Recent Posts

Hybrid Azure applications using OData

In the whole Windows Azure story, Microsoft has always been telling you could build hybrid applications: an on-premise application with a service on Azure or a database on SQL Azure. But how to do it in the opposite direction? Easy answer there: use the (careful, long product name coming!) Windows Azure platform App... Read more »

Simplified access control using Windows Azure AppFabric Labs

Earlier this week, Zane Adam announced the availability of the New AppFabric Access Control service in LABS. The highlights for this release (and I quote): Expanded Identity provider support - allowing developers to build applications and services that accept both enterprise identities (through integration with Act... Read more »

MvcSiteMapProvider 2.1.0 released!

The release for MvcSiteMapProvider 2.1.0 has just been posted on CodePlex. MvcSiteMapProvider is, as the name implies, an ASP.NET MVC SiteMapProvider implementation for the ASP.NET MVC framework. Targeted at ASP.NET MVC 2, it provides sitemap XML functionality and interoperability with the classic ASP.NET sitemap c... Read more »

ASP.NET MVC 3 and MEF sitting in a tree…

As I stated in a previous blog post: ASP.NET MVC 3 preview 1 has been released! I talked about some of the new features and promised to do a blog post in the dependency injection part. In this post, I'll show you how to use that together with MEF. Download my sample code: Mvc3WithMEF.zip (256.21 kb) Dependency inj... Read more »

ASP.NET MVC 3 preview 1 is out! Quick review…

I just noticed a very interesting download: ASP.NET MVC 3 preview 1. Yes, you are reading this correctly, the first bits for v3.0 are there! Let’s have a quick look around and see what’s new... Razor Syntax View Engine ScottGu blogged about Razor before. ASP.NET MVC has always supported the concept of ... Read more »

Manage your SQL Azure database from your browser

Yesterday, I noticed on Twitter that the SQL Azure - Project “Houston” CTP 1 has been released online. For those who do not know Houston, this is a lightweight and easy to use database management tool for SQL Azure databases built in Silverlight. Translation: you can now easily manage your SQL Azure data... Read more »

Renewed MVP ASP.NET for 2010!

Just got the best e-mail a Microsoft community member can receive in his mailbox: Dear Maarten Balliauw, 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... Read more »

ASP.NET MVC - MvcSiteMapProvider 2.0 is out!

I’m very proud to announce the release of the ASP.NET MVC MvcSiteMapProvider 2.0! I’m also proud that the name of this product now exceeds the average length of Microsoft product names. In this blog post, I will give you a feel of what you can (and can not) do with this ASP.NET-specific SiteMapProvider. ... Read more »

Running on Windows Azure - ChronoRace - Autoscaling

At RealDolmen, we had the luck of doing the first (known) project on Windows Azure in Belgium. Together with Microsoft, we had the opportunity to make the ChronoRace website robust enough to withstand large sports events like the 20km through Brussels. ChronoRace is a Belgian company based in Malmédy, specialised i... Read more »

Extension methods for PHP

The concept of “extension” methods will be nothing new to this blog’s .NET-related audience. For the PHP-related audience, this is probably something new. Let’s start with the official definition for extension methods: Extension methods enable you to "add" methods to existing types without creating a new ... Read more »