Workflow

Ask An Expert Live Chat: May 1st, 2008

That's right!  We're having another ASP.NET Expert Live Chat on Thursday, May 1st, 2008 at 6 PM PST.  Here's more info on the event: Get your tough development questions answered by Microsoft MVPs, Regional Directors, and other industry experts. Community experts will be on hand to answer your .NET- and Visual Studio-related questions. No off topic questions please. Please note that questions regarding upcoming products and future product specs might not be answered. Would you like to participate as an expert? Contact Ryan Olshan at Ryan[dot]Olshan[at]strongtypes[dot]com. MSDN Online Chats - http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/chats/default.aspx Chat Room...

posted @ Saturday, April 5, 2008 12:47 AM | Feedback (660)

Hot Backups for SVN

For a while now, we've been using "hot" backups for our SVN repositories using the hot-backup.py Python script file that is part of the Subversion tools and contrib project.  A "hot" backup is a way to take a complete snap shot of the repository so in case your repository goes awry, you cake take the hot back up and drop it straight in!  For those of you interested in learning more about the backup features of SVN, check out Repository Backup section of the online SVN Book. Here's an excerpt from the SVN book that describes what hot-backup.py provides for you: This...

posted @ Monday, January 14, 2008 1:26 PM | Feedback (612)

PDC 2008 Announced

That's right, PDC has been rescheduled to Oct. 27-30 2008 in Los Angeles, California.  Here's the info from their site: PDC 2008 October 27–30, 2008 Pre-conference October 26, 2008 Los Angeles, California OK, OK. We are delighted to announce the date and location of the next Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC): October 27–30, 2008 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. PDC is the definitive Microsoft event for software developers and architects focused on the future of the Microsoft platform. Mark your...

posted @ Friday, December 7, 2007 3:18 PM | Feedback (614)

Tulsa TechFest: Unable To Present

I would like to apologize for those who wanted to attend my presentation on Software Factories at Tulsa TechFest, but unfortunately due to technical difficulties, I missed my stand-by flight into Tulsa.  When I spoke with the nice people at American Airlines they couldn't guarantee me making into Tulsa into sometime late this evening. However, for those of you wanting my slides, you can download them from the link at the bottom of this post.  Also, as I mentioned on my HDC post, I will be doing a webcast series on the Software Factories on Code To Live.

posted @ Friday, October 19, 2007 2:17 PM | Feedback (612)

Software Factories at Heartland Developer Conference

First, to all of you that attended my HDC presentation on Software Factories, THANK YOU!  I hope that as promised, the "Ah, Ha!" factor was high.  Also, I would like to apologize for the issues I ran into with the VPC and the demos.  I had tried the demo before with only two VS2005 instances running and had no issues with it...Apparently, four instances of VS2005 running concurrently is too much for VPC. Right after my presentation, I confirmed with Steve Loethen, a co-host of Code To Live, about coming up with the webcast series on Software Factories. I still to work out...

posted @ Thursday, October 18, 2007 8:01 PM | Feedback (613)

WCF Performance Benchmarking

I've been meaning to blog about this for a while, but for some reason I keep forgetting (sorry, I've been busy at work).  If you're wondering on how WCF compares performance wise to existing distributed communication technologies (ASMX, WSE, Enterprise Services, .NET Remoting) you should definitely check out this white paper on MSDN: A Performance Comparison of Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) with Existing Distributed Communication Technologies

posted @ Tuesday, April 10, 2007 7:21 PM | Feedback (611)

Architecture: Why Use Workflow Foundation?

I was asked today if there's a metric for determining whether an business application should use Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) or roll its own workflow plumbing.  Here's my extended answer... As far as a metric of qualification, I can't say there is one (or that I have found one).  Besides deciding whether or not to  use a technology (or any type of plumbing) as an aide for development can't be (and shouldn't be meausered) by a number.  It's not the number of lines of code, methods, classes, assemblies, etc. that decide whether or not you should use workflow.  It all comes down to...

posted @ Monday, February 26, 2007 9:44 PM | Feedback (651)

Local Vista Launch Events

If you're in the Des Moines area, you can check out the "local" Vista launch over at the Polk County Covention Center on January 16th.  Pick the correct event that fits your needs: Partner Developer IT Pro Small Business IT Executive Also, you would like to experience the "full effect" a key city launch, you can always go to Minneapolis.

posted @ Sunday, January 7, 2007 8:57 PM | Feedback (717)

Vista and Office 2007 Downloads

If you have the time, check out these great downloads add-ons for VS2005. I already have .NET 3.0 framework installed on my laptop and ready to play with WF and WCF...this is just sweet!

posted @ Monday, November 20, 2006 2:13 PM | Feedback (611)

Currently Reading

Essential Windows Workflow Foundation This is book is a really, really, really good read.  The authors (both architects of WF) do a really great job of breaking down the concepts of what "makes up" a program...a basic approach they took into consideration when designing WF.  If you're planning on using .NET 3.0, this is a worthy investment.

posted @ Tuesday, November 14, 2006 9:30 PM | Feedback (611)

.NET Framework 3.0 RTM

That's right, if you're planning on doing some development with the .NET Framework 3.0, you don't have to use CTPs, any more!  They've shipped the product!  This is the beginning of a brand new approach of application development for the Windows platform.  Great job, teams!

posted @ Tuesday, November 7, 2006 9:39 PM | Feedback (620)

.NET 3.0 (WinFX) RC1

That's right, .NET 3.0 (WinFX) has hit RC1.  It's pretty much "the final product" from the sounds of it.  Go get your copy!

posted @ Friday, September 1, 2006 9:02 PM | Feedback (611)

BTS or WF? That is the question

Just found this really good post from John Evdemon (I attended one his Chalk Talk on BPEL at TechEd) in which he describes under which scenarios you should use BizTalk Server (BTS) or Windows Workflow (WF).  Pretty good stuff!  If you’re working (or planning to work) with either technology, it’s forth the read.

posted @ Monday, June 19, 2006 9:24 PM | Feedback (612)