Important News for Developers: ADN at Dreamforce 2006
There’s so much going on now with AppExchange, and so much new for the platform in the technology pipeline, that the ADN team knew it had to do something different this year at Dreamforce. And we did: We've created a "conference within a conference" just for application builders, and we've named it ADN at Dreamforce. The community has grown so tremendously that we're expecting at least 500 developer attendees, and early signs suggest it might turn out to be a lot more than that.

The star of the show will be the forthcoming Winter '07 release, about which we'll be providing a lot of in-depth technical information. This release brings you many of the capabilities you've been asking for in the platform, plus a few surprise bits of developer goodness that we're pretty sure you'll be pleased about. If you attend, you will get a chance to try out the beta, ask questions and learn from our technical experts, and begin planning what you'll want to do to get your apps ready.

And that's just the beginning. There's much more in store for developer attendees—special events, free hands-on training, the Developer Lounge, and more—but you can read all about them on the ADN at dreamforce page. And here's a special offer for any of you who have attended AppExchange Seminars in the past: Use promo code DEVGR06 from the developer registration page to knock $100 off conference admission.

ADN at Dreamforce — October 8 - 11
:: Developer Registration

AppExchange Posts 300th App
There's been a tremendous flow of new applications submitted for listing on the AppExchange site, and just a short time ago we crossed the 300-application mark. We're also seeing great numbers in terms of test drives and installs, which proves our customers are paying close attention to the expanding universe of applications. If you haven't perused the site in a while, check it out—the variety and quality of offerings is constantly growing, and you're sure to find some new ideas for your own applications.

eWeek Case Study: Chicago Housing Authority
The Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) has created an application that proves once again the AppExchange can be the ideal platform for things that have almost nothing to do with CRM. The CHA has to keep track of data on thousands of its residents, and it needs a secure way to share appropriate portions of that data with more than 30 other agencies and organizations. With some help from integrator Model Metrics, CHA deployed a custom AppExchange application that consolidated all of the information CHA had previously kept in spreadsheets and Microsoft Access databases and made it easy for users to get to what they need. Read the whole story.

Pairing AppExchange with Rails
Derek from Highgroove Studios recently put up an interesting post on CleanAir blog about synchronizing data between Salesforce and Ruby on Rails. His team is building an application based on just such an integration, and the blog entry provides a practical walk through his design. Interestingly for Rails developers, many of whom naturally gravitate toward MySQL, he mentions the ActiveSalesforce adapter, which he says "makes working with Salesforce data about as easy as the Rails-MySQL combination."