In a blog post about SharpDevelop, Tim Anderson writes that SharpDevelop contains a built-in editor for WiX.

The SharpDevelop GUI in the background and a sample of an executing MSI on top.

But after having a closer look, I was somewhat disappointed:

• SharpDevelop contains indeed a template for a creating a setup with WiX, but that template is far from complete. There are no "Select Feature", "Modify", "Repair" or "Uninstall" dialogs forseen. Only the absolute minimum for getting an application installed is prepared.
• No autocomplete feature for the WiX source code (i.e. "Intellisense" in Microsoft jargon).
• No nice GUI, you still need to edit the XML source code.

On the positive note:

• It's a good starting point, but you'll soon extend this template to create your own.
• It contains custom bitmaps. This was one of my own concerns: I'm a lousy graphics artist but I didn't want to rip (which would probably be illegal) graphics from other MSI's (or MSI tool builders, like InstallShield and Wise Solutions).

Below you can find some screenshots from a MSI that was created from the SharpDevelop Setup template:

While Rédo is a developer celebrity in France, he is actually living in Belgium. Grégory (that's his official name) is an MVP for ASP.NET and a Microsoft CodeWide Community member for his website http://www.asp-php.net. Most of the posts on his blog are written in French, but sometimes he also writes in English. You can find the RédoBlog at http://blogs.developpeur.org/redo.

The Microsoft.com website has some nice user guides:

• Getting started in the community
• RSS
• Chats
• Newsgroups
• Starting a user group

And under the user guides, you'll also find Microsoft employee biographies. But no, they don't explain how to "use" the Microsoft employee....

Registration is now open for the following TechNet Evening sessions in September, which will both be held at the NH Hotel in Diegem (near Brussels):

September 15: SQL Server 2005 Beta 2 Update for DBA’s
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 is Microsoft’s next-generation data management and analysis software that will deliver increased scalability, availability, and security to enterprise data and analytical applications while making them easier to create, deploy, and manage. The speaker will give an overview of the new features in Microsoft SQL Server 2005 for database administration, database availability, scalability, and security.

September 29: Deploying ISA Server 2004
Get an overview of Microsoft Internet Security and Accelerator (ISA) Server 2004, the advanced application layer firewall, VPN, and Web cache solution that enables you to easily maximize existing IT investments by improving network security and performance. This informative session is open to IT Professionals who are familiar with ISA and people who are new to the product.

More information and registration is available on http://www.microsoft.com/belux/technet/events/.

Want to get some developer insights about the recently released Windows XP Service Pack 2? If you rush you can still register for the upcoming Belgian MSDN Evening session on Windows XP Service Pack 2. After an overview of the developer implications of this service pack, you will get some tips and experiences from a developer that tested several applications of his customers on compliance with Windows XP SP2.

There are only a few seats left for this event, so if you plan to attend, do not hesitate to register now!

Update: the session will be redelivered next Wednesday on September 8th at "Living Tomorrow" (a.k.a. "The House Of The Future") in Vilvoorde. There are still seats available: http://www.microsoft.com/belux/msdn/events/#xpsp2redelivery.

Rob Mensching posted an update to the WiX toolset, including many bugfixes.

In this post I share some of the interesting blog posts of the past month that will also appear in the MSDN Belux Flash.

Belgian community

• Jonathan de Halleux is excited about a matrix algebra package for .NET.
• Yves Kerwyn: "SharePoint users might fall in love with Windows Briefcase"
• Christof Claessens blogs about BizTalk Server 2004.
• Christoph De Baene wrote SharpBrowser.
• Jan Tielens: "SharePoint, Code Access Security and the SmartPart"
• Tom van de Kerkhof created a Treeview navigation webpart for Sharepoint, using SmartPart.
• Jonathan de Halleux has created several add-ins for .NET Reflector.
• Find a list of all Belgian and Luxemburger .NET bloggers on MSDN Belux.

From the Microsoft bloggers

• Robert Scoble: "The Express Edition team is blogging".
• Dan Fernandez likes the RSS Screen Saver Starter Kit in C# Express.
• Kent Sharkey blogs about the Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition and the Personal Web Starter Kit.
• Sara Williams shares some thoughts about the MSDN Product Feedback Center.
• Want in-depth BizTalk Server information? Read the BizTalk Core Engine blog.
• Gilles Zunino explains why you should not use the Office Object Model when processing Office documents with BizTalk Server 2004.
• Brian Johnson links to the Platform SDK for Windows XP Service Pack 2 Release Candidate 2.
• Josh Ledgard lists some new Microsoft team blogs.
• Paul Vick has a list of "community-approved" Visual Basic blogs.
• Josh Ledgard kept a diary of a 3 day "Program Manager App Building" on the VSCore team. Read his diary for day 1, day 2 and day 3.
• Chris Brumme talks about the future of the .NET Common Language Runtime in this video interview on Channel9.
• Denis Bauer updated his FileDisassembler for Reflector.
• Fiona Fung: "Beginner's tips on Visual Studio .NET's Find and Replace using Regular Expressions"
• Robert Scoble shares some ways to talk with the Internet Explorer team.
• Laura John links to Jan Tielens' and Fons Sonnemans' SmartPart Webpart.
• Duncan Mackenzie links to an article on drawing a 3D Pie Chart in C#.
• Jonathan Wells refers to a CodeProject article: "Bubble.NET" for Pocket PC.
• Rob Mensching answers questions that Microsoft employees keep asking about his Windows Install XML toolset (WiX).
• Paul Vick discusses For Each and Option Strict.
• Suzanne Cook on how to debug an InvalidCastException.
• Eric Lippert: "What's the Difference between WScript.CreateObject, Server.CreateObject and CreateObject?"

International community

• Find the most interesting blog posts of speakers, attendees and community about Tech•Ed 2004 Europe at http://techedbloggers.net/.
• Dino Esposito wrote an article on TheServerSide.net about developing shell extentions with C#.
• Sam Gentile raves about Code Complete, 2nd Edition.
• Bill McCarthy links to an OPML file of Visual Basic bloggers.
• Eric Gunnerson discusses grouping classes within an assembly.
• Clemens Vasters invites you to download The FABRIQ.
• Ingo Rammer links to a dotnet.tv episode on XML Web services.
• Dana Epp reviews the Visual Studio Team System.
• Alex Campbell extended the ASP.NET Repeater control with a NoData template.
• Steve Maine: "... you can now easily call Web Services via e-mail".
• Rocky Lothka wrote an article on 15Seconds about Data Binding in Windows Forms with the .NET Framework 2.0.
• Maxim V. Karpov wrote an article about partially trusted code.
• Cathi Gero has several tips and tricks for .NET.
• Dino Esposito: "Got Attributes? Be an Attribute-based Programmer, Then"

Ianier Munoz did it again... After his articles on using Managed DirectX 9.0 and C# to write a drum machine for Windows and on porting it to Pocket PC, he now has a new article on writing a Digital Signal Processing (DSP) plug-in for Microsoft's Windows Media Player 9.0 using C#. He certainly knows what Duncan Mackenzie means with "Coding for Fun"...

Writing A Complete DSP Plug-in for Windows Media Player 9 in C#
This article shows how to build a complete DSP (Digital Signal Processing) plug-in for Windows Media Player 9 in C#. The accompanying sample code comprises of a Phase Shifter DSP plug-in and a User Interface plug-in for controlling the DSP plug-in parameters in real-time.

Just a few hours ago, the finalists of the Imagine Cup 2004 were announced in Sao Paolo, Brazil. The two Belgian teams were both still in the last final round. In the "Software Design Invitational" the Belgian "New World" team ended on the 5th place and in the "Rendering Invitational" the Belgian "Nautilus" team ended on the 3rd place. Congratulations to all finalists for their accomplishment and a special shout out to 2 the Belgian teams.

Links:
H2Ocean project by the Nautilus team (Charles-Frederik Hollemeersch, Elisabeth Hollemeersch, Wesley De Neve)
New World project (Steve Lanuit, Laurent Mazzapicchi, Pierre Ioannatos)
Belgian Imagine Cup website

Update: Howard Lo has some more results...

Update 2: Microsoft's official press release

Update 3: Channel9 interviewed Microsoft's Imagine Cup team.

Gunther Beersaerts, the famous .NET speaker in Belgium and Luxembourg and Microsoft employee, started a blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/guntherb/.

BrainBench, an online testing website, offers its exams for free till July 14th. Personally I would give more credit to the Microsoft certification, since these are taken in an exam center. But if you want to get some free BrainBench exam certifications, now might be the time to give it at try. They do have some tests about the .NET Framework...

PS. Currently I don't see anything about this on their homepage, but on this page you can see the following statement: "July 1 - July 14 we are opening up the Brainbench library in celebration of our 5 millionth member. All tests will be FREE.".