Last year Magenic held a series of free one-day technical training events in cities around the US. These events were popular and successful, so we’re doing it again this year.

I am pleased to announce that our first event is Code Mastery Boston on May 2 – so coming up soon!

These are FREE events, open to anyone wanting to get in-depth technical information. In Boston we have two tracks: .NET software development, and SQL Server/Business Intelligence.

I am delivering the keynote speech at the event, where I’ll be talking about the state of the Microsoft development platform and overall ecosystem. We are at an exciting point in the history of Microsoft, where yet again they are an underdog forced to innovate to overcome tough competition in the form of the iPhone/iPad devices, while also dealing with the commoditization of client computing, the emergence of HTML 5 as a real development platform, and the potential of cloud computing.

Our breakout sessions cover web, cloud, service, and Windows 8 software development, and SQL Server 2012, data warehousing, and business intelligence.

This is not an event to be missed, so if you are anywhere in the northeast it will be worth your time to spend the day with us at Code Mastery!

Although Magenic has been building mobile apps for our customers like crazy, we have yet to release a mobile app directly from Magenic. That changes now with the introduction of ConferenceBuddy:

• ConferenceBuddy on iTunes App Store
• ConferenceBuddy on Android Market
• ConferenceBuddy on Windows Phone Marketplace

Conference Buddy allows you to easily:

• Use one click to join conference calls without having to remember, fumble for and enter long conference codes
• Display your upcoming conferences on an easy to view and navigate list
• Join as a leader or participant
• Store multiple conferences

One of the perks of working for Magenic is that Greg and Paul (the owners) give all employees a tech gift at the end of each year.

Past gifts have included Tivo units, Xbox consoles (with and without Kinect over time), GPS units, Kindle readers, you get the idea.

This year’s tech gift: a Kindle Fire with a one year Amazon Prime subscription.

Magenicons work hard to do great work for our customers, and this is one way the company shows its appreciation for that dedication. Thank you Greg and Paul, and thanks to all the Magenic employees that make the company a great place to work!

Do you live in the northeast (in the general Boston area)? Is your focus one of:

• .NET development
• Azure
• SharePoint
• BizTalk Server
• Mobile development (iOS/Android/Windows)
• SQL/BI

We’re hiring and would love to talk to you!

http://magenic.com/Careers.aspx

Based on comments from my previous Windows 8 Development Platform blog post (thank you to Shawn and Slavo in particular), here’s an updated Magenic diagram.

This one adds the Chakra js engine to the WinRT and desktop sides of the diagram, and it expands the detail of WinRT and Win32 to include things like COM, GDI+, and DirectX.

The result is that DirectX and GDI+ are duplicated – they are shown as a presentation technology at the top (which is valid), and as a core part of the OS APIs too (which is also valid). I’m not entirely sure that this adds clarity (or causes confusion?), but it seems like a reasonable addition to me based on Shawn’s comments.

The DirectX/GDI+ addition is directly valuable (I think), because it clearly illustrates that GDI+ is a Win32 thing, and doesn’t exist in the WinRT world.

I have updated the Magenic Code Mastery Atlanta download to include a MEF example. This is in the CslaNetWithAspMvc sample.

The direct download is http://www.codemastery.com/files/Atlanta1110.zip

At Visual Studio Live! last week I used some slides that several of us at Magenic have been working on to provide clarity around the “Windows 8” development platform, based on what we know from //Build/ 2011. I wanted to share some of these slides here.

We’re also working on a related white paper that will be online soon, and I’ll link to that when it is available.

First, is the obligatory Microsoft “boxology” diagram that generated so much controversy due to its over-simplistic design:

Although this diagram is usually found to be lacking, it did set the standard for the green/blue color scheme and overall layout of everyone else’s “boxology” diagrams – including ours.

Magenic Windows 8 Diagram

Here is the Magenic diagram that provides more detail and clarity:

Win32 (blue) is the existing Windows operating system API, and it shouldn’t be surprising that it supports existing technologies.

WinRT (green) is the new Windows operating system API, that I suspect will replace Win32 over a period of many, many years. In my mind this is absolutely necessary. Win32 is more than 16 years old, and just doesn’t provide the capabilities we want in a modern operating system. Hopefully the new WinRT API will provide these capabilities, and will last for another 15+ years.

The idea in the Magenic diagram is to clearly show the WinRT (Metro, green) and Win32 (desktop, blue) sides of the Windows 8 platform, and the various development technology stacks that can be used to build software for each operating system API.

To provide even more clarity, we have a series of highlight diagrams for various technology stacks.

The Desktop (blue)

I’ll start by walking through all the technology stacks on the desktop (blue) side of the master diagram:

• Silverlight
• WPF
• Web sites with plugins
• Web sites with pure HTML/js
• Windows Forms
• C++, MFC, ATL

Each technology maps directly from today into Windows 8.

Silverlight

Silverlight runs in Win8 in the desktop browser, and out of browser, just like it does today on Win7.

WPF

WPF runs in the Win8 desktop just like it does today in Win7.

Web sites with plugin support

Today’s web sites that use HTML, js, Flash, Silverlight, ActiveX, and other common web technologies all run in the desktop web browser. This is the same as web sites work today in Win7.

Web sites with pure HTML/js

If a web site only uses HTML, CSS, and js, then it can run in the WinRT and desktop browsers interchangeably. Microsoft clearly expects this type of web site to become more common over time, though it is interesting that a large number of existing Microsoft web sites are really only useful in the desktop browser.

Windows Forms

Windows Forms continues to run in Windows 8 on the desktop, just like it does in Win7. This isn’t surprising, given that Windows Forms is almost certainly still the dominant technology for building Windows smart client applications, even though the technology hasn’t had anything beyond bug fixes since 2005. It goes to show how stability in a platform is important, and attracts widespread use for business development.

C++, MFC, ATL

Although little business development is done with C++ anymore, this technology remains relevant for game developers, OS and device driver developers, and every now and then I encounter someone using it for business development. From my perspective, the important thing about C++ support is that my favorite games will probably continue to run on Win8 in the desktop.

WinRT (green)

Next, I’ll walk through the three technologies that support the WinRT API:

• WinRT .NET
• WinRT HTML 5
• WinRT C++

Each technology draws from existing technologies by the same names, but in each case there’s a little “twist” as you move from the Win32 to the WinRT platform.

WinRT .NET and XAML

I expect this to be the most widely used technology stack for building WinRT applications. The .NET available to WinRT applications is (I think) best thought of as being like .NET on the Windows Phone. It is basically the Silverlight subset of .NET, plus a bunch of WinRT-specific features and capabilities. The differences between Silverlight and WinRT are a bit more dramatic than with WP7, but the analogy remains quite accurate.

The XAML is very close to Silverlight and WPF, and the types of code you can write using C# and VB are very comparable to what you can write today using Silverlight.

As a preview: the white paper we’re creating at Magenic ultimately concludes that using Silverlight today provides the easiest transition to WinRT in the future. Not seamless or trivial, but practical. We also conclude that WPF can enable a WinRT transition too – especially if you limit your use of WPF and .NET to the Silverlight subset of behaviors and features.

WinRT HTML 5

Microsoft has made much of the HTML 5 technology stack for building WinRT applications. In no way are we talking about web sites, web pages, or web applications here. This is smart client development done using technologies that were previously web-focused.

For a .NET developer, the technologies map like this:

• HTML instead of XAML
• JavaScript instead of C#
• WinJS instead of the .NET BCL

In my conversations with traditional web developers, it is a brain-bending moment when I point out that there is no web server involved, and so no server-side code at all here. All the stuff that is done in ASP.NET or PHP is now done in JavaScript. From an architecture, design, and application functionality perspective, a WinRT HTML 5 app is almost, but not completely, unlike a web app.

On the positive side, if a web developer can learn and embrace the smart client architectural model, their skills with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript will carry over to this new platform. Some HTML and CSS assets, and perhaps some js assets, will carry from web development into this type of smart client development as well.

WinRT C++

Finally, C++ remains relevant on WinRT as well. This should come as no surprise, given that the Windows OS developers primarily use C++, and there’ll hopefully be games and other applications that are traditionally created using this technology.

I also suspect that Objective C apps will port to WinRT more directly through C++ than with C# or js, and (at least for my part) I hope that some of the existing iPad/iPhone apps quickly make their way onto WinRT so I can enjoy them.

Summary

Through this series of diagrams, we clearly show how today’s technologies map directly into the Win8 desktop world, still running on the Win32 API. And we show the three technology stacks that enable development of applications on the new WinRT API.

From everything we know today, it seems clear that migrating to WinRT will require effort, regardless of the technology used today, or in the Win8 desktop. Of all existing technologies, Silverlight and then WPF appear to offer the easiest migration. HTML 5, css, and js skills, along with some code assets will also migrate, but there’s a non-trivial architectural difference between web development and smart client development that shouldn’t be overlooked.

As Microsoft releases updates to the Win8 preview and moves into a beta process, I’m sure that we’ll learn more about the platform and how existing technologies map into the future. It will be interesting to see how we need to update these diagrams as Microsoft provides more information over time.

Windows 8 is exciting, and the new WinRT platform is long-overdue. I look forward to building WinRT applications in the not-to-distant future!

Magenic sent a team to Microsoft’s recent //build/ conference to learn about the new Windows 8 and WinRT platform. You can now watch a series of interviews with several of Magenic’s thought leaders to get an insight into the first impressions about Windows 8:

http://magenic.com/Portfolio/VideoBuildInterviews.aspx

This past weekend Magenic hosted a CSLA .NET Code Mastery event. A full day of free training on CSLA 4. It was a great time, and we had a room full of wonderful attendees. The content from the event is now online:

• Download the Atlanta Code Mastery content

Watch for more Magenic events in the future! (www.magenic.com)

Agenda from this past event:

1. CSLA .NET intro - Rocky Lhotka

Topic will give attendees a high level overview of CSLA as an application framework. Key moving parts of CSLA will be covered, along with answering the most important question: Why use CSLA? Roles of business objects, data portal, rules, authentication and authorization will be covered in principal.

2. Business object design - Eric Blackwell

Session will concentrate of best practices for designing business objects. Single responsibility principal and maintainability will be covered in light of using CSLA. Key aspects of good CSLA business layer will be covered in detail, including properties, rules, data portal, data access, business method and validation. Particular attention will be paid to structuring classes and relationship between classes. Designing based on use cases will be an important aspect of the session.

3. Business, validation, and authorization rules - Tim Price-Williams

This session will be a deep dive into the world or rules. Topics such as validation rules, user authentication and authorization will be covered. Distinction between validation and business rules be drawn. Important key scenarios will be covered, such as synchronous and asynchronous rules, client / server rules, object creation and save scenario from rules perspective. Custom and built-in rules be covered in detail. A pattern for typical business rule/methods will be illuminated.

4. Data portal and n-tier architecture - Rocky Lhotka

This topic will cover in details all possibilities that CSLA provides when abstracting communication channels between client and server components. Difference between local and remote data portal will be discussed. Various configuration patterns will be highlighted along with usage scenarios for each one. Multi-tier deployment as it relates to data portals will be covered, as well as using external data sources instead of CSLA data portal in client only scenarios.

5. Data access - Travis Brown

This session is all about data access technologies and how they relate to CSLA data portal access. The topic will include patterns for abstracting data access for business objects to promote maintainability. Discussion of Microsoft technologies for data access will take place as well.

6. XAML and MVVM - Sergey Barskiy

This session will concentrate on using CSLA as business layer in XAML based user interfaces. Taking Silverlight as an example, session will highlight how CSLA base classes can be used to facilitate communication between UI and business objects. Adaptability of CSLA business layer to seamlessly alter user interface based on rules be will covered. Patterns for wiring business objects for Silverlight environment will be part of the discussion.

7. ASP.NET MVC - Mitch Gordon

This session will concentrate on using CSLA as business layer in ASP.NET MVC based user interfaces. The discussion will include CSLA provided base classes that will allow developers write less code. The session will illuminate patters for maintaining authentication and authorization rules between server calls. Patterns for adapting UI based on user rights will be discussed.

Magenic is hosting a Code Mastery event in Atlanta on October 8, and I am one of the speakers.

This is a day of free CSLA 4 training, with content created and presented by people who use CSLA to build applications, and by people (Sergey and myself) who are instrumental in creating and maintaining the framework.

Sign up now, I suspect seats will go fast!

One week from today, on December 6, at the Microsoft office in Bloomington, MN you can attend a free two-track .NET developer training event: Code Mastery.

This event includes content from the Microsoft PDC 2010 event, plus custom content covering topics such as:

• Windows Phone 7 (WP7) development
• How to really use the MVVM design pattern in WPF
• SQL Azure
• Combining Scrum and TFS 2010
• Best practices for development in .NET
• and more!!

If that isn’t enough, there’s a raffle at the end of the day, with great prizes (including an MSDN Universal subscription), and our special guest Carl Franklin from .NET Rocks! will be in attendance to spice up the event.

Register now to reserve your seat!

I really enjoy working at Magenic – and that’s true even after 10 years.

We employ some really smart people, every one with passion for technology. Mostly .NET development of course, but also SharePoint, SQL Server, BizTalk Server and related technologies. And our Magenic Studios group has design skills (graphic, html/css and XAML), and a focus on usability, navigation and related skills.

We are hiring, especially in San Francisco and Boston, but also in Minneapolis, Chicago and Atlanta.

Are you a .NET developer? A XAML designer? An html/css designer? How about SharePoint development?

Consider applying for a consultant position at Magenic – it is a fun place to work with great people, often using cool technologies.

Know CSLA .NET? Looking for a job with a cool company?

Magenic is hiring CSLA developers for consulting work, so if you want to work for a great company, with some really fun and smart people, often using CSLA, you should contact one of our recruiters!

p.s. Magenic is also open to working with independent contractors through a subcontract agreement, so let us know if you are interested in that as well, thanks!

OK, this is cool. Magenic is running a Silverlight/WPF development contest, open to anyone. The primary prizes for first to third place are sizable donations to the Haiti relief effort, with respectable cash prizes for the winning teams.

Even if your visual UI design skills aren’t super-solid (like mine), all teams get an hour of Magenic Studio’s assistance, which might at least jump-start a decent looking visual layout :)

The app must use Silverlight or WPF (versions 3 or 4 are both acceptable), otherwise pretty much anything goes. Well, obviously the judges need to be able to run the app and view the code, but otherwise…

The contest starts on Feb 22 and ends March 22.

So go to the web site, read the rules, send email to get registered and start exercising those mad XAML and .NET skilz!!