ADX301: Advanced LINQ Queries and Optimizations
Scott Allen
Correlated sub queries, join strategies, and other advanced topics will be the focus in this session on writing advanced LINQ queries against objects, XML, and relational data. We will also explore some of the lesser-known LINQ operators that we can use in common development scenarios, and provide some practical demonstrations of optimizing LINQ queries.

ADX203: An Introduction to ASP.NET Dynamic Data
Rachel Appel
If you are tired of the same old ASP.NET webforms, GridViews, and ADO.NET data access code that make up your current applications, then you’ll want to take a closer look at ASP.NET Dynamic Data. ASP.NET Dynamic Data is Microsoft’s new technology that provides a template infrastructure for your application, page and fields based on your application’s data model. In this session, you’ll learn concepts and use of application templates to create ASP.NET dynamic data web application. We’ll then create customizations at the application and page levels showing how easy website maintenance is when using ASP.NET Dynamic Data. We’ll also cover field level customizations by supplying data display formats, custom field types, and data validation based on the application’s data model.

ADX303: Building N-Tier ASP.NET Applications with LINQ
Dan Wahlin
Creating a modular and maintainable application architecture is always a key part of the application development life cycle. In this session, you'll learn how to build N-Tier/N-Layer applications that leverage Language Integrated Query (LINQ) to minimize development time while still maintaining module design practices. Topics covered include using the Visual Studio 2008 LINQ to SQL designer and using data context objects as well as performing different types of LINQ queries.

ADX202: Choosing the Right Data Access Technology
Michele Leroux Bustamante
Thanks to recent innovations from Microsoft including LINQ, the Entity Framework and ADO.NET Data Services, choosing a technology for data access architecture has become a subject for debate. Among other things developers must balance productivity, elegance and performance. Some common questions include: Are data readers and data sets still useful? How should I choose between LINQ and Entity Framework models? Should I design custom entities or use types that follow the database schema? Should I use ADO.NET Data Services to expose my data model or control access via WCF business services? This session will look at data access architecture for each of these technologies, illustrate common practices when employing each, discuss pros and cons, and help you better understand how to choose the right technology for your scenario.

ADX201: Coming Up to Speed with LINQ
Paul Litwin
LINQ (Language INntegrated Query) is one of the new features provided with Microsoft’s Visual Studio 2008 and .NET 3.5 that lets you write strongly-typed queries right in your C# or VB code. In this session, Paul Litwin will introduce LINQ and the language additions to C# and VB that make LINQ possible. Paul will demonstrate a number of examples of using LINQ against collections as well using LINQ to SQL against SQL Server objects. Finally, Paul will opine on where LINQ fits in the Microsoft “Data” universe and how it stacks up against good old ADO.NET.

GENERAL ASP.NET

AGN203: Pragmatic ASP.NET (Tips, Tricks) And Tools, Part 2
Steven Smith
Every experienced ASP.NET developer has picked up a few cool tricks or useful tools that they put to use on every new project after they’ve learned them. This session will quickly demonstrate a wide variety of useful (and usually free) tools, libraries, and controls. If you learn about just one new tool that saves you a few hours, your time will have been well spent.

AGN202: Pragmatic ASP.NET Tips, Tricks (And Tools) Part 1
Steven Smith
Every experienced ASP.NET developer has picked up a few cool tricks or useful tools that they put to use on every new project after they’ve learned them. This session draws upon the experience of many successful ASP.NET developers and distills this knowledge into a collection of tips and tricks you can start using in your work today. Some of the topics covered in this session include error handling, tracing, caching, base page classes, site layout and architecture, and data access best practices. You’ll learn about highly reusable Http Modules and Handlers and a few code routines you may want to add to your personal library. Stick around for part 2 if you’re interested in learning about a wide variety of (usually free) tools available to aid ASP.NET developers.

AGN201: Technology Toolbox: Building a Web Application with ASP.NET 3.5’s New Features
Rachel Appel
Take a whirlwind tour of all the new features that ASP.NET and Visual Studio have to offer. We’ll build a sample Web application demonstrating the uses of the latest cutting-edge technologies: SQL Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008, ASP.NET Dynamic Data, MVC & URL Routing, Entity Framework, ASP.NET AJAX Extensions, and the Silverlight 2.0 controls. In this sample application, we’ll build a time tracking application that handles basic entries that an employee would create to track their hours worked for their company. We will access pre-created database objects via the Entity Framework libraries and perform typical CRUD operation on those objects.

PERFORMANCE

APF301: From One Web Server to Two: Making the Leap
Richard Campbell
Every Web application starts out on a single Web server. And while we’ve been told over and over again that you can always move to multiple Web servers, it’s not as simple as that! This session digs into the details of what it takes to make that leap - all the changes needed to let your application function properly with more than one server. You’ll learn about replicating your Web application between two servers and how to keep the content in sync. The techniques and challenges of load balancing are explored. And we’ll explore the critical challenge of moving to multiple servers - getting rid of affinity. There’s more affinity than just the session object, but that is a key starting point. Moving to multiple servers isn’t easy, but this session will give you the check list of what to do to be successful.

APF201: Performance Isn’t Optional - Making Web Services Work
Richard Campbell
Often the motivation for bringing Web services into the enterprise is not performance – it’s about interoperability. But performance is NOT optional; without performance, interoperability becomes an exercise in frustration. This session digs into the strategies that an architect can employ in the design of Web services so that performance is a feature of Web services, rather than an obstacle.

KEYNOTE SESSION

KEYNOTE: SharePoint Development: Evolved
Arpan Shah
SharePoint continues to evolve as a strong platform for many different users—especially for the developer. Now more than ever the developer is armed with a rich set of out-of-the-box features, a powerful set of services and APIs, and tools support that enable you to build custom applications that span the discrete Web part to the enterprise solution. Come kick off Microsoft Day at SharePoint Connections with a glimpse into not only what SharePoint has to offer you today, but also to catch a glimpse as to what the future holds for the next evolutionary step for the SharePoint developer.

KEYNOTE: SQL Server Next Generation Data Platform
Quentin Clark
SQL Server has evolved to a complete data platform enabling rich services and comprehensive management capabilities for all types of data. From unstructured data to fully structured data models SQL Server provides a variety of data types and technologies to enable next generation applications. In this session Quentin will go over the vision for the data platform, some of the capabilities in SQL Server 2008 and how they’re being used by customers today and will provide some insight into what’s coming next.

KEYNOTE: The Energynet—The Next Boom in Software
Juval Lowy
The ongoing economy unraveling is the defining moment of our time. Many professional developers are fearful for their livelihood, as employers and customers cut and slash development plans, and as economic activity grinds to a halt. But not everywhere. In centers of technical excellence and innovation such as the Silicon Valley, the major players, from investors to industry leaders, are aligning themselves with the next boom in software, a field Juval Lowy calls the Energynet. To avert a depression, Juval believes the government and private industry will invest and promote alternative energy, both for stimulating the economy and to reduce dependency on foreign energy imports. Alternative energy covers a wide range, from new cars, to micro renewal sources energy producers, infrastructure upgrades to charge stations and distribution, new power and transformation grids, and integration of billing systems, let alone commercial building and homes modification. And the key for making all that work is software. We simply cannot make the physics or the chemistry substantially better, but we can profoundly integrate systems, iron out inefficiency, automate and vertically integrate energy trading, production and consumption; and the key to all of that is great software. This massive new software system is the Energynet, and the analogy to the Internet is a good one–instead of packets and request, the Energynet transfers watts and usage data, connecting anything and everything in the energy market. In this unique session, Juval Lowy will present the case for the next boom in software, share personal observation and perspectives, and point out the skills and expertise required of developers that want to not only survive but thrive on the next boom in software.

KEYNOTE: Visual Studio – Your Development Happy Place
Dave Mendlen
For more than 20 years developers have relied on Microsoft for the most powerful and productive tools. Visual Studio 2008 has already been widely adopted by many developers as their platform of choice, and Visual Studio Team System the preferred solution for collaborative teams. Now, Visual Studio 2010 is on the horizon and presents even greater opportunities for the creation of applications that target new platforms such as Windows 7 and innovative technologies like the Cloud and Parallel computing. This talk will take a look at the best features in the Visual Studio 2008 product family as well as preview some of the great innovations coming in Visual Studio 2010.

KEYNOTE: Web Development: The Next Generation
Scott Guthrie
See the latest innovations that you can use today in Visual Studio 2008 and ASP.NET 3.5 that make building great Web applications easier than ever. From built-in AJAX support to new Web and data controls, productivity has never been the same. Then, get a sneak peak at the continued improvements Microsoft is making in its Web platform and tools. We’ll take a look at improvements in ASP.NET shipping later this year, code-focused enhancements in Visual Studio 2010, as well as new features for ASP.NET 4. We also discuss our strategy for application development to help you make informed decisions. We will even take a look at how you can incorporate Silverlight into your ASP.NET applications to create truly compelling Web experiences.

ARCHITECTURE, PATTERNS & PRACTICES

AAR301: Dependency Injection: The Best Way to Low Coupling
Dino Esposito
Low coupling has always been a major achievement for application designers. Low coupling is a system quality that descends from correct application of some good OOD principles. One of these principles is the “Dependency Inversion Principle” according to which whenever you identify in a class, or even in a method, a dependency, you save that to an interface and resolve that dependency using an external component. Dependency injection is an application of principle that benefits from a growing number of ad hoc tools such as Castle Windsor and Microsoft Unity. The session will first discuss the theory of dependency inversion and then applies it to the design of ASP.NET pages and Silverlight applications.

REPORTING

ARP201: Designing Reports with SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services
Paul Litwin
Microsoft has overhauled SQL Server Reporting Services for the 2008 release of SQL Server. Gone are the separate table and matrix regions, replaced by the Tablix region. Much has been improved, including visualization and the exporting report results to CSV, Excel, and now Word. Come to this session to hear all about designing reports with the latest and greatest version of Reporting Services.

ARP202: Programming SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services
Paul Litwin
In this session, you’ll learn how to programmatically manipulate SQL Server 2005 and 2008 Reporting Services (SSRS) and integrate SSRS into your ASP.NET applications by employing URL Access, Report Viewer controls, and the Reporting Services Web Services. A major issue with SSRS is that you can normally only display reports using Internet Explorer, but in this session you’ll discover how to integrate SSRS into your applications using any modern browser, including Firefox, Netscape, and Safari. Finally, you’ll learn how to extend reporting services by calling custom .NET assemblies from your SSRS reports.

VENDOR SESSION

VENDOR: Building Business Applications with WPF, Silverlight and the Telerik RadControls
John Kellar
Do you need to build line of business (LOB) applications with WPF and Silverlight in 2009? Do you have the tools you need to be productive? Join Microsoft MVP and Telerik Evangelist John Kellar as he shows you how Telerik is delivering the tools you need to build high performance and visually stunning WPF and Silverlight applications. In this developer-focused session, you will see you how can leverage the RadGridView, RadGauge, and RadChart to build robust applications for both WPF and Silverlight. Since Telerik’s XAML RadControls share a common API, you can easily build an application for WPF and then quickly reuse the same Telerik code in Silverlight. Don’t believe it? Don’t miss this session!
One lucky attendee of this session will win a license for Telerik Premium Collection for .NET.

VENDOR: Dell EqualLogic Solutions for SQL Server in Virtual Machine Deployments
Suresh Jasrasaria
Keith Swindell
The Dell EqualLogic™ PS Series is an ideal storage platform for SQL Server® deployments in dedicated hardware server and hypervisor based virtual machine environments. EqualLogic storage solutions for SQL Server are easy to deploy and manage and provide comprehensive data protection and disaster recovery features. These solutions include advanced software, like Auto-Snapshot Manager/Microsoft® Edition (ASM/ME) and Auto-Snapshot Manager/VMware® Edition (ASM/VE) that provide tight integration with Microsoft® Windows Server® 2008 Hyper-V™ and VMware® ESX™ Server respectively. They take full advantage of EqualLogic’s snapshot functionality to help protect virtual machines while ASM/ME also integrates Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) technology to create Smart Copies of SQL Server volumes using snapshots, clones and remote replication to help secure the highest level of protection for SQL server data. In this session we will demonstrate how you can eliminate hours of tedious work to easily create SQL Server data copies for application testing and development and help protect SQL Server data in a hypervisor-based virtual machine environment.

CLIENT SIDE AND AJAX

ACS301: AJAX 4.0: Rich Internet Applications Come of Age
Don Kiely
The ASP.NET team at Microsoft just never sits still. They are enhancing the AJAX features of ASP.NET with great new stuff like client-side template rendering, declarative instantiation of behaviors and controls, a DataView control, markup extensions, and new bindings. Everything is in flux, but there are few parts of ASP.NET as exciting as what is coming down the road. During this session we’ll explore these new features as implemented in the current release and see how you can make your Web applications an even better experience for users. Microsoft’s plans for AJAX will blow your mind!

ACS201: Creating Responsive User Interfaces with ASP.NET AJAX
Rachel Appel
Internet savvy users have come to expect a high level of interaction, responsiveness and robustness when dealing with Web applications, and in this session we will use ASP.NET AJAX to create user interface enhancements for Web pages that behave more like traditional Windows applications. We’ll take a look at replacing the UpdatePanel control with code from the ASP.NET AJAX Script Libraries as well as capturing data returned in JSON format from script callable Web services to optimize our Web applications. We’ll also look at managing and compressing JavaScript files to lighten the load on the network as well as many other tips and tricks to bring our website’s performance standards to the same level that the users demand.

ACS101: What ASP.NET Developers Should Know About JavaScript
Scott Allen
Modern JavaScript frameworks leverage features of the JavaScript language that are not familiar to developers who spend most of their time in C# or Visual Basic. In this session, we’ll look at the JavaScript language and how to use prototypical inheritance, constructor functions, and other features with an eye towards writing better JavaScript code, and understanding contemporary JavaScript libraries.

SILVERLIGHT

ASL201: Building Business Applications with Silverlight 2.0
Markus Egger
Silverlight is a great web development environment. While version 1.0 was aimed at graphics and media, version 2.0 is also great for business application development, allowing developers to combine the advantages of browser-based applications (easy of deployment, reach, platform independence,...) with the rich environment typically reserved for Windows applications. This session shows how to create real-life business applications including everything, from the Silverlight front end all the way to accessing information and other applications tiers on the Web server and data stored in databases.

ASL203: Building RIAs with AJAX, Silverlight and WCF
Michele Leroux Bustamante
Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) rely on tools such as AJAX and Silverlight to present data to users in an interesting and interactive manner. Applications built with .NET 3.0 and beyond typically rely on WCF to expose data and business functionality. Can the two worlds play together nicely? This session will explore how to consume WCF services from both AJAX and Silverlight clients; show the client code required to achieve this, and features that streamline the process; show optimal configurations for WCF to support these client technologies; and discuss possibilities and limitations for securing communications between AJAX and Silverlight clients and WCF services.

ASL101: Data Binding In Silverlight
Scott Allen
Building line-of-business applications in Silverlight typically requires us to present the user with data. Fortunately, Silverlight includes a useful set of data binding features. In this session, we’ll look at how to use data contexts, data templates, and styles to put information into the display. We’ll also look at some of the controls, like the DataGrid, which are built specifically for data binding scenarios.

ASL102: Getting Started with Silverlight 2
Dan Wahlin
New to Silverlight 2 but want to get started? Jump start the learning process and break down the learning curve with this session by Silverlight expert Dan Wahlin (author of Professional Silverlight 2 for ASP.NET Developers). Learn key concepts used to build Silverlight 2 applications such as how to create Silverlight 2 projects in Visual Studio 2008, XAML fundamentals, using built-in controls and important data access techniques.

ASL205: Leverage Silverlight 2 Animation Features
Dan Wahlin
Silverlight 2 provides excellent animation features that can be used to add eye-catching effects to an application. In this session, Dan Wahlin (author of Professional Silverlight 2 for ASP.NET Developers) will discuss how to take advantage of Silverlight’s animation capabilities, create both static and dynamic animations, and examine tweaking frameworks that can be used to add great effects to your Silverlight applications with minimal code.

ASL202: Silverlight and the HTML Bridge (Over Troubled Script)
Dino Esposito
There’s always a HTML page around any Silverlight plug-in, even when you can’t see it because the Silverlight application is configured to run in full screen mode. But there’s more; the content hosted by the Silverlight plug-in is not isolated from the surrounding page either. Silverlight 2, in fact, comes with a browser interoperability layer that allows managed code to access the document object model of the underlying page and to register managed handlers for page-level events. At the same time, any JavaScript code running within the page can gain access to the XAML content of the plug-in and even make some modifications. Finally, JavaScript code running within the page can also invoke managed functions as long as these functions are exposed properly. This session revolves around the browser interoperability layer of Silverlight 2 and the ways you can take advantage of it in your applications, including to favor interaction between two plug-ins on the same page.

ASL301: Silverlight and WPF: Enabling Code Sharing and Reuse
Dino Esposito
In Silverlight 2, you use XAML and Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) to design and render the user interface. In doing so, you take advantage of a more powerful markup language than HTML to deliver an application front-end. At the same time, you leverage the built-in core CLR to process managed code within the browser. As a result, there’s a strong likeness between a Web-based Silverlight 2 and a desktop WPF application. Enabling good and easy code reuse between the two platforms is a precise goal of Microsoft. In this session, I’ll examine the state of the art and discuss a few patterns to make sharing XAML markup and WPF code as easy as possible.

MICROSOFT DAY - DATA ACCESS

MDA03: Building Data Service Applications: Developing Solutions in a Software Plus [Data] Services World
Diego Vega
Applications are now being developed using a combination of custom application code and online data-centric services. In this session, we will examine how to use ADO.NET Data Services to build rich applications which access data services both on-premises (e.g., ADO.NET Data Services Framework over on-premises SQL Server) and in the cloud (e.g., SQL Server Data Services and Windows Azure Table Storage). Learn how you can leverage existing know-how related to LINQ (Language Integrated Query), data access API, and more when building applications using online data.

MDA01: Entity Framework Tips and Tricks
Diego Vega
The Entity Framework provides new ways to think about data access and new programming patterns that will help your applications be a success. This session will give advice on how to deal with some of the most common problems we find developers struggling with when they use the Entity Framework including building Web services, adding validation to your entities and splitting large models up into smaller ones. Along the way we may touch upon some additional interesting points like customizing code generation and performance tuning.

MDA02: Microsoft Project Codenamed Velocity: A Distributed In-memory Cache
Marcelo Lopez Ruiz
Advances in cheap processors, memory, and connectivity have paved the way for large scale distributed enterprise applications, Web applications and services. Distributed main memory caching enables developers to meet the extreme scale, throughput, latency and availability requirements of these applications. In this session, you will learn how Microsoft Project “Velocity” will enable developers to build these applications. You will also learn how we provide query capabilities like LINQ support, indexing, concurrency control, and data consistency.

MICROSOFT DAY - ASP.NET

AMS06: ASP.NET 4.0 Data Access: Patterns for Success with Web Forms
Scott Hunter
Come learn about some cool new data access features that are coming up in ASP.NET 4.0 Web Forms and later. A new Domain Data Source makes it easy to cleanly change your application’s architecture from 2-tier to 3-tier, both for Dynamic Data web sites and regular web sites. A new query block lets you unleash the power of LINQ to a new level. And Dynamic Data gets a bunch of new features, including richer support for LINQ to Entities. You’ll also hear about how you can use the ASP.NET data stack to target the Azure cloud.

AMS07: ASP.NET MVC: A New Framework for Building Web Applications
Stephen Walther
ASP.NET MVC is Microsoft’s newest framework for building web applications. In this session, you learn how to take advantage of ASP.NET MVC to build loosely coupled and highly testable applications. Over the course of this session, we build a simple database-driven Web application from start to finish. You learn how to use several features of the ASP.NET MVC framework including Model Binders, Partials, and AJAX helpers.

AMS08: ASP.NET Web Forms 4.0
Scott Hunter
Come learn all about ASP.NET 4.0. During this session, we'll build a simple video gallery website taking advantage of features that enable you to take control of the rendering of client ids and view state. See how ASP.NET AJAX client-side templates and jQuery animations can be used to create a richly interactive Web application. Finally, discover how new improvements in Visual Studio 2010 will make you more productive.

AMS02: ASP.NET: Taking AJAX to the Next Level
Stephen Walther
Hear how ASP.NET AJAX 4.0 makes building pure client-side AJAX Web applications even easier, and watch us build an entire data-driven ASP.NET AJAX application from start to finish by taking advantage of only JavaScript, HTML pages and WCF services. Also learn about new ASP.NET AJAX features including the DataView control, declarative templates, live client-side data binding, WCF and REST integration, and see how they radically simplify developing and designing Rich Internet Applications.

AMS09: Making the Most of the Microsoft .NET Framework Chart
Alex Gorev
Microsoft recently released the Microsoft Chart Controls for Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5. This session will be very demo heavy and will demonstrate the extent of the capability of this control as well as how to embed this new chart control in your application.

AMS04: What's New in Silverlight 3?
Tim Heuer
Hot off the presses, come take a lap around what is coming for Silverlight 3. Learn what enhancements to the framework were made to make development more productive for application development as well as new features to enable new experiences to your RIA applications. This will be a whirlwind tour of the new features coming in Silverlight 3.

MVC FRAMEWORK

AMV203: Creating an ASP.NET MVC DataGrid Helper
Stephen Walther
In this session, Stephen Walther demonstrates how you can extend the ASP.NET MVC Framework with custom HTML Helpers. In particular, you learn how to build a custom HTML Helper that displays a set of database records in an HTML table. You also learn how to extend the HTML Helper so that it supports paging and sorting database records.

AMV202: Test-Driven Development with ASP.NET MVC
Stephen Walther
By taking advantage of test-driven development, you can build applications that are resilient to change. Applications built using test-driven development are easier to maintain over time and modify in the future. In this session, Stephen Walther demonstrates how you can build ASP.NET MVC applications by taking advantage of test-driven development. He shows how you can build unit tests for database access code, validation logic, and different types of MVC controller actions.

CLOUD COMPUTING

ACL101: Building ASP.NET Applications in the Microsoft Cloud
Steven Smith
Looking to learn more about the capabilities of Microsoft’s Cloud Computing offering? This session will provide you with an overview of the Microsoft Cloud Computing architecture and will demonstrate how to build an ASP.NET application on top of this architecture.