Hello, I'm   Jason

Our next .NET Valley event will be held on May 19th at Keystone College in La Plume, PA. Phil Weber will be presenting .NET User Interfaces this night. For more information about this event, visit http://www.dotnetvalley.com/Events/196.aspx.

Awhile ago I wrote an article explaining how to convert Visio files to images. Check it out here: http://aspalliance.com/377.

Last week I went to NYC to see the .NET Roadshow. Rob did an awesome job of presenting the information. The presentation was nice to see because it covered beginner to expert level material. I know there is only one more advertised Roadshow left, but I heard a rumor that more events may be planned in the upcoming months.

I am creating a new educational website that will allow students to sign-in and get specific information. I wanted some feedback from those of you who had used Microsoft Passport services. Is it worth setting up to support both MS Passport and custom authentication? Is it a hassle? Is it expensive monetarily? Is it expensive on your server? Let me know your opinions!

I’ve been mighty quiet lately absorbing the winter atmosphere and enjoying teaching .NET at a local community college. Within the next year, there will be at least 3 more .NET classes beginning. If you are in the Eastern PA region and would like more info, give me a shout. Otherwise, I might see some of you tomorrow night at the .NET Road Show in New York City.

.NET Valley would like to introduce our Pennsylvania Microsoft Developer Evangelist, Geoff Snowman. To sign-up for this event, please go to http://www.dotnetvalley.com/Events/183.aspx and click Additional Information. This should be a very interesting and informative afternoon!

I thought I’d post and ask if anyone remembers those old ERwin diagrams. These days, there are numerous tools to perform data modeling. However, 5 years ago, there were only a few. I found a CD the other day with old ERwin documents that I needed restored. With the help of Computer Associates (ca.com), I was able to open my old ERwin 2.29 files in ERwin 3.52, a special download available by contacting CA support. They have to be contacted to obtain the proper key. Then I could download the new 4.14 version and update those docs. Now I’ve got my docs. So, if anyone has some old docs they need converted, hopefully CA can help!

This past week, I had an issue where I needed to randomize the data coming from SQL to use in a SqlDataReader in an ASP.NET page. I posted an issue on the ASP.NET forums and soon received help from Scott Mitchell. He pointed out that in the stored procedure I can use the code:

I just wanted to let individuals in the Philly area know of an event tonight. It’s called the Philly FUNNFest. The event includes many non-profit organizations in the area. At the Northeast Pennsylvania FUNNFest this year, my UG was introduced. So, there may be some good information at the event. The cost is $30 and a free Philadelphia Phillies ticket is given to each attendee. The main website for FUNN is http://www.funn.org. As you may already know, I do some of the web work for all the FUNN organizations.

I’m not sure who saw the post before, but Julie Lerman posted awhile back about a VB.NET Whidbey Demo Video. If you didn’t know already, VSLive! in Orlando was this past week. During VSLive!, there were some hints about Whidbey. You can read about them here. Sounds kind of interesting.