Spec Explorer 1.0 – A “Visual tool for modeling software behavior and generating test suites from those models”

Microsoft Downloads - Spec Explorer for Model-Based Testing in Visual Studio

“Spec Explorer is a tool for Model-Based Testing that runs as an add-in to Visual Studio Ultimate/Team Suite editions

Version:	1.0
Date Published:	10/23/2009
Language:	English
Download Size:	62 KB - 12.6 MB*

Spec Explorer is a visual tool for modeling software behavior and generating test suites from those models. Spec Explorer’s approach to model-based testing has been shown to greatly enhance productivity of test case creation, to ensure predictability of requirement coverage, and to support lifecycle management and software updates. Models are typically written in C# and controlled by a configuration language which allows to express scenarios and test purposes. Please see also the Spec Explorer [GD:As of this post, this link does not appear to be active] home page on DevLabs

…

Platform Software

• Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 or 4.0 Beta
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 Professional edition or above for SpecExplorerVS2010.msi
• and/or Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Professional edition or above for SpecExplorerVS2008.msi

…”

Interesting…

Looks like Spec Explorer has been backing since at least 2005, .Net Developers Journal - Using Spec Explorer for Model-Based Test Development. Also see, Microsoft Research - Model-based Testing with SpecExplorer

eBook of the Day(s) - 31 Days of Refactoring

Sean Chambers -  31 Days of Refactoring eBook

“Back in August I did the 31 Days of Refactoring blog series. Fellow LosTechies as well as other community members urged me to convert the series into an eBook. I had intended to (really!), but Simone Chiaretta beat me to it and took it upon himself to create the series into an eBook perfectly formatted and threw in some nice styling.

On that note, and a HUGE thanks to Simone for doing this task, you can find the link to the eBook below. I'm sure I'll format things or may have missed some spelling errors so if you find anything please let me know. Again, huge thanks to Simone for doing this in his spare time. The community thanks you very much as do I.

…” [GD: Post Leached in Full, click through for the PDF download link]

From the PDF:

“…

Introduction
Refactoring is an integral part of continually improving your code while it moves forward through time. Without refactoring you accrue technical debt, forget what portions of code do and create code that is resistant to any form of testing. It is an easy concept to get started with and opens the door to much better practices such as unit testing, shared code ownership and more reliable, bug-free code in general.

Because of the importance of refactoring, throughout the month of August I will be describing one refactoring a day for the 31 days of August. Before I begin, let me prefix this series with the fact that I am not claiming ownership of the refactorings I will describe, although I will try to bring some additional description and perhaps some discussion around each. I have chosen not to list the full set of refactorings on this first post until I actually post the refactoring. So as the month progresses I will update this post with links to each of the refactorings.

First on the list is credit where it is due. The majority of these refactorings can be found Refactoring.com, some are from Code Complete 2nd Edition and others are refactorings that I find myself doing often and from various other places on the interwebs. I don’t think its important to note on each refactoring where it came from, as you can find refactorings of similar names found on various blogs and articles online.

On that note, I will be publishing the first post starting tomorrow that begins the 31 day marathon of various refactorings. I hope you all enjoy and learn something from the refactorings!

…”

(via .Net DZone - 31 Days of Refactoring eBook)

PowerShell goodness for TFS - PsTFS v1.0.0 Released

PsTFS - PsTFS V1.0.0

“…

• Create Setup MSI

And Add :

• Add-QualityBuild Add a new Quality for a Build Project
• Add-Workspace Add workspace in Team Foundation Server
• Clear-Builds Cancel Build
• Get-Build Get All build for a project
• Get-Label
• Get-AllChangesSinceLabel
• Get-AllWorkspace Get all workspace for a TFS
• Get-Workspace Get workspace for a Name and a owner

…”

CodePlex – PsTFS

“PsTFS is a set of PowerShell commands to manage and use Team Foundation Server. PowerShell effectiveness is combined with the power of TFS API to maximize TFS capabilities.

Samples for each CMDLET are available.

These CMDLETS provide support for :

…

To give you a snapshot of this project…

 

Related Past Post XRef:
How cool would it be if there was a PowerShell Provider for Team Foundation Server? Where you could CD into a Project and DIR its work items? It’s very cool! Check this out…

PsTFS – PowerShell and TFS, better than peanut butter and chocolate? (Okay, maybe not, but it’s close… ;)

Channel 9 makes you smart(er) - Channel 9 Learning Center opens with VS2010/.Net 4 and Windows 7 courses (free of course)

Managed World - Visual Studio 2010 Training Course on Channel 9

“This morning Channel 9 launched the new Channel 9 Learning Center. From Channel 9, here’s a description of what the Learning Center is: “The Channel 9 Learning Center is the destination for free technical training on emerging Microsoft products and technologies. The Learning Center consists of a set of courses with each course including a set of videos, hands-on labs, and source code samples to get you up-to-speed quickly.”

I’m pleased to say that Visual Studio 2010 is one of the first Training Courses that we have launched on Channel 9. Please welcome the Visual Studio 2010 Training Course. 

What is the Visual Studio 2010 Training Course? The Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 Training Course includes videos and hands-on-labs designed to help you learn how to utilize the Visual Studio 2010 features and a variety of framework technologies including: C# 4.0, Visual Basic 10, F#, Parallel Computing Platform, WCF, WF, WPF, ASP.NET AJAX 4.0, ASP.NET MVC Dynamic Data.

Essentially, the Training Course is an online version of our Visual Studio 2010 Training Kit. In this first release of the training course, it contains a subset of the content that is actually present in the training kit. Of course, since it is an online delivery mechanism, we will continue to add more items from the training kit into this training course over the coming weeks and months.

…”

Channel 9 Learning Center Courses

 

Each course breaks out into units…

Channel 9 Learning Center Courses - Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 Training Course

And then each unit has lessons and such…

Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 Training Course - Overview

Free, and easy to access and use training. It’s a mix of hands on, videos and such. Don’t expect to be talked at! Roll up your selves and be prepared to do some coding!  ;)

 

Related Past Post XRef:
Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 Training Kit - October Preview (aka VS2010 B2 version) released
Visual Studio 2010/.Net 4.0 B2 now available via MSDN Subscribers Download, new SKU names (Ultimate, Premium, Express Combo) and VS2010 launch dates announced
A little VS2010/.Net 4 Training Kit with your Beta 1?

Busting Visual Studio Myths – or How I learned to counter “that guy’s” anti-VS/.Net comments – or how I convinced my boss that Feature X doesn’t have Problem Y

IUpdateable from Eric Nelson - Visual Studio Myths – busted wide open

“The team and I were having a conversation about developers (we do that from time to time). It went something like:

• “Isn’t it a shame that so many developers are stuck on Visual Studio 2005 when Visual Studio 2008 would be way better for them and Visual Studio 2010 is just around the corner”
• “Why is that?”
• <LONG CONVERSATION LISTING EVERY REASON DEVELOPERS ARE ON 2005 DELETED>
• “And… then there are all these myths that developers believe to be true which hold them back from adopting Visual Studio 2008. For instance many developers believe that …”
• <LONG LIST OF MYTHS DELETED>
• “OK. What can we do to help them?”

Well, after several iterations of ideas on how we could do our little bit to address this, we decided to go with collating:

• All the key feature improvements from Visual Studio 2005 through to Visual Studio 2010 by focus area (web, data etc)
• All the myths we heard in our meetings and events, plus some we made up to pad it out :-)

And then, with a little help from an agency, we created a Silverlight 3 application which presented the information in a way that developers will hopefully find rather useful and a little prettier than the whopping bit word document we created.

The final result is the Visual Studio Myth Busting Matrix.

…”

Visual Studio Myth Busting Matrix

Sure it’s something of a “marketing’ish” site, but there was enough VS2008 myth busting content that made it well worth a mention. I’ve HEARD a bunch of these things said any number of times… Now I have one more, “um… no… Go check out this site” resource.  ;)

Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 Training Kit - October Preview (aka VS2010 B2 version) released

Managed World - Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 Training Kit Published

“The Beta 2 version of DPE’s Visual Studio 2010 Training Kit is now live (you can find it at http://tinyurl.com/Beta2Training).

A training kit includes presentations, hands-on labs, and demos. This content is designed to help you learn how to utilize a variety of Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 technologies.

The Beta 2 release of the Training Kit contains 15 presentations, 19 hands-on labs, and 13 demos. Many technologies are covered in this release, including: C# 4, VB 10, F#, Parallel Extensions, Windows Communication Foundation, Windows Workflow, Windows Presentation Foundation, ASP.NET 4, Entity Framework, ADO.NET Data Services, Managed Extensibility Framework, and Visual Studio Ultimate.

There’s a lot of content covered here. See for yourself:

…”

Microsoft Downloads - Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 Training Kit - October Preview

“October Preview of the Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 Training Kit

File Name:	VS2010TrainingKit.Setup.exe
Version:	1.1
Date Published:	10/20/2009
Language:	English
Download Size:	93.3 MB

Overview

The Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 Training Kit includes presentations, hands-on labs, and demos. This content is designed to help you learn how to utilize the Visual Studio 2010 features and a variety of framework technologies including:

• C# 4.0
• Visual Basic 10
• F#
• Parallel Extensions
• Windows Communication Foundation
• Windows Workflow
• Windows Presentation Foundation
• ASP.NET 4
• Windows 7
• Entity Framework
• ADO.NET Data Services
• Managed Extensibility Framework
• Visual Studio Team System

This version of the Training Kit works with Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 and .NET Framework 4 Beta 2.

…”

The download size has grown 12MB (10%+) from the last version of the training kit (A little VS2010/.Net 4 Training Kit with your Beta 1?) so I’m betting there’s at LEAST 20% additional goodness added! (considering compression and all that ;)

 

Related Past Post XRef:
Visual Studio 2010/.Net 4.0 B2 now available via MSDN Subscribers Download, new SKU names (Ultimate, Premium, Express Combo) and VS2010 launch dates announced
A little VS2010/.Net 4 Training Kit with your Beta 1?

Free (as in direct download, no reg required) ebook - “Introducing Windows Server 2008 R2”

Windows Server 2008 R2 - Windows Server – Training Portal

“…

Free e-book offer that features Windows Server 2008 R2 (XPS file, 28MB)
Free e-book offer that features Windows Server 2008 R2 (PDF file, 11MB)

Learn about the new features of Windows Server 2008 R2 in the areas of virtualization, management, the Web application platform, scalability and reliability, and interoperability with Windows 7. Download Introducing Windows Server 2008 R2, written by industry experts Charlie Russel and Craig Zacker along with the Windows Server team at Microsoft.

…”

Been a while (like days! lol) since I’ve blogged about a free ebook, so I guess I’m due.

(via Nathan Mercer's blog - Introducing Windows Server 2008 R2 Microsoft e-book download & TechNet Team Blog Austria - Windows Server 2008 R2: gratis E-Book verfügbar)

Creating Visio Diagrams without Visio – VisioAutomation & VisioVDX

Saveen Reddy's blog - Now on CodePlex – VisioVDX: a library to generate Visio VDX Files (without Visio)

“A follow-up to my previous post, as promised the library is now on CodePlex. You can find it checked in the source tree used by the VisioAutomation project.

If you browse the source code you’ll see a separate folder with the VisioVDX code in it.

…”

CodePlex – VisioAutomation

“…

Project Components

• VisioAutomation - the core low-level library
• VisioAutomation.Scripting - the a higher level library meant to be used by interactive tools
• Visio Power Tools - a .NET Add-In for Visio 2007 that adds a new menu and UI tools to visio
• VisioInteractive - provides a IronPython-based command-line experience (experimental)
• VisioPS - provides a Powershell 2.0-based command-line experience (experimental)

Related Components in the Source Tree

• VisioVDX - Create Visio VDX files without Visio installed

Scenarios

• Writing managed-code Add-Ins for Visio 2007
• Writing tools to automate Visio 2007 from command line
• Use it as a reference to learn how to do common Visio automation tasks

…”

I dig the idea of creating Visio diagrams without using automation (think server-side generation…)

Visual Studio 2010/.Net 4.0 B2 now available via MSDN Subscribers Download, new SKU names (Ultimate, Premium, Express Combo) and VS2010 launch dates announced

MSDN – Subscribers Download

See the new SKU names? Ultimate, Premium, Express Combo? Those are discussed in The Register article below….

(via RT from @regeiger - http://twitter.com/regeiger/statuses/4992975576)

 

The Register - Microsoft names Visual Studio 2010 dates

“…

This time, the company is spicing the packaging mix by throwing in hours of access to its Azure cloud plus upgrades to a new, top-of-the-line Visual Studio ALM package.

The changes will be unveiled today, as Microsoft announces the second Visual Studio 2010 beta and .NET Framework 4 beta two have been released to MSDN subscribers with everyone else getting code on October 21. …

Also, Microsoft will announce Visual Studio 2010 will officially launch on March 22, 2010.

…

Microsoft will chop nine Visual Studio SKUs down to four, with the focus on ALM. Microsoft does not seem to be tampering with the Express editions, which add another five SKUs.

…

What do you get in your new packages?

…” [GD: Click through… you’ll want to read it all in context ;]

Yeah! Both the launch date and a truncation of the SKU madness!

(via @marcot - http://twitter.com/marcot/statuses/4992849141)

 

Related Past Post XRef:
VSTS/TFS2010 Beta 2 coming “real soon” and will have a “Go Live” license (i.e. Now’s the time to start getting ready…)

Microsoft Sync Framework v2.0 SDK and Redistributable RTM/RTW

Microsoft Downloads - Microsoft Sync Framework 2.0 Software Development Kit (SDK)

“Microsoft Sync Framework is a comprehensive synchronization platform that enables collaboration and offline scenarios for applications, services, and devices. Using Microsoft Sync Framework, developers can build applications that synchronize data from any source using any protocol over any network.

Version:	V2RTM
Date Published:	10/18/2009
Language:	English
Download Size:	35 KB - 146.3 MB*

Overview

Sync Framework 2.0 Overview
Sync Framework 2.0 expands on the capabilities offered by Sync Framework 1.0:

• Adds features that cater to new scenarios or scenarios that were difficult to support.
• Reduces the amount of work required to develop providers.
• Supports more data sources with new built-in providers.

The major new features and improvements included in Sync Framework 2.0 are:
In Core Components:

• Simple Providers: …
• Flexible Filtering: …
• Improved Conflict Handling: …
• Data Conversion between Providers: …
• Change Application Service:…
• Tracing: …

In Database Providers:

• New Database Providers (SQL Server and SQL Server Compact): Enable hub-and-spoke and peer-to-peer synchronization for SQL Server, SQL Server Express, and SQL Server Compact. …
• Robust Memory-Based Batching: …
• Provisioning and Management APIs: Provisioning and initialization activities that were previously exposed only through Visual Studio tooling have now been added to the database provider APIs….
• Performance Improvements: The new database providers in this release have been thoroughly tested in large-scale scenarios in which a single server supports thousands of clients with hundreds of concurrent synchronization operations. …

…

Redistributable
To download the Microsoft Sync Framework 2.0 redistributables and bootstrapper, rather than the SDK package, click on the link: Microsoft Sync Framework 2.0 Redistributable Package

…”

Building your own synchronization is hard and that code is rarely a piece of core business functionality (sync may be but the code to do it rarely is). When/if I ever need to create my own sync’ing, this will be one of the first things I look at.

(via ActiveWin - Microsoft Sync Framework 2.0 Software Development Kit (SDK))

 

Related Past Post XRef:
Sync 101 - Samples for the Microsoft Sync Framework
Sync Framework v1 RTM’s (and includes ADO.Net Sync Services v2)
Using Microsoft Sync Framework in Visual Studio 2008 to Sync SQL Databases (SQL CE with SQL Server)
Microsoft Sync Framework CTP1 Released

A Feed You Should Read #8 - msdev

Today’s feed is different from the previous ones, and instead of an individual it is a site/vendor/company sponsored/etc feed from Microsoft.

MS tech is a very slippery eel. Just when you think you’ve got a handle on it, it twists and slips from your fingers… Today’s feed is a means to help you catch that eel (or at least help you keep a start to get a grip on that twisty basta… :p )

msdev.com – Courses

Background:

The msdev.com site is a free training resource for many things Microsoft. See that snap above? The 1,000? That’s not 1,000 posts, but 1,000 training sessions! See the categories above too? If you’re IT or Dev, there’s got to me something there for you.

Oh, the cost? Free.

Yep, Free.

Not have the time to attend a live session? That’s cool because they are recorded and you can catch on demand them as you can.

Like labs and not lectures/sessions? They have those too.

By the way, don’t let the “solution providers” in the subtitle throw you. We are ALL “solution providers” and so this training is for all of us, professional or hobbyist.

Why do I like this feed and think you might also?

The pace of change from Microsoft is not only not slowing, it is picking up. It’s all we can do to keep our heads above the technology water. And with training budgets slashed/nuked, getting the needed training is harder by the day.

That and the coming wave is going to be one of the biggest ever. .Net 4, VS 2010, TFS 2010, Office 2010, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, SQL Server 2008 R2, SharePoint 2010 and so on. In the next 12 months we’re going to have more new stuff thrown at us than likely ever in the past.

And it’s all looking like GOOD stuff. Stuff we’re really going to want to use (and not just ignore and hope it goes away). Now’s the time to start getting up to speed on that “stuff”. Time to catch the wave… Because it’s JUST like a tidal wave. Not a normal wave that crests and breaks, but one that keeps coming on and on and on and on…

That’s why I dig this site. It’s going to help me and my team survive the wave.

This site seems a little familiar, like that I might have mentioned it in the past, does it? Yep, An official “bunch” free of SQL Server 2008 R2 / SQL Server 2008 Express web sessions and how-to’s videos coming starting in September and How about 716, or so, free live and on-demand development training courses/web sessions? Then head on over to msdev.com… 

You see I like free training.

So do you use MS tech? In IT or Dev? Doing anything in .Net, SQL Server, Windows Server, Windows 7, Expression, Web, Visual Studio, [insert like a bunch more MS product titles here], etc ? Like free? Then there are 1000+ free, live, on demand and virtual labs just waiting for you…

Snap of the latest post:

Blog Information:

Name:	msdev.com – Microsoft Training for solution providers
URL:	http://www.msdev.com/
Feed:	http://www.msdev.com/rss/courses.aspx
Post Types:	Microsoft Related Training