C# 3.0 Enhancements & LINQ Hands-On Lab

On November 19, Microsoft announced that Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5 were released to manufacturing (RTM). As one of the most new exciting features is LINQ, today we hold in our Microsoft Swiss subsidiary a C# 3.0 Enhancements & LINQ Hands-On Lab.

Participants had the opportunity to have a look at the new C# 3.0 enhancements, which provide the foundation for the LINQ project. The lab is in fact not only a good introduction for the new language enhancements, but provides also a clear understanding of LINQ, the new language integrated query framework for .NET.

The Lab is divided into 3 parts. With the first part participants gain trust with the new C# 3.0 enhancements; then in the second part they make extensive use of these language features to query against in-memory collections (LINQ to Object), XML documents (LINQ to XML) and connected database (LINQ to SQL). The main focus of this part is LINQ to SQL, with a look to the new Visual Studio 2008 LINQ to SQL Designer, which allow you to create an object model for a given SQL database. For time reason, the last part has been created in form of a reference (anyway can be really useful) and is a collection of more advanced topics like the multi-tier entity support in LINQ to SQL or how to change conflict resolution.

To complete the hands-on-lab you need:

• Windows Server 2003 SP1, Windows XP SP2, or Windows Vista
• Visual Studio 2008 (not the express edition)
  (evaluation version available here: https://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/products/aa700831.aspx)
• Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 (included in Visual Studio 2008)
  (downloadable here: https://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=7755937)
• SQL Server 2005 Express Edition (or any other edition of SQL 2005)
  (included in Visual Studio or downloadable here:
  https://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/sql/download/)

We really encourage you to download the HOL Material; there is really a lot to learn!

Just one additional information: to complete the HOL with SQL SERVER (and not with the SQL express edition) you just need to attach the provided database into the SQL Server Management Studio IDE (steps 2.33-2.34), rename the database in Northwind and change the connection string at step 2.42 in the following way (the “.”by Data Source indicate the local machine; you can replace it with your SQL Server name) :

@"Data Source=.;Initial Catalog=Northwind;Integrated Security=true"

Have fun!