Are you serious about SQL Server 2012?

If the answer is yes, I recommed that you download immediately the SQL Server 2012 Developer Training Kit. This can be installed from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=27721



Before you install the KIT you need to install the Web Platform Installer 4.0. You can get it from the same link. Read the previous post here for installing Web PI 4.0: http://hodentek.blogspot.com/2012/12/you-can-get-lots-of-stuff-from-web.html

Note that the KIT's executable may not necessariloy show up in WEB PI4.0!!

When you run the Kit related exe (http://download.microsoft.com/download/D/0/9/D098DCF2-1888-4624-920B-B2DE71B2728F/SQL2012DevTrainingKit.WebInstaller.exe) file you will download the kit.

On this computer it was installed in the default folder "C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Web Platform Installer\WebPlatformInstaller.exe". Note that you have to allow Activex on your IE and you may get this warning, better pay attention to it and enable it.

When you run this program you will find the default.htm, the starting point of your journey.
C:\SQL2012UpdateForDevsTrainingKit\Default.htm

Default.htm opens out like this. You can learn a lot, not just DBA, but also development and of course BI.

Good luck.

Aloha from Honolulu

You can get lots of stuff from Web Platform Installer 4.0

You have already used or read about (http://hodentek.blogspot.com/2010/06/get-these-web-development-tools-for.html) WPI 3.0. Now you can get WebPI 4.0 which offers many more programs for Windows that you can download and use. Some may require you to agree for license terms, agree if you want them. Download this tool from the link in the first screen shot.

Here is a screen shot of Microsoft's Web Platform Installer's home page. Most of the applications you can download are free. Here are some screen shots of what you can find and get from WebPI4.0. They fall into three main categories, Spotlighted items, Products and Applications.

 

The Spotlighted items are here:

 

Products related here:

 

 

Applications related here:

Enjoy!
 

Microsoft makes it easy to customize Lightswitch themes and Shell

You really need your own shell and themes to present your company to public via Lightswitch. Microsoft's earliest offering in Lightswtich was a stnadard theme and shell. Of course users clamored and extensions were provided so that customers can build their own themes and shell.

Most recently Microsoft has released source code for the Cosmopolitan Shell and theme. You can download the source code here(http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/LightSwitch-Cosmopolitan-8848d1d2).

Microsoft has made it easy to build custom shells and themes with the above release. Now you can use it as a template and make some minor tweaks easily without going into a lot of hazzle. If you want to know how it was done earlier you can read my book on Lightswitch which describes step-by-step how to accomplish it.

In order to build custom theme you need at a minimum the following:

Visual Studio 2012 (Professional or above)
Visual Studio 2012 SDK
Lightswitch Extensibility Toolkit for VS 2012

Read more from Joe Binder's blog here:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/lightswitch/archive/2012/12/13/the-cosmopolitan-shell-and-theme-source-code-is-released.aspx

SQL Server Data Tools gets updated

In December 2012 SSDT got updated. Here are some details:

If you are planning to use Visual Studio 2012 you are better off installing the December 2012 update. The December 2012 update to SSDT relates to what you have on your computer in terms of Visual Studio version.

1. If you already have Professional, Ultimate or Premium Edition of Visual Studio 2012 and agreed to install SSDT during installation then the machine will have an earlier version of SSDT. This update will replace the version with the latest.

2. If you do not have Visual Studio Professional or above SSDT will install the Visual Studio 2012 Integrated Shell. This Shell perform very much like the BIDS in the past and you will not be able to do programming as it neither include any Visual Studio programming languages such as VB or C# nor does it support the various types of projects that you can create with the non-shell, full versions of Visual Studio Professional and above. This December update updates the functionality of Express SKUs of Visual Studio 2012. The following are the improvements over the previous version:

Database Unit Testing

Integration of SSDT Power Tools

Updated Data-Tier Application Framework

Bug fixes

If Visual Studio Professional or above is present, SSDT will be integrated with the existing VS program. However SP1 must be manually installed before installing the update.

If VS Professional or above SSDT is not present SSDT installs only the Visual Studio 2010 Integrated Shell.  SP1 must first be installed before installing the SSDT (However when the blogger used the web installer the SP1 was already in place). The shell as the name suggests contains only SSDT related items and does not include programming languages such as VB and C#.

Program installed in July 2012 using web installer

 

The following are the improvements over the previous version:

Database Unit Testing

Integration of SSDT Power Tools

Updated Data-Tier Application Framework

Bug fixes

 

The platforms that support the updated SSDT are:

Windows Vista SP2 or above

Windows 7 SP1 or above

Windows 8 RTM

Windows Server 2008 SP2 or above

Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 or above

You can download SQL Server data tools for Visual Studio 2012 from this link:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/jj650015

Additionally you can get an ISO image or download SSDTSetup.exe to create an administrative install point if there is no internet access. For details visit the previous link.

 

Visual Studio 2012 RTM comes with Lightswitch and other enhancements

*VS2012 allows designing and building UIs with Blend
VS2012 RTM has Blend which can be used to build Windows 8 App using:
1. HTML  project type for JavaScript
2. XAML project type supporting code development using C#, VB or C++
VB provides more project options with Blend to create Windows 8 apps.
Designing screens for Window 8 apps is a breeze with Blend support

*Lightswitch is part of VS2012. You can create both HTML5 and Silverlight based apps
  LightSwitch+HTML5 works with any browser.

*Use OData protocol to feed Lightswitch application

For example: You can access the famous Northwind from a ODATA endpoint at
http://services.odata.org/Northwind/Northwind.svc
With any of the authentication methods.

* Ability to create multiple Solution Explorer windows and move them on to connected monitors.

*IDE has grown so much, there is even a search feature to search the IDE for objects

Follow Jeff Cogswell's article + Slide from which this post is generated here:
http://www.eweek.com/developer/slideshows/visual-studio-2012-rtm-comes-chock-full-of-enhancements/

Window 8 seeks Fed's patronage

At a recent Microsoft Window 8 reception Microsoft displayed Windows 8 for federal audience and it appears federal IT was looking for a secure and innovative platform. The event was hosted by FedScoop in Washington D.C., to more than 250 government and Fed executives.
Windows 8's 8 features that may be most appealing to government are:

* The new 'Metro' interface with touch capability across all foot prints
* The Charms bar hidden but avialable
* The Windows runtime providing a sandbox environment
* Windows to Go, OS on a USB stick with full security
* Windows store for apps distribution
* Access to File History doing away with backup & restore
* Reset and Refresh features to handle troublesome system situations
* Desktop available as an app

Let's hope this will ramp up the sales!!

Read more if you need more...
http://fedscoop.com/microsoft-debuts-windows-8-to-federal-it-community/