Some more free training materials from MSFT

Windows 7 Introduction – here.

This is an older one but a very good one for those looking for an introduction to SSIS 2008 – here.

Windows 2008 Fundamentals – here.

Silverlight Fundamentals – here.

Windows Server 2008 R2, new features – here.

Data Access Tracing and SQL 2008 Developer Training Kit

Here are two links for Developers working on SQL Server based systems and using .Net:

• Whitepaper from MSFT on Data Access Tracing – here, and
• SQL Server 2008 Developer’s Training Kit – here.

Data Access Tracing

We have covered ODBC tracing before on our blog.  While troubleshooting an issue for a client, came across this wonderful MSDN article from MSFT on how to do data access tracing for applications using SQL Server 2008.

Cloud Computing: Azure Services Platform

Here is an excellent whitepaper from David Chappell that goes over the basics of the Azure Services Platform and what it has to offer to the developers and corporations to build the next generation applications:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/e/4/3/e43bb484-3b52-4fa8-a9f9-ec60a32954bc/Azure_Services_Platform.pdf

Visual Studio 2010 and .Net 4.0

MSFT gave the users a first peek on Visual Studio 2010 and the .Net 4.0 framework and also a peek at the Visual Studio Team System (VSTS) 2010 – code named Rosario. You can read more on the overview in this post at MSDN:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/products/cc948977.aspx

Checking the .Net Framework Version on a Machine

This came up in a discussion at a client site while working with them on integrating their application with their client’s application.  How would you determine what version of the .Net Framework is on your machine or the server?

There are a couple of ways to do that.  Registry is one of them.  Do a start/run/regedit and enter.  Then navigate to:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Net Framework\NDP

and you will see a child key that will show the .Net framework version that is installed on that machine.  If you have more than one like I do on my machine, then you will see multiple key enteries like this:

And there you can see the other details like the Install Path and the exact version.

Different Flavors of LINQ

LINQ stands for Language Integrated Query and it is a set of .Net framework extensions that allow us to query various data sources using a .Net language. There are a couple of different flavors of LINQ:

a) LINQ to SQL: This is for applications that use objects mapped to the database objects.

b) LINQ to Entities: This is for applications that need more flexibility in mapping objects to a RDBMS supported by the ADO.Net data providers.

c) LINQ to XML: This provides an in memory XML API.

d) LINQ to object: This allows us to do queries against the in memory objects.

e) LINQ to Sharepoint: This allows us to query MS Sharepoint lists.

f) LINQ to DataSet: This allows us to query DataSets.

You can get more information on LINQ using these resources:

MSDN Site, LINQ – Basic Introduction, HookedOnLINQ, LINQ to MS Sharepoint, LINQ Books – Pro LINQ, LINQ in Action.