The Windows Azure Marketplace has a hidden jewel: a host of free and nearly free databases ready for monetization.
Joe Kunk sifts through the Windows 8 announcements at BUILD and offers advice on next steps.
Peter Vogel explains why adding associations to Entity Framework navigations helps you avoid using Joins.
The ASP.NET DataViews are powerful tools when coupled with a DataSource. But you can skip the DataSource and use the DataViews to handle displaying and updating any collection of objects you want, with a few lines of code.
If you start "thinking in LINQ" you'll get more done with less code, and what you write will be simpler than using SQL.
Reading the Visual Basic language specifications may sound boring, but it actually reveals important information for developers.
The number of built-in Activities that you can use to create a service that handles a long running service is small. Fortunately, it's easy to add additional Activities that wrap up business logic.
At its Build development conference in Anaheim, Calif., this week, Microsoft has pulled back the curtain on its new operating system, code-named "Windows 8."
Build a Web site using MVC 3 and the Razor View Engine.
Developers increasingly prefer cloud-based development tooling.
- By Michael Desmond
- 08/17/2011
On VB columnist Joe Kunk continues his examination of XML comments by extending the XML comment vocabulary with additional default tags in Visual Basic and showing how to process the resulting XML file into API-style reference documentation using the SandCastle Help File Builder.
Microsoft faces new threats today, like smartphones and tablets, but are they more severe than past ones?
- By Michael Desmond
- 08/01/2011
Use XML comments to generate IntelliSense and custom documentation for your applications. Part 1 of this two-part series explores using standard XML comments to document your code within Visual Studio.
Learn how to extend support for Microsoft C#-only BlankExtension/BizType projects to Visual Basic.
Enhancements in the .NET Framework 4 and Visual Studio 2010 make Office automation solutions easier than ever to write and deploy. Here's an Excel automation scenario that reflects solutions that I've seen requested by multiple clients.
Readers respond to the May cover story (".NET at the Crossroads") on the direction of C# and Visual Basic.
- By Readers of Visual Studio Magazine
- 06/01/2011
Someone named Robbie had created a posting asking for assistance in resolving a problem with a simple Visual Basic .NET console application. It was used to retrieve and process product registrations and credit card transactions via the Internet for a piece of niche shareware.
The LightSwitch RAD platform generates apps with "no coding required." What's in it for you? .NET apps that are easier to maintain and extensions built on the Managed Extensibility Framework.
Bigger is better. At least, that seems to be the philosophy at the Microsoft Developer Division.
- By Michael Desmond
- 05/01/2011
How the Microsoft co-evolution strategy has shaped the two flagship languages of the .NET Framework, and what it means for developers going forward.
- By Michael Desmond
- 05/01/2011