IIS Express, SQL CE 4 and Razor MVC view

Dear scottgu,

Didn’t we just have a VS and Silverlight launch in April, and a Tech-Ed in June?  Is there the need to drop more good stuff on us even though we’re still digesting the events of the last couple of months?  Really?  Anyhow, thanks for the cool stuff, and I hope my wife doesn’t mind my laptop on the beach in a couple weeks.  Since you like feedback, here are my thoughts.  Do you mind taking a couple weeks off, now?

IIS Express

Very nice!  It’s been a little difficult to use a local IIS or Cassini to truly test ASP.NET apps, since they’re so different than what’s on Server 2008.  We won’t be able to replicate the setup and configuration, but I hope the features are as complete in the Express as in the server version, and I hope we can tap into the HTTP Request pipeline to test plug-in components.  Maybe soon this will be the default VS web server, and Cassini can be retired.  This seems to be a follow-up to SSRS 2008 no longer requiring IIS to be installed, and using http.sys instead.

(ref. http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2010/06/28/introducing-iis-express.aspx)

SQL CE 4

This is the database I wish SQL Server Express was.  As a matter of fact, I think SQL Express can die off now.  If I wanted to install database services, I would install a database.  If I don’t want to have to install a database, I need something embeddable.  Since SQL Express was released, I have come to really like SQLite.  I think SQL CE is going to change the way a lot of blogs/websites/photo galleries are developed and hosted.  And as much as I like Vista DB, I think you just ruined their holiday weekend.  The fact that we can start with a small embeddable DB and hop up to SQL Server or SQL Azure should make a lot of ISVs very happy with new lower price points for starter versions and the ability to upsize when their clients need to.

(ref. http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2010/06/30/new-embedded-database-support-with-asp-net.aspx)

Razor, the new ‘V’ in ‘MVC’

It’s obvious MVC has a passionate following, and the MS is committed to the technology.  I haven’t had a chance to work with MVC very much, but the syntax of Razor looks great—a little SQL-ish, a little JQuery-ish, but not a mess at all.  A lot of people don’t like the <%=   %> syntax because it harkens back to the classic ASP days, so the declarative syntax might make them happier.

(ref. http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2010/07/02/introducing-razor.aspx)

Converting from Office Live Workspaces to Windows Live SkyDrive—What Happens?

Office Live Workspace is on its way out, and Windows Live SkyDrive is on its way in.  Workspace has been in beta all this time, and the new Office Live integrated with Windows Live SkyDrive is the first final release.  When it’s your turn to upgrade, you’ll see a notice when you log in to your workspace.  The upgrade doesn’t take long, but it introduces many changes  So what really happens when you upgrade?

  1. A new URL.  Instead of logging in at http://workspace.office.live.com/, you now log in directly at http://office.live.com/.  Or, you can log in to any of the Live services, and click the Office tab to come to your new Office files.
  2. Dramatic UI changes.  Workspace needed some color changes, but I preferred its simple folder-based layout.  The new layout isn’t bad, but will take a little getting used to.
  3. Notes become Word documents.  There is no “note” document type, so they’re all converted to Word documents.  If you want the notes in OneNote, you’ll need to do that yourself after the conversion.
  4. Calendars become Excel files.  A new feature showed up in the last few weeks to export the calendar to Excel, and this is why.
  5. Your documents are not available on Workspace any more, but may still have access to other shared resources until they are upgraded by the owner.  Eventually, Workspace will go away.
  6. All of your sharing preferences transfer, but the people with whom you share documents will need Live accounts.  Invitations are not automatically sent.
  7. I’m unable to create a new OneNote document in converted folders, but I can create OneNote docs in new folders I create.  No idea why, but I’m asking.

After the upgrade, you can no longer use the Office Live Workspace plug-in in Word or Excel, which allows you to open and save documents from within Office without needing to log in to the website first.

Although the in-browser editing works in Firefox, the Open in Word does not–you can open a file directly in Word when using IE 8.  Once you’ve opened the document from Live, you can use the recent files list to reopen the document directly, which saves a little time not having to log in to the website.

Once the upgrade is done, all your documents are stored on SkyDrive, which allows for 25GB of storage, and you can edit your documents in a local copy of Office or the new Office 2010 Web Edition.