Software

by Rob on .NET Core, Cloud, Software, Web

What’s in a Name? ASP.Net Core and .Net Core

It was recently announced by Scott Hanselman that “ASP.NET 5 is dead – Introducing ASP.NET Core 1.0 and .NET Core 1.0” which may come as a surprise to many. Most that have been following along know that ASP.NET 5 brought with it a lot of changes. While in many cases it was a next step from previous versions, it also meant a fork in the road introducing some significant changes.

I’m personally in the camp that his happy to see this name change. I’m not sure that it’s the perfect name, but it addresses the concerns about simply incrementing the version number and not addressing that this is something very different. I however have no better ideas so I’m throwing my support (whatever that’s worth) behind this decision. I feel this is significant because as ASP.Net has grown over the years, developers has enjoyed an amazing level of backwards compatibility with limited breakign changes. This has often limited the ability to do things differently. Now you may be throwing your hands up, not wanting to do things differently in which case ASP.Net Core may not be for you.

Let’s pause for a moment a look at what I just said, “ASP.Net Core may not be for you.” In other words, you may not want to choose this fork in the road. What if however without the name change I was forced to say “ASP.Net 5 may not be for you”? That wording makes it seem like the end of the road. ASP.Net 4.6 is not going away, and while there are not currently any public details on what new developments there might be, it is in no way suddenly going to stop working or stop being supported. ASP.Net Core is a new direction that enables those that want to go that direction, it’s not simply a new version of ASP.Net.

According to the information Scott published:

  • ASP.NET 5 is now ASP.NET Core 1.0
  • .NET Core 5 is now .NET Core 1.0
  • Entity Framework 7 is now Entity Framework Core 1.0 (EF Core 1.0)

There are some extremely important details that I think are worth calling out regarding these.

  • ASP.NET 4.6 requires .NET Framework 4.6 and runs only only on the windows platform.
  • ASP.NET Core 1.0 runs on both .NET Framework 4.6 (Windows) and .NET Core 1.0 which runs on Linux, Mac, and Windows.
  • .NET Core 1.0 is a subset of the full .NET Framework 4.6 that many are used to working with. This goes back to the new direction mentioned above, resulting in portions of the framework note being included. There are many things that are not needed for reasons such as beign windows specific, redundant, or not needed. Over time this gap may shrink, but for now it has some significat impacts.

There’s no doubt that the “Core” technology are new and bleeding edge compared to their battle tested predecessors, but this creates an opportunity to create a powerful new platform that is more in tune with today’s modern development, deployment, and hosting techniques.

 
by Rob on Software, Web

Who Moved My SPA? (Single Page Application Template)

If you’ve downloaded and installed the latest ASP.NET MVC 4 RC bits, you might have
noticed one of the recently added MVC4 project templates is not longer there. The
Single Page Application (SPA) project template that shipped with the ASP.NET MVC 4
Beta as an early preview, will not ship with the final MVC 4 release. It will however
continue to evolve outside of the MVC 4 release.

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More information is available on the ASP.NET
SPA Home Page:

“An official release of ASP.NET SPA won’t be ready in time to ship with the final
ASP.NET MVC 4 release. You can find the source code for ASP.NET SPA and follow
the development effort on the ASP.NET CodePlex site.”

If you look closely you will also notice another change. While it appears that a new
“Basic” template has been added, the previous “Empty” template has been renamed to
“Basic” and a new, much more empty “Empty” template has been added to give a bare
bones empty starting point for an MVC4 project.

 
by Rob on Software

Have You Been to the MSDN Site Lately?

Have you been to the MSDN site lately?
I ask because I know that personally when I need to lookup something information related
to my development efforts I’ll just search for it, often getting a mix of hits, instead
of heading right the “the source” for much of this info. Admittedly, in the past some
information had been hard to find on site, but if you haven’t checked it our recently,
the MSDN website has undergone some changes.

image

A quick glance at the site shows a much cleaner looking design, with what seems to
be much better organized information. For a fun comparison, here’s what the site looked
like a few years ago.

image

Below the main menu, the site is dividing into three “portals” separating content
by Platforms, Tasks, and News.

image

The Platforms page provides some overview information and easy access to dive further
into Desktop, Web, Cloud, and Phone development areas.

image

For other areas, a quick click on the “All
Developer Centers and Hubs” link takes you to a nice site map for all of the major
areas. As you continue to drill into topic areas, the trend of better organized information
continues, pulling together a variety of documents, videos, links to articles, and
other great sources of information.

 
by Rob on Software

Microsoft Build Windows Conference and Windows 8

Recently at the D9 conference Microsoft demonstrated then next version of Windows.

“Windows 8 is a reimagining of Windows, from the chip to the interface. A Windows
8-based PC is really a new kind of device, one that scales from touch-only small screens
through to large screens, with or without a keyboard and mouse. ”

In the demos, Microsoft showed off a some of the new interface and features. This
video shows off some of it.

Microsoft also officialy announced a new conference this September called Build
Windows where they will be sharing much more information with developers regarding
Windows 8. In fact, most requests for additional details about Win 8 generates a “learn
more a Build” response.

Since these announcements there has been a lot of speculation by individuals on what
this means for current technologies and future development.  While I’ve heard
some very interesting interpretations by people, I’ve also heard some things that
I feel are completely inaccurate.  However not knowing all of the details myself,
I’m not in a position to say what is accurate or not, but would encourage everybody
be cautious about what they hear and read based on this early information, and of
course…. “Learn more from Build”`

 
by Rob on Software

Umbraco Reacts to ASP.NET Security Issue

As everybody scrambles to educate clients and site administrators on the recently
announced ASP.NET
Security Vulnerability, it’s great to see organizations like those behind Umbraco being
proactive to protect their install base.

Logging into an Umbraco site, administrators are immediately greeted with a warning
about the security issue:

image

Clicking on the alert provides the administrator simple instructions to install a
patch to address the issue. 

image

It’s great to see this level of support! Yet another reason to check out Umbraco if
you haven’t already.

PS – Please take the steps necessary to protect any sites you may have.

 
by Rob on Silverlight, Software, WP7

Raleigh Windows Phone 7 Firestarter

If you’re in the Raleigh/Durham area and are interesting in developing applications
for Windows Phone 7 be sure to check out the upcoming “Firestarter” training event
on Wednesday September 8th.

Event Registration link: https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032456599&Culture=en-US

Event Overview

Wednesday, September 08, 2010 9:00 AM – Wednesday, September 08, 2010 5:00 PM Eastern
Time (US & Canada)
Welcome Time: 8:30 AM

North Carolina State University – Jane S. McKimmon Conference & Training Center
1101 Gorman St
Raleigh North Carolina 27606
United States

Dream It. Build It.

The power to build smart, visually stunning games and applications is right in
your hands with Windows Phone 7. Want to see what’s under the hood? This full-day
series of learning events for developers will take you behind the scenes with an inside
look at the philosophy, design language, and the fundamentals of Silverlight and XNA
coding for Windows Phone 7. You’ll also see how the Windows Marketplace provides exciting
new distribution and monetization opportunities for developers and application publishers.

Join your local MSDN Events team and get ready to amplify your creativity, productivity
and market opportunities.

Morning Sessions:

Introduction to Windows Phone Development and the WP7 platform

Meet Windows Phone 7! We’re proud to introduce the innovative Windows Phone 7
platform and explain the philosophy behind its all-new user experience design. We’ll
also outline the Metro design principles and cover the basics of building applications
for Windows Phone 7. Finally, you’ll tour the Windows Phone Marketplace and get an
overview on its exciting revenue opportunities for developers and application publishers.

Building Windows Phone 7 Applications with Silverlight

You’ve heard the fundamentals; now it’s time to dig a little deeper. This session
will focus on building Windows Phone 7 applications with Microsoft Silverlight. You’ll
see first-hand how to use Visual Studio 2010 and Expression Blend to develop and debug
projects. You’ll also learn about the built-in templates and the many available controls
and styles for WP7. We’ll wrap by covering how to consume services in the cloud.

Building Windows Phone 7 Applications using XNA

Microsoft XNA has been a favorite with game developers for many years. Now game
developers will be able to harness the power of the XNA framework to create highly
immersive and responsive games for Windows Phone 7.. We’ll charge full-speed into
XNA to outline the basic Windows Phone model, explore its core device characteristics,
and review the highlights of the XNA phone framework. Finally, we’ll show you some
of the cool and impressive games that have been developed specifically for Windows
Phone 7.

Lunch (included)

Afternoon Sessions:

Monetizing Your Apps with Marketplace

Windows Phone 7 will launch with a fully loaded Marketplace and the opportunity
for developers to sell or distribute their applications. . In this session, you’ll
get the details about how to navigate the certification process and publish your application
including updates. Learn how to increase discoverability as well as deepen your connection
with your customers through the powerful business intelligence capabilities of the
marketplace.

Windows Phone 7 Services

Get ready to build more engaging user experiences with Windows Phone 7 and several
powerful cloud- and phone-based components. First up is the Microsoft Location Service,
which allows you to obtain location information based on GPS, cell and Wi-Fi signals.
Next, we’ll cover the Microsoft Push Notification Service, which provides “live” updates
for apps running on the device.

Light Up Windows Phone 7!

Device integration is how an application becomes an experience. In this session,
you’ll learn how to create the compelling and interactive mobile experiences which
users have come to have expect by tying into device hardware such as the keyboard,
touch input and accelerometer. You’ll also learn how to incorporate audio and video
into your rich media solutions.

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by Rob on Software

Azure Boot Camp – Raleigh / Durham Edition

If you haven’t already registered, be sure to check out the upcoming Windows
Azure Boot Camp that’s taking place Wednesday June 23rd in Durham, NC. This free
training event is a great opportunity to get your feet wet with Windows Azure. Microsoft
DE Brian Hitney and Jim Duffy from TakeNote Technologies will
be presenting the content.

This is a hands on workshop, so show up laptop in hand and ready to learn. More
information and registration
information is available. Once again, it’s a free event but you must register
to attend.

 
by Rob on Software

Talking About Windows 7

With the recent public announcement that the Release Candidate (RC) of Win7 was just
days away, we’re starting to hear a lot more buzz around some details that had been
kept secret.

Have ever wondered why Microsoft makes certain decisions for the Windows OS and what’s
behind those decisions? For a behind the scenes explanation from some of the key engineers
behind Windows 7 and IT Pro’s about their own experiences, check out the introduction
to “Talking about Windows” by Stephen
Rose.

But wait! There’s more! This isn’t just a video site, it’s a community hub that allows
discussions around the content, as well as links to the Springboard Series of technical
guidance.

“Communication is key…We look forward to continuing the conversation.”

Well worth checking out.

 
by Rob on Rant, Silverlight, Software

Great .NET Conference Opportunity

Go to the DevTeach site

 

In early December Montreal is hosting an exciting developer conference covering a
wide range of topics from some of our industry’s leading presenters. The 3 day conference
is packed with information in 136 sessions. Pre and Post conference sessions are also
available to increase your learning potential at the event. Attendees will also receive
over $1000 in free software!

The fun starts Tuesday December 2nd with a key by Ted Neward. See you there!!!

http://www.devteach.com