WinPhone Webinar Series in February

Interested in improving your skills (or getting started with) with Windows Phone 7? Then the Telerik WinPhone Webinar Series is where you want to be during the month of February. All month we will be offering special WinPhone focused webinars that help get you familiar with the WP7 platform and Telerik's newest tools designed especially for the new mobile operating system.

To help deliver a well-rounded, world-class set of webinars, we've invited two Windows Phone industry experts to host two of the events: WinPhone trainer extraordinaire Shawn Wildermuth and WinPhone fanatic Mark Arteaga. They will join Telerik Developer Evangelist and XAML preacher Evan Hutnick to host three info-packed, free, online events:

1. Using RadControls to Build Windows Phone 7 Applications
   A primer on Telerik's new tools for WP7
   REGISTER: FEB 10th with Evan
2. Developing for the Third Screen - Windows Phone 7
   A primer on Windows Phone 7 in case you're just getting started with the platform
   REGISTER: FEB 16th with Mark
3. Consuming OData in Windows Phone 7
   A "next level" talk about working with data in WP7 apps
   REGISTER: FEB 23 with Shawn

All events start at 10 AM Eastern (here's a convenient time zone converter) and all will be recorded so you can re-watch them on Telerik TV. Register today so you don't miss-out on our month of Windows Phone webinars!

Vote for my MIX11 session

One of my favorite Microsoft conferences takes place every spring in Las Vegas, and this year I may have an opportunity to speak at MIX11. If you've never been to MIX and you are a web developer (particularly, a "Microsoft web developer"), then you're missing-out on a great conference experience. Personally, if I had to choose between Microsoft-run events, I'd pick MIX over TechEd and PDC almost every time. It's not as big as some events, but it's high-energy, focused, and a great place to talk about all things web and design.

This year, I have the distinct honor of getting a session in to the MIX11 Open Call. As MIX goes, this is your chance as attendees (both physical and online, alike) to vote for the sessions you want to see at this year's event. So, if you're interested (or even if you're not), I'd love to have your vote for my session:

Doing More with LESS for CSS

It's a cool CSS3 talk with lots of practical tips for managing the ballooning CSS rules modern browsers offer. Picked or not, I appreciate your support and can't wait to see some of you in Vegas this April!

[By the way, voting ends February 4th, so cast those votes today!]

Two New Microsoft MVPs at Team Telerik

I don't often get to brag about the accomplishments and hard work of the outstanding members on the Telerik Evangelism Team, but with the recent round of Microsoft MVP selections and renewals (thanks, by the way, Microsoft!), I thought I'd take a minute to recognize two people.

First, I'm proud to announce and introduce the newest Telerik Evangelist, Chris Eargle. Chris joins the Telerik Team as a well respected and prolific speaker in the .NET community, and an active holder of a Microsoft MVP award. Many of you probably already know Chris, but if you don't, be sure to say hi when you see him at your local DNUGs and check him out on his blog, KodeFuGuru, and on twitter, @kodefuguru.

Next, I'm also excited to announce that our very own XAML Evangelist, Evan Hutnick, has just been awarded a Silverlight Microsoft MVP. Congratulations to Evan on working tirelessly in 2010 to serve the XAML community (in addition to the Telerik community!). You can pat Evan on the back on his twitter, @evanhutnick.

Telerik has one of the most generous and hard working teams in the industry, and I'm happy their efforts are recognized by all. With more than 5 Microsoft MVPs and several Microsoft RDs on staff, Telerik stays well connected so that we can deliver the best possible products to you, our customers. If you ever need support for your community events, or have questions for our Microsoft experts and MVPs, don't hesitate to reach out. We're here for you and we have the awards to prove it!

5 Tech Predictions for 2011

Happy New Year! It's January 3rd, the first working day of 2011 for most of us, and a time of year when we can count on weight loss commercials to run like political ads on TV, and the Internet to collectively "predict" the major trends for the upcoming year.

I don't usually blog "predictions," though I do regularly make them. In reality, posts like this are little more than "permalinks" for debates that can be pulled-out to "prove" your infallible foresight in the world of tech when you make an even marginally accurate prediction. And much like industry analysts and their expert opinions, there are few consequences for guessing wrong. So, why not.

I will focus my predictions on developer related technologies and trends, especially in the Microsoft space. That is, after all, the audience for this blog, and hopefully an area I can lend the most perspective to help guide you towards the hot topics of 2011.

THE PREDICTIONS

1. Standards-based web development will resurge on the back of HTML5
   I don't have to be much of a prognosticator to make this prediction, but there are definitely people I respect that would disagree. If you look at the wave of HTML5 browsers that will finally ship official versions in 2011 (specifically, IE9 and FF4, joining Chrome 9+ and Safari 5+), there were be a large, uniform foot print for HTML5 (and its related technologies, like CSS3) to blossom. Even the expanding usage of mobile internet will drive HTML5, as it provides the one and only "available everywhere" rich platform.
   I'm not predicting the death of plug-ins, but I do think they will take their battle to the desktop and leave the web to browser-driven standards.
   
   
2. Silverlight will be rebranded as the defacto Windows APPlication platform
   To be clear, I don't think Microsoft will overtly rebrand Silverlight, but with the release of Silverlight 5, Windows 8 beta, updates to Windows Phone, and rumored Silverlight on XBOX in 2011, Microsoft will stop fighting to "light-up the web" with Silverlight and instead focus on its benefits as a rich, universal "app" platform for Microsoft environments. Along with this, WPF will get pushed even further to the back of the bus, remaining relevant for specific types of development, but not part of the "mainstream" conversation. Microsoft will push Silverlight as "the app platform" to help reduce the WPF/Silverlight confusion that has lingered for the last couple of years and simultaneously spur developer interest in creating apps for Phone and XBOX.
   
   
3. Windows Phone will be 4th place by the end of 2011
   Windows Phone will be 4th by measure of market share by the end of 2011, driven largely by Enterprises interested in the familiar app development model and willing to give-up Blackberry for keyboard- and Outlook-equipped WP devices. We've already seen companies like Dell push in this direction (granted, they have a commercial motivation), and many others are reportedly re-evaluating their dependency on Blackberry.
   The powerful weapon Microsoft brings to this fight, one that Android lacks, is a mature, well-entrenched Enterprise sales team. Microsoft knows how to sell to Enterprise, so assuming the Phone can catch-up with critical features, they'll win many head-to-head battles with Google's alternative.
   And since I've opened the door with rankings, Android will be first, iOS will be second, RIM will be third (with a declining share), Microsoft will be fourth (with a rising share).
   
   
4. The search for a "universal mobile app platform" will be a raging debate by mid-2011
   With Windows Phone, Android (and its fracturing), iOS, Palm OS, Nokia's MeeGo, Blackberry's upcoming QNX OS, and a handful of other "device" operating environments proliferating in 2011, developers and companies are going to finally start questioning the logic in creating custom versions of "apps" for every device. Think about it. It's worse than the "desktop wars" of nearly 20 years ago that originally spawned Java and ultimately gave rise to web applications. Three competing approaches to solve this problem will emerge in 2011: 1) Tooling will attempt to abstract the platforms for developers, producing native variants of a single app for multiple platforms, 2) Frameworks, like MonoTouch, will attempt to create an abstracted runtime layer that can be deployed to multiple platforms, and 3) a push for a return the rich web browser for many app types will move some app development back to HTML5 that works on all platforms. I think options one and three hold the most short-term promise, but more on that later this year.
   
   
5. Mobile web development will be a must for all websites by the end of 2011
   Creating optimized versions of websites for mobile browsers today is already common for major websites, but by the end of 2011, it will be common practice for all websites. Aided by a better understanding and usage of CSS media queries, and driven by an unignorable volume of mobile traffic, web developers will be forced to provide some level of targeting for mobile devices for all websites they maintain.

Ultimately, I think it will be a good year for HTML5 and Silverlight in the developer space, and that mobile (whether that's tablet, phone, or something in-between) will be a big part of the conversation. What do you think? What's coming in 2011 in the developer space that I've overlooked? Speak now and claim your "told you so" link for 2012.

Also, check-out some 2011 predictions from my esteemed colleagues, Stephen Forte and Joel Semeniuk.

Q3 Webinar Week Wrap-up

Wow! Q3 2010 was huge by every measure. Tons of updates to the Telerik toolbox. Tons of new demos, blogs, help documents, and videos. And tons of you joined us for the Q3 2010 Webinar Week! Last week we hosted 9 live webinar events to help introduce you to the Q3 2010 bits, concluding with Friday's special event that showcased the Telerik tools working together, highlighting how the toolbox can make you productive at all points in the software development lifecycle.

If you were unable to join the live webinar week, or if you missed an event, don't worry! All of the live events were recorded and are making their way to Telerik TV right now. Catch any of the webcasts on-demand using these handy links:

• What's New in Q3 2010 Overview Video (not a webinar, but good starting point)
• What's New in RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX, Telerik Extensions for ASP.NET MVC, and OpenAccess ORM
• What's New in RadControls for Silverlight, WPF and Windows Phone 7
• What's New in RadControls for WinForms and Telerik Reporting
• What's New in JustCode and JustMock
• What's New in TeamPulse Q3 2010
• What's New in WebUI Test Studio
• Special Event: Using the Complete Telerik Toolbox [Coming Soon!]

If you saw Friday's Special Event, you may have seen Evan Hutnick's cool "Ad-hoc Silverlight Reporting" demo done with Telerik's Silverlight data visualization controls and rich text editor. If you want to try the code for yourself, it is available now (direct link to download).

Enjoy the over 6 hours of new Q3-specific video content, enjoy the upcoming holidays, and stay tuned for news about 2011 release plans! We never rest so that you can!

Quickly update all Telerik product installs using PowerShell

With the Q3 2010 release now available, the challenge of updating your dev environment with the new versions can sometimes seem daunting. After all, the Telerik Ultimate Collection now represents more than 10 products, and thus more than 10 installers. Add any virtual machines you maintain to the mix, and the challenge of updating increases. Fortunately, all Telerik products use MSI installers, and with a little PowerShell we can easily script the complete system update.

Updating Your Telerik Products in 2 Steps

With a handy PowerShell script I've created (available below), you can easily update any system to use all of the latest and greatest Telerik tools in 2 simple steps:

1. Download all of the Telerik products you want to install
• Place the MSI installers in one folder
2. Download and run my Telerik Installer PowerShell script!

That's it. The script will automatically look for and uninstall old versions (pre-Q3) of Telerik tools and then install all of the products you've downloaded. By default, the script will look for the installers in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Telerik\Downloads\Q3 2010\", but if you'd prefer to use a different location, the script can be easily edited.

Run and done

The cool benefit of this script is that you can download your bits, run the script, and then go about your business while the uninstallers and installers run. No need to "babysit" your machine installing and uninstalling software.

On my primary machine (which has an SSD), the entire process took about 10 minutes: 4 minutes to uninstall everything and about 6 minutes to run all of the installers. On a VirtualBox VM running on an external USB drive, the process took about 35 minutes (15 to uninstall, 20 to install).

Regardless of the exact run time, it took exactly 30 seconds of my time to update my entire Telerik toolbox.

Enabling PowerShell Script Execution

If you've never run a PowerShell script, you may have a problem executing this script due to PowerShell's default security settings. To resolve the problem, you simply need to run a PowerShell command that allows script execution. Here's how:

1. Open a PowerShell command prompt
• Can be done via Start > All Programs > Accessories > Windows PowerShell
• Alternatively, right-click my PS1 script and select "Edit with PowerShell"
2. Execute the following command: Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted
3. A dialog will pop-up. Confirm your decision to change the execution policy.

Now you will be able to execute this script by simply right-clicking on the .PS1 file selecting "Run with PowerShell."

What about the Telerik Visual Studio Extensions auto-updater?

The Telerik Visual Studio Extensions (VSX) are awesome for updating your existing projects, or for updating individual projects directly from Visual Studio. The Telerik VSX tools can automatically check for newer versions of the Telerik tools, download the bits, and then update your projects. If you only work with 1 or 2 products, this is a great solution!

If you're like me, though, and you have everything Telerik installed (and, really, you should), it's generally easier to update everything at once with the installers for a major Q release. That's where this script comes in handy. Once everything is installed, you can still use the VSX tools to quickly update your projects to use the latest bits.

Side-by-side Installs

You can install many Telerik products side-by-side with older versions. This is sometimes useful when you have projects referencing different versions of the Telerik tools (though there are other options for "isolating" projects). While this script is configured to uninstall everything old, if you'd prefer to keep old versions, a simple script edit can help you skip the uninstalls. If this scenario becomes common, I'll provide a modified version with easy support of this option.

Download the Script

All that's left: Download the PowerShell script. Remember to edit the script if your installers are saved in a different folder. Otherwise, enjoy the simple system updater and feel free to send me feedback and ideas for improvement!

Q3 2010 is Live!

And just like that, Q3 2010 is live on Telerik.com! A slightly new and improved Telerik.com, at that. Today marks the official release of Telerik's final major update to the Telerik toolbox for 2010, and it is a huge release (as promised). More than 10 products get updated in this single release, so it's no small feat of both coordination and dedicated effort to continue to provide the most aggressive (some might say "agile") release schedule available from a professional software development lifecycle vendor.

By now, you've hopefully seen much of what's new in today's release, either in the pre-release blog series on the Telerik Blogs or in the "Live from HQ" videos here on Telerik Watch. We know it's a lot to absorb, so don't miss next week's Webinar Week, where we'll help introduce you to all of the new timesaving, developer rock-star making features and controls.

At a high level, here are some of the new things you'll find in Q3 2010:

• AJAX
• Two new controls: TreeList and Button
• Improved SharePoint 2010 WebParts (for Grid and Editor)
• Cool new Coverflow mode in Rotator
• Built-in OData support in Grid
• Progress indicator in AsyncUpload
• MVC
• Two new Extensions: TimePicker and DateTimePicker
• RTL support and Section 508 / Level A accessibility conformance
• Grid improvements (like column reordering and header templates)
• WinForms
• New control: CommandBar (replaces ToolStrip)
• Grid improvements (lazy loading, Excel 2010-like filtering, new hierarchy modes)
• Scheduler improvements (time zones, in-place editors)
• Silverlight (WPF)
• New theme: Expression Dark
• New data visualizations: SparkLines and BulletGraphs
• New control (WPF only): ScheduleView
• RichTextBox improvements (Table support, spell check, export to PDF)
• ESRI shapefile support in RadMap
• Telerik Reporting
• SQL Analysis Services Cube support (with new Cube Data Source)
• XML Report Serialization (save your report definitions in XML files)
• Interactive report drill-down
• OpenAccess ORM
• New converter: LinqToSql (more coming in the future)
• Spatial types support, improved Fluent API, PostgreSQL support
• New OpenAccess ORM SDK browser (very cool. check it out!)
• JustCode
• Unit Test Runner: Added MSpec support, improved speed
• Lot's of NEW:
• New Refactorings in C# and VB
• New visual features (like structural highlighting, configurable visual aid size)
• New quick fixes (like "Create Parameter" or "Create Field)
• New code templates with quick Shift+Space access
• JustMock
• Many additional mocking scenarios now supported, like:
• Mocking LINQ queries with custom selects
• Mocking Castle ActiveRecord
• Raising mocked events
• WebUI Test Studio (Huge update!)
• New in QA: Test Scheduling and Remote Execution!
• Email notifications for test completion
• New browser support: Google Chrome (and Safari 5 + IE 9)
• New test step explorer (with support for conditional test step logic)
• New (pretty!) test execution UI and visual test debugging

Phew! That's a ton- and that's a very light "summary" of Q3 2010. AND that doesn't include the recently introduced RadControls for Windows Phone and next week's updates coming to TeamPulse! Enjoy the Q3 2010 bits and remember to join us next week for the webinars.

Download the Q3 2010 bits

Q3 2010 Webinar Week, Register Now

 

Q3 2010 has arrived, and with it, TONS of new features and controls for you to wrap your mind around. If you received today's Telerik Newsletter, you also saw my new challenge for you: expand your horizons and try a Telerik tool from the Ultimate Collection you've not tried before (I'm guessing there's at least one). Telerik helps you be productive at more than just building UI these days, so I encourage you to discover how we can help you save time at the data layer, the business layer, during testing and QA, and even with project planning.

Since there is so much new stuff, and since I know you're taking-up my challenge right away, we're here to help you get started with another info-packed Webinar Week. There are two important things to know about this webinar week:

1. It starts on Monday, November 15th
2. There will be 2 webinars per day!
   • On Monday and Tuesday, it'll be the same webinar to help those of you in other time zones (like Australia and New Zealand)
   • For the rest of the week, it'll be two different events. More on that below.

Here's the schedule for next week's webinars. Click a link to register for the event.

	11 AM Eastern	10 PM Eastern
Monday	What’s New in RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX, Extensions for MVC and OpenAccess ORM	[REPEAT] What’s New in RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX, Extensions for MVC and OpenAccess ORM
Tuesday	What’s New in RadControls for Silverlight and WPF	[REPEAT] What’s New in RadControls for Silverlight and WPF

And for the rest of the week:

	11 AM Eastern	2 PM Eastern
Wednesday	What’s New in RadControls for WinForms and Telerik Reporting
Thursday	What’s New in Telerik JustCode and Telerik JustMock	What’s New in Telerik TeamPulse
Friday	What’s New in Telerik WebUI Test Studio	SPECIAL EVENT! Getting the most out of Q3

Don't miss Friday's special event! After a week full of product highlights, the Telerik Evangelists and Developer Support Specialists will come together and show you some cool integration demos and ways to use the Q3 2010 products together. It's a great way to wrap-up your week.

Of course, there will be prizes for attendees of each webinar. The more events you attend, the more chances you have to win, so register today and join us next week for the Q3 2010 What's New Webinar Week!

Q3 2010 Special: Live from HQ with more AJAX

Q3 2010 bits are less than a day away from your Account Downloads, and I know you're now teeming with excitement to get your hands on many of the cool things we've seen in the Live from Telerik HQ video series. I've got one more video to share, and this one is fun! I visit with one of the RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX Team Leads and he shows-off some very cool new features coming to the AJAX tools in Q3, like the new RadButton control and the new Coverflow mode in RadRotator. Check-it out and then make time to download everything Q3 tomorrow!

Watch the Ajax video in full HD on Telerik TV

Did you miss any of the Live from HQ videos? Don't worry! They're all available as a convenient video series on Telerik TV. Check-out all of the interviews and start putting faces with some of Telerik's technical product leaders.

Q3 2010 Special: Live from HQ with Reporting

We are less than 24 hours from the big Q3 2010 release, and I've got two more quick interviews Live from Telerik HQ to share. This time, we visit with the Telerik Reporting team for an overview of cool new features coming in Q3 (like XML Report Serialization, native Silverlight 4 printing, and the new Cube Data Source). This is a big release for Telerik Reporting and a great time for you to check it out if you're looking for basic BI in your .NET apps. Enjoy the video and stay tuned for the last soon!

Watch the reporting interview on Telerik TV in full HD

Q3 2010 Special: Live from HQ with ASP.NET MVC

Q3 is getting closer! We wrap-up today's interviews with a quick visit to the Telerik Extensions for ASP.NET MVC team. In this video, I visit with Senior Front-end Developer Alexander Gyoshev who shows us how the Telerik Extensions make it easy to embrace accessibility standards in ASP.NET MVC applications using the Telerik tools. Come back tomorrow for our final two interviews with Telerik Reporting and more ASP.NET AJAX!

Watch the ASP.NET MVC interview in full HD on Telerik TV

Q3 2010 Special: Live from HQ with Silverlight

Only three days to go 'til Q3 2010 is officially here! I know the wait is excruciating, but to help you pass the time I have 4 more Live for Telerik HQ interviews to give you a glimpse in to what's coming. We kick-off this week's interviews with a quick update from the RadControls for Silverlight, where we see how the new virtualized data source is going to enable new levels of performance when binding to large data sets. Enjoy the video and keep your browsers locked-in here for more Q3 updates!

Watch the Silverlight interview on Telerik TV in full HD

Did you miss one of the interviews posted last week? Don't worry, they're all available in the Live for Telerik HQ video series. So far, there are Q3 2010 interviews with JustCode, ASP.NET AJAX, OpenAccess ORM, WinForms, and Silverlight.

Q3 2010 Special: Live from HQ with WinForms

One more Live from Telerik HQ interview to hold you over the final weekend before the Q3 2010 release bits are available. This time I visit with the RadControls for WinForms team for a very quick overview of what's being prepared for Q3. Meet the Team Lead for WinForms, Tsvetan Raikov, and put a face with another one of Telerik's technical product leaders. Enjoy the update and stay tuned for more on Monday, starting with Silverlight!

Watch WinForms video in full HD on Telerik TV

Q3 2010 Special: Live from HQ with OpenAccess ORM

Q3 2010 continues to draw closer, and with it, more interviews Live from Telerik HQ. This time I visit with the OpenAccess ORM team to learn about improvements in Telerik's data access product for Q3 2010. The team shows-off the new SDK Browser and talks about new things coming to OpenAccess like an expanded Fluent API and improved Visual Studio designer. Stay tuned for more interviews with the technical teams at Telerik! Next up, WinForms!

Watch this video with the OpenAccess team in full HD on Telerik TV

Q3 2010 Special: Live from HQ with ASP.NET AJAX

Video two in the "Q3 2010 Special: Live from Telerik HQ" series. This time, I visit with Stefan Rahnev, Unit Manager for the ASP.NET AJAX, ASP.NET MVC, and Visual Studio Extension teams at Telerik. Stefan shows-off the new RadTreeList for ASP.NET AJAX and shares some other Q3 details, too. Enjoy the video and stay tuned for more Live from HQ as we continue to approach Q3!

Watch the full HD version of this ASP.NET AJAX video on Telerik TV

Q3 2010 Special: Live from Telerik HQ

Q3 2010 is just around the corner and it's going to be a massive release! More than 10 products simultaneously updated with new controls, new features, improved performance, and all of the other "secret sauces" Telerik cooks-up to help make you a more heroic developer. You've already got betas to check-out, but I know not everyone has time to review beta bits in their busy schedules. So, while you wait on the Q3 2010 What's New Webinar Week, I introduce a new video series:

Q3 2010 Special: Live from Telerik HQ

Over the next few days, leading-up to next week's Q3 release, I'll be posting videos captured at Telerik HQ with the product teams that work tirelessly to build Telerik's amazing tools. This is your chance to meet some of the technical leaders behind the Telerik products while seeing some "sneak peeks" at what will be in various Telerik products in Q3.

We start with the video embedded in this post (also available on Telerik TV in full HD). In this video, I visit with JustCode Team Lead Deyan Varchev to see what's cooking for Q3 2010. Enjoy the quick video and stay tuned for many more as we march towards Q3 2010!

Watch first Q3 2010 Special video in full HD on Telerik TV

Win Free Windows Phone 7, Telerik Licenses

Now that Windows Phone 7 is finally a reality that you can (almost) pick-up in stores (in the US), and now that Telerik has unleashed the powerful RadControls for Windows Phone CTP, it's time to giveaway some hardware and software! Over the course of several weeks in November, Telerik will giveaway a Windows Phone 7 to someone that has told a friend about Telerik's new RadControls for Windows Phone, and at the end of the contest, two people will get Telerik Ultimate Collection licenses (that obviously included licenses to Telerik's Windows Phone controls).

How do you enter? Simple:

1. Visit the "Bring a Friend" page on Telerik.com
2. Enter two email addresses for friends you think would like to know about Telerik's RadControls for Windows Phone 7
3. Tweak the email message (if you're a good friend) or just use the template we provide
4. Submit the form and wait to see if you win!

We'll draw winners every Thursday, beginning November 4th and wrapping-up on December 3rd. Full contest rules are available on the contest page, but this is definitely one of the easiest ways to get your hands on a Windows Phone 7 device and Telerik's new software this holiday season!

Help us spread the word and share RadControls for Windows Phone news today!

RadControls for Windows Phone CTP now available

Today is a big day for Telerik and Microsoft. As Microsoft shares news of its latest mobile development platform at the sold-out PDC in Redmond, Telerik is today announcing the immediate availability of the RadControls for Windows Phone CTP!

With today's CTP, and the first version of the RadControls for Windows Phone in general, Telerik is helping complete the Silverlight development toolbox for Phone developers. Out-of-the-box, the Microsoft Silverlight toolbox for Phone lacks many of the native Windows Phone 7 UI elements phone in the OS, such as the picker box and window. Telerik completes the development toolbox by providing many of the "missing" OS UI controls to Silverlight application developers, including a rich animation framework optimized for performance and battery life. For a complete comparison of the Telerik tools for Phone to the Microsoft toolkit, check-out the online comparison chart.

In addition, you have a chance to get a free license for the v1 RadControls for Windows Phone simply by being one of the first 500 people to download the CTP (and downloads are already going fast)! So what are you waiting for?! Download the CTP, have fun building mobile apps for Windows Phone 7 with unprecedented productivity, and maybe you'll walk home with a free license!

Oh! One more thing. You can also take a shot at winning a Windows Phone 7 simply by telling two friends about the Telerik RadControls for Windows Phone 7 CTP. For contest details, check-out this page on Telerik.com.

Finally, if you're in a rush, check-out the quick overview video on Telerik TV introducing the new RadControls for Windows Phone.

Q3 2010 betas available now for testing

Want to start trying the new features coming to Q3 a few weeks early? Want a chance to impact design of the new features before we ship? That's what betas are for, and several of the Telerik products have now published (or soon will) their Q3 2010 betas. This is your time to try-out near final versions of the Q3 2010 bits and share feedback on the active Telerik Forums.

Betas are available right now for the following products:

• RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX
• Telerik Extensions for ASP.NET MVC
• RadControls for Silverlight (and WPF <- XBAP link, use IE for best results)
• TeamPulse Standard Edition

Each link above will take you to the live Beta demos, where you can check-out some of the new features hands-on. Downloads for all betas are available in your Client.net account download page.

Over the next couple of weeks, we'll share more details about all of the new major features available in these suites, as well as in all of the other Telerik products being updated in Q3 (which, for those counting, is now 11 different products!). There are some very exciting improvements in everything from OpenAccess ORM with a radically enhanced Fluent API to Telerik Reporting with its new XML report definitions, so I encourage you to set some time aside to look at the value in  the full Telerik toolbox and try a product you've perhaps overlooked in the past.

Until then, enjoy the betas and send us your feedback. Q3 is just around the corner!

BONUS! Here are some quick links to blog posts on the Telerik.com blogs talking about Q3 beta features:

• Telerik MVC Extensions Q3 2010 Beta Preview
• The Telerik ASP.NET AJAX Q3 2010 Beta release is here
• Telerik Silverlight and WPF controls Beta preview of Q3 2010
• TeamPulse Standard Edition Q3 2010 Beta is Ready for Download

Using OpenAccess in LINQPad

Have you ever wanted to have a simple "scratchpad" for testing LINQ queries with OpenAccess ORM? LINQ is a great querying language, but sometimes it can be difficult to figure-out exactly how to craft those complex LINQ queries.  And while it's possible to go the route of "make a change, build, and see what happens," it's a huge waste of time.

Enter LINQPad, a simple tool that is perfect for quickly testing queries with OpenAccess ORM. LINQPad, for the uninitiated, is really a great scratchpad for testing any .NET code, but it's particularly useful for quickly testing LINQ queries (especially with the "pro" IntelliSense enabled).

Earlier this year, Steve Scott (aka Sitefinity Steve) posted some quick instructions for using OpenAccess with LINQPad, which was a very useful, simplified follow-up to an OpenAccess Team blog post from last year. OpenAccess has a change slightly since both of these posts were created, so here are quick updated instructions for querying OpenAccess with LINQPad.

SETUP
The first step after launching LINQPad is configuring Assembly References and Namespaces. To do this, press F4 and add the following:

• Under "Additional References":
• Telerik.OpenAccess.dll
• Telerik.OpenAccess.35.Extensions.dll*
• <Your OpenAccess Enhanced DLLs>
• Under "Additional Namespaces":
• Telerik.OpenAccess
• <Your Assembly Namespaces>

If you're using the new RLINQ OpenAccess DataContext, you should reference Telerik.OpenAccess.40.Extensions.dll instead of the "35" version. The "35" version is appropriate for assemblies using IObjectScope (pre-RLINQ). Your config should look something like this:

QUERYING
Now that LINQPad is configured, you can start querying! Only two steps are required:

1. Change the LINQPad editor Language to C# (or VB) Statement(s)

2. Write your query code, including scope initializer and LINQPad "dump":

Result? You can now start testing away with your LINQ queries and view the results in the LINQPad Results viewer. Clearly, if you're using RLINQ, you can skip the "GetNewObjectScope" and proceed directly to querying the DataContext. The connection string will default to what's stored in your DLL's App.Config. Finally, you're not limited to direct LINQ query testing. If you have repositories in your DAL, you can also test your data access using your repositories in LINQPad, too.

SQL DUMP
Since this approach to using OpenAccess in LINQPad does not implement the LINQPad provider model, the SQL dump is not available. LINQPad's provider model provides a simple way to expose the SQL dump for OpenAccess, but only for the newer RLINQ contexts. If there is interest, I will work on providing a simple OpenAccess driver for LINQPad that supports RLINQ to unlock the remaining features, like the schema explorer and SQL dump window.

WRAP-UP
Great ORMs require trust, and there is no easier way to build that trust with your ORM than to have a quick way to test and verify your queries. With a few simple steps, LINQPad and OpenAccess ORM can give you that simple tool and speed-up your data access productivity!