For the past six years, ASP.NET Web Developers have been limited to the use of ASP.NET Web Forms for web development. Unfortunately, this does not naturally lend itself to testing and extensibility. A powerful alternative to Web Forms is needed that is flexible and easy to use, yet still permits developers to utilize their existing Microsoft .NET skill set. Learn how to use the new ASP.NET MVC Framework on your next project to create a web application that can be easily tested and extended at any time in the future.

Ryan Lanciaux is a Professional Software Developer in Northwest Ohio. Although he programs in several languages, his current area of focus is in C# and VB.NET. Ryan has developed many large scale web applications since the late 1990s. He regularly contributes to the programming community through his website.

Microsoft Developer Evangelist Jeff Blankenburg provides a captivating oversight of some of the amazing things that Microsoft is busy working on behind the scenes. You may have played around with some of these technolgies already in their beta form, but in the end, you'll be guaranteed to see something that you've never seen before! Join us for a peek into these exciting future products and technologies, including Photosynth, Deep Zoom, and Live Mesh.

Jeff Blankenburg is a Developer Evangelist for the Microsoft Corporation. Over the past 10 years, Jeff has successfully implemented his technology expertise in numerous industries including retail, education, and healthcare. Jeff has exceptional proficiency in user-interface design, Web Standards, and web application development. He is a contributor to the O'Reilly title Windows Developer Power Tools on the subject of code validation services. Jeff is also an organizer of the CodeMash conference. Jeff holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio.

There's been a lot of talk lately about new languages for the .NET platform.
One of these languages, IronPython, a port of the Python programming
language, started out as an experiment to see how dynamic languages would
perform on the CLR. The experiment proved enough of a success that it
eventually gave birth to the Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR), the basis not
only of IronPython, but also IronRuby and VBx. In this talk, we'll talk
about the basics of IronPython and some of its features before coding-up
some examples.

To help celebrate the launch of VS.NET, a few lucky winners will get a copy of Visual Studio .NET 2008.  If we have more than 20 people we will also be raffling off Windows Vista Ultimate! Be sure to bring a friend along.

Darrell Hawley is a C# developer working with both web and windows applications. Currently, he is working in the automotive sector with a team of engineers and software developers solving complex engineering problems using the .NET Framework. During a four year stay at a Farmington Hills, MI advertising company, he streamlined business processes and acted as the company SQL Server administrator. He has also worked with WCF, WSE, Web Services, VB6, VBA, VBScript and ASP. He recently has been researching Python and IronPython and is actively involved in the Ann Arbor .NET Developers Group.

As Brian transitions into his new role at Microsoft, he looks back at 15 years of being a developer, consultant, and business leader. He will talk about the skills and wisdom that you need to be happy and successful.

Brian H. Prince is an Architect Evangelist with Microsoft focused on building and educating the architect community in his district. Prior to joining Microsoft in March 2008, he was a Senior Director, Technology Strategy for a major mid-west partner.

Further, he is a co-founder of the non-profit organization CodeMash (www.codemash.org). He speaks at various regional and national technology events including TechEd.

Brian holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Computer Science and Physics from Capital University, Columbus, Ohio. He is also an avid gamer.

The regular meeting night for March falls on March 18, which is the same day as the Launch Event in Detroit for Visual Studio 2008, SQL Server 2008, and Windows Server 2008.  Consequently, our scheduled speaker (Joe Wirtley) will be attending the launch event in Detroit on that day.

Since several attempts to line up a replacement speaker on a different night have not been fruitful, Greg and Jason have decided to cancel the March meeting.  We'll see you in April!

Microsoft is launching three exciting products this year (Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008, and Visual Studio 2008).  To celebrate, there are launch events scheduled across the nation as part of the "Heroes Happen {here}" campaign.

One such event is taking place on March 18 in Detroit.  It's free to attend, but you must register before the event becomes fully booked:

http://www.microsoft.com/heroeshappenhere/events/Detroit/default.mspx

Take a test drive

Meet the experts

Bring the products home

Developers have all experienced the fun of writing CRUD applications.  In the end, you're left with a mountain of data access code - most of it repetitive.  Wouldn't it be great if you could spend more time writing actual business logic and less time writing the same old data access code?  In this introduction to Castle ActiveRecord, Michael Eaton will show that you can write less data access code and be more productive by using this free open-source framework.  For completeness, Mike will also compare ActiveRecord to traditional data access development.

Michael Eaton is an independent consultant who lives in southern Michigan.  Since 1994, Mike has been designing and implementing solutions using Microsoft technologies, specializing in .NET and SQL Server development.  He is a Microsoft Certified Professional (MCSD), has taught introductory programming courses at Lansing Community College, and has been published in Visual Studio Magazine.

But wait!  It's a Two For Tuesday!

NWNUG welcomes back Jay Wren from the Ann Arbor .NET Developers (AADND), who will provide an introduction to ADO.NET.  This will establish a baseline of knowledge that will lead into Mike's more advanced topic.

Jay R. Wren has been writing custom software solutions for integrating Windows and Unix for over seven years. His blend of traditional system administration and custom software solutions has allowed numerous enterprises to transcend platform dependence. Some of his software is still in use at a state university in Michigan and at the nations largest payroll processor.

No, you don't need to bring a covered dish to this meeting.  We're just trying to find a name for meetings that consist of two or more short (and unrelated) sessions rather than one longer one.

In this meeting, Jason Follas will highlight some of the new features that developers will find useful in the upcoming SQL Server 2008. 

Also, it seems that all of the cool kids are using "Agile" methodologies these days, but what does that really mean?  Greg Huber will discuss his experience with Agile Development.

Beyond that, feel free to bring your questions and problems involving .NET (and SQL Server): We'll close the meeting with some group discussion and conversation.