Saturday, July 31, 2010

Sandbox Solutions in SharePoint 2010 session - SharePoint Saturday New York City

Hi All,
We had a successful SharePoint event in New York City on 31 July 2010 at Microsoft - Manhattan Office. On this event i presented a session covering: "SharePoint 2010 Sandbox solutions best practices",

In this event i covered the following topics in Sandbox solutions:
Sandbox solutions overview, Sandbox Architecture, SP 07 solutions challenges and SP 2010 approach, Sandbox solutions life cycle, limitations, SP Power Tools for VS 2010, Resource management for sandbox solutions, Load balancing and solutions validation framework.

The session was so interactive and i had amazing group between SP developers and SP Admins/Architect and we had nice conversation about sandbox solutions best practices and how admins can check developers' work.


What were the most interesting things/topics in the session- summary:
1) SharePoint Power Tools for VS 2010 and how to download it using Extension Manager in VS 2010.
2) Sandbox architecture and the SPUCWorkerProcess and how SP handle the lifecycle of loading/validate the sandbox solutions.
3) Sandbox solutions project items that you can develop such as: workflow activities, content types, site columns, visual webpart support ( HOT Topic having SP power tools in VS2010)...etc.
4) Resource management / solutions blocking.
5) Importance of solution validation for any organization.

Event - Share the stories:
This section is not technical, but it shows some fun time during the event.

Speakers' fun: @ Speakers' room
I was talking with few speakers that i bought a new notebook for my travels, that
has super configurations and RAM and very light and at the same time the battery life is 8 hours :) and i asked them how much do yo think i bought this laptop: and they gave me prices from 700-1500 $, then when i just said i bought it with 200 $ throught a sale- brand new, one of the speakers told me from which truck did you get it Mostafa ?!!! this was so funny and interesting.
Discussions among: Thomas M Daly, Ricardo Palhano, Eugene Rosenfeld and myself :)


** Event Url:
http://www.sharepointsaturday.org/ny/default.aspx

** Presentation Url:
http://bit.ly/bBKXvt



Regards,Mostafa Arafa
twitter.com/mostafaelzoghbi

Thursday, July 22, 2010

How to setup Telerik Sitefinity on Window 7

Hi All,

I'd like to share with my blog readers my struggling moments and issues i went through few days ago setup the Sitefinity/Telerik controls on my development machine which has Windows 7 Enterprise x64 bit.

If you are trying to install Sitefinity 3.7 SP3 on your box you will get different errors. and if you tried to integrate Telerik controls on your existing Sitefinity you will get more troubles because of dll dependencies between different builds.

The way to install Sitefinity 3.7 SP3 in your windows 7 x64 bit is to do the manual install to Sitefinity, it is easy and straight forward, they provide pdf file on how to do it.

Once you install Sitefinity on your box, if you would like to add your custom pages and develop using Telerik controls, don't try to install another Telerik control package form the site, Use the following dll in your project bin to have telerik controls.

** Steps to have Telerik controls for existing sitefinity project in VS 2010:
1) Open toolbox window.
2) Create a new tab on the toolbox.
4) Right-click under the created tab and click on add items.
5) Navigate to your bin folder.
6) Select Telerik.Web.UI.dll and click ok.

Then, you will have all Telerik ASP.NET controls on your toolbox.

Enjoy Telerik and Sitefinity... :)

Regards,Mostafa Arafa
twitter.com/mostafaelzoghbi

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

WebMatrix and RAZOR for web development with no cost

Hi All,

Microsoft released the WebMatrix platform (FREE) that has all you need to build any websites, with WebMatrix you can do:
1) Design your websties.
2) Develop/Deploy your websites using RAZOR: is a new declarative simple language to build your websites.
3) Platform support ASP.NET, WebForms, MVC, AJAX, CSS and all the power of .NET Framework.
4) It’s just 15 M to download.
5) It includes IIS Express, SQL Compact,.NET Framework runtime and all you need to develop websites.
6) Scale up your sites to VS 2010 and SQL Server 2008 if required.
7) Download and build websites on open source CMS such as Word Press, Drupal 7, PHP and MySQL.
8) More….

Get a quick tour:
http://www.microsoft.com/web/default.aspx

Code without boundaries using WebMatrix and start developing websites with no cost for the tools :)

Regards,
Mostafa Arafa
twitter.com/mostafaelzoghbi

Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Visual Studio 2010 MSDN Gift from VS 2010 Product Team

Hi All,

I have just got a mail from Microsoft - .Net Framework and Visual Studio Product team including this message:

"On behalf of the entire Visual Studio and .NET Framework product team, i would like to extend our heartfelt thanks for all the hard work you put into helping us make Visual Studio 2010 and .NET framework 4.0 one of the best releases we have ever shipped. We realize that you have invested a lot from your input, and we deeply appreciate your commitment to help us build a better product.

The importance of the community and early adopters providing feedback as we built Visual Studio 2010 and .NET framework 4 cannot be understated. You made the product better,working with us closely through the product development phase by submitting bugs and providing feedback. it is always your goal to empower you to be better developers by bringing you the best quality product with the features you need. You contribution is invaluable in helping us to achieve that goal and deliver the right product.

Again, Thank you so much for helping us build a better Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4.0.

All the best,
S. Somasegar
Senior Vice President,
Microsoft Developer Division
"

Thanks Microsoft and .NET Framework & Visual Studio Product Team for this valuable gift with 3 MSDN Visual Studio 2010 Licenses.

Will continue providing feedback and enhancements to VS Product team to have most reliable experience for .NET Developers.



Regards,
Mostafa arafa

Thursday, July 01, 2010

Renewed as C# MVP 2010

Folks,

Today i got an email from Microsoft about renewing my MVP status and i have been renewed as C# MVP this year 2010.

Dear Mostafa Elzoghbi,

Congratulations! We are pleased to present you with the 2010 Microsoft® MVP Award! This award is given to exceptional technical community leaders who actively share their high quality, real world expertise with others. We appreciate your outstanding contributions in Visual C# technical communities during the past year.

The Microsoft MVP Award provides us the unique opportunity to celebrate and honor your significant contributions and say "Thank you for your technical leadership."

Toby Richards
General Manager
Community & Online Support
**************************************************************************
At Microsoft, we believe that technical communities enhance people’s lives and the industry’s success because independent experts, like you, help others extract greater value from products and technologies through the free and objective exchange of knowledge. As a Microsoft MVP, you are part of a highly select group of experts that represent technology’s best and brightest who share a deep commitment to community and a willingness to help others.

On behalf of everyone at Microsoft, thank you for your contributions to technical communities.

Sincerely,
**************************************************************************

Thanks Microsoft for renewing my award this year, also thanks for my employer MetroStar System for continuous support in my community efforts.

Regards,
Mostafa arafa