Note to Self: Learn PowerShell by using it. Do one PS thing a day…

James O'Neill's blog - You can’t be a 21st century admin without PowerShell

“…

I’ve been saying the same thing in different ways a lot recently. The slide on the left was in the session I delivered at the big Wembley event in October.  A few people picked up that I’d said “Everyone should learn PowerShell”, and I’ve since had to explain that this requires a suitable definition of “Everyone”. But it is my firm belief that IT professionals working Microsoft technology are at an advantage if they know at least the basics of PowerShell. …

…

I took the following list from one of the Slides in the Wembley deck: – it is not designed to be complete but to show pre-eminence of PowerShell in the Microsoft world.

In Server-R2 there is:

• PowerShell for Active Directory
• PowerShell for Applocker
• PowerShell for Best Practices
• PowerShell for BITS transfer
• PowerShell for Clustering
• PowerShell for Group Policy
• PowerShell for Installing components
• PowerShell for Migration
• PowerShell for Remote-Desktop
• PowerShell for Server Backup
• PowerShell for Web admin

Not forgetting that we also have;

• PowerShell for Exchange 2007
• PowerShell for HPC
• PowerShell for HyperV @ codeplex.com
• PowerShell for OCS in the OCS Res-kit
• PowerShell for SQL 2008 R2
• PowerShell for System Center

You can see anyone who says “I don’t do PowerShell” is at a disadvantage, …

…

The successful admin is not automatically the one who knows every possible way to use every possible command in PowerShell. Nor the one who turns their back on GUI to do everything from the command line , but the one who understands the tools available for the task at hand, can select the right one, and can put it to use competently. PowerShell is one of the tools available in so many cases in the Microsoft world, that you can’t meet that definition without it.”

I really want to get comfortable with PowerShell. Like James I feel that not knowing it, not being comfortable with it, is going to put me at a disadvantage.

So I’m going to try something. I, like most of us, learn by doing so I’m going to try to do one PS thing a day. I’m not going to bore you all with posts of my journey, but instead simply try to make PS a part of my day to day life… We’ll see. Worth a try at least… :)

From the I may never need this but it’s still interesting pile: “A literary appreciation of the Olson/Zoneinfo/tz database”

Jon Udell - A literary appreciation of the Olson/Zoneinfo/tz database

“You will probably never need to know about the Olson database, also known as the Zoneinfo or tz database. And were it not for my elmcity project I never would have looked into it. I knew roughly that this bedrock database is a compendium of definitions of the world’s timezones, plus rules for daylight savings transitions (DST), used by many operating systems and programming languages.

…

What I didn’t appreciate, until I finally unzipped and untarred a copy of ftp://elsie.nci.nih.gov/pub/tzdata2009o.tar.gz, is the historical scholarship scribbled in the margins of this remarkable database, or document, or hybrid of the two.

…

But look at the rules for Feb 9 1942 and Aug 14 1945. The letters are W and P instead of D and S. And the comments tell us that during that period there were timezones like Eastern War Time (EWT) and Eastern Peace Time (EPT). Arthur David Olson elaborates:

…

”

The tz db/file is an acquired taste and one that most will never need to acquire. I’ve known about it for a few years, yet never knew ,or groked, the details Jon provided. Pretty interesting in a academic kind of way.

Given the US time change this past weekend, this quote made me chuckle, “Daylight Saving Time was first suggested as a joke by Benjamin Franklin in his whimsical essay, ‘An Economical Project for Diminishing the Cost of Light’…”

(via Tony's Microsoft Access Blog - A literary appreciation of the Olson/Zoneinfo/tz database)

Interesting .Net 4 thing of the day: String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace()

MSDN Library - String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace Method

“Indicates whether a specified string is Null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic), empty, or consists only of white-space characters.

…

IsNullOrWhiteSpace is a convenience method that is equivalent to calling the Trim() method followed by the IsNullOrEmpty method.

White-space characters are defined by the Unicode standard. The IsNullOrWhiteSpace method interprets any character that returns a value of true when it is passed to the Char.IsWhiteSpace method as a white-space

Module Example
   Public Sub Main()
      Dim values() As String = { Nothing, String.Empty, "ABCDE",
                                 New String(" "c, 20), "  " + vbTab + "   ",
                                 New String(ChrW(&h2000), 10) }
      For Each value As String In values
         Console.WriteLine(String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(value))
      Next
   End Sub
End Module
' The example displays the following output:
'       True
'       True
'       False
'       True
'       True
'       True

…”

I love seeing these kind of helper/convenience methods that we all write/re-invent get baked into .Net…

(via William Bartholomew - New Method: String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace() andalso This Week on Channel 9 - TWC9: Asli Bilgin, Halloween, VS2010, and community events)

A Feed You Should Read #10 - Tales from the Road: A Traffic Cop's Stories

“Now for something completely different”

For today’s feed I wanted to reach WAY outside my usual scope and into the “Real World.”

Tales from the Road: A Traffic Cop's Stories

Background:

It’s sometimes hard to remember that our world, the world of development and IT, isn’t a 100% accurate representation of the “real world” (gee… No way! lol :p ) Sometimes the real world crashes into our lives, yet on average, we usually leave it alone if it leaves us alone. A live and let live mentality.

Yet the “Real World” is out there none the less. And it’s both funnier and uglier than most of us can imagine. Today’s blog is from someone who’s on the front line of the real world and he’s giving a chance to ride along with him.

I’ve been following his blog since its start, as well as his previous blog, Jaded: Thoughts of a Rookie Cop. He’s shared his journey as a police officer, from being a rookie new on the job, to someone who now knows the ropes, been there, done that, yet still has hope and enjoys the good that his does.

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

His posts are not a reality show, but reality. His feelings and thoughts are real and it shows. More than once the posts of his experiences has made me laugh out loud and shake my head in wonder.

Why did I think you might like it? I don’t know that you will, but sometimes we all need a little real world to remind us of what we have…

On a related note, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, thank God for our cops. You rock. Thank you for helping keep my family safe.

Snap of the latest post:

Blog Information:

Name:	Tales from the Road: A Traffic Cop's Stories - Random entertaining stories of life as a traffic cop.
URL:	http://trafficcopstories.blogspot.com/
Feed:	http://trafficcopstories.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss
Post Types:	Personal blog of daily’ish life/work experiences and thoughts

MSBuild & Virtual PC’s – Like peas in a pod?

Guy Smith-Ferrier - Automating Testing Using Windows Virtual PC

“As promised here are the slides [GD:Click through for all the slide/source links] and source code for yesterday's "Automating Testing Using Windows Virtual PC" presentation at the MVP Open Day. The sister presentation to this one is "Automating Testing Using Virtual Server 2005" and you can download the slides and source code for this one. If you are using Virtual Server 2005 you might like to download both as the Windows Virtual PC presentation is more recent and contain slightly more code that is still applicable to Virtual Server 2005” [GD:Post leached in full]

From the slides;

What caught my eye in this was that the MSBuild Extension Pack was getting some Windows Virtual PC msbuild task love… that’s cool…

For years now I’ve been wanting to see about using virtual machines in my dev/test processes. VS2010’s Lab Management is a huge step in the right direction, but it’s still just one step. The inclusion of MSBuild tasks in the MSBuild Extension Pack (and the Virtual Server tasks in the SDC Tasks) is another…

The thought of queuing a build (or via CI/nightly) and getting a VM out for delivery/testing seems to be too darn cool to me. I know some of you might have been doing this for years already (cough… like Scott Hanselman, who’s chatted about it in his podcasts) but some of us are in environments that have barely graduated to automated builds let alone embrace virtualization (and the thought of the two of them together, well that’s like WAY out there! ;)

Anyway… This will be an area, especially in the VS2010 wave, that I will be keeping a closer eye on.

(via FreeToDev - Automating Testing Using Windows Virtual PC)

 

Related Past Post XRef:
MSBuild Extension Pack (Think “FreeToDev MSBuild Tasks Suite” but now they’re cooking with gas! ;)
FreeToDev MSBuild Tasks Suite – First Non-Beta Release (and request for help…)
New (beta) MSBuild Tasks Suite - FreeToDev MSBuild Tasks Suite

The SDC Tasks Projects is alive and well... v2.1.2978 Released
SDC Tasks Project's New Home on CodePlex
MS UK Enterprise Solutions Build Framework (SBF) Updated
MSBuild Community Tasks Project
More on the Solution Build Framework (SBF) (MSBuild Tasks) From MS UK
MS SDC.Tasks, a MSBUILD tasks library with over a hundred new tasks...

“Outlook 2007 Best Practices” – 37 Pages toward email nirvana (well… that might be reaching a little, but you get the idea…)

Microsoft Downloads - Outlook 2007 Best Practices

“This article is intended to provide users of Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 guidance on how to best use the product.

…

File Name:	Best Practices for Microsoft Office Outlook 2007.docx
Version:	1
Date Published:	10/30/2009
Language:	English
Download Size:	607 KB

…”

From the document;

“…

The purpose of this paper is to provide customers of Microsoft^® Office Outlook^® 2007 messaging and collaboration client with guidance on how to best use the product. Created by the product team who created Outlook 2007, this guide represents our advice on how to get the most out of Outlook 2007. By no means comprehensive, it covers just a few core scenarios.

This guide is intended for people who:

• Work for a large company with an IT department.
• Receive more than 30 e-mail messages a day.
• Spend lots of time every day using Outlook 2007 to send and receive e-mail and to set up and/or attend meetings.
• Are using Outlook 2007 with a Microsoft Exchange Server account.

Regardless of your server setup or organization size, this document will be useful to you.

Why an Outlook "best practices" document?

We wrote this paper for the best possible reason: Our customers asked. We designed Outlook 2007 to be used by a wide audience with many work needs and styles. Although there's no one "right way," there are a few ways of working in the program that we know to be easier than others. We hope that by being aware of the best practices, you will have the best experience possible using Outlook.

…

Basic principles of good time management

Outlook 2007 is a tool to help you manage your e-mail, calendar, contacts, and tasks. As such, it is at the center of not only your communications but also your time-management. To get the most out of Outlook 2007, we suggest a few basic principles:

1. Reduce the number of places where you read e-mail. Filter all of the messages you need to read into one place — your Inbox by using a series of rules.
2. Let some e-mail messages pass by. Use rules to send the e-mail you need to read into your Inbox and then let the rest flow untouched into distribution list folders (DL folders). You don’t need to read every message sent to you. Only the important ones should go to your Inbox. Remaining messages can be useful to keep — in case you get looped in on an issue, for example.
3. Reduce the number of places where you manually file e-mail. Reduce the mental tax of filing by relying on search to locate messages.
4. Process your e-mail by using the Four Ds. When reading your e-mail, decide whether to
       Delete it.
       Do it (respond or file for reference).
       Delegate it (forward).
       Defer it (using categories and flags) for a second review in your task list.
5. Reduce your to-do list to one list. Use a single to-do list and calendar to manage what you need to do.
6. Work in batches. Use categories to help you group similar tasks together.
7. Use good judgment when sending e-mail. Follow the dos and don’ts of writing great e-mail. Review your time and tasks regularly.

…

Many of us use Outlook day in and out yet how many of us use it well?

Personally I’ve achieved the much vaunted goal of the “Zero Inbox”, but it took a while to train myself to get there. How? Mostly by doing step #4 above (i.e. the Four D’s). Given that (and that, or maybe because, I’ve been using Outlook for forever) I still got some good ideas from this document.

Anyway, given how my time we spend in Outlook it seems a good time investment to ensure we’re actually using it smartly.

“Windows Management Framework” is here for Windows XP, Vista, Server 2003, 2008 – Remote Admin Power +10

Windows PowerShell Blog - Windows Management Framework is here!“

“Windows Management Framework, which includes Windows PowerShell 2.0, WinRM 2.0, and BITS 4.0, was officially released to the world this morning. By providing a consistent management interface across the various flavors of Windows, we are making our platform that much more attractive to deploy. IT Professionals can now easily manage their Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2 machines through PowerShell remoting [GD: emphasis added] – that’s a huge win!

…”

Microsoft Support - Description of the Windows Management Framework on Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2008

“This article describes the Windows Management Framework on Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2008. The Windows Management Framework includes the following:

• Windows Remote Management (WinRM) 2.0
• Windows PowerShell 2.0
• Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) 4.0

 

Windows Management Framework makes some updated management functionality in Windows 7 and in Windows Server 2008 R2 available to be installed on Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2008. Windows Management Framework contains Windows Remote Management (WinRM) 2.0, Windows PowerShell 2.0, and Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) 4.0.

WinRM 2.0

WinRM is the Microsoft implementation of WS-Management Protocol, a standard Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)–based, firewall-friendly protocol that allows for hardware and operating systems from different vendors to interoperate. The WS-Management Protocol specification provides a common way for systems to access and exchange management information across an IT infrastructure.

WinRM 2.0 includes the following new features:

…

Windows PowerShell 2.0

Windows PowerShell is a command-line shell and scripting language that is designed for system administration and Automation. Built on the Microsoft .NET Framework, Windows PowerShell enables IT professionals and developers to control and automate the administration of Windows and applications.

New features that are introduced in Windows PowerShell 2.0 include the following:

…

BITS 4.0

BITS is a service that transfers files between a client and a server. BITS provides a simple way to reliably and politely transfer files over HTTP or HTTPS. File downloads and file uploads are supported. By default, BITS transfers files in the background, unlike other protocols that transfer files in the foreground. Background transfers use only idle network bandwidth in order to preserve the user’s interactive experience with other network applications, such as Internet Explorer. Foreground or typical transfers are also supported.

BITS 4.0 includes the following new features:

…

.”

Remote Admin goodness for older Microsoft OS’s = Good Thing

Now to see about getting this deployed in-house…

(via ActiveWin - Windows Management Framework Is Here)

Computer Forensics in a Windows 7 (and Vista) world

SANS Computer Forensics, Investigation, and Response - Windows 7 Computer Forensics

“Windows 7 was released this past week. A lot of work by the SANS community has been accomplished at uncovering digital forensic artifacts from it. First off, Windows 7 is really Windows VISTA release 2.  Many of the features that are found in Windows Vista will be found in Windows 7. 

…

Here is just a few things we have helped document regarding Windows 7.

User Profiles:

With the release of Vista/Win7, Microsoft significantly changed the folder structure and mechanisms used by the operating system for user profiles. …

Internet Explorer:

The major change within Vista/Win7 that affects us when performing browser forensics is the newly implemented “Protected Mode”. …

USB Key Analysis:

…

USB Drive Enclosure Analysis:

…

Defrag Analysis:

…
Timeline Analysis:

Kristinn Guðjónsson developed and released a full scope timeline creation tool called log2timeline that is able to parse many Windows Vista and Windows 7 artifacts in a single simple tool.

…

Shadow Copy Forensics

Troy Larson from Microsoft has done a wonderful job continuing to discuss the Shadow Volume Copy and ways you can examine them in an investigation.  We posted back in 2008 on many of his techniques.

http://blogs.sans.org/computer-forensics/2008/10/10/shadow-forensics/

…

While this post, information and site are focused on computer forensics, that doesn’t mean the average Dev and IT’er can’t use it.  ;)

Seen all the PowerShell goodness in Win7? Want to use the same tool Microsoft did to create much of it? Here you go! “PowerShell Cmdlet and Help Designer” (free and source available BTW)

Windows PowerShell Blog - Announcing: Open Source PowerShell Cmdlet and Help Designer

“During the development of Windows 7, most cmdlet design and help authoring in Microsoft went through an internal tool called the “Cmdlet Designer.”

…

So why blog about it? Because it’s now yours!

We just posted the entirety of the Cmdlet Designer, its source code, design specification, and deployment guide to http://www.codeplex.com/CmdletDesigner under the most permissive Microsoft Open Source license, the Microsoft Public License (MS-PL).

…”

CodePlex - PowerShell Cmdlet and Help Designer

“The Cmdlet Designer makes it much easier for teams to concentrate on the design, naming, and consistency of their cmdlets, while also guaranteeing name registration and collision avoidance across a project.

To sweeten the deal, it offers:

• Integrated help authoring
• Efficient bulk operations (parameter and cmdlet cloning)
• Generation of cmdlet code
• Full scripting support
• Automatic code-spec comparison and testing
• Role-based security, history logging, and more.

Architecturally, the Cmdlet Designer offers a reference implementation to benefit developers as well:

• UI on top of Cmdlets
• UI extensibility through scripting
• Cmdlet / Webservice interaction
• Role-based security, with a trusted subsystem implementation

…” [GD: Project Description Leach Level:99%]

From the latest code drop, “Cmdlet Designer Design Spec.docx”;

 

“

1 Introduction

This document describes architecture and design of the PowerShell Cmdlet Designer. The Cmdlet Designer tool allows users (primarily PMs) to specify all of the metadata required when designing a cmdlet – its name, parameters, validation attributes, and more. Rather than store all of this information in a Word Document, the PowerShell Cmdlet Designer stores its information in a database. By storing all of the spec metadata in a database, these specs now become rich sources of structured information from which we can drive process improvements, and ensure consistency.

2 Assumptions & Limitations

· At a high-level, the PowerShell Cmdlet Designer is designed to enforce consistency and prevent name collisions across Microsoft. Enforcing this is a highly-networked operation. In this incarnation, therefore, the tool must be run from a machine connected to a corporate network. See “Extensibility” for more information.

…

5 Use Cases

· A PM launches the Cmdlet Designer UI. From there, he or she adds nouns, cmdlets, parameters, and parameter set entries.

· The PM sends out a link to the cmdlet for review, which summarizes all of its important characteristics in a read-only fashion.

· A user calls the Cmdlet Designer cmdlets (upon which the UI is built) to script cmdlet-related tasks. For example, they search for all cmdlets that have more than 10 parameters, or update all parameters that have a certain name to use a new name.

The test team uses the cmdlet comparison tool (also built upon the Cmdlet Designer cmdlets) to verify that the spec for the cmdlet matches its implementation.

…”

My feeling is that in the next few years, as more companies move to Windows 7/Windows Server 2008 and the roll out newer server products like SQL Server 2008, and they feel the power of PowerShell there’s going to drive to integrate PS into their products and processes.

By seeing PS in action, by using and living with it, Dev’s and IT’ers are going to “feel the need, the need for Posh”. They are going to see the ROI in not only bolting on PS to their products as an after thought but also in making PS the administration foundation and making the admin UI the after thought.

That’s where I see tools like this one coming into vogue. Tools that help Dev and IT teams construct their own PS suites are going still going to be somewhat of a nitch, but I think it could be a big nitch…

(via ActiveWin - Announcing: Open Source PowerShell Cmdlet and Help Designer)

Bacon! Hosting a Bacon Day How To

Steve's Tech Talk - How To: Host a Bacon Day

“Christina put up a blog entry about the historical/social aspects of Bacon Day at Atalasoft.  I’m going to give you a guide for hosting your own Bacon Day.

For Bacon Day you ultimately need three things: good bacon, good people, and a means to cook, but it also takes some basic organization, so here is a guide to help you out.

At least one week in advance, you should do the following:

…

”

Bacon!

‘nuff said.  ;)

There are still seats available for the free Windows 7 Developer Boot Camp being held Nov 16th in Los Angeles

I just heard today from Lynn Langit (@llangit) and Danial Egan (@DanielEgan) at the Los Angeles/Burbank Windows 7 Deep Drive (BTW great presentation you two, thank you! :) that there are still seats available for the free, as in free, Windows 7 Developer Boot Camp being held on Nov 16th at the LA Convention Center. This is an all day, totally free event which some serious names like Mark Russinovich

For more information, links, etc, please see my previous post, Free Windows 7 Developer Boot Camp at PDC09 (yes, free for attendees AND non-PDC attendees, space is limited).

Guys this is an all day event that’s…um… have I said…um… free? If you’re in the SoCal area, can’t get your boss to money up any funds for training, yet want/need to learn about development in a Win7 world, all you need to do is talk him into letting you out of the cube for a few hours. 8’ish hours of free, in person, training? Dude! That should be a no-brainer…

 

Related Past Post XRef:
Free Windows 7 Developer Boot Camp at PDC09 (yes, free for attendees AND non-PDC attendees, space is limited)
PDC09 – See you there!

Free (reg-ware) E-Discovery Reference Guide eBook

IE Discovery - E-Discovery Reference Guide

“We all have an ethical obligation to stay competent and up-to-date on e-discovery issues.  This comprehensive, 135 page reference guide provides everything you need to know about e-discovery…”

From the PDF;

 

Do you really need be to insert my standard “you need to be ready, EDD/ESI/etc because it IS coming YOUR way” rant here? Really?

(via @complexd - E-Discovery Reference Guide (A Compilation of Published Works) via IE Discovery)

WPF is the future, get over it, post of the day - “Are desktop developers ignoring WPF at their peril?”

Living in the Tech Avalanche Generation - Are desktop developers ignoring WPF at their peril?

“So is 2010 the year when WPF finally starts to make the big-time? Having spent some time now working with the new desktop framework, I find it unlikely that I will find a compelling enough reason to choose Windows Forms for a desktop UI technology choice again.

So what’s holding it (WPF) back? I have read and listened to a lot of stuff online suggesting it’s so complex that it’s turning people off the idea. So what about the issue of so called complexity? …

…

Here is what I advise: don’t be afraid of the technology. If you ever developed desktop applications in the past and considered yourself capable in designing a good user experience, then don’t buy into the scare mongering and be prepared to jump off the cliff.

I don’t doubt that there will be some small percentage of software teams that will bring on a dedicated designer(s) but I would hate to think that the small development teams out there will be put off venturing out into the brave new world. Yes there is a lot of complexity (particularly in WPF) and the learning curve is certainly not shallow by any means, but nothing good in life is easy.

…”

The title of this post struck me as soon as I saw it. I personally believe that WinForm’s days are numbered, in the many hundreds I’m sure, but numbered none the less.

What I find “interesting” is the resistance to WPF. I’m facing it daily and am having a very difficult time getting the message across as to why it’s important to our professional careers, development practices, applications and users. Sure it’s not perfect, and there’s a learning curve, but that was the same story when we started with WinForms. Get over it! sigh…

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that VS2010/.Net 4 will be the WPF watershed release that I hope it will be.

[Now to step up and try to drive WPF into those small areas where I have a little bit of control… Am I willing to walk the walk? I’m willing to try…]

Free 11 page Windows 7 “What you can do before you call Tech Support” eBook

Microsoft Press - Free e-book: Windows 7 troubleshooting tips

“Mitch Tulloch, a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional and lead author of the just-published (and hot-selling) Windows 7 Resource Kit (Microsoft Press, 2010; ISBN: 9780735627000; 1760 pages), has created a short e-book called “What You Can Do Before You Call Tech Support.” Here are the opening paragraphs:

…” [GD: Click through for the direct download links… No registration required]

From the PDF:

“Your sound card has stopped working, your computer seems sluggish, the network is down, your hard drive is clicking, you can’t view a website, your monitor is hard to read, your new webcam isn’t working, your favorite program won’t run, and a funny burning smell is coming from your computer. What can you do on your own to try to troubleshoot the issue before you pick up the phone to call tech support?

If you’re running Windows  7, quite a lot. Microsoft has included a lot of self-support tools in Windows  7 that you can try using before you seek the help of others, and we’ll examine these in a moment. Then there are the tools you were born with—your five senses (see, hear, smell, taste, touch) and most importantly your brain. And by brain I’m including your memory, experience, and capacity for logical reasoning. Finally, there is ancient and sacred lore passed on in secret from Master to Disciple over the millennia. We’ll see shortly how your brain, your senses, and the secrets of the Wise Ones can be very helpful for troubleshooting computer problems. But first let’s look at what troubleshooting tools are built into Windows  7.

Windows  7 Troubleshooting Tools
Windows  7 has a new feature called the Windows Troubleshooting Platform that lets third-party hardware and software vendors create troubleshooting packs (or troubleshooters) you can use to try to resolve computer problems yourself. Microsoft has included about two dozen of these troubleshooters in Windows  7, and if something goes wrong with your computer you can try using these troubleshooters to identify and (hopefully) resolve the problem.

…”

Section titles like “The Sacred Lore of the Hardware Junkies” just kill me… :)

PST File Format Documentation coming…

Interoperability @ Microsoft - Roadmap for Outlook Personal Folders (.pst) Documentation

“Data portability has become an increasing need for our customers and partners as more information is stored and shared in digital formats. One scenario that has come up recently is how to further improve platform-independent access to email, calendar, contacts, and other data generated by Microsoft Outlook.

On desktops, this data is stored in Outlook Personal Folders, in a format called a .pst file. Developers can already access the data stored in the .pst file, using Messaging API (MAPI) and the Outlook Object Model—a rich set of connections to all of the data stored by Outlook and Exchange Server—but only if Outlook is installed on the desktop.

In order to facilitate interoperability and enable customers and vendors to access the data in .pst files on a variety of platforms, we will be releasing documentation for the .pst file format. [GD:Emphasis added] This will allow developers to read, create, and interoperate with the data in .pst files in server and client scenarios using the programming language and platform of their choice. The technical documentation will detail how the data is stored, along with guidance for accessing that data from other software applications. It also will highlight the structure of the .pst file, provide details like how to navigate the folder hierarchy, and explain how to access the individual data objects and properties.

This documentation is still in its early stages and work is ongoing. …”

Awesome! This will be huge for EDD/Forensic/etc software and service providers.

Yet I can’t help but imagine what a beast this document is going to be. Still better a beast we know, than one we don’t…

(via bink.nu - Microsoft opens up PST file format)

 

Related Past Post XRef:
The Microsoft Office Visualization Tool (OffVis) – Spelunk (view, browse, peek into, etc) Microsoft Office Binary Format files
Microsoft Office (DOC, XLS, PPT) Binary File Format Specifications Released – We’re talking the full technical specification… (The [MS-DOC].pdf alone is 553 pages of very dense specification information)
DOC, XLS and PPT Binary File Format Specifications Released (plus WMF, Windows Compound File [aka OLE 2.0 Structured Storage] and Ink Serialized Format Specifications and Translator to XML news)
Microsoft Office Binary File Format Specifications Coming to a Download Near You...

A Feed You Should Read #9 – 10-4

Today’s “feed you should read” is another one of those “a feed you should watch” feeds and is in honor of this past week’s release of Visual Studio 2010 and /Net 4.0 Beta 2.

Channel 9 - 10-4 Show

Background:

The 10-4 is a semi-regular video cast that focuses on Visual Studio 2010 and .Net 4. From downloading & installing to using the many new features, the whole gambit is covered in short, 30’ish minute, video casts. Visual Studio features, MEF, MVC, ASP.NET, ADO Data Services, WCF, F#, VB, etc, etc are all there.

It might not be the single “one stop shop” for all things VS2010/.Net 4, but more of the “one drive thru” for the good stuff in VS2010/.Net 4. Kind of like the “In-N-Out” for the coming release(s)  ;)

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

You mean, besides the clever name? Another reason is needed? sigh… ok… 

I dig the shows because they are short, focused on a specific area, are given by people who know their stuff and have a passion for what they are showing.

There’s almost too much in coming release; there’s so much, it is easy to get lost and paralyzed by choices. These shows give you byte sided information chunks to get you started. They are not, currently, in-depth nor are they intended to be, think survey course, overview, wet your appetite shows.

Look. NOW is the time to start getting up to speed on VS2010/.Net4. If you start next March when it’s released, you’ll be buried, you’ll already be too late. Do it a little at a time and by March you’ll be able to hit the ground running.

Snap of the latest post:

Blog Information:

Name:	10-4
URL:	http://channel9.msdn.com/shows/10-4/
Feed:	http://channel9.msdn.com/shows/10-4/RSS/
Post Types:	Video casts related to Visual Studio 2010 and .Net 4.0

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