.NET 4.0 Beta exams

As expected, the exams for Visual Studio 2010 / .NET 4.0 will be going into beta in the end of March, March 31st to be exact through to April 20th. This will mean that given previous exam schedules the exams should go live around 8 to 10 weeks from the end of the beta period so expect to mid to end of June 2010.

Beta exams allow you to take the exam for free in its raw unfinished state and help set the bar for the exams when the go live. As part of getting the exam for free, you should give feedback on the exam and item quality.

 

The exams currently slated for beta in this timeframe are

• 70-511 TS: Windows Applications Development with Microsoft® .NET Framework 4
• 70-513 TS: Windows Communication Foundation Development with Microsoft® .NET Framework 4
• 70-515 TS: Web Applications Development with Microsoft® .NET Framework 4
• 70-516 TS: Accessing Data with Microsoft® .NET Framework 4
• 70-519 Pro: Designing and Developing Web Applications using Microsoft® .NET Framework 4

With 70-518 Pro: Designing and Developing Windows® Applications using Microsoft .NET Framework 4 being scheduled for sometime in April.

While all exams will go into beta, some may not be available in your country or territory. Beta exam codes will be posted on the Beta Exam blog and the Microsoft Learning Born To Learn blog

Visual Studio 2010 RC Released

Visual Studio 2010 Release Candidate has now been released to the general public. It has been available since Monday to MSDN subscribers. The road to final release is getting shorter and shorter. The main reason for the RC is to get broad customer feedback on performance and stability since the Beta 2 release. If you do find an issue put it on the Microsoft Connect site and also email Scott Guthrie (scottgu at microsoft.com)

For those upgrading from the Beta 2 there are some known issues (via Scott Gu’s blog)

• You should remove previous versions of VS 2010 Beta 2 and .NET 4.0 Beta 2 before installing the RC. You can install VS2010 side by side with VS 2005 and VS 2008.
• Silverlight 3 projects are supported in the RC but SL 4 projects are not (yet!). Silverlight 4 support will be added with the next Silverlight 4 release.
• There is a crash bug with certain systems that have multi-touch and some screen readers enabled. They are working on a patch at the moment for that
• Some project upgrades may take quite a long time to complete if the project contains XSD files. Again another patch forthcoming.

Looking forward to road testing this myself!

The best from 2009 and a look into 2010

Just a quick recap on the best bits form this blog in 2009. Some pages and articles proved to be very popular which is nice to see.

The main articles getting the attention were understandably the exam objectives with MSDN link series

• 70-505 Objectives with MSDN Links
• 70-433 Objectives with MSDN Links
• 70-536 Objectives with MSDN Links
• 70-562 Objectives with MSDN Links

Also popular was the upcoming SharePoint 2010 certifications post

I plan to continue the objectives with MSDN link series with ones for 70-528, 70-526 and hopefully the rest of the .NET 3.5 exams.

On a different note, I am now a moderator on the MSDN Training and Certification forum and I am on the board of NNUG Stavanger so that will keep me busy.

MCTS .NET 2.0 Web-based Client Development – 70-528 – Objectives List Part 1

This is the first in another collection of posts that have links to the different objectives covered in the 70-528 exam. There is also a series on ASP.NET 3.5 exam 70-562 (here)

Creating and programming a Web application

• Create and configure a Web application
  • Comparing Web Site Projects and Web Application Projects
  • Create a new Web application
  • Add Web Forms pages to a Web application
• Add and configure Web server controls
  • Add Web server controls to a Web Form
  • How to: Add Web Server Controls to a Web Forms Page Using the Web Forms Designer 
  • How to: Add Server Controls to an ASP.NET Web Page Using ASP.NET Syntax
  • How to: Add Controls to an ASP.NET Web Page Programmatically
  • Configure the properties of Web server controls programmatically
  • Configure Web server control properties by using the Microsoft Visual Studio Property Editor
  • Specify whether events of a control cause a Web Form to post to the server
  • Configure a control to receive postback events
  • Access controls in Web Forms pages when working with naming containers and child controls
  • How to: Locate Child Controls by ID in an ASP.NET Web Page
  • How to: Locate the Web Forms Controls on a Page by Walking the Controls Collection
  • Create HTML server controls in the designer.
  • Set HTML server control properties programmatically.
  • Use HTML server controls to programmatically access HTML tags.
  • Create HTML controls as elements in an HTML document.
  • Use the AdRotator Web server control to manage banners and pop-up windows.
    • AdRotator
    • How to: Display Ads From a Database Using the AdRotator Web Server Control
    • How to: Display Ads From an XML File Using the AdRotator Web Server Control
    • How to: Select Ads in an AdRotator Web Server Control Programmatically
    • Walkthrough: Displaying and Tracking Advertisements with the AdRotator Control
  • Use the Button Web server control to send a command to the server when a button is clicked.
    • Button
    • How to: Add Button Web Server Controls to a Web Forms Page
    • How to: Respond to Button Events in Data-Bound Controls
    • How to: Respond to Button Events in DataList, Repeater, or GridView Items
    • How to: Respond to Button Web Server Control Events
    • Command
    • CommandName
    • CommandArgument
    • Click
  • Display a calendar on a Web page by using the Calendar Web server control.
    • Calendar
    • How to: Control Month Navigation in a Calendar Web Server Control
    • How to: Control User Date Selection in a Calendar Web Server Control
    • How to: Customize Calendar Web Server Control Appearance
    • How to: Customize Individual Days in a Calendar Web Server Control
    • How to: Display Selected Dates from a Database in the Calendar Control
    • How to: Format Calendar Web Server Control Elements Using Styles
    • How to: Read Selected Dates in the Calendar Web Server Control
    • How to: Respond to Date Selection in a Calendar Web Server Control
    • How to: Set Today's Date Programmatically in a Calendar Web Server Control
  • Implement the CheckBox Web server control.
  • Implement the FileUpload Web server control.
    • How to: Upload Files with the FileUpload Web Server Control
    • FileUpload Web Server Control Overview 
  • Create and manipulate links on a Web Form by using the HyperLink Web server control.
    • How to: Add HyperLink Web Server Controls to a Web Forms Page
    • HyperLink Web Server Control Overview
  • Display an image on a Web Form by using the Image Web server control.
    • How to: Add Image Web Server Controls to a Web Forms Page
  • Implement a button on a Web Form by using the ImageButton Web server control.
    •  How to: Add ImageButton Web Server Controls to a Web Forms Page
  • Define hotspot regions within an image by using the ImageMap Web server control.
    • ImageMap control
    • How to: Add ImageMap Web Server Controls to a Web Page (Visual Studio)
    • How to: Respond to User Clicks in ImageMap Web Server Controls 
  • Use the Label Web server control to display customized text on a Web page.
    • How to: Add Label Web Server Controls to a Web Forms Page 
  • Display a hyperlink style button on a Web Form by using the LinkButton Web server control.
    • LinkButton class
  • Display lists of information by using controls that derive from the ListControl class.
  • Create a Web Form with static text by using the Literal Web server control.
  • Implement pagination for controls on a page by using the Pager Web server control.
  • Use the Panel Web server control to arrange controls in groups on a page.
    • How to: Add Panel Controls to a Web Forms Page (Visual Studio)
  • Create a container for a group of View controls by using the MultiView Web server control.
    • MultiView and View Web Server Controls Overview
    • How to: Add MultiView Web Server Controls to a Web Forms Page
  • Use the View Web server control to create a Web application.
    • View Class
    • MultiView and View Web Server Controls Overview
    • How to: Add MultiView Web Server Controls to a Web Forms Page
  • Create a mutually exclusive set of choices by using the RadioButton Web server control.
    • How to: Add Individual RadioButton Web Server Controls to a Web Forms Page
    • How to: Add RadioButton Web Server Controls to a Web Forms Page (Visual Studio)
    • How to: Add RadioButtonList Web Server Controls to a Web Forms Page
    • How to: Respond to a User Selection in a RadioButton Web Server Control Group
    • How to: Set and Get the Selection in a RadioButton Web Server Control
    • How to: Set Layout in a RadioButtonList Web Server Control
  • Construct a table by using the Table, TableRow, and TableCell Web server controls.
    • TableCell Server Control
    • TableRow Server Control
    • How to: Add and Remove HTML Table Elements
    • How to: Add Rows and Cells Dynamically to a Table Web Server Control
    • How to: Add Table Web Server Controls to a Web Forms Page
    • How to: Resize HTML Table Elements
    • Walkthrough: Editing HTML Tables 
  • Enable users to type information into a Web Form by using the TextBox Web server control.
    • How to: Get and Set Values in TextBox Web Server Controls
    • How to: Respond to Changes in a TextBox Web Server Control
    • How to: Set a TextBox Web Server Control for Password Entry
    • How to: Specify Multiline Input for a TextBox Web Server Control
  • Create a wizard by using the Wizard Web server control to collect data through multiple steps of a process.
    • Walkthrough: Creating a Basic ASP.NET Wizard Control
    • Walkthrough: Advanced Use of the ASP.NET Wizard Control 
  • Use the XML Web server control to create XML data at the location of the control.
    • How to: Add XML Web Server Controls to a Web Forms Page
    • How to: Load XML Data in the XML Web Server Control
    • How to: Transform XML Data in the XML Web Server Control 
  • Customize the appearance of Web server controls by using Web control templates.
    • How to: Create Web Server Control Templates Using the Designer.
  • Programmatically edit settings in a Web site's configuration file.
    • Using the Configuration Classes.
    • ASP.NET Configuration Overview
    • How-to Topics — Configuring ASP.NET Applications
  • Dynamically add Web server controls to a Web Forms page
    • PlaceHolder
    • Dynamic Web Server Controls and View State
    • ASP.NET Page Life Cycle Overview 
• Create event handlers for pages and controls.
  • Create event handlers for a page or control at design time.
    • How to: Dynamically Bind Event Handlers at Run Time in ASP.NET Web Pages
    • Handling and Raising Events
    • Server Event Handling in ASP.NET Web Pages (Visual Studio)
    • ASP.NET Web Server Control Event Model
  • Respond to application and session events.
    • BeginRequest
    • EndRequest
    • SessionStateModule.Start Event
    • SessionStateModule.End Event
• Manage state and application data.
  • ASP.NET State Management Recommendations
  • Manage state of an application by using client-based state management options.
    • ViewState
    • How to: Read Values from View State
    • How to: Save Values in View State.
    • ControlState
    • HiddenField
    • Cookies
    • QueryString
  • Manage state of an application by using server-based state management options.
    • ASP.NET Application State Overview
    • HttpApplicationState
    • Session State Overview.
    • HttpSessionState
    • ASP.NET Profile Properties Overview.
  • Maintain state of an application by using database technology.
    • Session-State Modes.
    • StateServer
    • SQLServer
    • Custom
• Implement globalization and accessibility.
  • CultureInfo class
  • How to: Create Resource Files for ASP.NET Web Sites
  • How to: Display Right-to-Left Text Using HTML Tags for Globalization
  • How to: Retrieve Resource Values Programmatically
  • How to: Set the Culture and UI Culture for ASP.NET Web Page Globalization
  • Building ASP.NET 2.0 Web sites using web standards
• Implement site navigation and input validation.
  • Use the SiteMap Web server control to display a representation of a Web site's navigation structure.
    • ASP.NET Site Navigation Overview.
    • How to: Add Simple Site Navigation
    • How to: Configure Multiple Site Maps and Site-Map Providers
    • How to: Customize the Appearance of SiteMapPath Web Server Controls
    • How to: Display Site-Map Data in Non-Hierarchical Web Server Controls
    • How to: Filter the Nodes Retrieved by SiteMapDataSource Web Server Controls
    • How to: Implement ASP.NET Site-Map Providers
    • How to: Localize Site-Map Data
    • How to: Programmatically Enumerate Site-Map Nodes
    • How to: Programmatically Modify Site-Map Nodes in Memory
    • Walkthrough: Adding Site Navigation to a Web Site 
  • Use validation controls to perform Web Forms validation.
    • RequiredFieldValidator
    • CompareValidator
    • RangeValidator
    • CustomValidator
  • Validate against values in a database for server controls by using a CustomValidator control.
    • CustomValidator 
  • Create a CustomValidator control and tie it to a custom function.
  • Test programmatically whether a user's input passed validation before running code.
    • Page.IsValid
  • Specify the location of a validation error message for server controls.
    • ValidationSummary 
  • Format validation error messages for server controls.
  • Specify the layout for in-place messages on server controls.
  • Disable validation for server controls.
    • CausesValidation
  • Display custom error messages for server controls.
  • Validate server controls programmatically.
• Write an ASP.NET handler to generate images dynamically for display on a Web page.
  • Serving dynamic content with HTTP Handlers
• Configure settings for a Web application.
  • ASP.NET Configuration Overview
  • Format of ASP.NET Configuration Files
  • ASP.NET Configuration Files
  • Configuration Files
  • Configure system-wide settings in the Machine.config file.
  • Configure settings for a Web application in the Web.config file.
  • Manage a Web application's configuration by using the Web Site Administration Tool.
• Program a Web application.
  • Redirect users to another Web page by using a server-side method.
    • Redirection Methods
  • Detect browser types in Web Forms.
  • Ascertain the cause of an unhandled exception at the page level.
  • Programmatically access the header of a Web page.
  • Implement cross-page postbacks.
    •  How to: Post ASP.NET Web Pages to a Different Page.
  • Assign focus to a control on a page when the page is displayed.
    • SetFocus
  • Avoid performing unnecessary processing on a round trip by using a page's IsPostBack property.
  • Access encapsulated page and application context.
    • Context
  • Avoid unnecessary client-side redirection by using the HttpServerUtility.Transfer method.
  • Avoid round trips by using client-side scripts.
  • Use a page's Async attribute to create a page that has built-in asynchronous capabilities.
  • Convert HTML server controls to HTML elements.

You can also find some information on preparing for your exams here and here, in the actual exam for 70-528. Also errata for the MS Press training kit