Sessions

.NET Performance Diagnostics - What and How?

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 15:44:09 GMT

Everyone has that application that just doesn't perform as well as it should, or that one application that you think might be a bit slow, but are not 100% sure. Well this presentation will help get you to the bottom of it, starting out with a discussion around the process of performing both pro-active and reactive performance analysis, the presentation will morph into a full demonstration of Performance Diagnostic techniques for both Windows and ASP.NET Applications using popular third-party tools as well as options from directly within Visual Studio 2010.

.NET Productivity Gateway Drugs: Becoming a Pusher instead of just a User of Generics and Lambda Expressions

Sat, 23 Jun 2012 16:53:19 GMT

For many .NET developers, Generics and Lambda Expressions are powerful language features that we frequently consume rather than something we create in our own code. But by adding these powerful language features to our software engineering toolbox, we can expand our vocabulary to describe our software in ways otherwise simply not possible. This talk is divided into two parts, one focusing on understanding the power of the .NET Generic type system and the other focused on understanding the unique strengths of Lambda Expressions.

Adding .NET Generics to your C# Recipes: When .NET introduced Generics, they were largely used in the Base Class Library to support strongly-typed collections. But Generics also open the door to a richer vocabulary for us to use to express our intent in code. In this first part of the talk we will explore the multitude of uses for .NET Generic Types beyond collections including creating more flexible class declarations and method signatures as well as understanding the role of generic type constraints.

Demystifying Lambdas: A Lot More Than Just LINQ: When .NET 3.5 ushered in the age of the lambda expression for C#, the most visible use-case for this language feature was in support of Language-integrated-Query (more commonly known as "LINQ"). But lambdas also offer us the opportunity to be much more succinct in our coding of many common C# constructs. From events to delegates to anonymous methods, closures, and more, lambdas offer us the opportunity to say more with less in a fundamentally different way than we've previously considered using C#. In this second part of the talk we will explore both the underlying principles behind lambda expressions and several of the ways that we can drastically improve our code by leveraging this new functional-style paradigm in .NET.

Attendees should possess intermediate C# language skills and have experience consuming both Generics and Lambdas from the .NET Base Class Library.

A Showdown: Silverlight meets HTML5

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 16:39:28 GMT

In this session Rick Kight and Mike Green from Covenant Technology Partners will discuss, demostrate and battle with developing web applications using Silverlight and HTML 5. We will take common programming techniques and patterns in Silverlight and see if HTML 5 can keep up. We'll also take some tricks from HTML 5 and see if Silverlight can handle them. At the end of the session you will have a better idea of the features of HTML 5, when you can take advantage of them and you'll be able to compare the development effort between Silverlight and HTML 5. We hope to help you make better decisions when trying to choose a technology for implementing your next web application.

Accelerate Business Success with XRM Framework

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 21:53:40 GMT

Overview to of using the xRM frame work to extend the capabilities of CRM to implement business functions. Purpose is to give developers/architect an option for using their CRM and the XRM framework to quickly deploy solutions to everyday problems. Every organizations have bloated excel spreadsheets floating around for facility management, rental agreements, vendor management and much more. This is a presentation will show developers that don’t always have to start from scratch if CRM and XRM are in their environment.

Advanced ASP.NET MVC

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 20:23:03 GMT

In this session we will look at different techniques that leverage extensibility points within ASP.NET MVC to make the most of your applications. If you've ever wanted to know how you can do more with less within MVC, this is a session you don't want to miss!

Agile for the Waterfall Mind

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 16:08:02 GMT

The transition from a waterfall methodology to a disciplined Agile methodology can be extremely painful and will likely fail if the concepts are not clearly understood by both the leadership and delivery teams.

This session walks through the fundamental changes to the approach of leading developers and working as an agile team.

Concepts covered: Test driven development, Pairing, Code Ownership, Agile Metrics, Cultural shifts, pitfalls & failures, and much more.

Android: State Your Intentions

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 20:33:54 GMT

Want to create an Android app with lots of features? The magic of the Android platform is integration: give your application email, SMS, maps, web browsing without programming any of these. The secret is in Intents. Learn how to create that launch all these activities and more: code examples show how to display, send, dial, and capture. Gain insight into activities, tasks, and applications, and the clever ways that Android sets up an environment that promotes real message-passing and reuse. Tell Android exactly what you want, and it will do some great work for you.

Application Lifecycle Management

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 15:20:32 GMT

Enterprise systems have definitive lifecycles. With the initial release and sometimes accelerated growth come challenges of manageability. Content and data can quickly become outdated. Governance decisions made in the early planning stages will define whether the organization’s environments will decline or fulfill their original intent. Organizations will require resources across the enterprise to continually organize, improve, and prune the solution in order to offer powerful business tools to executives, employees, partners, and customers.

Governance plans are more of a guidebook than a rulebook outlining the administration, support, maintenance, and development of the organization’s enterprise system environment. A governance plan identifies lines of ownership for both business owners and technical team members, defining the levels of responsibilities for the system as well as the rules for the appropriate usage, maintenance and growth of all environments.

In this session we will be discussing:
Communication and Education
Policies and Processes
Administration
Content/Data Management
Taxonomy
Solution Development
Security
Technical Architecture
Maintenance
Regulations and Compliance

Architecting Scalable Applications in the Cloud

Sat, 23 Jun 2012 17:25:03 GMT

There is an increasing importance to architect applications for both growth and optimal user experience. Modern development tools allow you to develop fantastic applications, but there are pitfalls with architecting the applications in the wrong way. This talk will discuss industry proven best practices for building highly scalable web sites and applications and how they might be implemented on Windows Azure.

ASP.NET 4.5 for Web Forms Developers

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 15:42:37 GMT

There are a lot of us out there for a number of reasons that might not be working with ASP.NET MVC and might not have a plan to migrate to it anytime soon. With .NET 4.5 Microsoft proves that it isn't a big deal and added a bunch of much needed enhancements to the Web Forms development model. In this session we will spend time digging through code and looking at the features/functions provided to ASP.NET developers to support rich object binding, routing, HTML 5 support and other new extensions to the ASP.NET Web Forms model.

Automate UI Testing in .NET with UI Automation Framework, White and SpecFlow

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 19:53:09 GMT

Unit tests are very beneficial, but usually are applied only to logic or algorithms. Trying to unit test User Interface can be problematic. Microsoft provided the UI Automation Framework, which helps, but can be pretty complicated. Enter White, a free open source abstraction layer on top of that UI Automation Framework and things get easier. Add a layer of BDD driven element on top via SpecFlow and we have a fairly nice cohesive set to enable us unit test UI. Come to this session to learn more about each of this disparate components and how their whole sum is more than the sum of its distinct feature.

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder (A Talk on Ugly Code)

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 20:05:43 GMT

It's said that without evil there can be no good and that without darkness, there can be no light. Is the same true of ugly and beautiful code? Maybe... but that's certainly not a question I'll be answering in this talk. Instead, we'll talk about ugly code, where it comes from, how to avoid it, and how to rid your codebase of it. And of course, I'll share some of my favorite anti-examples from The Daily WTF.

Behavior-Driven Development: Turning User Stories into Executable Specifications

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 01:21:00 GMT

You’re Agile. You write User Stories. Now what? The next step is often to turn those User Stories into executable tests that can help you validate the proper behavior of your complex software systems. Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) is the engine that can help to drive this process on your project. The logical evolution of the often too fine-grained process of Test-Driven Development, BDD not only represents a somewhat different technical practice but, more importantly, it also suggests an entirely different way of thinking about your system and the way in which you test it.

In this session we will begin with a series of simple User Stories and demonstrate how the BDD process supports our codifying these User Stories into a series of “executable specifications” that can be used to validate the proper functionality of our complex software system. We will work at first without any of the complex overhead of so-called ‘BDD Frameworks’ to demonstrate the important concepts of BDD and then move on to investigate how and why one might look to use various ‘BDD Frameworks’ to offload some of the repetitive work often involved in the BDD process. Attendees should expect to leave with a good understanding of both the conceptual process that is Behavior-Driven Development as well as some of the technical practices that can help support its successful adoption.

The ideal attendee will have several years’ experience in developing complex software solutions. Some understanding of the role of User Stories in the Agile software development process is helpful but not required. Prior exposure to the concepts behind automated unit testing is assumed, but deep unit testing experience is not required.

Bing Maps 3 in 1 (Desktop, Windows Phone, Windows 8 Metro)

Sat, 23 Jun 2012 16:19:45 GMT

Learn to use the Bing Maps and Services with WPF (Desktop), Silverlight (Windows Phone 7.5), and now on WinRT (Windows 8 Metro). Learn how to use Location Services, GeoLocation, Search and build a your own navigation app.

Build RESTful API's with ASP.NET Web API

Tue, 10 Jul 2012 22:04:18 GMT

ASP.NET Web API, the newest member of the ASP.NET stack, makes it easier than ever to build true RESTful Web Services that can be used to support applications, whether they are web-based, WPF, Mobile, etc. In this session, John will take attendees through the process of building a simple RESTful API that handles PUT, POST, GET and DELETE. In addition, John will cover the basics of how to secure a Web API with a combination of public/private keys and secured sockets. John will demonstrate various ways to interact with the Web API including Ajax, ASP.NET MVC, etc.

Building Business Applications for Tablet Devices

Sat, 23 Jun 2012 16:49:45 GMT

“Consumerization of IT” is a growing trend whereby employees are bringing their personal devices to the workplace for work-related activities. The appeal of tablet devices for both consumer- and business-oriented scenarios has been a key catalyst for this trend; the growing expectation that enterprise apps should run on “my” device and take advantage of the tablet’s form factor and device capabilities has particularly opened up new challenges for custom business app development. In this demo-heavy presentation, we’ll show how LightSwitch in Visual Studio 2012 makes it easy to build HTML5/JS business apps that can be deployed to Azure and run on Windows 8, iOS, and Android tablets.

Building REST API's Using ASP.NET Web API

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 16:06:30 GMT

In this talk we will introduce the REST architectural style and look at what goes into designing a good REST API and what you should expect when consuming a REST API. We will also look at the new ASP.NET Web API stack that is part of ASP.NET MVC 4 and how it can be used to create REST API's.

Building Secure Web Applications in .NET

Sat, 23 Jun 2012 17:22:16 GMT

What could a hacker do to your web application? Lock all your users out of their account? Collect a list of every user’s email to spam them or lure them into a phishing scheme? Are your users passwords safe from theft? Could a simple brute force attack allow a hacker to login as another user? Is your application’s database at risk for total compromise? Are supposedly secure sections of your app actually easily accessible to the public? Are your admin users at risk of having their sessions stolen and impersonated? Let’s get clear answers to these critical concerns.

This session leverages hacking techniques outlined in “The Web Application Hacker’s Handbook”. We will review a variety of best practices and potential pitfalls that are easy to overlook. We will discuss the top 10 most critical web app security issues and view their implications through real-time hacking of an insecure web application. And after we’ve seen how to hack, we’ll discuss how to defend our apps from the thugs.

Building Single Page Applications with DotNetNuke

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 14:57:20 GMT

A major shift is taking place in the web development world. More and more web applications are being built as “Single Page Applications”. This development model focuses on using JavaScript frameworks, AJAX and web services to build highly interactive web applications which don’t rely on the traditional postback model associated with WebForms development. Even Microsoft is joining the party by including a SPA project template in MVC 4. In this session I’ll go over some of the tools we use in DotNetNuke 6.2 to enable you to develop your modules using this approach and we’ll look at where this development model is appropriate and where the traditional postback model is more applicable. To wrap up the session I’ll build a simple module which demonstrates how you can use this new development approach when building your next module.

Building Single Page Applications With WebAPI and Knockout.js

Sat, 23 Jun 2012 16:47:07 GMT

In today's web, users expect responsive, usable user interfaces that act like their desktop applications. In this session, we'll look at ways to use the new WebAPI framework in concert with KnockoutJS and a few other JavaScript libraries to build apps that not only work like a desktop app, they make your customers think you're a rock star (which, of course, you are).