>- good book(s)
>- IDE - WYSIWYG would be nice, but I'm thinking clean code might be more important?
>- code samples, framework (if available), best practices?
>- on-line forums?
>- any other important recommendations?

Hi Al. I've been meaning to answer this for a while, but my daughter takes up every spare moment.

I have Professional C#, but I've learned way more from the MSDN/Help. There's a lot of good stuff in there if you look for it. My biggest crticism is that most code accesses data directly and not through a biz tier like we are used to in the VFP world.

So far, I've chosen not to use a framework.

Online forums. For .NET from an n-tier perspective, I think the UT .NET forum is the best. There are a great bunch of experts here. Since most of them are former VFP experts as well, their advice is invaluable.

I'd highly recommend the .NET Solution Developer Summer Intensive (see thread#1003153). If you can afford 4 weeks away from consulting, the cheap $2000 price tag is worth it. The instructor is good. Being immersed in .NET for 4 weeks, and being thrown into the deep-end and having to write and present a 3-tier application is invaluable. It is also good for networking with the other students. The instructor Adam Salah is a consultant who actually uses .NET in his consulting practice and not a professional trainer who is reading from the official Microsoft Syllabus.

Other things I would recommend is getting a .NET mentor on retainer, preferably a former foxer. I've done this and it is incredible what you can learn from reviewing someone's code and have them review yours.