Jack @ ASP.NET

Until recently your only choice for developing applications for Apple’s iPhone was to jump into the Apple development ecosystem. This means being willing to write Objective-C code in the XCode IDE. For many developers, learning Objective-C was seen as a huge barrier-to-entry. This is especially true for many .NET developers whom have never had to worry about memory management, pointers, and other C language responsibilities that they are unfamiliar with.

All this has changed with the introduction the MonoTouch framework, a part of Novell’s Mono Project. The Mono Project is an open-source implementation of Microsoft .NET Platform. It allows you to run .NET applications on nearly any platform, including Apple, FreeBSD, Linux, Unix, and others. MonoTouch, which is a new part of the Mono Project, allows you to write applications using C# with .NET platform that run on the iPhone.

The intent of this article is to provide a solid introduction to the MonoTouch platform, where to find all the necessary pieces, the limitations of it, and how to build a basic application.

How does it Work?

When building MonoTouch applications, most of the non-UI .NET 3.5 stack is either already available, or is in the roadmap to be included. This allows you to write applications using many of the .NET Framework Technologies that you’re already familiar with, including Windows Communication Framework (WCF), Workflow Foundation (WF), etc. It also includes nearly all of the Base Class Library (BCL) including things like Garbage Collection, Threading, Math Functions, System.Net, Cryptography, etc. For a list of available standard .NET assemblies see http://monotouch.net/Documentation/Assemblies. This is accomplished through a MonoTouch-specific set of base .NET libraries, similarly to how Silverlight and Moonlight work.

This means that you can compile standard .NET 3.5 code libraries using the MonoTouch core assemblies and use them in your application. So if, for example, you have a specialized library that does advanced math functions for engineering problems that you use for other applications, you can simply include the code library in your MonoTouch solution, and reference it. When you build your solution, it will compile it using the MonoTouch libraries, and it will then be available in your application.

MonoTouch also includes wrappers to the native iPhone APIs such as Location (GPS), the accelerometer, address book, etc. It also gives you the ability to bind to native Objective-C libraries that are not wrapped, so you can interop directly with existing Objective-C code.

How do I Distribute My Apps?

MonoTouch applications are distributed the exact same way that traditional iPhone applications are distributed, either via the Apple App Store, or Enterprise deployment.

The App Store is an online repository that allows users to pay for applications (if they’re not free), and download them. It is available from within iTunes, or directly from the iPhone itself. In order to get a license to distribute via the App Store, you must register with Apple, and pay $99/year.

Enterprise deployment is for those wishing to develop internal applications for a company, and distribute them to employees, etc., without listing them with the App Store.

What is the Licensing Model?

Unlike Mono, MonoTouch is not open source and is a commercial product. That means if you want to do anything useful with it you have to purchase a license. MonoTouch comes in three flavors and prices:

• Professional ($399) – A single personal developer license that allows you to develop applications and distribute them via the Apple App-Store.
• Enterprise ($999) – A single corporate developer license that allows you to develop applications and distribute via the App-store, or enterprise deployment.
• Enterprise, 5 Seat ($3,999) – The same as the Enterprise license, but includes 5 seats.

All three options include a year of free updates.

There is also an evaluation edition that allows you deploy to the simulator only. For the purposes of this introduction, that is all we’ll need.

VS 2010 and .NET 4 bring a huge number of improvements and additions. They include big advances for ASP.NET web development, WPF and WinForms client development, SharePoint development, Silverlight development, data development, parallel computing development, and cloud computing development.  VS 2010 also delivers a ton of improvements in the core IDE, code editors, programming languages, and enterprise design, architect, and testing tools. 

TFS 2010 is now easy to install (only 20 minutes to setup source control, bug and work item tracking, build automation, and continuous integration), can be installed on both servers as well as client OS and domain controller machines, and is now included with all MSDN subscriptions of Visual Studio.

VS 2010 Product Line SKU Simplifications

With VS 2010 we are simplifying the product lineup and pricing options of Visual Studio, as well as adding new benefits for MSDN subscribers.  With VS 2010 we will now ship a simpler set of SKU options:

• Visual Studio Express: Free Express SKUs for Web, VB, C#, and C++

• Visual Studio 2010 Professional with MSDN: Professional development tools as you are used to today with the addition of source control integration, bug tracking, build automation, and more. It also includes 50 hours/month of Azure cloud computing.

• Visual Studio 2010 Premium with MSDN: Premium has everything in Professional plus advanced development tools (including richer profiling and debugging, code coverage, code analysis and testing prioritization), advanced database support, UI testing, and more.  Rather than buying multiple “Team” SKUs like you would with VS 2008, you can now get this combination of features in one box with VS 2010. It also includes 100 hours/month of Azure cloud computing.

• Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate with MSDN: Ultimate has everything in Premium plus additional advanced features for developers, testers, and architects including features like Intellitrace (formerly Historical Debugging), the new architecture tools (UML, discovery), test lab management, etc.  It also includes 250 hours/month of Azure cloud computing.

Side by Side Support with VS 2008

VS 2010 and .NET 4.0 can be installed side-by-side on the same machine as VS 2008 and .NET 3.5.  You can install the Beta 2 version on a machine and it will not impact your existing VS 2008 / .NET 3.5 development.

Go-Live License Available

.NET 4 and VS 2010 Beta 2 include a “go-live” license which means you can start using the products for production projects. 

Microsoft just released IIS Media Services 3.0, a set of extensions for Internet Information Services 7 (IIS) that provide an integrated HTTP-based media delivery platform.

This includes the new IIS Live Smooth Streaming and the separate IIS Advanced Logging package.

In addition, Microsoft released the beta of the Smooth Streaming Player Development Kit, which allows developers to easily create Smooth Streaming experiences using Silverlight.   Supported features include PlayReady, DVR controls, instant replay, slow motion, multiple camera angles, alternate audio tracks, content protection, ad integration, in-stream data feeds, and more.

Since April, 2009, key broadcasters around the world have used beta versions of IIS Media Services 3.0 to successfully broadcast some of the world’s premier live events.

These include the Tour de France and the Roland Garros 2009 International French Open Tennis Tournament on France Télévisions; the IAAF Athletics World Championships and FINA Swimming World Championships on both France Télévisions and RAI; the FIFA Confederations Cup South Africa 2009 on RAI; and Champions League Soccer on BSkyB; as well as events such as the Michael Jackson Memorial on Sympatico/MSN inMusic and SKY News.

In a combined effort with Microsoft, NBC Sports and others, Wimbledon Live delivered more than 6,500 minutes of live and on-demand Smooth Streaming video via a high-definition (HD), interactive online video experience.  Each Sunday this Fall, NBC and Microsoft are broadcasting Sunday Night Football on-line in HD, utilizing live DVR controls, multiple camera angles, slow motion, ad integration, analytics, and other cutting-edge features.  26 such trial deployments are currently highlighted on the Smooth Streaming Showcase.

What’s available now:

With this release, the key elements of the IIS media server platform now include:

· Smooth Streaming, adaptive streaming of media over HTTP

· Live Smooth Streaming, for live adaptive streaming of broadcast events

· Smooth Streaming Player Development Kit, for creating custom clients

· Bit Rate Throttling, meters the speed that media is delivered to a player

· Web Playlists, secure sequencing of media content

· Advanced Logging, with real-time client- and server-side logging

· Application Request Routing (ARR), providing HTTP proxying and caching

Download the latest IIS Media offerings

You can download all of the IIS media server platform components, and the Smooth Streaming PDK, using the Web Platform Installer button on the IIS Media page (http://www.iis.net/media).

URL routing was a capability we first introduced with ASP.NET 3.5 SP1, and which is already used within ASP.NET MVC applications to expose clean, SEO-friendly “web 2.0” URLs.  URL routing lets you configure an application to accept request URLs that do not map to physical files. Instead, you can use routing to define URLs that are semantically meaningful to users and that can help with search-engine optimization (SEO).

for more detail, go URL Routing with ASP.NET 4 Web Forms (VS 2010 and .NET 4.0 Series) .

Advance Notification for the October 2009 Security Bulletin Release

For October we are releasing 13 bulletins (eight critical and five important), addressing 34 vulnerabilities, affecting Windows, Internet Explorer, Office, Silverlight, Forefront, Developer Tools, and SQL Server. Most of these updates require a restart so please factor that into your deployment planning.

Among the updates this month, we are closing out two current security advisories:

· Vulnerabilities in SMB Could Allow Remote Code Execution (975497)

· Vulnerabilities in the FTP Service in Internet Information Services (975191)

Usually we do not go into this level of detail in the advance notification but we felt that it is important guidance so customers can plan accordingly and deploy these updates as soon as possible.

The target to release the October security updates is next Tuesday Oct. 13 at 10:00 a.m. PDT (UTC -8). Check back here at that time for a more detailed overview of the updates (including an overview video), our risk and impact summary and our deployment prioritization guide. More information about the upcoming security updates can be found here in the ANS.

WebsiteSpark – that Microsoft is launching today.(http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2009/09/24/announcing-the-websitespark-program.aspx)

WebsiteSpark is designed for independent web developers and web development companies that build web applications and web sites on behalf of others.  It enables you to get software, support and business resources from Microsoft at no cost for three years, and enables you to expand your business and build great web solutions using ASP.NET, Silverlight, SharePoint and PHP, and the open source applications built on top of them.

What does the program provide?

WebSiteSpark provides software licenses that you can use for three years at no cost.  Once enrolled, you can download and immediately use the following software from Microsoft:

• 3 licenses of Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition
• 1 license of Expression Studio 3 (which includes Expression Blend, Sketchflow, and Web)
• 2 licenses of Expression Web 3
• 4 processor licenses of Windows Web Server 2008 R2
• 4 processor licenses of SQL Server 2008 Web Edition
• DotNetPanel control panel (enabling easy remote/hosted management of your servers)

The Windows Server and SQL Server licenses can be used for both development and production deployment.  You can either self-host the servers on your own, or use the licenses with a hoster.  WebsiteSpark makes it easy to find hosters who are also enrolled in the program, and who can use your licenses to provide you with either dedicated or virtual dedicated servers to host your sites on.

In addition to software, WebsiteSpark provides partner opportunities to grow and build your business (including customer referrals through our partner programs).  It also includes product support (including 2 professional support incidents) and free online training for the products.

you can visit http://www.microsoft.com/web/websitespark/ for detail information