Technology Post Roundup–4th Edition

In Canada, we’re fortunate to have many community experts and MVPs. Throughout the month, they write about and talk about some really cool things. Many of you have told us that you’d like it to be easier to discover them and what they’re writing about. The team and I will be curating top picks and sharing them with you in frequent technology post round ups.

Windows 8

• What is Extensible Storage Engine and how it can be used by Windows 8 apps to persist data by Andrei Marukovich      
  Extensible Storage Engine (ESE) is used by Zune Music, Zune Video, app repository, and is available as a native API for all Windows Store app developers. Find out how it can be used by Windows 8 Store apps to persist data.
• Transhipment: A WinRT library for sharing Schema.org formatted data by Andrei Marukovich
  Windows 8 provides a standard mechanism for sharing data between apps – Share Contract. It works like a charm for the well-known formats like HTML or Url, but there are some issues with custom structured data sharing.
• Inspecting local and roaming settings for Windows 8 Store app by Andrei Marukovich
  ApplicationDataContainer class supports saving of complex hierarchies of local and roaming settings. Sometimes there is a need to verify saved values but unfortunately Windows 8 development toolset doesn’t include any settings inspector. This post describes a method for inspecting settings manually.

Windows Azure

• Configuring a Custom Domain Name via CNAME for a Windows Azure Web Site by Mariusz Kolodziej
  The latest release to Windows Azure Web Site now supports the ability to map multiple custom DNS domain names using both CNAMEs and A-records.  This feature is available for websites running either shared or reserved mode.  This tutorial will cover how to setup a CNAME record for your Windows Azure Web Site.
• Announcing Windows Azure SQL Database Updates by Wouter van Eck
  Commentary on the 4 updates that were recently made to Windows Azure SQL Databases.
• Deploying Azure Websites with Git by Tyler Doerksen
  In this post, steps to create a new Azure website, associate my site with GitHub, make changes, and redeploy. Sounds simple, right? Well let’s find out.
• Azure Mobile Service – Wealth of Information to Get Started Here! by Mariusz Kolodziej
  Brand new to the Azure platform is Windows Azure Mobile Services. This is a compilation of various resources to get you started ASAP.
• Cloud with a Chance of…Doesn’t Matter by Bruce Johnson
  How you should be building your applications – seamless integration between the various options. This isn’t necessarily the easiest choice for developer.

Web

• Upgrading Your Project To jQuery 1.8.0 by James Chambers
  If you are using jQuery UI on your project and you update jQuery to 1.8.0 you’ll also want to grab the latest bits of jQuery UI (which is, at the time of this post, sitting at 1.8.23).  This is an important maintenance release, particularly if you’re using any jQuery UI components that make use of position.

.NET Programming

• LINQ to Objects Part 2 by Eric Moreau
  As a continuation from his previous post, Eric continues showing the syntax of LINQ-to-objects, showing the same query in both Visual Basic and C#.
• An update to Rx and the FileSystemWatcher by Jerome Laban
  Here are some tips to improve your FileWatcher code in Rx.
• Thread synchronization of atomic invariants in .NET 4.5 clarifications by Peter Ritchie
  In this post, Peter presents his observations of what the compiler does in very narrow context only on Intel x86 and Intel x64 with a particular version of .NET.

SharePoint

• Demystifying the Windows Azure Workflow Service Accountby Reza Alirezaei
  Understand the importance of workflow and service bus service account (RunAs account) if you are planning on setting up a Windows Azure Workflow and Service Bus in your SharePoint 2013 farm.
• SharePoint Dev Quick Tip–Finding the Internal Name of a Field by Rob Windsor
  Here is quick trick to show you how to get the internal name of a field using both Visual Studio and SharePoint Manager.

SQL Server and Business Intelligence

• What's New with SQL Server 2012by Bruce Johnson
  Like any newly released version of software, Microsoft SQL Server 2012 brings a host of significant changes to Microsoft’s enterprise data platform.
• SSIS 2012 item with same key as already been added error by Christian Cote
  Learn how to convert existing SSIS solutions to project deployment models without receiving an error that an item with the same key has already been added.
• When I Use Nested Joins by Michael J. Swart
  A simple explanation of SQL right vs. left joins and inner vs. outer joins.

DotNetNuke

• DAL 2 - Using the new Repository to Persist Objects - CBO on steroids by Charles Nurse
  Continuing on the topic of the new DotNetNuke Data Access Layer, this post explains how module developers can utilize the built-in IRepository of T implementation to simplify module development.

Of Interest

• Ignoring a File That You Have Already Started Tracking in Git by James Chambers
  The key to Lego block is the simple and consistent interface. Doesn’t matter what the shape of the block is, the fact that every block has the same interface allows them to be connected. And it is through the various connections that a much bigger whole can be created.

If you’ve come across a great technology post and think we should share it, please let us know by sharing the post in the Canadian Developer Connection LinkedIn group. Make sure to share how the post helped you get something done. I’m sure your fellow developers would appreciate the insights.

Until next edition!