Blog

Bitter Sweet Times

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 02:14:04 GMT

Career and professional growth is something that I have always taken very serious. In the tech field it is very easy to have your skills become irrelevant if you don’t work hard keeping up with the changes in technology. The constant change is something that I actually enjoy. I became active in the technical community in Philly many years ago in my attempts to stay up-to-date. This involvement let to a a job with Microsoft five years ago.

Microsoft is an awesome place to work. The opportunity to growth professionally are endless. In a couple of weeks I will be transitioning to a new role at the Microsoft Technology Center in Malvern, PA. This is the sweet part.

It is also bitter because I really love the Developer Evangelist role. It is the best job I ever had. It has given me the opportunity to work with some awesome people; inside and outside of Microsoft and have developed friendship that I hope will last a lifetime.

So why make the change?

I have always said that no matter how happy you are in your current job, it would be foolish and maybe even arrogant to no listen to new opportunities. I even take the time to reply to out of the blue LinkedIn request (unless they are looking for a c pound developer). So just like my first job a Microsoft, this new opportunity just came up without me really looking for it. One minute I was giving Penn State students a tour of the Microsoft offices in Malvern, PA, then before I knew it, I was basically interviewing for the job. Things just aligned perfectly. Basically it came down to the fact that my new role is just as awesome as my current one but with less travel and less nights and weekends. I will also have a bit more interaction with customers and the sales cycle which is something I have an interest in. Growth…

So where am I going?

I am joining the Microsoft Technology Center as a Technology Architect. Microsoft MTC’s help companies envision how business problems can be solve with the use of technology. I will be focusing on Windows 8, Windows Phone, Surface and Azure or should I say XAML and cloud? This really is another dream job. I feel extremely blessed to have this opportunity.

P.S While my day-to-day responsibilities will not involve working with the development community, I am still planning to participate in it. I really think that one of the best things any developer can do is to get involved in a community. I have gained a lot more from being involved in the community then what I’ve put in. Looking forward to continue being active in the community either through user groups or my new role.

Learn The Cloud. Make A Difference. @home with Windows Azure

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 16:21:45 GMT

How does learning about cloud computing while contributing to scientific research sound to you? Join us for @home with Windows Azure to get a solid understanding of the Windows Azure platform while giving back to a very deserving cause.

What is @home with Windows Azure?

Microsoft provides a 90-day free trial of Windows Azure where you can kick the tires and run an application in the cloud 24x7, cost-free. Why not use that free compute time to give back to a deserving cause? The @home with Windows Azure project is an online activity where you use those 90-days of free compute time (or your MSDN Subscriber benefits) to contribute to Stanford University’s Folding@home distributed computing project.

The Folding@home project helps scientists provide insight into the causes of diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Mad Cow disease, ALS, and some cancer-related syndromes, by running protein folding simulations on thousands of machines world wide.

You will deploy Stanford’s Folding@home application to Windows Azure, where it will execute protein folding simulations in the cloud, thus contributing to the research effort. In essence, your participation is a donation of your free compute time to the Folding@home project!

Get Started

It’s easy to get started in 4 quick steps. The @home with Windows Azure site has a series of short, easy to follow along to, screencasts that walk you through deploying Folding@home to the cloud!

Learn The Cloud

Want to go deeper? Join the @home team for a live webcast or catch one of their recordings on demand to learn more about Windows Azure, including: compute & storage services, debugging in the cloud, and patterns for achieving scale.

Make A Difference

In addition to directly contributing CPU cycles to the Folding@home project, from the start of March 2012, Microsoft is donating $10 (up to a maximum of $5000) to Stanford’s Pande Lab for everyone that participates!

See Your Impact

You can see your impact by visiting the detailed World Stats page on the @home with Windows Azure site. For example, to date, over 6,300 VMs have contributed over 3.5 million compute hours!!!

Learn more about the project and join in at the project’s website: http://distributedcomputing.cloudapp.net

HackReady. Phone Episode 1

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 18:59:40 GMT

Today Lindsay and I kicked off our HackReady.Phone series. It is a seven part series where we will introduce Windows Phone development and in the process show the users how we build a Conference App.

In this first episode, we introduced some consumer features of Windows Phone as well as the development tool. We talk about the different templates the sdk provides and why choose one over the other.

One of the things I forgot to show was a great post by windows phone designer Arturo. In that post Arturo does a great job at explaining when to choose Panorama over Pivot or Single Page.

Make sure to read the post. Lots of goodies in it.

Here are some other useful links

http://smallandmighty.net/blog/windows-phone-design-resources
http://smallandmighty.net/blog/windows-phone-resources

PowerPoint:

Binding Multiple Controls to One - Windows Phone

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 17:17:02 GMT

A co-worker of mines is building a price calculator app for Azure. He is an Azure specialist with no Window Phone development experience. He wanted to have multiple slider controls adjust the value of one textbox. Originally I thought so simple, just to element binding to get the value on on control into the property of another control.

<StackPanel x:Name="stackPanel">

     <TextBox x:Name="TextboxControl" Height="70" Margin="0,0,0,0" TextWrapping="Wrap" Text="{Binding Value, ElementName=SliderControl, Mode=TwoWay}" VerticalAlignment="Top"/>

     <Slider x:Name="SliderControl" Margin="0,0,0,0"/>

/StackPanel>

Obviously, this is not what he needed. He needs to have multiple sliders control the value of one textbox. To get the results we wanted, I simply bind the textbox to a property that returns the “sum” of all other values. You can apply any equation you like.

The XAML is simple. All we need is to controls to be bounded (twoway) to a property in the view model like this:

<StackPanel x:Name="stackPanel">

    <TextBox x:Name="TextboxControl" Height="70" Margin="0,0,0,0" TextWrapping="Wrap" Text="{Binding Results}" VerticalAlignment="Top"/>

    <Slider x:Name="SliderControl"  Value="{Binding Slider, Mode=TwoWay}" Margin="0,0,0,0"/>

    <Slider x:Name="SliderControl1" Value="{Binding Slider1, Mode=TwoWay}" Margin="0,0,0,0"/>

    <Slider x:Name="SliderControl2" Value="{Binding Slider2, Mode=TwoWay}" Margin="0,0,0,0"/>

    <Slider x:Name="SliderControl3" Value="{Binding Slider3, Mode=TwoWay}" Margin="0,0,0,0"/>

    <Slider x:Name="SliderControl4" Value="{Binding Slider4, Mode=TwoWay}" Margin="0,0,0,0"/>

</StackPanel>

In the view model since we only care about the slider value change for the purpose of our calculation, INotifyPropertyChange for the Results Property like this:

public double Slider4

{

    get { return _slider4; }

    set

    {

        if (_slider4 == value)

            return;

        _slider4 = value;

        NotifyPropertyChanged("Results");

    }

}

        

public double Results

{

    get { return (Slider + Slider1 + Slider2 + Slider3+ Slider4); }

}

Notice that for the Results property which is bounded to the textbox, I simply return the calculation needed.

That’s it simple but useful. Download the sample here

Windows Reimagined

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 15:42:10 GMT

New York, NY
Date April 19, 2012
Time 9:00AM – 5:00PM
Location
Center 548
548 West 22nd St

FREE Event
Seating is limited,
so register today.

Connect with us

Learn everything you need to start building Metro-style apps for Windows today at our free, full-day Windows Developer Event.

We'll show you how to use Visual Studio to code fast, fluid, immersive and beautiful Metro-style applications in HTML5/JavaScript, XAML/C# and C/C++. Your investments in these languages carry forward, making Windows a no-compromise platform for developers.

Whatever language you choose, your app gets deep integration with the Windows shell, including notifications, live tiles, deep links, and contracts with other apps. And now you can build once and support all Windows customers, no matter what type of PC they have—from tablets to laptops to convertibles to desktops.

Seating is limited and registration is not guaranteed. Secure your spot today!

Prerequisites

Please bring a notebook computer and your personal identification.
Be sure to download the Windows 8 Consumer Preview.
And, don't forget to download Visual Studio 11 Express for Windows 8 and seize the future of development.

Notes
Please note that there is limited space available for this event, so be sure to register early.

The Road to Windows 8!

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 01:38:06 GMT

A free, unbiased look at the current and future development with Windows 8 and .NET.

The industry is in a state of flux. What does that mean for your software projects today and tomorrow? Will your skills be outdated? Will your current investment become obsolete? What should you focus on right now? And what will become important a year or two down the road? Will there be .NET in the future? And what other technologies do you need to learn?

This series of free State of .NET events attempts to answer these questions and more, by taking an unbiased look at current and future development with .NET and other relevant Microsoft technologies. This includes Visual Studio 2010 technologies as well as an in-depth look at what is coming in the next version of Visual Studio (“VS11”) and Windows 8.

Join Markus Egger, Microsoft RD and one of the longest running MVPs, for an afternoon of free information. CODE/EPS is in a unique position to share information based on real world experience in projects that are either our own or one of the many projects we get to see in our role as mentors, trainers and consultants, as well as feedback we receive from CODE Magazine readers. This is NOT marketing hype! We will tell you which information you should invest time and money in, and which ones to avoid.

This event is completely free of charge and is designed for developers as well as IT decision makers. Specific prior knowledge is not required. Attendees of this event will come away with a clear understanding of which technologies to use for various technical challenges.

Attendees of this event will come away with a clear understanding of which technologies to use for various technical challenges. Questions? Please e-mail info@eps-software.com or call 832-717-4445 x13.

Presenter: Markus Egger

When: Thursday, April 26, 2012, 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Where: Microsoft Corporation, 45 Liberty Blvd, Suite 210, Malvern, PA 19355

The HackReady.Phone WebCast Series

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 22:33:04 GMT

Join us for HackReady, the new online learning series designed for developers to bring you the vital bits you need, without the fluff you won’t miss. Full of key information and demonstrations, this series gives you a solid understanding of the tools, techniques, and resources you need to become HackReady.

The HackReady.Phone series brings you seven episodes, from start to marketplace. Whether you are a new Windows Phone developer thinking about your first app or well on your way to publishing, these sessions help you get there. Join us for one or the whole series—pick and choose as you like.

(Tue 4/3 10AM PST)
MSDN Webcast: HackReady.Phone, Episode 1: Introduction to the Windows Phone Platform (Level 100) - http://aka.ms/HackReadyPhone1

(Thur 4/5 10AM PST)
MSDN Webcast: HackReady.Phone, Episode 2: Working with Internal and External Data in Windows Phone (Level 200) - http://aka.ms/HackReadyPhone2

(Tue 4/10 10AM PST)
MSDN Webcast: HackReady.Phone, Episode 3: Understanding Windows Phone’s Application Lifecycle and State Management (Level 200) - http://aka.ms/HackReadyPhone3

(Thur 4/12 10AM PST)
MSDN Webcast: HackReady.Phone, Episode 4: Working with Windows Phone Sensors and Other APIs (Level 200) -http://aka.ms/HackReadyPhone4

(Tue 4/17 10AM PST)
MSDN Webcast: HackReady.Phone, Episode 5: Enhancing the User Experience and App Usability with Live Tiles, Push Notifications, and Background Agents (Level 200) - http://aka.ms/HackReadyPhone5

(Thur 4/19 10AM PST)
MSDN Webcast: HackReady.Phone, Episode 6: Enhancing Performance and Application Testing (Level 200) - http://aka.ms/HackReadyPhone6

(Tue 4/24 10AM PST)
MSDN Webcast: HackReady.Phone, Episode 7: Ready, Set, Publish: Everything You Need to Know About Releasing Your Apps (Level 200) - http://aka.ms/HackReadyPhone7

Feel @Home With Azure

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 16:31:10 GMT

My teammates Peter Laudati, Brian Hitney and Jim O’Neil have been hard at work on a very cool project! It is not really a new project but they have done a lot of work to bring back the “@home with Windows Azure” project.

So what is it?

The @home ‘brand’ has been applied to a host of distributed computing projects (like SETI@home) which typically involve installing a small application on your machine (“at home”) that runs when the machine is idle. The application executed depends on the nature of the project, but generally it downloads some “task” from a given project’s server, executes it locally, and reports results back to the project server. Essentially, everyone that downloads the application creates a node in a large cluster of computers all working toward a common goal.

That sounds like cloud computing to me: leverage lots of commodity hardware to process a given job! It was the inspiration we had to “cloud-ify” one of those distributed projects, namely Folding@home.

Stanford University’s Pande Lab has been sponsoring Folding@home for nearly 12 years, during which they’ve used the results of their protein folding simulations (running on thousands of machines worldwide) to provide insight into the causes of diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Mad Cow disease, ALS, and some cancer-related syndromes.

What Can I Contribute?

Microsoft currently provides a 90-day free trial of Windows Azure where you can learn to kick the tires and run an application in the cloud 24x7 cost-free. When you participate in @home with Windows Azure, you’ll leverage those 90-days of free compute time (or your MSDN benefits) to deploy Stanford’s Folding@home application to Windows Azure, where it will execute the protein folding simulations in the cloud, thus contributing to the research effort. In essence, your participation is a donation of your free compute time to the Folding@home project!

How Can I Get Started?

We’ve provided a lot of information to get you started, including four short screencasts that will lead you through the process of getting an Azure account, downloading the @home with Windows Azure software, and deploying it to the cloud. And we won’t stop there! We have a series of webcasts also planned to go into more detail about the application and other aspects of Windows Azure that we leveraged to make this effort possible.

Below is the schedule for webcasts. Of course, you can jump in before at any time on your own.

3/15/2012 12pm EDT @home with Azure Overview

3/22/2012 12pm EDT Windows Azure Roles

3/29/2012 12pm EDT Azure Storage Options

4/05/2012 12pm EDT Debugging in the Cloud

4/12/2012 12pm EDT Async Cloud Patterns

Hope to see folks on our webcasts starting next week. Until then, start learning the cloud, and make a difference at home with Windows Azure!

Windows 8 Developer Camps Coming Soon!

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 21:49:06 GMT

Ready to dive in and learn more about Windows 8 and the developer opportunity it represents? Then get ready for the series of Windows Developer Camps! These are free, full-day, developer-focused events featuring a combination of sessions and hands-on labs, and we’ll have 10 of them right here in the east:

Windows 8 changes everything.

Combining the broad reach of Windows, best-in-class developer tools, a reimagined user experience, support for new chipsets, and a built-in Store with industry-leading business terms — Windows 8 is the largest developer opportunity, ever.

Join us for this free, full-day event designed to share all the knowledge you need to start building Metro-style applications for Windows 8 – today. We’ll begin by showing you how to use Visual Studio to code fast, fluid, immersive and beautiful Metro-style applications in HTML5/JavaScript, XAML/C# and C/C++. Your existing investments in these languages carry forward, making Windows a no-compromise platform for developers.

Whatever language you choose, your app gets deep integration with the Windows shell, including notifications, live tiles, deep links, and contracts with other apps. And now you can build once and support all Windows customers, no matter what type of PC they have – from tablets to laptops to convertibles to desktops.

We’ll cap the day off with an open, hands-on lab session. It’s the perfect opportunity to get your dream application underway, or finish that app you’ve already started – with Windows 8 experts available to guide you through every step. Bring your laptop to join in the fun and show off your killer app.

Get started now!

The Schedule

Join us in one of these cities:

Windows Developer Camps
Date	City	More
March 27, 2012	Reston, VA	Details & Registration
March 29, 2012	Chevy Chase, MD	Details & Registration
April 11, 2012	Orlando, FL	Details & Registration
April 17, 2012	Tampa, FL	Details & Registration
April 19, 2012	Ft. Lauderdale, FL	Details & Registration
May 1, 2012	Charlotte, NC	Details & Registration
May 22, 2012	Waltham, MA	Details & Registration
May 23, 2012	Atlanta, GA	Details & Registration
May 23, 2012	Farmington, CT	Details & Registration
May 24, 2012	Malvern, PA	Details & Registration

Windows Phone Starter Kit for Conferences

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:53:35 GMT

This kit is still a work in progress. I am making it available now to get feedback. Please let me know if you find any issues. It will be available on github soon.

The Windows Phone Starter Kit for Conference allows you to easily create a Window Phone 7 app for a conference. The app displays speaker information, session information, schedule and more.

Because there is not universal data format for conference data, developers have to change the ConferenceService class to parse the data for the conference they are building the app for.

Building the Sample

This Starter Kit used the data from the 2011 Emerging Technologies for the Enterprise Conference http://phillyemergingtech.com/2011. We include the sample JSON file for your testing. In the Settings.cs file, make sure you change SessionServiceUri variable and point it to your own server.

You need to copy the ete2011.json to your own server.

public const string SessionServiceUri = "YOURSERVER/ete2011.json";

Source Code and Contributing to the Starter Kits

The source code for this starter kit will also be located on GitHub at the following locations:

http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/Windows-Phone-Starter-Kit-79e45e30

https://github.com/mangu/Windows-Phone-Starter-Kit-for-Conferences - coming soon

If you are interested in contributing to the Conference Starter Kit, please follow the instructions on GitHub for submitting a Pull Request found athttp://help.github.com/send-pull-requests/.

While you're here, please check out our other Starter Kits:

Windows Phone Starter Kit for Schools - Create a Windows Phone app for your school, team, club or organization!
Windows Phone Starter Kit for WordPress - turn your WordPress blog into a Windows Phone application!
Windows Phone Starter Kit for Podcasts - Turn your Podcast into a Windows Phone application!
Windows Phone Starter Kit for RSS - Application template for building RSS-based Windows Phone applications!

Screen Shoots

How Can I Use It?

The Conference StarterKit provides the basic functionality for creating a companion app for any given conference. It provides the following features:

Session List
Session Search
Detail Session
Schedule By Time / Day
Session Reminders
Speaker List

Since the source code is provided everything is pretty much customizable. For the most part, you will have to adapt the ConferenceService class to fetch data from your own location and change the parsing to match your format.

Join us at Game Developers Conference

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 03:42:26 GMT

At this event, Microsoft introduces developers to the future of games and entertainment. With technology deep dives focusing on Xbox LIVE and Windows 8, learn about how you can build great experiences by capitalizing on Microsoft's vision for connected entertainment.

Join us, and seize the opportunity to be in the first wave of games and entertainment applications that unleash the power of Xbox LIVE services across Xbox 360, Windows 8, Windows Phone, and the web.

More Info Here

AGENDA

Room 2022, West Hall 2nd Floor and Room , West Hall 2nd Floor (Combined)

10-10:10am- Welcome and Introduction
Speaker: Pete Isensee, Principal Program Manager Lead, Advanced Technology Group

10:10am-12:00pm- Entertainment Reimagined,
Speakers: Rob Copeland, Partner Group Program Manager, Windows 8; Xbox LIVE Services and John Bruno, Principal Program Manager Lead, Xbox LIVE Services; Pete Isensee, Principal Program Manager Lead, Advanced Technology Group
In this opening session for the Microsoft Developer Day, we'll share Microsoft's vision for the future of games and entertainment. Learn the roadmap to building breakthrough entertainment experiences across Xbox 360, Windows, Windows Phone, and the web. We prepare you for the Xbox LIVE and Windows 8 deep dive technical sessions that follow: learn about new Xbox LIVE services that enable new connected experiences along with the design principles and the architectural foundation for Windows 8 Metro style games.

Room 2022, West Hall 2nd Floor

1:00-2:00pm- Developing a Great Metro Style Game for Windows 8
Speaker: Chas Boyd, Principal Program Manager, Windows 8
Windows 8 delivers the opportunity for you to create engaging games that reach the broadest audience, running across a wide range of devices. In this session, learn the essential details of the new Windows 8 game development and application environment, including the Windows Runtime, CoreWindow, C++/Cx, and DirectX 11.1.

2:10-3:10pm- The Making of Metro Style Marble Maze
Speaker: Matt Sandy, Program Manager, Windows 8
Learn to build a great Metro style game for Windows 8 by exploring the Marble Maze 3D game sample. We walk you through key aspects of the application, as well as discuss recommendations for your content authoring pipeline, design time and run time resource formats, and new Visual Studio support for debugging 3D applications.

3:20-4:20pm- Async Gaming
Speaker: Dan McLachlan, Principal Program Manager Lead, Windows 8
Windows 8 runs on the broadest range of form factors, from super-light, low-power tablet devices to high-end gaming rigs with 3D displays. This session teaches you essential techniques for getting the most out of the GPU across the full range of form factors. This is a must-attend session for developers who want to reach the broadest possible market for their games.

4:30-5:30pm- Xbox LIVE on Windows 8 Deep Dive
Speaker: Brian Tyler, Principal Development Lead, Xbox LIVE Services
Xbox LIVE on Windows 8 provides a rich and robust set of APIs that enable game developers to accelerate the integration of Xbox LIVE services. This session is for developers who want to understand how we've taken advantage of the new Windows Runtime model to provide quick and easy access to Xbox LIVE services such as profile, achievements and leaderboards as well as value added scenarios, such as offline support, authentication and Windows integration. We dive into the code and design to ensure you walk away with the knowledge you need to quickly enable your Metro style games with Xbox LIVE.

Room , West Hall 2nd Floor

1:00-2:00pm- Xbox LIVE Services – Entertainment Powered by the Cloud
Speakers: Martin Sleeman, Senior Program Manager, Xbox LIVE Services and Ferdinand Schober, Advanced Technology Group
This talk describes how developers can create compelling entertainment experiences on any device using Xbox LIVE Services by way of our new RESTful APIs. Learn how your application can obtain secure access to our service, make HTTPS API calls from a variety of clients, as well as how to use the expansive set of Xbox LIVE services, including some new services, to keep your customers engaged with your experiences. This session provides you with a broad understanding of Xbox LIVE from a platform perspective, as well as insights into the API roadmap.

2:10-3:10pm- Game Data Anywhere Using Xbox LIVE Cloud Storage
Speaker: Michael Alyn Miller, Principal Software Development Engineer, Xbox LIVE Services
With gaming capabilities spreading rapidly across devices, there is an ever-increasing need to have service-based data sharing support. With our new scalable and flexible title storage service, developers enjoy the ability to persist user and game-specific data to the Xbox LIVE cloud! Come learn how to leverage these new RESTful APIs to enable cloud-based data storage and sharing for your cross-device game titles.

3:20-4:20pm- Asynchronous Gaming with Xbox LIVE Services
Speakers: Tim Gill, Principal Architect, Xbox LIVE Services and Jeff Braunstein, Senior Program Manager, Xbox LIVE Services
Multiplayer features make a game more fun, and are the driving force behind many successful games today. Cross-device gameplay provides publishers with a unique opportunity to delight players on any device, at any time, wherever they are. But how can a game have compelling multiplayer experiences when a player may be interrupted at any time by a phone call or a business meeting? With Asynchronous Gaming! Learn how you can use Xbox LIVE Services to create the best possible end-to-end asynchronous gaming experience on a single device or across multiple devices!

4:30-5:30pm- Connecting Xbox LIVE Web Games with Xbox LIVE Services
Speaker: Chris Flaat, Principal Development Lead, Interactive Software & Services
If you're not building games for the web, you're not capitalizing a captive audience. Web games are an easy way to reach millions and millions of eyeballs and integrating Xbox LIVE services keeps customers engaged and allows them to truly play anywhere at any time. Learn how your web games can be even better with Xbox LIVE Achievements, Title Managed Storage, Multiplayer Services and more!

Intended Audience

The primary audience for this Developer Day is professional developers who build games and entertainment applications for Xbox 360 and Kinect, Windows 8, Windows Phone, and the web. Developers will learn about the new Windows 8 Metro style application platform and new Xbox LIVE services that deliver breakthrough entertainment experiences across all of Microsoft's entertainment platforms.

Takeaway

Develop: Build Metro style games and entertainment applications today for Windows 8 and Xbox LIVE, and learn how to deliver your experiences and content to hundreds of millions of Windows customers
Connect: Learn about new Xbox LIVE services that enable breakthrough Xbox LIVE entertainment experiences across devices and the web
Succeed: Learn about new opportunities to reach more customers than ever before through Xbox LIVE on Microsoft's entertainment platforms.

Windows Phone Design Resources

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 03:03:38 GMT

Here’s another list of great Windows Phone resources for developers and designer. Lots of goodies here:

Windows Phone

Consumer site www.windowsphone.com

AppHub – Developer Site for Windows Phone http://create.msdn.com

Windows Phone YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/user/windowsphone (Watch Social, App and Web videos)

Resources

Windows Phone UX Guidelines http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh202915(v=vs.92).aspx

Design Templates for Windows Phone 7 http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=196225

Windows Phone Grid http://ux.artu.tv/?p=165

31 Weeks of Windows Phone Metro Design http://ux.artu.tv/?page_id=190

Get started, get the Windows Phone SDK 7.1 (Mango) http://create.msdn.com/en-us/home/getting_started

Silverlight Windows Phone 7.1 (Mango) Toolkit http://silverlight.codeplex.com/releases/view/71550

Microsoft Design .toolbox Tutorials http://www.microsoft.com/design/toolbox/school/tutorials.aspx

Microsoft Design .toolbox Courses http://www.microsoft.com/design/toolbox/school/

Calculator http://www.microsoft.com/design/toolbox/school/modules.aspx?lid=16&mid=46

Daily Awesome http://www.microsoft.com/design/toolbox/school/modules.aspx?lid=17&mid=47

Air Hockey http://www.microsoft.com/design/toolbox/school/modules.aspx?lid=18&mid=48

Golf http://www.microsoft.com/design/toolbox/school/modules.aspx?lid=19&mid=49

Windows Phone Geek - UX Resources http://www.windowsphonegeek.com/Resources/UX#ux

Jeff Wilcox’s “Metro” design guide for developers, v1.00 http://www.jeff.wilcox.name/2011/03/metro-design-guide-v1/

Quick Spacing, Margin, and Icon Tips for Windows Phone Devs http://www.jeff.wilcox.name/2012/01/metroradio-design/

Videos

Full Day Event Windows Phone Design Sessions http://blogs.msdn.com/b/jaimer/archive/2010/08/13/windows-phone-design-day-recordings.aspx

Windows Phone Design Day

Metro | the foundation http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechDays/Tekniset-Esitystallenteet/TechNet-2011-Windows-Phone-UX-osa-1

Metro | the foundation part II http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechDays/Tekniset-Esitystallenteet/TechNet-2011-Windows-Phone-UX-osa-2

Think & Design | sketch, wireframe, prototype, design http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechDays/Tekniset-Esitystallenteet/TechNet-2011-Windows-Phone-UX-osa-3

Refine | Best Practices http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/Design-Day-del-2-Refine-Best-Practices

Build | Building a Windows Phone App Prototype with Expression Blend http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/channel9spain/WINDOWS-PHONE-DESIGN-DAY-OPTIMIZA-Y-CONSTRUYE (Note: this video includes both REFINE and BUILD. BUILD starts at

BUILD 2011

Windows Phone User Experience Design http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/BUILD/BUILD2011/APP-832T

MIX11

All Thumbs: Redesigning an Existing UI to Suit Windows Phone 7 http://channel9.msdn.com/events/MIX/MIX11/OPN02

Analyzing and Improving Windows Phone Application Performance http://channel9.msdn.com/events/MIX/MIX11/DVC01

Application Design for Windows Phone http://channel9.msdn.com/events/MIX/MIX11/DVC02

Windows Phone UI and Design Language (MIX10) http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/MIX/MIX10/CL14

Design Talks

Mike Kruzeniski: Personal, Relevant. Connected: Designing Integrated Mobile Experiences for Apps and Web http://www.ixda.org/resources/mike-kruzeniski-personal-relevant-connected-designing-integrated-mobile-experiences-apps-a

How was CocktailFlow Designed? Creating a Beautiful Windows Phone 7 Application http://uktechdays.cloudapp.net/techdays-live/creating-a-beautiful-windows-phone-7-application.aspx

Albert Shum Talking about Windows Phone http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD8MqWvARfA

ReMIX South 2011 Keynote with Albert Shum and Arturo Toledo http://www.vimeo.com/27800521

Channel 9

Silverlight TV 81: Four Great Windows Phone UX Tips http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/SilverlightTV/Silverlight-TV-81-4-Great-Windows-Phone-UX-Tips

Silverlight TV 69: UX and Perceived Performance of WP7 Apps http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/SilverlightTV/Silverlight-TV-69-UX-and-Perceived-Performance-of-WP7-Apps

Silverlight TV 83: Using Wireframes to Visually Communicate a Windows Phone Experience http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/SilverlightTV/Silverlight-TV-83-Using-Wireframes-to-Visually-Communicate-a-Windows-Phone-Experience

Silverlight TV 75: Quick and Dirty UX Testing (Design Tips Mini Series) http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/SilverlightTV/Silverlight-TV-75-Quick-and-Dirty-UX-Testing-Design-Tips-Mini-Series

Silverlight TV 78: Designing Tiles and Splash Screens for Windows Phone (Design Tips Mini Series) http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/SilverlightTV/Silverlight-TV-78-Designing-Tiles-and-Splash-Screens-for-Windows-Phone-Design-Tips-Mini-Series

Inside Windows Phone #24 - User Experience for Windows Phone Apps http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/Inside+Windows+Phone/Inside-Windows-Phone-24-User-Experience-for-Windows-Phone-Apps

Twitter

Windows Phone Design Team @wpdesignteam

Windows Phone @windowsphone

Mike Kruseniski Blog http://mkruzeniski.posterous.com/ Twitter @mkruzeniski http://twitter.com/#!/mkruzeniski

Corrina Black, Windows Phone Design Lead for Developer Experience @corrinab http://twitter.com/#!/corrinab

Arturo Toledo, UX Designer Developer Experience @arturot http://ux.artu.tv http://twitter.com/#!/arturot

Windows Phone Design Twitter List http://twitter.com/#!/arturot/windows-phone-design

C-Sharpen Up

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:05:25 GMT

Don't miss this exciting day of C# content. Following the progression of the .Net Framework release schedule, we'll cover some great topics from each version of C#!
We'll end the day with a look at some popular "Best Practices" that can also help take your skills up a notch. What's best is that all of this material is based on current technology. So you'll be able to start using what you learned immediately!

Saturday March 17, 2012 from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm.

45 Liberty Boulevard
Great Valley Corporate Center, Suite 210
Malvern, PA 19355

REGISTER

Intended Audience

This is NOT an introduction to C#. This event is intended for experienced C# developers looking to step up their game and become familiar with some of the advanced features of the language that they may not be using today. We welcome all attendees but if you are new to C#, this may not be for you. We'll be moving pretty quickly through some complicated features.

Session Details

The Fundamentals Of .Net: In this talk we can talk about type system, manage code, assemblies, IL, reflection and GC.

Adding .NET Generics to your C# Recipes: When .NET introduced Generics, they were largely used in the Base Class Library to support strongly-typed collections. But Generics also open the door to a richer vocabulary for us to use to express our intent in code. In this session we will explore the multitude of uses for .NET Generic Types beyond collections including creating more flexible class declarations and method signatures as well as understanding the role of generic type constraints.

Demystifying Lambdas: A Lot More Than Just LINQ: When .NET 3.5 ushered in the age of the lambda expression for C#, the most visible use-case for this language feature was in support of Language-integrated-Query (more commonly known as "LINQ"). But lambdas also offer us the opportunity to be much more succinct in our coding of many common C# constructs. From events to delegates to anonymous methods, closures, and more, lambdas offer us the opportunity to say more with less in a fundamentally different way than we've previously considered using C#. In this talk we will explore both the underlying principles behind lambda expressions and several of the ways that we can drastically improve our code by leveraging this new functional-style paradigm in .NET.

LINQ and Other Language Enhancements: LINQ (Language Integrated Query) is one of the best and easiest to use features in .Net. Introduced in C# 3.5, it allows developers to easily query collections of data. What is great is that it allows the same technique/syntax to be used to query objects in memory, databases, xml and other sources. The session will focus on the core principals of LINQ as well as several related language enhancements that make LINQ possible including extension methods, anonymous types, implicitly typed variables, and more.

C# 4.0: This presentation will cover the new C# 4.0 language features. This demo-heavy session will begin by covering various dynamic scenarios with C# including the new “dynamic” keyword, simplified Reflection, custom dynamic objects, duck typing, Iron Ruby integration, and more. We will also cover named and optional parameters, new COM Interop enhancements, co-variance, and contra-variance. If you are a C# developer, come learn about the new language tools that you can put in your toolbox!

Refactoring to a SOLID Foundation: In this session we take a small, functional but tightly-coupled, software solution and improve its design using each of Robert C. Martin's S.O.L.I.D. principles as follows: SRP: Single Responsibility Principle; OCP: Open-Close Principle; LSP: Liskov Substitution Principle; ISP: Interface Segregation Principle; DIP: Dependency Inversion Principle. Each principle is applied in sequence to the existing solution, making it possible for the attendee to observe the principle in relative isolation first while also evolving an understanding of how the principles all collaboratively reinforce each other when applied together. Before each principle is applied and the solution is refactored to introduce it, the attendee is presented with one or two simple PowerPoint slides to introduce the concept and provide some abstract understanding of its goals and benefits to OO programming. The principle is then applied to the existing solution, demonstrating the practical application of the principle to working software. At each step along the way, the existing solution (a simple console application) is re-executed, demonstrating that the overall behavior of the software solution has not been negatively impacted by the various refactorings.

Unit Testing Made Easy: In this demo I'll build a data driven application using C#, WCF and Silverlight and then test it end to end! Unit testing applications isn't really that hard to do. The hard part is writing code that is testable. I'll show you how to use patterns such as Dependency Injection and Single Responsibility to make your code easy to test. I'll also show how to use Mocking to make the tests easier to write. You'll be surprised at how easy these patterns and tools are to use! This demo is for anyone who wants to write testable code!

MADExpo 2012 Call for Speakers

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:45:22 GMT

Get your abstracts ready! We're kicking things off for MADExpo 2012. Last year we had a great response from the speaker community and we're expecting 2012 to be even better.
Abstracts
We're interested in all topics for all platforms. We're interested in sessions focused on single technologies and sessions that appeal to developers working with any language on any platform. If you have an idea, feel free to pitch it to us. These are just some of the areas we think would be interesting:

Web Development
Database Development
Client Development
Mobile Development
Cloud Development
Hardware Hacking and Microcontroller Programming
Natural User Interface (NUI) Development
Agile Methodologies

Best Practices
Open Source Development
Beginner Topics
Robotics
Portal and Content Management System administration and development
Infrastructure management and development
UX/UI and Design
Soft Skills

MADKidz Schedule

One of the things that sets this conference apart is MADKidz. There would be something to do for kids from 7 to 17.

More Json With Windows Phone

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 22:47:29 GMT

A few weeks ago, I did a short blog post on consuming Json from Windows Phone. I posted more as a reference for myself but I have gotten a few emails about it so I figured I would expand on it. Consuming Json is Windows Phone is not hard but it can be a bit trick. The problem is on the parsing. Unlike XML, there is no LinqToJson available to allow us to parse / query Json. The best way to parse it is to Deserialize the message to a know type.

That is he issues. Some types the services we need to communicate can be somewhat complex. No that is would be difficult to create a type for the message but I can be very tedious and error prone.

To make things easier, I found a great Json class generator.

You basically paste in some Json, and it generates a set of classes you can use to parse it.

Now is you look the Json I pasted, you will notice that is it not very well formatted. The generator will work either way but sometimes you might need to debug the Json and it would be a nightmare to debugged it with that formatting. To help I use this great tool.

The Json class generator uses the Newtonsoft.Json library for Windows Phone. Best way to get it installed is to use NuGet:

So, the code would look like this:

public ObservableCollection<SpeakerItemModel> GetSpeakers()
{
    SpeakerList = new ObservableCollection<SpeakerItemModel>();
    WebClient wc = new WebClient();
    wc.DownloadStringCompleted += new DownloadStringCompletedEventHandler(SpeakerCompleted);
    wc.DownloadStringAsync(new Uri(Settings.SpeakerServiceUri));
    return SpeakerList;   
}

void SpeakerCompleted(object sender, DownloadStringCompletedEventArgs e)
{
    //needed to append {"Speakers": and add } to the end to property format the json 
    string SpeakerJson = string.Format(@"{{ ""Speakers"":{0}}}", e.Result);
    SpeakerResponse response = new SpeakerResponse(SpeakerJson);

    for (int i = 0; i < response.Speakers.Length; i++)
    {
        SpeakerList.Add(new SpeakerItemModel
        {
            Bio = response.Speakers[i].Bio,
            FirstName = response.Speakers[i].FirstName,
            Id = response.Speakers[i].Id,
            LastName = response.Speakers[i].LastName,
            PictureUrl = response.Speakers[i].PictureUrl,
            Position = response.Speakers[i].Position,
            Twitter = response.Speakers[i].Twitter
        });

    }
}

Beta of Amazon Web Services SDK for Windows Phone Released

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:33:41 GMT

Yesterday we announce the “beta” availability of the AWS SDK for Windows Phone. You can read all about it here.

Getting started with the AWS SDK for Windows Phone:
Getting started guide
Getting Started video

Video walkthrough of the samples provided in the SDK:
http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/Interoperability/AWS-SDK-for-Windows-Phone-S3-sample-walkthrough

http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/Interoperability/AWS-SDK-for-Windows-Phone-SQS-sample-walkthrough

http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/Interoperability/AWS-SDK-for-Windows-Phone-SimpleDB-sample-walkthrough

Windows Phone Resources

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:07:48 GMT

Over the last year I have had the privilege to attend various hack events. I really enjoy getting together with fellow nerds and just hack at code together. I saw this this on email and thought I would share it with everyone.

Education

· Jump Start Videos - 19 videos covering common developer tasks in Windows Phone.

· AppHub Catalog - Tons of tutorials, samples and articles on Windows Phone development.

Additional Tools

· Silverlight Toolkit for Windows Phone - Includes more than 28 additional free controls like AutoComplete Box, List Picker, Hub Tile, MultiSelect List, Toggle Switch, Time Picker and more.

· Marketplace Test Kit - Included in the Windows Phone 7.1 tools (but not well known). This tool can check for many of the common mistakes that cause applications to be rejected before your app is even submitted into the marketplace.

· An image editing program such as PhotoShop, GIMP (free) or Paint.NET (free) - Needed for editing artwork, creating application icons and tiles, etc.

· A vector graphics editing program like InkScape - May come in handy for editing scalable drawings that can be used in Silverlight applications and games.

· An audio editing program such as Audacity (free) - May be useful for editing and converting sound effects or music.

Starter Kits (Silverlight)

· GART - Create Augmented Reality apps and games that use the camera, compass, GPS, etc. Create Augmented Reality apps in as few as six lines of code.

· Media and Podcasts - Play audio and video. Integrate with music and videos hub.

· Physics Helper Library - Create physics-based games and apps in Silverlight by drawing elements and attaching physics behaviors directly in Expression Blend.

· RSS - Create applications that render HTML pages shared as RSS feeds.

· Schools - Build an app for your school that includes information such as News, Maps, Links, etc.

· Translator - Build an app that does language translation, including Text to Speech.

· WordPress - Build a native app that allows users to read any WordPress blog.

Starter Kits (XNA)

· Card Game - Create card games. This kit demonstrates Blackjack.

· Catapult Wars - Like a simplified Scorched Earth or Worms.

· Dice Game - Create dice games, this kit demonstrates Yacht.

· Honeycomb - Move bees around using smoke. Avoid getting stung.

· Marble Maze - Move the ball using the accelerometer. Avoid the pitfalls.

· Memory - Like Simon Says.

· Ninja - Slice bamboo, throw shurikens, avoid dynamite. Similar to Fruit Nina.

· Platformer - Build a platformer game (similar to Mario, Sonic, etc.)

· RPG - Create advanced role playing games.

Icons

· The Noun Project - Hundreds (if not thousands) of icons for just about anything you can think of, all free. These icons will download in Scalable Vector format (SVG) and will need to be converted to PNG at the size of 48 x 48 pixels. Either InkScape or Expression Design can be used to do the conversion.

· BRKR Design Icon Pack - This pack costs $20 but it includes 350 of the most commonly used icons already sized and ready to go. This single package includes all 350 icons for Windows Phone, iPhone and Android.

Images

· Every Stock Photo - Search thousands of images, many of which can be used in apps and games. Click on advanced search, then click the Licenses dropdown and check ONLY the boxes for Public Domain and Custom Free. When you find the image you're looking for, be sure to follow the search result back to the original site and read the license to make sure it can be used in your application.

Sound Effects

· Soundjay - Hundreds of sound effects that are licensed for use in apps and games. Most (if not all) of these sound effects should play as-is on Windows Phone. You can use a tool like Audacity to convert any sounds that don't play into ones that do.

· Freesound - Thousands of free sound effects. Carefully check the license for each sound effect because not all sound effects can be used in commercial applications. Some sound effects may also require you to give attribution (credit) to the author in your application. Not all sound effects on this site can be played on Windows Phone. You can use a tool like Audacity to convert sounds that don't play into ones that do.

Music

· Incompetech - Hundreds of high quality songs available for use in apps and games. They're even organized by genre, "feel" and keyword. These songs are all amazingly free, though the author kindly suggests a donation of $5 per track used.

· FreePD - Another great resource for finding free music in the public domain. Their FAQ states that all of the songs listed are available for use without attribution. Double-check that the page shows "CC Zero" at the bottom.

30 Days to Launch Mobile App Challenge

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:37:43 GMT

To celebrate the launch of Seed Philly, the Philadelphia tech community's newest resource, we are throwing down a mobile app challenge in Philly throughout the month of February...join us over 4 weeks to build a Windows Phone app!

Your tickets includes admission to all 4 sessions, and food and drinks will be provided.

Dates:

February 1 7:00-9:30 pm Getting Started with Windows Phone Development
February 8 7:00-9:30 pm Exploring Phone Capabilities
February 15 7:00-9:30 pm Data & Network Access
February 22 7:00-9:30 pm Publishing Your Application

Location:

Seed Philly
1650 Arch Street, Suite 1906
Philadelphia, PA 19103

Why should you care?

You could go home with a Windows Phone Device** on February 22nd and you'll have your new app in the Windows Phone Marketplace!

Whether you're a mobile app guru or just starting out, the Windows Phone Marketplace is a great place to showcase your app. Many Windows Phone app developers are finding their apps are gaining more attention and downloads from the Windows Phone Marketplace vs. other marketplaces, which is increasing their downloads, revenue and exposure.

We will be giving away one Windows Phone device each to participants who present their app onsite at the last session. (A maximum of 50 winners at the last session on February 22nd, 2012. If there are more than 50 individuals presenting, 50 winners will be selected at random from the presenters. Presentations should cover an overview of the app and be under two minutes long. App should be net new, not published to the Marketplace prior to the start of this campaign, January 30th, 2012).

Detailed terms and conditions:

* $99 registration fee applies. We will provide up to a maximum of 50 coupons good for a free registration to the Windows Phone marketplace, to the first 50 onsite that register on the marketplace. Windows Phone Marketplace terms and conditions apply to your use of the Marketplace.

**Not available to Government or Public Sector Employees. Microsoft employees are also not eligible for this offer. Limited to one phone device per person. Participants remain responsible for acquiring a calling plan and for all related charges and taxes in connection with the Windows Phone.

Campaign Participation Eligibility:

Participants must be US residents 18+ or older
Microsoft employees are not eligible for the marketplace rebate or device
Not available for Government or Public Sector Employees

Introducing Project Woodland

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:59:42 GMT

Earlier I blogged about a new blog series that I am starting this year and will continue over the next few months. The idea is to document the process of creating a real product from start to finish. Since I am not making this a real business venture at this time, I will only focus on the technology side of thing.

This project will satisfy different needs for me. I find it easier to blog about real life scenarios so this project should facilitate that. Also, I am teaching a Systems Integration class which typically entails getting a “corporate client” so the students can build a project from start to finish. The problem with this approach is that in most cases the “client” does not get too involved in the project and often have very rigid technology requirement like using tools that are a few generations old. While I think it is important to expose students to the real world, I would much rather have then build something with current technologies.

The Project
Codename “Woodland” (every cool project needs a codename) is something I wanted to build for about a year now. When I released my first Windows Phone App, my church quickly asked me to port the app over to other platforms.

As we looked into porting the app we soon realized that the way the audio (Bible studies) was stored made it real difficult for the data to be retrieve. The media itself was not hard to find but the meta data behind it was non excitant. When first build my app, I did it by literally copying hundreds of studies and build around the information I had available. However, since we now wanted to make this the official apps for the church, we wanted to provide more functionality. To do this we needed to build a new catalog with media metadata and other workflow features build into it. However, due to time and resource constraints, we decided to just buy a service that provided the church with the features needed .

So why build one? Well, it is my goal to provide this service to other churches that cannot afford to pay for. I also had other ideas that I thought would be cool to have.

At a very high level the project is divided into three different components: The Media Portal, APIs and Mobile Clients.

Project Plan
Since, this not a one man project, I needed to organized the project from the very start. To do this, I decided to use Scrum principals to help me manage the project. This is obviously not the perfect scenario to run a Scrum project but I think it is important to expose the students to real world project management frameworks. Also, I was able to get my hands of the new hosted TFS service which has awesome support for Scrum. It took 5 minutes to create the project including adding users, backlog and initial sprint information.

Well, that is all for now…stay tune as project Woodland starts taking shape.

My Secret Dream

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:46:02 GMT

Ok maybe is not a secret at all as I believe it is common knowledge that all developer dreams of striking it big. To come up with the one technology, framework or product that changes the game. Yes, I am being over dramatic but I am sure if we poll 100 developers, 90 or more will tell you that they thought about it.

So why don’t we see more developers start their own business? I am not exactly sure but for me there was always they fear of failure. I did not want to take time and money away from my family just to get a concept or project to the point where I could see if I had something good or not.

Times have change. It is less risky today to give your dreams a try. Development is a lot easier with hundreds of open source tools and frameworks, infrastructure cost is a small fraction of what it use to be and new market opportunities (App Stores) have made it more attractive for developers to follow their dreams.

While I still flirt with the idea myself, my current interests and family situation are not aligned with my entrepreneur spirit. I can however, explore the feasibility of starting a venture in todays environment.

I am borrowing an idea from an old blog / article series by Eric Sink. Over the next few weeks I will post about my experiences and findings as I work on a new “venture” (no I am not leaving my day job. This is more a way to get some blog posts up for my day job ). Next step would be to define the project, select the tools and well start building.

At a very high level I anticipate writing about: Azure, MVC 3, API design, Windows Phone and BizSpark. I am sure other post will also come out of it. Please stay tune.