applications Using Data Services (Tue 10/28 | 1:45 PM-3:00 PM | 151) published presentations.

••• Phani Raju takes on one:many associations in his Working with associations in ADO.NET Data Services , Part 2 tutorial of 10/23/2008. Part 1 of the series, Working with Associations in ADO.NET Data Services, of July 2, 2008 covered one:one associations.

•• Pablo Castro describes several first-priority scenarios for “Astoria Online” in his Astoria futures: offline-enabled data services post of 10/22/2008:

  • Outlook-style 1-tier applications that connect to a local data store (presumably SQL Server Compact v3.5 SP1) and synchronize with an online data store such as SQL Server Data Services (SSDS), SQL Server 2008 running under Windows Server 2008 on Amazon EC2 or from a Microsoft data center.
  • Independent clients and servers in a synchronization relationship, such as a service that’s available for Web-based synchronization only.
  • Local replicas of cloud-stored data, such as SSDS entities stored locally on SSCE.
  • Data consolidation by synchronizing slices of data from multiple cloud-stored sources.

Pablo’s Astoria Design Walkthrough: Thinking of a future with sync & offline video is a preview of his Offline-Enabled Data Services and Desktop Applications session at PDC 2008 (Wed 10/29 | 3:00 PM-4:15 PM | 408A).

Scott Hanselman’s Informal .NET Subsystem Survey shows use of ADO.NET Data Services is substantially greater than that of Entity Framework based on the 4,899 responses that comprise his Survey RESULTS: What .NET Framework features do you use? post of 10/22/2008.

Question: Did the respondents simultaneously select a LINQ to SQL or Entity Framework data source for Astoria? Doesn’t look like it to me from the data.

Saaid Kahn, a Program Manager on the Visual Studio Pro Tools team, describes how to create an n-tier database application  using ADO.NET Data Services (Astoria) and an Entity Data Model, in this Channel 9 Interview: ADO.NET Data Services in Visual Studio 2008 SP1 of 10/21/2008 by Beth Massi. (Copied from EF.)

Phani Raju’s Accessing Cross-Domain ADO.NET Data Services from the Silverlight Client Library of 10/20/2008 discusses guidelines for cross-domain access using the Silverlight Client Library

Gil Fink describes Building an Ajax Client for ADO.NET Data Services to complement his previous Astoria posts:

Roy T. Fielding’s REST APIs must be hypertext-driven post of 10/20/2008 takes the following position on the rules a REST API should follow:

  1. A REST API should not be dependent on any single communication protocol, though its successful mapping to a given protocol may be dependent on the availability of metadata, choice of methods, etc. …
  2. A REST API should not contain any changes to the communication protocols aside from filling-out or fixing the details of underspecified bits of standard protocols, such as HTTP’s PATCH method or Link header field. …
  3. A REST API should spend almost all of its descriptive effort in defining the media type(s) used for representing resources and driving application state, or in defining extended relation names and/or hypertext-enabled mark-up for existing standard media types. …
  4. A REST API must not define fixed resource names or hierarchies (an obvious coupling of client and server). Servers must have the freedom to control their own namespace. …
  5. A REST API should never have “typed” resources that are significant to the client. Specification authors may use resource types for describing server implementation behind the interface, but those types must be irrelevant and invisible to the client. …
  6. A REST API should be entered with no prior knowledge beyond the initial URI (bookmark) and set of standardized media types that are appropriate for the intended audience (i.e., expected to be understood by any client that might use the API). …

The way I read the full version of Fielding’s six rules, Astoria isn’t a RESTful API. Perhaps Pablo Castro would care to contest my conclusion or, for that matter, Fielding’s criteria.

ASP.NET Dynamic Data (DD)

••• Rob Conery’s ASP.NET MVC Storefront Part 23: WebForms and Dynamic Data of 10/24/2008 announces the start of a new Commerce Starter Kit v3.0 that’s uses “components and business logic based on the same components and business logic used for MVC Storefront but with a traditional WebForms UI” that will use LINQ, support full localization, and other new features described in J Sawyer‘s Commerce Starter Kit 3.0 – CSK Reprise post of the same date. The project will include an administrative site based on DD and LINQ to SQL.

You can watch this 15:00 video with Rob and J that describes the project. Support for CSK 3.0 will be part of J’s job description as a Microsoft developer evangelist.

•• Steve Naughton continues his DD posts with a question from the Dynamic Data forum in his Dynamic Data - Hiding Tables on the Default.aspx page post of 10/24/2008.

Steve Naughton’s Dynamic Data - Hiding Columns in selected PageTemplates of 10/20/2008 returns to IAutoFieldGenrators, attempts to specify the page template on which to hide columns.

SQL Server Data Services (SSDS) and Cloud Computing

••• David Robinson of the SSDS team says in his 2 Days to PDC2008!!!!!!!!!!!!! post of 10/24/2008:

We have some really super, pimped out, mack daddy, completely awesome stuff coming. Both in the teams presentations and in new features for Sprint 5. I just sent out the new features list to some internal softies for "Word Smithing" which you all should see in a few days, and the list is long and chock full o' goodies.

PS - I promise much more posting after Monday.

Promises, promises???

••• Ludwig Siegele analyzes the trend to mobile datacenters (Microsoft), virtualization (VMWare), and cloud computing (Amazon Web Services and Google App Engine) in his Where the cloud meets the ground: Data centres are quickly evolving into service factories special report for the 10/23/2008 issue of the Economist.

•• Roger Jennings reports another spurious attempt to register a trademark on “Cloud Something” in Arista Networks Claims “Cloud Networking” As Its Trademark of 10/24/2008.

••• Alan Williamson will conduct a one-day, hands-on Cloud Computing Bootcamp on 11/29/2008 in conjunction with Sys-Con’s Cloud Computing Expo at San Jose’s Fairmont Hotel. The (pricey) registration fee rises from $1,695 to $1,795 tomorrow. (List price is $1,995.)

•• Jeff Barr reports the following about Amazon EC2, Windows 2003 Server, and SQL Server 2005 in his Big Day for Amazon EC2: Production, SLA, Windows, and 4 New Capabilities post of 10/23/2008:

  • Amazon EC2 is now in full production. The beta label is gone.
  • There's now an SLA (Service Level Agreement) for EC2.
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003 is now available in beta form on EC2.
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2005 is now available in beta form on EC2.
  • We plan to release an interactive AWS management console.
  • We plan to release new load balancing, automatic scaling, and cloud monitoring services.

It will be interesting to see whether Microsoft’s corresponding offering (or SSDS) will be price-competitive and when it will go online with an SLA.

It’s curious that Amazon is hosting non-current versions of Windows Server and SQL Server, which isn’t well-advertised on the AWS site. Perhaps Microsoft’s licensing terms were better than those for the 2008 versions.

Mary Jo Foley chimes in with Amazon battens down the hatches before Microsoft’s cloud launch next week and Werner Vogels posts Using the Cloud to build highly-efficient systems.

It wasn’t such a big day for Amazon stock: Down as much as 13% today (Thursday).

For a synopsis of pricing, see my Amazon Web Services Announces SLA Plus Windows Server and SQL Server Betas for EC2 post. That post hit Techmeme at 3:05 PM EDT

•• Jake Sorofman’s The Cloud Computing Adoption Model post of 10/23/2008 is a “context for thinking strategically about cloud computing” that’s “[l]oosely modeled after the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) from the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) at Carnegie Mellon University.” Note that CMM has been superceded by CMM-Integration (CMMI).

Frank Gens predicts the Cloud Computing market will grow from $16 billion in 2008 to 42 billion in 2012, an annual compounded growth rate of 27% in IDC’s IT Cloud Services Forecast - 2008, 2012: A Key Driver of New Growth of 10/8/2008. IDC includes business applications, application development/deployment, system infrastructure software, storage, and servers expenditures in the estimates.

You can watch a three-minute video summary of the prediction and download slides at Cloud Computing |Preparing for the Next 20 Years of IT.

SSDS Team: Update Announcement Coming at PDC 2008 (10/20/2008)

The following message hit my inbox on 10/20/2008:

On October 27, 2008 we will be announcing, the next upgrade of SSDS at the PDC2008 conference in Los Angeles. In order to support this announcement, at that time we will update the documentation on the SSDS DevCenter site to include the new features in this upgrade. We will follow up on our PDC announcements, on the first day of the conference. …

The SSDS upgrade to be announced at PDC will be made available to you in early November.

Thank You,

The SSDS Team

Frank Gens’ IDC on “the Cloud”: Table of Contents post of 9/23/2008 offers links to recent IDC research on Cloud Computing:

SQL Server Compact (SSCE) 3.5 and Sync Services

Steve Lasker offers a tutorial for delivering SQL Server Compact (SSCE) with EF client applications in his Privately Deploying SQL Server Compact with the ADO.NET Entity Provider post of 10/21/2008. The highly detailed process covers SSCE installations on locked-down computers whose users don’t have Administrator accounts. (Copied from EF.)

Liam Cavanagh reports on 10/20/2008 that the updated RTM1 version of the Sync Framework download reported in last week’s LINQ and Entity Framework Posts for 10/13/2008+ item is Not an Updated Version of Microsoft Sync Framework.

Anthony Carrabino’s SQL Server 2008 Feature Pack Released post of 10/18/2008, which first appeared 10/21/2008 in the Data Platform Insider blog, notes that the Feature Pack includes SQL Server Compact SP1 and the Microsoft Sync Framework.

And, for what it’s worth, Euan Garden reports that SQL Server 2008, Reportbuilder RTMs on 10/20/2008 (but it’s not in the Feature Pack).

Miscellaneous (WPF, WCF, MVC, Silverlight, etc.)

Aaron Skonnard delivers on 10/26/2008 two new episodes of his endpoints.tv WCF Screencast series on Channel9:

Mike Taulty posted on 10/24/2008 detailed code samples for the first two of the three following questions that arose at his MSDN “Roadshow Rerun” in London

  1. Can ObservableCollection<T> cope with a particular element being replaced? Not Added. Not Deleted. Replaced.
  2. How to work with lookup fields in a database and data-bind to them?
  3. How to take action when an ItemsControl creates an item and get hold of the item's UI elements?

John Papa’s Day of Silverlight 2 Recap post of 10/24/2008 has a link to the slide deck for his Day of Silverlight 2.0 presentation in Tampa, FL. Not surprisingly, his

3.5-hour presentation [focused] on Silverlight 2 data binding, development techniques, using it with SOAP, ASMX, WCF, REST, 3rd party services, cross domain policies, debugging tips, and ADO.NET Data Services.

The slides are quite informative but sample code would be even more so. So I’ve requested in a comment that John post the demo source.

Microsoft has assembled a new SOA & Business Process site that, at least so far, consists primarily of agitprop for and links to existing Microsoft products and services. Hopefully, the site will gain some developer-oriented content after PDC 2008.

Rob Conery, Scott Hanselman and Phil Haack are writing Professional ASP.NET MVC for WROX/Wiley, scheduled to hit the shelves in February 2009, according to Rob’s ASP.NET MVC DropDownList and HTML Attributes post of 10/21/2008.

Mike Ormond’s ASP.NET MVC and Scottish Developers (Demo) post of 10/20/2008 includes a link to his demo code for the recent Scottish Developers User Group meeting.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Technorati Stops Spidering the OakLeaf Blog Again!

For reasons unrevealed to me by Technorati, they’ve ceased pinging this blog for about the tenth time in the past three to four months.

Here’s the result on 10/22/2008 after manually requesting a ping on 10/20/2008:

Today is at least the sixth time I’ve had to send e-mail to Technorati’s “technical support” folks to restore their spidering of this site. They don’t reply to the request, but usually I see a recent post in most (but not all) of the appropriate Technorati tag groups.

Crazy!

Click here for details of my previous Technorati problems.

Update 10/23/2008 7:30 AM PDT: I didn’t receive the promised “Support Ticket,” but Technorati did ping the site “4 hours ago” and tag-based feeds are working again. It’s a PITA to manually request "technical support” to spider the site, but perhaps I’ll write a small program to automatically send Technorati a message each Monday or Tuesday.

As mentioned in my earlier posts, Technorati attempts to filter “splogs” from spidering operations. If they’re using an algorithm based on the ratio of the number of outbound links to post length, the OakLeaf blog should have a much lower splog index than, for example, Scott Guthrie’s Link Listing series.

Update 10/24/2008 3:00 PM PDT: It’s clear that Technorati is embargoing the OakLeaf Systems blog. My site hasn’t been spidered since 10/23/2008 AM, despite a manual ping on this morning. Sending another message via email and Twitter.

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