Visual Studio 2005

Ever received a "Could not load file or assembly" ... "The system cannot find the file specified" on your ASP.NET web application

Murray Gordon — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 15:17:00 GMT

Well I did, and the issue seemed to be intermittent. Here’s what it looked like for me:

Here’s what I found out.

You can read about the issue on Microsoft’s Help and Support at FIX: You may receive an InvalidCastException error in an ASP.NET-connected Web application (http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?kbid=915782)

Unfortunately, there’s no immediate download or fix. You have to call Microsoft Support to find out if the secret fix applies to your scenario.

In my case it did not. I have already received a fix pack taking me from .NET Framework 2.0.50727.80 to 2.0.50727.210, which meant they didn’t have a fix for me.

Fortunately my good buddy Bill Ryan, MVP and “Master of ADO.NET” had a recommendation:

Yah, I've gotten that a bunch actually. Usually it's b/c of temp files. Clear your temp directory and give it another try. What's happening is that the temp file name generated when the assembly is loaded exceed 255 characters. So it's truncated. That in turn means that what it's trying to access doesn't exist.

Here’s a related support kb addressing the issue: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/823196

Also, set the compilation directory's tempDirectory property specifically. You can point it to C:\whatever or some shorter path name than it normally would use and thereby not have the really long path name problem.

Needless to say, that worked for me.

Thanks Bill!

And to anyone out there having this problem, hope this helps.

Thanks,

Murray

How to add Desktop Shortcut to ClickOnce Deployment Application

Murray Gordon — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 23:04:00 GMT

Here's a great post on how to add a desktop shortcut to ClickOnce Deployed Application. (Scott Schecter's post)
http://blog.scottschecter.net/TheZenOfTheClickOnceDeployedApplicationDesktopShortcut.aspx

Here's the version of this solution in VB. (Julia Lerman's post)
http://blog.ziffdavis.com/devlife/archive/2006/07/28/42695.aspx

If you don't want to follow the link, here's the code:

/// <summary>

/// This will create a Application Reference file on the users desktop

/// if they do not already have one when the program is loaded.

// If not debugging in visual studio check for Application Reference

// #if (!debug)

// CheckForShortcut();

// #endif

/// </summary

void CheckForShortcut()

{

ApplicationDeployment ad = ApplicationDeployment.CurrentDeployment;

if (ad.IsFirstRun)

{

Assembly code = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();

string company = string.Empty;

string description = string.Empty;

if (Attribute.IsDefined(code, typeof(AssemblyCompanyAttribute)))

{

AssemblyCompanyAttribute ascompany = (AssemblyCompanyAttribute)Attribute.GetCustomAttribute(code,

typeof(AssemblyCompanyAttribute));

company = ascompany.Company;

}

if (Attribute.IsDefined(code, typeof(AssemblyDescriptionAttribute)))

{

AssemblyDescriptionAttribute asdescription = (AssemblyDescriptionAttribute)Attribute.GetCustomAttribute(code,

typeof(AssemblyDescriptionAttribute));

description = asdescription.Description;

}

if (company != string.Empty && description != string.Empty)

{

string desktopPath = string.Empty;

desktopPath = string.Concat(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.Desktop),

"\\", description, ".appref-ms");

string shortcutName = string.Empty;

shortcutName = string.Concat(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.Programs),

"\\", company, "\\", description, ".appref-ms");

System.IO.File.Copy(shortcutName, desktopPath, true);

}

Hope it helps out.

Thanks,
Murray

Globalization & ClickOnce, ASP.NET Globalization

Murray Gordon — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 22:19:00 GMT

Great post from dasBlonde: http://www.dasblonde.net/PermaLink,guid,8d2a4b2c-c2f4-4dab-9bb6-b3218bf17c71.aspx

Here’s the details:

The blog is about globalization and how to architect Windows Forms and ASP.NET applications for localization, leveraging .NET resources where appropriate. Here’s the samples she listed:

Here’s the Additional globalization resources she listed:

She’s got some awesome content on ClickOnce. Check out the rest of her posts if you are looking for some great ClickOnce samples.

Here’s Microsoft recommendation on this subject (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnaspp/html/aspnet-globalarchi.asp?_r=1). The article is a bit dated, but the concepts are consistent.

FYI – there’s an interesting contrast to this approach I found on “The Code Project”. Very interesting approach http://www.codeproject.com/useritems/GlobalizationSample.asp?print=true

Thanks,
Murray

How to distribute COM components with your ClickOnce deployments

Murray Gordon — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 11:52:00 GMT

Here’s 3 options for distributing COM components for your ClickOnce deployments within an enterprise:

- Use Reg-Free COM to get the COM components to autoregister after ClickOnce deployment. See http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/05/04/RegFreeCOM/ for more details on this option. This is an awesome option, but requires a lot of testing when you get it implemented. You

- Use the Bootstrapper to pre-deploy our prerequisites. See http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/04/10/Bootstrapper/ for more detail on this option.

- Use SMS to push out the prereqs (this is the least attractive option). Also increases the TCO (total cost of ownership) of the app for the organization.

More to come on these topics. Working on some downloadable examples of the 1st two options.

Enjoy,
Murray

How to Customize Windows Installer

Murray Gordon — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 11:44:00 GMT

Great links to good articles on how to customize the installer for a windows application.

Found them while looking for ways to accept some inputs during the install before the user runs it.

http://www.devx.com/dotnet/Article/20849/0/page/2
http://www.simple-talk.com/dotnet/visual-studio/visual-studio-setup---projects-and-custom-actions/ http://www.devx.com/dotnet/Article/20849/1763/page/2
http://www.codeproject.com/dotnet/SetupAndDeployment.asp
http://www.codeproject.com/dotnet/Easy_Custom_Setup.asp
http://lakshmik.blogspot.com/2006/05/aspnet-20-deployment-installer-for.html

Enjoy,
Murray

E.Krishna Kumar’s Weblog » Visual Studio 2005 Code Snippets

Murray Gordon — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 15:01:00 GMT

Visual Studio 2005 Code Snippets

IntelliSense Code Snippets are reusable, task-oriented blocks of code. Visual Studio 2005 includes code snippets covering tasks ranging from creating a custom exception, to sending an e-mail message, to drawing a circle. A set of Visual Basic and Visual C# Code Snippets are included in the Visual Studio 2005 box – additional Code Snippets can be found at: http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/downloads/codesnippets/default.aspx

E.Krishna Kumar’s Weblog » Visual Studio 2005 Code Snippets.

DebugView - a great free debugging tool from SysInternals

Murray Gordon — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 17:19:00 GMT

Just wanted to introduce everyone to a great debugging tool, you can use with Visual Studio 2005.

It’s called DebugView.

You can find it at http://www.sysinternals.com/utilities/debugview.html

DebugView is an application that lets you monitor debug output on your local system, or any computer on the network that you can reach via TCP/IP. It is capable of displaying both kernel-mode and Win32 debug output, so you don’t need a debugger to catch the debug output your applications or device drivers generate, nor do you need to modify your applications or drivers to use non-standard debug output APIs.

Here’s a little example of how you would use it with Visual Studio 2005 Console Application

1. First Create a Console application in Visual Studio 2005

2. Then add the following lines of code to the program.cs file

3. Compile the application. Notice the Debug versus Trace writelines. The Debug output will only show up in Debug mode, whereas the Trace info will show up in Debug and Trace build.

4. Now you can start the DebugView client

5. Goto Visual Studio 2005 and run your Console Application by hitting SHIFT + F5 (to run the application without debugging). The console application will run, and you will see the following output in your DebugView

6. Now clear your display in DebugView by typing CTRL + X.

7. Change your build type to Release and run the console application again using SHIFT + F5.

8. Now you will only see the Trace output in the DebugView display.

That’s it. This gives you some insight into Debug versus Release builds, shows you what Trace version Debug writeline statements do, and finally gives you a way to show debug information without using Visual Studio debugger.

FYI – You can see I was using version 4.5 of DebugView

Hope this helps some of you with Debugging.

New IDE Features in Visual Studio 2005

Murray Gordon — Fri, 03 Feb 2006 13:03:00 GMT

New IDE Features in Visual Studio 2005

Introduction

Technology evolves along with the need of people using the technology. Same is the case with Visual Studio. Visual Studio 2005 aims to simplify the development process thereby adding many new features to simplify the overall development experience. This article aims to discuss all major IDE related changes in Visual Studio 2005.

Productivity features

The first time that you start Visual Studio, it asks to make a selection from a list of predefined settings. Any further customizations made to the IDE, such as adding a shortcut key combination or changing the docking location of a window, are tracked and stored along with the predefined settings.

These settings cab be reset by choosing Import/Export Settings on the Tools menu as shown below.

Settings can be stored in a file and the same file can be exported to other system to get the same settings. The Import/Export Setting dialogue box is available on the Tools menu.

Using the advanced settings related features in VS 2005 we can achieve following:

Save the settings in a file so the same can be used in other machine

As the settings can be stored in a file and shared with other team members

While exporting the setting to a file, the same is saved in a .vssettings file. Some setting information contain computer related information which may expose a security risk, we need to be careful about the same while exporting. Such settings are identified by information icon while exporting and VS will warn about the potential security threat while exporting such settings.

While importing the settings from a .vssetting file, the settings on the current machine are overridden.

In a team of developer the .vssetting file can be placed in a network place and the same can be used by whole team.

Apart from above setting related features, following new Task List features are also provided in VS 2005

Text Display: Multiple lines of text can be displayed in any row.
Column Sorting: Sort triangle has been added to the column headers for sorting purpose
Multiple Sorting: User can sort on multiple columns now.
Move Columns: User can move columns by drag and drop
Show Files: Only file name is displayed by default and not the full path, to display full path use Tools->Options->Environment->Show files without Path

Editing Code

Numerous features are added in VS 2005 to make the editing of code/HTML/XML simpler. Along with these enhanced editing capability, various new controls are also added to make the development more simplified and productive. These new features are discussed below.

Text Editor

1. Line Revision Marks: This allows the user to see the edits done by him in the current IDE session. Edited lines and lines adjacent to them are marked. Yellow margin indicates that the edited line is not yet saved; Green margin indicates that the line was edited before last save as shown below.

The coloring schema can be customized based on user’s preference. The highlighting feature can be turned off by deselecting "Track Changes" on the General tab of the Text Editor page in the Options dialog box.

2. Bookmark window: Using this option user can manage bookmarks (naming bookmarks, re-ordering bookmarks etc). This option can be exercised from Tools -> Bookmark Window.

3. Smart tags: These tags are very similar to Office XP smart tags and help the user to correct some common errors. This feature is only available in VB.Net

4. Code Snippets: These are ready to use code snippets which can be used in a VB.Net, C# or J# project. User can add custom code snippets using the Code Snippet Manager from the Tools menu.

5. AutoRecover: As the name indicates, this feature helps to recover the changes done by automatically saving the code every 5 minutes. User can customize the AutoRecover options in the Options dialog box.

Web Page and HTML Designer

Visual Studio provides Visual Web Developer which makes the development of ASP.NET Web pages and HTML pages very productive. It allows the developer to create and maintain Web sites as local folders, in Internet Information Services (IIS), or FTP Server or SharePoint server. There are many new controls included in ASP.Net to make the development task easy and faster.

The HTML editor provides better control over the format of all HTML and of ASP.NET markup. Also formatting is preserved as is when switching views.

An improved IntelliSense feature provides better productivity. An improved code behind model for ASP.Net pages simplifies the process of creating web pages.

XML Editor

This new editor with color coding and IntelliSense support makes the editing of XML files very easy. This editor supports syntax checking, validation using DTD and XSD, ability to create XML schema, ability to convert DTD or XDR to XML schema and XSLT 1.0 syntax checking features.

Refactoring

This feature (available only in C# and J#) helps the developer to improve the quality of code by restructuring it internally. Following are the options available on the Refactoring Menu.

1. Extract Method: This is to split a method into many fine grained methods which are reusable.

2. Rename: This is used to rename an identifier i.e. field, variable, method etc.

3. Encapsulate Fields: Creating a property to encapsulate a field.

4. Extract Interfaces: Creating an interface which is implemented by current class.

5. Promote Local Variable to Parameters: Moving a local variable to parameter level.

6. Remove Parameters: Removing parameters from methods, indexers, constructors, delegates.

7. Reorder Parameters: Changing the order of parameters.

8. Generate Method Stub: Automatic code generation based on the consumption of a method.

9. Add Using Unbound Types: Automatic inclusion of namespace for an unbound type.

Solutions and Project related features

1. Test Projects: This option is very useful for experimenting etc. User can just create a temporary project and start coding without saving it.

2. Stand-alone projects: This is applicable for solution which has only one project. User will not see the solution in the Solution Explorer as well as the commands that act on solutions. However the solution files are still created.

3. Simplified Build: This option provides build option similar to Visual Basic 6.0. This is a useful option for VB programmers.

4. Solution Folders: This is a useful option for complex solutions. This helps the developer to organize projects in different folders in Solution Explorer.

5. Project Properties: This is the central location for all project properties and settings. This provides improved access to resources and strong-name signing within the IDE. This option can be accessed from Project à Project Properties.

6. Referencing an EXE: This feature helps the developer to reference an .EXE file from the code. This is used to access the class files which are inside an .EXE file.

7. Visual Studio Conversion Wizard: Using this option, developers can convert their projects in Visual Studio .NET 2002 or Visual Studio .NET 2003 to Visual Studio 2005. While converting, this provides an option to create a backup of the solution or project.

8. Create Project from Existing Code Files Wizard: This wizard helps to create a Visual Studio project by adding existing code files.

9. Solution and Project Platform Targeting: This feature provides and option to select the platform to build the solution or add new solution platforms or and edit existing solution platforms.

10. Starter Kits: This is an enhanced project template, which includes code samples (which can be compiled), documentation, and other required resources to learn new tools and programming techniques for building applications.

11. Projects and Solutions options: This feature contains separate pages for General and Build and Run options.

12. Custom Project and Project Item Templates: This feature allows creation or modification of custom template for projects or project items. These custom templates appear in the New Project dialog box and Add New Item dialog box. These templates contain a project file, code files and an XML file containing metadata for the template, which is used by Visual Studio to define how to display and create the project in the development environment. These files are compressed in a .zip file so that it can easily be shared with others.

Building, Debugging and Deployment

This section discusses new features provided in VS 2005 for building, debugging and deploying applications.

Building

VS 2005 introduces a new xml based transparent build system for all managed client application called MS.Net Build Engine (MSBuild). Developers can specify the as what to build and how to build under different platforms and configurations in the XML file associated with the build engine. Also they can author re-usable rules to achieve consistent builds across projects. The MSBuild build process is defined by atomic units of build operation (tasks) which can be re-authored by the developers in any .Net languages. However MSBuild cannot be used to build Web projects, deployment projects, and Visual C++ projects.

Debugging

1. Edit and Continue: This feature is only supported in VB.Net. This allows the developer to edit the code while debugging the application (Like in Visual Basic).

2. More Secure Remote Debugging with Simpler Setup: This feature provides setting up remote debugging by just copying a single executable to the remote machine. Also the remote debugging is more secure and robust. Apart from this, developers can also debug 64-bit managed and unmanaged applications.

3. Visualizers: This is a very useful feature. It can be launched from a Watch window or from the new enhanced DataTips and enables viewing of data in an intuitive and natural format i.e. now a string can be viewed as an HTML or an XML document. Also developers can write their own visualizers.

4. Just My Code Debugging: This feature allows the developer to debug the code written by him only.

5. Tracepoints and Improved Breakpoint UI: Tracepoints are a new way of using breakpoints to perform a custom action i.e. displaying a messagebox or executing a Visual Studio automation macro to determine whether to break or continue when it hits a tracepoint. The user interface is also enhanced to set these breakpoints easier and faster.

6. Better Tools for Multiprocess Debugging: Now developers can see all processes attached to for debugging in the Processes window. Breakpoint can be attached to a specified processes, threads, and machines. Attach to Process dialog box is simplified and attached processes information is moved from the dialog box to the Processes window.

7. Exception Assistant: This feature provides more precise information when exception occurs. This feature is only applicable for Visual Basic.Net, C# and J#.

8. Improved Support for Managing Debug Information: Better support for symbol server and diagnostic messages for troubleshooting debug information.

9. Debugging Code at Design Time: This feature provides debugging option at design time using the Immediate window.

10. Support for XSLT Debugging: This feature enables setting breakpoints within style sheets and viewing XSLT execution state etc. It also supports debugging a style sheet or an XSL transform invoked from another application.

Deployment

1. ClickOnce Deployment: It enables deployment of self-updating Windows and Command Line Applications that can be installed and run as easily as Web applications from Publish <Project> command on the Build menu as shown below.

On clicking the Publish <Project> option, it displays a Publish Wizard, which will guide the user thru the whole process.

2. Bootstrapping Prerequisites: This feature enables the inclusion of system perquisites components i.e. .NET Framework runtime as a part of a deployment project or ClickOnce deployment.

3. Windows Installer Deployment: Several new features have been included in the Setup and deployment projects i.e. ability to choose between per-user or per-machine installation, support for 64-bit deployment, and deployment to Web Servers that host multiple Web sites.

Automation

1. XML Add-in Registration: Developers can use XML files to define the registration settings for add-ins and then placing in the right folder for Visual Studio to find and load your add-in.

2. DTE2.Toolwindows: The new T:EnvDTE80.ToolWindows object (also available as the P:EnvDTE80.DTE2.ToolWindows property) improves the discoverability and usability of tool windows in the object model by providing easy access to the tool windows in the IDE in their native types. Visual Studio tool windows can also be accessed through member properties. Other tool windows may be located with the M:EnvDTE80.ToolWindows.GetToolWindow function.

3. DTE.Toolwindows.CreateToolWindow2 : It creates a new tool window and hosts a user-defined control in it thereby avoiding the usage of. A shim control is no longer required.

4. Managed code add-ins: The Add-in wizard now supports Managed Visual C++, and now support getting resources from managed satellite DLLs.

5. Managed tools options: Several new options on the Tools menu are provided for managed code.

6. Add-In Wizard: The Add-In Wizard supports creating add-ins using Visual J#.

7. KeyPress events: The Editor automation model offers a new T:EnvDTE80.TextDocumentKeyPressEvents object which has two events to handle keystroke entries in the Editor: E:EnvDTE80.TextDocumentKeyPressEventsClass.BeforeKeyPress and E:EnvDTE80.TextDocumentKeyPressEventsClass.AfterKeyPress.

8. InsertNewLine method: The Editor automation model offers a new M:EnvDTE80.EditPoint2.InsertNewLine method to insert lines in the Editor.

9. Solution Folders: This feature enables organizing large and complex application, now projects can be included in a sub folder in a solution.

10. Task List default navigation: It enables navigating directly to lines in the code by double-clicking items in the Task List.

11. Synchronous Find: The Find object offers a new property, P:EnvDTE80.Find2.WaitForFindToComplete to specify whether the search is performed synchronously or asynchronously.

12. Tool window command bar support: Some tool windows include a toolbar for accessing its functionality. Although these toolbars are not available from the P:EnvDTE80.DTE2.CommandBars collection, they are available on the Window object of the tool window.

13. Enhanced AddNamedCommand: An additional parameter in M:EnvDTE80.Commands2.AddNamedCommand2 is included to specify the style of the button, such as text only, icon only, text, and icon. Additional types of controls can also be created to place in the toolbars and menus, such as list box controls, edit box controls, and drop-down menu controls.

14. Localization: Sample macros are localized, and the Add-In Wizard now generates add-ins with the appropriate language i.e. for running Japanese Visual Studio, add-ins are created using the Japanese templates (if they are available).

15. Add-In and Macro Security: Now Developers can specify whether macros are allowed to run, whether add-ins are allowed to load, and where Visual Studio searches for .Addin configuration files.

16. Code Model Consistency: All the programming languages in Visual Studio use more of the core code model than previous versions, making for a more consistent programming experience.

17. Code Model Events: This feature enables the developer to track and respond to changes happening in the code.

18. Core Model Additions: A new assembly called EnvDTE80 contains a number of new automation members.

19. Language Model Additions: A new assembly called VSLangProj80 contains a number of new automation members for Visual Basic and Visual C#.

20. New Documentation for the IVSS Automation Model: The automation model for Visual SourceSafe, known as IVSS, now has documentation.

21. More Code Snippets: The Help topics for the various automation object models now contain more example code, many of them containing both Visual Basic and Visual C# snippets.

Help

1. Help viewer default: Help displays in an external Help viewer i.e. Microsoft Document Explorer, by default rather than inside the IDE.

2. How Do I page: It contains a list of task topics, organized by category and subcategory, for a subset of the documentation set of a product. This helps to quickly locate information by subject area.

3. Community integration: This feature enables access to forums and newsgroups directly from within Help.

4. Search: Search results now display an abstract for each topic. In addition, icons appear at the bottom of the topic abstract that provide additional information such as the programming language a topic applies to, as well as the topic source.

Enterprise Template and Policies

A new XML schema for the policy description language is included which replaces the Template Description Language. It is used to define policies that can be applied to a project or to a Solution Folder. Templates and policies created in previous versions of Visual Studio can be converted to work in this release.

References

Why does the .NET Framework 2.0 require 280MB of space to install?

Murray Gordon — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 18:25:00 GMT

Why does the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 require 280MB of space to install?

…When the download is only ~28MB

The Microsoft download site has the following prerequisite info for the download and install:

System Requirements

Supported Operating Systems: Windows 2000 Service Pack 3; Windows 98; Windows 98 Second Edition; Windows ME; Windows Server 2003; Windows XP Service Pack 2

Required Software:

Windows Installer 3.0 (except for Windows 98/ME, which require Windows Installer 2.0 or later). Windows Installer 3.1 or later is recommended.

IE 5.01 or later: You must also be running Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 or later for all installations of the .NET Framework.

Disk Space Requirements: 280 MB (x86), 610 MB (x64)

Actually, the interesting thing is that on install you are only required to have a minimum of 130MB to install the Framework

(Here’s the link to see for yourself: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0856eacb-4362-4b0d-8edd-aab15c5e04f5&displaylang=en)

Suspected Reasoning:

Couple of things might be behind the 280MB. One is that Microsoft installs the framework in 2 places, plus they install a couple of directory structures. All of that is expanded out of the 28MB download.

If you look, the 1.1 size was 70MB under C:\windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\v1.1.4322. Throw in the 50+MB under C\Windows\Assemblies (the 2nd copy), and then recognize that 2.0 is about double the size content-wise, and I think it makes sense.

Notice in the screenshot, the different sizes of the C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\ dir

It does seem big, I agree. But it’s kind of an investment going forward. In 5 years it won’t be an issue. I’m sure Microsoft knows this doesn’t really help today, but they’re in a bit of a transition phase with this, and the 280MB is just one of the bumps in the road.

Thanks,

Murray

MSBuild Information and Links

Murray Gordon — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 15:52:00 GMT

Great links for MSBuild

MSDN Chats: Visual Studio 2005: MSBuild Chat
MSDN Chats:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/chats/transcripts/vstudio/vstudio_072804b.aspx

Overview of MSBuild, Part 1: From a Project Author's Perspective ("Longhorn" Technical Articles)
Presents the new Microsoft build engine (MSBuild), shows how to write your own project file, and digs into how it integrates with Visual Studio 2005 (formerly code-named "Whidbey").
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnlong/html/msbuildpart1.asp

Overview of MSBuild, Part 2: From the Task Author's Perspective ("Longhorn" Technical Articles)
Explains how to write, install, and debug your own tasks to enhance what is possible to build with MSBuild.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnlong/html/msbuildpart2.asp

Overview of MSBuild, Part 3: What Is the Limit to Extensibility? ("Longhorn" Technical Articles)
Describes MSBuild's support of Visual Studio solution files and explains how the extensible logger mechanism can be used to write rich build tools. Part 3 of a three-part series.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnlong/html/msbuildpart3.asp

Download details: MSBuild Preview Quickstart Tutorials
The MSBuild team provides several tutorials on MSBuild, each of which includes sample projects and documentation.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e2b4bd85-bd66-4f09-8103-457c3ece8b3e&displaylang=en

Transcript: Visual Studio 2005: MSBuild
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdntv/transcripts/20040122VSNETAKTranscript.aspx

Download details: Visual Studio 2005 - MSBuild
During this episode, Alex Kipman shows how to fundamentally alter the Visual Studio build process with the new build platform for Microsoft: MSBuild.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=b6d3a791-c3be-4d53-b20d-dfbe4b1269ce&displaylang=en