By Michael Flanakin @ 7:51 AM :: 168 Views :: 0 Comments :: .NET, Development, Configuration Mgmt, Tools/Utilities, PowerShell :: Digg it!

It's amazing what sticks and what doesn't. Back in Aug 2004, I caught wind of UpdateVersion, a tool Matt Griffith wrote to update version numbers in AssemblyInfo files. The tool is pretty simplistic, but provides an absolute benefit. Every couple of months, I get asked for a copy of the changes I made... despite the fact that they've been available online for years. Nonetheless, it's about time I created a project on CodePlex for the utility. At this point, I don't really expect to make any changes to it, but I will if someone sees value in it. If I were to make any changes, I'd probably go ahead and convert it to .NET 3.5 and possibly even add a PowerShell cmdlet.

By Michael Flanakin @ 10:31 AM :: 125 Views :: 0 Comments :: Development :: Digg it!

Air is Adobe's initial foray into desktop development. As you might imagine, Air is essentially Flash for the desktop. I'm not impressed at all. Air gives you 3 development options: Flash, Flex, or HTML.

Flash is primarily used by designers for ads, video playback, and small games -- notably, no "real" development. Seriously, what intelligent person is going to develop a significantly sized app with ActionScript?

Flex seems to be the preferred method for creating Flash and does so using a proprietary markup syntax. Flex still uses ActionScript, tho, which begs the question: who in their right mind would use this for anything more than a trivial app?

Finally, the HTML option gives us something feasible to work with. Here's a technology all web developers know and love... oh, wait... We don't love HTML. As a matter of fact, most devs I know have been complaining about it for the last 10 years. I've always been one to embrace JavaScript, but it's far from ideal. Actually, I think that's what most devs hate more than HTML. This is why there's controversy surrounding the EcmaScript standard update. All that aside, it's the only feasible platform for Air development, in my mind. Because of this, I think Air is flawed.

If I was Adobe, I'd latch onto a more powerful platform, like Java -- I'd say .NET, but we all know that won't happen. I don't see Air going too far due to the lack of strong underpinnings. Then again, I have been surprised at the apps that have picked up on it. Perhaps HTML support is more about migration strategy than a quality development platform. I'm definitely interested in seeing where this goes. With Silverlight 2.0 on its tails, Adobe is under the gun to make some serious movement in this arena.

By Michael Flanakin @ 7:32 AM :: 136 Views :: 0 Comments :: .NET, Development :: Digg it!

One trend I've noticed growing more and more is the use of rule engines within applications. More often than not, the rule engine is tied to a workflow engine, like WF or Biztalk. This makes a lot of sense because workflows are, by nature, rule-oriented. But why are workflow engines so special? Truth is, they aren't. For this reason, I'd like to see a managed rule engine built into .NET. This would allow everyday apps to take advantage of a standard, enterprise-scale rule engine with quality tools for developers and technical business analysts to manage rules without significant releases. I'm talking about something that's the equivalent of changing a column in the database, but with more structure and better performance. I envision rule libraries compiled into assemblies, which can be individually deployed. I like this because it's built on existing techniques and doesn't use reflection. I'm just throwing some ideas out, tho. There's obviously more thought that would need to go into this, but I'd be interested in seeing something to solve this pain for developers and the companies they work for. Too many people are building rules directly into the app, which requires a lot of overhead to tweak, test, and deploy rule changes. Having something a bit more dynamic that takes the developer out of the loop would be awesome.

By Michael Flanakin @ 7:08 AM :: 115 Views :: 0 Comments :: Development :: Digg it!

While not my favorite code to maintain, I still have to deal with legacy ASP once in a while. One thing I've been happy about over the past 8 years is that I can still maintain this code in the same editor I've always used, Visual Studio. In fact, it's been nice getting teams to upgrade from Visual Interdev and Visual SourceSafe to Visual Studio 2005 and TFS. Unfortunately, legacy ASP is no longer supported in the latest incarnation of the IDE. I can't say I'm surprised, I guess. Microsoft likes to drop legacy technologies after about 8 years.

By Michael Flanakin @ 7:12 AM :: 175 Views :: 0 Comments :: Development, Technology, Tools/Utilities, En Español :: Digg it!

This is old news, but it's still worth mentioning. Google has always been known for its simplicity, which is one thing I wish Microsoft would learn, and the announcement they made back in December is no different. Surprisingly, I haven't seen much adoption of the service, but Google's new chart API looks pretty nice. The fact that you can build charts with relatively simple URLs is pretty nice. Admittedly, maximizing SQL Server Reporting Services is a much richer experience with much more options, but this API is still nice for smaller scale needs. If you haven't already, check it out. There are still some kinks that need to be worked out and parts that are harder to grasp than is really necessary, but they have made a huge improvement on something that just about every developer could use.

By Michael Flanakin @ 7:57 AM :: 147 Views :: 0 Comments :: .NET, Development, Technology, Microsoft :: Digg it!

There are two significant gaming announcments that came out recently at the Game Developers' Conference (GDC) 2008. First, Xbox Live Community Games is the official release XNA Game Studio was intended for. Now, small-time game developers can play and share their games with others. This is pretty sweet for anyone interested in gaming, which is perhaps every developer at one point or another in their career. I know small-time gaming is what initially caught my interest.

The second announcement, made during the same keynote at GDC 2008, was that we'll be seeing games for the Zune in the future. What's nice is that the games will also be supported on first gen Zunes. Microsoft has been pretty good about supporting early adopters with respect to the Zune. I'm not sure how long that will last, but it's much appreciated... especially since I have 2 Zune 30s and don't feel like the second gen Zunes add enough to warrant an upgrade. I'll be looking at the third gen Zune for sure, tho. Microsoft stated that we'll see another release of XNA Game Studio to support the Zune in the spring. There haven't been many details about this admittedly early announcement, but I'm sure we'll hear more in the coming months.

One thing that gets me about this is the distribution model to be used for Zune. The fact that Microsoft has Windows Marketplace, Xbox Live Marketplace, and Zune Marketplace annoys the crap out of me. Microsoft needs to come out with a generic marketplace with "channels" specific to Windows, Xbox, and Zune. Sure, having something specific to your market is nice, but it just seems like overkill. The fact that each has its own purchasing model has to be even more frustrating to people who use more than one of these services. I guess I want something a little more integrated. That's not too much to ask for, is it? I'd like to see Zune games released or managed via Xbox Live Marketplace, but that probably won't happen, since they'll most likely be distributed via Zune Marketplace. Hopefully, this will drive the first integration between the two services.

By Michael Flanakin @ 6:44 AM :: 154 Views :: 0 Comments :: Development, Architecture, Microsoft, Open Source/Standards :: Digg it!

I made a few comments about Microsoft's work around MDA and how I don't quite understand Microsoft's official position on UML. David Cutler pointed out that I should take some initiative and dig around for some reasoning behind that. Well I did, and I found out that things are changing. Visual Studio "Rosario" will have a number of UML designers built on the DSL Tools designer framework. I'm very glad to hear this because I've been looking for them for quite a while and remember scoffing Microsoft for not investing more than a class diagram in Visual Studio 2005. I had hoped Visual Studio 2008 would have included some new designers, but alas, it didn't. The November 2007 CTP includes two new designers in Team Edition for Architects (Team Arch) and obviously the all-up Team Suite. I haven't used the new sequence or logical class designer, yet, but I'm definitely intrigued by them. I doubt the sequence diagram will be auto-generating at first, but you never know. Either way, I'm glad to see Microsoft is embracing UML more.

Of course, this doesn't answer the question of what Microsoft's official position on UML is. That's a hard one to answer, considering we're a company of individuals who have individual thoughts and ideals, just like any other company. Most of the people I talked to were the vocal few, but it's clear that UML isn't the unanimous terror that Microsoft seems to have made it out to be. I'm glad I'm not the only one to believe that. While I'm not making any anouncements today, I can say that we will get a clearer message of where Microsoft is going with respect to UML. As I understand it, there will be more designers on the books for the next CTP in the March/April time frame, so I think I can finally say we're on the right track. Better late than never, right?

By Michael Flanakin @ 6:32 AM :: 167 Views :: 0 Comments :: .NET, Java, Development, Architecture, Patterns & Practices, Configuration Mgmt, Open Source/Standards :: Digg it!

In early December, I asked myself whether I'd rather go to Mix or SD West this year. I haven't been to either, but have wanted to go to Mix since its inception. After some thought, I've decided to go to SD West. The main reason for that is because I feel like it'll have better content given my focus. The first year of Mix was all about the web and the second year was a mixed designer+developer event, but still heavily rooted in the web world. I definitely feel at home with that mix, but things seem to be changing again. This year, it sounds like there's going to be even more focus on designer content, so I'll let Mix shake itself out one more year and check out SD West. I look forward to it.

By Michael Flanakin @ 7:48 AM :: 170 Views :: 0 Comments :: .NET, Development, User Experience, En Español :: Digg it!

I saw Simon Guest talk about user experience back in August and one of the things I liked was a tool he had to help decide what user interface platform was the best. Microsoft has 30-something user interface technologies. Sometimes it's hard to know which will be best. More often than not, we use the one the tech lead is the most comfortable with, which is pretty much a crap-shoot. Simon's app, UXIQ, asks 12 questions which you answer on a sliding scale. Ultimately, you're given three recommendations to decide on. I'll definitely keep this tool in my arsenal and suggest you do the same -- both the app and source are available on Simon's blog post.

By Michael Flanakin @ 9:17 AM :: 180 Views :: 2 Comments :: .NET, Development, User Experience, En Español :: Digg it!

I was just telling a co-worker how, despite the fact that it hasn't been said, I believe WPF will be the future of Windows development. This seems obvious, but my initial take on WPF was that it was merely another option. I even question a potential attempt to relace the myriad of web development technologies with a XAML development experience. I don't see this being overly successful, but the idea of a single development model intrigues me. If that were to happen today, it seems like XHTML + JavaScript would have more potential. Either way, I don't see it happening any time soon.

Whether or not we see a single language span Windows and web, it looks like we have something new to look forward to. Apparently, Microsoft is looking into yet another UI platform. I seriously question why, but welcome the change. I'd really like to know what WPF is missing that requires a new platform. At this point, tooling is my only real complaint about WPF.