Hold the phone! Yes, Jesse Liberty, author of over 20 books, Program Manager on the Silverlight Team at Microsoft, self-confessed "Silverlight Geek" (it actually says that on his business card) is coming to Bristol. And he's going to talk on Silverlight for 2 hours! Jesse is doing a lightening tour of the UK combining The .NET Developer Network in Bristol, ReMix in Brighton and 2 events in Dublin and Belfast. On Tuesday 16th September 2008 he is in Bristol to cover two Silverlight subjects:-

Styles, Templates and Visual State Manager
1.       Introductions, Make fun of the American
2.       Modifying a toolbox control with in-line attributes
3.       Creating Styles and applying them to controls in Xaml
4.       Creating Styles and applying them to controls in Blend
5.       Reskinning toolbox controls with Templates, by hand
6.       Reskinning toolbox controls with Templates, in Blend

Skinnable Custom Controls- The Parts and State Model and Inside the VSM
1.       An introduction to the Parts and State Manager and VSM in detail
2.       Creating a Custom Control
3.       Visual States and Visual State Groups
4.       Storyboards and Transitions
5.       Inside the VSM
6.       Creating a Custom Control Contract
7.       The Template Part Attribute
8.       The Template Visual State Attribute
9.       Putting it all together.
10.     Good night and where’s the beer?

Attendance is free - you just have to be a member (which is free) and send an email saying you want to attend. If you're into Silverlight can you afford to miss hearing about it straight from the horse's mouth ? (Sorry, Jesse, British colloqualiasms sometimes leave something to be desired).

The .NET Developer Network are having a Summer Social event. It's a simple plan: we go to a pub and we argue debate the relative merits of WPF vs. Silverlight (and also windows applications vs. web applications). We may drink, we may eat and we may even have a jolly good time. Everyone is invited - you don't have to be a member (membership is free anyway). It's on Thursday 21st August 2008, anytime from 6:30pm onwards at The Fox Den pub, New Road, Stoke Gifford, Bristol, BS34 8RQ (0117 979 1861).

ReMix UK 08 is Microsoft's 2 day UI technologies conference for designers and developers. This year it will be held in Brighton on Thursday 18th and Friday 19th September 2008 and I'm very pleased to say that I will be speaking on the Friday. My session is:-

Internationalizing WPF And Silverlight Applications
Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) applications have as many similarities as differences from Windows Forms applications. The same is true for WPF’s localization model. This session illustrates how to localize and globalize WPF and Silverlight applications and pays particular attention to those issues that are unique to XAML, WPF and Silverlight.

There's lots to cover here and some thinking and some decisions to be made to get the right result.

See you there.

After last year’s MIX:UK 07 comes the obvious successor: ReMix UK 08. This year it is on Thursday and Friday 18th and 19th September 2008 in Brighton (remember, Daniel Moth has gone now so it’s ok to hold events in Brighton again - it’s been a long wait). If you’re one of the first 300 people to book you can get in for £239 (inc. VAT) otherwise the full price is £349 (inc VAT). Here’s the official abstract:-

ReMix UK 08 is a 48 hour conversation between web designers, developers and business decision makers; showcasing topics and solutions that are helping to forge the future of this medium. Exploring beyond both Microsoft and non-Microsoft points of view; this event gives you the unique opportunity to participate in the inclusive and participatory nature of the next web.

And whilst we’re on the subject of MIX:UK you can now watch the videos of all of the MIX:UK 07 sessions at http://www.microsoft.com/uk/mix07.

Technorati Tags: MIX, MIX:UK, Remix, Remix UK

The Call For Speakers for DDD7 is now open. Sessions that are relevant to our community are requested from one and all (you have to be resident in this community to be eligible). If you haven’t spoken before and feel like giving it a go you can get some hints here. You can expect the following rough timetable of events (but don’t be surprised if the dates are out by a bit):-

• 2 June 2008 - Call For Speakers Opens
• Last week of August - Call For Speakers Closes
• First week of September - Voting For Sessions Opens
• Last week of September - Voting For Sessions Closes
• First week of October - Speakers Notified Of Results
• Second week of October - Agenda Published
• Third week of October - Registration Opens
• Third week of October plus a couple of hours - Registration Is Full
• 22 November 2008 - DDD7

See you there.

Technorati Tags: DDD7, DDD

The NxtGen crew are back again for their second annual shin-dig at TVP in Reading. It’s a day of tech sessions on subjects like F# and Dynamic Data plus pizza and the inevitable swag fixation that goes with NxtGen like pitta and kebabs. So if you’re not doing anything on Thursday 12th June 2008 and either you’re a NxtGen member or you’ve got £49.99 handy give it a go.

Technorati Tags: NxtGen, Fest 08

The third incarnation of the free, one day SQL DDD-lookalike event, SQLBits, will be held on Saturday 13th September 2008. Martin Bell, Simon Sabin and company will be doing their best to top their previous two successes.

Technorati Tags: SQLBits, Martin Bell, Simon Sabin, DDD

The second of this year’s regional DDD events is coming from Scotland. One week after DDD Ireland, the Scottish incarnation of DDD will be held in Glasgow this Saturday 10th May 2008. Colin Angus Mackay and John Thompson have organised the whole event and I’m expecting good things from this event based on the quality organisation and attention to detail so far.

I’m doing my current standard, ADO.NET Data Services, which I did in Edinburgh 8 months ago but Rangers were playing at home that night so the Scottish .NET community had to choose between seeing Rangers start their long, long European journey or else watch some bloke from Bristol wobbling on about data and why it’s so important. That night I lost. Next week we’ll find out whether Rangers should have given up that night and saved themselves 8 months of grief.

If you’re coming along to DDD Scotland be prepared for what I think will be a fantastic event.

See you there.

Technorati Tags: DDD, DDD Scotland, Colin Angus Mackay, John Thompson, ADO.NET Data Services

I’ve blogged about DDD Ireland before but at last it is finally upon us. DDD is coming to Ireland this Saturday (3rd May 2008) for the traditional free, one day event by the community for the community. This time it’s in Galway and there’s the usual mix of familiar and new faces that seem to make these events go well. I have an offering of ADO.NET Data Services starting at 9:30am and there are many other sessions that will be well worth going to. If you can get to Galway on Saturday this you should definately make the effort.

Technorati Tags: DDD, DDD Ireland, ADO.NET Data Services

I’m delighted to say that I’m making my very first visit to the new (ish) NxtGen location of Cambridge on Tuesday night (29th April 2008) for another round of ADO.NET Data Services. If you live in or near Cambridge check out the NxtGen branch and see the community that Allister Frost and Chris Hay are building.

Technorati tags: NxtGen, ADO.NET Data Services, Allister Frost, Chris Hay