TVUG News and Events

August Meeting - UI is Communication

2010-08-03T14:24:00Z

UI is Communication

Where: New Horizons, 10 Airline Drive, Albany, NY
When: Thursday, August 12th, 2010, 6:30-9PM
Who: Everett McKay, Principal, UX Design Edge

You are a developer working on a project that needs a good user interface to be successful. But there’s a problem: you aren’t an experienced UI designer and nobody else on your team is either. You are doing the best you can, but you know could do better. If only you knew more about UI design to help your team make better decisions…

If this sounds familiar, come to our August 12^th meeting where Everett McKay will present UI is Communication. In this talk, Everett will present the fundamentals of UI design from the point of view of effective communication. UI design is ultimately all about communicating to users, both in terms of what you say and how you say it. If you can explain how to perform a task to someone in person in a way that’s clear and concise, you can apply those same communication techniques to present the task to users using the language of UI. This talk will help you apply UI design skills that you didn’t know you had.

The talk will focus on UI design principles, process, and techniques. There will be several practical examples where you can apply what you have learned to real UI design problems.

BIO:

Everett McKay is the principal of UX Design Edge, a user experience design consulting and training firm specializing in helping non-designers based in St. Albans, Vermont.

Previously, Everett was a program manager at Microsoft for nearly 10 years. He was on the Windows 7 and Windows Vista teams, and was responsible for managing, writing, and driving the Windows User Experience Interaction Guidelines. This role enabled Everett to develop expertise across a wide range of user experience specialties and act as an in-house consultant to help teams across the company do their best work.

IronRuby and .Net - an Introduction

2010-07-08T12:42:00Z

Where: Versa Trans Solution, Latham, NY
When: Tuesday, July 13th, 2010, 6:30-9PM
Who: Mark Menard, CTO, Vita Rara, Inc.

Overview

A big feature of the .Net 4.0 release is the new Dynamic Language Runtime, which has given .Net developers additional language options above the standard C#/VB.Net debate. One such option is IronRuby, a .Net implementation of Ruby that has the development world abuzz.

In this session, Mark Menard gives us an overview of Ruby, covering what differentiates it from other dynamic and static languages, basic language constructs, and features. We are also introduced to IronRuby, the implementation of Ruby that runs on the CLR and interoperates with other .NET languages. Finally, we'll take a look at using the Ruby on Rails Framework in .Net using IronRuby.

BIO

Mark Menard is the founder and president of Enable Labs, a boutique consulting firm located in Troy, NY. Enable Labs, which was founded in 2004, specializes in custom web development using Ruby on Rails, and the development and support of our fraternal membership management system MORI.

Mark is an extremely active member of the technology community in the Tech Valley region. He has been an invited guest speaker at technology events, having spoken at Tech Valley Code Camp, Tech Valley Ruby Brigade, Capital District Java Developers Network, GoRuCo and other groups and conferences on a broad range of software development and technology topics.

June Meeting - Windows Phone 7 Development in Silverlight

2010-06-03T17:26:00Z

Where: Versa Trans Solution, Latham, NY
When: Tuesday, June 15th, 2010, 6:30-9PM
Who: Andy Beaulieu, Silverlight MVP

Overview

This session will show how we can develop applications for the upcoming Windows Phone 7 devices using Silverlight. We'll look at using multitargeting to create both a Web and Phone solution using a single code base. We'll also talk about the Windows Phone device capabilities and Microsoft's Marketplace.

Andy Beaulieu is a professional software developer and trainer with over 15 years of experience building applications for Windows and the Web. Located in Syracuse, New York, he is well versed in many Microsoft technologies including Silverlight, ASP.NET, ADO.NET and WindowsForms. Andy has been awarded a Microsoft MVP Award for Silverlight, and is a member of the WPF and Silverlight Insiders group.

May Meeting - 5.15.2010 - Launch and Learn

2010-05-07T14:11:00Z

Where: New Horizons - Albany, NY
When: Saturday, May 15, 2010, 9AM-4:30PM
Who: Jim O'Neil and Chris Bowen - Microsoft; Brian Peek, MVP; Griff Townsend, MCSE, MCP.Net; others

What will you do with Visual Studio 2010?

No matter if you're developing for the Web, Desktop, Mobile device, or gaming console, Visual Studio 2010 unleashes a world of flexibility at your fingertips. Discover how Visual Studio 2010 can help unleash your creativity by taking it for a spin with developers from around the area. Launch and Learn 2010 is a set of hands on workshops intermingled with brief sessions on Visual Studio 2010 and .Net 4.0 enchancements that will make your applications more robust, more stable, and more scalable.

Attendees are given access to a huge amount of hands on workshops and technology introductions at their fingertips. Microsoft evangelists, technology MVPs, and trainers will help guide you as you learn your way, at your pace. Work in a protected, virtual environment that you can take home with you.

Along with the workshops will be a number of brief introductory sessions to highlight the new features of Visual Studio 2010, .Net 4.0, and Silverlight 4. Take some time to talk with other developers from all around the Northeast to expand your social network, too.

Oh yeah, we'll also have some swag to give away and a free lunch. Make sure you come by!

Visit http://www.launchandlearn.net to register today!

April Meeting - Generics & Functional Programming

2010-04-02T01:24:00Z

Generics & Functional Programming

Where: Versa Trans Solution, Latham, NY
When: Tuesday, April 13, 2010, 6:30-9PM
Who: Rik Bardof, Senior Software Developer, Xclaim Software

Overview

Generics & Functional Programming

Generics in .Net allow developers to define type-safe classes and data structures that will work with a broad range of types. Building generic objects results in significant performance boost and higher quality code through the reuse of processing algorithms without needing type-specific code. Functional programming in .Net also provides the potential for code reuse, reduced bugs, and increase robustness. In this session we will combine the two technologies to demonstrate how we as developers can expand our solution engineering tool set.

Bio:
Rik Bardrof is a senior software developer for Xclaim Software, located in Central New York. He has a widely varied background in computer science with experience ranging from systems maintenance through application development (lot’s of stuff in between). Currently he’s practicing agile development in a .Net shop which focuses heavily on Domain Driven Design, Test Driven Design, and integration of Open Source tools.

No March Meeting...BUT!

2010-03-09T22:09:00Z

Well, after a late February presentation from Microsoft's Jim O'Neil, TVUG finds itself at a loss for a presenter for March. At this point, there is no March meeting, but we're working on coming back to April with a vengence. There will be another email about the April event within the next few weeks.

All is not lost for March, however! Microsoft is coming to town this Friday for the next leg of the MSDN Northeast Roadshow.

MSDN Events Presents: The MSDN Northeast Roadshow: "Driving Toward a New Horizon" Tour

Event ID: 1032439977

Friday, March 12, 2010 1:00 PM - Friday, March 12, 2010 5:00 PM Eastern Time (US & Canada)

Welcome Time: 12:30 PM

Hilton Garden Inn Troy

235 Hoosick St
Troy New York 12180
United States

Language(s):	English.
Product(s):	Microsoft SQL Azure Database, Microsoft Visual Studio, Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 and Windows Azure.
Audience(s):	Pro Dev/Programmer.
Presenter(s):	Chris Bowen, Jim O'Neil

Event Overview

MSDN Events Presents > The MSDN Northeast Roadshow: "Driving Toward a New Horizon" Tour

It’s a new year and road and code warriors Chris Bowen and Jim O’Neil just can’t wait to return to the highways of the northeast to talk about major technology releases and what’s important for developers.

From writing applications that leverage Windows Azure, Microsoft’s cloud operating system that went live on January 1^st, to new ways of working with services and data like WCF Data Services and SQL Azure, to a look at what’s just around the bend with Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4, let Chris and Jim be your GPS of technology travel.

The Northeast MSDN Roadshow is a free series of deep technology sessions for developers and architects. Register today and join Chris and Jim for these relaxed events to gain practical insights.

So, rev up those developer engines and get ready to roll toward new sights and destinations!

If you register and attend this event, you will be placed in a raffle to win a chance to bring home one (1) free copy of Windows 7 – you could be the lucky winner! Register today!

The Agenda: Cloudy (but Clear) Skies, Driving Data, and Visual (Studio) Sights

Session 1 - Windows Azure: What? Why? And a Peek under the Hood

What is Cloud Computing and where can it take you? In this session, we’ll first focus on showing the potential benefits of creating applications for the cloud with Windows Azure. Then, we’ll pop open the hood to show you around the main parts of the engine, including web roles, worker roles, and queues. You’ll see how Windows Azure plugs in for interoperability with other on-premises and cloud applications via the App Fabric. You’ll also learn how Windows Azure can be used to host technologies other than .NET – such as Java and PHP – and get a glimpse into what’s coming next with project “Sydney” and the integration of Windows Workflow into the cloud.

Session 2 - Data: At Your Service

Services are more than just executable bits of business logic; data too can be provided as a service, and the Microsoft stack offers a number of ways to host your data on and off-premises. Windows Azure provides highly scalable table and blob storage, and SQL Azure brings the relational model to the cloud, but there’s other options as well including exposing your domain data via WCF Data Services and leveraging vetted data service providers such as the Associated Press and the Data.gov via Microsoft “Dallas”. Think of this session as a pit stop to help you examine the data and modeling options best suited to tune your applications.

Session 3 - Visual Studio 2010: That’s a 10-4, Good Buddy

There’s a buzz in the air as Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 are arriving soon, and they’re bringing plenty of cargo that developers will enjoy, from new features to improved productivity. We’ll hop on and take a tour, giving you the lay of the land in terms of what will help you as a developer. The sights will include parallel application development, new editor features and debugging capabilities (including a new historical debugger), improvements for web and Windows development, new .NET language features, and much more.

*Be sure to learn more about the TechNet event happening on the same day at the same location from 8:30am–12:00pm. If you are interested in attending, please register separately for that event here: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032439503&Culture=en-US

Registration Options

Event ID:
1032439977

Dallas: Microsoft's Data Marketplace

2010-02-09T14:15:00Z

Where: Versa Trans Solution, Latham, NY
When: Thursday, February 25, 2010, 6:30-9PM
Who: Jim o'Neil, Microsoft Technical Evangelist

Overview
At PDC 2009, Microsoft announced "Dallas", a Data-as-a-Service offering that leverages the Windows Azure cloud computing platform. "Dallas" makes well-known and vetted public and commercial data sets from entities such as the Associated Press and Data.gov available to the development and data analysis communities. This session explores getting started with "Dallas" and accessing its data sets programmatically and via Excel 2010's PowerPivot feature.

Bio
Jim is one of the Microsoft Developer Evangelists in the Northeast District. He joined Microsoft in April 2008 after 12 years working with developer tools and application server technology as a support engineer, evangelist, and principal sales consultant at Sybase. Jim holds an MCPD and is 1/2 of the team that presents the quarterly Northeast Roadshow providing information on the latest Microsoft technologies to the developer communities in New England and upstate New York

Multi-touch Madness!

2009-12-30T02:03:00Z

Where: Versa Trans Solution, Latham, NY
When: Tuesday, January 12, 2010, 6:30-9PM
Who: Brian Peek, Microsoft MVP - C#

Overview
Multi-touch technology is popping up everywhere, most recently in Windows 7 and various .NET technologies. Windows 7 has been designed from the ground-up with multi-touch in mind, and the newest versions of WPF and Silverlight are multi-touch capable as well. In this session I will take you through the 4 biggest areas of Microsoft multi-touch technology: Windows 7, WPF4, Silverlight, and Surface. You will learn how to make your applications multi-touch aware and capable using each of these platforms, and learn where multi-touch is heading in the future with regard to Microsoft development.

Bio
Brian is a Microsoft C# MVP who has been actively developing in .NET since its early betas in 2000, and who has been developing solutions using Microsoft technologies and platforms for even longer. Along with .NET, Brian is particularly skilled in the languages of C, C++ and assembly language for a variety of CPUs. He is also well-versed in a wide variety of technologies including web development, document imaging, GIS, graphics, game development, and hardware interfacing. Brian has co-authored the book "Coding4Fun: 10 .NET Programming Projects for Wiimote, YouTube, World of Warcraft, and More" published O'Reilly. He previously co-authored the book "Debugging ASP.NET" published by New Riders. Brian is also an author for MSDN's Coding4Fun website.

Building Business Objects with EF and Visual Studio

2009-11-24T23:51:00Z

Where: Versa Trans Solution, Latham, NY
When: Tuesday, December 15, 2009 6:30-9PM
Who: Griffith Townsend, Chief Architect / Lead Developer - docSTAR, Inc.

Overview
In this session, we'll take a look at using the Entity Framework in an N-Tier application. We'll examine using EF as our data layer, building business objects on top of entities, and sharing data externally. In addition, we'll explore using Visual Studio's T4 Templates to speed the development process.

Bio

Griff Townsend is the Principal Architect / Team Lead for docSTAR (www.docstar.com) and the President of the Tech Valley .Net Users Group. In addition to over 15 years of web- and windows- development experience in Central and Upstate New York, he has also taught Software Development for Syracuse University and ITT Tech. He is a Microsoft Certified Developer in .Net, as well as a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, and an avid gamer.

November TVUG Presentation - Getting Started with Reporting Services

2009-11-02T19:19:00Z

Where: Versa Trans Solution, Latham, NY
When: Tuesday, November 10, 2009 6:30-9PM
Who: Rob Fisch, Director of Global Technology at Kaz, Inc

Getting Started with Reporting Services

Overview

You've heard the hype and clammer about Microsoft Reporting Services. Rob Fisch joins us to unveil the covers on how to get started on using the Business Intelligence Development Studio (BIDS), a full IDE used to publish reports in a controlled and planned way. Microsoft also offers an adhoc reporting tool called Report Builder, however this will not be part of the presentation, but can be part of a discussion.

The journey begins with building a project from scratch with Visual Studio (SQL Server comes with it's own mini-version of Visual Studio...which is all you need). We'll cover building your data connection, planning the report project (in this context, what does a 'project' mean?), drilldowns and drillthroughs (and what the difference is), parameterization, multiple datasets, adding your own SQL, security, basic and conditional formatting, SharePoint Integration, dashboarding possibilities and more...

Bio

Rob Fisch is currently the Director of Global Technology at Kaz, Inc (http://www.kaz.com). While wearing many IT hats, Rob's central role has been to integrate various technologies into single platform solution for reporting (with Microsoft SQL Reporting Services), collaboration (with SharePoint), and business process management (using a variety of workflow technologies).

He has worked with Microsoft SQL server since version 6.5 in various capacities (dba, developer, report developer, data warehouse designer) and with SharePoint (WSS2, WSS3 & MOSS2007), as system architect since 2003.

You can see some of Rob's published reporting tips at MSSQLtips (http://www.mssqltips.com/author.asp?authorid=3) or find out more about Rob at LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/in/rfisch) or contact him directly at Rob.Fisch(at)yahoo.com.