Hi guys - there's a bunch of stuff going on right now at PDC 08 in LA.

What's hot:

(If you're on a PDA/Mobile - grab a the PDC from here - http://www.microsoftpdc.com/mobile/)

• Here's a select set of recorded sessions up on Channel 9- http://channel9.msdn.com/tags/PDC08/ 
• OSLO
  
  Oslo” is the code name for our platform for model-driven applications. The goal of “Oslo” is to provide a 10x productivity gain by making model-driven applications mainstream with domain-specific models, languages and tools.
  
• Public Oslo(BizTalk vNext next) Site - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/oslo/default.aspx
• Oslo Downloads here - http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/oslo
  
• WCF 'REST' Services
• MSDN WCF REST-ful Starter Site - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-au/netframework/cc950529.aspx
• I've got no idea what REST is -REST WIKI, A great article outlining REST
• WCF REST Starter Kit(on CodePlex at the moment) - http://www.codeplex.com/aspnet/Wiki/View.aspx?title=WCF%20REST

So if you can't sleep then there's going to be some interesting reading coming up for us all.

Enjoy.

When implementing/deploying and building all things BizTalk/Silverlight and related, there's going to be a time when you're needing to see what's on the wire.

I've currently found a few handy options:

1. FireFox's FireBug - brilliant! a plug-in straight from the browser environment. Deals only in Browser initiated traffic though.
   
   Gives great anaylsis on HTML page composition/scripts and dynamic content source - A MUST for any Silverlight work
   
2. Fiddler - sets itself up as a proxy that your browser requests through, once again, my browser has to initiate the calls.
3. Smart Sniff - smsniff - 48kb and this is a full blown packet anaylser giving access to all packets to/from NICs. - THIS by far is my choice!

Check them out folks - Smartsniff small enough to go on any memory key.

All free!

InfoPath 2007, SharePoint 2007 + BizTalk 2006 R2!!

Aloha!!! With PDC currently on over in the US we’re going to be sinking our teeth into some great material this month.

We’ve had some great discussions this month on our BizTalk Discussions email list (email me if you want to get on it) – we’ve got around 50 BizTalk User group members extending out to the US (New York) as well. Email me if you want to get on – it’s currently invite only.

What’s cooking this month for the group?
I will focus on 3 main key players this month – InfoPath 2007, SharePoint 2007 + BizTalk 2006 R2!!
I’ve had a lot of requests on how to do this and the best way to marry all these players up at the poker table over the years. Together you can build out some very powerful forms based solutions (or even some part of exception handling that needs user input).

Other questions like “Why wouldn’t I use SharePoint Workflow only?”; “Where can I keep my InfoPath Forms?”; “Where does BizTalk fit in and do I need to install BizTalk on my SharePoint machine?” ...plus a whole bunch of others.
I’ll answer those and more.
If you have SharePoint, and want the full potential of BizTalk.......see you there.

I’ll give you some specifics.....

Main Event on the night:
- Using InfoPath forms to drive SharePoint and BizTalk solutions.

This session will cover:

1.      What InfoPath forms comprise of.

2.      InfoPath forms communicating to SharePoint and BizTalk via WCF.

3.      Using SharePoint and BizTalk in Harmony for serious processing.

4.      Gotchas (no there wouldn’t be these...it all just ‘works’ ;)

Meeting details:

When: Oct 29, Food at 6pm, kick off 6.30pm. Finish up around 8.30pm.
Where: Microsoft
1 Epping Road
Riverside Corporate Park
North Ryde NSW 2113 Australia. (parking available)
Speaker: Mick Badran (your trusty User Group Host)

What’s happening in the BizTalk Community:
– PDC is currently going on in the US with new ‘CTP’ bits of BizTalk vNext (Oslo), .NET Framework v4.0 (CTP) and Visual Studio 2010 (ctp) being sampled by the audience. I’ll share what I can with you guys so bring a HDD just in case – 40GB should cover it J
Share the User Group Soap Box:
I always welcome a new voice and ideas at our group – if you want to share your experiences, thoughts, “I wish I can do..... for my solution...”. Then contact me and I’ll be more than happy to slot you in.
Q. Do you need to have presentation skills: No (just look at me) – can you tell a story in the office or at the pub? Or at a 3 yr old b.day party? – then I want you.
Q. Do I need a PowerPoint Slide Deck? – no!!! *death by powerpoint* is a painful way to go......
Q. Can you capture my ‘best’ side? We take you whichever way you are. J

We’re up for a great night – come along and learn how to make your BizTalk solutions go a long way.

See you there and let me know your coming
Mick (mb: 0404 842 833)
http://sydbiz.org

*rant

One of our staff recently got an iPhone after a vodafone sales rep suggested they should 'try' one......one piece of detail they left off......

Vodafone didn't put them on the appropriate plan (?????) as the iPhone can be a little chatty (as we all know).

First bill came in at a 500% increase from previous - wow!!! No phone calls, txts, reminders...nothing (but I get regular txts asking me if I want circus tickets??)

Upon asking them the big "Why" question - "Oh...you're not on an iPhone plan..." ???????? (Should have read "You're on our most expensive plan so we can squeeze more out of you!")

(But you sold me the iPhone......)

/*rant

The good thing that did come out of all this is that I discovered a site that compares all pricing/plans for iPhones from major carriers.

http://www.numbersinaflash.com/iphone-top-10-plans/ - even got knobs and dials!

Virgin Mobile look to be leading the way here

Problem#2 - How to move over to Virgin Mobile?

I've been re-awarded my BizTalk MVP - so a big thanks for allowing me to be part of the program for another year (at least :)

A focus of mine is the community - sharing and bettering information sources around the technologies we work and play with. So thanks guys hope you're getting value out of my efforts, and thank you for being part of our growing community.

This year should be a fantastic year in the SOA/ESB/BizTalk/Oslo/WCF/WF/MOSS/BDC/RFID (did I leave any off?) as we're going to see the emergence of several of these technologies play beautifully together.
(we saw this in the last .NET 3.5 Framework - with WCF/WF Services.....stay tuned...for one of my favourite pieces - Windows Workflow)

So for me lots of things to focus on, but one main area is doing more information integrating MOSS/SharePoint with BizTalk/InfoPath/RFID....... and of course workflows.......

Stay tuned......

Thank you linesman and thank you ball boys for your hard efforts and major participation!!!!!

Life is short!

Mick.