Visual Studio Magazine - 03- 2009.pdf

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MARCH2

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Vol.19,No.3

GETTING DIRECTIONS.NET developers face adjustmentsas they start coding for Microsoftshigh-flying collaboration platform.

VisualStudioMagazine.com

The Art of the Interview

E N T E R P R I S E S O L U T I O N S F O R . N E T D E V E L O P M E N T

Generate Code fromCustom File Formats

Create Anonymous Types

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www.visualstudiomagazine.com March 2009 VISUAL STUDIO MAGAZINE 3

COLUMNS

C# CORNER

32 Create Anonymous TypesTaking a careful look at the capabilities the

compiler gives to anonymous types provides an

excellent tutorial on what you should consider

when you create your typesincluding whether

they are classes or structs. BY BILL WAGNER

DEPARTMENTS

6 Editors Note BY MICHAEL DESMOND

8 Letters to the Editor

10 First LooksProduct Listings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

39 Index of Advertisers

40 The Pragmatic DeveloperThe Art of the Interview BY BILLY HOLLIS

FEATURES

12 Getting Directions.NET developers face adjustments as they start coding for

Microsoft's high-flying collaboration platform.

BY MICHAEL DESMOND

18 Generate Code from Custom

File FormatsCreate a custom tool to provide a flexible and easy way

to generate code on demand. BY PETER VOGEL

12

.NET and ASP.NET developersworking with SharePoint must

be ready to do thingsthe SharePoint way.

Michael Desmond, Getting Directions p. 12

COVERC

OMPOSITE

IMGAES

FROMI

STOCKPHOTO.COM

ContentsMarch 2009 VOLUME 19 NO. 3

32
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VISUAL STUDIO MAGAZINE March 2009 VisualStudioMagazine.com4

LEARN FROM THE PROSAs a developer you are constantly facing the

problem of how to keep up with all the new

technologies being released while still get-

ting your job done. You keep hearing about

solutions to your programming problems but

the question is: are they the right solutions

for your particular needs? You could spend

hours or even days trying to find the

answers yourself, or you could let the

experts do it for you. Redmond Media Group

Events offers a variety of conferences andshows where you can learn about new tech-

nologies and what they might offer you, attend in-depth workshops that

focus on topics specific to your needs, ask questions of the experts, and

interact with your peers to discuss problems they face and what solutions

theyve come up with. Whether its Web design, .NET development, or SQL

Server programming, weve got an event that matches your needs. Visit

RedmondEvents.com to learn more about upcoming conferences and shows.

ONLINE ARTICLES

Practical ASP.NET:

Accessing Connection Strings Reliably

In his ongoing series on ASP.NET, Peter Vogel provides an alternative tothe default mechanism for accessing connection stringand plugs his

next book. LOCATOR+ CODE: VS0903PV1

Practical ASP.NET:

Updating Multiple GridView RowsPeter Vogel explains how putting updateable controls in the

ItemTemplate in a GridView gives developers what they want: the ability

for users to change more than one row at a time. The cost is writing

some extra code. LOCATOR+ CODE: VS0903PV2

ONLINE TUTORIALS

Classic VB Corner:Let Me Tell Ya Where to Stick ItIn these days of increasingly common least-privileged users, where

should you store your application data? Karl E. Peterson drills down on

the best approaches to organizing and accessing your system folders.

LOCATOR+ CODE: VS0903KP1

OnlineCheck out these and other exclusive online articles and tutorials on the Visual Studio Magazine Web site at

VisualStudioMagazine.com

ContentClassic VB Corner:

Forward CompatibilityDoes anyone really expect to be able to take data from

the current version of AppX and use it freely in the

previous version of AppX? Of course not! Karl E. Peterson

discusses forward compatibility and how data assets

simply must move forward from one version of an

application to the next. LOCATOR+ CODE: VS0903KP2

GIVE US YOUR FEEDBACKWe at Visual Studio Magazineand VisualStudioMagazine.com

are constantly trying to improve the content we provide you

and the way that content is presented, both in the pages of

the magazine and online. We value your opinions about any

aspect of the magazine or our Web site. If you have any

comments, criticisms, or suggestions on how we might

improve things please feel free to contact us. You can reach

us by email at [email protected] orgo online at

VisualStudioMagazine.com and post your comments.

What Are Locator+ Codes?Locator+ codes give you instant access to a feature on Visual

Studio Magazine Online. Simply type the Locator+ code into

the field in the upper-right corner and click on FIND IT.

.NET NEWSLETTER SIGN-UP

Every week, the .NET Insight e-mail newsletter brings you up-to-date news, technical information, opinions,

interviews, and analysis on topics and technologies such as Visual Basic .NET, C#, SQL Server and data access,

ASP.NET, wireless, Web services, and XML. Sign up for free at VisualStudioMagazine.com.

VirtualizationReview.com1105 Media recently launched a new Web site devoted

exclusively to covering all aspects of IT virtualization.VirtualizationReview.com helps you harness the power of

virtualization by delivering news and in-depth coverage of

the products, vendors, issues, and technologies transform-

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tips, and timely information about all aspects of virtualiza-

tion including servers, storage, desktops, applications, and

more. Visit VirtualizationReview.com now to start your

move to a more efficient, powerful virtual environment.
http://www.visualstudiomagazine.com/mailto:[email protected]://www.visualstudiomagazine.com/mailto:[email protected]


7/44

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EditorsNote

BY MICHAEL DESMOND

editor in chief


By now youve no doubt noticed some changes in this months issueofVisual Studio Magazine.

Theres a lot going on at VSMas we work to improve the pub-

lication, and were anxious to let you know what were up to,

and to hear your opinions about what we might do better.

Its probably best if I start at the top.Back in January our

parent company,1105 Media Inc.,announced that it was

merging its two developer publicationsVSMand the twice-monthly Redmond Developer Newsinto a single,integrated

publication under the title Visual Studio Magazine. The move

blends the best aspects of each magazine,combining VSMs

detailed how-to content and coding tutorials and RDNs in-

depth analysis of key issues and technologies.

In a sense, RDN and VSMhave been two sides of the

same coin. RDNgave developers fair warning of what was

coming,be it new technologies or newly discovered chal-

lenges,and VSMshowed them how to work with it.

Now these two missions are being united under the VSM

banner.The move reflects the fact that developers need con-

text.They need to know about the tools theyre mastering,sothey can make better decisions on how to use them. To that

end, future issues ofVSMwill deliver the kind of in-depth

features, timely technology and product news, plus expert

insight that youve seen in RDN since 2006.

The transition brings significant changes to the VSM

staff. I want to take a moment to recognize the outstanding

efforts of former VSMEditor in Chief Patrick Meader and

Managing Editor Guy Wright,who are both moving on from

VSMas part of the transition. Ive worked on occasion with

Patrick over the past two years, and Ive respected him deeply

for his intelligence, composure and commitment to princi-

ple. Patrick is as dedicated and forthright a person as Ive ever

run across in my 16 years in IT publishing,and his successover the years at VSMis testament to that.

Joining the VSMteam are three new faces.Kathleen

Richards is the new executive editor and will guide many of

the key how-to departments and features at the magazine.

Richards was senior editor at RDNand before that at Appli-

cation Development Trends magazine. Jeffrey Schwartz

arrives as news editor,where hell drive the front-of-the-book

news and review content. Schwartz comes to VSM fromRDN,

where he managed the books large news section. Prior to that

he was a senior editor at VAR Business.

As for myself,Ive moved over as editor in chiefofRDN

to serve as editor in chief ofVSM.

What does it all mean? Quite a lot,actually. The new staff

reflects an expanding mission for VSM. The magazine will

continue to publish cutting-edge tutorial and how-to con-

tent,but our coverage will expand to include issue-oriented

features, timely news analysis and incisive commentary.

Developers working with tooling as expansive and as power-ful as Visual Studio dont work in a vacuum, and Visual Studio

Magazinewill reflect that.

This issue is really the first step in the effort to broaden

the scope and reach ofVSM. In April, we plan to unveil

a redesigned publication that is fully aligned with our

expanded vision.

I want to emphasize that Visual Studio Magazineis here

to serve you.With so many big and exciting changes afoot,

were more anxious than ever to hear the opinions and input

of developers and managers.What can we do to improve

VSM? What kinds of stories, content,tutorials and interac-

tion are you looking for? And how can these things be tunedto help you do your jobs better? We want to hear your ideas

e-mail me at [email protected].

PHOTOBYIRAWYMAN

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
http://www.visualstudiomagazine.com/mailto:[email protected]://www.visualstudiomagazine.com/mailto:[email protected]


9/44

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10/44


Letters to Visual Studio Magazine are

welcome. Letters must include your

name, address and daytime phone

number to be considered for publica-

tion. Letters might be edited for form,

fit and style. Letters express the views

of the individual authors, and do not

necessarily reflect the views of the

editors, VSM or 1105 Media. Please

send them to Letters to the Editor, c/o

VSM, 16261 Laguna Canyon Road

Ste. 130 Irvine, Calif. 92618; fax

them to 949-265-1528; or e-mail

them to [email protected].

Letters

Agile Arguments

Billy Hollis The Pragmatic Developer column (Is Agile Rock or Disco? January

2009) brings an interesting point to light: Will Agile survive the times?

However, I think the author missed a different, critical point: Agile is a mindset and not

a process. Truly Agile development is adaptable, and therefore it can work with non-

seasoned developers.

Ted Malone,

Colorado Springs, Colo.

Id like to further a point Hollis made in his article: Its hard to do anydevelopment without

good developers. Instead of trying to figure out how to make do with not-so-good developers,we need to figure out how to turn those with potential into good developers, and how to

encourage the rest to find a more suitable field in which to work.

The so-called software crisisa shortage of good developers compared to the amount

of software that needs to be writtenis an issue of supply and demand. Theres an inherent

undersupply of good developers, but theres also an oversupply of demand as many clients

just want variations on the same thing. If its more profitable to be a good developer, those

good developers will also create frameworks and tools to help address the demand-side prob-

lems as well.

Anonymous,

Posted online

WF: Change for the Worse?I suppose out of all the possible changes that might trouble me in Windows Workflow

Foundation (WF) 4.0as discussed by Kathleen Dollard in her Ask Kathleen column

(Windows Workflow Changes Direction, January 2009)the loss of the code activity is the

most upsetting. This makes the possibility of making lightweight WF activities that accom-

plish relatively simple tasks more difficult than necessary. By removing this piece of function-

ality, Microsoft has effectively shackled the developer to creating activity libraries. While that

has its place, this seems like the pendulum swinging way too far in the other direction.

And frankly, I disagree with Dollard that moving completely to declarative creation of

workflows is a good thing. Performance improvements are great, but performance improve-

ments that cause the loss of very useful functionality are just wrong.

Marcelo Lopez, Jr.,

Florida

VisualStudioMagazine.comMarch 2009 Volume 19 No. 3

Editorial Staff

Vice President, Doug BarneyEditorial Director

Editor in Chief Michael Desmond

Executive Editor Kathleen Richards

News Editor Jeffrey Schwartz

Managing Editor Wendy Gonchar

Associate Managing Editor Katrina Carrasco

Contributing Editors

Andrew J. Brust, Ken Cox, John Cronan, Dan Fergus,

John Gavilan, Roger Jennings, Don Kiely,

Martin Kulov, Jeff Levinson, Bill McCarthy,

John Charles Olamendy Turruellas, Keith Pleas,

Peter Varhol, Bill Wagner

Art Staff

Creative Director Scott Shultz

Graphic Designer Erin Horlacher

Online/Digital MediaEditor, VisualStudio Becky NagelMagazine.com

Executive Editor, New Media Michael Domingo

Online News Editor Kurt Mackie

Associate Editor, Web Gladys Rama

Web Producer Shane Lee

Director, Web Development Rita Zurcher

President Henry Allain

Vice President, Publishing Matt N. Morollo

Director of Marketing Michele Imgrund

Online Marketing Director Tracy S. Cook

President & Neal VitaleChief Executive Officer

Senior Vice President Richard Vitale& Chief Financial Officer

Executive Vice President Michael J. Valenti

President, 1105 Events Dick Blouin

Vice President, Finance Christopher M. Coates& Administration

Vice President, Digital Media, Abraham M. LangerAudience Development

Vice President, Information Erik A. LindgrenTechnology &Web Operations

Vice President, Digital Media, Doug MashkuriAdvertising

Vice President, Carmel McDonaghAttendee Marketing

Chairman of the Board Jeffrey S. Klein

REACHING THE EDITORS

Editors can be reached via e-mail, fax, telephone or mail.A list of editors and contact information is available atVisualStudioMagazine.com.

E-mail: E-mail isrouted to individuals desktops. Please use thfollowing form: [email protected] not include a middle name or middle initials.

Telephone: The switchboard is open weekdays 8:30 a.m.to 5:30 p.m. Pacific Time. After 5:30 p.m. you will be directedto individual extensions.

San Francisco Office 415-814-0950; Fax 415-814-0961

Irvine Office 949-265-1520; Fax 949-265-1528

Corporate Office 818-734-1520; Fax 818-734-1528

Visual Studio Magazine

The opinions expressed within the articles and other contentherein do not necessarily express those of the publisher.
http://www.visualstudiomagazine.com/http://www.visualstudiomagazine.com/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.visualstudiomagazine.com/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


11/44

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A code profiler is an essential

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12/44

LooksFirst


P R O D U C T L I S T I N G S + R E V I E W S

C

Coverity PreventCoverity Inc. has improved the support for man-

aged and native code in its static-analysis soft-

ware. With Coverity Prevent, developers can

automatically scan and analyze C#, C, C++ and

Java source code on their desktops or on the

build server. Its one of the few static-analysis

tools that supports both Visual Studio and

Eclipse integrated dev environments.

The product ships with a Web server, which

connects to the help desk or Active Directory

server on your network and a back-end data-

base. Developers open the Coverity browser

and log on to the Web service. Prevent builds

the source code, analyzes it based on selectedquality and concurrency checkers, and then

commits the results to the database. A build-

utility wrapper wraps around the build but

doesnt change it. Depending on the number of

checkers, the build and analysis typically take

three to five times the normal build time.

After a run, developers can view a break-

down of the code base in the browser: how

many files and lines of code, the number of new

defects since the last Run ID, and outstanding

defects that still need to be inspected and clas-

sified. Developers cant edit the code from with-

in the Prevent interface, however.

The latest version beefs up VS integration,

enabling developers to perform static analy-

sis from within VS 2005 and VS 2008. The

company has also added support for Windows

Vista, Windows Mobile, Windows Automotive

and Xbox.

In addition, Coverity has extended Pre-

vents C# functionality with new quality and

concurrency checkers. Prevent is the first

product to support C# concurrency testing for

issues such as deadlocks and race conditions,

according to the company. With this upgrade,

Coverity Prevent and Quince UXPatterns Explorer

it also now offers concurrency modeling to

help developers find critical defects in multi-

threaded Win32 apps.

Prevent is the flagship product in Coveritys

Software Integrity Suite, and the only product

that currently supports C#. Upcoming static-

analysis tooling will take advantage of

Microsofts efforts to put annotations into its

system header files.

Coverity Prevent

Coverity Inc.

Price: Contact vendor for pricing

Web: www.coverity.com

Phone: 800-873-8193;415-321-5237

Quince UXPatterns ExplorerComponents vendor Infragistics

Inc. has launched a unique Sil-

verlight 2 application called

Quince UX Patterns Explorer.

The app offers developers a

resource for best practices in

user experience design and user interface

patterns. With Quince, developers can hone

their UI design skills with guidance from the

community-driven catalog by seeing what pat-

terns other practitioners have used and by

viewing developer feedback. Developers can

also share and upload their own UI patterns.

Quince offers guidance on common patterns

for complex data entry, label alignment and

navigation, among other UI tasks. The library is

initially based on tools and practices that the

20-year-old company uses internally, as well

as expertise garnered from industry sources.

Quince aggregates close to 100 patterns

and shows implementations via a carousel

format on various platforms, including

ASP.NET, Windows Forms and PHP. Develop-

ers can search Quince for commonly used pat-

terns based on end user tasks, wireframe map

locations and tags. The patterns catalog is set

up so that the community can comment on

patterns and their experiences in real time.

The patterns are aggregated based on com-

munity feedback.

Yahoo! Inc. and Google Inc. offer pattern

libraries, but there isnt a de facto resource in

the .NET and Microsoft space .

Quince

Infragistics Inc.

Price:No fees; registration required

Web: www.community.infragistics.com/ux

Phone: 888-448-0097; 609-448-2000

Editors Note:Please send product information

to New Products Editor, c/o VSM, 16261 Laguna

Canyon Road, Ste. 130, Irvine, CA 92618;

Phone: 949-265-1565, fax: 949-265-1528;

e-mail: [email protected].
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13/44

P R O D U C T L I S T I N G S + R E V I E W S

VisualStudioMagazine.com March 2009 VISUAL STUDIO MAGAZINE 11

IIf you handle enterprise-level business intelli-

gence (BI) and financial reporting, it wont be long

before the front office summons you to deal with

eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL).

XBRL is an XML vocabulary for exchanging busi-

ness and financial data. Its a standard for

machine-to-machine reporting thats been adopt-

ed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commis-

sion (SEC) and European authorities.

Altova, well known for its leadership in all

things XML, has updated its products to support

XBRL and bundled them into MissionKit 2009 forEnterprise Software Architects. The goal is to give

you the tools (but not necessarily the training) to

deliver reports compliant with the International

Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

For XBRL beginners, it would have been ideal to

have a hands-on walkthrough that starts with a

financial database and ends with a valid XBRL doc-

ument ready for submission to authorities. Alas,

theres no XBRL For Dummies manual included.

While each application includes tantalizing tidbits

on working with XBRL, I felt like I was solving a jig-

saw puzzle without seeing the entire picture first.XBRL is the buzz in Altovas all-in-one suite, but dont over-

look the features that have long made the individual compo-

nents the premier development environment in the XML space.

Its hard to beat XML Spy as an all-round markup editor, validator

and XPath query designer. Its Grid view is especially useful for

collapsing and exploring very large documents. As you work, the

Messages pane reports errors, explains the problem and high-

lights the location. The other day, I fed XML Spy an XML file con-

taining Expression Encoder ScriptCommands. XML Spy generat-

ed a schema for it in an instant. Be careful what you ask for when

converting an entire database into XML, though. I ended up with

234 files while searching in vain for XML Spys cancel button.

MapForce is Altovas flexible tool for mapping and filtering

data graphically from one source to another. The source or tar-

get can be a database, .EDI document, Web service, Excel 2007

spreadsheet or a lowly .CSV file. MapForce will generate the C#

classes you might need to automate data conversions.

The third major component, StyleVision, lets you design XLST

templates into which you pour data for human consumption. If

youre getting into XBRL, be sure to explore the quarterly reportsample and the Word 2007 preview to see the richness of its

output.

One issue I encountered with MissionKit 2009 was preview-

ing a stylesheet as a PDF. Even though I had chosen a ful l instal-

lation, StyleVision strangely prompted me for a 19MB download

of the Apache (Java) Formatting Objects processor. Even with

that in place, the PDF document still failed to appear. I would

expect Altovas setup kit to automatically install the rendering

engine and tell its PDF module where to find it. VSM

Ken Cox is a Canadian .NET programming writer and the author of

ASP.NET 3.5 for Dummies (Wiley).

Altova MissionKit Boasts XBRL Savvy

PRODUCE READABLE FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS USING XSLT

STYLESHEETS. StyleVision, a member of Altovas MissionKit 2009

suite, lets you design human-readable documents from machine-to-

machine files in XBRL format. The output options include HTML, RTF,

PDF and Word 2007.

AT A GLANCE

MissionKit 2009 for Enterprise Software ArchitectsAltovaWeb: www.altova.comPhone:978-816-1600Price:$1,739Quick Facts: Integrated bundle of XML, database, XSLTdesigner, validation, and publishing tools with addedemphasis on financial reporting support.Pros:Handles all popular and emerging XML-basedtechnologies including the XBRL-compliance standard;extensive online documentation and Web-basedsupport; many examples.Cons:Needs end-to-end walkthrough on producingXBRL reports; rendering engine for previewing PDFdocuments not fully installed.
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14/44

S H A R E P O I N T


F E A T U R E

.NET developers face adjustments as they start coding for

Microsofts high-flying workflow and collaboration platform

BY MICHAEL DESMOND

Getting Directions


15/44

13

S H A R E P O I N T

Behind the activity is the wildfire growth

of Microsofts file sharing, collaboration and

portal platform, which includes Microsoft Office

SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 and Windows

SharePoint Services (WSS) 3.0 integrated into

Windows Server.Last year,the SharePoint business

unit surpassed 100 million licenses and $1 billionin total revenue, according to Microsoft. Now

organizations are looking to leverage those invest-

ments by adding custom functionality and applica-

tions to their SharePoint infrastructure.

That trend is producing its share of growing

pains, as .NET dev shops contend with Share-

Points unique demands and uneven tooling. At

Microsofts TechEd Conference in June 2008,

Chairman Bill Gates admitted during his keynote

Q&A that the company had been caught flat-

footed by the amount of development activity

around SharePoint.At the time,he said Microsoftwas working to make SharePoint developers first-

class citizens.

Since then, Microsoft has released the free

Visual Studio 2008 extensions for SharePoint,

which provides Visual Studio project templates for

building, debugging and deploying SharePoint

projects and applications.The January community

technology preview (CTP) of Visual Studio 2008

Extensions for Windows SharePoint Services 1.3

adds 64-bit support, refactoring support for

renaming Web parts, and a command-line inter-

face for enabling continuous integration and build.

The final version is likely due in April, says PaulAndrew,Microsoft technical product manager for

the SharePoint Developer Platform.

Microsoft has been scaling up our guidance,

and our application and tools, really, really fast,

Andrew says, noting that Visual Studio 2010 will

fully integrate SharePoint development support.

Making the Transition

Evidence of the effort to scale up guidance is

evident in Web sites like Microsofts SharePoint

Developer portal (http://tinyurl .com/bsx8k9)

and the MSDN-hosted SharePoint Server (http://

tinyurl.com/67e7gk)and Windows SharePoint

Services (http:// tinyurl.com/7typk6)Developer

Centers. The sites offer step-by-step tutorials,

design patterns, best practices and other

resources for developers working with the

platform.

Still, challenges remain.Veteran SharePointdevelopers complain that a lot of critical insight

and guidance remains scattered among dozens of

individual blogs and SharePoint-themed sites.

My Google reader is filled with stuff I need

to check on, but its all scattershot, says Ruther-

ford Wilson,director ofproduct management for

Atalasoft Inc., an ISV that in February released

Vizit SP, an image-viewing application for MOSS

and WSS environments.There are books,blogs,

and thats about it.

Ryan Thomas, director of the SharePoint

practice at consultancy Syrinx Consulting Corp.,says developers new to SharePoint are best served

by simply wading into the environment.

The first thing I would do is build a Web

part. Build and have Hello Worldworking in 30

minutes. Then download the SDK and the object

model. If youre going to be a developer, under-

stand the object model and learn how to write

code,he says.

Thomas advises developers to visit the

Microsoft CodePlex site to examine open source

SharePoint projects similar to their own.

He warns that seasoned .NET developers

may find the dynamics around SharePoint devel-opment to be quite different from traditional

.NET development. He says SharePoint projects

tend to be client-facing, involving frequent and

intense interaction with business stakeholders.

Theres a good deal of expectation setting that

must be addressed, in part because these users are

often familiar enough with SharePoint to expect

quick results.

VPs, CIOs, business peoplethey just

dont understand the concept of,three weeks and

come back with code, Thomas says. Its very

important to talk to them.

Times are tough all over,but it seems somebody forgot to tell that tothe growing ranks of SharePoint developers. Even as general IT

and development budgets turn south, industry watchers say

the amount of activity around SharePoint applications and features

continues to rise.

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16/44

S H A R E P O I N T

Tale of the Tools

One of the enduring complaints about

SharePoint development has centered around

tooling. That situation is now changing,thanks in large part to the release of the Visual

Studio extensions for SharePoint and useful

utilities like the SPDisposeCheck tool for

releasing unused memory. Still, major gaps

remain in the SharePoint developer chain.

The extensions are weak, in my opin-

ion, writes Spencer Harbar, a U.K.-based

independent SharePoint developer and

frequent speaker at Microsoft conferences,

in an e-mail interview. At best the exten-

sions are a Band-Aid to bridge the gap

between where we are now, and the future of

SharePoint dev tools.Harbar says the extensions fall short

for enterprise development, which can

expose weaknesses and flaws in the tooling.

He adds that the integrated SharePoint tool-

ing in Visual Studio 2010 (VS10) should be

much better. I cannot speak much to the

VS10 tools without breaking NDAs, but I

have complete confidence that they will

offer a huge step change in terms of devel-

oper tools for SharePoint,he says.

Another issue is the fact that Share-

Point environments must run on WindowsServera nagging issue for developers who

prefer to code on their Windows XP or Vista

workstations. Microsofts Andrew says

developers today have two choices: Either

run Visual Studio on the same Windows

Server OS that hosts SharePoint,or stand up

a virtual machine that incorporates Win-

dows Server and the target SharePoint envi-

ronment. Most shops, he says, opt for the

latter solution.

Leading component maker Compo-

nentOne LLC is among them. The company

in January released CTP versions of itsSharePoint Web Parts line, which include

map,chart and datagrid controls for Share-

Point environments.

You need to make sure you have access

to a testing environment that is not your

development machines, thats particularly

important for SharePoint, says Dan Beall,

product manager for ComponentOne.

Sometimes you have to use remote debug-

ging. Its not as fluid as debugging on a target

machine,but one thing you can do is you can

have your code write entries to SharePoint log

THE SHAREPOINT TOOLBOX

SharePoint provides an enormous amount offunctionality but can be challenging for new

developers trying to deploy solutions to a

server. Fortunately, there are several free Microsoft

and third-party tools that can be used to create Web parts, site definitions, event

receivers and more. Heres a quick rundown of a few timesaving tools that can

significantly increase your productivity when building SharePoint applications.

WSPBuilder

WSPBuilder provides a nice way to build manifest.xml, .DDF and .WSP solution files

quickly and easily from the command line or through a Visual Studio add-in. It

traverses a 12 folder structure in VS and generates the appropriate files needed to

deploy a solution. It can be downloaded fromwww.codeplex.com/wspbuilder.

STSDev

STSDev can be used to build different SharePoint components such as Web parts and

features more easily. Once a project type is selected (note that C# is currently the

only supported language), it will create a VS 2005 or 2008 project automatically

with the necessary SharePoint files and folder structure. STSDev can be down-

loaded fromwww.codeplex.com/STSDev.

CAML Query Builder

Collaborative Application Markup Language (CAML) can be challenging to build from

scratch. Fortunately, U2U has released a free tool called CAML Query Builder that can

be used to build CAML queries visually without having to know a lot about CAML. It

will output the proper CAML syntax for use with objects such as SPSiteDataQuery.CAML Query Builder can be downloaded fromhttp://tinyurl.com/9f5ulo.

Business Data Catalog Definition Editor

The Business Data Catalog (BDC) allows external data to be integrated into Share-

Point that can be bound to built-in MOSS Web Parts or custom controls. To use BDC

functionality you create custom .XML metadata files that define connection informa-

tion, queries to execute, plus much more. Although the tool isnt as flexible to work

with as some of the other tools out there, the price cant be beat. Its part of Share-

Point 2007s SDK 1.2 release. Read more about it at http://tinyurl.com/cpot8a.

Visual Studio Extensions for SharePoint

Microsoft has released extensions for VS 2005 and 2008 that can simplify the

process of building and deploying List items, Web Parts, Site Definitions and more. Atpress time version 1.3 for VS 2008 was released as a community technology pre-

view. Additional information can be found at http://tinyurl.com/9qo9s8.

SPDisposeCheck

Unwary SharePoint developers can easily run into a situation where COM-based

memory doesnt get released by CLR garbage collection. The resulting memory leak-

age can cripple performance and cause unexpected crashes and failures. The

Microsoft SharePoint Dispose Checker Tool, known as SPDisposeCheck, analyzes

custom compiled assemblies so developers can ensure proper disposal of unused

resources. Check it out here: http://tinyurl.com/dhn69w.

Dan Wahlin

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18/44

S H A R E P O I N T


files.There are a couple of freeware tools for looking at whats in the

log files.

SharePoint developers have come to rely on a growing collection

of freely available tools and utilities to help them address the extended

tool chain. Microsoft utilities, like the SPDisposeCheck tool, help

stamp out troubling memory leakage conditions that can occur with

unmanaged component code,while the CAML Query Builder eases

the learning curve around SharePoints Collaborative Application

Markup Language (CAML).The result:Many dev shops have assem-

bled ad hoc tool chains to address the unique demands of SharePoint

coding. (See The SharePoint Toolbox,p.14.)

The SharePoint Way

Ultimately, .NET developers face a subtle challenge in adjusting

to life with SharePoint. .NET and ASP.NET developers working

with SharePoint must be ready to do things the SharePoint way,

says Anne Thomas Manes,v ice president and research director at

Burton Group.

SharePoint presupposes a bunch of design patterns and you

kind of have to build your application around those design pat-

terns, she says. And if you want your own design pattern, its

probably not worth the time and effort. Dont attempt to force

fit other design patterns into it, because it will just be a very frus-

trating experience.

Andrew draws a parallel with ASP.NET programming proj-

ects,where developers typically start off by building a framework to

address administration, security, data access and other issues.SharePoint,he says, essentially acts as the framework.

That has the advantage that if you take a SharePoint develop-

er, they already know that framework, they dont have to learn a

new framework,he says.

The problem is that the SharePoint framework is so large that

Theres a lot of features in WSS that Microsoft doesntreally advertise to the rest of the world.

Anne Thomas Manes, Vice President and Research Director, Burton Group
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19/44

S H A R E P O I N T

developers often create custom code for features that are already

there. Harbar urges developers to look carefully before concluding

that a custom Web part or application is necessary.

Easily the most common mistake is not having a core under-standing of the product architecture and therefore choosing the

wrong approach to meet specific business requirements.SharePoint is

such a huge platform that its incredibly easy to start implementing

custom code for a task that SharePoint does,Harbar writes.

He adds that developers often make the mistake of assuming

that SharePoint is just .NET, when in fact .NET developers face a

significant ramp in mastering SharePoint dev projects.

Even within the SharePoint family there are choices to be

made. Manes says that many enterprises today opt to develop for

SharePoint Server, when they could achieve similar results and

enjoy a more manageable environment by deploying logic to

Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) instead. She says organiza-

tions often concludewronglythat WSS lacks the features theyneed to support workflow, coordination, scheduling and other

common business processes.

There are a lot of features in WSS that Microsoft doesnt

really advertise to the rest of the world, Manes says.I can use a

Java portlet and have that be the interface into WSS,because that

works through the Web services interface as opposed to the .NET

interface.

Ultimately, Microsofts Andrew says that .NET developers

must learn to unlearn some of their old assumptions when movingto SharePoint.

One of issues is people taking the approachand this happens

because projects need to be done fastthat their .NET experience

will get them through their SharePoint project,Andrew says.They

do have to learn new skills. VSM

Michael Desmond ([email protected])is editor in chief of

Visual Studio Magazine.

GO ONLINE

Use this Locator+ code at VisualStudioMagazine.comto go directly to these

related resources.

READ

VS0903MD Read this article online, which includes more information about

how SharePoint adoption is raising data-management concerns; plus a Q&A

with SharePoint development trainer and VSM online columnist Dan Wahlin.

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20/44

B U I L D I N G C U S T O M T O O L S


Youre already using a custom tool every

time you add a dataset to an application.VS setsthe CustomTool property of the datasets .XSD to

MSDataSetGenerator. Whenever you close the

.XSD fileor, in Visual Studio 2008 (VS 2008),

whenever you switch away from the fileVS

passes MSDataSetGenerator the contents of the

.XSD file,which MSDataSetGenerator then con-

verts to code for the .XSDs code file and hands

back to Visual Studio.

You can design your own input format and

write your own custom tool to generate code for

you.Once you build your custom tool,you simply

have to enter its name in the CustomTool property

of the file with your input. VS takes care of the

rest (see Figure 1,opposite page).Using a tool to generate repetitive code

ensures consistency and reliability. It guarantees

that your code generates the same way every

time,reducing the amount of testing you have to

do. Using a custom tool can also make you more

productive,provided that entering the specifica-

tions is faster than writing the code.If you decide

you need to enhance your generated code, just

modify your custom tool to incorporate your

insights.Your class will be regenerated automati-

cally with the new version of the code the next

time you build your project.

Youre writing the same code over and over again with only

minor changes,and youre about to do it again. Stop. If youre

creating a standalone class (either a class that youll call from

your applications code or a class that you can inherit from),build a custom

tool that writes the code for you now and every time youll need it.TECHNOLOGY TOOLBOX

F E A T U R E

Create a custom tool to provide a flexible and easy way

to generate code on demand. BY PETER VOGEL

Generate Code

fromCustomFile Formats

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21/44


Installing to the GAC Automatically

Creating a custom tool (also called a single file generator) pres-

ents one problem.VS is a Windows application that calls a custom

tool directly, so your custom tool must integrate with Windows and

COM.You can create your custom tool in .NET,but you must make

your tool available from Windows.

To enable VS to call your tool,you must register it with Windows,

add at least one registry key to let VS know your custom tool exists,

and install your tool in the Global Assembly Cache (GAC). This

means you must give your DLL a strong name. The good news is

that you can configure VS so that all of these operations happen

every time you compile your application.More good news:Most ofthe support for creating a custom tool is boilerplate and is identical

from one custom tool to another.You only have to write it once and

then copy and paste it to any other tool you create.

You can build a custom tool in a variety of ways. I use the

Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop.IVsSingleFileGenerator and

Microsoft.VisualStudio.OLE.Interop.IObjectWithSite interfaces. To

create a custom tool,begin by creating a class library in the language of

your choice and then add to it references to the Microsoft.VisualStu-

dio.OLE.Interop and Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop libraries.

Next,configure your project to have VS call the gacutil utility to

put your DLL in the GAC after your application compiles.First, find

the full path to wherever gacutil.exe is installed on your computer.In

VS,open the Project Properties for your application.If youre working

in Visual Basic,select the Compile tab and click on the Build Events

button. If youre working in C#, simply select the Build Events tab.

Add these lines to the PostBuild event textbox (replace with the path to your copy of gacutil.exe):

"\gacutil.exe" -u "$(TargetName)"

"\gacutil.exe" -i "$(TargetPath)"

The first line (which uses the TargetName parameter) removes any

existing version of your tool from the GAC.The second line (which

uses the TargetPath parameter) installs the current version of your

tool into the GAC.

When I build a project,I sometimes get an error message that

states Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop is not registered for

COM interop.This doesnt stop the project from building or inter-

fere with the custom tool executing, so if you get that message,

ignore it. However, to ensure that the PostBuild event script exe-

cutes every time you recompile your DLL, set the dropdown list

underneath the PostBuild textbox to When the build updates the

project output.To install your project in the GAC successfully,you must gen-

erate an .SNK file that holds a digital signature (a strong name).Go

to the Signing tab and check the Sign the assembly option. From

the dropdown list you just enabled, select to display the

Create a Strong Name Key dialog. Enter a valid file name in the Key

file nametextbox.The resulting file can be read with Notepad,so if

you want to ensure that no one but you has access to the file, enter a

password in the dialog; if youre not worried about that, then

uncheck the password option before clicking on the OK button.

Integrating with Windows and COM

The next step is to configure your project to have your DLL regis-

tered with COM/Windows every time you build it. Still in ProjectProperties, find the Register for COM interopcheckbox on the

Build tab (for C#) or Compile tab (for Visual Basic) and check it.

Youll need to revisit this option if you change the projects configu-

ration setting (for example,if you switch from Debug to Release),

because the option is cleared when the configuration changes. As

part of supporting COM, you also must go to the Application tab

and click on the Assembly Information button. Check the Make

assembly COM-Visibleoption on the resulting dialog.

Your custom tool must implement two interfaces: IVsSingle-

FileGenerator and IObjectWithSite. You must assign your class a

unique GUID to identify it to Windows.Simply add a System.Run-

time.InteropServices.Guid attribute to your class and pass it a

FIGURE 1 Code-Generation Output The CodeGenerationInput.xml

file has had its custom tool property set to SiteProcessor.

When you switch away from the file, the SiteProcessor custom

tool produces the code that Visual Studio put in the CodeGenera-

tionInput.Generated.cs file.

Using a tool to generate repetitive code

ensures consistency and reliability.



22/44

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23/44

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24/44



GUID. In VS 2008, you can generate a GUID by selecting Create

GUID from the Tools menu. In VS 2005, open the VS Command

window and run the guidgen utility.Both methods open the Create

GUID dialog. Regardless of how you start the tool,pick option 4 to

generate a GUID compatible with the Guid attribute (the result will

be enclosed in braces that youll need to delete after pasting the

GUID into your code).

Once youre done,your class declaration will look like this in

Visual Basic:

_

Public Class TextGenerator

Implements _

Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop. _

IVsSingleFileGenerator

Implements Microsoft.VisualStudio.OLE.Interop. _

IObjectWithSite

For VS to know about your custom tool, you need to add at least one

key to the Windows registry.The easiest way to do this is to add two

methods to your application:one to add the key and one to delete it.With the right attributes on those methods,they will be called auto-

matically when your custom tool is registered or deregistered with

Windows.(The changes you make to your project ensure that your

tool is registered and deregistered each time you build it.)

The code in these two methods is mostlybut not completely

boilerplate.You need to specify the version ofVS that the custom tool

works with,provide a GUID that identifies the language of the projects

that your tool will work with, provide the name youll use in the Cus-

tomTools property and give a description. In addition, you have to

copy the GUID you generated f

Documents

Visual Studio Magazine - 03- 2009.pdf