One of the features of .NET 2.0 that I am excited about is the provider design pattern (This site is active but empty.  I plan to document as much as I can about providers on it as a way to help the community).  I decided that today I would begin looking at what it will take to use this in the applications we build at Idaho Commerce and Labor.  We plan to take advantage of this model as a way to share users, sessions, navigation and more across applications.  We need to investigate the security issues related to this of course.

So far I have discovered that the SQL providers can be installed with a utility called aspnet_regsql.exe in the %windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.40607 folder.  I called my database Credentials since I was planning on working with Membership.  Now that is is created I see that it installs all of the SQL providers.

The tables I understand: Membership, Personalization, Profile, Roles, Site Counters, Users, UsersInRoles

There are other tables in the database as well that I assume are for some management and other purposes.  These include Applications, Paths, and WebEvent_Events.

What I do not see here is Sessions and Navigation.  I imagine that like .NET 1.x SQL Session state is a separate script to run.  More on that when I get to exploring the Session State provider.  As far as providers for navigation, I imagine that will be something custom I get to build.

I am now curious to see how this default SQL provider and its database will work when I point multiple applications at at.  What can and can't be shared.  Then I have to ask what should and should not be shared?

First of all, I must say that sitting on the end of a 3MB cable Internet connection is fabulous.  I was able to download all of the VS 2005 Beta Cd's, 2005 MSDN library and the Express product betas in a few hours.  I wanted to start playing with them before the DVD's are mailed out (could be 2 weeks) so I went ahead and grabbed them from MSDN.

The Express products can be downloaded by anyone and I initially downloaded them from the public site.  I was disappointed during the installations when I had only a setup and it had to go retrieve the full product with another download.  I must have missed that note somewhere.  With VB.NET and C# the download was not bad since they are under 30 meg, but with VWD (Visual Web Developer) the download was something like 186 meg.  If you have MSDN you might want to skip this by just grabbing the full ISO images.  Again, very nice to have a fast connection to the net!

I decided to put the 3 Express products I might use (VB, C#, VWD) as well as SQL Express all on a single VPC image.  That will allow me to play with them but not have to manage too many extra playgrounds.  The installation for all 4 products was smooth and I am looking forward to giving them each a test drive soon.

VS 2005 Beta 1 surprised me with its install.  I first tried it using the Windows XP Virtual CD-ROM tool, but I got an error on the first CD ISO image.  I am not sure why, but after making real CD's to install from everything went great.  I do not remember how long the install of VS 2003 took on my laptop, but I do believe 2005 Beta 1 was significantly faster.  I am installing on a VPC using a firewire drive for the image, but I would think that to be slower than the native OS and built-in IDE drive.  I will be curious to see what others think of the install time.  I am at about 2.5 hours right now and just got the reboot message.  This still isn't a coffee break install, but none of the VS.NET products have been.  The best part with VPC is that I can use the Undo feature and also share this image with co-workers saving them the install and setup time.  I wonder how long it will be before VPC images become the norm for beta products and all software testing?

For beta 1 so far I am very pleased!  Now it's time to start coding and see where the dev teams are still working on the feature set ........

 

Reflections on the truths found in film

Today is the official start of Tech Ed and its already my third day in San Diego.  Steve Ballmer just finished pumping everyone up.  Well, at least I assume as much.  I decided to catch a little breakfast and relax a little.  Looking forward to Don Box for my first session of the day. 

So last night was an enjoyable dinner at Sallys with with friends.  We skipped the busy party scene and instead started the evening off with Scott Hanselman and a BOF on Code Generation.  I thought it might get ugly in there with all the different ideas flying around.  Scott did a fabulous job of playing host.  From there it was off the drop the bags and catch some dinner.  I had the pleasure of enjoying the evening with a new friend from London, a couple new Microsoft faces I have not met before, and Bill Vaughn.  Richard, Kelly and Bliz were there as well.

What will the excitement be about today?  I guess I will just have to wait and see.  So far the best part has been meeting new people and having some good conversation.

An awesome Cassini enhancement is now available.

Hey C# team, its your turn to up the ante!

Caught the MCT party last night

Learning more about what ineta can do for user groups

Tomorrow I leave for a week of high velocity geekin'

I must be suffering burnout to have created this list.

Finally I have found a stupidly simple certificate process for digitally signing my email.

Exposing more secrets of the reporting services installation in an enterprise environment.

How I got my global exception logging code to run alongside SQL reporting services.

E-Mail is Broken. Innovate, or Take a Walk. Recent articles in InfoWorld are a breath of fresh air in a time of too much, too fast.

There is a now a way to secure your Instant Message traffic. I recommend everyone do it. The Lite Version is free and probably offers more than most people need. Plus, its very easy to setup.

Thaks to Ed Daniel for sending this one to me.

Take 1 before openning Visual Studio, take 10 if you are still on Version 6.

Microsoft gives developers some tips to help them understand how Windows XP SP2 might impact their applications.

Yes, I do love Java. The kind you drink!

I want to be counted as a voice against delaying Whidbey.