The Unofficial Microsoft Weblog http://microsoft.weblogsinc.com The Unofficial Microsoft Weblog http://microsoft.weblogsinc.com/media/feedlogo.gif The Unofficial Microsoft Weblog http://microsoft.weblogsinc.com en-us Copyright 2008 Blogsmith, LLC. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Microsoft do da ro-bot!http://microsoft.weblogsinc.com/2006/06/06/microsoft-do-da-ro-bot/http://microsoft.weblogsinc.com/2006/06/06/microsoft-do-da-ro-bot/http://microsoft.weblogsinc.com/2006/06/06/microsoft-do-da-ro-bot/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Microsoft is holding a contest to see who can develop the best new BOTs for the newly launched Windows Live Messenger Beta.  BOTs are those little pieces of software that typically help users with things such as movie times, stock quotes, even price quotes and help with using IM. For any budding IM developers out there, you can find the three, yes three, software development kits (SDKs) from Microsoft available at the www.robotinvaders.com website. Entries will be accepted until September 15th, 2006. At stake is $40,000, bragging rights, and a mention in the new messenger application. I don't know the first thing about BOT-ing, so somebody clue me in, is it hard? In any case, go check out the website and get your grooviest robot dance on. Ready? Set? BOT!
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]]>botsmicrosoftmsnwindows live messengerWindowsLiveMessengerRyan Carter2006-06-06T23:00:00+00:00No IIS for your web apps? No problem.http://microsoft.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/29/no-iis-for-your-web-apps-no-problem/http://microsoft.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/29/no-iis-for-your-web-apps-no-problem/http://microsoft.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/29/no-iis-for-your-web-apps-no-problem/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

CodeProject.com has a great article on running ASP.NET 2.0 applications on a non-IIS operating system such as XP Home. The article also details how to install DotNetNuke on the Cassini Web Server. For all of the ASP programmers out there who have wanted a way to package ASP.NET apps and distribute them without the invasiveness of more traditional methods, Cassini web server does a great job. There are two versions, one for ASP.NET 1.1, and one for ASP.NET 2.0. Cassini runs as a Windows service, making it easier to implement and distribute with your apps, or to just use in a development environment. Check out the article from CodeProject, they even have links to the Cassini developer's guide on how to bundle your apps for Windows.
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]]>ASP.NETCassini Web ServerCassiniWebServerCode ProjectCodeProjectdot net nukeDotNetNukemicrosoftnon-IISWindows XP web serverWindowsXpWebServerRyan Carter2006-05-29T19:27:00+00:00Coding4Fun: Mindstorms and .NEThttp://microsoft.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/24/coding4fun-mindstorms-and-net/http://microsoft.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/24/coding4fun-mindstorms-and-net/http://microsoft.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/24/coding4fun-mindstorms-and-net/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Microsoft has a great piece on using the Dot Net framework to program Lego Mindstorms. The website offers an introduction to programming Mindstorms, a Tips and Tricks section, and many patches for things such as machines that have hyper-threading technology. You can download the Lego SDK or the full source code in C++ if you so desire. Also available are the starter kits for Visual Basic, Visual J#, Visual C#, and the help files for the Mindstorms-Dot Net interface. The neat thing is you can get started with Lego Mindstorms programming with Visual Studio Express. That's right, free software that let's you tell your robots to do the people dance, and from Microsoft no less!
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]]>dot netDotNetlegoMicrosoftmindstormsprogrammingRyan Carter2006-05-24T15:45:00+00:00ASP.NET's data abstraction layerhttp://microsoft.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/03/asp-nets-data-abstraction-layer/http://microsoft.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/03/asp-nets-data-abstraction-layer/http://microsoft.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/03/asp-nets-data-abstraction-layer/#commentsFiled under: , ,

ASP.NET has a great feature which allows the developer to perform data access based in an abstraction layer, called a Data Access Layer without having to write a stitch of code. Basically it allows data to be further manipulated and protects you from having to work against the database itself. I love this feature because it really makes a lot of things easy when writing web pages, and gives me the flexibility to get the data I want easily. I like the visual representation of the xsd file where I can change and configure much of the data source and it's options. This is just one of the many data-friendly features in Visual Studio 2005 using ASP.NET 2.0. This data abstraction layer makes it easy to use the new GridView and DetailsView controls from ASP.NET 2.0. Check out the videos here on learnvisualstudio.net for some excellent explanations of how to use this unique feature.

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]]>abstraction layerAbstractionLayerasp.netdatadatabaseDetailsViewGridViewmicrosoftObjectObjectDataSourcesourceRyan Carter2006-05-03T12:43:00+00:00Atlas puts ASP on the maphttp://microsoft.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/03/atlas-puts-asp-on-the-map/http://microsoft.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/03/atlas-puts-asp-on-the-map/http://microsoft.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/03/atlas-puts-asp-on-the-map/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Atlas is a promising framework that Microsoft debuted with the April CTP. Atlas is a free standards-compliant framework for creating interactive and AJAX-like effects in your web applications. What I love is that Atlas works with all the familiar ways you're used to writing AJAX. It uses div tags and CSS styles very well. With all the unfettered AJAX craze going on, and so many libraries and methods spewed everywhere like the aftermath of a very serious Half-life 2 gamer, Atlas offers a sensible grown up platform that your parents warned you about. Atlas allows cross-browser AJAX enabled sites with almost no code. My wife had to pick my jaw up off the floor. Atlas is one of the dead-sexiest things I have seen in a long time, not to mention ASP.NET and 2.0 especially. I found myself wondering how Microsoft pulled this off, oh wait that's right they pushed Vista back AGAIN! Oh well, at least now I will be an ASP/Atlas wizard by the time Vista shows up. It's just good to have stuff to play with while I'm waiting.
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]]>asp.netatlasmicrosoftRyan Carter2006-05-03T01:24:00+00:00ASP.NET really does rockhttp://microsoft.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/03/asp-net-really-does-rock/http://microsoft.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/03/asp-net-really-does-rock/http://microsoft.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/03/asp-net-really-does-rock/#commentsFiled under: , ,

I have recently been devoting every waking hour not doing something else like working to learning as much as I can about ASP.NET 2.0. I have not traditionally been impressed with Microsoft's feeble attempts at creating a web development platform. ASP.NET 2.0 is not part of that group obviously. Microsoft went from having the horrible FrontPage as their best option for web site development this killer ASP.NET 2.0 development platform that is actually viable. Many people I have talked to love ASP.NET. Now I know why, it is worthy of any praise. It has its issues to be sure, but it is one of the best development ideologies I have seen in ages.

Many programmers out there still hold to PHP like the world is ending (me included), and think ASP.NET is bunk. I am a huge PHP fan and still use it primarily for many projects, but I must confess that ASP.NET has really made me think hard about adding it to my usual arsenal of web development skills. If you still haven't checked it out, you should, and trust me, I was a skeptic until I started using it. My personal favorite is using ASP.NET 2.0 in Visual Studio 2005. You can also download the Visual Web Developer Express Edition which will let you build ASP.NET applications without sacrificing many essential features.

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]]>ASPASP.NETMicrosoftRyan Carter2006-05-03T01:03:00+00:00