MS Exams not recognized from Pearson Vue

Microsoft has long been a partner with Pearson Vue and Prometric, certifying them both as Microsoft Exam Centers. However, this has changed and Pearson Vue is no longer a test provider.

Recently I logged on to Microsoft's MCP site to check the status of my account. I realized that my test transcripts did not show 2 exams that I have previously taken and passed. These exams were taken through Pearson Vue. After some additional digging, I discovered that Microsoft has dropped Pearson Vue as a testing provider. Effective January 1st, 2008, Vue patrons could no longer access their Microsoft exam records through vue.com. To resolve the problem, I contacted Microsoft Support and e-mailed them the results of the exams in question.

After this experience, I strongly urge all MCPs to log on to the MCP site to ensure all information is recent and accurate. If you have any questions about exams, please use the following info to contact customer service.

Vue Customer Service
Office Hours: Monday-Friday, 7:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m. CT; closed on local holidays.
United States/Canada: 800-TEST-REG (800-837-8734)
Americas Region (Toll): +1-952-681-3951

Prometric Customer Service
Monday - Friday, 8:00 A.M. to 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time; closed on local holidays.
For Microsoft related information: 800-617-3926
General questions/comments: 800-853-6769

Microsoft Regional Service Centers (http://www.microsoft.com/learning/support/northamerica.mspx)
General E-Learning Support
(800) 636-7544
(888) 456-7077

Microsoft Certified Professional
Telephone: (800) 636-7544
Fax: (661) 793-6555
E-mail: MCPHelp@microsoft.com
Address:Microsoft Certification Programs
P.O. Box 911Santa Clarita, CA 91380-9011

Microsoft Certified Trainer
Telephone: (888) 456-7077
E-mail: MCT@microsoft.com



As a side note, Prometric is now offering free 2nd shot exams until January 31, 2008. To register, go to http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/offers/secondshot/default.mspx

January .Net Events

Listed below is a summary of the .Net events scheduled for January 2008 in the Clevetland area. Attend a few and increase your .Net knowledge!

Jan 8th: .Net User Group Meeting - Silverlight (6:30-8:30 PM). To register, please click here .

Jan 10th: ONSQL User Group Meeting - Automating SQL Server Administrative tasks with PowerShell (5:00-7:30 PM). Please reserve your seat but walk-ins are always welcome.

Jan 12th: Greater Cleveland PC Users Group - PC Security Software (9:30 AM - Noon). For more info, please visit http://www.gcpcug.org/

Jan 17th: Berbee/CDW - Enabling Information Workers with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (8:30 AM - Noon). For questions or to register, contact Laura Benisek at 440.746.7208 or laura.benisek@berbee.com.

Jan 22nd: C#/VB.Net User Group Meeting - "Visual Basic 2008" (6:30-8:30 PM) by Mark Harr, MCSD. For more info, please visit http://www.clevelanddotnet.info/

Silverlight Christmas Cards

Keeping in the spirit of the Holiday, here are some Christmas wishes with a silverlight twist.

Online Spotlight, Norway
Happy Holidays from ObjectSharp
FranksWorld Special Presentation

If you have any cool Silverlight Christmas greetings, please email them to sam@clevelanddotnet.info.

Merry Christmas everyone and Happy New Year!

.Net Framework 3.5 Source Code to be released soon

Now that VS2008 is released, one of its accompanying features is the ability to debug and step-into the actual source code used in .Net Framework 3.5. They will begin by offering the source code for the following Base Class Libraries

System,
System.IO,
System.Collections,
System.Configuration,
System.Threading,
System.Net,
System.Security,
System.Runtime,
System.Text
System.Web (ASP.Net)
System.Windows.Forms (Windows Forms)
System.Data (ADO.NET)
System.Xml (XML)
System.Windows (WPF)

The source code will be released under the Microsoft Reference License (MS-RL). The final release of VS 2008 will support the ability to configure the debugger to dynamically download the .NET Framework debugger symbols (and corresponding source code) from a web server hosted by Microsoft. You'll be able to configure the .NET Framework symbols to be downloaded all in one shot, or manually retrieved on demand. Although this capability is not yet available, it soon will be. Microsoft developers have had some issues with the packaging and distribution, but so far no indication that won't happen. It's just a matter of time at this point.

To read more about this, visit the following links:
http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2007/10/03/releasing-the-source-code-for-the-net-framework-libraries.aspx
http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2007/11/29/net-web-product-roadmap-asp-net-silverlight-iis7.aspx

MCTS Study Resources

The MOSS MCTS track consists of 4 exams, each providing a level of certification:

• Exam 70-630: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 – Configuration
• Exam 70-631: Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 – Configuration
• Exam 70-541: Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 – Application Development
• Exam 70-542: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 ― Application Development

More information on Microsoft MCTS exams can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/mcts/default.mspx. For those wishing to pursue any of the abover certifcations, listed below are a few resources to help achieve your goal.

Transcender Practice Exams - Transcender has long been a reputable source for providing accurate exams in Microsoft certification. The tradition continues as they offer practice exams for 70-630 and 70-631 (released earlier today). With each question, it offers an explanation of why that choice is correct and why the others are wrong. It also offers references to help expand your knowledge in that area. These practice exams are highly recommended and have proven very useful. Unfortunately, a company representative stated they will not be publishing practice exams for 70-541 or 70-542.

MeasureUp Practice Exams - MeasureUP offers exams similar to Transcender at a lower price, but has not been as widely used. Each question contains an explanation on both correct and incorrect choices. A 6 question demo is available online for free. Unfortunately they only offer practice exams for 70-630 and 70-631.

ExamInside - ExamInside also offers similar exams at a much lower price but with only 50+ questions. Besides offering practice exams for 70-630 and 70-631, they also offer an exam for 70-542. Exam 70-541 is currently not available.

When you're ready to take the exam, be sure to register for a free second shot at http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/offers/secondshot/default.mspx

Best of luck studying!

December .Net Events

Listed below is a summary of the .Net events scheduled for this month. Attend a few and increase your .Net knowledge!

Dec 11th:

• ONSQL User Group Meeting - This will be a "No content" meeting intended to celebrate the holiday season via high tech entertainment.

Dec 13th:

• TechNet Event - Windows Deployment Services, VoIP
• MSDN Event - VS2008, Web Based Data Services, Silverlight
• .Net User Group Meeting - This will be a "No content" meeting intended to celebrate the holiday season via high tech entertainment

Dec 18th:

• C#/VB.Net User Group Meeting - "Visual Studio 2008" by Mark Harr, MCSD

Adding a user to a MOSS Site

Adding a user to a MOSS Site
Before a user can be added in a SharePoint site, he/she must first exist in a directory service (i.e. Active Directory, Local server user). If not, that user cannot be given access to a SharePoint site.
From the main page, click “Site Actions”
Click “Site Settings”
Click “People and Groups”

Click “New”
Click “Add User”. This will navigate you to the following page.

All users entered must be validated against the directory service (i.e. Active Directory, Local Server), as indicated by the “Check Names” and “Browse” icons located below the “Users/Groups” entry box. At this point, you can either enter a known user name and validate them by clicking the “Check Names” icon, or clicking the “Browse” icon to search for the desired user. Clicking the “Browse” icon will produce the following pop-up window.



After the correct user is selected, select the desired persmissions and click “OK”. The new user can now login into the SharePoint site.

To view all permissions assigned to all users, navigate to the “People and Groups” window and click “All People” from the left pane.

Free Second Shot

Microsoft is offering a free Second Shot on certification exams through Prometric. To register for a free second shot, go to http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/offers/secondshot/default.mspx. After registering, you will receive an e-mail with a link providing a voucher #. Please note this link will produce a unique voucher # every time it's clicked. This offer is valid through January 30, 2008.

Wi-Fi T-Shirt

I normally wouldn't blog anything about T-Shirts, but this is just over the top that it leaves me speechless. Thanks to the ingenious ThinkGeek robot monkeys you can display the current wi-fi signal strength to yourself and everyone around you with this stylish Wi-Fi Detector Shirt. The glowing bars on the front of the shirt dynamically change as the surrounding Wi-Fi signal strength fluctuates.


For more info or to order, go to http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/generic/991e/?cpg=cj.

Cool Articles

Listed below are a few articles that I thought were very interesting, courtesy of CodeProject.

Windows Presentation Foundation
A Simple WPF Explorer Tree - Sacha Barber
A Simple WPF Explorer TreeC# (C# 3.0); Windows (WinXP, Vista), .NET (.NET 3.0); Win32, VS (VS2005, VS2008), WPF; Dev

C# Database
SQL Server Network Instance Detector - Syed Mujtaba Hassan
A simple, ready-to-use control for C# beginners to detect all SQL Server instances in a network and then list all the databases hosted on the selected serverC#; Windows, .NET (.NET 2.0); Win32, VS, ADO; DB, Dev

Silverlight
Silverlight Alien Sokoban - Daniel Vaughan
A fun Silverlight implementation of the game Sokoban. Contrasting Silverlight 1.1 and WPF, while showcasing some new features of C# 3.0, Expression Design, Expression Blend, and Visual Studio 2008.C# (C# 3.0); Windows, .NET (.NET 3.5); ASP.NET, Win32, VS (VS2008), XAML, WebForms; Dev, Design


C# Programming
Simple Vector Shapes - acontoli
A 2D vector shapes and RTFcontrol editorC# (C# 2.0); Windows, .NET (.NET 2.0); Win32, VS; Dev

Writing Your Own GPS Applications - Jon Person.
What is it that GPS applications need to be good enough to use for in-car navigation? Also, how does the process of interpreting GPS data actually work?


Microsoft Office
Outlook 2003 Style Navigation Pane - Muhammed Sahin
Outlook 2003 Style Navigation Pane (Almost 2007 Style)C# (C# 2.0); Windows, .NET; Win32, VS (VS2005); Dev

System Programming
Detecting USB Drive Removal in a C# Program - Jan Dolinay
An article on detecting insertion and removal of removable drives in C#C# (C# 2.0); Windows,
.NET (.NET 2.0); Win32, VS (VS2005); Dev

Microsoft Search Server 2008 Software Development Kit (SDK)

Yesterday, I made a blog entry on Microsoft's recent release of Search Server 2008. To go along with that release, an SDK is also available. The Microsoft Search Server 2008 Software Development Kit (SDK) includes documentation for Microsoft Search Server 2008. Its object models are based on the Enterprise Search object model in Office SharePoint Server 2007 with some additional members in the search-related namespaces for federated search.

To read more about the SDK or download it, go to http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb931107.aspx

Search Server 2008

Microsoft recently released a product called "Search Server 2008". The list of features include:

Search Center
No Pre-Set Document Limits
Extensible Search Experience
Relevance Tuning
Continuous Propagation Indexing
Federated Search Connectors
Indexing Connectors
Security-Trimmed Results
Unified Administration Dashboard
Query and Results Reporting
Streamlined Installation
High Availability and Load Balancing

This list of features represents features included with the Enterprise Client Access License version of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. Some features will shortly be released as part of an Enterprise Search feature pack. Essentially, Search Server 2008 uses the same search engine used in SharePoint 2007. However, with SharePoint 2007 you also get the following features:

People and Expertise Searching
Business Data Catalog
SharePoint Productivity Infrastructure

The Express version and a trial version of the Enterprise version are available as free downloads from http://www.microsoft.com/enterprisesearch/default.aspx

Microsoft Presence Sample for Smart Client Applications

Microsoft recently released an updated version of it's presence controls. It includes two managed code user controls to display presence status and provide real-time collaboration options in .NET applications.

One control presents an interactive presence icon next to a control on a form that contains a name. The second control is derived from a ListView control to display the presence status icon next to names in a list. Both controls provide tooltips, a context menu, and events for contact status changes.

To download samples of the presence controls, go to http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=C812FD72-1E3A-4321-8503-C904921C291D&displaylang=en