Expose And Consume Data in A Web Services World: ADO.NET Data Services, LINQ, Entity Data Model
Pex: Automated Exploratory Testing for .NET :Pex is a tool being developed by Microsoft Research which has the potential to dramatically improve the quality of software testing while requiring minimal, if any, effort on the part of the developer. From a parameterized unit test, it automatically produces a traditional unit test suite with high code coverage. In addition, it suggests to the programmer how to fix the bugs. Watch the Channel9 video!

Cloud Computing
SQL Server Data Services (SSDS)
Cloud computing with Amazon Web Services

Overhauling websites using AJAX
Thinking XML: Firefox 3.0 and XML : The popular Web browser offers more to XML developers each release and the new 3.0 is no exception

Build Scalable Systems That Handle Failure Without Losing Data
The Microsoft Security Development Lifecycle (SDL): Process Guidance
"Walking" with the SDL - Part1 Part2 Part3 Part4
Security Code Review – String Search Patterns For Finding Vulnerabilities In ASP.NET Web Application
The CLR Security Team just launched their CodePlex. Currently, it contains two assemblies that provide additional functionality to the security APIs shipped in v3.5 of the .NET Framework.
Finally an IBM Redbook: SOA Approach to Enterprise Integration for Product Lifecycle Management

Use Ext, Aptana, and AIR to build desktop applications: Learn to create a contact management utility

Link Listings
Develop Robust and Scalable Apps with SQL Server Data Services
Achieve Flexible Data Modeling With The Entity Framework
Customize Data Display with Data Binding and WPF
Windows Workflow Foundation integration with Windows Communication Foundation
http://www.visualstudiogallery.com/
Integrate your PHP application with Google Calendar : Use PHP to process and integrate data from Google Calendar into a custom application.
Scaling ASP.NET Applications: Lessons Learned
SOA meets situational applications, Part 1: Changing computing in the enterprise
SOA meets situational applications, Part 2: Building the IBM Situational Applications Environment
SOA meets situational applications, Part 3: Examples and lessons learned

Process and integrate Google Notebook data with PHP :Use the Google Notebook REST API to build PHP-based client applications.
Mastering Facebook application development with PHP, Rational Application Developer, WebSphere Application Server, and DB2

Silverlight 2.0 articles
Jeff Prosise shows you how two Silverlight 2 controls hosted in the same page can communicate with each other
Jeff Prosise shows how to use the new Deep Zoom feature of silverlight 2.0

Scaling Strategies for ASP.NET Applications: Performance problems can creep into your Web app as it scales up, and when they do, you need to find the causes and the best strategies to address them.

An excellent article on integrating the Policy Injection Application Block with WCF Services : http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/08/02/PIABWCFBehaviors/default.aspx

Another article on What's New for WCF in Visual Studio 2008: http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/08/02/Foundations/default.aspx

An introduction, overview, and comparison of three similar interactive application architecture patterns: the Model-View-Controller, Model-View-Presenter, and Presentation-Abstraction-Control pattern.

http://ctrl-shift-b.blogspot.com/2007/08/interactive-application-architecture.html
An article on Separation of Concerns which refers to the establishment of logical boundaries to define and delineate purpose.

http://ctrl-shift-b.blogspot.com/2008/01/art-of-separation-of-concerns.html

Links 4thJan 2008

Outlook like sidebar for asp.net users:
http://mattberseth.com/blog/2007/12/creating_an_outlook_navigation.html

Getting Started with WinDBG
Part1: http://blogs.msdn.com/johan/archive/2007/11/13/getting-started-with-windbg-part-i.aspx
Part2: http://blogs.msdn.com/johan/archive/2007/11/26/getting-started-with-windbg-part-ii.aspx
Automated .NET Hang Analysis: http://blogs.msdn.com/tess/archive/2007/12/12/automated-net-hang-analysis.aspx

I will be doing a series of webcasts on Introduction to Software Factories at the Microsoft website.

Software Factory helps architects and developers to quickly incorporate many of the proven practices and patterns which have been identified during the development of many applications and their components. In these 5 sessions I shall start with the application blocks used by the software factories and then move to developing applications using the software factories. The sessions will build the foundation for getting started on these technologies.

Listed below are the session details:

Introduction to Application Block and Enterprise Library 19th Nov 1100-1230
Session Abstract:
This session introduces the application blocks present in enterprise library which are designed to encapsulate the Microsoft recommended best practices for .NET applications. We will discuss their functions and how they help the developers to develop applications faster by doing most of the mundane programming jobs for them. Go here to view on demand

Introduction to Software factory and their application blocks 20th Nov 1100-1230
Session Abstract:
Software Factory helps architects and developers to quickly incorporate many of the proven practices and patterns which have been identified during the development of many applications and their components. These factories use several application blocks such as Composite UI Application Block, Composite Web Application Block, Page Flow application Block, etc. We will explore each of these application blocks to see how they work and the scenarios targeted by each of them. Go here to view on demand

Introduction to Smart client software factory 27may'2008
Session Abstract:
Smart Client software factory helps architects and developers to focus their efforts on business opportunities and create smart client applications that effectively address the needs of their organizations. This session is intended for those involved in planning, designing, and developing smart client applications, including consultants, solution architects, and developers.
This session will help understand the concepts in smart client software factory. The session will build the foundation for getting started on these technologies. Go here to view on demand

Introduction to Web client software factory 28 may'2008
Session Abstract:
Web Client Software Factory is intended for those who create and extend Web client applications. It contains both manual instructions and automated guidance for implementing useful patterns of Web client applications.
This session will help understand the concepts in web client software factory. The session will build the foundation for getting started on these technologies.Go here to view on demand

Introduction to Web service software factory 29 may'2008
Session Abstract:
The Web Service Software Factory, also referred to as the Service Factory, provides a set of proven practices for building service-oriented applications and is intended for those involved in planning, designing and developing the same. By building services with the factory, developers can concentrate on higher-value activities; this decreases the overall development time and cost, and it improves consistency and quality.
This session will help understand the concepts in web service software factory. The session will build the foundation for getting started on these technologies. Go here to view on demand

A nice article on debugging is here.
Also if you want to debug javascript in your pages, a very good option ius CompanionJS. This requires microsoft script debugger which you can get here .

Another cool tool : If you need to run clickonce applications on a firefox browser you should install FFClickOnce.

Here are some links of CAB and WPF working together.

http://kentb.blogspot.com/2006/10/wpf-cab.html
http://crescendo.solersoft.com/Home/tabid/53/Default.aspx
http://www.gotdotnet.com/Community/UserSamples/Details.aspx?SampleGuid=2df97749-3d99-4bcc-b561-d1128230628e
http://blogs.infragistics.com/blogs/andrew_flick/archive/2006/08/08/292.aspx

and a few more on CAB and click once (with partial trust)

http://www.peterprovost.org/archive/2005/11/16/9584.aspx
http://blog.gatosoft.com/PermaLink,guid,d0a0dd1e-c9ac-4fa9-a408-615454d49702.aspx
http://staff.southworks.net/blogs/matiaswoloski/archive/2006/04/03/ClickOnceMsBuildCAB.aspx

and a couple more on loading CAB modules on demand

http://staff.southworks.net/blogs/matiaswoloski/archive/2006/02/26/CABModulesOnDemand.aspx
http://www.agileprogrammer.com/dotnetguy/articles/NewModuleLoaderForCAB.aspx

I yesterday read a VirSanghvi Oped called The Indians are coming in the Hindustan Times. I don't know if HT archives have permanent links so am copying a part of the article here for my future reference as well as others who read my blog or will be reading this later.

Globalisation: Many Europeans were losing their jobs because Indian companies paid such low salaries, making it easier for multinationals to outsource jobs to India. Wasn’t it legitimate, therefore, for the West to fear India and to take steps to protect itself?
I usually replied by saying that we did not invent globalisation; the West did.
For years now, we have been lectured about the virtues of globalisation. We have been told to drop tariffs and to allow cheaper Western products to flood our marketplaces. When we have responded that this will have disastrous effects for Indian industry and for Indian agriculture, that lakhs of people will lose their livelihoods and hundreds of factories will close down, we have been told not to be so shortsighted. Progress is about economic efficiency. And if Western countries with their economies of scale can produce goods cheaper, then we should welcome this.
When we have complained that the WTO structure seems biased against us and that Western economies use non-tariff barriers to keep out our goods, we have been laughed at and our objections dismissed.
For better or worse, we have grudgingly accepted the mantra of globalisation and have agreed to let our factories close and to let our vanilla farmers go out of business. It has not made us happy but we have finally bought into the capitalist edict that goods must flow freely across borders.
Now, when we have a competitive advantage, when one of our natural resources (educated Indians) is much cheaper than anything in the West, the argument for globalisation has suddenly been turned on its head.
Americans protest that their jobs have been Bangalored; Germans complain about the skills of Indian IT programmers who do their jobs twice as quickly and at half the cost; and Brits abuse our call-centre workers.
So, whatever happened to the argument for globalisation? To all that stuff about economic efficiency being all-important? How come it doesn’t apply to us?
When they asked me in Frankfurt if I thought that the power of India’s educated middle class represented a threat to them, I said, quite honestly, that it did.
And when they asked if they should be frightened, I was as honest.
Be scared, I said, be very scared. The Indians are coming.

And finally: There are two things which I feel similarly with the author. One:I concede, as an Indian who has benefited from the new prosperity, I feel guilty and ashamed each time a farmer commits suicide.

And two: I hope to God, we don’t screw it up this time as we usually manage to do. After so many false starts, India is finally ready for take-off.

If you need to publish your clickonce app from a webserver which does not have .net2.0 installed, there is a nice hack.You basically need to add two mime types to IIS which get installed automatically when you install IIS else it is not there.
The settings are for the ".application", ".deploy" and ".manifest" file extensions, and the MIME type for each should be set to "application/x-ms-application."
The following vbs file allows you to add mime types to IIS programatically.

Dim LocalMimeMap, MimeMap
Dim ExtensionToAdd, MimeTypeToAdd
Dim i
Const ADS_PROPERTY_UPDATE = 2
Set LocalMimeMap = GetObject("IIS://localhost/MimeMap")
MimeMap = LocalMimeMap.GetEx("MimeMap")
ExtensionToAdd = InputBox("Extension:","IIS")
MimeTypeToAdd = InputBox("MIME Type:","IIS")
i = UBound(MimeMap)+1
Redim Preserve MimeMap(i) 'Make it bigger and maintain its contents
Set MimeMap(i) = CreateObject("MimeMap") 'Add onto the end
MimeMap(i).Extension = ExtensionToAdd
MimeMap(i).MimeType = MimeTypeToAdd
LocalMimeMap.PutEx ADS_PROPERTY_UPDATE,"MimeMap",MimeMap

There is also a fast way of Switching Versions of the ASP.Net Framework here By Scott Forsyth

If you need to check whether the clickonce applications running on different machines are of the latest version available, its helpful to be able to see the publish version that any one machine is running. The code to do this follows. You'll also need to add System.Deployment into your project references.

If System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationDeployment.IsNetworkDeployed Then
Dim ad As System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationDeployment =
System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationDeployment.CurrentDeployment
Dim version As String = ad.CurrentVersion.ToString
Me.Text = "Version: " & version
End If

Check out Saurabh Pant's weblog for information on Clickonce and Firefox

Scott Hanselman has compiled a list of ultimate cool tools for every developer and computer users which are just too good. Some of them I use , some of them I'm checking out.

Vista RC1 and Quicktime, java don't work. I found this out yesterday after installing RC1 and then installing quicktime. The aero glass effect got disabled. I thought it was something to do with my graphics card but just as I closed quicktime everything was ok.
Then while searching for this found these links-
http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,2180,2022483,00.asp
http://www.javalobby.org/java/forums/t78880.html?start=0

There is already some talk going on about this being one of the tries to kill java on the long term which I think is very foolish.

Check this out: RSSBus: Turn Anything Into a Feed http://www.rssbus.com/

Dynamic Web service client :A dynamic client for publishing, discovering and invoking Web services
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/edu/ws-dw-ws-soa-dwsc.html?S_TACT=105AGX54&ca=dnw-734