Jan Tielens' Bloggings

Everybody who’s subscribed to the MSDN Belux Flash newsletter probably has noticed that Gerd De Bruycker has found himself a new job at Microsoft: EMEA Event Manager. First of all: congratulations Gerd, I wish you all the best and good luck with organizing TechEd, IT-Forum and so on. But I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank Gerd; he has done an incredible job at Microsoft Belux supporting the local community; giving people the chance to get some exposure, to share their knowledge. Thanks a lot!

Let's hope he gets a successor soon so we can work to make the community even better!

Just released on the MSDN Dowload site (get it here); a nice set of tools to help you with IBF development!

• WSDL to Metadata tool (MOIBF1.0_ResKit_Tools_WSDL1.0.exe)
• PReg tool (MOIBF1.0_ResKit_Tools_EPReg1.0.exe)
• Cache tool (MOIBF1.0_ResKit_Tools_Cache1.0.exe)
• DSReg tool (MOIBF1.0_ResKit_Tools_DSReg1.0.exe)
• A set of common components (MOIBF1.0_ResKit_Commons1.0.exe)
• Goup Policy ADM File (MOIBF1.0_Reskit_Tools_GroupPolicy1.0.exe))
• Visio Metadata Explorer (MOIBF1.0_ResKit_Tools_VisioMDExplorer1.0.exe))
• WSE 2.0 Adapter (MOIBF1.0_ResKit_Tools_WSE20Adapter1.0.exe))
• Unit Testing Smart Tags Tool (MOIBF1.0_ResKit_Tools_SmartTagUnitTest1.0.exe))
• Metadata Debugging tool (MOIBF1.0_ResKit_Tools_MDDebugTool1.0.exe))

Very nice, a help file that contains information that can be used by "normal" users who want to work with Windows SharePoint Services sites, lists, document libraries, ... Download here.

This compiled help file provides searchable, up-to-date information about using and managing sites based on Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services technology. The topics covered in this file include the following:

• Basic concepts
• Viewing information
• Sharing files and documents
• Sharing information
• Deleting information
• Organizing meetings
• Customizing lists and pages
• Customizing sites
• Customizing pages by using Web Parts
• Managing permissions and security
• Managing sites and settings
• Troubleshooting
• Reference

The content in this file is different from the content you can find in a Windows SharePoint Services site when you click Help. This content has been updated to correct errors, add information, and be easier to browse.

When you’re developing BizTalk Server 2004 stuff, you probably know the different steps of the deployment process of a BizTalk assembly by heart: unenlist the orchestration, undeploy the assembly, deploy the new assembly, bind the orchestration, start the orchestration. You can leave out the bind step if you choose to define your bindings at design time, but still it’s a tedious process. Luckily that BizTalk community has done some efforts to simplify this process! I’m only highlighting two of them, if you use another tool/technique/trick let me know!

• BizTalk 2004 Administration Management Tool
  A tool that can be used to manage and administer BizTalk 2004, whilst in a production environment with out the need for Visual Studio. It also makes life a lot easier for the general developer, with enhancements in all of the general tasks a developer would need to do.
  If you’re doing BizTalk development you definitely have to check this one, it’s the BizTalk Explorer on steroids! I like the ability to extract the binding information to an XML file, so you can easily add the bindings again after you’ve deployed your assembly. If Paul Somers add a macro feature to this tool it would be perfect!
• BizTalkAutoDeploy
  BizTalk Auto Deploy is a visual Studio Add-in which enables BizTalk developer to deploy/undeploy BizTalk Project easily with single click. I will start with simple requirements and will be advanced later. No need to NAnt during development, add-in is better. We will use the following technologies:VS.NET Object Model DTE, WMI.

  Simplifying Deployment of BizTalk Assemblies

SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Service Pack 1 provides the latest updates to Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003.

Quick Info File Name: SPS2003SP1-kb841883-fullfile-ENU.exe Download Size: 11663 KB Date Published: 10/18/2004 Version: 1

Last Friday Patrick showed me the Google Desktop search software (check his blog for his thought’s, David has a nice vision too). Of course they need to fix the privacy issue, and I’m pretty sure they will. The usability of this application is pretty huge, but I’m still hesitating to use it. First of all, it’s running in a web browser. Why would the Google Desktop application or any other desktop application run inside a web browser? I want the rich user experience of a smart client! I want integration with the OS, with other applications; maybe I even want to use it from within a task pane (that would be cool!). My second concern is the privacy issue. Just imagine that the Google Desktop web server contains a security hole… all your sensitive information could be exposed on the internet. Scary isn’t it?

And last but not least, it’s not extensible. It would be great if you could create your own extension to the Google Desktop so other types of documents could be indexed (like the IFilter stuff). Further more, creating your own schemas to allow more targeted searches would be a killer feature too. Thoughtful readers may have noticed that I’m requesting features that are promised to be in WinFS. I know, WinFS is not yet here and the Google Desktop is. Maybe I will install the Google Desktop, maybe I won’t however at this point I’m not yet convinced. Don’t get me wrong, kudos to the Google Desktop team; you’ve got a potential killer application and I’m pretty sure some guys over Redmond are watching you very closely.

Btw, today I got a request for a GMail Invite from a Belgian colleague; I was a little bit surprised because I thought everyone would have at least one already! So if you need one, drop me a line and I’ll send you one right away.

For everyone who's living inside a Virtual PC (like me): start your downloads (get the readme here)!

Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 Service Pack 1 (SP1) contains the latest software updates for Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 that improve the reliability, performance and manageability of Virtual PC. Updates have been made to improve the performance of Windows XP Service Pack 2 as a guest in Virtual PC, to improve the manageability of virtual machines when used with SMS 2003 Service Pack 1, and to provide support for running Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition as the host operating system.

Some of the fixes included with SP1 have been previously released as separate updates. This service pack combines them into one update.

Before installing Service Pack 1, please read the Installation Instructions.

If you live in/near Belgium check out following cool events that will take place this month:

• TechNet Evening: Customizing Collaborative Solutions with InfoPath 2003 SP1 and Windows SharePoint Services
  This session will give you a good insight and guidance on how Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003 with Service Pack 1 can help you to setup and customize data gathering solutions within a collaborative environment, by using XML, XML Web services and SharePoint technologies of the Microsoft Office System.
  Register here, it's free! Yves Kerwyn will present this session and he has invited a very cool guest speaker: Jelle Druyts!
• Belgian Geek Dinner, 2nd edition
  Roy Dictus is hosting the second edition of the Belgian Geek Dinner event. Last time was great fun, so be there!
  
  
  

For all of you who want to learn about BizTalk, take a look at The Bloggers Guide To BizTalk. It's an initiative of Alan Smith, who collected some great resources available on the net. He put them together in a help file, so you can take it everywhere. Best of all: it's free and available for download on the GotDotNet Workspace (direct link to releases).

"The aim of The Bloggers Guide to BizTalk is to provide the best of the online content produced by the BizTalk blogging community in an easily accessible format. All the content in the guide has been created by BizTalk developers who wish to share their knowledge and ideas with others in the developer community. The subjects of these contributions and the level of their complexity are varied, so there is information available for those who are new to BizTalk, as well as for advanced developers.

The posts are usually taken directly from the contributors blog, so the writing style of the contributions vary, and there is no guarantee that all the information is free of errors. Any feedback as to corrections can be made by commenting on the original article at the authors blog.

All contributions to the guide are gratefully received, and new contributors are always welcome.

The guide will be updated on a monthly basis, usually around the first of each month, the updates posted to the GotDotNet workspace. The guide will always be free to download, and kept up to date as new content becomes available. It is hoped that it will mature over time into a solid resource covering all aspects of BizTalk development at a number of levels."