.NET Framework 3.5 Enhancements Training Kit and AJAX History

I've been meaning to blog about this for awhile now.  If you have not checked out the .NET Framework 3.5 Enhancements Training Kit, you should.  It has documentation and tutorials on the cool new features in the 3.5 Framework including: ASP.NET MVC, ASP.NET Dynamic Data, ASP.NET AJAX History, ASP.NET Routing, ADO.NET Data Services, ADO.NET Entity Framework, WCF 3.5 SP1, and the .NET Framework Client Profile.  You can download the training kit here.

One enhancement that we are interested in at work is the AJAX History enhancements.  This is cool because it enables AJAX to use browser history.  In the past when you used AJAX to do a post back on a section of your web page, that post back was not captured by the browser history.  So, users could not use the back functionality of their browsers to get back to before the AJAX post back.  The new AJAX History features allows us to configure the page to use browser history.  It's pretty easy so if your interested just download the training kit and walk through the tutorial.  It takes 15 - 30 minutes and you will be ready to go.

Enjoy!  Let em know some of the cool stuff you find with the training kit.

Entity Framework And Tables With No Primary Keys

OK, I think we can all agree that having tables without primary keys is a bad idea.  However, sometimes we are forced to use backend databases that have multiple design flaws.  In fact, database design flaws are one of the very things the Entity Framework (EF) can fix.  EF allows us to fix issues we find in a database without actually effecting the database schema at all.

Anyway, yesterday I added a table to my EF model that had no primary key.  I was surprised to learn that EF decided that since there was not a primary key it would just use all the non-nullable columns as a concatenated primary key.  This might not be what you want.

To fix the issue, I had to hack the XML and remove the keys from the table definition.  I was not able to fix it using the UI in Visual Studio 2008 SP1.  Instead, I had to right click the model file in the solution explorer and select "Open With...".   From there select the XML Editor.  Then you just need to find the table definition and remove the unwanted columns from the primary keys section.  It's a bit of a pain, but it is the only fix I know of at the time.

Let me know if you find a better solution.

Virtual Conference Day 3

Today was another great day at the vConference.  I attended some great sessions over the course of these three days and now I'm excited to go back and watch the ones I missed on demand.  I hope everyone had as much fun as I did with the conference!

I did finally get my hosting situation figured out.  That means I can get my slides and demos out here for people to download.  I do believe that the vConference site will have this stuff posted eventually, but in case they don't here you go:

SharePoint:

Business Data Catalog Part I

Business Data Catalog part II

KeyNote - SharePoint and SilverLight

.NET:

Beginning WPF Databinding

Advanced WPF Databinding

Design Patterns

KeyNote - Data Services

KeyNote - SilverLight and Cross Domain Calls

KeyNote - LINQ vs. ADO

Virtual Conference Day 2

Day 2 of the conference was just as good as day 1.  We had great sessions all day long.  I attended a bunch of the sessions and had some great conversations with many of the attendees.  One of the issues we ran into today was the demos where not available.  I was going to post them here, but I'm having some issues with my ISV and getting the files to the server.  I will post them ASAP.

In the mean time, enjoy the rest of the conference.

Virtual Conference Day 1

Day one of the Virtual Conference is over.  It was a good day.  We had dueling Dynamic Data Presentation going on from David Yack and Rachel Appel.  If you missed one go to the on demand section of the conference and watch the other.  After  watching both of these sessions you can become an expert on Dynamic Data.

I also attended many of the other session.  Rob Bagby did a great Rest session and Scott Golightley did an awesome WCF session.  Kathleen Dollard gave two great sessions and Tim Heuer got us started with SilverLight.  Not to mention a killer Keynote delivered by yours truly.

And all this was just the .NET Conference. 

I also delivered my two sessions on SharePoint and Line of Business applications.  These were with the SharePoint conference.  Again, if you missed it please check it out on demand.  If you have any questions please direct them to me.  I'd be happy to help.

Tomorrow I deliver my two sessions on WPF data binding.  Please  check them out.  It's also not too late register and attend.  You would also get access to all the on demand sessions from day one.  Here is the link to the registration and my discount code.

Enjoy!