of all other .NET Framework deployments in your machine
The .NET 3.5 specific assemblies can be found at the location as shown in the figure below
.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Location of .NET 3.5 Specific Assemblies
Once you have Visual Studio 2008 in your machine, the folder location of .NET 3.5 related assemblies for LINQ and ADO.NET 3.5 etc will be on a different location than the traditional location C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework
of all other .NET Framework deployments in your machine
The .NET 3.5 specific assemblies can be found at the location as shown in the figure below
.
of all other .NET Framework deployments in your machine
The .NET 3.5 specific assemblies can be found at the location as shown in the figure below
.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Review of uCertify's C# 70-536 exam .NET Preparation Kit
Recently I got an opportunity to review the .NET Preparation Kits produced by uCertify - The fastest way to IT Certification
I was tasked to review the MCTS 70-536 C# exam preparation kit titled: Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Application Development Foundation. While reviewing the preparation kit for 70-536 I found the methodology used to teach the concepts are very good and the concepts are covered in such a way that a beginner or a professional will be equally benefited.
Various types of practice tests helps you to be tough and well prepared when you appear for the real test. Each test covers all the concepts as per the Microsoft requirements and helps to prepare gradually and also to see your progress. I believe that this exam is one of the most usable exams as it opens the entry for three other MCTS exams as well. I personally feel, that Investing in 70-536 preparation kit available at 70-536-CSHARP - C#.NET 2.0 Application Development Foundation practice test will be an asset for any MCTS aspitant.
If you want to purchase .NET Preparation kits from uCertify then you can avail 10% discount as being my blog reader. Provide the discount code "VVRAGA" during your online purchase order when asked and enjoy the .NET Preparation kits to help you achieve your desired Microsoft certification.
Lets also have look at the user friendly and easy to use dashboard of uCertify's preparation kits.
I was tasked to review the MCTS 70-536 C# exam preparation kit titled: Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Application Development Foundation. While reviewing the preparation kit for 70-536 I found the methodology used to teach the concepts are very good and the concepts are covered in such a way that a beginner or a professional will be equally benefited.
Various types of practice tests helps you to be tough and well prepared when you appear for the real test. Each test covers all the concepts as per the Microsoft requirements and helps to prepare gradually and also to see your progress. I believe that this exam is one of the most usable exams as it opens the entry for three other MCTS exams as well. I personally feel, that Investing in 70-536 preparation kit available at 70-536-CSHARP - C#.NET 2.0 Application Development Foundation practice test will be an asset for any MCTS aspitant.
If you want to purchase .NET Preparation kits from uCertify then you can avail 10% discount as being my blog reader. Provide the discount code "VVRAGA" during your online purchase order when asked and enjoy the .NET Preparation kits to help you achieve your desired Microsoft certification.
Lets also have look at the user friendly and easy to use dashboard of uCertify's preparation kits.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Reasons I think, to Upgrade to Visual Studio 2008
1.Build Applications which can run on and support Multiple versions of the .NET Framework
2.LINQ support to work with Data in a Unified and Integrated way
3.Support to Build Office 2003/2007 based Applications.
4.Amazing Unit Testing support on right click in the code view and dedicated Test Project Template.
5.Ground level support for Windows Vista Applications
6.SilverLight can be done here, which seems to be the latest WEB User Interface Technique
7.Facinating enough to have dedicated Project Templates for WPF, WCF and Workflow
2.LINQ support to work with Data in a Unified and Integrated way
3.Support to Build Office 2003/2007 based Applications.
4.Amazing Unit Testing support on right click in the code view and dedicated Test Project Template.
5.Ground level support for Windows Vista Applications
6.SilverLight can be done here, which seems to be the latest WEB User Interface Technique
7.Facinating enough to have dedicated Project Templates for WPF, WCF and Workflow
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
How to Un-Install the previous Orcas CTPs, Betas before installing VS 2008 RTM
You may face some issues while installing VS2008 over the previously installed Orcas CTPs or Beta editions.
You need to un-install all the previous versions before you start work with the VS 2008 RTM.
Let's have look at the steps availabe on the MSDN
You need to un-install all the previous versions before you start work with the VS 2008 RTM.
Let's have look at the steps availabe on the MSDN
Visual Studio 2008 RTM is Available now
VS 2008 RTM is availabe to download for MSDN Subscribers
Get VS 2008
Get VS 2008
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Orcas New Feature - Code Editor Intellisense Enhancement
If you recall the way we use intellisense while coding is just to press .(prriod) after the object name and we see an entire list of methods and properties associated with that object. As shown in the figure below.
Even though the Intellisense has been a great feature for more than a decade by now, but the disadvantage of this is that it hides the code whenever the Intellisense popup comes over, and sometimes if we need to look at the code behind the pop-up we need to press ESC key and the reopen it.
The Visual Studio 2008 Code Editor comes with this long lived issue, and you can just make the Intellisense pop-up Transparent by holding the CTRL key and look at the code which was covered by the intellisense pop-up, and release the CTRL when you are done.
See the following figure which shows the enhanced Code Editor with new Intellisense feature, which becomes transparent if CTRL key is pressed.
Release the CTRL key to bring it back to the normal. Isn't it a cool feature.
Even though the Intellisense has been a great feature for more than a decade by now, but the disadvantage of this is that it hides the code whenever the Intellisense popup comes over, and sometimes if we need to look at the code behind the pop-up we need to press ESC key and the reopen it.
The Visual Studio 2008 Code Editor comes with this long lived issue, and you can just make the Intellisense pop-up Transparent by holding the CTRL key and look at the code which was covered by the intellisense pop-up, and release the CTRL when you are done.
See the following figure which shows the enhanced Code Editor with new Intellisense feature, which becomes transparent if CTRL key is pressed.
Release the CTRL key to bring it back to the normal. Isn't it a cool feature.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Orcas New Feature - Split View (Web Applications)
Visual Studio Developers spend a lot of time in switching from Desgin view to Source view while developing an application, as they need to see what they are developing will appear in what manner.
With the release of Orcas/Visual Studio 2008 this problem is going to resolved, as Orcas ASP .NET Web Application Project Template comes up with a brand new feature called Split (split view).
This new Split functionality will sit in between of Design and Source view at the bottom of the Visual Studio IDE while developing a Web Application. Please referto the Figure shown below.
If you look at the Figure shown above, you will notice that the developers can look at the code and the design simultaneously.
Split view does not reflect the changes along, as we type the code in the code editor part. If it will do so the development speed will be very slow as the process of reflecting code change effect needs some time to be applied/reflected in the design view.
To serve this purpose Orcas have an inbuilt mechanism to allow you keep on playing with the code part, and then a pop-up will prompt you to Synchronize the code changes into the Design View, as shown in the Figure below.
With the release of Orcas/Visual Studio 2008 this problem is going to resolved, as Orcas ASP .NET Web Application Project Template comes up with a brand new feature called Split (split view).
This new Split functionality will sit in between of Design and Source view at the bottom of the Visual Studio IDE while developing a Web Application. Please referto the Figure shown below.
If you look at the Figure shown above, you will notice that the developers can look at the code and the design simultaneously.
Split view does not reflect the changes along, as we type the code in the code editor part. If it will do so the development speed will be very slow as the process of reflecting code change effect needs some time to be applied/reflected in the design view.
To serve this purpose Orcas have an inbuilt mechanism to allow you keep on playing with the code part, and then a pop-up will prompt you to Synchronize the code changes into the Design View, as shown in the Figure below.
Friday, September 14, 2007
VS 2008 - A solution to long lived coupling between Visual Studio and .NET Framework
If you recall previous releases of .NET Framework which had a dedicated Visual Studio.NET linked to that particular .NET Framework version.
Lets see, all of them again:-
Microsoft .NET Framework | Visual Studio .NET
--------------------------------------------------------------
1- .NET 1.0 ---------------------- Visual Studio 2002
2- .NET 1.1 ---------------------- Visual Studio 2003
3- .NET 2.0 ---------------------- Visual Studio 2005
4. .NET 3.0 ---------------------- VS 2005 + VS 2005 extensions for .NET 3.0
5. .NET 3.5 ---------------------- Visual Studio 2008
This coupling in between has just put the entire Microsoft .NET aspirants to shift their focus to different IDEs and interfaces time to time for almost six years by now.
Visual Studio 2008(code named Orcas) is designed with a vision to support any .NET Framework version application in its single IDE, I.e, you don't need multiple copies of VS .NET to support different versions of .NET Framework (as shown above). Hence the Visual Studio 2008 reduces or removes the coupling between .NET Framework and Visual Studio .NET, and having just one copy of Visual Studio 2008 will cater the various .NET Framework versions.
The Visual Studio 2008 Projects Templates and how they support to .NET Framework versions is shown in the figure here:
You can see the vast range of Project Templates VS 2008 supports. Beisides on the top right corner of the figure shown just above, you can see while choosing a project template, it also allows you to choose your desired .NET Framework version from the dropdown list.
Hence, Visual Studio 2008 and its support for multiple .NET version support minimizes the maintenance and side-by-side issues which we all were facing due to the coupling betwenn VS.NET and their respective .NET Framework versions.
Lets see, all of them again:-
Microsoft .NET Framework | Visual Studio .NET
--------------------------------------------------------------
1- .NET 1.0 ---------------------- Visual Studio 2002
2- .NET 1.1 ---------------------- Visual Studio 2003
3- .NET 2.0 ---------------------- Visual Studio 2005
4. .NET 3.0 ---------------------- VS 2005 + VS 2005 extensions for .NET 3.0
5. .NET 3.5 ---------------------- Visual Studio 2008
This coupling in between has just put the entire Microsoft .NET aspirants to shift their focus to different IDEs and interfaces time to time for almost six years by now.
Visual Studio 2008(code named Orcas) is designed with a vision to support any .NET Framework version application in its single IDE, I.e, you don't need multiple copies of VS .NET to support different versions of .NET Framework (as shown above). Hence the Visual Studio 2008 reduces or removes the coupling between .NET Framework and Visual Studio .NET, and having just one copy of Visual Studio 2008 will cater the various .NET Framework versions.
The Visual Studio 2008 Projects Templates and how they support to .NET Framework versions is shown in the figure here:
You can see the vast range of Project Templates VS 2008 supports. Beisides on the top right corner of the figure shown just above, you can see while choosing a project template, it also allows you to choose your desired .NET Framework version from the dropdown list.
Hence, Visual Studio 2008 and its support for multiple .NET version support minimizes the maintenance and side-by-side issues which we all were facing due to the coupling betwenn VS.NET and their respective .NET Framework versions.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Red bit and Green bit Assembly Model
As Orcas targets/supports various .NET Framework versions installed and that could have been achieved by installing one .NET Framework version on the top of another version. For example, .NET 3.0 installed on .NET 2.0, and then .NET 3.5 on .NET 3.0.
The .NET 3.5 Framework version holds green bit assemblies which are additional assemblies and can be installed at the top of other existing .NET Framework assemblies.
Green bit assemblies when installed, they don’t affect existing assemblies. For example, .NET 3.0 when installed on .NET 2.0, it does not affect .NET 2.0 assemblies.
In the similar manner, .NET 3.5 assemblies does not affect the framework version either 2.0 or 3.0 on the top of which you will be installing it. You can see in Figure 2-2 that .NET 3.5 implements Green bit assemblies in the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 (Pre-Release Version) folder.
Whereas Red bit assemblies are the assemblies which ship either as part of the platform or part of a development tool. For example, Windows Vista ships WPF, WCF etc, and Visual Studio 2005 ships .NET 2.0. Besides assemblies delivered as service packs, hot fixes or updates are also considered as Red bit assemblies.
The .NET 3.5 Framework version holds green bit assemblies which are additional assemblies and can be installed at the top of other existing .NET Framework assemblies.
Green bit assemblies when installed, they don’t affect existing assemblies. For example, .NET 3.0 when installed on .NET 2.0, it does not affect .NET 2.0 assemblies.
In the similar manner, .NET 3.5 assemblies does not affect the framework version either 2.0 or 3.0 on the top of which you will be installing it. You can see in Figure 2-2 that .NET 3.5 implements Green bit assemblies in the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 (Pre-Release Version) folder.
Whereas Red bit assemblies are the assemblies which ship either as part of the platform or part of a development tool. For example, Windows Vista ships WPF, WCF etc, and Visual Studio 2005 ships .NET 2.0. Besides assemblies delivered as service packs, hot fixes or updates are also considered as Red bit assemblies.
Understanding the Virtual Machine Technology
The Orcas March CTP came in Virtual Image format and so the Beta-1 and Beta-2. For many people Virtual Machine is a new teminorlogy. In this post I am trying to help you understand what does this Virtual Machie mean.
While downloading the Virtual Machine files, you must have noticed that Orcas virtual machine requires Virtual PC 2004 SP1 or Virtual PC 2007 or Virtual Server 2005 R2 to work with downloaded files. Any of this software will help to achieve the concept of virtualization; as Orcas CTP/Beta comes in the form of virtual image, so virtualization concept is required to run the Orcas CTP/Beta.
Normally, computers run only one operating system at a time. Applications run on top of the operating system. The operating system uses device drivers to address the computer’s hardware. And the hardware includes every single piece of hardware for example, the mouse and keyboard, processor, memory, disk drives and drive controllers, video cards, network cards, sound card and other physical devices etc. In other words, a computer contains one set of devices, runs one operating system at a time, and has one set of applications on that operating system.
The concept of exclusive device ownership typically precludes the possibility of running more than one operating system concurrently on a computer. One approach to overcoming this limitation is virtual machine technology. Virtual machine technology applies to both server and client hardware
Virtualization involves redirecting interactions with device resources at lower levels in such a way that higher-level application layers are unaffected. With virtual machine technology, a user can run multiple operating systems concurrently on a single physical system and remain isolated from any other running virtual machine and even from the host operating system. By the virtue of being isolated from any other running virtual machines and Host OS, virtual machine technology plays an important role if you want to test potentially unstable prerelease software in a safe, isolated environment.
Running virtual machines will share the hardware resources available with your host machine especially the hard-disk space, RAM and CPU etc. For example, if you have 2.8 GHZ processor, 60GB disk space and 1GB memory in your host machine and you are planning to run a virtual machine then you should be aware of the fact that the same amount of hardware resources will be shared between the virtual machine and your host machine, so you need to ensure that you have enough disk space to store virtual image files on your host machine’s disk drive. You can also configure the amount of RAM you want to allocate to the virtual machine and the amount of memory you want to keep for the host machine operations as your host machine will be supporting all the running virtual machine on its top.
As mentioned above if you have 1GB physical RAM which is also a minimum requirement for Orcas CTP/Beta, you need to share the available memory with Orcas CTP/Beta virtual machine. While running the virtual machine if you feel that either virtual machine or your host machine is running slow then you can adjust the RAM, by either increasing the RAM for virtual machine, or by releasing some more RAM for host OS from the amount of RAM which is assigned for virtual machine operations. But your adjustments must not affect the minimum requirement of either a virtual machine or your host machine. Your CPU will also be under pressure as it will be busy in taking care of your host machine and virtual machine operations, so speed of CPU also plays a very important role in the world of virtualization.
While downloading the Virtual Machine files, you must have noticed that Orcas virtual machine requires Virtual PC 2004 SP1 or Virtual PC 2007 or Virtual Server 2005 R2 to work with downloaded files. Any of this software will help to achieve the concept of virtualization; as Orcas CTP/Beta comes in the form of virtual image, so virtualization concept is required to run the Orcas CTP/Beta.
Normally, computers run only one operating system at a time. Applications run on top of the operating system. The operating system uses device drivers to address the computer’s hardware. And the hardware includes every single piece of hardware for example, the mouse and keyboard, processor, memory, disk drives and drive controllers, video cards, network cards, sound card and other physical devices etc. In other words, a computer contains one set of devices, runs one operating system at a time, and has one set of applications on that operating system.
The concept of exclusive device ownership typically precludes the possibility of running more than one operating system concurrently on a computer. One approach to overcoming this limitation is virtual machine technology. Virtual machine technology applies to both server and client hardware
Virtualization involves redirecting interactions with device resources at lower levels in such a way that higher-level application layers are unaffected. With virtual machine technology, a user can run multiple operating systems concurrently on a single physical system and remain isolated from any other running virtual machine and even from the host operating system. By the virtue of being isolated from any other running virtual machines and Host OS, virtual machine technology plays an important role if you want to test potentially unstable prerelease software in a safe, isolated environment.
Running virtual machines will share the hardware resources available with your host machine especially the hard-disk space, RAM and CPU etc. For example, if you have 2.8 GHZ processor, 60GB disk space and 1GB memory in your host machine and you are planning to run a virtual machine then you should be aware of the fact that the same amount of hardware resources will be shared between the virtual machine and your host machine, so you need to ensure that you have enough disk space to store virtual image files on your host machine’s disk drive. You can also configure the amount of RAM you want to allocate to the virtual machine and the amount of memory you want to keep for the host machine operations as your host machine will be supporting all the running virtual machine on its top.
As mentioned above if you have 1GB physical RAM which is also a minimum requirement for Orcas CTP/Beta, you need to share the available memory with Orcas CTP/Beta virtual machine. While running the virtual machine if you feel that either virtual machine or your host machine is running slow then you can adjust the RAM, by either increasing the RAM for virtual machine, or by releasing some more RAM for host OS from the amount of RAM which is assigned for virtual machine operations. But your adjustments must not affect the minimum requirement of either a virtual machine or your host machine. Your CPU will also be under pressure as it will be busy in taking care of your host machine and virtual machine operations, so speed of CPU also plays a very important role in the world of virtualization.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
TechMela-On-the-Road - Free Event
The TechMela 2007 (formerly known as TechED) is happening again in 4 major cities, starting from 14th-Sep-07.
The good news is that the event will be free unlike before if you have attened in the month of June 2007.
Follow the link for more details: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/hi-in/bb735929.aspx
Enjoy
The good news is that the event will be free unlike before if you have attened in the month of June 2007.
Follow the link for more details: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/hi-in/bb735929.aspx
Enjoy
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Visual Studio 2008 Beta-2
The VS 2008 Beta 2 is available for dowload.
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/default.aspx
This product is planned to ship in Feburary 2008.
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/default.aspx
This product is planned to ship in Feburary 2008.
Monday, June 11, 2007
SQL Server 2008 code named "Katmai"
Are you ready for the next release of SQL Server 2008, with great features. To read more follow the link http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodinfo/futureversion/default.mspx
To download the SQL Server 2008 CTP follow the link https://connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer/content/content.aspx?ContentID=5395
To download the SQL Server 2008 CTP follow the link https://connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer/content/content.aspx?ContentID=5395
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Friday, April 13, 2007
Windows Splash Screens from 1.01 to Vista
Here is a link to show you all the Splash Screens Microsoft Windows have used from its 1st version 1.01 to Vista.
http://content.techrepublic.com.com/2346-10877_11-61343-1.html
http://content.techrepublic.com.com/2346-10877_11-61343-1.html
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Pictorial History of Microsoft
I found a link which shows the progression of Microsoft from 1994 till date.
http://blogs.technet.com/seanearp/archive/2007/04/09/why-design-matters-a-pictorial-history-of-microsoft-com.aspx
http://blogs.technet.com/seanearp/archive/2007/04/09/why-design-matters-a-pictorial-history-of-microsoft-com.aspx
Friday, April 06, 2007
In Defence of Books
I love reading books and I am a bibliophile (great lover of books). I have also noticed that many IT profesionals don't like reading books as they have someone who does all the work for them, and provides direct solutions, so they do not need to put long hours in reading and learning; thanks to Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooogle.com :(
But I am feeling that in order to grow someone has to learn constantly and books are the best medium to do so.
I came across a link which contains an article about "In Defence of Books" and this article is written by Douglas Reilly, he himself has shared his experience about books in the article.
This article talks about that why software professionals need books :)
http://www.simple-talk.com/sql/sql-training/sql-server-and-.net-training-and-career-development-part-3/
But I am feeling that in order to grow someone has to learn constantly and books are the best medium to do so.
I came across a link which contains an article about "In Defence of Books" and this article is written by Douglas Reilly, he himself has shared his experience about books in the article.
This article talks about that why software professionals need books :)
http://www.simple-talk.com/sql/sql-training/sql-server-and-.net-training-and-career-development-part-3/
Thursday, March 29, 2007
10th Anniversary of Visual Studio
Please read Somasegar's blog where he talked about the past 10 years and how Visual Studio has evolved.
http://blogs.msdn.com/somasegar/archive/2007/03/26/visual-studio-turns-10.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/somasegar/archive/2007/03/26/visual-studio-turns-10.aspx
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Correct version of March 2007 CTP of Orcas
If you have faced problem and getting CRC failed error while extracting March 2007 Orcas CTP .rar files, then you must be following this link. Which has been published on 28-Feb-07 contains 7 .rar files.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=281FCB3D-5E79-4126-B4C0-8DB6332DE26E&displaylang=en>
You must download corrcet version from this link
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=B533619A-0008-4DD6-9ED1-47D482683C78&displaylang=en date published 27-Feb-07 contains 9 .rar files and it will extract .vhd successfully.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=281FCB3D-5E79-4126-B4C0-8DB6332DE26E&displaylang=en>
You must download corrcet version from this link
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=B533619A-0008-4DD6-9ED1-47D482683C78&displaylang=en date published 27-Feb-07 contains 9 .rar files and it will extract .vhd successfully.
Friday, March 02, 2007
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Grava - New Microsoft Development Tool
Microsoft is developing a new suite of tools (Grava) that will allow developers and publishers of educational software, as well as educators themselves, to create their own instructional programs easily and intuitively.
Grava ScreenShots
To be notified when Grava CTP is released
Grava ScreenShots
To be notified when Grava CTP is released
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Thursday, January 25, 2007
TR Work Published
I have done Technical Review for Apress Inc's book on
C# 2005 Databases.
You can read about me on "About the Technical Reviewer" page in the printed version of the book.
C# 2005 Databases.
You can read about me on "About the Technical Reviewer" page in the printed version of the book.
Friday, January 19, 2007
Visual Studio 2005 SP1
398 BUGS has been fixed in the form of SP1 of VS 2005.
Bugs Fixed in Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1
Bugs Fixed in Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1
Monday, January 15, 2007
ORCAS - January 2007 CTP
January CTP of ORCAS comes with the Virtual PC images,
Download and use them
If you are a LINQ aspirant then here is an e-Book from Apress which I have technically reviewed for Apress Inc.
LINQ for Visual C# 2005
Download and use them
If you are a LINQ aspirant then here is an e-Book from Apress which I have technically reviewed for Apress Inc.
LINQ for Visual C# 2005
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