Here’s the slides and code from my user group session last night – Getting Started with Azure Development.

I covered the basics of Web and Worker roles, storage and a bit of the service bus.

Use as you see fit.

Drizle.zip (3.53 MB)

Another Code Camp is being organised for Christchurch (see details below).  I'm taking a back seat this year with the organisation but I will be presenting a session or two.  I'm thinking:

100% Pure Javascript - All script and no controls

This session will demonstrate how to create a rich client application using javascript that uses an ASP.Net application for server side functionality - without using any (or at least very few) ASP.Net server controls. I guess you could call this hand-crafted AJAX.

Whats it all about, TFS?

Team System and Team Foundation Server are not particularly well understood.  In this short session I will attempt to explain (and possibly demonstrate) how the features of Team System impact & benefit developers and the project life cycle on a day to day basis.

Date: Saturday 1st November, Christchurch.  9am - 6pm
Location: Trimble Navigation, 11 Birmingham Drive (map)
Cost: Free! (Lunch provided)

Theme:  Keeping It Real
The sessions are designed to showcase .NET related tools and techniques that will be useful to you as a developer, focusing on real-world topics that will be of immediate use.

Featuring mostly local presenters it's a time to talk and socialise and connect with others in the local community. An optional dinner in the evening is an ideal way to finish the day (the great restaurant last year is still being talked about!)

Speakers:  Looking at getting into speaking?  Email christchurch@dot.net.nz to register your interest. It's a great opportunity to give a talk on anything .NET related.  We have plenty of options

• 5mins (Lightning) - Powerpoint only (no live code).  Aim at getting a single point across - demonstrating a product, feature, tip, technique etc.  These sessions are a hit with audiences at other DNUG groups and code camps - fun and lightweight!
• 15mins (Thunder) - Enough time to show a single concept or demo without getting into too much detail.  eg Interesting practical code, fun side projects, favourite dev tool/trick , LINQ to XML example etc
• 30mins, 60mins - Useful for when you have something larger to demonstrate or feel really passionate about and need to spread the word!

Contact Details: If you have any questions, suggestions or want to offer sponsorship, please contact us at christchurch@dot.net.nz.

The Team System and .Net User Group are having a combined session next week.

Ron Jacobs!!!

The Perfect Pattern Storm, where Test Driven development (TDD) meets User Experience (UX) and MVP
Christchurch 20/05/2008
Gather at 5:00 pm, starting at 5:30 pm

Presented by Ron Jacobs

As long time host  of ARCast.TV, Ron Jacobs has a front row seat to observe the constantly shifting architectural landscape. In this session we will consider what happens when the force of test driven development (TDD) collides with the demand for better UX.

Ron Jacobs is a Sr. Technical Evangelist in the Microsoft Platform Evangelism group based at the company headquarters in Redmond Washington. Ron's evangelism is focused on Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) and Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) Since 1999 Ron has been a product and program manager on various Microsoft products including the .Net Framework, Windows Communication Foundation and COM+. A top-rated conference speaker, author and podcaster, Ron brings over 20 years of industry experience to his role of helping Microsoft customers and partners to build architecturally sound and secure applications.

RSVP via the link on the .Net User Group Site.  Space is limited so get in early.  Note, this session is at Intergen rather than the usual venue.

Another Code Camp bites the dust. 

Things that went well:

• Great speakers and topics.  It never ceases to amaze me that these guys will give up their precious weekend and pay for themselves to travel all over the country to speak at community events like this. 
• Attendance.  This was the first 'mainland' Code Camp so our expectation were not high for a huge audience, but I was very please with the turn out.  We had 130 registrations and only 20-ish no-shows.  Anything less than 20% for a free event is pretty fantastic I think.  I also expected a lot less attendees on Sunday, but most suck around and were rewarded with some great sessions.
• Catering.  Subway was a big hit and the cost was very competitive - much cheaper than anything else we have used before.
• Volunteers.  I spent most of the weekend listening to speakers and making sure everything was running sweetly.  I had plenty of time to relax thanks to the fantastic job done by a great bunch of volunteers.  Thanks again to Dan, Bryn, Chris C, Chris F, Simeon, Dave & Gary.
• Weather.  Despite predictions of rain, the weather was lovely.

Things that went badly:

• Only thing I can think of - we ran out of milk late on Saturday :)

So, on balance, I think that was pretty successful!  I think a repeat next year will be possible - but I don't want to think about that just yet.

Word has leaked out already (not that is was a big secret) so I had better blog about it myself.  We are organising a .Net Code Camp for November in Christchurch.  Currently details are a little sketchy, but I can tell you this:

Name: Code Camp Boot Camp

Theme:  Next generation, back to basics.  New releases of C#, VB, .Net, ASP and SQL are iminent.  This code camp will focus on getting up to speed with all of this, plus cover migration stratigies and many non-technology specific topics such as Architecture and Development Life Cycle.  Hopefully something for everyone - noobs, gurus, young and old.

Date: We don't yet have a fixed date, this is highly venue dependend - see Venue - but it will be a weekend (Sat/Sun) in or around Christchurch.  This excludes Show Weekend (17/18th) which is a very busy time here.

Venue: We don't yet have a venue, but are looking at a couple of strong possibilities.  There are many likely venues but finding one that is comfortable for a whole weekend and free is tricky. 

Speakers: Presenters will be mostly mainlanders with a few imports from north of the Kaikouras.  If you would like to present then please contact me ASAP.

Sessions: We have a list of possible topics that we want to see covered, but this is very dependent on the speaker and their area of expertise.  More details once we know who the speakers will be.

We have a great team of volunteers (some of whom don't yet know they have 'volunteered' :) and lots of great ideas so I'm sure this will be a very memorable event.

We are unsure of the level of attendence we can get so if you are at all interested in attending it would really help us if you pre-registered. For this and other details see http://codecamp.net.nz.

I can't think of a more worthy MVP Candidate than Alex James. His recent contributions to the Auckland and NZ .Net community have been huge! Congradulations Alex.

Here's the code for the tasks from my Team Build pressie at Code Camp.  JonesieMSBuildTasks.zip (7.64 KB)

There's 4 custom tasks in the zip.

• CreateVDir: Create a Virtual Directory in IIS.
• ModifyXMLNode: Modify an element or attribute in an XML (.config) file.
• AddListItem: Add an item to a sharepoint list.
• ExecuteSQL: Execute some SQL.
  

If you find any bugs or make some enhancements then please send then to me and I'll incorporate the changes for all.

And here's the references from the slide deck.

TS Home:   http://tinyurl.com/n5zf5
TN_1600:   http://tinyurl.com/mxqpj  The TechNote detailing how to alter you SLN files.
TF Blog:   http://tinyurl.com/ryp52
MSBuild Blog:  http://tinyurl.com/pv9z9
ScottGu:   http://tinyurl.com/syjcw 
Forums:   http://tinyurl.com/n8shm

• All about programming and software development.
• Run by the local community for the local community.  Most speakers will be from the local community but there may be one or two overseas speakers.
• Free!