LearnVisualStudio.NET News

Introducing First Impressions Visual Studio 2010 Series ... and our new blog!

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:39:51 GMT

Curious about what's coming in Visual Studio 2010? VB 2010? C# 4.0? ASP.NET 4.0? .NET 4.0? The next few weeks we'll demonstrate the new functionality of Visual Studio 2010 with our First Impressions series. Check it out!

We figured it was time to join the year 2001, so we are proud to announce our new blog! We'll be posting interesting things on our blog on a regular basis ... we're mainly using it as a way to introduce ourselves to non-subscribers, but from time to time we will have items of interest that you might be ... um ... well ... interested in. (You might be interested in the RSS feed ... if you do that sort of thing.) Who knows, maybe we'll catch up with the year 2008 and learn what the fuss is about this whole twitter thing. :)

http://blog.learnvisualstudio.net/

iPhone / Zune versions now available

Tue, 05 May 2009 20:44:35 GMT

Our two latest series (WPF301 and Hands On ASP.NET MVC) are now featuring an .m4v version of each video -- completely remastered for consumption on small screens (to make things like code more readable). This format is native to the iPhone and can be easily imported into the Zune (we have instructions for both ... see each video's download page). We are proud to announce that from this point on, we'll be formatting our videos for small screens.

Introducing Hands On ASP.NET MVC Season 1

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 17:15:54 GMT

You asked for entire projects, and so after a great deal of discussion on how we should deliver it, this is what we came up with. As you'll notice, the format is quite different from our usual instructional videos. First off, the information is structured differently ... while ideas are not given complete discussion (like in our typical series) they are definitely shown in the context of a real application. We still plan on creating a more curriculum based explanation of ASP.NET MVC, but wanted to deliver this first for those who might be adopting ASP.NET MVC soon. Also, this video features the debut of David Findley, the outstanding brain behind much of what we've built in the past few years (this site, TrainingSpot, HeroCoder). I hope you enjoy learning from him as much as I do.

More info ...

Starting our new WPF series ... Enjoy

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:27:53 GMT

Important ... we're moving away from WMV so you'll need either VLC or Quicktime for the new videos (or any media player that can handle MPEG4 files): ... read the last Q/A here:

http://www.learnvisualstudio.net/Members/FAQ.aspx

What We're Working On Now

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:03:10 GMT

Just a quick update. We're currently working on a couple of video projects that should be making their way to LVS soon. In the short term, we're working on Windows Presentation Framework videos (finally, I know), ASP.NET MVC and Entity Framework ... each of these will also feature the creation of complete projects that we know you'll be using in your own projects.

In addition to that, we're about to refactor our curriculum in two big ways. First, we will offer a unique, common sense path through all our videos for those who are looking for guidance. We hope to definitively answer the question "Where do I start?" Second, we're going to re-record virtually every video using Visual Studio 2010 ... and we'll pare down the older videos that are no longer relevant. We're waiting for VS2010 to hit a stable beta, which we anticipate will be mid-summer.

Finally, we're updating the production quality of the videos. We're using new recording software, professionally designed motion graphics, etc. to produce a more aesthetic screen cast experience. There is a downside to this ... our file sizes will be larger and we will no longer support WMV file format. We will be using H.264 video encoding which is quickly becoming a standard on the web for video. To watch these videos it will require VLC (free), Quicktime (free), or a special codec to Windows Media Player (free). I'll have more details about this as we release our first set of videos within the next week or so.

Finally, (eventually) all videos will be offered in an iPhone compatible format. I know ... any true Microsoft fan wouldn't be caught dead with an iPhone. Well, I happen to absolutely LOVE mine, and all four of us at LVS have one ... as does my wife and son. In fact, just about everyone I talk to has one. Now, I'm totally open to releasing videos in a format usable on the Windows Mobile platform, but I'll need a few volunteers to help me test file formats and such.

Sometimes you have to step back and re-think the way you do business. I imagine a lot of companies are doing just that nowadays. Our aim is to set the bar higher in 2009 and 2010 for screen casts, instructional content and customer service. In the coming months, we'll be asking your opinion more often ... what you like, what you hate. We promise to take your kind suggestions to heart and do what we can to supply you with the information you need to thrive in our current economic climate. If there's anything we can do to help you, please let us know: customercare@learnvisualstudio.net

Thank you,
Bob Tabor

You voted "Entire projects" ... we're listening!

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:17:12 GMT

Hi everyone. We recently introduced the "Vote" tab to our members and we got one clear message: create videos / series that demonstrate the creation of entire projects. Got it. Now, please tell us more about what you want in this regard. Please take our survey (even if you didn't originally vote for this option) to let us know what kinds of projects you're most interested in. Thank you! Click Here to take survey (Don't worry ... it's just 3 questions)

Welcome our new site, HeroCoder.com

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:01:01 GMT

Today we officially announce HeroCoder.com, and our first product, Hero Membership, which is our first venture into commercial software development.

Hero Membership allows you to easily manage a large database of website subscribers or community members through the ASP.NET Membership API. It fills a void left by Microsoft who made the Website Administration Tool work only locally during development time. Hero Membership is a re-packaged version of the software we use (actually, customer service rep extraordinaire, Jason Carr) uses on all of our web sites. We're following the 37signals mantra ... we built it for ourselves, and we thought others might need it, too. David Findley is putting the final touches on our second product -- again a repackaging of tools we currently use -- for updating content on our website. No, it's not a CMS ... it's actually an anti-CMS. Hopefully, that piques your interest until our next major announcement. :)

TrainingSpot.com ... our new SQL Server and SharePoint site

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 22:21:35 GMT

Short Story:

Subscribe to our new site devoted to SQL Server 2005 and SharePoint 2007 and save 25% off a Lifetime membership.

http://www.trainingspot.com

Use this exclusive coupon code to save 25% off a Lifetime membership: LVSLMED1

This offer will expire in 30 days. This coupon code can be used in conjunction with out introductory pricing ... so NOW is the time to buy.

We're launching with the following video series:

Reporting Services 101 (Over 4 hours ... WOW, I learned a TON from this alone!)
T-SQL 101
Relational Database Design 101
SharePoint 2007 End User Training

We currently have almost 100 videos, and over 14 hours of content.

Within the next year the site will include more SharePoint 2007 development, SQL Server 2008 new features, SQL Server Integration Services, Biztalk, IIS 7 and more.

Long Story:

One of the most often requested things I hear is for SQL Server. So this past spring I contacted Robert Penn, a former colleague and SQL Server expert to gauge his interest in creating a site devoted to SQL Server 2005 and 2008. Robert worked with David and I at Mary Kay several years ago, and since then he has gone on to work at the New York Stock Exchange and United Healthcare ... he definitely has "skins on the wall", so to speak. We've worked hard to get to this day, and we hope you love the new site as much as you love LearnVisualStudio.NET.

While Robert has been recording videos, David has been hard at work architecting the software we're using to power this new site. We considered just cloning the LearnVisualStudio.NET site code, but saw an opportunity for improvement. We're also taking the model of 37 Signals -- that we're building it for ourselves because we needed it, and hopefully someone else will need it too -- and will be soon announcing several software products for sale. TrainingSpot.com is the testbed to help us work out the kinks, so to speak. Its written in Visual Studio 2008 Beta with LINQ and MS Ajax ... we did this so that we could gain a competence and "lessons learned" and pass those on to you in future training endeavors. We'll have more to say about a beta program before the end of the month for those who might be interested.

Looking forward, TrainingSpot will have additional content authors working on Biztalk, IIS 7 and other Windows 2008 related topics ... those are not ready for release, but will be added to the site as soon as possible. Enjoy!

Member Exclusive: 6 Months free hosting with DiscountASP.NET

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 18:26:21 GMT

We're proud to announce our first official partnership. We often are asked who we would recommend for shared-account hosting. For years we've known about DiscountASP.NET and the reputation they maintain in the .NET community. They are committed to offer more services than the other hosting services, the latest technologies and most of all, they are dedicated to one platform only. Their engineers are well versed in the deployment issues that can arise. Overall, we're very impressed with their offering ... especially at such a low price. Now we are glad to team up with them to provide a significant discout to their hosting services exclusively to our members. You receive 6 months for FREE when you agree to a one year hosting plan. That is essentially 50% off! Please visit this page for details.

Here's some more info about them, in case you're not familiar ... they are (one of the few) 100% Microsoft Windows hosting providers, offering ASP.NET 2.0 hosting, .NET 3.0 hosting, MS SQL hosting, ASP Web hosting as well as ASP.NET AJAX hosting at an affordable price. DiscountASP.NET also offers FREE IIS7 Beta hosting ... so if you have some apps you're developing that need to take advantage of some of the new IIS7 features, they're the host you want.

DiscountASP.NET has won asp.netPRO Magazine's Reader's Choice Award for the third consecutive year and has received Visual Studio Magazine's 2007 Reader's Choice Award for Best ASP.NET hosting. They have also received a Top 10 Ranking for Best Support Quality by Hostest.NET for 2007.

Introducing LearnVisualStudio.NET Cheat Sheets

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 14:20:08 GMT

David (with creative help from Dustin) has created a wonderful and attractive series of Cheat Sheets for those beginning C#, VB, and ASP.NET. We saw a BUNCH of posts over the last few months on www.digg.com for cheat sheets on various programming languages but didn't see anything out there for .NET. So we decided that might be a nice way to generate some interest in LearnVisualStudio.NET ... give away cheat sheets that beginning developers can use to remind themselves of the syntax and IDE options (both commonly and not-so-commonly) used in day-to-day development. So, eventually we'll be making these publicly available for free. But for now, we want our members to be the first to see them.

ASP.NET Basics Cheat Sheet
C# 2005 Language Basics Cheat Sheet
Visual Basic 2005 Language Basics Cheat Sheet

Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition Toolbar and Menus Cheat Sheet
Visual C# 2005 Express Edition Toolbar and Menus Cheat Sheet
Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition Toolbar and Menus Cheat Sheet

If these are "successful" (i.e., people are actually interested in them), we'll be creating a bunch more, targeted at specific situations (string manipulation, Microsoft Ajax, datagrid, etc., ) or at more intermediate/advanced level content (advanced OO topics, collections, generics, etc.)

We'll be setting up a place in the forums where you can let us know what you like and what you would like to see done differently.

Also, if you want to share these on your own blog or website, etc. that would be great! We just ask that you please link back to us.

- Bob