TrailBlazor Conference

Shaun Walker

8:00 - 9:00 AM EDT

Oqtane: A CMS and Application Framework for Blazor and .NET MAUI

Oqtane is an open source CMS and Application Framework which leverages the capabilities of Blazor and .NET MAUI to provide a multi-tenant, multi-platform, multi-device, and multi-database solution for .NET application developers. It offers a rich set of features and APIs for building, managing, and deploying modern and composable digital experiences on .NET. In this session we will provide a deep dive on how to utilize Oqtane's robust extensibility model to accelerate your digital applications and websites.

Shaun Walker is the original creator of Oqtane and DotNetNuke (DNN), web application frameworks which have earned the recognition of being amongst the most pioneering and widely adopted Open Source projects native to the Microsoft platform. He has 30+ years professional experience in architecting and implementing enterprise software solutions for private and public organizations. Based on his significant community contributions he has been recognized as a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for over 16 years. He was recognized in 2011 as a leading entrepreneur in the BIV Forty Under 40 business awards, and is currently the Chair of the Project Committee for the .NET Foundation.

Daniel Mettler

9:00 - 10:00 AM EDT

Oqtane as a CMS

Use Oqtane as a CMS, by combining Oqtane with the battle-tested Content-Management extension 2sxc. This is great both for creating any kind of simple or enterprise web sites, or to augment your business application with content such as an additional blog, professional landing pages and more. Both Oqtane and 2sxc share their origins in DNN, where 2sxc powers an estimated 100,000 websites or more. It has been ported to Oqtane to provide the same set of features, allowing you to get up and running within minutes. Check out the sample website blazor-cms.org to get a feeling of what can be done. In this session I’ll walk you through getting started, the core features such as automatic content-layouts and image resizing. I’ll also give you an intro how to create custom Apps which can do anything you want, thanks to the dynamic EAV data model in the background.

Daniel Mettler grew up in the jungles of Indonesia and is founder and CEO of 2sic internet solutions in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, a web specialist which has delivered over 800 projects since 1999. He is also chief architect of 2sxc, an open source module for creating attractive content and apps. Daniel is a member of the Oqtane Core Team.

Jimmy Engström

10:00 - 11:00 AM EDT

Connecting Gadgets to Blazor: Bluetooth, WebHID, and Beyond

Get ready to combine the power of Blazor with the thrill of connecting gadgets! In this session, we'll dive into the world of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), exploring how to tap into BLE protocols and integrate them seamlessly with your Blazor applications. But why stop at Bluetooth? We’ll also explore the exciting possibilities of connecting devices through WebHID and WebUSB, unlocking new ways to interact with robots, gadgets, and more—all within the comfort of your Blazor projects. Whether you’re a gadget enthusiast or a Blazor pro, this talk will spark your creativity and show you what’s possible.

Jimmy Engström has a longstanding passion for technology that ignited at age 7 and evolved into a professional commitment to utilizing innovative technologies like Blazor to enhance user experiences. Being an early adopter of Blazor, even during its beta stage, and authoring "Web Development with Blazor," reflects his proactive engagement with cutting-edge tools to develop solutions that simplify daily tasks. Through his book, the Coding After Work podcast, and as a 10X recipient of the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional award, he continually strives to drive efficiency and ease-of-use in application development.

Rocky Lhotka

11:00 - 12:00 PM EDT

Building Enterprise Blazor Apps Using CSLA .NET

Blazor is one of the most powerful UI technologies available today, allowing you to write apps that run on a web server, or directly on client devices in any modern browser by using WebAssembly. An enterprise app probably calls back-end services and needs to interact with app servers. Some or all of your business logic may run on the client, the app server, or both. That's ideal for the balance between user interactivity, performance, scalability, and security. The widely-used open source CSLA .NET framework helps you create a reusable, scalable, and cross-platform portable business layer that lets your application run on multiple types of client devices while sharing business logic between the clients and your app server. This session is an end-to-end walkthrough of how this works and how you can benefit.

Rocky Lhotka is the VP of Strategy at Xebia Microsoft Services and leads the vision and direction of its software development solutions and services. He leverages his extensive experience and knowledge of framework design and implementation, distributed systems architecture, and cloud and container technologies to help clients achieve their business goals and deliver value to their customers. He is also the creator of the CSLA .NET open-source development framework, which enables developers to create scalable, maintainable, and secure object-oriented applications. He is a member of the Microsoft Regional Director and MVP programs, as well as the co-chair of the Visual Studio Live! and the chair of the Cloud & Containers Live conferences. Rocky is passionate about advancing the software industry and empowering developers to build better software.

Carl Franklin

12:00 - 1:00 PM EDT

Gotchas in Blazor Web Apps for .NET 8

Carl exposes some pernicious gotchas you might encounter when building a Blazor Web App in .NET 8

Carl Franklin is Executive Vice President of App vNext, a software consultancy focused on Internet of Things (IoT) and New User Interface (NUI) as well as web, mobile, cloud and desktop development. App vNext helps its customers build business value by architecting and developing complete systems that span every known development technology, language, and platform. Carl is also host of the ever-popular .NET Rocks! podcast.

Daniel Roth

1:00 - 2:00 PM EDT

Modern full-stack web development with ASP.NET Core & Blazor

Blazor is a modern frontend web framework that makes building modern web apps fast and easy. In this session you’ll see how Blazor enables you to build full-stack web apps that leverage both the client and server. We’ll then dive into the new improvements coming to ASP.NET Core & Blazor in .NET 9, including performance improvements, optimized static web asset handling, improved reconnection logic, detecting the component render mode at runtime, and much more!

Daniel Roth is the Principal Product Manager for ASP.NET Core & Blazor at Microsoft.

Beth Massi

2:00 - 3:00 PM EDT

Build hybrid apps with .NET MAUI

In this session learn why you would choose a hybrid web approach to building native apps with .NET MAUI. Learn about Blazor hybrid and how you can build full-featured native apps for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android within a single codebase that can take advantage of your web skills. Take a tour of the new Blazor hybrid tools and templates in .NET 9 and see how you can reuse UI to build solutions that target the web at the same time. We'll also take a look at the new HybridWebView control and show how you can leverage other web frameworks with .NET MAUI.

Beth is a Product Manager on the .NET MAUI team at Microsoft and responsible for making native device and hybrid web development in Visual Studio a delightful experience. Formerly the Marketing Director and Community Manager for .NET as well as serving on the Board of Directors for the .NET Foundation, she’s spent her career helping .NET developers be successful.

Mackinnon Buck

3:00 - 4:00 PM EDT

Utilizing JavaScript in Blazor Web Apps

.NET 8 introduced static server rendering as a new fundamental capability for Blazor. To maintain the responsive nature of a SPA, enhanced navigation was provided to preserve document state by applying server-rendered content directly into the existing page. However, adding new ways to create Blazor apps has made it challenging to utilize JavaScript in a manner compatible with the different navigation and rendering strategies (i.e., full page navigation, enhanced navigation, and interactive rendering). In this session, we’ll explore tips and tricks for smoothly integrating JavaScript into Blazor Web apps. We’ll start with the basics, move on to real-world scenarios, and finally discuss potential out-of-the-box features Blazor could offer in future releases to simplify the process.

Mackinnon Buck is a developer on the Blazor engineering team at Microsoft and co-host of the ASP.NET Community Standup.

Michael Washington

4:00 - 5:00 PM EDT

Oqtane and Blazor Custom Modules: Integrating Components like PowerBI and Syncfusion

In this session, Michael Washington will explore the powerful combination of Oqtane and Blazor for building custom modules. Attendees will learn how to seamlessly integrate advanced components like PowerBI and Syncfusion into their Oqtane applications, enhancing functionality and user experience.

Michael Washington is an .NET C# programmer. He has extensive knowledge in process improvement, billing systems, and student information systems. He is a Microsoft MVP and a member of the Oqtane Core Team. He has a son, Zachary and resides in Los Angeles with his wife Valerie.

Mark Davis

5:00 - 6:00 PM EDT

Interactive Storytelling with Oqtane: Blazor for Learning Experiences

Dive into the fascinating world of Interactive Storytelling and discover how it can bring the next level of user delight with Oqtane and Blazor. In this session, we will explore communication between Oqtane modules on a single web page, by borrowing popular storytelling technology from the games industry.  Designed for web developers, this talk will demonstrate how to incorporate interactive storytelling and branching navigation with goal seeking into your projects, enhancing user engagement and creating truly dynamic experiences. 

Mark Davis is the CTO at Trifoia, a company that creates innovative and engaging digital learning solutions for social impact. He has over 30 years of experience in technology leadership and full-stack engineering, with a focus on open source and Microsoft technologies. Mark is a member of the Oqtane Core Team.