SyncEXPERT

We are excited to announce the RTM of the Visual Studio 2008 SP1 and the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1, including the RTM of the ADO.NET Entity Framework and ADO.NET Data Services, which raise the level of abstraction for database programming and supply both a new model-based paradigm and a rich, standards-based framework for creating data-oriented Web services. With this service pack, Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5 also support SQL Server 2008, making the Microsoft platform the most comprehensive environment for database application development.

“The ASP.NET AJAX improvements and new capabilities like ADO.NET Entity Framework and ADO.NET Data Services meant we didn’t have to worry about any of the underlying plumbing and could simply focus on building a highly responsive and interactive experience for users,” says Galen Murdock, President and CEO at Veracity Solutions. 

For more information or to download check out http://msdn.microsoft.com/data  

Elisa Flasko
Program Manager, Data Programmability

Microsoft’s premier developer event, the Professional Developer Conference, is almost here. PDC 2008 will feature more than 160 sessions covering a wide range of topics including a number of great sessions from the Data Programmability Team, including the ADO.NET Entity Framework, ADO.NET Data Services and Project “Velocity”.

Developing Applications Using Data Services

Presenter: Mike Flasko

In the near future, applications will be developed using a combination of custom application code and online building block services, including data-centric services. In this session we discuss advancements in the Microsoft development platform and online service interfaces to enable seamless interaction with data services both on-premises (e.g., ADO.NET Data Services Framework over on-premises SQL Server) and in the cloud (e.g., SQL Server Data Services). Learn how you can leverage existing know-how related to LINQ (Language Integrated Query), data access APIs, data-binding, and more when building applications using online data.

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The image of the herald is one that pervades Western culture. The Biblical image of the archangel Gabriel announcing the forthcoming births of both John the Baptist and Jesus is one that Christians are very familiar with.

I’m not much of a herald. I’m hardly angelic, and I don’t own a horn much less own one. I think I would have made a great town crier, though. I’ve been told that my voice carries - over cube walls, through doors, down hallways, across vast expanses, etc. I’m reasonably sure that being told that I have a voice with such a unique gift for being heard above the din of an office setting is a compliment. Isn’t it?

All of this self-analysis brings me to the reason for my post today: my self-appointed role as town crier for news and announcements of interest to my loyal readers. To you, my faithful minions, I thrice toll my bell of harkening and lift my voice to loudly proclaim:

DataDirect to Support ADO.NET Entity Framework for Oracle Data Sources

Admittedly, this announcement is anti-climatic, for those of you who read this posting on the Microsoft blog last week, but it does bear repeating. There is a lot of interest right now among developers in the ease-of-use of LINQ and the productivity of the Entity Data Model. <marketing hat> Our announcement is meant to reaffirm that LINQ-based and Entity Data Model-based applications will experience the same unique benefits of using DataDirect’s Connect for ADO.NET providers for relational database access as ones built to use current technologies such as DAAB. </marketing hat> (Sorry for that segueway, but you know I’ve got to give a shout out to now and again in order to pay the bills ^_^)

While this is hardly earth-shattering news or something with the weightiness of, say, a royal proclamation, it is one that we’re proud to make because it’s a signal of where our products are headed…sort of like a graduation announcement. It’s enough to make a tough guy like me misty-eyed and emotional - it’s like I’m witnessing a precocious little tyke growing up right before my eyes! *sniffle*

That’s all for now. I’m off to hum a few bars to warm up for my daily auditory assault of my co-workers. Your comments and feedback are welcome so long as it doesn’t compete with the “11″ setting of volume knob of my strident self-important braying.