Monthly Archives: June 2008

Demos Happen Here

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Queensland VSTS User Group ran it’s demo fest last Friday. I participated. Here is my demo’s abstract:

Taking Command of Visual Studio

Visual Studio 2008 has become one very sharp tool. With all tools learning how and when to use it correctly can make life easier. In this demo I will be showing you how to increase efficiency and maximize productivity by utilizing Visual Studio 2008. I will be covering Tips & Tricks around File Management, Navigation, using the Editor, Debugging and Customisation. This will include a vast array of short cut keys which are worth learning and commands you didn’t know existed that will save you time. Going further onto customisation I will demonstrate Visual Studio Extensibility (VSX) with Microsoft PowerCommands for Visual Studio 2008 and other very useful extensions.

Below is the video that was taken on the day. This is also available from the Demo’s Happen Here site.

I’ve talked about PowerCommands before, and here is where to get RockScroll.

Anthony posted the results of the mornings sessions. Of course I was a little disappointed to be one point behind winning. But the result is also encouraging and I did have a lot of fun. I hope to do some more presentations soon at some upcoming user groups.

Thank you to Anthony Borton for putting the morning together, and use of his laptop for my presentation. Thank you to John O’Brien for recording the video.

Circle of Interest

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Recently, Steve Nagy nominated me to continue on with the circle of interest started by Paul Stovell stating the technology areas where I will be focusing my efforts. So here it is:

Core – Green
This area consists of things which I already know fairly well, but I know I can learn a whole lot more. They also fall directly what I am working on at the moment, so I have a good opportunity to make good on doing these things better.

Non-Core – Blue
I am quite interested in these and will get to use them this year, but I will not get a deep level of understanding, or a great deal of experience, as I will with the core items.

No More Time – Red
I’m overly curious. I like technology. But with the whole point of the circle, is to ensure I’m not a jack of all trades, and master of none. These items just get pushed out.

There are things that I didn’t fit on my list, like Expression Studio, Windows Home Server and Windows Media Center. These are things I tinker with, but it is something that I won’t get much time, but I like to be able to get by. For example, I used Expression Design to draw the circle. Other technologies, like Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008, IIS 7, and other environmental and system administration tasks I am able to get familiar with, due to my work in WiX, MSI and deployment. But I need to utilise others expertise in these areas, because I don’t have time to learn it all myself, but again, like to be able to get by.

Another interesting thing, is that putting the items in a graphic, just made things so much easier to see. When I began drafting, I wrote the items in lists, and it just was not clear. I guess that is a testament to Mind Maps…

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