The energy level is going to be through the roof in November when WPF Fanatic Karl Shifflett arrives at the Triangle .Net User Group (TRINUG) for his presentation on Authoring WPF Custom Controls on Wed November 14, 2007. If you are interested in WPF, and want so see some examples of it's power in real world applications come check it out.

Authoring WPF Custom Controls
Karl Shifflett
Blog: http://karlshifflett.wordpress.com

When Microsoft released the .NET Framework, they really energized and radically expanded the toolset available to developers. The .NET 3.0 Framework is no exception to this trend.

In this presentation we will explore the steps required to build and consume lookless WPF Custom Controls that expose Dependency Properties and Routed Events.  The sample code includes a WPF CheckListBox and HyperLink control (that is not dependent on the FlowDocument, Page or TextBlock controls) along with a WPF application demonstrating their use. 

visit www.trinug.org for more info!

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[UPDATE]

NEW IMAGES AVAILABLE HERE:

Just a heads up that if you are working with one of the VS2008 Beta 2 VPC images, they will expire on November 1, 2007. You will need to backup and files you want to keep outside of the VPC before then or risk loosing your work. It sounds like Microsoft will be posting new images soon. Please spread the word.

The official information is available here. Official text:

IMPORTANT:

• The VPC downloads listed above will expire on November 1, 2007, which is earlier than anticipated. It is important that you backup or move any data to a new location before that date. To move Team Foundation Server data, see Moving Team Foundation Server. New VPC images will be posted as soon as they are available.

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I just wanted to thank Ben and everybody else from the Raleigh Adobe User Group tonight for inviting me in to speak on Silverlight. It was a interesting to hear your questions and get your perspectives on the whole RIA space and have informed comments on both sides of the Flash,Flex/ Silverlight camps.

In honor of the event I have posted a special Silverlight version of the RDAUG logo in XAML as shown in my demo. Enjoy: 

If you're interested in Flex, Flash, and other Adobe products check out the groups website for a list of future meetings. They're also looking for some meeting space if anybody around can help them out.

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Last week Microsoft opened the Popfly Beta site up to the public. Popfly is a "fun and easy way to build and share mashups, gadgets, and Web pages". Basically it provides you with an online Silverlight based visual development environment that includes a variety of building blocks that you can use to build your own creations. Check it out: http://www.popfly.ms

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INETA Speaker Bureau Speaker Chris Menegay stopped by TRINUG to present on Visual Studio Team System Futures. (Ironic that somebody from Texas away comes to show us something being build within a couple miles of here. Anybody from the local VSTS team want to come show us more?)

Chris provided a great look into new things coming in the next version, while at the same time introducing us to things in the current version that we had not all seen (Well, at least I learned a couple of new things!)

We're all curios to find out what Omar did to his VPC image though!

Thanks Chris, it was a great presentation.

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The Triangle .NET User Group will be hosting a special meeting, with extra special guest Russ Fustino on Thursday October 18, 2007. The event will be in the evening, following the afternoon MSDN presentation Russ is giving near by. For more information and registration [YES, REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED AT THIS EVENT SO WE CAN ORDER ENOUGH PIZZA] please visit the TRINUG Website. 

Russ Fustino
Blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/rfustino/

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October 23rd, 2007 6:30
Presentation Strategies Inc.
4021 Stirrup Creek Drive Suite 220 Durham, NC 27703

I will be presenting an introduction to Microsoft Silverlight to the Raleigh Adobe User Group on Tuesday Oct 23. The presentation will cover Silverlight 1.0/1.1 and the Microsoft Expression Suite of design tools.

 [UPDATE: THE EVENT HAS BEEN MOVED TO OCT 23!]

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Why pay attention to what other language communities are doing? One day it might be coming to a language near you!

Last weekend Scott Guthrie showed the first public views of a new Model View Controller. Scott Hanselman posted some video through his blog. Jeffrey Palermo gives a great overview in this post on his blog

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Last week I was able to spend some time at Microsoft in Redmond. I just couldn't resist a photo op with the "9 Guy". If you haven't taken a look at Channel 9, you're missing out on the great content Jeff and the gang are putting together. 

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On Saturday Oct 29th I was fortunate to participate in the Southern California INETA Community Leadership Summit. The event brought together influential leadership team members from the local Microsoft .NET user group community.  

The event was hosted at QucikStart's Irvine facility and was sponsored by Microsoft and Verio. it was a great opportunity to discuss common problems and share ideas on creating stronger user group communities. 

If you're interested in seeing one of these events put together for you region, please drop me a note.

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I was very honored this week to be informed that I have been received a Microsoft MVP Award for my efforts in the Visual Developer - ASP/ASP.NET technical communities during the past year.

Thanks to everybody that helped make this happen, and all of those in the technical community that continue to inspire me to do more. 

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Karl has just announced that Josh Smith will be giving a WPF presentation on October 20^th, 2007 at the Charlotte Developers GUILD Code Camp, in Charlotte, North Carolina. Josh writes one of the most information WPF blogs and contributes a great deal to the WPF community. If you're anywhere near the area, it should be a really great session.

Brian Hitney and I will also be jointly presenting a two part Silverlight session at the event as well. (Please Bill don't schedule us all at the same time!)

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