Microsoft MCTS Courses
This page contains information and resources for attendees of Microsift IT Academy MCTS courses at Glasgow Caledonian University.
- 2956B
- 2957B
- 6463A
- 6464A
- MSDNAA
2956 - Core Foundations of Microsoft .NET 2.0 Development
Code samples:
Each ZIP file contains a VS2008 solution which consists of a number of projects. To run a specific project, right-click on the project name in Solution Explorer and select Set As Startup Project..
Module1.zip
Module2.zip | Module2_VS2010.zip | LinqLanguageDemo.zip
Module3.zip
Module4.zip | Module4_VS2010.zip
Module5.zip
Module6.zip | Module6_VS2010.zip
Note that in some cases you may need to rebuild projects before executing
Useful links:
Improving Managed Code Performance - a chapter of a Microsoft Patterns & Practices guide to improving .NET application performance. It's a bit out of date in some ways, but has useful guidelines on several topics relevant to this course, including exceptions and collections.
Suggestions for additional reading:
C# Yellow Book - used for teaching programming at Hull University, useful background for C# basics
MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-536), Tony Northrup - study guide from Microsoft Press, valuable as supplement to course material
CLR Via C#: Applied .NET Framework 2.0 Programming, Jeffery Richter - if you want more, this goes into more depth than you need for the exam!
Practice tests:
Measureup sell practice tests for most Microsoft exams. Tests can be done online or downloaded.
2957 - Advanced Foundations of Microsoft .NET 2.0 Development
code samples | extra notes | useful links | books | practice tests | online tutorials
Each ZIP file contains a VS2008 or VS 2010 solution which consists of a number of projects. Use VS2010 versions if possible as these contain some revised examples. To run a specific project, right-click on the project name in Solution Explorer and select Set As Startup Project..
EmailDemo.zip
PartialPageUpdateDemo.zip (GBP to HK dollars conversion with Regex)
2957Module1.zip
2957Module2.zip | 2957_Module2_VS2010.zip
2957Module3.zip
2957Module4.zip | 2957_Module4_VS2010.zip
2957Module5.zip | 2957_Module5_VS2010.zip
2957Module6.zip
2957Module7.zip
2957Module8.zip
Module 4 - 'cleaned up' versions of solution:
CryptographyToolCS.zip
CryptographyToolVB.zip
Module 8 - additional lab exercise.
Instructions: ThreadingExercise.pdf
Code (C#): ThreadingExercise.zip
Code (VB): ThreadingExercise_vb.zip
Note that in some cases you may need to rebuild projects before executing
Module 2 lab - note on anonymous delegates
Module 4 - extra slides
Module 8 - note on exceptions in asynchronous delegates (note that module 8 code has been updated for this note)
Regex testing tool: http://gskinner.com/RegExr/
Chapter on reflection from O'Reilly book including reflection emit example
Suggestions for additional reading:
C# Yellow Book - used for teaching programming at Hull University, useful background for C# basics
MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-536), Tony Northrup - study guide from Microsoft Press, valuable as supplement to course material
CLR Via C#: Applied .NET Framework 2.0 Programming, Jeffery Richter - if you want more, this goes into more depth than you need for the exam!
Measureup sell practice tests for most Microsoft exams. Tests can be done online or downloaded.
6463 - Visual Studio 2008: ASP .NET 3.5
Code samples:
Each ZIP file contains a number of VS2008 solutions.
6463Module1.zip
6463Module2.zip
6463Module3.zip
6463Module4.zip
Note that in some cases you may need to rebuild projects before executing
Installing the AdventureWorks database:
Some of the lab exercises require the AdventureWorks database. This is one of Microsoft's commonly used sample databases for SQL Server. If you want to work on these labs on your own computer you will need to install the database. You will need Visual Studio 2008 Professional installed – by default SQL Server 2005 Express is installed along with VS2008
Download and install SQL Server Management Studio Express 2005
SQL Server Management Studio is a useful tool for managing SQL Server databases, but it is not installed by default when you install Visual Studio 2008/SQL Server Express 2005. You can download the installer from the following link:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?
FamilyID=c243a5ae-4bd1-4e3d-94b8-5a0f62bf7796&displaylang=en
Download and install the AdventureWorks database
You can get the installer, AdventureWorksDB.msi, from:
http://www.codeplex.com/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?
ProjectName=MSFTDBProdSamples&ReleaseId=4004
Attach the database
You need to attach the installed AdventureWorks database to SQL Server Express. Run SQL Server Management Studio and connect to the local SQL Server Express instance (e.g. LON-DEV\SQLEXPRESS).
Right-click Databases and select Attach from the pop-up menu.
Click the Add button and browse to the MDF file, which should be located at:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Data\AdventureWorks_Data.mdf
Click OK to attach the database
The database should now be set up.
6464 - Visual Studio 2008: ADO .NET 3.5
Code samples:
Module 1: 6464Module1.zip
Module 2: demo projects on student CD
Module 3: 6464Module3.zip + demo projects on student CD
Module 4: 6464Module4.zip + demo projects on student CD (my code is demo of binding ASP.NET GridView to LINQ query and to ASP.NET LinqDataSource control)
Module 5: demo projects on student CD - see note on demo and lab solutions
Module 6: demo projects on student CD
Note that in some cases you may need to rebuild projects before executing
Links to additional material:
101 LINQ samples C#
101 LINQ samples VB
LINQ videos
Entity Framework overview (MSDN)
Entity Framework article
Links to useful tools:
SQLMetal - LINQ to SQL command line tool
LinqPad - LINQ query development tool
eSqlBlast - Entity SQL development tool
Note on demos and lab solutions for module 5:
The demo and lab solution code was created using a beta version of the designer which produced a slightly different schema from the release version. This means you are likely to run into problems running demos/solutions on a new installation of VS2008. The fix is described in the latter part of this artlcle
Medical Database:
This database can be used for the lab exercises. Note that this is similar to, but not the same as, the database on the lab images.
Medical database
Installing an SQL Server database:
These instructions assume you have the database as a pair of MDF and LDF files.
Download and install SQL Server Management Studio Express 2005
SQL Server Management Studio is a useful tool for managing SQL Server databases, but it is not installed by default when you install Visual Studio 2008/SQL Server Express 2005. You can download the installer from the following link:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?
FamilyID=c243a5ae-4bd1-4e3d-94b8-5a0f62bf7796&displaylang=en
Copy the database files to SQL Server's data directory
Save the MDF and LDF database files in the folderC:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Data\
Attach the database
You need to attach the database to SQL Server Express. Run SQL Server Management Studio and connect to the local SQL Server Express instance (e.g. LON-DEV\SQLEXPRESS).
Right-click Databases and select Attach from the pop-up menu.
Click the Add button and browse to the MDF file, which should be located at:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Data\database_name.mdf
Click OK to attach the database
The database should now be set up.
MSDN Academic Alliance
The MSDN Academic Alliance programme allows students to download and use a wide range of Microsoft developer software for educational purposes. The available software includes Visual Studio (inlcuding VS2010), SQL Server, various WIndows operating systems and much more. Note that, while some Office tools are available, the main Office applications (Word, Excel) are not included.
To access MSDNAA software, go to the link below and log in with your university username and password:
http://msdn63.e-academy.com/elms/Storefront/Home.aspx?campus=gcu_itcentre
Software can usually be downloaded as ISO images which can then be burned to CD or DVD.
Help and support is available on the MSDNAA site.