Dino Esposito takes you on “a whistle-stop tour of the new controls slated for Windows Forms 2.0 to make writing code more productive and pleasant than ever.” Woo-Woo! : )

Another hot topic among Windows Forms programmers is extensibility:

• Add run-time functionality to your application by providing a plug-in mechanism
• Add Plugins to Your App 2: Search dynamically for plugins without Config Files
• The SharpDevelop add-in tree architecture
• Writing Plugin-Based Applications in .NET
• The MS-INC Plug-In Library
• The Razor Framework :: Part 1 :: Plugins/Extensibility
• Several nifty pieces on Lutz’s Reflector add-in model
• “Customizing the Microsoft .NET Framework Common Language Runtime,” by Steven Pratscher
• On Plug-ins and Extensible Architectures: Avoiding “plug-in hell” is from the Eclipse world, but I’m guessing it applies…

I know there are more pieces than just these, so send them along!

It seems that there are any number of ways to do multi-threading in Windows Forms. Here are some of the interesting techniques:

• Give Your .NET-based Application a Fast and Responsive UI with Multiple Threads, Ian Griffiths
• A number of Ted Pattison’s Basic Instincts column pieces cover threading
• Safe, Simple Multithreading in Windows Forms 1.x (part 1, part 2 and part 3), Chris Sells
• Safe, Even Simpler Multithreading in Windows Forms 2.0, Mike Weinhardt
• Asynchronous Windows Forms Programming, Juval Lwy (provides a BackgroundWorker component for Windows Forms 1.x)
• Making windows forms thread safe, Rüdiger Klaehn (generates a proxy class to do synchronization)
• The Daemon Inside and When to go async?, Matthew Adams

Here. After watching the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy trailer on Amazon.com, I have to say, it might not suck. Any Portland Nerds that want to join me for the first show on 4/29 (but don’t tell my boss, he thinks I’m working that day… : )?

If you’d like the official Microsoft press releases and top stories as soon as they’re available, point your favorite RSS reader at the following two new Microsoft PressPass RSS feeds:

 Microsoft PressPass - Press Releases: Provides links to the latest Microsoft corporate press releases.

 Microsoft PressPass - Top Stories: Provides links to the latest Top Story feature articles published by Microsoft PressPass. These articles provide in-depth background on Microsoft technologies and strategies, including executive Q&As and technology backgrounders.

Enjoy!

Cristian Civera, a Microsoft .NET MVP, has posted a preview of a tool to convert Windows Enhanced Metafiles, an existing vector graphics file format, to XAML, Avalon’s new format for describing vector graphics (among other things). Thanks, Cristian!

Joe Marini, has updated his famous XAML-only Avalon samples for the Nov. 2004 CTP. Thanks, Joe!

Robert Scoble has some stuff to say about Avalon, Indigo, Longhorn and packaging. Enjoy.