I just released a new article based on another true story.

We had a performance problem with a SQL Stored Procedure with a big XML chunk of data as one of the argument and the parsing we had was not optimal for that size of data.

Using various technique, I was finally able to solve that problem.

You can read the full article from http://www.emoreau.com/Entries/Articles/2010/09/Processing-large-XML-data-from-SQL.aspx

Mark Simonson designed a font specifically for developers.

This font is named "Anonymous Pro" and is available for free (Open Font License) from http://www.ms-studio.com/FontSales/anonymouspro.html. It can be used on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

The SQL section of the Montréal .Net Community is proud to offer its first "SQL Saturday". This event will be held September 25, 2010 in Montréal.

Montréal being very bilingual, some sessions will be in French while some others will be in English.

This event is open to anybody who is a member of the Montréal .Net Community (annual fee of 25$) for an additional minimal fee of 6.11$ (5$ + 1.11$ event brite fee).

Registration is now open at http://samedidotnet092010.eventbrite.com/. The content, the schedule and the speakers listing are also available from that site.

Act now because the number of attendees is limited to 150.

I just published a new article.

This time I explore the world of RSS feeds consumption from an application.

You will discover then consuming them is way easier than you might think.

You can read it from http://www.emoreau.com/Entries/Articles/2010/08/Consuming-RSS-feeds-from-your-application-using-SystemNetWebRequest.aspx.

Microsoft just announced the upcoming availability of LightSwitch. Beta 1 is scheduled for August 23rd 2010. You wonder what it is? Check http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/lightswitch.

Apparently (and from the short demo I just saw), it is a big wizard that generates SilverLight applications that you can then customize even more.

I believe that this product as a niche and it won't fit everybody's requirements but it will surely help some others. So lets wait August 23rd to start downloading it and test it!

I just finished reading « Microsoft Visual Basic 2010 Step by Step » by Michael Halvorson (ISBN 978-0735626690) as part of my summer reading!

This book is good for anyone who is brand to the .Net world. Those who have already used an earlier version won't really find it useful. It covers the IDE correctly (which is something that a very few books spend more then a chapter on) but would have been great if it would have gone a bit deeper into the debugger part (as this is one of the most important aspect in my opinion).

This book is also using a lot of older constructs (like MsgBox, modules, CHR(13) + CHR(10)) which will smoothly initiate VB6 old-timers while normally showing the newer constructs in a boxed comment.

This book is also not a reference book explaining the ins and outs of the language (it wouldn't fit into a single book) but VB6 old-timers will once again feel comfortable being able to relate their current knowledge to newer .Net paradigms.

The book's example are mainly using Windows Forms and a chapter (the very last one) is even devoted to an ASP.Net application.

In conclusion, VB6 programmers that wish to step into the .Net band wagon will benefits a lot from this book. The reading is pleasant and the chapters are distinct enough one from the other that you can jump back and forth for many of them.

I just published a very short (not much time returning from vacation).

This time it is about a new method I found to send emails with attachments using Outlook (without any kind of security dialogs).

You can read it from http://www.emoreau.com/Entries/Articles/2010/07/Sending-e-mails-with-attachments-a-different-method.aspx

Covariance and ContraVariance can be hard to understand.

This short article gives you a very good basis: http://www.codeguru.com/columns/vb/article.php/c17635

I got a great news in my inbox this morning. Microsoft renews me as a MVP for another year. It will be my seventh year.

It is great to be recognize for the contributions we do for the community!

Extract from the e-mail:

Congratulations! We are pleased to present you with the 2010 Microsoft® MVP Award! This award is given to exceptional technical community leaders who actively share their high quality, real world expertise with others. We appreciate your outstanding contributions in Visual Basic technical communities during the past year.

After Mac-vs-PC, here is the Java-vs-.Net. It is a must see.