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Meeting Schedule

Join us at our next meeting!  Click here to register!

Want to see a topic presented?  Want to present a topic yourself?

Schedule:
6:00 pm - 6:10 pm : Introductions
6:10 pm - 7:30 pm : Presentation               


Link to Meeting Location Information



2008
 

JANUARY 2008 MEETING

Date:
Tuesday, January 22, 2008, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Topic: 
Introduction to the Windows Live Platform

At the core of Web 2.0 is the ability to build communities and leverage global user networks to create compelling new applications that are sticky and deliver value to users. Gone are the days of the stand-alone disconnected application. The Windows Live platform is THE platform for driving user engagement and community building in your applications.

Using development tools you are already familiar with, you can easily deliver rich media experiences within your site, reach and build communities, and allow your users to communicate and stay connected of your application experience. Windows Live also enables your users to find and locate information, users, and services in the context of your application.

Join us for an overview of these services and tips on how to start leveraging the platform in your own applications.

Presented by: Clint Edmonson, Architect Evangelist,  Microsoft Corporation

http://www.notsotrivial.net
 

Architects! Architects! Architects! It’s all about the architects! Although educated as a Mechanical Engineer, Clint has spent his entire 15 year career in software development preparing for his role as an Architect Evangelist. His experiences span many industries including utilities, education, call centers, construction, and beer brewing. When not delivering in depth discourses on software layering, he enjoys studying game design and 3d game engine architecture.


FEBRUARY 2008 MEETING

Date:
Tuesday, February 26, 2008, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Topic:  ASP.NET MVC Framework Overview

If you are looking to build your web applications using a MVC approach, We think you'll find this new ASP.NET MVC Framework option very clean and easy to use.  It will enable you to easily maintain separation of concerns in your applications, as well as facilitate clean testing and TDD.  Come learn about it!!!

Presented by:  Doug Butscher, Jeff Julian, and John Alexander

 

Doug has served as the Chief Technology Officer for the last two years and as Programming Manager for the last five years, at the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States. Based on his unique blend of strategic and implementation level experience, Doug has unique insight into the I.T. challenges faced in both the boardroom and developer arenas. An executive with strong development skills, he has the ability to act as liaison between the business decision makers and technical decision makers, as well as being the key implementer and designer in the organization.

 

Jeff Julian is a Managing Partner with AJISoftware Inc, a Kansas City-based Microsoft partner and software consulting firm.  His ability to solve business challenges and passion for the software community was evident when Microsoft awarded him the Most Valuable Professional award in the area of XML for four years in a row and most recently SharePoint 2007.  Jeff is also the founder of the largest blogging site of Microsoft professionals named Geekswithblogs.net.  Recently, Jeff was an author on the upcoming Wrox title, SharePoint 20007 Development.  You may contact Jeff by email at jeff@ajisoftware.com.

 

Consultant, Author, and Coach John Alexander is a Managing Partner with AJISoftware Inc, a Kansas City-based Microsoft partner and software consulting firm. He is a recognized Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT), Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD), has served as the Microsoft Regional Director for the Kansas City Region for the last ten years and is an Microsoft MVP for Team System.  Experienced in the delivery of scalable, stable, and open enterprise-level .NET Web applications, John is an industry recognized trainer, consultant, speaker and writer on the Microsoft .NET vision and implementation at both the technical and business decision maker level. He has also coached several teams of developers, including one that was directly responsible for placing that organization on CIO Magazine's Agile 100 List. You can reach john at john@ajisoftware.com.


MARCH 2008 MEETING

Date:
Tuesday, March 25, 2008, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Topic:  Overview of Visual Studio 2008 (Food Provided by Modis)

Join us after the Microsoft Launch Event of Visual Studio 2008 as we discuss more topics about the product and answer questions that may have come up during the event. 


Presented by:  Doug Butscher and Jeff Julian
 

Jeff Julian is a Managing Partner with AJI Software Inc, a Kansas City-based Microsoft partner and software consulting firm.  His ability to solve business challenges and passion for the software community was evident when Microsoft awarded him the Most Valuable Professional award in the area of Office SharePoint Server.  Jeff is also the founder of the largest blogging site of Microsoft professionals named Geekswithblogs.net.  Recently, Jeff was an author on the Wrox title, SharePoint 20007 Development.  You may contact Jeff by email at jeff@ajisoftware.com.

 

Doug has served as the Chief Technology Officer for the last two years and as Programming Manager for the last five years, at the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States. Based on his unique blend of strategic and implementation level experience, Doug has unique insight into the I.T. challenges faced in both the boardroom and developer arenas. An executive with strong development skills, he has the ability to act as liaison between the business decision makers and technical decision makers, as well as being the key implementer and designer in the organization.

 

Sponsor:  Modis, http://www.modisit.com/


MAY 2008 MEETING

Date:
Tuesday, May 27, 2008, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Topic: 
Coders 4 Charities Overview and Recap

Come get an understanding of what took place at the 1st annual Coders 4 Charities event!   Coders For Charities is a 3-day charity event that pairs charities and local software developers. The last event took place April 25-27, 2008 at Centriq Training in Leawood, KS. Charities often do not have the funds to implement a new website, intranet or database solution. Software developers often do not volunteer for charities because their skills do not apply. This event is the perfect marriage of these two needs; software developers accepting the challenge by volunteering their time to help charities, who in turn can better serve their community though the latest technology!

Presented by: the Coders 4 Charities Team


JUNE 2008 MEETING

Date:
Tuesday, June 24, 2008, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Topic: 
TDD Using C#
 

Test-Driven development is a methodology that can help developers write solid, well-designed code. Very few developers practice it because very few understand how it works and how to make it work for them. We will discuss what TDD is, why developers would want to use it, and the basics of how to actually do it using Visual Studio 2008, MS Test and C# 3.0. Come find out what Red, Green, Refactor is all about and why you should care.

 

Presented by: Lee Brandt


Lee is a .NET Solutions Architect for Examinetics, Inc. int Overland Park, Kansas. Lee has been programming professionally for over 10 years and developing solutions in .NET and C# since the early beta releases in 2000. He is an advocate for test-driven development, design patterns and agile methodologies. Lee spends most of his free time reading about programming, discussing programming and actually writing code. Any time leftover is spent with his wife Stacey and their dog Frieda.


2007

JANUARY
2007 MEETING

Date:
Tuesday, January 23, 2007, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Topic:  .netTiers

.netTiers is an open source code generation tool. Simply point the .netTiers CodeSmith Tools template at your SQL Server database and watch it generate your application in minutes. Its strength is its ability to take a good database design and create a generated solution to model your database.

All you have left to do is fill in the business rules, presentation logic and UI. .netTiers uses the provider model, making it easier to swap out data sources. Its flexibility and power make it an easy way to get your application written quickly with solid reliable code. While CodeSmith Tools requires a purchase, .netTiers is free, and has a great community of developers who are continually adding to its functionality.

Presented by: Kendall Bingham

Kendall is an Application Developer at Freightquote.com, a Kansas City based company providing freight transportation management to small businesses. Prior to joining FreightQuote he was the Lead Developer at IBS Software, creating point of sale applications for the Auto Glass Industry since 1995.


MARCH 2007 MEETING

Date:
Tuesday, March 27, 2007, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Topic:  Windows Workflow Foundation

Windows Workflow Foundation is the programming model, engine and tools for quickly building workflow enabled applications on Windows. It consists of a .NET Framework version 3.0 (formerly WinFX) namespace, an in-process workflow engine, and designers for Visual Studio 2005. Windows Workflow Foundation is available for both client and server versions of Windows. Windows Workflow Foundation includes support for both system workflow and human workflow across a wide range of scenarios including: workflow within line of business applications, user interface page-flow, document-centric workflow, human workflow, composite workflow for service oriented applications, business rule driven workflow and workflow for systems management.

Presented by: John Alexander

Consultant, Author, and Coach John Alexander is a recognized Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT), Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD), and has served as the Microsoft Regional Director for the Kansas City Region for the last seven years. Experienced in the delivery of scalable, stable, and open enterprise-level .NET Web applications, John is an industry recognized trainer, consultant, speaker and writer on the Microsoft .NET vision and implementation at both the technical and business decision maker level. He has also coached several teams of developers, including one that was directly responsible for placing that organization on CIO Magazine's Agile 100 List.  You can reach john at john@alexanderjulian.net.

 

John is a Managing Partner with Alexander & Julian Inc (based in Kansas City) , a Microsoft Partner specializing in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2007 and custom .Net development.  Known for excellence in software delivery, Alexander & Julian prides itself on solving business challenges with innovative solutions.

 

APRIL 2007 MEETING

Date:
Tuesday, April 24, 2007, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Topic:  Introduction to Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)

 

The Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) is Microsoft's unified framework for building secure, reliable, transacted, and interoperable distributed applications. In this session we will begin with a high-level overview of the WCF architecture and its key concepts. Then we will learn how to build and consume simple WCF services. After attending this session you will be able to start creating your own WCF enabled applications.

Presented by: Jeff Julian

Jeff is a Principal Consultant with Alexander & Julian Inc, a Kansas City-based Microsoft partner and software consulting firm.  His ability to solve business challenges and passion for the software community was evident when Microsoft awarded him the Most Valuable Professional award in the area of XML for four years in a row.  Jeff is also the founder of the largest blogging site of Microsoft professionals named Geekswithblogs.net.  Recently, Jeff was an author on the upcoming Wrox title, SharePoint 20007 Development.  You may contact Jeff by email at jeff@alexanderjulian.net



MAY 2007 MEETING

Date:
Tuesday, May 22, 2007, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM


Topic:
  Introduction to Web Application Testing with WatiN
 

Have you been enjoying the benefits of TDD, but haven't found a way to bring that feeling to UI testing? Well if you are working on the web there is a solution. Web Application Testing in .Net. We will be reviewing unit testing in general, but will quickly dive into using WatiN to drive a browser, in order to test the UI of our web site.

Presented by: Dru Sellers

Dru is the lead developer for chinaleads.net. He loves cornflakes and improving code with inversion of control containers. While playing (er...working) at China Leads, He has learned alot about programming and enjoys helping people write better software as a tribute to all the people that have helped him.

 

JUNE 2007 MEETING

Date:
Tuesday, June 26, 2007, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM


Topic:
 
Microsoft Technology Panel

Join us as we discuss upcoming Microsoft technologies with local and regional experts covering the areas of Architecture, SQL Server 2008, SharePoint 2007, LINQ, .NET 3.0, and much more.  This event will be driven by your participation so be sure to bring your questions.  Food will be provided by our sponsor Robert Half Technologies.

 

Panelists:
 

Jeff Julian, AJI Software
John Alexander, AJI Software
Bill Graziano, ClearData Consulting, Inc.
Denny Boynton, Microsoft

 


JULY 2007 MEETING

Date:
Tuesday, July 24, 2007, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM


Topic:
 Sharepoint!!!!


What is SharePoint and why should you care? Come to this presentation to learn what SharePoint is all about and what it brings to the table for your organization. You’ll walk away with an understanding of what you will get in out of the box in Office SharePoint Server 2007. Finally, you’ll also learn how your development team can customize this extremely extensible platform to meet your business requirements or to use it as the framework for custom applications.

Presented by: John Alexander and Jeff Julian, AJI Software

Consultant, Author, and Coach John Alexander is a recognized Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT), Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD), and has served as the Microsoft Regional Director for the Kansas City Region for the last nine years. Experienced in the delivery of scalable, stable, and open enterprise-level .NET Web applications, John is an industry recognized trainer, consultant, speaker and writer on the Microsoft .NET vision and implementation at both the technical and business decision maker level. He has also coached several teams of developers, including one that was directly responsible for placing that organization on CIO Magazine's Agile 100 List. You can reach john at john@ajisoftware.com.

Jeff Julian is an accomplished software consultant focused on Microsoft® technologies. His ability to solve business challenges and passion for the software community was evident when Microsoft awarded him the Most Valuable Professional award in the area of XML for four years in a row. Jeff is also the founder of the largest blogging site of Microsoft professionals named Geekswithblogs.net.

Recently, Jeff was an author on the recently released Wrox title, Professional SharePoint 20007 Development. You may contact Jeff by email at jeff@ajisoftware.com.

AJI Software (based in Kansas City) is a Microsoft Certified Partner specializing in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2007, Visual Studio Team System, and custom .Net development. Known for excellence in software delivery, AJI Software prides itself on solving business challenges with innovative solutions.


AUGUST 2007 MEETING

Date:
Tuesday, August 28, 2007, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

5:30 - 6:00 pm Food - **** Sponsored by Payless ShoeSource IT ****

Topic: .NET Testing
 

Dr. McCaffrey is a leading proponent of the use of Lightweight Software Test Automation harnesses and a critic of the use of commercial software test automation frameworks. McCaffrey argues that in most software development scenarios, lightweight automation is more flexible, less costly, and produces higher quality results than commercial test frameworks. The use of lightweight automation is often criticized by proponents of Open Source frameworks. McCaffrey is the author of .NET Test Automation Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach

 

Presented by: Dr. James McCaffrey

 

Dr. James McCaffrey works for Volt Information Sciences, Inc., where he manages technical training for software engineers working at Microsoft's Redmond, Washington campus. He has worked on several Microsoft products including Internet Explorer, Exchange Server, and MSN Search. James has a doctorate from the University of Southern California, an M.S. in Information Systems from Hawaii Pacific University, a B.A. in Mathematics from California State University at Fullerton, and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of California at Irvine. James is a Contributing Editor for Microsoft MSDN Magazine and is the author of ".NET Test Automation Recipes" (Apress, 2006). He can be reached at jmccaffrey@volt.com or v-jammc@microsoft.com.


SEPTEMBER 2007 MEETING

Date:
Tuesday, September 25, 2007, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

5:30 - 6:00 pm Food - **** Sponsored by Modis ****

Topic: Intro to PowerShell

Windows PowerShell is Microsoft's next generation shell environment and scripting language. You can think of PowerShell as a dramatic upgrade to the old cmd.exe command shell and .BAT files.  This talk will get you up to speed with PowerShell by giving you an overview of when and why you'd want to use PowerShell, showing you how to use PowerShell in interactive mode, explaining how to write and execute PowerShell scripts, and demonstrating how PowerShell works with the .NET Framework.

Presented by: Russell Bail, the Caffeinated Coder (http://geekswithblogs.net/coredump/Default.aspx)


OCTOBER 2007 MEETING

Date:
Tuesday, October 23, 2007, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Topic:  WPF and You…

What is the Windows Presentation Foundation and why should you care? The Microsoft Windows Presentation Foundation provides the foundation for building applications and high fidelity experiences in Windows Vista, blending together application UI, documents, and media content, while exploiting the full power of your computer.  See an application that takes advantage of the new graphics capabilities of WPF while harnessing the power of the provider model.  The provider pattern or model can be used to facilitate easier testing and ease of switching out resources as needed. Come see a walkthrough of this as an added bonus!

Presented by: Doug Butscher

Doug has served as the Chief Technology Officer for the last two years and as Programming Manager for the last five years, at the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States. Based on his unique blend of strategic and implementation level experience, Doug has unique insight into the I.T. challenges faced in both the boardroom and developer arenas. An executive with strong development skills, he has the ability to act as liaison between the business decision makers and technical decision makers, as well as being the key implementer and designer in the organization.


NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER 2007 MEETINGS <combined>

Visual Studio 2008 Install Fest & Holiday Party!
http://tinyurl.com/2royzt

 



2006

JANUARY 2006 MEETING

Download the session materials

Date:
Tuesday, January 24, 2006, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Topic: 
Generics and You: An Introduction

Generic classes and methods combine reusability, type safety and efficiency in a way that their non-generic counterparts cannot. Generics are most commonly used with collections and the methods that operate on them. Version 2.0 of the .NET Framework class library provides a new namespace, System.Collections.Generic, which contains several new generic-based collection classes. It is recommended that all applications that target Version 2.0 use the new generic collection classes instead of the older non-generic counterparts such as ArrayList.   Given that, join us for an exploration into this exciting new functionality and learn how you can take advantage of it for happier coding...

Presented by: John Alexander and Jeff Julian

John Alexander
John is the .NET Practice Manager with Visionpace a Kansas City-based Microsoft Partner and software consulting firm.
John has 19 Microsoft certifications including Microsoft Certified Solution Developer and Microsoft Certified Trainer and has written Microsoft Official Curriculum. John is an industry recognized trainer, consultant, speaker and writer on the Microsoft .NET vision and implementation at both the technical and business decision maker level.

Some of John's recent written efforts include (Co-Author), OOP: Building Reusable Components with Visual Basic.NET, Microsoft Press, October 2002 and (Author), Web Application Development with Visual Basic.NET and ASP.NET, John Wiley & Sons, April 2002.

In addition, John has been nominated and chosen by Microsoft for the fifth straight year as a Microsoft Regional Director. Regional Directors aren't Microsoft employees--they're independent developers, architects, trainers, and other professionals who provide a vital link between Microsoft and the developer community.


Jeff Julian
Jeff is a Senior Consultant with Visionpace, a Kansas City-based Microsoft Partner and software consulting firm. Jeff works in the Visionpace .NET Practice and is a Microsoft MVP in XML. He is an INETA volunteer and co-leader of the Kansas City .NET User Group. He has written a number of articles and speaks at conferences and user groups around the country. You can contact Jeff by email at jjulian@Visionpace.com

 

FEBRUARY 2006 MEETING

Date: Tuesday, February 28, 2006, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Topic:  Build Automation and Continuous Integration

Creating a deployable build usually requires much more than simply compiling an application. There are almost always other steps involved such as integrating and testing the latest code, running unit tests, setting version numbers, updating configuration settings, and deploying to a Test or Staging server. In this presentation, Brian will demonstrate using NAnt, MSBuild, and CruiseControl.Net to automate a build, continually integrate/test the application, and schedule daily builds.


Presented by:
Brian Muirhead

Brian is a Senior Consultant with Visionpace, a Kansas City-based Microsoft Gold Partner and software consulting firm. Brian works in the Visionpace .NET Practice. You can contact Brian by email at bmuirhead@Visionpace.com

 

MARCH 2006 MEETING

Date: Tuesday, March 28, 2006, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Topic: Hitchhiker’s Guide to Visual Studio and SQL Server 2005—Connecting

This “mostly demo” talk walks through code examples drawn from his latest book, Bill guides you through the maze of issues you’ll face as you connect to, manage and monitor SQL Server instances—including the new SQL Express instance. He’ll show the new utilities and code used to configure SQL Server 2005 including demonstrations of code used to create the new SqlConnectionStringBuilder, how to discover data source instances as well as start, stop, pause and continue these instances as well as how to configure, manage and monitor the connection pool using new 2.0 Framework classes. Bill will also show you how to capture and display real-time operational statistics including data from the new performance counters.

Presented by: INETA speaker: Bill Vaughn

William (Bill) Vaughn is an industry-recognized author, mentor and subject-matter expert on Visual Studio, SQL Server, Reporting Services and data access interfaces. He’s worked in the computer industry for over thirty years—working with mainframe, minicomputer and personal computer systems as a developer, manager, trainer, marketer, support specialist, writer and publisher. In 2000, after 14 years at Microsoft, Bill stepped away to work on his books, mentoring and independent training seminars. He’s written six editions of the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to Visual Basic and SQL Server” (working on the 7th edition) and two editions of “ADO.NET and ADO Examples and Best Practices for Visual Basic (and C#) Programmers”. He and Peter Blackburn also wrote the best-selling and critically acclaimed “Hitchhiker’s Guide to SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services”. Bill is a top-rated speaker and frequents conferences all over the world including VSLive, Developer/SQL Connections, DevTeach and VBug. He’s also written a wealth of articles for magazines such as SQL Server Magazine, Visual Basic Programmer’s Journal, .NET Magazine and many others as well as a bi-weekly editorial on developer issues for Processor magazine. Bill spends considerable time answering questions on the data-centric public newsgroups and speaking at user group meetings in Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and at his speaking venues all over the world. Bill was added to the INETA speaker’s list this fall. He’s available for consulting, mentoring or custom training. See www.betav.com or www.betav.com\blog\billva.


APRIL 2006 MEETING

Date: Tuesday, April 25, 2006, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Topic: .NET Provider Model

Download the session materials

More and more times we find ourselves needing a well-defined API, but with the flexibility of switching between implementations. A perfect example of the issue would be the choice of data provider you need for certain functionality. The project currently uses a particular source for the data, but the next version will be using something else. The Provider Model used by ASP.NET allows us to switch out or extend functionality of the previous API with ease. Because the model is programmed against using an abstract base API, the developer does not have to worry about what the derived class is, but how it will be implemented. Join us as we discuss this model and walk through samples of different uses of the pattern.

Presented by: Jeff Julian, Alexander & Julian, Inc.


MAY
2006 MEETING

Date: Tuesday, May 23, 2006, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Topic: Introduction to AJAX.Net

 

Abstract: This discussion will be about AJAX.net and Google Maps (if time)  AJAX.net allows developers to communicate between client side JavaScript and server side ASP.net with out a page refresh.  This "mostly demo" talk will show how to set up an AJAX site from scratch, how to enable existing applications to use AJAX and how to pass .net business objects between ASP and JavaScript.  If there is time, we will dig into the Google Maps API and show how to create a point on the map, how to populate the InfoWindow and how to call a SQL Server database in ASP.net, pass the data via AJAX and display the points on the map...all with out a page refresh.

 

 

Presented by:  Tim Hibbard
 

Tim is a Software Architect for EnGraph out of Lawrence, KS.  Tim is best know for his Where's Tim site (http://followtim.com).  He has been programming professionally for 5 years and spends most of his time in VB.net, ASP.net, AJAX.net, ClickOnce, Google Maps and SQL Server.  Tim has never spoken in front of his peers, so be gentle.

 

JUNE 2006 MEETING

Read Event Flyer - 1
Read Event Flyer - 2

Date: Tuesday, June 27, 2006, 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Bring your laptop and come early if you need assistance installing the InnerWorkings add-in for Visual Studio

If you don’t have Visual Studio 2005 already installed on your laptop, install the free Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition (and only this version) at http://msdn.microsoft.com/express

Topic: Hack or Be Hacked: Coding Shoot-Out

 

Presented by:  InnerWorkings and Microsoft

Don’t miss this Microsoft and InnerWorkings event! You’ll see a live security coding showdown pitting Microsoft’s Developer Evangelist, Steve Loethen, (aka ‘Snake’) against a lone developer (aka Kid-Coder) to uphold justice and security for all.

 

‘Snake’, a cool web hacker with nothing on his hands but time, his mom’s VISA ™ card and the cold leather of his mouse pad, will attempt to hack into what could easily be your own company’s website, and rustle away with something more precious than gold: your customer database!

 

Just by registering you will be entered into a drawing to win a $200 Amazon.com gift certificate at the event.  

(You need not be present to win!)

To register, please
Click here

The ‘shoot-out’ will be followed by a FREE 1-hour hands-on lab covering several types of security hacks commonly used to deny service and steal data.  You will be provided with the following free tasks each representing at least 20 minutes of coding time:

Ø      Input validation

Ø      SQL injection

Ø      Denial of service

Ø      Canonicalization

Ø      View state attacks

Ø      Cross site scripting

 

After the event you will be challenged to solve the tasks and score up to 3 points each or 18 total points.  InnerWorkings will maintain a leader board for one week after the event and the winner will earn a free copy of Visual Studio 2005 Professional courtesy of Microsoft.


JULY 2006 MEETING

Date: Wednesday, July 26, 2006, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Topic:
Hitting the Ground Running with Custom Webcontrols

The development of custom web controls is a .NET technology that is still underused even though .NET has been around for over three years now. Many programmers use the built-in controls on a daily basis but have never explored the world of creating their own, and how it can bring a new level of object-oriented programming to the UI layer. It is an area of .NET development that has been dominated by 3rd party tool vendors while remaining untouched by a great deal of the general community. This presentation will give you an introduction to the world of custom control development for ASP.NET by explaining the theories and concepts behind them, then continue on by actually building a full-featured web server control.  The target audience for this lecture is ASP.NET programmers with a decent understanding of ASP.NET’s architecture using the out-of-the-box web controls that Visual Studio ships with. This talk is targeted at ASP.NET 2.0 but most material applies to ASP.NET 1.1 as well.

Presented by INETA speaker: Miquel Castro

Miguel Castro is an independent consultant and trainer who specializes in building .NET solutions. He is a Microsoft MVP, INETA Speaker, VSLive Conference Speaker, contributor to CoDe Magazine and DevSource.com, as well as an active blogger, and has been a software developer for over 20 years. With a Microsoft background that goes all the way back to VB 1.0 (and QuickBasic in fact), Miguel jumped on .NET as soon as the first public Beta was released and has provided .NET solutions for clients in a variety of industries, including Financial Markets, Pharmaceuticals, Trucking, Insurance, Food Distribution, and others.  He considers himself to be a .NET Developer and Architect and has equal love for both Visual Basic and C#.  Miguel has spoken at numerous user groups and code camps around the country, where he focuses on preaching and evangelizing the world of custom WebControl development, with hopes of increasing the numbers that tackle this underused technology.  He has also been featured on the Internet Radio Talk Show, .NET, the two debut episodes of the .NET Rocks-TV, Microsoft’s ARCast (Architecture Podcast), and other trade-related Internet shows.  Miguel contributes a lot of the components he develops to the development community which can be found along with his blog at http://www.dotnetdude.com. He currently resides in Lincoln Park, NJ with his wife Elena and his daughter Victoria


AUGUST
2006 MEETING

Date: Tuesday, August 22, 2006, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Topic: Patterns are for Software too, not just Quilts

This presentation will cover an introduction to Software Pattern concepts. We will focus on the Singleton, Adapter and Factory patterns and how the pattern movement can make us all better programmers in general.

Presented by: Dru Sellers

Dru is the lead developer for www.chinaleads.net. He loves cornflakes and improving code with inversion of control containers. While playing (er...working) at China Leads, he has learned a lot about programming and enjoys helping people write better software as a tribute to all the people that have helped him.


SEPTEMBER 2006 MEETING

Session Downloads

Date:
Tuesday, September 26, 2006, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM


Topic:
Test-Driven Development in .NET

Test Driven Development is a development practice that facilitates the design process while providing a safety net for changes in code. It is a foundation for most Agile methodologies that can dramatically improve the quality and deliverability of applications.

This presentation will take you through the process of writing tests first, driving the design and implementation of your application code. You will learn to implement what is needed and avoid the overhead of writing unnecessary code. You will gain an understanding of how to identify and improve unclear and unclean code. In short, you will move beyond writing code “that works” to writing more maintainable code that works well.

 

Presented by: Jim Erwin

Jim Erwin is a senior consultant with Visionpace in Kansas City. He works in a variety of industries helping clients with their development projects using a number of development tools. Included with Jim's .NET development and developer coaching efforts is his focus on a Test-Driven approach to enable an agile development model.  Jim has presented at conferences and user groups on topics including .NET and Test-Driven Development and also leads a Test-Driven .NET Development workshop in Kansas City.  He has lead a developer community effort for Test-Driven Development including building an open-source unit testing tool.  He can be reached at jerwin@visionpace.com.



OCTOBER
2006 MEETING

Arrive by 5:30 for FREE BBQ supplied by RiverPoint!

Date: Tuesday, October 24, 2006, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Topic: Implementing Process - Visual Studio 2005 Team System Overview

Software projects fail for a variety of reasons. Most of the difficulties are not due to technology, but due to lack of visibility and predictability. Microsoft's Visual Studio 2005 Team System offers tools to help address these challenges and will impact how applications are designed, developed, tested, and deployed. Visual Studio 2005 Team System offers advanced application lifecycle management tools and processes that will assist organizations in delivering their solutions on time and under budget. In this session, you will get an overview of these new tools and gain an insight into Microsoft's approach to this market.

Presented by: INETA Speaker, Chris Menegay

Chris is a Development Process Consultant for Notion Solutions, Inc., a consulting and training firm specializing in software development process and Visual Studio Team System. He has been working with Visual Studio Team System full-time since late 2004. Chris has obtained a broad understanding of information technology by sharing best practices with the client companies he has worked with over the past 10 years. As a consultant, he has served in many different roles in the software development process. Chris has been a project manager, analyst, architect, developer, and tester. This broad background has given him insight into not only the technical challenges that face software projects, but the procedural challenges as well. Chris has worked with a variety of companies ranging in size from 50 employees up to Fortune 500 companies. He has written white papers and articles on Team System for MSDN and MSDN Magazine. Chris is a Microsoft MVP (Team System), a Microsoft Regional Director and a member of the INETA Speakers Bureau.



NOVEMBER 2006 MEETING

Date: Tuesday, November 28, 2006, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Topic: NHibernate

Forget stored procedures, lets build an application today. Tired of maintaining mounds of SQL statements? Harness the power of NHibernate and say good bye to boiler plate SQL and hello to productivity. That is what we will accomplish, during my presentation we will build and develop a simple business model demonstrating the power of object relational mappers.

Presented by: Dru Sellers

Dru is a passionate student of software and its development. He has implemented multi-lingual systems, helped with the development of large open source projects, and has an intense interest in the development of open data applications. He loves using open source software when it can help and would love to hear about any projects you are working on.



2005

JANUARY 2005 MEETING

Date: Tuesday, January 25, 2005, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Topic: 
Implementing Design Patterns in C#
Patterns – particularly Design Patterns – are now vogue with Managed Code developers. Why are Patterns important, and how to you leverage them? When should you use one pattern over another – and more important – how do you evaluate one .NET implementation of a particular pattern in respect to others? In this session, you’ll learn how Patterns in general have become a lingua franca for software developers who want to develop a common vocabulary of Best Practices in a standardized fashion. You’ll also learn how Design Patterns embody best practices for design and architecture, and we’ll examine a number of the key patterns originally defined by the Gang of Four (GoF) (such as Façade, Builder, Singleton, Adapter, Bridge and Abstract Factory). Finally, we’ll evaluate several competing C# implementations of these Patterns, how to best use features of the language when implementing them, and learn how where the CLR can affect the success of a particular Pattern implementation.

Presented by: Richard Hale Shaw

Richard is a Microsoft MVP for C#, and a consultant and lecturer who focuses on Managed Code development of distributed systems with the C# Language and the .NET Framework. He's a frequent INETA speaker (www.ineta.org), Chair of C# Live (www.vslive.com), and the CEO of the Richard Hale Shaw Group (http://www.RichardHaleShawGroup.com). Richard  taught himself to program in C (and later, C++) in 1982, and began writing and speaking on contemporary software development topics as a contributing editor to PC Magazine and Microsoft Systems Journal (now MSDN Magazine) in 1988. He’s consulted to 1000s of developers on C++, MFC, COM, ATL, .NET and C#, and authored the .NET BootCamp (a 5-day hands-on course), the .NET Patterns & Practices BootCamp, and the Advanced .NET BootCamp. Over the years, Richard has created and organized a number of developer events (e.g., the Visual C++ Conference). In the Boston area, he’s also known as a groove bass player specializing in Classic Soul and Funk, as well as light Jazz.

http://www.richardhaleshawgroup.com

Session Downloads
Item: DesignPatternsInCSharp.zip
Password: manuslegitblent9

 

FEBRUARY 2005 MEETING

Date: Tuesday, February 22, 2005, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Topic:  KC .NET User Group Planning Meeting - led by John Alexander and Jeff Julian

Agenda:
Discuss the results of the recent KC .NET User Group Survey and brainstorm ideas to continue the growth and improvement of the group.
 

MARCH 2005 MEETING

Date: Tuesday, March 22, 2005, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Topic:
  New Features of SQL Server 2005 For Developers
This talk will highlight some of the new features of SQL Server 2005 code-named "Yukon". It will focus on developer topics including

  • T-SQL Common Table Expressions
  • New Ranking functions
  • APPLY statement
  • PIVOT statement
  • DDL Triggers
  • Using C# or Visual Basic to write stored procedures and user defined functions

Presented by: Bill Graziano
Bill Graziano is a Microsoft SQL Server MVP. He is a partner in ClearData Consulting (
www.cleardata.biz) specializing in SQL Server database administration and application development. Bill is a founder of SQLTeam.com, a web site for SQL Server professionals. Bill has taught classes in SQL Server, Visual Basic, MSF and Windows Server. Bill is a regular presenter at the Kansas City SQL Server users group and the nationwide PASS SQL Server Conference. Bill is based in Kansas City, Missouri.



APRIL
2005 MEETING

Date: Tuesday, April 26, 2005, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Topic:  Deploying .NET Applications
This session begins with
the basics of No Touch Deployment, and then goes into detail on using Setup and Deployment projects to create MSI installers for apps of various types including WinForms apps, Web apps, Windows Services, and Enterprise Service components. Brian will show several examples of creating custom installer classes with .NET code that you can easily plug in as custom actions in your installers to do things like create and populate databases and register and configure Enterprise Service components.

Presented by:
 Brian Noyes
Brian is a software architect with IDesign, Inc., a .NET Architecture and development consulting firm. He has published over 40 articles in MSDN Magazine, asp.netPRO, C#Pro, Visual Studio Magazine, .NET Magazine, and Visual C++ Developers Journal (visit http://www.idesign.net for a list of published articles). He was a contributing author to “Teach Yourself DirectX 7 in 24 Hours”, Sams publishing, and authored “.NET and COM: Working Together”, an e-Book by MightyWords press.  He has spoken at VSLive!, .NET Nirvana II, .NET Face to Face, Visual Studio Connections and
 numerous .NET User’s groups and is a speaker on the INETA Speaker’s Bureau.




MAY
2005 MEETING -- DOWNLOAD PRESENTATION MATERIALS

Date: Tuesday, May 17, 2005, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Topic:  What's new in ASP.NET 2.0
ASP.NET 2.0 builds on the power of ASP.NET 1, introducing a host of new controls and features that make it even easier to write powerful web based applications. This presentation attempts to give you an idea of what some of the new features of ASP.NET 2.0 are, and how you can leverage them in building your applications. We will cover a wide range of improvements from new Data Providers to page design elements such as Master Pages, Cross Page post and validation groups. We will talk about some of the new built in administration tools, and the new ASP.NET compilation model. Finally we will look at the new built in out-of-band call-back features.

Presented by: Devin Rader
Devin Rader is an Infragistics Technology Evangelist and is responsible for authoring Infragistics reference applications and.NET technology articles, as well as the world-wide delivery of Infragistics’ technology demonstrations. Devin is an active member and leader for the International .NET Association (INETA), has served as the sole technical editor for numerous works and is also a contributing author for the soon to be published ASP.NET 2.0 Professional.


JUNE
2005 MEETING

Date: Tuesday, June 28, 2005, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Topic:  Code Generation in .NET
Brian will demonstrate how you can turbo-charge your productivity by using code generation as part of your development process. We will look at what code generation is, how you can best utilize code generation, and what pitfalls to watch out for. Most samples will focus on using Codesmith, one of the leading code generation tools on the market today. Eric Smith, the creator of Codesmith has donated five licenses for Codesmith 3.0 Professional (a $399 value) for us to give away after the presentation. Come on out and learn how you can produce high quality code fast!

Presented by: Brian Muirhead
Brian focuses on Microsoft-based solutions working with Fortune 500 companies, municipal governments, and non-profit organizations. For the last several years he has focused exclusively on .Net and SQL Server and is currently working with Euronet Worldwide, the world's largest service provider for prepaid products, such as mobile airtime, long distance and debit cards.


JULY
2005 MEETING

Date: Tuesday, July 26, 2005, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Topic: 
What I Wish Developers Knew About SQL Server

As an independent contractor I see many different development projects and software packages that use SQL Server.  This presentation covers the most common mistakes I see in SQL Server development.  It will also provide a variety of tips to improve the development process.  The session will cover database application development including database design basics, database builds during development and version control.  It will cover writing good queries, locking, set-based processing, stored procedure basics, connecting to SQL Server, simple administration and basic security.  All topics will focus on the most common mistakes rather than providing a comprehensive overview of each topic.

Presented by: Bill Graziano
Bill Graziano is a Microsoft SQL Server MVP. He is a partner in ClearData Consulting (
www.cleardata.biz) specializing in SQL Server database administration and application development. Bill is a founder of SQLTeam.com, a web site for SQL Server professionals. Bill has taught classes in SQL Server, Visual Basic, MSF and Windows Server. Bill is a regular presenter at the Kansas City SQL Server users group and the nationwide PASS SQL Server Conference. Bill is based in Kansas City, Missouri.



AUGUST
2005 MEETING

Date: Tuesday, August 23, 2005, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Topic: 
Implementing a Message-Oriented Architecture

This wide-ranging talk covers the design and implementation of a message-oriented, data-driven multi-tier Web application using the ASP.NET framework. Live code examples will include designing a user-friendly interface that includes device-independent input validation services; creating a middle-tier component library to access back-end databases; and implementing a serializable message-oriented architecture that provides an abstract layer to accommodate most any version and technology changes without breaking down-stream client applications.

Additional material covered will include adding security features to support user login services and creating an XML-Web Service interface to expose your application to external, non-Windows platforms.

Presented by: Mike Amundsen

An internationally known author and lecturer, Mike Amundsen travels throughout the United States and Europe speaking and teaching on a wide range of topics including .NET, the Internet, team development & leadership, and other subjects.

He has more than a dozen books to his credit. His most popular titles are Teach Yourself Database Programming with Visual Basic in 21 Days, 3rd Ed. and Using Visual InterDev. Mike's most recent book covers Web development using Microsoft's .NET Framework called ASP.NET for Developers. 

When he is not working, Mike spends time with his wife and three children at their home in Kentucky, USA.

Download Session Materials
 


SEPTEMBER
2005 MEETING

Date: Tuesday, September 27, 2005, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Topic: 
Smart Client Deployment with ClickOnce

ClickOnce is a new Windows client application deployment technology in .NET 2.0 that allows seamless deployment and update of applications by end users in a trustworthy and low impact manner. You get the best of a rich client application combined with the ease of deployment and update of a web application. This talk discusses what ClickOnce is all about, what kinds of applications it is suited for, and how to use it. The initial publishing and deployment of applications will be demonstrated and explained, as well as the various update behaviors supported by ClickOnce. ClickOnce security mechanisms will also be explained and demonstrated, showing how ClickOnce tries to prevent any harm to the user’s desktop machine during deployment and execution of the application, without unnecessarily restricting what the application is capable of doing. 

Presented by:  Brian Noyes

Brian is a Microsoft MVP and a speaker, trainer, writer and consultant with IDesign, Inc. (www.idesign.net). He speaks at TechEd US, Europe and Malaysia, Visual Studio Connections, SDC Netherlands, DevTeach Montreal, VSLive!, DevEssentials, and other conferences, and is a top rated speaker on the INETA Speakers Bureau. He has published numerous articles on .NET development for MSDN Magazine,  MSDN Online, CoDe Magazine, The Server Side .NET, Visual Studio Magazine, asp.netPRO, .NET Developer's Journal, and other publications. His latest book, Data Binding with Windows Forms 2.0, part of the Addison-Wesley .NET Development Series, will hit the shelves in the January 2006, followed shortly thereafter by his next book Smart Client Deployment with ClickOnce. Brian got started programming to stimulate his brain while flying F-14 Tomcats in the U.S. Navy, applying his skills and interest to programming aircraft and avionics simulations, prototypes, and support applications while stimulating his adrenal glands attending Top Gun and U.S. Naval Test Pilot School.



OCTOBER 2005 MEETING

Date: Tuesday, October 25, 2005, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Topic:  XML Serialization in .NET 2.0

In this session, Jeff will cover what XML Serialization is, and go over the different techniques of using XML Serialization in your applications. He will be using Visual Studio 2.0 for these demos, but with a few changes, you will be able to run them in .NET 1.x.

Presented by:  Jeff Julian

Jeff is a Senior Consultant with Visionpace, a Kansas City-based Microsoft Partner and software consulting firm. Jeff works in the Visionpace .NET Practice and is a Microsoft MVP in XML. He is an INETA volunteer and co-leader of the Kansas City .NET User Group. He has written a number of articles and speaks at conferences and user groups around the country. You can contact Jeff by email at jjulian@Visionpace.com



NOVEMBER 2005 MEETING

Date: Tuesday, November 22, 2005, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Topic:  
Launch of Visual Studio 2005, SQL Server 2005 and BizTalk Server 2006!

Join us to celebrate the launch of Visual Studio 2005, SQL Server 2005 and BizTalk Server 2006! Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2005 and SQL Server™ 2005 are out of beta and ready to go. To celebrate, the Kansas City .NET User Group cordially invites you to participate in the launch of these new products. Be a part of the excitement by attending this lively and entertaining event! Join us for:

* Technical presentation based on Microsoft launch content

* Q&As with Technical Presenter

* Networking Opportunities

See these enterprise-class tools in action. SQL Server 2005 and Visual Studio 2005 are deeply integrated to help you deliver mission-critical, process-driven applications to your organization. You can develop and deploy these applications more efficiently, and keep them in production at predictable performance levels. Chance to win free copy of Visual Studio & SQL Server & certification vouchers!

Presented by:  John Alexander

John has 19 Microsoft certifications including Microsoft Certified Solution Developer and Microsoft Certified Trainer and has written Microsoft Official Curriculum. John is an industry recognized trainer, consultant, speaker and writer on the Microsoft .NET vision and implementation at both the technical and business decision maker level.

Some of John's recent written efforts include (Co-Author), OOP: Building Reusable Components with Visual Basic.NET, Microsoft Press, October 2002 and (Author), Web Application Development with Visual Basic.NET and ASP.NET, John Wiley & Sons, April 2002.

In addition, John has been nominated and chosen by Microsoft for the fifth straight year as a Microsoft Regional Director. Regional Directors aren't Microsoft employees--they're independent developers, architects, trainers, and other professionals who provide a vital link between Microsoft and the developer community.


2004

DECEMBER 2004 MEETING

*** Special Meeting Date and Location ***

Date:
Thursday, December 16, 2004, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Topic:  Software in a Service-Oriented World
If services are the next big thing—and they are—what impact will this change have on software development? David Chappell will give a perspective on this question, focusing on the impact this move will have on .NET. Drawing from his forthcoming book on Indigo, David will describe how this new technology fits and what it does, and he’ll explain why BizTalk Server is becoming a central technology for .NET developers to understand. The goal is to give a clear sense of what a developer’s life will be like in this brave new world.


Presented by:
Dave Chappell
Dave is Principal of Chappell & Associates in San Francisco, California. Through his speaking, writing, and consulting, David helps information technology professionals around the world understand, use, market, and make better decisions about enterprise software technologies.
http://www.chappellassoc.com


NOVEMBER
2004 MEETING
Date:
Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Topic: SQL Server 2005

Presented by:
Steve Loethen

Steve is the Microsoft Developer Evangelist for the MidAmerica District, traveling through the states of Missouri, Kansas and Tennessee. He spends a great deal of his time supporting .NET User Groups, answering questions about .NET and SQL Server Development, and in general opening the developer community to the virtues of Microsoft as a development platform and development tools.


OCTOBER
2004 MEETING  -  DOWNLOAD PRESENTATION MATERIALS
Date: Tuesday, October 26, 2004

Topic: Hacked! How evil people attack ASP.NET web sites--and what you can do about it.

Security is a big deal in all network applications, but it's even more important in applications deployed on the Web. Every day ASP.NET developers unwittingly deploy sites that are vulnerable to SQL injection attacks, cross-site scripting attacks, hidden-field tampering attacks, and other hacks. In a fun-filled and action-packed evening, Jeff demonstrates the most common and debilitating types of attacks used against ASP.NET Web sites, and provides step-by step instructions on how to code against them. Be warned: what you see here might scare you!

Presented by:  Jeff Prosise
Jeff Prosise is cofounder of Wintellect http://www.wintellect.com, a developer consulting and education firm that provides services to companies all over the world. His most recent book, Programming Microsoft .NET, was published by Microsoft Press in 2002, and his writings appear regularly in MSDN Magazine and asp.netPRO magazine. A reformed engineer who discovered after college that there's more to life than computing loads on mounting brackets, today Jeff's professional life revolves around ASP.NET. In his leisure time, Jeff is known to go out of his way to get wet in some of the world's best dive spots and to spend too much time building and flying R/C aircraft.
 

SEPTEMBER
2004 MEETING
Date: Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Topic: Test-Driven Development and Unit Testing in .NET.

Unit Testing is a crucial piece of the development process. The problem is, most of us don't put the time in to properly construct this portion of the process. By skipping this portion, we cause issues that take hours and hours at times to solve. A solution to this problem is TDD, Test-Driven development. TDD is a methodology built around the idea of building test as we code. Please join us as we dig deeper into the explanation of TDD and the best practices for implementing the methodology in the Microsoft .NET framework.

Presented by:  John Alexander and Jeff Julian
Jeff Julian
Jeff is an Senior Consultant with Vision Data Solutions' .NET Practice.  Jeff is a Microsoft MVP in XML, an INETA volunteer and co-leader of the Kansas City .NET User Group. He has written several articles for Dotnetjunkies, speaks at conferences and user groups around the country and currently hosts Geekswithblogs.com.  You can contact Jeff by email at jjulian@Visionpace.com.

John Alexander
John is the .NET Practice Manager for Vision Data Solutions - www.Visionpace.com.  He has 19 Microsoft certifications including Microsoft Certified Solution Developer and Microsoft Certified Trainer and has written Microsoft Official Curriculum. John is an industry recognized trainer, consultant, speaker and writer on the Microsoft .NET vision and implementation at both the technical and business decision maker level.

Some of John's recent written efforts include (Co-Author), OOP: Building Reusable Components with Visual Basic.NET, Microsoft Press, October 2002 and (Author), Web Application Development with Visual Basic.NET and ASP.NET, John Wiley & Sons, April 2002.

In addition, John has been nominated and chosen by Microsoft for the fifth straight year as a Microsoft Regional Director. Regional Directors aren't Microsoft employees--they're independent developers, architects, trainers, and other professionals who provide a vital link between Microsoft and the developer community.
 

AUGUST 2004 MEETING
Date: Tuesday, August  24, 2004

Topic: Introduction to System.Xml and Web Services

Presented by: Jeff Julian is an Senior Consultant with Vision Data Solutions' .NET Practice.  Jeff is a Microsoft MVP in XML, an INETA volunteer and co-leader of the Kansas City .NET User Group. He has written several articles for Dotnetjunkies, speaks at conferences and user groups around the country and currently hosts Geekswithblogs.com.  You can contact Jeff by email at jjulian@Visionpace.com.


JULY
2004 MEETING
Date:
Tuesday, July  27, 2004

Topic: Taking advantage of the .NET DeUGn Time Framework

Presented by: Chris Hock, Celeritas
Chris Hock is an Consultant with Celeritas Technologies. Chris has been architecting and developing Enterprise Applications with Celeritas for seven years. These applications have ranged in technologies from Oracle Forms to Java EJBs to Cold Fusion to .NET Techologies. Chris attended Wichita State University in Wichita, KS and received a B.S. in Computer Science. You can contact Chris by email at hock@celeritas.com.


JUNE
2004 MEETING
Date:
Tuesday, June  22, 2004

Topic: SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services for the Impatient

Presented by:
Kent Tegels

Kent is a Senior Systems Analyst for HDR, Inc., an Engineering and Architecture firm. He is the co-author of several programming books on Data Access programming with Visual Basic and .NET Technologies and has been recognized by Microsoft as a Community Rock Star. You can visit Kent's blog at http://www.tegels.org


MAY
2004 MEETING

Due to the number of people attending DevEssentials in Kansas City and Tech-Ed in San Diego, there will not be a May meeting.


APRIL
2004 MEETING
Date:
Tuesday, April 27, 2004

Topic: What's coming in Whidbey, the next release of VS.NET.

Presented by:
Steve Loethen

Steve is the Microsoft Developer Evangelist for the MidAmerica District, traveling through the states of Missouri, Kansas and Tennessee. He spends a great deal of his time supporting .NET User Groups, answering questions about .NET Development, and in general opening the developer community to the virtues of Microsoft as a development platform and development tools.


MARCH
2004 MEETING
Date:
Tuesday, March 23, 2004

Topic: Service Oriented Architecture

Presented by: Philip Rieck

Philip is a senior technical consultant in Omaha, Nebraska with Client Resources Inc. He has been a software professional for over ten years, as a developer, architect, analyst, manager and consultant. Philip holds multiple MS certifications, and has taught formal classes in .NET, Java, COBOL and C++. Aside from working software development and management in many different industries, Philip has expertise in blending legacy applications and new development.


FEBRUARY
2004 MEETING
Date:
Tuesday, February 24, 2004

Topic: Unit Testing with .NET.

J
oin us for a presentation on Test Driven Development and Unit Testing in .NET.

Presented by: John Alexander, .NET Practice Manager for Vision Data Solutions - www.Visionpace.com

John has 19 Microsoft certifications including Microsoft Certified Solution Developer and Microsoft Certified Trainer and has written Microsoft Official Curriculum. John is an industry recognized trainer, consultant, speaker and writer on the Microsoft .NET vision and implementation at both the technical and business decision maker level.

Some of John's recent written efforts include (Co-Author), OOP: Building Reusable Components with Visual Basic.NET, Microsoft Press, October 2002 and (Author), Web Application Development with Visual Basic.NET and ASP.NET, John Wiley & Sons, April 2002.

In addition, John has been nominated and chosen by Microsoft for the fifth straight year as a Microsoft Regional Director. Regional Directors aren't Microsoft employees--they're independent developers, architects, trainers, and other professionals who provide a vital link between Microsoft and the developer community.


JANUARY 2004 MEETING
Date:
Tuesday, January 27, 2004

Topic: Using Encryption within .NET.

Join us for a presentation on using encryption within .NET.  We’ll start with an overview of encryption and drill down into some of the great options available within the .NET framework, focusing on the AES (Advanced Encryption Standard).  You’ll also see some tips and tricks for implementation and for securing important application settings and data.

Presented by: John Alexander, .NET Practice Manager for Vision Data Solutions - www.Visionpace.com

John has 19 Microsoft certifications including Microsoft Certified Solution Developer and Microsoft Certified Trainer and has written Microsoft Official Curriculum. John is an industry recognized trainer, consultant, speaker and writer on the Microsoft .NET vision and implementation at both the technical and business decision maker level.

Some of John's recent written efforts include (Co-Author), OOP: Building Reusable Components with Visual Basic.NET, Microsoft Press, October 2002 and (Author), Web Application Development with Visual Basic.NET and ASP.NET, John Wiley & Sons, April 2002.

In addition, John has been nominated and chosen by Microsoft for the fifth straight year as a Microsoft Regional Director. Regional Directors aren't Microsoft employees--they're independent developers, architects, trainers, and other professionals who provide a vital link between Microsoft and the developer community.
 

2003

DECEMBER 2003 MEETING
Holiday break - no meeting scheduled.
 

NOVEMBER 2003 MEETING
Date:
Tuesday, November 25, 2003

Topic:  Creating Wiki web sites with .NET

Wiki web sites are great knowledge transfer and storage tools. They allow groups of people to collaborate and in the process, create knowledge bases. This session will show you how to use .NET to create Wiki web sites. Along the way we'll see how to use .NET regular expressions and SQL Server full text search capabilities.

Presented by: Hector Correa

Hector has been a software developer for over 10 years and has extensive experience creating client/server and n-tier applications. He holds a B.S. in Computer Engineering from Colima's Institute of Technology (Mexico) and is a Microsoft Certified Solution Developer. He can be reached at hector@hectorcorrea.com


OCTOBER
2003 MEETING
Date:
Tuesday, October 28, 2003

Topic:  ASP.NET tips and Tricks

Microsoft's ASP.NET is a powerful and flexible framework for creating complex Web-based applications. In this presentation, Devin will demonstrate to you a wide variety of ASP.NET tips and tricks that will make you a better and more efficient developer. Devin will present tips on a wide variety of ASP.NET topics including client side JavaScripting, Server Controls, and Web Services.

Presented by: Devin Rader, President of the St. Louis .NET User Group.
Devin is the co-leader and co-founder of the St. Louis .NET User Group and is currently managing the day-to-day operations of the group. He is also actively involved in the International .NET Association as Information Technology Director. Devin strongly believes in the developer community concept and is active in promoting and marketing many user groups in the St. Louis region. In his regular life Devin is a consultant for SSE Inc., a St. Louis based Information Technology Solutions Provider and actively deUGns and writes .NET code for most of the day.
 

SEPTEMBER 2003 MEETING
Date:
Tuesday, September 23, 2003

Topic: Creating ASP.NET Server Controls

Presented by: Jeff Julian is an Application Developer for Physicians Reference Lab. Jeff is a INETA volunteer and co-leader of the Kansas City .NET User Group. He has written several articles for the Dotnetjunkies and currently host Geekswithblogs.com. Jeff attended DeVry Institute of Technology in Kansas City and received a B.S. in Computer Information Systems. You can contact Jeff by email at jjulian2@mac.com.



AUGUST 2003 MEETING
Date:
Tuesday, August 26, 2003

Topic: Best Performance with ASP.NET Caching

Caching is vital to the building of a high-performance, scalable server application. Some items that are expensive to dynamically construct can be built once and then used for some amount of time before they are considered invalid. Caching should be considered for every page during the deUGn phase, whether the whole page will be cached, or even just a portion of it to improve overall performance.

Presented by:  Jeff Widgren, Vice-President of Software Outfitters, Inc., a Kansas City based software development company has been providing .Net specific solutions for their clients for just over a year. His team of developers continually strive to leverage new and innovative ways to maximize the advantages that the new .Net Framework offers.

Jeff has trained 1,000s of people throughout the U.S. and Canada over the past several years, been a technical editor for Windows NT and SQL Magazine, and contributed to the writing of "CCNA Guide to Cisco Networking Fundamentals". He's an MCSE, MCP+I, I-Net+, etc. but ultimately he just loves the thrill that the Internet development world offers. You can contact Jeff at jeffw@softwareoutfitters.com


JULY 2003 MEETING
Date:
Tuesday, July 22, 2003

Topic:  RSS and XSLT:  Transforming the community one node at a time.

This presentation will cover the XML dialect RSS and show some different ways to transform these feeds with XSLT into different output types, including HTML. Then we will go over how RSS is used in the weblog community while demonstrating how I leveraged XSLT to build a weblog system. Many of the examples demonstrated in the presentation were created with C# and Visual Studio .NET 2003.

Presented by: Jeff Julian is an Application Developer for Fidelity National Information Solutions. Jeff is a INETA volunteer and co-leader of the Kansas City .NET User Group. He has written several articles for the Dotnetjunkies and currently host Geekswithblogs.com. Jeff attended DeVry Institute of Technology in Kansas City and received a B.S. in Computer Information Systems. You can contact Jeff by email at jjulian2@mac.com.
 

JUNE 2003 MEETING
Date:
Tuesday, June 24, 2003

Topic:  The Creation of Distributed Object-Oriented Applications in .NET

The Microsoft .NET Framework provides extensive support for creating highly scaleable distributed applications. You will learn how to deUGn Windows and Web-based applications based on distributed business objects, achieving high levels of reuse, scalability, long-term maintainability and other benefits. You will also learn how Web Services, Remoting, object serialization, Enterprise Services, autodeployment and other .NET technologies come together to create these applications.

Presented by:  Rockford (Rocky) Lhotka is the Principal Technology Evangelist for Magenic Technologies, a company focused on delivering business value through applied technology and one of the nation's premiere Microsoft Gold Certified Partners.  Rockford is the author of several Wrox Press titles, including ‘Expert One-on-One Visual Basic .NET Business Objects’, ‘Fast Track Visual Basic .NET’ and ‘Professional Visual Basic Interoperability – COM and VB6 to .NET’. He is a columnist for MSDN Online and contributing author for Visual Studio Magazine and he regularly presents at major conferences around the world - including Microsoft PDC, Tech Ed, VS Live! and VS Connections. Rockford has over 16 years experience in software development and has worked on many projects in various roles, including software architecture, deUGn and development, network administration and project management.


MAY 2003 MEETING

Date: Tuesday, May 27, 2003

Topic:  Legacy Applications and .NET -- Can We Talk?, presented by Mike Babcock, Vice President Technical Services for ClientSoft.

There are over 9 million mainframe applications still in use today. The need to reuse and repurpose these applications within the .NET framework is at an all time high. This session will cover mainframe application integration, specifically highlighting the differences and requirements for data, transaction, and application level integration. In addition, Williams will perform a live demonstration against a mainframe system using ClientSoft's .NET tools to transform a closed, monolithic legacy application into .NET components and web services.
 

APRIL 2003 MEETING
Date:
Tuesday, April 22, 2003

Topic:   .NET Threading,  presented by Jake Dubin of Ticket Solutions and Jeff Julian of Fidelity National Information Solutions.
 

MARCH 2003 MEETING
Date: Tuesday, March 25, 2003

Topic:  Using Crystal Reports with .NET, presented by Le Seaman of Vision Data Solutions.
 

FEBRUARY 2003 MEETING
Date:
Tuesday, February 25, 2003

Topic:   Data Binding with ASP.NET - Part 2 of 2, presented by Bob Baldwin of Versent Group.