Naveed Ahmad Bajwa : Bajoo

MSDN Virtual Lab: Office Business Application Reference Application Pack for Manufacturing Plant Floor Analytics

2007-07-12T05:35:00.000-07:00

At the end of this lab, you will understand how an Analytics OBA (Office Business Application) can be implemented to materialize the Analytics Value Chain of enabling operational monitoring, tactical analysis & decision making, and strategic insight. You can find this lab here

Sample BizTalk 2006 R2 HIPAA Solution Published on Codeplex

2007-07-12T05:34:00.000-07:00

First release of the BizTalk 2006 R2 HIPAA Claims Processing sample application demonstrates how healthcare companies can submit claims through BizTalk 2006 in real-time over HTTPS to a 3rd party claims processor called Availity. This solution demonstrates the following technologies:
· Business Rules Engine
· SQL 2005 Analysis Services
· MOSS and InfoPath
· New R2 EDI Features for healthcare

BizTalk Server 2006 extensions for Windows Workflow Foundation Sample

2007-07-06T07:32:00.000-07:00

Microsoft released BizTalk Server 2006 extensions for Windows Workflow Foundation (June CTP) SDK Sample. To try it out head to the Connect Site for this project, complete the survey, download the sample code and do the walk through.
Prerequisites for the walkthrough:
1- To complete the walkthrough you should first have Visual Studio 2005 professional or greater installed.
2 - You also need BizTalk Server 2006 R2 Beta 2 which is available on it's own connect site here. 3 - SQL Server 2005 SP1 express or greater is also required and you can get that here.
4 - Lastly you'll need the BizTalk extensions for WF from Connect.
The walkthrough will take about an hour and it starts with a WF workflow model and steps you through how to run this workflow inside the BizTalk Server managed server environment. No BizTalk experience is required for the walkthrough.

Life at Google - The Microsoftie Perspective

2007-07-03T03:00:00.000-07:00

A great read , infact a must read
http://no2google.wordpress.com/2007/06/24/life-at-google-the-microsoftie-perspective/

3 new OBA (Office business Applications) RAP (Reference Architecture Pack) Released

2007-06-30T15:19:00.000-07:00

One of the many great technologies to come out of Microsoft recently is OBA (Office business Applications). In the last week Microsoft release 3 Reference Architecture Pack (RAP). You should see them.

OBA RAP for Plant Floor Manufacturing Analytics:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/architecture/bb643797.aspx

OBA RAP for E-Forms Processing in the Public Sector:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/architecture/bb643796.aspx

OBA RAP for Health Plans
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/architecture/bb530326.aspx

Beta of two new web-based applications

2007-06-30T14:46:00.000-07:00

Microsoft released a beta of two new web-based applications for storing and sharing photos and files -- Live Photo Gallery and Live Photo Folder.
1)Live Photo Gallery allows people to easily sharing, editing, organizing and printing of photos and digital home videos stored on their computers.
2) Windows Live Folders provides 500MB free Microsoft's online storage service, aiming to make it easier to share and control access to files stored online.
Both products are in 'managed beta', which means that the general public will not yet be offered access. Microsoft dominant position in the software market is an advantage over web-only service providers, such as Google and Yahoo

Calling a .NET class from a Gadget

2007-06-28T06:08:00.000-07:00

We can call a .Net Assembly from a Vista gadget in following ways
1. We can interact with COM component by using the ActiveX Object constructor.
2. They are also different ways to interoperate with an application or a web service using WCF
3. A reference to Windows Forms UserControl is another option.
4. Last way is to dynamically execute a command line application, pass it arguments and get back output.

Enterprise Library 3.1 is here :)

2007-06-26T05:53:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has released Enterprise Library 3.1. The patterns & practices Enterprise Library is a library of application blocks designed to assist developers with common enterprise development challenges. Application blocks are a type of guidance, provided as source code that can be used "as is," extended, or modified by developers to use on enterprise development projects. This release of Enterprise Library includes application blocks for Caching, Cryptography, Data Access, Exception Handling, Logging, Policy Injection, Security and Validation. download it from here

Article on Choosing the Right Technology for Integrating Systems

2007-06-23T03:09:00.000-07:00

I wrote an article on Choosing the Right Technology for Integrating Systems few months back and after the feedback i got from people in PDC i thought i should publish the link. you can find this article here. I 'll be publishing an article on Microsoft office 2007 and its integration with application soon.

Pakistan Developer Conference 2007

2007-06-19T08:39:00.000-07:00

PDC rocks!!!!
I had 2 sessions today and 2nd was great , i had to play in a fast forward mode in the first one so sorry for that guys. The presentations as per promised are as follows

Integrating Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 Forms into Workflow Solutions and Business Processes (in .ppt format)

Choosing the Right Technology for Integrating Systems ( in .ppt format)

I'll upload the Code soon :). Cu tomo at PDC

Windows Vista: Beta 2, RC1, and RC2 Set to Expire

2007-05-31T00:52:00.000-07:00

After Today i.e. May 31, 2007, pre-release versions of Windows Vista will expire. To avoid work disruption and the loss of data, PC users running any of these pre-release versions of Windows Vista migrate their PCs to the final version of Windows Vista .
After May 31, 2007, users that continue to use pre-release versions of Windows Vista will be able to log in for 2-hour sessions to retrieve data. After 2 hours of use, the PC will automatically reboot without providing the opportunity to save data. The opportunity to log in normally for these 2 hour sessions will only be available for a limited time.
Find answers to frequently asked questions on the Windows Vista blog.

8 Tips And Tricks For Better BizTalk Programming

2007-05-28T00:44:00.000-07:00

A gr8 article on MSDN
the tips are as follows
1. Always Use Multi-Part Message Types
2. Always Try to Design Orchestrations with Direct-Bound Ports
3. Always Use Separate Internal and External Schemas
4. Never Expose Your Internal Schemas Directly in WSDL
5. Always Optimize the BizTalk Registry for Web Services
6. Always Set the Assembly Key File with a Relative Path
7. Never Overlook Free Sample Code
8. Debug XSLT in Visual Studio

O2 OBA Challenge

2007-05-28T00:10:00.000-07:00

"Create an Office Business Application (OBA) using the complementary technologies of the 2007 Microsoft® Office system and Oracle® Applications. The company that builds the best solution wins $25,000 to implement the OBA, and a unique opportunity to protect the air we share."
you can read more details here

Pakistan Developer Conference 2007 is here :)

2007-05-27T23:56:00.000-07:00

Guys it’s here again. The event I look forward to attend and present in. it is the best way to gain knowledge and insight from the technology gurus. I think it’s a gr8 opportunity for us Pakistanis (who can’t go to Europe and US every year for tech events). I'll be presenting on 1- Integrating Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 Forms with Workflow Solutions and Business Processes 2- Choosing the Right Technology for Integrating Systems: BizTalk, SQL Server, SOA and WCF So looking forward to meet you guys

Architect Journal -12th edition

2007-05-27T23:52:00.000-07:00

MS Architect journal is one of the best journals if you are a Microsoft Architect. Its 12th edition just came out. go get it from here.

Microsoft PopFly

2007-05-20T16:22:00.000-07:00

Popfly is the fun, easy way for anyone to build and share mashups, gadgets, Web pages, and applications. Popfly consists of two parts:
1. Popfly Creator is a set of online visual tools for building Web pages and mashups.
2. Popfly Space is an online community of creators where you can host, share, rate, comment and even remix creations from other Popfly users.
See the video here for how to easily use online services like Flickr, Digg, and even World of Warcraft without writing code.

Judging Imagine cup 2007 , pakistan

2007-05-15T02:45:00.000-07:00

The Imagine Cup is one way Microsoft is encouraging young people to apply their imagination, their passion and their creativity to technology innovations that can make a difference in the world – today. Now in its fifth year, the Imagine Cup has grown to be a truly global competition focused on finding solutions to real world issues.
The 2007 Theme is Education. This year, Microsoft is calling on young programmers, artists and technologists around the world to "imagine a world where technology enables a better education for all." We’re challenging students to bring their ideas to life in a multifaceted competition that comprises nine categories, each catering to a different technological or artistic affinity. Students’ work will reflect valuable, real world solutions, while giving them the opportunity to compete for cash prizes. When coupled with the power of technology the potential of young people is unlimited and the ideas they develop for the Imagine Cup could significantly improve the lives of millions of people around the world. In this competition, everyone wins.

I was asked to be one of the judges at the project evaluation for the best project from pakistan for the imagine up in the Software Design category. We had some great projects and the competition was very good. the best project came from LUMS lahore it was a class recording software with some very cool features. the project whch can 2nd came from a very remote place of pakistan, nawabshah. It was great to see someone from such remote location to bring up such a good software. the software was a grid computing software.

TechEd US 2007: SOA and Web Services Track Schedule

2007-05-10T13:29:00.000-07:00

The complete abstract can be found on the TechEd site.

Visual Studio Orcas Express

2007-04-23T16:18:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has just released a Community Tech Preview download of Visual Studio Orcas Express, the next version of Visual Studio Express.
A gr8 Screenshot below :)

Converting Messages to Text in Outlook 2007

2007-04-19T16:15:00.000-07:00

I read this great blog spot so wanted to share with you guys
"
In Outlook 2003, you could open an email message and convert it from HTML to text by hitting Ctrl-Shift-O. That was handy, because I generally prefer to bottom-quote, and that's a pain in the ass when the email is HTML. So when I installed Outlook 2007 I was annoyed that Ctrl-Shift-O didn't work any more.
After a bunch of fumbling around, I finally discovered that if you open a message and edit it (Message->Other Actions->Edit), you can then change it to plain text (Options->Plain text). Well, being a keyboard guy, I got pretty tired of doing that, so now I have the following key sequence committed to muscle memory:
Enter (open message)
Alt H X E (edit message)
Alt P L (convert to plain text)
Alt H R P (reply)
Which, honestly, sucks, but is maybe 100 times as fast as doing the same thing with the mouse."

Microsoft Announces Silverlight

2007-04-17T21:12:00.000-07:00

You can read the press release here or visit the Silverlight home page for more information. I recomend you should use it.

BizTalk 2006 R2 Beta Download Instructions

2007-04-10T19:25:00.000-07:00

To access R2 Public Beta, please follow these instructions:
Go to http://connect.microsoft.com/
1) Sign in using your passport
2) Click on Available Connections (on the Connect Home menu)
3) Apply for BizTalk 2006 R2 Beta program

Nomination Start Date : 4/2/2007
Nomination End Date: 8/1/2007

Preventing Anonymous Access from Nicholas Allen's Indigo Blog

2007-04-02T17:22:00.000-07:00

How do I prevent clients from accessing my service anonymously? I've changed the settings in IIS from Anonymous Access to Integrated Windows Authentication. However, now I'm getting the error message: "Security settings for this service require 'Anonymous' Authentication but it is not enabled for the IIS application that hosts this service."
Disabling anonymous access requires coordinating the settings in IIS and in your service configuration. Those two sources must be in agreement about whether anonymous access is expected. IIS is already using Windows authentication in this case, so let's look at what needs to happen to the service configuration file. I'm assuming that this is IIS6 so the only network transport we're talking about here is HTTP.
There are two cases depending on whether you want the protocol that gets exposed to be HTTP or HTTPS. The simplest is to keep using HTTP since that's probably what you were using if anonymous access was allowed in the past. To switch off anonymous access with HTTP, you need to set the security mode to TransportCredentialOnly.

Note that TransportCredentialOnly is not supported for every binding (in this case we're using BasicHttp). For WSHttp, the only choice is going to be to use HTTPS. To switch off anonymous access with HTTPS, you need to set the security mode to Transport.

Other bindings can be made to work in this situation as well, including custom bindings. I'm just showing you the most common examples. The key in both cases though is that we're getting transport security with the right kind of credentials associated.

Announcing the OBA Reference Application Pack for Loan Origination Systems (OR-LOS)

2007-03-29T20:14:00.000-07:00

The Architecture Strategy Team has just released an Office Business Applications Reference Application Pack for Loan Origination Systems (OR-LOS) that leverages SharePoint, BizTalk Orchestrations, BizTalk Business Rules Engine, WF Workflows, and Office Clients to automate a Loan Origination process spanning multiple human and system participants.

BizTalk Server 2006 Documentation in PDF Format

2007-03-27T11:57:00.000-07:00

The BizTalk Server 2006 core documentation PDF here.

.Net 3.5 with Orcas!

2007-03-22T16:04:00.000-07:00

It wasn’t long ago that we were discussing .Net 3.0 as a new development palteform from Microsoft's technology stack. Now Microsoft is ready with .Net 3.5 that is going to be released with Visual Studio Orcas later this year. you can download the CTP bits from MSDN.

SQL Server 2005 SP2 Now Available

2007-03-05T16:02:00.000-08:00

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 (SP2) enables SQL Server 2005 customers to take advantage of the enhancements within Windows Vista and the 2007 Office system. Specific enhancements include, but are not limited to:
•Enhanced BI Capabilities
•Interoperability Enhancements
•Performance and Manageability Enhancements
for Review visit what's new in SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2

My article on Integration technogies

2007-03-02T01:40:00.000-08:00

I have working on this for quite sometime now , the problem which every arcitect faces when came accross the problem of integration is to which tool/technology to use. you can find my article on thi here

LOVE is in the air

2007-02-18T01:32:00.000-08:00

We had a great LOVE( launch of vista and office) in pakistan. i spoke about WCF and RSS. Event was a big hit and yes thts me :)

Office Business Applications Developer Portal

2007-02-14T22:51:00.000-08:00

Check out Office Business Applications Developer Portal. i had a gr8 experience with IBF and now a days i'm trying to implement a project using IBF.

Great BizTalk book

2007-02-10T15:45:00.000-08:00

This is a great biztalk for for newbees and the experienced biztalk developers

Microsoft innovation days 2007 @ karachi

2007-01-26T02:35:00.000-08:00

Microsoft innovation days 2007 was a an effort to bring new technologies like vista and .Net 3.0. first of the three events was in islamabad( which i missed). secound event which i attended was in lahore. Third event i speak Vista and infocard, waqar kamisani spoke on new offering by Microsoft. great tele marketing tools have been offered by microsoft for the ISVs. got great feed back from the attendees on the event :)

Microsft innnovation days 2007 @ Lahore

2007-01-26T02:25:00.000-08:00

Microsoft innovation days 2007 was a an effort to bring new technologies like vista and .Net 3.0. first of the three events was in islamabad( which i missed). I was invited to speak at Lahore event. I spoke on WCF, waqar kamisani spoke on new offering by Microsoft.

Two great features of vista

2007-01-16T21:31:00.000-08:00

I was exploring vista and came across two great features of vista. I hope I’ll be able to speak on them soon in some MS event
· P2P / People Near Me: The P2P platform comprises powerful native APIs that help you build peer-to-peer applications. The functionality in the Vista platform takes care of the infrastructure for discovery, connection, and communication between applications, whether we’re talking about two parties or on a multi-party mesh. The P2P functionality transparently plugs into DNS, so peers can easily find and communicate with each other across the internet. And the People Near Me feature locates other users on the same Internet access point. The platform can even create an ad-hoc network directly between users who aren’t connected to the Internet.
· RSS Platform: the RSS platform lets you build RSS-enabled applications without rewriting the basic building blocks of RSS infrastructure. The Common Feed List, Feed Synchronization Engine, and Feed Store in Windows Vista give you support for all major ATOM and RSS formats, background scheduled updates, and APIs that expose a simple object model for feeds. Including RSS support in your application has never been easier.

Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) for Partners

2007-01-10T17:43:00.000-08:00

The term Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) is widely used in the context of implementing the messaging capabilities of a service oriented infrastructure. An ESB is one of many building blocks that make up a comprehensive service oriented infrastructure. Microsoft provides a comprehensive ESB offering through its large network of partners.
You can find a list of the partners in the early access program on the Microsoft SOA/ESB Web site: http://www.microsoft.com/biztalk/solutions/soa/esb.mspx

Virtual PC 2007 Release Candidate ready for download

2007-01-06T01:49:00.000-08:00

The Release candidate includes new features (e.g. PXE Boot) and addresses several of issues including installation on Windows 2003 as a host; Audio in Vista; DVD support for Vista installation; binding to wireless network cards etc.

BizTalk Server Anti-Patterns

2006-12-22T18:50:00.000-08:00

Eric provides some interesting food for thought around anti-patterns for BizTalk Server, starting with a kitchen sink analogy applied to maps.
http://blogs.msdn.com/ebattalio/archive/tags/BizTalk+Anti-Patterns/default.aspx

Ami vora left MS :(

2006-12-06T13:33:00.000-08:00

When I started my research on WCF way back, the one of the first few names I went through (read articles and webcasts) was Ami vora. Since then I have been a fan of hers and followed her events all around the world and followed her blog. It’s sad for me to see just a gr8 person leaving MS. I wish her good luck for her future

Event @ FAST-NU Lahore

2006-11-26T23:56:00.000-08:00

On 25th November Lahore National University held a seminar. I was invited as a speaker on Microsoft technologies. Event went pretty well. GEO was there for the coverage of ending ceremony. I talked about Imagine Cup and few project Ideas, Then shifted to WCF presentation. As I explained WinFX people showed interest in WWF also, so I went into the details of WWF also. Event was arranged by NUCES media group

Visual Studio Code Named "Orcas" October CTP is now available

2006-10-31T23:55:00.000-08:00

Check out the various new advancements including ADO.NET 3.0, LINQ over XML, Multi-targeting etc with the "Orcas" October CTP now!

Event @ Behriya University

2006-10-15T00:42:00.000-07:00

I was invited by Behriya University to speak on Vista and upcoming .Net v3 technologies. The event went very well. There were people from Java background so we had very good discussions on comparison on .Net v3 with few of the java technologies.

Two great articles on biztalk performance

2006-09-21T07:59:00.000-07:00

I Found two great articles on biztalk team blog site discussing biztalk performance

Managing a successful performance lab with BizTalk Server 2006
Get help deploying BizTalk Server with the Best Practices Analyzer (BPA)

must read.

RC of .NET Framework v3.0 is available !!!

2006-09-07T16:48:00.000-07:00

The .Net Framework v3.0 release candidate (RC1) is now available for download:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=19E21845-F5E3-4387-95FF-66788825C1AF&displaylang=en

Web Service Factory

2006-09-04T08:14:00.000-07:00

Few colleagues of mine came to me and they were discussing about using web services in their project so I introduced them to web service factory. They were amazed by the functionality it was providing to the users and the easy ways to use that is just awesome. SoI thought I should share it with you guys also

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnpag2/html/servicefactory.asp

great to use.

Software As a Service (SaaS) Architect Guidance

2006-08-24T00:28:00.000-07:00

Software As a Service or in other words (SaaS) architecture guidance site on msdn has been published. You can visit it by clicking here

Creation of Enterprise Architecture Group (EAG) in Kalsoft

2006-08-16T08:35:00.000-07:00

A very good initiative is taken by the management of my company to create a separate department for the architects; I think this will make Kalsoft the first and only software house in Pakistan to have such a department. I was asked to join this department as Lead Architect and I accepted this offer gladly. I hope that this department proves a very important change in Kalsoft and bring more quality to the organization

Increase in C# book sale

2006-08-11T00:23:00.000-07:00

I saw an article on oreilly site and was pleased by the trends it showed

"A few high-level observations:
C# book sales continues to gain on Java, with a 49% unit sales increase compared to Java's 10% decrease.
Ruby continues its momentum, and is the fastest-growing programming language in terms of book sales.
Microsoft's new release of SQL Server has continued to drive significant book sales, with that market up 86%. ASP.Net is also on a roll, with book sales up 61%."

For complete article click here

WCF Adapter to ship with R2

2006-08-03T08:51:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the supported use cases for the WCF adapters:

Exposing BizTalk orchestrations as a WCF web service
Exposing BizTalk Content Based Routing applications as a WCF web service
Consuming a WCF service from BizTalk orchestrations
Consuming a WCF service from Content Based Routing applications
Transactional message receive
Transactional message send
Using WS-* headers for routing and message processing
Using custom headers for routing and message processing
Using custom binding elements
Using custom bindings
Using BizTalk dynamic send ports
Using BizTalk as SOAP intermediary

The WCF adapters will support the following WCF transports:

HTTP / HTTPS
SOAP
MTOM
TCP
MSMQ
Named Pipes

Beyond SOA : Software Architecture of the future

2006-07-24T04:20:00.000-07:00

read it here on msdn

Today, new social movements, advances in technology, and forces within business are colliding to create a landscape overflowing with challenges and opportunities. In many cases, these forces have driven the deployment of new technologies and the adoption of new behaviors, adding multiple layers to an already complex set of issues that must be navigated. Architects are searching for a solution to manage this complexity. SOA, ESB, Software as a Service, Web 2.0, and Edge are all elements of the solution, but are they the complete picture? Are they a sufficient answer to the issues? Can they be used together in a productive and efficient fashion? We have the opportunity now to think about what the software architecture of the future looks like; for software architects to take a step back and to forecast what lies over the horizon. To move beyond SOA we must find a way to connect the user edge of software development to the existing services infrastructure of the enterprise; to reconnect the people to the platform. This keynote examines these issues and discusses Microsoft’s vision for the future.

Pakistan Developers Conference 2006

2006-07-12T05:51:00.000-07:00

It was one of the greatest experiences in my life to speak at PDC 2006 and to interact with other speakers. I gave my presentation on WCF which i'll upload soon with the source Code.

Microsoft SOA & Business Process Conference Request for Session Proposals

2006-07-12T02:13:00.000-07:00

Call For Sessions
Microsoft’s SOA & Business Process Conference is the event for our customers and partners to learn about new and updated information on Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), Business Process Management (BPM), and Microsoft’s own Connected Systems infrastructure. Over 4 days, attendees will learn about the strategies and technologies that Microsoft is delivering over the next year, such as BizTalk Server, .NET Framework 3.0, and Office 2007. Three technical tracks will provide depth and detail into best practices for building BPM solutions, guidance for advancing your SOA, and using the latest development tools and technologies for connecting people, processes and information. A fourth track will focus on the business value of SOA and BPM for both customers looking to optimize their application infrastructure/business processes and for partners looking to expand their SOA & BPM practices. Whether you need to get up to speed fast, or are ready to dive deep, this is the event for technical training, networking, and business development for partners and customers interested in Microsoft’s view of SOA, BPM, and Connected Systems.
We are now accepting session submissions for each of the four conference tracks listed below. Sessions are 1 hour in length and should include time for Q&A. Technical track sessions should have a target level of 300 or higher. Non-Microsoft speakers will receive a $1000 stipend. Please send your session submissions to btstpm@microsoft.com including proposed session title, abstract, speaker, and associated track. Session submission will close on July 21st.
Conference ContentEach session at the Microsoft SOA & Business Process Conference should be designed to expand attendees knowledge of key emerging technologies, demonstrate proven strategies for implementing solutions, explain Microsoft’s long-term strategy and roadmap, and/or add value to their organization’s service oriented and business process solution portfolio.
Service Oriented ArchitectureIT organizations of all sizes are increasingly looking at ‘Software as a Service’ as the paradigm through which they will deliver value to the business. Services are becoming increasingly important to internal IT and business customers as well as across organizational boundaries to trading partners and compliance organizations. The SOA track will provide clear guidance on how to apply expertise from Microsoft and its partners to this emerging application portfolio strategy.
Some of the challenges to be explored include exposing IT assets as services, composing services into business processes, and consuming services within new user experiences. Technologies and topics covered will include: Host Integration, Windows Communication Foundation (Microsoft’s WS-* implementation), Windows Workflow Foundation, BizTalk Server 2006, process methodology, Microsoft Operations Manager, AJAX, Microsoft Office 2007, and Windows Server 2003.
Business Process ManagementThe challenges of aligning cross-functional processes, improving organizational effectiveness, and enhancing customer relationships have made business process management a top priority of both business and IT alike. By attending the Business Process Management track you will learn about the state of the BPM market, how to make the business case for BPM, best practices and technology strategies for enabling process improvements, and understanding the partner opportunities for targeting BPM solutions on the Microsoft platform. Microsoft will present our vision and roadmap for our “People-ready Process” strategy, enabled by upcoming technology innovation across the next 12 months such as BizTalk Sever 2006 R2, Office SharePoint Server 2007, Office InfoPath 2007, Office Visio 2007, Office SharePoint Designer 2007, and Windows Workflow Foundation.
Connected Systems Technology and ProductsUnder the Connected Systems Technologies and Products track you’ll find deep, technical sessions with practical guidance on building applications using the latest developer tools and frameworks from Microsoft. From low level foundational technologies such as Windows Communication Foundation, Windows Workflow Foundation, Windows Presentation Foundation and CardSpace up to the enterprise class server BizTalk Server 2006, these sessions will treat your inner developer to best practices learned from the pros.
Business ValueThe Business Value track will focus on the business opportunities of Service Oriented Architecture and Business Process Management for both customers looking to optimize their processes and for partners looking to expand their practices. Whether you are focused on SOA and BPM within your own organization or in the broader marketplace, this track will demonstrate proven strategies for identifying opportunities and maximizing the return on your investments.
Sponsors & ExhibitorsSponsorship and exhibition opportunities are also available to partners to showcase their latest solutions and technologies demonstrate their newest innovations, allowing attendees to test-drive key technologies and receive one-on-one, informed answers to questions. If you are interested in sponsorship, please contact Robert Bannerman at robann@microsoft.com.
For general event information or to register as an attendee, visit the event web site at www.impactevents.com/biztalkconference.

I have been Awarded Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Award

2006-07-02T22:52:00.000-07:00

It’s a great honor for me that Microsoft has selected me for this esteemed award. As a MVP I feel really proud. To be honest I don’t have words to explain the feeling I'm going through.

BizTalk Server Best Practices Analyzer

2006-06-26T00:54:00.000-07:00

This is very helpful and handy for consultants and Developers who are working on BizTalk.

From the blog of luke nyswonger, lead programmer writer, BizTalk

"The Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 Best Practices Analyzer examines a BizTalk Server 2006 deployment and generates a list of best practices issues it discovers. The Best Practices Analyzer is intended for use in BizTalk Server 2006 production and staging environments.

The Best Practices Analyzer performs configuration level verification, by reading and reporting only. For example, the Best Practices Analyzer gathers data from Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) classes, Microsoft SQL Server databases, registry entries, and other parts of your deployment, and uses the gathered data to determine whether best practices are being followed. The Best Practices Analyzer does not modify any system settings, and is therefore not a self-tuning tool."

Download Now!

Bill Gates Bowing Out

2006-06-21T03:22:00.000-07:00

News Conference
Redmond, Washington
June 15, 2006

Bill Gates:
"I have decided that two years from today, starting July 2008, I will reorder my personal priorities. Today I am working full-time for Microsoft and part-time for the Gates Foundation. Starting two years from now, I will shift, work full-time at the Foundation, part-time at Microsoft as Chairman and as a senior technical adviser. "

Read the full article

Judging Software Competition "Open House" @ FAST-NU

2006-06-12T00:30:00.000-07:00

It seems like judging Software in a competition has become a regular activity for me in last 2 months I have been called in competitions involving more than 50 projects and few of them from neighboring countries also. On 7th June I received a letter from FAST-NU that I have to be a judge at Open House (a Software competition for the graduating batch to show their final project). The entries involved software ranging from call center and HRMS to research projects so it was nice to have such diversity in the projects to judge. To conclude it was a well organized Event.

Conducting Second & Third Phase Evaluation For Microsoft Imagine Cup Software Design Competition 2006

2006-06-11T23:31:00.000-07:00

29th May 2006:
I have been really busy so wasn't able to update my blog there have been 2 main event regarding Imagine cup. The final 2 rounds were held at IBA and the selected entries from previous round were competing in it. The judges panel included Waqar Khamisani (Microsoft ISV Manager Pakistan), Dr. Saeed Ghani (Chairman CS and MIS, IBA), Dr. Shahid Shameem, Dr. Amir Raza, Rehan Ghayor (Sr. Manager MIS, IBA), Talha Mahmood and My self. In the 2nd round there were 5 projects and after going through the demos and the Presentation we were hardly able to separate the top 2. So we decided to go to the third round with only 2 projects.

6th June 2006:
Final round was held to select 1 project from the top 2. Again both the projects were very impressive and had made some improvements in the last week to brighten their chances. Eventually after a long debate and demo/presentation 1 was selected to represent Pakistan in Imagine cup 2006.

Microsoft Application Security Seminar @ NED Postponed

2006-05-26T02:09:00.000-07:00

Due to the strike in Karachi the event @ NED University on 27th May has been postponed to 1st June. It would have been great if it was on 27th because it was Saturday and the attendance would have been very good.

Conducting the Preliminary Round for Imagine Cup 2006 Pakistan

2006-05-22T00:47:00.000-07:00

On 20th May the preliminary round for Projects entries for Imagine cup was completed. The judges panel included Waqar Khamisani (Microsoft ISV Manager Pakistan), Dr. Saeed Ghani(Chairman CS and MIS,IBA) , Rehan Ghayor(Sr. Manager MIS ,IBA), Talha Mahmood and My self. We went through many projects, discussing the projects detail and marking them. Finally we select 5 projects to be forwarded to the final round, before sending them to India. The final assessment Round will be held on 29th May 2006.

WCF Architecture

2006-05-19T07:21:00.000-07:00

WCF architecture consists of 4 main sections

I have talk about Contracts in one of my previous entry. Let’s examine the other parts of this framework

Service Runtime

The service runtime layer contains the behaviors that occur only during the actual operation of the service, that is, the runtime behaviors of the service. E.g. Instancing, throttling, error handling etc.

Messaging

The messaging layer shows the formats and exchange patterns of the data. WS Security enables security at the message layer while WS Reliable Messaging channel enables the guarantee of message delivery. The encoders present a range of encodings that can be used to suit the needs of the message.

Activation and Hosting

This is the part where service is started by analyzing its activation options. Services can be either self-hosted or hosted in the context of another application.

From .NET Remoting to the Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)

2006-05-15T07:20:00.000-07:00

I personally tried to convert my project from Web services to WCF and I’m still trying but in the mean while found 1 great Article on Microsoft Site.

Click here to view the Article

Assessing Projects For Imagine Cup 2006 from Pakistan

2006-05-15T07:10:00.000-07:00

I received a mail from Vaqar Khamisani (ISV manager, Microsoft Pakistan) that I'll be part of Judging Committee for the Imagine cup 2006 project evaluation in Pakistan. I have been helping many students to improve their projects for Imagine Cup and resolve their issues for last 2 months or so. Now this is the time to actually see that they have done and there are many entries from students which I have not help/assisted. I feel it will be very interesting to evaluate them. Hopefully their will be very good entries and they perform very well in India.

Microsoft Application Security Seminar @ Karachi University

2006-05-07T08:24:00.000-07:00

It was my first event in KU and 2nd the series of Seminars on Application Security. I was accompanied by Razi bin Rais (Snr. Software Eng, Kalsoft). I spoke on WinFX, WCF and Security in WCF. There were some interesting questions about WCF as the students were trying to understand the core concept, later on I showed them a Demo. Razi started with the core concept of Web Applications and moved on to ASP.NET and then to new login/roles/users related controls in ASP.NET2. After the event I Introduced Imagine cup and distributed the CDs which were provided by Microsoft.

Seminar On Application Security In Fast-NU

2006-05-03T06:10:00.000-07:00

Today I went to Fast-NU with Wajahat (MVP ASP.NET) for the Application security. I talked about indigo and the Security options in it. Wajahat took on Writing Secure code. It went pretty well the guys looked very impressed with WCF. As I was talking about message passing between applications a question about Application integration gave me chance to discuss BizTalk Server

Documentation Update for Windows Communication Foundation

2006-05-01T01:06:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has updated the Documentation for Windows Communication Foundation
WCF Documentation CTP (15 Apr 2006)

Judging a programming Competition @ ProCom 2006

2006-04-22T06:16:00.000-07:00

I received a Call from Fast-NU and was asked to judge a programming competition at their Annual All Pakistan Programming and Software Competition. To judge something which you have done all your life seems not a big issue but considering the fact that the programs will be coming from the best students from all over Pakistan and few from neighboring countries makes it really interesting.

BizTalk Server 2006 RTM is Released

2006-03-29T03:26:00.000-08:00

Microsoft has finally unvieled BizTalk Server 2006 RTM on March 27th, 2006. This RTM version of BizTalk Server 2006 is available for download for MSDN Subscribers. Check out the following link for more information:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/biztalk/

Speaking at Microsoft Developers Days 2006

2006-03-16T08:04:00.000-08:00

Speaking at MSDD 2006 felt real existed plus I feel proud that I was given a change to speak at such an event. The main objective was to update the current IT mainstream about the latest cutting edge tools and techniques that improve security during project life cycle using Microsoft technologies and thereby enabling them to practice better developing methodologies in an industry where security is an ever growing concern. I spoke at Indigo and its security. The event was a big hit and the feedback from the General Public was great

Gulf Developers Conference 2006

2006-03-08T03:17:00.000-08:00

GDC 2006 is an event that provides a comprehensive technical overview as well as more insight on the latest (both recently released and upcoming) Microsoft development and platform technologies. During the GDC 2006 event, there will be many sessions that would demonstrate the latest advanced features that were introduced in Visual Studio 2005, SQL Server 2005, BizTalk Server 2006, Windows Vista and how all these technologies can be used to build reliable, secure, high performance applications that can connect people, information, processes and systems together. More than 1700 technology professionals from Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region are expected to join this event and get the opportunity to meet and interact with top technology experts in the industry and Microsoft team for the duration of the event.

Hosting Indigo service in IIS

2006-03-03T12:45:00.000-08:00

Today I hosted services in IIS for the first time. It is pretty easy (my first expression was that it will be really hard to run in IIS). It very simple and the benefits of deploying service in IIS are too many to have not explored this option so I tried it and it worked :))

New papers on Biztalk Server 2006

2006-02-28T08:30:00.000-08:00

Understanding BizTalk Server 2006

Learn about key features and improvements in BizTalk Server 2006, such as significantly simpler installation; better support for deploying, monitoring, and managing applications; and improved capabilities for Business Activity Monitoring.

BizTalk Server 2006 Adapter Enhancements

This white paper discusses both the new built-in adapters and enhancements to the existing built-in adapters that will ship with BizTalk Server 2006.

BizTalk Server 2006 Application Deployment and Management

This white paper describes two new key features of BizTalk Server 2006—the capability to manage BizTalk artifacts as a single application, and the ability to monitor a group of artifacts through the use of the BizTalk Server Administration Console, which makes BizTalk Server less time-consuming to manage.

BizTalk Server 2006 Business Activity Monitoring

This paper provides a detailed description of two new Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) features in BizTalk Sever 2006—the BizTalk Server BAM Portal, and Alerts and Notification Support—and it discusses enhancements to the BAM features in BizTalk Server 2004.

BizTalk Server 2006 Developer Tools Improvements

This white paper describes some key product enhancements in BizTalk Server 2006 that are of interest to developers, in particular the Flat File Wizard.

BizTalk Server 2006 Runtime Improvements

This white paper reviews the improvements that have been made to message processing as part of the core engine enhancements for BizTalk Server 2006.

BizTalk Server 2006 Setup and Migration

Included in this white paper is a high-level overview of the BizTalk Sever 2006 setup process and how it differs with the BizTalk Server 2004 install process.

Understanding the Hub and Spoke Deployment Model for BizTalk Server 2006

Read this article to understand how the BizTalk Server 2006 hub and spoke model supports administrators who want to install and deploy the associated bits of a BizTalk Server solution from one central server and multiple remote servers.

The Business Value of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

This white paper examines the opportunities and benefits of RFID and how this technology will revolutionize supply chain management.

Preparing for Microsoft Developers Days 2006

2006-02-25T01:38:00.000-08:00

Today I was told that I’ll be speaking and presenting some topic @ Microsoft Developers Days 2006. Plus I’ll be part of the organizing Committee for the event my responsibility is to look at the technical side i.e. speakers and their topics. Topics were decided 1 month earlier so my job was to prepare the speakers plus my own presentation. Also had a meeting with Microsoft ISV manager Waqar Khamisani for the approval of topics and presenters.

Free Microsoft re-Exams

2006-02-21T02:46:00.000-08:00

If you are planning to do any Microsoft exam do it ASAP. Microsoft offers a free re-exam voucher when you fail one exam. Take this chance for a limited time. Find the details here.

The offer is valid till June 30, 2006.

VS2005 Launch Event @ UIT

2006-02-17T05:30:00.000-08:00

Naseem siddiqui shareing his thoughts

INETA Launch Team Members Mr. Nasim Siddiqui (Software Architect, Kalsoft) and Myself. delivered presentations on “Visual Studio.Net 2005, SQL Server 2005” highlighting the new features of the products and to help the audience to understand how Microsoft’s latest easy to use technologies can help us to increase productivity by focusing on business logic instead of coding during the development process. Three things were discussed mainly Vs2005 and SQL server but Biztalk was also included in the discussion.

The presentations were followed by a Q/A session. The event formally with the distribution of Microsoft bags among the audience on referral draw.

Below: me :)

VS2005 Launch Event @ CBM

2006-02-14T01:29:00.000-08:00

Event @ CBM went Excellent. I was accompanied by Wajahat (MVP ASP.NET). We Introduced INETA followed By Imagine Cup Videos. I was first to speak and I spoke on Click once deployment and New Data Controls in Vs2005 plus a brief on VSTO. Wajahat Spoke on SQL Server 2005 and how it’ll be helping the Developers and making their life easier. He also spoke at the Scalability issues.

Types of Contracts

2006-01-24T23:51:00.000-08:00

There are 3 types of Contacts in indigo but I feel that we as developers will be using only the above 2 from the list below
1- Service Contract
2- Data Contract
3- Message Contract

Service contract defines the operations (functions) to be exposed to the outside world. Data contract define the data members to be sent and Message Contract defines what part of Data will be in the header and what part will be in the Body of the Message.

Q/A for BTS

2006-01-15T18:58:00.000-08:00

Stephen Thomas has published a set of interview questions on BizTalk Server and Gustavo has provided his answers to those questions

BizTalk Server and "Indigo"

2006-01-08T05:49:00.000-08:00

Scott Woodgate shows a glimpse into the future with a working prototype demo illustrating BizTalk Server and "Indigo" working together.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdntv/episode.aspx?xml=episodes/en/20050428biztalksw/manifest.xml

not Just

2005-12-29T09:19:00.000-08:00

According to BBC

The European Commission has threatened to fine Microsoft up to 2m euros (Â£1.36m; $2.4m) a day until it gives rivals more access to its systems.

its not fair with Microsoft. Specially the way other software companies are fetching information from users.

ABC of an Endpoint

2005-12-22T05:40:00.000-08:00

The message passing in Indigo is done by endpoints. Endpoint consists of ABC. A is address, B is binding and C is contract. By address we mean the URI of the location where the service is located or the address of the service. By B we mean the Binding which defines the Protocol, encoding, security transactions ECT and C is the contract of the Service i.e. what it is exposing to the outside world.

VS2005 Launch event in KIET

2005-12-14T04:22:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we did a VS 2005 Launch Session at PAF KIET . That was second the launch activity by INETA Pakistan. I was accompanied by Adnan Farooq (MVP) and Hammad rajjoub (MVP). Event was attended by some 50-60 students + faculty members. We also introduced Imagine Cup 2006 and INETA to the audience. Adnan started off the proceedings with introduction to INETA. Hammad rajjoub followed it up with introducing Imagine Cup 2006 and VS 2005 Launch. Then I presented Smart Clients technology in VS 2005 with a introduction to Biztalk on which hammad also shed some light. then Hammad rajjoub ended presentation with an introduction to SQL Server 2005 and BizTalk 2006. We also showed a video for VS2005 launch address by Steve Ballmer. After the presentation we distributed the goodies amongst the audience, thank to Microsoft Pakistan. There were few questions on VS2005 and Biztalk which we were very glad to answer.

Thats me :)

BizTalk Server 2006 Accelerators

2005-12-08T06:08:00.000-08:00

Microsoft has released following BizTalk Server 2006 Accelerator Beta2s:

Â· Microsoft BizTalk Accelerator for HIPAA 3.3
Â· Microsoft BizTalk Accelerator for HL7 1.3
Â· Microsoft BizTalk Accelerator for RosettaNet 3.3
Â· Microsoft BizTalk Accelerator for SWIFT 2.3

https://beta.microsoft.com/

I am really glad to see SWIFT Accelerator being made avaialble. Its an awesome oppurtunities for Banks and other financial institutes that are connected to SWIFT network to try BizTalk 2006 and see the value it adds to EAI as well as other domains.

Microsoft Distributed Computation Technologies

2005-12-05T19:56:00.000-08:00

Microsoft has 5 different Technologies for building distributed applications. To start with my favorite is .Net Remoting, it’s for communicating with .Net to .Net Apps cause then it is at its best. Then we have ASMX, also known as ASP.Net Web Services). Then ES (Enterprise Services) where you can manage object Lifetimes and define transactions in Distributed Environment. WSE or Web services Enhancement with WS-* specification. Last but not the least is MSMQ or Microsoft Message Queuing which is best suited for Windows based Applications.

Indigo - The new Communication Technology

2005-11-28T09:41:00.000-08:00

After doing some work on Avalon I shifted my focus to Indigo. I started reading about it. And the most fascinating thing is that I came across the unification of the existing .Net Framework communication Technologies. The power of all in one. It’s a great idea to start with. Then the thinking that the current investment of the people remains safe with interoperability. Finally the best thing is that the whole idea is around SOA.

BizTalk Server 2006 Beta 2 Launch

2005-11-24T01:01:00.000-08:00

Microsoft has launched BizTalk Server 2006 Beta 2. For those who want to get their hands onto it are adviced to logon to Microsoft Beta Home. Once you are registered you can not only download beta 2 but also ODBA (Orechestration Designer for Business Analyst) beta 2 as well as BizTalk Adapters for Enterprise Applications. its a must download.

:)))

2005-11-20T11:06:00.000-08:00

Depending upon the Dependency properties

2005-11-16T02:34:00.000-08:00

Going through Avalon a new area of Avalon opened before me, "The Dependency Property System".Dependency properties are properties that are registered with the "Avalon" dependency property system. There are two typoes of Dependency Properties
1. By backing your common language runtime property with a dependency property. This Includes support for styling, databinding, animation, default values, value expressions, property invalidations, or inheritance.
2. Attached properties are properties that can be set By the child or contained element for/of its parent or Container Object.

This Dependency property system is the core component for the Avalon. I personally really adored this approch of microsoft.

Encounter with the Avalon Kind

2005-11-10T22:47:00.000-08:00

I was working on the Microsoft Presentation layer (Avalon) and had a strange feeling that I’m working in good old days of HTML but just an advance version of the HTML. Jokes aside Microsoft has given Framework and Tool developers their long awaited desire of generating and persisting UI in XML format. The thing that impressed me most is the flexibility in creating Controls e.g. I can have a button and in a button I can have a Panel in that panel I can have images, text ect. The simplicity of XAML combined with the power of Avalon has made this Presentation Layer Framework a very elegant piece of Software Engineering. But I do have some fears about it as how it will perform in a Real Application with the complexity of User Requirement is involved. I hope and feel that Avalon will come good and Microsoft have finally nailed it right this time around.

Framework Description

2005-11-10T00:49:00.000-08:00

Finally I finished scripting the Description of the Framework :). There were many things to talk about but the dilemma was not what to mention but rather how much of each element to state, I hope that I got it right. Following is the Post-Development draft for the Framework

"Framework provides a mechanism that guides programmers through a proper order of steps via a common interface to implement business vocabularies in a systematic format and technical structure. Framework, consisting of specialized APIs, services, and tools, is built around the concept of providing technological support for reducing knowledge as well as time programmers’ needs to built extensible applications. Framework is prevalent in the area of .Net based desktop designs.
At the heart of the Framework is an Application Container and a Framework Class Library (FCL).The Application Container constitutes an environment for servicing and running WinForms based application that inhabits FCL. FCL is a managed code library of classes and interfaces that define a contract of cooperation between application and the container itself. Framework is tailored around the concept of Thin Client. Framework Security Administration Panel implements IoC (Inversion of Control) to provide integration with Enterprise Business Application.

Framework provides,
1) Secure Client-Server Communication (based on Symmetric key Encryption as part of Security sub-package of Microsoft Enterprise Library Block).
2) Dynamic Download of Business Components.
3) XML based data-binding model – Performs auto-binding of WinForms to domain objects and vice versa.
4) Dynamic Security - dynamic menu generation and tasks (Action Buttons), as per the assigned user permissions/rights.
5) Theme Builder and Appling Theme – Theme builder generate user desired XML based Theme which automatically applies to application to give it a consistent look & feel.

Framework is built exercising .NET Remoting, XML and .NET Microsoft Enterprise Library Block.
Along with Framework development, C# code generation tool was also developed which Generates PONO reflected against existing database schema of different styles."

Presenting VS 2005

2005-10-29T00:05:00.000-07:00

Previous week have been very tuff, I was to give presentations on Microsoft VS 2005 and also have to complete the Web alteration of the Framework. Presentations were a pre-Release Activity of VS 2005 (Whidbey) and SQL Server 2005 (Yukon). There were around 10-12 Software Engineer attending so it was good to have so many people to talk about and experience the new features of VS 2005. As a presenter it was a immense experience to present such existing features. I gave presentation on the following topics

Creating Professional Looking Windows Forms Applications

Deploying Applications with ClickOnce

Building Data-bound Microsoft Windows Forms Applications

Using New Features in .NET CF 2.0

Programming the Actions Pane

Programming with Visual Studio Tools for the Microsoft Office System (VSTO)

One topic which I also presented in the training of Yukon was SQL Server .NET Integration.

As per the Alteration of the framework to WEB framework, it’s in middle of somewhere. I hope to finish it by the mid of next month.

long time no c

2005-10-06T01:02:00.000-07:00

It has been long since my last blog. The framework has matured and has being effectively deployed in CPSP and now as I write these lines I’m going through the same feeling as the framework is altered to WEB version and the thing that gives me the shivers :p is this adaptation is for alavi bhai's project sakook(read Shakook). Saadi has departed to Dubai and has started scripting novels. I'm so much looking forward to the new edition of that. Saadi man, I be wating :p.