ASP.NET Dynamic Data

Back in May 2006 Microsoft introduced a pretty cool sample application called BLINQ.  As the sample description mentions:

"Just point Blinq at a SQL database and it will create a web site with pages that display sorted and paged data, allow you to update or delete records, create new records, and follow relationships between tables in your database".

Over the months that followed and I know that many have waited to see where this sample application and technology will go.  Months became years, but what can I say, the wait was well worth it.

Recently the ASP.NET team introduced a very cool technology called ASP.NET Dynamic Data, the concept that most of applications are simple CRUD applications is key to understanding the enormous benefits of  this ASP.NET 3.5 Extension. 

Developers creating applications using ASP.NET should take a very serious look at this technology as it will save them countless development hours.

 

Remember, the line you did NOT write does not contain a potential bug.

;)

Common Performance Hurdles

I have been asked numerous times to review application design and/or implementation due to lack of desired performance.

More times than not, the issue is not within the .NET code itself, rather in the misuse of the View State or the session variable.

Remember that performance of a ASP.NET page is not merely the time it takes to render controls (HTML, JS, CSS, etc...), it also includes the time it takes to send the bytes and bits over the wire.

Dave Reed has a fantastic post on how to properly use the View State

Check it out in this post.

http://weblogs.asp.net/infinitiesloop/archive/2008/02/19/truly-understanding-viewstate-comment-index.aspx

Mike Voldarsky wrote a good article a few years back on the Session State.  You can find that here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/05/09/SessionState/default.aspx

Client Product Roadmap Announced

In his latest post Scott Guthrie discusses the enhancements to the desktop platform.  These new enhancements will be good news for many of the developers targeting the desktop.

http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2008/02/19/net-3-5-client-product-roadmap.aspx

For those who did not make the connection (or just may have forgotten), there is an ASP.NET Web Road Map that Scott has published back in November.

http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2007/11/29/net-web-product-roadmap-asp-net-silverlight-iis7.aspx

These are a must reads for the developers and architects targeting these platforms.

Microsoft Releases .NET 2.0 SP1 and .NET 3.0 SP1

Last week Microsoft released two service packs for the 2.0 and 3.0 versions of the .NET framework.   Download links did not contain the details (or it was not apparent) as to what was fixed so I thought I post it here for anyone who is interested what issues have been addressed:

 

.NET 2.0 SP1

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/945757

.NET 3.0 SP1

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/945826/en-us

 

To Download these SP1 you can use Windows Update or the links below:

.NET 2.0 SP1

http://www.microsoft.com/Downloads/details.aspx?familyid=79BC3B77-E02C-4AD3-AACF-A7633F706BA5&displaylang=en

 

.NET 3.0 SP1

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=EC2CA85D-B255-4425-9E65-1E88A0BDB72A&displaylang=en

ADO Entities - The new beginning....

 

As a developer you are (most likely and definitely hopefully) eager to use tools that will get you recognized as the one who stands out from the typical developer.  You strive to be better at what you do by following known, well defined and proven patterns. You reach for the tools to make your solutions more predictable.

This was relatively easy in most of the facets of application development, until it came to changing schemas and other database related areas.  You have stared the DBA's in the eye and at some points prayed that the changes they are making would not cause you undergo a full rewrite or a substantial tear-down of your application.

While you hoped and prayed, ADO.NET team has listened to your prayers and released a very slick framework called ADO Entities and an ADO Entity Designer (aka Astoria). 

This is truly a new and very nice beginning.  Imagine the new world where:

• DB Schema can be exposed as objects
• those objects are actually defined as a Model to your application and not just straight schema map
• those objects can span (use multiple tables to store/read info)
• or tables can be merged into a single object
• objects collections can be used in a JOIN and other LINQ related operations
• lazy load and concurency  is no longer your issue
• compiler will let you know if the column name exists
• you no longer have a need to write or maintain complex DAO layers

Well,  that world is here now...

Currently in Beta 3 this is a nice set of tools to be adding to your developer toolbox. 

Join the excitement and start exploring the new and wonderful world of ADO Entities.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=15DB9989-1621-444D-9B18-D1A04A21B519&displaylang=en

 

Enjoy and be sure to let me know what you think....