Code Camp Programming Diary
By: Eric Vanderburg
Tags: Software Development, Code Camp

Ian and I left for Code Camp in Pittsburgh early this morning. We were on the road by 5:30 AM. We drove to Independence to pick up Richard but then I got a call saying that he could not make it. We stopped by Panera for breakfast and arrived at the University of Pittsburgh with plenty of time to spare. The event started at 9:00 AM.

When I picked up my badges, Ian found out he was presenting. He had to think of something to talk about. He started looking up slides to download for his presentation. Once I found my badge, I wandered around the facilities to get my bearings. Ian ended up working on his presentation during two other presentations. He was able to download some slides from someone else and then he had to screenshot some things because he did not have Visual Studio on his laptop.

The first presentation I went to was on using attributes and property grids to manage system configuration. These property grids (list views) allow you to create classes and then utilize an input method similar to the one used on the property sheet in the Visual Studio IDE. The grids are very customizable and easy to use once you get the hang of the classes used. I understood most of what the presenter showed us but there were a few things I missed because it was early in the morning and because I am more familiar with VB.NET than I am with C#.

The next presentation I went to was on SSIS (SQL Server Integration Services). This one seemed interesting but I was disappointed when my presenter just read from a piece of paper. I was surprised that they would have a Microsoft sponsored event with such a low caliber presenter. I read about SSIS online and learned more in a few minutes than I did in his entire presentation. Our presenter tried to show us what he was talking about but he simply followed an online guide or lab manual. He was always staring down at his paper as he tried to create the data he wanted to transform.

We had pizza for lunch. I was expecting a little more from Microsoft. In the past, they have served some nicer meals. Still, I did not pay for this event so it was nice to receive food and it was on site so I did not have to lose time trying to find a place to eat. I guess I am like the cat who comes to a house every day to get a bowl of milk. If the milk is not there one day, the cat would meow. I am not ungrateful for what Microsoft provided. I am simply used to getting “milk”. We chatted with a few other developers over lunch and then headed to the next session. A number of them were Mac users so I got along nicely. They talked about a Macintosh development environment but I forgot the name. Ian reminded me later that it is called X-code. I would like to try it out. I never really considered the Macintosh as a development platform but I guess I should.

The session I attended after lunch was on unit and web testing. The presentation was interesting but I had a seat way in the back. The presenter used blue text on a blue background so it was very difficult to read in the back. I mostly just listened to what he had to say and then watched his examples. It is nice to know about the tools available in Visual Studio 2005 for testing. Much of it is automated. Also, for testing web services, you can walk through tests and have those tests recorded so that they can be performed on other code modules as well. Reports can be generated to show which parts of your code have been tested and which parts passed or failed. If one part fails, you can go to the part of the code that failed. Also, the code in Visual Studio 2005 is highlighted in blue or red to show if it passed or failed testing. I imagine that this highlighting can be removed much like tracking changes in a word document. I am eager to try out the testing tools on my flash card application. I want to see if the testing tools are available in Visual Studio Express 2005 because I do not own a copy of Visual Studio 2005. It would also be nice to teach how to use these tools in the classroom.

The next presentation at 2:00 was on the Windows work flow foundation architecture. This allows us to separate application code from work flow logic. It is a download that is part of the .NET framework 3.0 expected in January 2007. I learned a lot in the presentation because I came in knowing nothing. I asked Ian “What the heck is the workflow foundation?” right before the presentation started. work flows are a set of activities. The activities can do almost any application or Windows task. The foundation integrates with the shell, Sharepoint, Office, and other apps as well. You must run a script against your SQL server database in order for the work flows to be properly integrated into the database. work flows can be tracked and reports can be generated from it. We can create logic for when an activity starts, when events occur, or when the event finishes. To liken this to something everyone understands, think of how custom animations are designed in Powerpoint. This is an extremely simplistic example. Activities that have been sitting in a queue waiting for some action like management approval can be flagged, terminated, or some other action can be taken.

Workflows could be set up for a technical support center as users request service, technicians are assigned, the problem is raised to a higher level if necessary, and finally, the issue is resolved. A visual studio template is used to create a new workflow. This template is a C# project. Once you create a work flow, it appears as a diagram much like those designed in Visio. The familiar toolbox exists on the left-hand side of the screen. The toolbox allows you to add C# code to the work flow, events, policies, timers, delays, and other things such as specifying whether or not workflows operate in parallel or sequence. The entire thing is very visual with blocks that can be drilled down into for further detail and customization. Most commonly you would set each state to end starting another state. A GUI can be created for the work flow so that it can be used.

After the work flow event, I went to see Ian’s event. Ian spoke on code security. He asked everyone the size and complexity of their passwords which did not relate to code security but oh well. Everyone deserves a chance to rant a little when they get their spot on their soapbox. (hehe. No offense Ian.) Ian was having quite a few problems with his computer during his speech. His powerpoint did not display properly and he spent about 10 minutes up front trying to fix it before giving up.

Let me share just a few finishing thoughts. While at code camp I had the odd thought of what Remington College is teaching for programming at some of my other campuses. When I taught the class I had to fight to get us to teach .NET instead of Visual Studio 6.0. Now I have Visual Studio 2005 but I have not seen any copies around at Remington so it makes me wonder if many campuses are still teaching using Visual Studio 6.0.

It was a very fun event and I look forward to attending another event in the future. It was also nice to spend time with Ian too. I wish Richard could have attended too.