Tag Archives: Pluralsight

New on Pluralsight! EF Core 6 Fundamentals!

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I’m so excited to share with you that I have a new course on Pluralsight: EF Core 6 Fundamentals. I’ve been working on it for a while and it is the biggest course I’ve ever created. It is 7.5 hours long. It’s a lot more than the breadth of the previous Getting Started courses.  

And there’s an additional bonus. Pluralsight is having a sale on subscriptions right now. 33% off through May 12, 2022.

There are 16 modules if you count the course overview which is just a 1.5 minute “trailer” about the course. This is not just a refresh of the recent EF Core 5 Getting Started course. In fact, I retired the samurais and have introduced a book publisher as the domain this time. Below is the list of module titles for my new course.

I’ve also posted the sample code for the course in this repository on my Github account. 

  1. Course Overview
  2. Building Your First Application using EF Core
  3. Using EF Core 6 to Query a Database
  4. Tracking and Saving Data with EF Core
  5. Controlling Database Creation and Schema with Migrations
  6. Defining One-to-Many Relationships
  7. Logging EF Core Activity and SQL
  8. Interacting with Related Data
  9. Defining and Using Many-to-Many Relationships
  10. Defining and Using One-to-One Relationships
  11. Working with Views and Stored Procedures and Raw SQL
  12. Using EF Core with ASP.NET Core Apps
  13. Testing with EF Core
  14. Adding Some More Practical Mappings to Your Application
  15. Understanding EF Core’s Database Connectivity
  16. Tapping into EF Core’s Pipeline

I’d also like to give a shout out to my friend and fellow Pluralsight author, Roland Guijt, who acted as tech reviewer as I created this course. His feedback and insights were invaluable as is evident not only in the final version of my course, but in his own courses on ASP.NET Core, C# and more.

Resize Windows’ Screen Resolution with a Touch of a Stream Deck Button

Pluralsight, ,

I have a lovely pair wide screen monitors with 1080p resolution. However, when recording software training courses for Pluralsight, we are asked to use a resolution of 1280×720 so that text and code are legible across a variety of devices and sizes.

Therefore, when recording a course, which may take me many many weeks, I tend to leave one of my monitors at 1280×720. But I’m constantly doing other things on that monitor such as email or writing and that resolution is discomforting.

There is no easy way to change the resolution other than going into system settings. But I now have a super easy way to change that monitor’s resolution back and forth.

Like many of us who are now creating content at home (although I am not streaming on twitch like many of my friends) I recently added an Elgato Stream Deck controller to my toolkit, along with some key lights, too! I use the stream deck to control the lights while recording  video that requires that I be in it.

Step 1: Find a command line tool for affecting screen resolution.

There are some apps and there are a few CLI tools. After asking around on Twitter, I learned about Display Changer 2, used by two very trusted nerds (and friends): 

However, there are TWO versions of Display Changer and DC2 is the programmable one. So not knowing there was a simpler version, I got stuck on a path that was way more complicated than I needed. I learned how to create xml configuration files for various display settings, then create a PowerShell script to execute DC2 against those config files. But Stream Deck can’t run PowerShell files, so then I had to create a batch file to run the PS1 file. It was madness but I was determined and got it all working. And then blogged the very complicated path. Oy vey!

Then back to my brainy pal who said…well, y’know….:

Now this is my pal from whom I learned YET A BETTER WAY to load utensils into a dishwasher that I am now obsessed with (the dishwasher trick, that is. I do like Glenn, but no, I’m not obsessed with him)! So I always trust him, but I looked at that and thought “DC2 doesn’t have these switches and what is DC64?”.

I went back to 12noon’s website and realized that the “Display Changer” is different than “Display Changer II” and is a simpler tool to work with. Even though I felt like such a dope for getting stuck on the complicated path, I was happy for the MUCH EASIER way!  So if you haven’t ever configured a Stream Deck button, let’s finish this up with Glenn’s easy street way.

Step 2: Identify the Monitor

I’d recommend practicing the command at the command line before just shoving it into Stream Deck. Also, since I was aiming for my secondary monitor, I needed to use the 
dccmd -listmonitors
command to find out how to address that monitor. Turns out it’s 
"\\.\DISPLAY2"

So the command to change that monitor’s resolution to 1280×720 is:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\12noon Display Changer\dc.exe" -monitor="\\.\DISPLAY2" -width=1280 -height=720

Step 3: Configure Stream Deck buttons to run the batch files

In the Stream Deck app, drag the System/Open option onto the button you want to configure for 720p.

In the settings, leave Title blank.

In the App/File setting, paste in your command:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\12noon Display Changer\dc.exe" -monitor="\\.\DISPLAY2" -width=1280 -height=720

In the icon selector, you can choose Create New Icon to design then download an icon for your button.

Setup another button to change the monitor back to your default resolution. Mine is 1080p.

"C:\Program Files (x86)\12noon Display Changer\dc.exe" -monitor="\\.\DISPLAY2" -width=1920-height=1080

Originally these were the icons I crated for my buttons. They are good enough for me and bright colors.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is streamdeck_key_720p-3.png   This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is streamdeck_key_1080p-2.png

But Glenn was unimpressed and created some new ones and sent them to me. I’m sure he’ll be happy for me to share them.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is key_julie_720.png   This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is key_julie_1080.png

Here’s the Stream Deck with it’s new buttons. The setup works like a charm!

Pluralsight is totally free for the month of April

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While many of you who read my blog are already Pluralsight subscribers with work or personal subscriptions, there are so many who do not have access. So Pluralsight is opening up the entire library of over 7,000 courses for people to watch while stuck at home. And you do not need to use a credit card to sign up.*

So whether you want to watch one my my courses such as 

Or any of the other 7,000+ courses from some of the most knowledgeable devs who happen to be great at teaching ….

Have at it!

There is also a free plan for business accounts.

Business Free April Details: “To support your team’s skill development during these new challenges, for a limited time we’ve extended our free team trial from 14 days to 30 days.”

*The fine print: Free April is open to anyone who is not a current, active subscriber. New free accounts and reactivated accounts opened through April 30, 2020 will have access to Pluralsight’s library of video courses through April. Payment information will not be required for new free accounts opened through April 30, 2020. New free accounts opened after May 1, 2020, will only have access to a portion of Pluralsight’s library and will require payment information.

Pluralsight Subscriptions On Sale This Week!

Pluralsight, ,

Pluralsight is having a summer sale on annual subscriptions – $100 off (i.e. $199 for an entire year’s access to the entire library) which is a pretty amazing price for what you’re getting. Heck the regular price of $299 for a full year is amazing when you compare it to the cost of almost any type of training from the expert-authors). Anyway, I don’t have to tell you, you already know!

The $199 price is for new subscriptions, renewing  existing subscriptions and even converting from a monthly subscription!

Quick Start EF Core Videos on Channel 9

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My Pluralsight course, Entity Framework Core: Getting Started, is a pretty thorough exploration for learning about EF Core. But at 5 hours, it may not be the VERY first thing you want to look at. So I’ve created some 12 minute videos on Channel 9 that will, in that very short time, walk you through building some tiny apps that use EF Core so you can get your hands dirty. While you won’t learn much in the way of ins & outs, they will walk you through:

  • creating a new app from scratch,
  • adding in a domain class
  • add in EF Core
  • creating an EF Core data model
  • creating a database from the model
  • creating and saving some data
  • reading, updating and modifying some data.

That’s a lot for 12 minutes, but I have done it in a way that you can just watch and learn, or follow along to build the apps yourself . For some of the code that is not related to the EF Core lesson, you can even copy that code from my GitHub account and paste it into your solution.

There are currently 2 videos.

EF Core in a Full .NET Application Using Visual Studio 2015
This one is designed to assure you that you can use EF Core in a full .NET application and using totally familiar tools. You’ll build a little .NET console app that uses EF Core to read and write some movie data.

EFCoreQS1Lerman_512 2017-03-22_18-21-35

EF Core in an ASP.NET Core Application Using Visual Studio 2017
This video will give you the full leading edge .NET Core experience as you use the brand new Visual Studio 2017 to create a tiny ASP.NET Core MVC App that uses EF Core to interact with the data. Again, some of the code that is not about EF Core is available to copy/paste from my GitHub account, making it easy to follow along with the demo.EFCoreQS2Lerman_512

2017-03-22_18-19-44

I’ll be adding anther one showing  Creating an ASP.NET Core App with EF Core Using Visual Studio Code in OS X . You can keep an eye on my Channel 9 Niners page or this blog to see what that gets published.

When your ready to really learn about EF Core, head over to Pluralsight for my Entity Framework Core: Getting Started Course. If you don’t have a subscription, contact me for a 30-day free trial code.

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Entity Framework Core: Getting Started on Pluralsight

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I’m happy to share a new course on Pluralsight with you – Entity Framework Core: Getting Started.

Here’s how I described it in the trailer:

Most software – whether for business or entertainment – is driven by data that users need to interact with. In Entity Framework Core: Getting Started, you will learn how to use Microsoft’s modern data access platform, Entity Framework Core. You will learn how to build data models, use EF Core to bridge your software with  your data store and how to incorporate all of this into desktop, mobile and web applications. When you’re finished with this course, you will have a foundational knowledge of Entity Framework Core that will help you as you move forward to build software in .NET, whether you are targeting Windows, OS X or Linux. Software required: Visual Studio 2015 or Visual Studio 2017.

pluralsight course

2017-02-15_17-54-44

 

Here is the list of modules in the course. You can see the titles of various clips in each module on Pluralsight.

To see the full list of my courses on Pluralsight, go to pluralsight.com/authors/julie-lerman

Looking Ahead to Entity Framework 7 on Pluralsight

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Pluralsight has published my latest course, a 2.5 hour course about Entity Framework 7 (EF7).

“Looking Ahead to Entity Framework 7”

EF7 is not released yet. It will get released as a “pre-release” along with ASP.NET 5 so that there is a data stack available for projects that target the CoreCLR. Then the team will do a lot more work on EF7 for a full release possibly (wild guess) at the end of 2015. There are a lot of changes since EF7 is begin rewritten from the ground up. Many new features – from things like Batch Updates that we’ve been asking for since v1 to totally new concepts like being able to query and update against non-relational data stores. But there will also be things that do not get carried forward – most notably for some is the EDMX, the designer based entity model.

This course will show you what’s coming, what’s going, demonstrate a lot of the new features (as they are currently …aka the Alpha or earlier versions) and provide guidance about deciding if and when to move to EF7.

Here is an list of the modules:

You can see the more detailed Table of Contents here.

I’ve already gotten some great feedback on the course. My favorite tweet so far was:

“Great info and insight. I don’t know if I’m happier with what’s being added or being removed.”

Check it out and let me know what you think of EF7!

Domain-Driven Design Fundamentals Course on Pluralsight

Presentations,

Steve Smith and I are excited to finally have our Domain-Driven Design Fundamentals course available on Pluralsight (http://juliel.me/PS-DDD ) . It was a long haul creating the course but we wanted it to be just right. And coordinating our schedules became tricky since we really wanted to collaborate completely on this, not just divide up the work and sew it together.

We were also grateful to have Eric Evan’s, the “father” of DDD, participate in the course by letting us interview him and use the resulting video clips where he provides thoughtful and insightful advice throughout the course.

The course has now been out for a few weeks and the reception has been great. Good ratings, great feedback in the discussions and on twitter are making us quite proud of our hard work. And it’s has been in Pluralsight’s Top 10 list (based on past 10 days viewing) in the entire library of some [I believe] 1500 courses since a few days after it was released.

If you don’t have a subscription (but really, they are only $29/month), there is a 10 day free trial on the website and I also have 30 day free trial cards I can share. Let us know what you think!

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