I get a lot of questions about Expert 2008 Business Objects as to what it will and won't cover, so I thought I'd try and answer at least some of them in a blog post.

The book will cover CSLA .NET 3.6. Version 3.6 is the same as 3.5, but with support for CSLA Light and some .NET 3.5 SP1 features (such as the Entity Framework). And along with CSLA Light comes some interesting support for things like an async data portal and async validation rules. But please note that this book will not cover CSLA Light - that's a book by itself, believe me!

Here's the tentative table of contents for the book:

1.     Architecture

2.     Design

3.     Object-oriented design

4.     Supported stereotypes

5.     Stereotype templates

6.     Framework Implementation

7.     Editable Objects and Collections

8.     Data Binding

9.     Business and Validation Rules

10.   Authorization Rules

11.   N-level Undo

12.   LINQ to CSLA

13.   Persistence and the Data Portal

14.   Other Framework Features

15.   Example Business Library

16.   WPF Application

17.   Web Forms Application

18.   WCF Service Application

The items in green are complete - first draft anyway - and so you can get an idea where I am in the process.

Due to space and time constraints, this book will have three UI chapters just like the previous books. So I had to choose which interface technologies to cover - out of the myriad options available:

• WPF
• WPF/XBAP
• Windows Forms
• asmx services
• WCF services
• WF workflows and activities
• ASP.NET Web Forms
• ASP.NET MVC
• Office/VSTO (Word, Excel, etc)
• Console

I want to make sure to cover smart clients, web development and services. While WCF and Web Forms were easy choices (though I do like ASP.NET MVC a lot, it isn't mainstream yet), the choice between Windows Forms and WPF was difficult. But I have to give WPF the nod, because it is a really nice technology, and it really shows off the power of CSLA .NET business objects very nicely.

My current plan is to release ebooks that specifically focus on each of the interface technologies not covered in Expert 2008 Business Objects, and some sort of book (ebook or traditional) covering CSLA Light.

A couple people have suggested that I might be abandoning VB. Not so!

My first love was Pascal - VAX Pascal actually, which was more like Modula II in many ways. What an awesome language!

My next love was VAX Basic. Now that VB has structured exception handling in .NET, it has finally caught up to where VAX Basic was in the early 90's. No kidding.

Of course after VAX Basic came VB.

And after VB came .NET. I love .NET. I love .NET with VB and C#. C# is just VB with semi-colons, but VB is just C# without semi-colons too. I gave up on the silly language war thing a couple years ago, and am happy to let either or both language live or die by the hand of its users. The language thing was distracting me from truly enjoying .NET.

When it comes to writing books, it is really important to remember that they fund CSLA .NET. As much as I love what I do, I've got kids that will go to college in the (scarily near) future, so I can't work for free. So when I write a book, I can't ignore that C# books outsell VB books around 3:1 (it used to be 2:1, but the market has continued to shift). I still think it is worth writing a VB edition to get that 25% of the market, but you must admit that it makes a lot of sense to go for the 75% first!

It takes several weeks to port a book from one language to the other. The current plan for Expert 2008 Business Objects in C# is October (though I fear that may slip), and with the conversion time and publication schedule constraints, that pushes the VB edition into early 2009. Apress just hasn't put the VB book on their public release list yet, but that doesn't mean I don't plan to do that edition.

When it comes to CSLA Light, I'm doing it in C# because of the 3:1 split, and so again am focusing on C# first.

Whether I do a VB version of the framework or not depends on whether I decide to write a book on the creation and design of CSLA Light. I may or may not. If I don't write a book on the design of the actual framework, I won't port (and then maintain) the framework into a second language.

It is a ridiculous amount of work to maintain CSLA .NET twice, and I really don't like the idea of maintaining CSLA Light twice too. You have no idea how much writing, testing and debugging everything twice slows down progress (and eliminates fun). As wonderful as Instant C# and Instant VB are, the dual effort is a continually increasing barrier to progress.

I might write an ebook on using CSLA Light, in which case I'd leave the framework in C#, but create reference apps in both VB and C# so I can do both editions of the ebook. I think this is the most likely scenario. Certainly VB-compatibility has shaped a couple CSLA Light design decisions already - I won't allow a design that precludes the use of VB to build a CSLA Light app.

(The lack of multi-line lambdas and/or anonymous delegates in VB is a real barrier though... Worse even, than the poor way C# handles implementation of interfaces...)

In the end though, like all of us, I need to be where the market is vibrant. Where I can make money from my hard work. Just now, there's more money to be had from C# content and so that takes priority. But there are a lot of people using VB, and (assuming the sales ratio doesn't slip further) in my view it is worth producing content in the VB space as well.

Now available in both VB and C# editions!

CSLA .NET version 3.0 adds support for Microsoft .NET 3.0 features. This ~120 page ebook covers how to use these new capabilities:

• Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)
  • Creating WPF forms using business objects
  • Using the new controls in the Csla.Wpf namespace
    • CslaDataProvider
    • Validator
    • Authorizer
    • ObjectStatus
    • IdentityConverter
  • Maximizing XAML and minimizing C#/VB code
• Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)
  • Using the new WCF data portal channel to seamlessly upgrade from Remoting, Web services or Enterprise Services
  • Building WCF services using business objects
  • Applying WCF security to encrypt data on the wire
  • Sending username/password credentials to a WCF service
    • Including use of the new Csla.Security.PrincipalCache class
  • Using the DataContract attribute instead of the Serializable attribute
• Windows Workflow Foundation (WF)
  • Creating activities using business objects
  • Invoking a workflow from a business object
  • Using the WorkflowManager class in the Csla.Workflow namespace

Version 3.0 is an additive update, meaning that you only need to use the .NET 3.0 features if you are using .NET 3.0. CSLA .NET 3.0 is useful for people using .NET 2.0!! These features include:

• Enhancements to the validation subsystem
  • Friendly names for properties
  • Better null handling in the RegExMatch rule method
  • New StringMinLength rule method
  • Help for code generation through the DecoratedRuleArgs class
• Data binding issues
  • Fixed numerous bugs in BusinessListBase to improve data binding behavior
  • Throw exception when edit levels get out of sync, making debugging easier
  • N-level undo changed to provide parity with Windows Forms data binding requirements
• AutoCloneOnUpdate
  • Automatically clone objects when Save() is called, but only when data portal is local
• Enhancements to the authorization subsystem
  • CanExecuteMethod() allows authorization for arbitrary methods

CSLA .NET 3.0 includes numerous bug fixes and some feature enhancements that benefit everyone. If you are using version 2.0 or 2.1, you should consider upgrading to 3.0 to gain these benefits, even if you aren't using .NET 3.0.

See the change logs for version 3.0, version 3.0.1 and version 3.0.2 for a more detailed list of changes.

Using CSLA .NET 3.0 is completely focused on how to use the new features in version 3.0. The book does not detail the internal changes to CSLA .NET itself, so all ~120 pages help you use the enhancements added since version 2.1.

Get the book at store.lhotka.net.

Download the 3.0.2 code from the CSLA .NET download page.

CSLA .NET version 3.0 adds support for Microsoft .NET 3.0 features. This ~120 page ebook covers how to use these new capabilities:

• Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)
  • Creating WPF forms using business objects
  • Using the new controls in the Csla.Wpf namespace
    • CslaDataProvider
    • Validator
    • Authorizer
    • ObjectStatus
    • IdentityConverter
  • Maximizing XAML and minimizing C#/VB code
• Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)
  • Using the new WCF data portal channel to seamlessly upgrade from Remoting, Web services or Enterprise Services
  • Building WCF services using business objects
  • Applying WCF security to encrypt data on the wire
  • Sending username/password credentials to a WCF service
    • Including use of the new Csla.Security.PrincipalCache class
  • Using the DataContract attribute instead of the Serializable attribute
• Windows Workflow Foundation (WF)
  • Creating activities using business objects
  • Invoking a workflow from a business object
  • Using the WorkflowManager class in the Csla.Workflow namespace

Version 3.0 is an additive update, meaning that you only need to use the .NET 3.0 features if you are using .NET 3.0. CSLA .NET 3.0 is useful for people using .NET 2.0!! These features include:

• Enhancements to the validation subsystem
  • Friendly names for properties
  • Better null handling in the RegExMatch rule method
  • New StringMinLength rule method
  • Help for code generation through the DecoratedRuleArgs class
• Data binding issues
  • Fixed numerous bugs in BusinessListBase to improve data binding behavior
  • Throw exception when edit levels get out of sync, making debugging easier
  • N-level undo changed to provide parity with Windows Forms data binding requirements
• AutoCloneOnUpdate
  • Automatically clone objects when Save() is called, but only when data portal is local
• Enhancements to the authorization subsystem
  • CanExecuteMethod() allows authorization for arbitrary methods

CSLA .NET 3.0 includes numerous bug fixes and some feature enhancements that benefit everyone. If you are using version 2.0 or 2.1, you should consider upgrading to 3.0 to gain these benefits, even if you aren't using .NET 3.0.

See the change logs for version 3.0, version 3.0.1 and version 3.0.2 for a more detailed list of changes.

Using CSLA .NET 3.0 is completely focused on how to use the new features in version 3.0. The book does not detail the internal changes to CSLA .NET itself, so all ~120 pages help you use the enhancements added since version 2.1.

Get the book at store.lhotka.net.
(C# available now, VB available in early October)

Download the 3.0.2 code from the CSLA .NET download page.

The CSLA .NET Version 2.1 Handbook is available NOW at http://store.lhotka.net for both C# and VB.

Additionally, version 2.1.3 of CSLA .NET is now available for download from this location.

Version 2.1.3 includes some bug fixes and minor enhancements. The enhancements are primarily around the CslaDataSource web control, which now provides more integrated support for paging and sorting.

Most importantly, version 2.1.3 is the specific version described in my CSLA .NET Version 2.1 Handbook. I am releasing this as a ~160 page ebook, available in editions for both C# and VB, for purchase directly from my web site.

This new book is best thought of as a sequel to my my Expert C# 2005 Business Objects and Expert VB 2005 Business Objects books. It covers the changes made since CSLA .NET 2.0 was released: how the framework has changed, and how to use the new features and capabilities. Please note that this is not a replacement for those books: it expands on them.

I hope you enjoy CSLA .NET 2.1.3, and the new book. Thank you, code well, have fun!

Version 2.1.2 of CSLA .NET is now available for download from this location.

Version 2.1.2 includes some bug fixes and minor enhancements. The enhancements are primarily around the CslaDataSource web control, which now provides more integrated support for paging and sorting.

Most importantly, version 2.1.2 is the specific version described in my CSLA .NET Version 2.1 Handbook. I am releasing this as a ~160 page ebook, available in editions for both C# and VB, for purchase directly from my web site.

The VB CSLA .NET Version 2.1 Handbook is available NOW at http://store.lhotka.net.

Look for the C# edition in the very near future (it is in the final review stage).

This new book is best thought of as a sequel to my Expert C# 2005 Business Objects and Expert VB 2005 Business Objects books. It covers the changes made since CSLA .NET 2.0 was released: how the framework has changed, and how to use the new features and capabilities. Please note that this is not a replacement for those books: it expands on them.

Releasing this as an ebook in PDF format is a risk on my part. I put just as much time and effort into writing this book as I have any other book I've written, but I want to provide a more cost-effective way for you to purchase this material than through normal publishing channels. It is my sincere hope that you will purchase this book if you read it (even after a few people have purchased it and they start sharing it for free).

I'm not giving up on traditional publishing channels necessarily. I'll most likely use a traditional publishing approach when I reach a point that CSLA .NET and/or my thinking changes to such a degree that there'd be value for you, as a reader, in me rewriting my books in a major way. But when I'm writing about extra functionality that rests on the existing work, it seems like I'm providing better value to you by selling a lower-cost sequel than forcing you to repurchase much of the same material to get at the new parts.

But all this hinges on people's honesty. On your honesty.

I hope you enjoy CSLA .NET 2.1.2, and the new book. Thank you, code well, have fun!

I you had a good holiday season and enjoyed the end of 2006!

 

For my part, I want to thank everyone who contributed to the CSLA .NET forums, and to the CSLAcontrib project. The time and energy you have all put in over the past few months has been a great help to the CSLA .NET community, and I know there are many people out there who are grateful for your efforts!

 

Most importantly though, I want to thank all the users of CSLA .NET and everyone who has purchased copies of my books. At the end of the year I received numerous emails thanking me for creating the framework (and I appreciate that), but I seriously want to thank all of you for making this a vibrant community. CSLA .NET is one of the most widely used development frameworks for .NET, and that is because each of you have taken the time to learn and use the framework. Thank you!

 

For me 2006 was a year of change. Starting with CSLA .NET 2.0 I've been viewing CSLA .NET as not just an offshoot of my books, but as a framework in its own right. Of course many people have been treating it that way for years now, but I hope it has been helpful to have me treat point releases a bit more formally over the past number of months.

 

This extends to version 2.1, which represents an even larger change for me. With version 2.1 I'm releasing my first self-published ebook to cover the changes. This ebook is not a standalone book, rather it is best thought of as a "sequel" to the 2005 book. However, it is well over 150 pages and covers both the changes to the framework itself, as well as how to use the changes in your application development. The ebook is undergoing technical review. That and the editing process should take 2-3 weeks, so the ebook will be available later this month.

 

Looking at the rest of 2007 it is clear that I'll be spending a lot of time around .NET 3.0 and 3.5.

 

I'll be merging the WcfChannel into CSLA .NET itself, as well as implementing support for the DataContract/DataMember concepts. This, possibly coupled with one WPF interface implementation for collections, will comprise CSLA .NET 3.0.

 

It is not yet clear to me what changes will occur due to .NET 3.5, but I expect them to be more extensive. Some of the new C#/VB language features, such as extension methods and lambda expressions, have the potential to radically change the way we think about interacting with objects and fields. When you can add arbitrary methods to any type (even sealed types like String) many interesting options become available.

 

Then there's the impact of LINQ itself, and integration with the ADO.NET Entity Framework in one manner or another.

 

ADO EF appears, at least on the surface, to be YAORM (yet another ORM). If that continues to be true, then it is a great way to get table data into data entities, but it doesn't really address mapping the data into objects designed around use cases and responsibility. If you search this forum for discussions on nHibernate you'll quickly see how ADO EF might fit into the CSLA .NET worldview just like nHibernate does today: as a powerful replacement for basic ADO.NET and/or the DAAB.

 

LINQ is potentially more interesting, yet more challenging. It allows you to run select queries across collections. At first glance you might think this eliminates the need for things like SortedBindingList or FilteredBindingList. I’m not sure that’s true though, because the result of any LINQ query is an IEnumerable<T>. This is the most basic type of list in .NET; so basic that the result must often be converted to a more capable list type.

 

Certainly when you start thinking about n-level undo this becomes problematic. BusinessBase (BB) and BusinessListBase (BLB) work together to implement the undo capabilities provided by CSLA .NET. Running a LINQ query across a BLB results in an IEnumerable<T>, where T is your BB-derived child type. At this point you’ve lost all n-level undo support, and data binding (Windows Forms, and any WPF grid) won’t work right either.

 

So at the moment, I’m looking at LINQ being most useful in the Data Access Layer, along with ADO EF, but time will tell.

 

The point of all this rambling is this: I didn’t rush CSLA .NET 1.0 or 2.0. They came out when I felt I had good understanding of the issues I wanted to address in .NET 1.0 and .20 respectively. And when I felt I had meaningful solutions or answers to those issues. I’m treating .NET 3.5 (and presumably CSLA .NET 3.5) the same way. I won’t rush CSLA .NET to meet an arbitrary deadline, and certainly not to match Microsoft’s release of .NET 3.5 itself. There’s no point coming out with version of CSLA .NET that misses the mark, or that provides poor solutions to key issues.

 

So in 2007 I’ll most certainly be releasing the version 2.1 ebook and CSLA .NET 3.0 (probably with another small ebook). Given that Microsoft’s vague plans are to have .NET 3.5 out near the end of 2007, I don’t expect CSLA .NET 3.5 to be done until sometime in 2008; but you can expect to see beta versions and/or my experiments around .NET 3.5 as the year goes on.

 

Of course I’ll be doing other things beyond CSLA .NET in 2007. I’m lined up to speak at the SD West and VS Live San Francisco conferences in March. I’m speaking in Denver and Boulder later in January, and I’ll be doing other speaking around the country and/or world as the year goes on. Click here for the page where I maintain a list of my current speaking engagements.

 

To close, thank you all for your support of the CSLA .NET community, and for your kind words over the past many months. I wish you all the best in 2007.

 

Code well, have fun!

 

Rocky

I thought it would be a good idea to give a quick update on the progress/status of the CSLA .NET version 2.1 ebook. Version 2.1 includes some substantial new features and changes as compared to version 2.0, and I am working on an ebook (about 150 pages) that I'll be selling through my web site in the near future. This ebook covers those changes to the framework, both from the framework development perspective and from the perspective of someone who just wants to use the new or changed features.

My original intent was for the ebook to be done in November. Obviously that hasn't happened, though I am very near completion of the book at this point - in the middle of December. There are many reasons for the delay, most notably some serious family health issues (which, unfortunately, are ongoing) and unexpected activities at work (I have a real job in addition to writing ebooks ). Those pushed things far enough into November that a number of other, planned, things impacted the schedule as well.

I really didn't expect this project to be this big - I was thinking 75 pages, but it is more like 150. And self-publishing turns out to be more work than I'd thought. Fortunately, a colleague at Magenic is helping to do the technical review and my very talented wife is doing all the non-technical editing. Another Magenic colleague is kindly setting up the online store. And I found out from my tax guy that I need to get a sales tax ID from Minnesota because I have to actually collect sales tax on the ebook - much to my surprise.

Regardless, what this means is that I now expect the ebook to be available for purchase within the first two weeks of 2007. I'm wrapping up the VB version this week, doing technical revisions and final editing and creating the C# version (swapping in different code bits) over the next couple weeks. This should mean the project is done by the end of the year so I can put it online very early in 2007.

Yesterday I recorded two more DNR TV shows on CSLA .NET with Carl Franklin, so watch for those to go online in the next few weeks. Carl does a nice job of editing the recordings and cleaning up the audio, so it takes some time between recording and "airing", but it is well worth it!

Some exciting news! Dunn Training is building a formal training class around CLSA .NET, with plans for the class to be ready in September. I often get requests for CSLA .NET training, and now there'll be a great answer.

Of course Magenic remains the premier source for consulting and mentoring around CSLA .NET. Training is important, but you can't underestimate the value of longer term mentoring!

Given the combination of my books, a formal CSLA .NET class and longer term mentoring and consulting from Magenic, a full array of CSLA .NET resources is coming into being.

And while I'm plugging Dunn Training, I should mention that they have an excellent BizTalk Server 2006 class - just tell them that Rocky sent you

Update: Here is a link to the information page on the CSLA .NET class.

Yesterday I posted about Paul Sheriff’s new subscription-based online venture. It is an experiment on Paul’s part, and it is something he’s put a huge amount of time and effort into building.

 

Interestingly, there’s been a bit of pushback – at least in the comments on my blog – to Paul charging for his site. Of course this is an experiment, and so only time will tell if Paul’s investment in time and money putting it together, and his ongoing investment in building content will actually pay off.

 

But I hope it does work, and this is why.

 

It has been clear for a while now that the world is undergoing some major changes. While the Internet didn't transform the world like all the dot-com nuts thought it would, it really is having a non-trivial (if ponderous) impact as time goes by.

 

(for a thought-provoking view of a possible future, check out Epic 2014).

 

A few of us, Paul and myself included, are trying to figure out how to adapt to this new world. With book sales radically down and magazine subscriptions failing and technical conferences struggling, it is becoming less and less practical for a professional author/speaker to make a living.

 

Now it might be the case that free content will have the same quality as professionally created, reviewed and edited content. But I doubt it. Some people can generate quality content without reviewers and editors, but most can’t. And in any case there’s no substitute for experience. As with anything, experience has tremendous value. If you look at any professional author’s work you’ll see a progression as they get better and better at explaining their ideas over time.

 

Not that there isn't some great free content out there, but wading through all the random content to find it is very expensive. There’s no doubt that some people invest their time and effort in improving their writing skills for free, but over time it is hard to commit to that level of focus without some level of compensation.

 

I specifically avoided saying that some people do this as a hobby. Because I think that is very rare. People write to get compensation. In many cases it is financial – either directly, because they get paid to write, or indirectly, because they expect to get a raise, or to more easily job-hop into a raise.

 

Coming back to that sifting through the web thing though… Time isn't free. In fact I'm of the opinion that time is far more valuable than money for most of the people in our profession. Wasting hours sifting through random outdated, or just plain poor, content to find that one gem on someone's blog is really costly.

 

For some people it is worth that time, for others it is not. There's no way to pass a global value judgment on this, because different people have different jobs and priorities. If I can spend a couple hours writing code, I'm much happier than if I spent a couple hours reading random web content. Other people love reading and sifting through random web content and don't begrudge that time in the slightest.

 

One thing that I always keep in mind though, is that we (in the US and Europe anyway) cost 4-7 times more than people in India or China. That means we need to be 4-7 times more productive to justify our existence. So that time spent sifting through the web needs to result in some pretty impressive productivity or it was just a very high cost.

 

I sift through the web at least as much as the next guy, don’t get me wrong. But not really by choice. If some web-sifter out there started a subscription-based index into content that is actually up to date and valid I’d pay for it. Google is great, but just think if there was a Google that only searched meaningful content!?! I don’t care about the vast majority of what people put on the web, there are just a few gems I’m looking for.

 

Unfortunately, thus far the idea of a paid index for content hasn’t proven to be a viable business model. And the web is undermining traditional forms of providing content. So the world is changing.

 

But I don’t believe for a minute that the value of professional content is lower than in the past, I just think the delivery of that content is in flux.

 

So the question then, is how to deliver professional content in this new world? And in a way where the producers, reviewers and editors of the content are compensated for their effort. Time isn’t free, not for you as the reader, nor for those of us engaged in professionally producing that content.

 

We’ll all find out whether Paul’s experiment works or not over time. But he’s not alone in looking for ways to adapt to this new world, and you can expect to see some experiments from other people as well – including me – in the relatively near future.

CSLA .NET version 2.0.3 is now available for download at www.lhotka.net/cslanet/download.aspx. This is a bug fix update to address various errata and issues that readers have found since version 2.0.2.

Most notably, this version (hopefully) fixes the issues with CslaDataSource, where it would sometimes fail to find the business assembly. Please note that the type name is case-sensitive and typos are now the primary reason the type/assembly can't be found.

To give you some idea what's going on with CslaDataSource, here's the short story:

In CSLA .NET 2.0 (and in the books), I implemented CslaDataSource so it loaded the business assembly at design time (in VS 2005) to get the assembly's metadata. The metadata is needed for the web forms designer so the GridView and DetailsView controls can show the right columns/rows. And that worked, but had the problem that changes to the business assembly during development weren't picked up by CslaDataSource.

In 2.0.1 I altered CslaDataSource to load the business assembly in a temporary AppDomain. That allows me to unload the AppDomain and thus unload the assembly - so CslaDataSource can always reflect against the latest assembly. Which is a great idea, except that there's no supported (or even unsupported really) way to find the current business assembly. It turns out that VS 2005 puts the assemblies into a shadow directory, creating a new shadow directory each time you build your project or update an external assembly. To work around this, I am doing a sort of hack by inferring the shadow directory location and then finding the most recently created shadow directory (by date/time).

Now, in 2.0.3 I altered CslaDataSource yet again, to better infer the shadow directory location. My previous approach didn't handle having Csla.dll in the GAC, and failed at other (seemingly random) times as well. The new approach infers the shadow directory inside the primary VS 2005 AppDomain, and using the business assembly/type as the source location (rather than Csla.dll). This change appears to have fixed the random failures and should allow Csla.dll to be in the GAC. I doubt it allows the business assembly to be in the GAC, but (imo) that's not a good idea anyway.

CSLA .NET version 2.0.2 is now available for download at www.lhotka.net/cslanet/download.aspx. This is a bug fix update to address various errata and issues that readers have found since version 2.0.1.

This version also introduces one change, which allows you to call DataPortal.Fetch with no criteria.

CSLA .NET version 2.0.1 is now available for download at www.lhotka.net/cslanet/download.aspx. This is primarily a bug fix update to address various errata and issues that readers have found since the release of the original code. It does include a couple changes primarily geared toward simplification of code generation templates. You can see the change log here.

At a high level the changes (other than bug fixes) include:

• A new Initialize() method for use by code generation templates
• A new IEditableBusinessObject interface to allow polymorphic child objects in BusinessListBase-derived collections
• Better support for lazy loading of child collections (EditLevel property now visible from BusinessListBase, and null child object references now restored in UndoChanges)

 

According to Bookscan (a service which tracks book sales for all sorts of books), Expert C# 2005 Business Objects is number 365 and Expert VB 2005 Business Objects is number 385 among all computer books out there. This includes consumer-oriented computer books too, so these numbers are incredibly good. Programming books have a hard time competing with consumer books for sales volume after all.

What I find most interesting is that the VB sales are comparable to the C# sales. Obviously there really is a market for higher end VB programming books, which I think validates a view I've held for a long time, that the VB community was waiting for .NET to mature before moving forward. Clearly VS 2005 is triggering a non-trivial movement of VB developers into .NET, and these are hard-core professional developers who are looking for something beyond the reference-style and tutorial style books out there.

Like I said a few months ago, in .NET 1.1 the C# book outsold the VB book rather substantially. These numbers appear to show that the dynamic is changing, and I find that quite exciting!

I have two updates for CSLA .NET for those who are interested.

CSLA .NET version 1.53 is now available from www.lhotka.net/cslanet/download10.aspx. This is a minor bug fix update to 1.52.

A beta of CSLA .NET version 2.0.1 is now available from www.lhotka.net/cslanet/download.aspx. This includes fixes for a number of bugs and errata (which you can find at www.lhotka.net/cslanet), as well as some minor enhancements due to unforseen limitations around areas like threading and polymorphic child objects. If you get a chance to try 2.0.1 I would appreciate it. Barring any negative feedback from the community I expect to finalize it in about a week.

There's a new online CSLA .NET forum, hosted by Magenic Technologies, with the Community Server software provided by Telligent.

http://forums.lhotka.net

As always, the home site for CSLA .NET is www.lhotka.net/cslanet, where you can find news, answers to frequently asked questions and downloads of the framework and related resources.

This forum is a replacement for http://groups.msn.com/CSLANET - which has served the community for a number of years. Unfortunately groups.msn.com turns out to be rather unreliable and slow, so the forum had to be moved. If you are looking for older discussions you may want to check there. Associated with that forum is www.searchcsla.com, which allows you to search the archive of that older forum.

But now we've got this new forum, which will hopefully overcome some of the limitations and reliability issues of MSN - so please make good use of the forum and enjoy!

My author copies of Expert VB 2005 Business Objects arrived on my doorstep today, meaning that the book is in print and is being delivered to booksellers right now. This means it should be available on bookshelves and from online sellers very, very soon.

One of the most important "features" of CSLA .NET is the vibrant community that surrounds it. I am humbled by, and very appreciative of, the amount of time and effort people put into this community - helping other people more effectively learn and use the concepts from my books.

The most recent examples? Updates to several of the major community contributions for CSLA .NET 2.0:

• One Little Victory (tutorial website)
• Overview article about CSLA .NET
• ActiveObjects (CSLA .NET enhancements)
• CodeSmith templates for CSLA .NET 2.0

Permanent links to these contributions are, along with general errata and other information, at the CSLA .NET 2.0 home page: www.lhotka.net/cslanet.

Most people are aware of DotNetRocks. But fewer people are aware that the talent behind DotNetRocks has started a new venture: DNR TV. It is kind of like DotNetRocks, only with live video of the computer screen during the conversation. I recently recorded two episodes on CSLA .NET 2.0 for DNR TV:

• CSLA .NET 2.0 Part 1
• CSLA .NET 2.0 Part 2

Look for more DNR TV episodes on CSLA .NET 2.0 in the future.

Apress has made the beta ebook of my VB book available at http://www.apress.com/ecommerce/ebooklisting.html

That was fast! Just this past weekend I was in New London, CT and did a live-in-the-studio interview for dotnetrocks on CSLA .NET 2.0. Somehow I thought it would air in a week or two, but just like that it is online and ready to hear!

While I was there I also recorded two episodes for DNR TV - the new dotnetrocks initiative that includes video of the computer screen. In those programs I walked through the basic structure of an editable root object and discussed how to bind it to a Windows Forms interface. If you want a quick intro into the use of CSLA .NET these should be well worth watching when they become available.

Yea! I have completed the final proof/review of all 12 chapters of the VB book. The Apress schedule calls for the book to go to print next week, which means it should be available in the 2-3 week timeframe (given time for printing, binding, shipping and all that stuff). It is so nice to be done, done, done!!

I have sent off the final code for the book to Apress, which officially means that I have RTM code at this point. You can go here to download the release code for VB or C#.

As a bonus, I also put a test release of a WCF data portal channel up for download - you can get if from this page.

Update: Today (March 22) I recieved my author's copies of the Expert C# 2005 Business Objects book - so it is most certainly in print. What a joy it is to actually see the results of the past several months of work!!

A number of people have asked why the C# edition of my new Business Objects book is coming out before the VB edition. And yes, that is the case. The C# book should be out around the end of March, and the VB book about 2-3 weeks later.

As I've said before, I wrote the books "concurrently". Which really means I wrote one edition, knowing full well that I'd be coming through later to swap out all the code bits and change a few of the figures. It really didn't matter to me which one I did first, because I was going to have to go through every chapter to do this swapping process either way.

I did write the actual framework and sample app in VB first. The initial port to C# was handled by a fellow Magenicon, Brant Estes. Believe it or not, he had the initial compilable code done in about three days! I am thinking he didn't do a whole lot of sleeping (because he did the port by hand, not with a tool - which is awesome, because it means the code style and quality is far higher).

I could give you a fluffy (if somewhat true) answer, that the reason I did the C# book first was to ensure that the C# code was fully tested and brought entirely into line with the VB code. And there really is some truth to that. By doing the C# edition first, I was able to go through every line and recheck, tweak and enhance that code. Several large chunks of functionality were actually added or altered in C# first (during the writing process) and I back-ported them into the VB version of the code.

But the real reason is what a few people have speculated: dollars. For better or worse, the fact is that the .NET 1.0 C# book is outselling the VB book by quite a lot. Nearly 2:1 actually. Due to this, my publisher really wanted to get the C# edition out first. I initially pushed back, but I personally have no rational reason to do one before the other. I do love VB very much, but that's an irrational and emotional argument that simply doesn't hold a lot of sway...

(That said, if there was more than a couple week difference in release dates, I would have insisted on VB first, and I would have won that argument. But you must pick your battles, and it made no sense to me to have a fight with my publisher over which book came out 3 weeks before the other...)

For what its worth, porting the book is far, far easier than porting (and maintaining) the code. I've said it before, and I'm sure I'll say it again, maintaining the same code in two languages is just a pain. Converting the book was a relatively rote process of copy-paste, copy-paste, copy-paste. But converting the code means retesting, double-checking and almost certainly still missing a thing or two...

Anyway, I thought I'd blog this just to make the order of release totally clear. For better or worse, it was simply a business decision on the part of my publisher.

Here's another status update on the books.