The JavaScript Library World Cup   14 Jun 2006 04:00 GMT
Fast-track your way to AJAX supremacy with some of the better-trained libraries. Coach Dan Webb puts World Cup contenders Dojo, Mochikit, Prototype, and YUI through their paces, as they battle for a position in your next AJAX line-up. Full player profiles, as well as game highlights, are included!

Source: SitePoint

Creating a Step-by-Step User Interface with the ASP.NET 2.0 Wizard Control: The Basics   14 Jun 2006 00:00 GMT

The wizard - a standard user interface element in desktop applications - takes the user through a series of discrete steps in order to accomplish some task. A wizard step typically includes instructions, input controls, and an interface for moving between the wizard's steps (typically Next and Previous buttons, with a Finish button at the last step). Furthermore, wizards often include different steps depending on the inputs chosen in previous steps.

Wizards have typically been the domain of desktop applications, but have recently become more prevalent in web applications. In ASP.NET 1.x, developers who wanted to implement a wizard-like user interface would often use multiple Panel Web controls, one for each Wizard step. As they user progressed through the wizard by hitting the Next and Previous buttons, the appropriate Panel could be displayed (have its Visible property set to True), while the others hidden (have their Visible properties set to False).

ASP.NET 2.0 makes creating wizard interfaces a lot less work thanks to its new Wizard control. With the Wizard control, we can define a series of Wizard steps and specify the content - static HTML and Web controls - that belongs in each step along with the function of the step, whether it's the first step, one step in the series of steps, the final step, or a summary step to appear after the wizard has completed. The Wizard control automatically includes the appropriate navigation elements for each step, remembers the values entered into the Web controls in each step, and includes a rich event model from which programmatic logic can be added to perform the desired task upon finishing the wizard (among other tasks).

In this article we'll see how to use the wizard control to break up the steps involved in inserting a record into a database, although the concepts can be extended to any multi-step task. We'll focus on the basics in this article; a future article will examine more advanced features of the Wizard control. Read on to learn more!
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Source: 4GuysFromRolla

Use WPF and WCF to Build Next-generation Applications   13 Jun 2006 21:59 GMT
Microsoft's new Expression tool allows designers to pass their output directly to developers in order to create rich XAML applications with an integrated toolset. Find out how to build a service using the Windows Communication Foundation and create a test client for it using "Cider," the plug-in for Visual Studio.NET that allows you to build XAML interfaces.
Source: DevX

Making Sense of the XML DataType in SQL Server 2005   13 Jun 2006 16:44 GMT
In SQL Server 2005, XML becomes a first-class data type. Developers can make minor remote modifications to stored XML documents easily, taking advantage of new support for XML schema-based strong typing, and server-based XML data validation.
Source: DevX

System.Transactions and ADO.NET 2.0   11 Jun 2006 02:56 GMT
If you use DataAdapters and love their automatic connection-opening and closing capabilities—and ever use transactions, you should first understand what's really going on underneath the covers.
Source: DevX

Get Your Applications Ready for Windows Vista   10 Jun 2006 02:44 GMT
DevReadiness.org is the developer community site to help you get your applications ready for Windows Vista. Learn how to test your application for Windows Vista, and find simple remedies to fix the most common issues.
Source: MSDN

Introducing .NET Framework 3.0   09 Jun 2006 23:17 GMT
Vice President S. Somasegar describes the decision to rename WinFX to the .NET Framework 3.0. Now the WinFX technology you know has a name that identifies it for exactly what it is – the next version of Microsoft’s developer framework.
Source: MSDN

Refactoring in Visual Basic 2005   09 Jun 2006 04:47 GMT
Jay Schmelzer talks about source code refactoring and provides a demo of Refactor! for Visual Basic 2005, a free tool from Developer Express, Inc. that adds refactoring support to the Visual Basic 2005 development environment.
Source: MSDN

10 Worst AdWords Campaign Mistakes   09 Jun 2006 04:00 GMT
Think you know AdWords inside out? As Tyler explains, the 10 worst AdWords campaign mistakes are easily made, but they're also easy to avoid! Take his timely advice to improve your campaign management and ROI.

Source: SitePoint

Join our slow chat on Visual C++   08 Jun 2006 00:38 GMT
During the week of June 19th, the Visual C++ team will be hosting a slow chat titled "Visual C++: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow" on CodeGuru (www.codeguru.com). For this slow chat we’ll be discussing the history & evolution of Visual C++. Please join us!
Source: MSDN