Guild

Tonight's CEDG Meeting

Chris Eargle — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:55:25 GMT

Lou Vega will be presenting at the Columbia Enterprise Developers Guild tonight. The topic is "A Closer Look at Windows Mobile – Using SMS and State & Notifications Broker." Systemtec is sponsoring the event and will be providing food from Moe's.

Visit the website for more information.

ASP.NET MVC Framework Presentation

Chris Eargle — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:33:53 GMT

The Columbia Enterprise Developers Guild will be meeting today at Midlands Tech NE Campus Auditorium at 6:00 pm. Brian Hitney will be presenting on the ASP.NET MVC Framework.

Meeting Summary

When: September 10th, 2008 @ 6:00 PM

Where: Midlands Tech NE Campus Auditorium

Who: Brian Hitney

What: MVC Framework

Technical Sponsor: TEKsystems

Agenda

6:00 Pizza and Networking

6:30 Announcements

6:45 Sponsors

7:00 Presentation

8:30 Closing and SWAG Handouts

Topic – Model View Controller Framework

The ASP.NET MVC framework enables you to easily implement the model-view-controller (MVC) pattern for web applications. This pattern lets you separate applications into loosely coupled, pluggable components for application design, processing logic, and display. By separating these concerns, web applications can be easily tested, components plugged and swapped, and the code is just more maintainable. MVC applications also lend themselves to very clean URIs that can be accessed in a RESTful manner.

Presenter – Brian Hitney

Brian Hitney is a Developer Evangelist with Microsoft Corporation, covering North and South Carolina. He frequently delivers presentations and works with local community groups and customers on emerging technologies, .NET, and developer tools. Prior to his Developer Evangelist role, Brian worked as a software engineer on a Windows Vista team in Redmond, and before he joined Microsoft he helped build large scale e-commerce applications for various companies across the United States. Brian is based out of Greensboro, NC.

I'm a Super Delegate

Chris Eargle — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 01:26:06 GMT

I started the Columbia Enterprise Developers Guild nearly a year ago. In fact, we held our first meeting in May 2007. However, it wasn't just some crazy plan I hatched up. There were quite a few other people instrumental to getting the group going.

One of those people is well known to all of us on GeeksWithBlogs. At the time, Chris Williams was the INETA Membership Manager for the Carolinas. He provided me the information and support I needed to make CEDG an INETA group.

When I found out that Chris was "in the running" for INETA VP of Membership, I decided to use my credentials as user group leader to nominate him. Really, he would be great at this post! Plus, I suppose it be nice having an ally in the upper echelons of an organization that provides so many great things to our community.

Mole Visualizer

Chris Eargle — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 04:34:28 GMT

If you're near Columbia, SC tomorrow be sure to drop in to catch Karl Shifflett's presentation on Mole Visualizer! Here's the information on the meeting!

Topic – Mole Visualizer for Visual Studio

The Mole Visualizer For Visual Studio has taken the developer community by storm. It has been written up on major developer blogs all over the world including several at Microsoft. It has been downloaded by tens of thousands of developers worldwide.

This session will cover using Mole on WPF, WinForms, ASP.NET, WCF and WF Visual Studio project types. Time permitting, we will also get into how Mole works.

What is Mole? Mole is a very complex Visual Studio Visualizer. Mole was designed to not only allow the developer to view objects or data, but to also allow the developer to drill into properties of those objects. Mole allows unlimited drilling into objects and sub-objects. When Mole finds an IEnumerable object, the data can be viewed in a DataGridView or in the properties grid. Mole easily handles collections that contain multiple types of data. Mole also allows the developer to view non-public fields of all these same objects. You can learn a lot about the .NET framework by drilling around your application's data. Depending on the type of object you are visualizing you can view properties, fields, IEnumerable collection data, an image of the data/control, and run-time XAML.

Mole also allows editing of displayed properties, including properties in the heap.

Presenter – Karl Shifflett

Karl Shifflett is a software architect, Code Project MVP and MCAD from Charlotte, North Carolina. He has been designing & developing business applications since 1989 and transitioned to .NET in March of 2003. In April of 2007 he joined the list of WPF and Microsoft Expression fanatics & evangelists. Currently working on new full featured City Government and Utility Billing WPF product. On the weekends he is finishing a cool multi-player WPF game scheduled for release 2nd quarter 2008. Karl is an exciting and enthusiastic speaker who is a regular at the Enterprise Developers Guild events, Raleigh Code Camps and has presented in Columbia, SC. He is a member of Team Mole that delivered Mole Visualizer For Visual Studio to the world.

Columbia VS2008 InstallFest

Chris Eargle — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 12:09:18 GMT

If you're in Columbia, SC today, drop by our event and pick up a copy of Visual Studio 2008 Professional!

Meeting Summary

When: December 12th, 2007 @ 6:00 PM

Where: Midlands Tech NE Campus Auditorium

Who: Glen Gordon

What: Visual Studio 2008 Install Fest

Agenda

6:00 Pizza and Networking

6:30 Install VS 2008!

8:30 Closing

Notes

Practice your Halo, Glen’s bringing the Xbox.

You must be present to receive a copy of Visual Studio 2008 Professional.

Quantities of Visual Studio 2008 Professional are limited and the people who bring their computers will be first in line. In other words, if you don’t bring your computer and we run out of copies to hand out, you simply won’t receive a copy.

These copies of Visual Studio 2008 Professional are Not for Resale.

Part of the fun of this is getting together for the installation. Please don’t take your copy and leave.

CEDG - July Meeting Notes

Chris Eargle — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 03:15:39 GMT

Columbia Enterprise Developers Guild
Date – July 11^th, 2007
Topic – Effective Software Developer
Presenter – Joe Walling
Sponsor – Logical Advantage
Attendance – 21

I was somewhat trepid of July’s meeting, since it was the first meeting held on a Wednesday. However, I was pleasantly surprised that we increased our numbers by four this time around. Everything went off without a hitc: the pizza arrived, the presenter arrived, and the people arrived. About the only thing I had to do was introduce the speaker and give away SWAG.

We had an excellent giveaway, thanks to IdeaBlade. The first person selected chose my hastily printed certificate from the tool developer without a second thought. Of course, that paper entitled the lucky person to a DevForce license with a year support (worth 3k)!

Joe gave a great presentation, going in depth on how you can use certain tools to slice development time down to focus on the stuff that matters.

Next month, Karl Shifflett will be presenting on Expression Blend and WPF. I caught his presentation in Charlotte last month, and I thought it was excellent! I expect the turnout to be greater for this, because WPF is just that cool =).

Notes from the Meeting

Chris Eargle — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 02:51:29 GMT

Columbia Enterprise Developers Guild
Date – June 12^th, 2007
Topic – Just Plain Generics
Presenter – Keith Minder
Sponsor – DP Professionals
Attendance – 17

A couple of weeks ago, we had the first "just" Columbia Enterprise Developers Guild meeting. Attendance was down, and I'm not sure if it was due to late announcement, the summer, or that the presenter wasn't Microsoft. It was probably a little bit of everything.

The late announcement was due to miscommunication, and I will make sure that doesn't happen in the future. The announcement will go out one way or another; even if that means I have to hand deliver it! All kidding aside, a process needs to be put in place to ensure everyone know about the meeting in a timely manner.

An important question was on the survey, and of the 14 people who participated, 10 are in favor of switching the meeting to the second Wednesday of the month to accommodate INETA. Since a large majority are in favor, July's meeting will be held on the 11th.

CEDG June Meeting

Chris Eargle — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 02:03:05 GMT

The next meeting of the Columbia Enterprise Developers Guild will be held on June 12th, 2007 at 6 PM in the Midlands Tech Northeast Campus Auditorium. The key presentation topic is Generics. The presenter will be Keith Minder of Logical Advantage. We hope to see everyone at the meeting!

New Website!

All members and prospective members are asked to please visit the new user group website and complete the user registration. This new website will be the central point to reference user group information and presentation materials. The website address is http://www.columbiadevelopers.org. No personal information will be shared. However, an opt-in option will be included in the future for those that wish to be contacted by sponsors.

Please forward this email to your friends and other developers in our community to help spread the word about our user group.

Meeting Summary

When: June 12th, 2007 @ 6:00 PM

Where: Midlands Tech NE Campus Auditorium

Who: Keith Minder - Logical Advantage

What: Just Generics

Sponsor: DP Professionals

Agenda

6:00 Pizza and Networking

6:30 Announcements

6:45 Sponsors

7:00 Presentation

8:30 Closing and SWAG Handouts

Topic

Generics are a new exciting feature included in the .net 2.0 framework. But what is it? In the grocery store we use the term generic to mean something that is not tied to any sort of brand name. When we purchase tubes of generic toothpaste we know that we are getting toothpaste and expect it to help us clean and freshen our breath, but we don't know what exact brand will be inside the tubes themselves. In .net Generics are classes, structures, interfaces, and methods that have placeholders (type parameters) for one or more of the types they store or use. They are often seen in collections and reusable types and methods that would have used the object datatype in the 1.x framework. Generics offer many advantages including type safety, better code reuse, no casting required and improved performance. Come to the meeting to add Generics to your toolbox or to give you ideas on how you can better use Generics. Steve Willoughby will answer your questions and demonstrate the use of Generics with sample code. Additionally he will review some methods that utilize Generics that are in the Logical Advantage's code library.

Sponsor Information – DP Professionals

We're not like other agencies. We are entirely dedicated to the IT industry. Consider DP Professionals a partner for your IT job search. We work with the best companies in the industry, and we'd like to introduce you to the ones that interest you. Maybe you've never considered using a service such as ours.

Our process begins with getting to know you, your goals, your personal motivation, and your past experiences. We'd like to find out your areas of expertise, technical background, salary expectations, and desired locations of work, both in terms of geography and industry. We'll then present you with opportunities and guide you through your career decisions. You are always in control. That's what makes us different. We are committed to keeping you involved in every part of this search. After all, this is all about YOU. You'll benefit from knowing someone is on your side and working with you to find the right position.

Using DP Professionals gives you an advantage over others. We can help prepare you for interviews or act as a sounding board for any questions or concerns you may have. In effect, we are your partner from opportunity to placement.

Our services are free to you. Our IT recruiters are ready to find your ideal fit. Call us or visit us online to take advantage of our contract or permanent placement services.

SWAG

Visual Studio 2005 Professional

SharePoint 2007 Administrator's Companion

ASP.NET 2.0 Step By Step

Windows Workflow Foundation Step By Step

Windows Vista T-Shirt

Kind Regards,

Chris Eargle, User Group President

CEDG Contact Information

Chris Eargle: User Group President

Email: president@columbiadevelopers.org

Carnegie Johnson: Membership Services

Email: members@columbiadevelopers.org

Wes Benson: Webmaster

Email: webmaster@columbiadevelopers.org

Columbia Enterprise Developers Guild Begins

Chris Eargle — Fri, 11 May 2007 04:28:23 GMT

A couple of months ago, I began searching for local developer user groups to take part in Columbia, SC. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be a lot going on. I ended up heading to the Charlotte Enterprise Developers Guild to get my fix. There, I met the president of the Guild, Bill Jones, who suggested that I work with other developers in Columbia in forming a new group.

In April, I decided to take up his suggestion. I spread the word out to the people I knew, and the ball began to roll. Soon thereafter, I made contact with the leader of the old group, Tore Bostrup, and we arranged a transition meeting. Tore secured the meeting location and the sponsor, and I spoke with Brian Hitney from Microsoft about giving his presentation on the Internals of Vista. Chris Williams of INETA provided a lot of great information on running user groups.

The Columbia Enterprise Developers Guild’s first meeting was on May 8^th at 6pm in the Midlands Tech NE Auditorium, and I arrived there not know exactly what to expect. Sure, I had a general idea from attending meetings in other cities, but this was the first time I was ever expected to actually speak in front of the crowd. Luckily, Tore was there to start off the meeting and hand the reins over to me. The transition made things smooth for me to begin talking to the group.

I didn’t have a prepared speech, so I went with a conversationalist style. The downside of this was that I forgot to mention a few things at the beginning of the meeting. At the next meeting I will prepare a bulleted sheet so I can hit on all the topics. User groups aren’t meant to be formal, so I will maintain a conversationalist tone and not go the full speech route.

Our sponsor was Dave Catherman from Revenue Solutions. He explained their project with the Department of Revenue, and pitched the need for more developers. The fact that he was the sponsor was a surprise to me since I begin a contract with the company on May 21^st. The lesson here is to get all of the information from others who are helping put together these events. It didn’t affect anything, but the unexpected is undesirable when you’re trying to run things. Don’t just accept “I have a sponsor” or “I have a presenter,” dig a little deeper for some details.

After Dave and I spoke, Brian gave his presentation on the Internals of Vista. Although it wasn’t truly a development subject, the material is relevant as it will affect the way we develop software for the platform. Many of the features in Vista are currently inaccessible through managed code, but I am sure they will pop up in Orcas. It seemed to surprise Brian when the crowd started asking tons of questions on the mklink command. Who knew that the Columbia crowd is really into what Linux has had for years? Brian, in response to a question, braved the unknown and linked to a UNC path. He also built a recursive link (which, of course, is completely useless). Vista handled it all without an indigo screen… indeed without even a hiccup.

The presentation took a little longer than I expected, but Brian was able to wrap it up around 8pm. I moved in to thank him for being there and announced some of the things I forgot: information on the website status and the fact we may need to pick a new date due to conflicts with nearby groups. To prevent confusion, we are going to go ahead with the 2^nd Tuesday of June, but hopefully surveys will be complete by that time and a decision can be made for July. I announced that Wes Benson is our webmaster and Carnegie Johnson is our Membership Director. Then, I let everyone know if they would like to help that other positions in the Guild will be posted to the website when it is launched.

The final thing to do for the night was give away SWAG. Oh no, I definitely didn’t forget that part. Tore had handed off his reserve to me, and Brian had brought along a nice little box as well. I ended up giving away a copy Vista Business, Code Complete, Writing Secure Code, Threat Modeling, and a couple of t-shirts. I’m sure I missed a book in there somewhere. Unfortunately, we did not have a good way to draw names, so we resorted to getting everyone to write their name (and some email addresses) on a notepad. We gathered the pages into a plastic bag and I picked the first one. Subsequent picks were made by the previous winner. At the next one, I’m either going to do raffle tickets or use evaluation forms as a means of picking SWAG winners.

After the meeting, I gathered the additional SWAG to be stored at my Heavily Fortified Fortress of Doom, lest some blackhat attempts to retrieve it for his or her own nefarious ends. Then, a small group of us who were running the group headed to grab a bite to eat at Charleston Crab House. I heard it was customary to buy the presenter dinner, but to my surprise Brian expensed it. Hey, I’m not going to turn down a free meal, and if this is one of the ways Microsoft shows appreciation to user groups then kudos to them! I certainly do appreciate it, and I’m certain both Tore and Wes do as well.

There were a few less than stellar moments that evening, but all in all things turned out well. Here is a summary of the meeting and the lessons I learned.

Columbia Enterprise Developers Guild
Date – May 8^th, 2007
Topic – Internals of Vista
Presenter – Brian Hitney
Sponsor – Revenue Solutions
Attendance – 35

Lessons Learned:

Bring a bullet list of topics to cover.
Be aware of all arrangements made by others.
Print evaluation forms for people to fill out.

I am volunteering for Code Camp in Charlotte this weekend, and then I’m headed to visit my mother on Sunday. I wanted to get the website up completely by the end of the week, but it doesn’t look like that is going to happen. I’m sure Wes will be out of town and will not have the graphics ready for me soon enough as well. I may throw up the Club Starter Kit and post information so there is something there until we get the opportunity to fully launch.

We’re well underway with preparations for the next meeting on June 12^th. If you happen to be in the Columbia area, I hope you can make it there!