TechPreacher

Sascha Corti  //  Developer Evangelist working for Microsoft Switzerland. Focusing on WPF, Silverlight, Surface and mobile technologies. Passionate MMORPG gamer, with a life.

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Jan 22 / 8:49am

Big news for Kindle owners – Amazon to release a Kindle SDK (via TeleRead)

According to a news release from Amazon, next month they will be releasing an SDK (software development kit) that will allow software developers to build and upload active content that will be available on the Kindle store later this year. The release states that Handmark is developing an active Zagat guide, Sonic Boom is building word games and puzzles and EA Mobile is porting some of its games.
via teleread.org

An interesting idea to keep eBooks interesting in the current slate hype. I wonder how these apps will perform.

Filed under  //  coding   gadgets   software  

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Jan 19 / 4:24pm

Hands-on Lab: Silverlight 4 Line of Business Application using WCF RIA Services

After building this lab from the ground up and running it successfully in three classes last week, we are now ready to publish it.

In this 108 page hands-on lab you will learn how to use Beta 2 of Visual Studio 2010 and Beta 1 of Microsoft Silverlight 4 to create a data driven line of business style rich internet application that implements many of the new features that Silverlight 4 introduces. We will base our solution on the Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) RIA Services.

The solution will be an order-management system that shows a list of orders in a data grid and details of a selected order in a details pane. The system will validate user entries and have the capabilities of printing order reports and exporting order lists to Microsoft Excel.

Download the hands-on lab manual in PDF and Word format, the database and the final sample solution.

These features are implemented in the lab:

  • True multi-tier architecture.
  • Entity framework and service layer definition.
  • Data filtering, paging, sorting and grouping.
  • Data modification and validation.
  • Foreign key management.
  • Projections.
  • Programmatic printing from a Silverlight application.
  • COM interop with Microsoft Excel and running full-trust out-of-browser.

The following are the system requirements needed to complete the hands-on lab. The links point to the download location of the product or a trial version.

Optional Components

The hands-on lab manual has detailed instructions on installing all the prerequisites.

Filed under  //  coding   microsoft   web  

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Dec 9 / 9:47am

Microsoft MIX10 has Open Call for Content for everyone to participate!

Do you have a session idea and would like to present it at MIX10? We invite you to submit your ideas on topics that explore design, web development or business around building innovative web sites. While it is not required to address Microsoft-specific technologies, entries should consider interoperability. Join the dialogue and share your inspiration and expertise as we build The Next Web Now.
via live.visitmix.com

I am very much looking forward to this conference that will be a huge thing for everybody doing web- and Windows phone development (as announced at the day 2 keynote of PDC2009 in Los Angeles).
This open call for content will add some interesting sessions to the Mix-session-mix, I am convinced!

Filed under  //  coding   events   microsoft  

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Dec 3 / 5:20pm

nsquared publishes first book on Microsoft Surface application development

nsquared presents the first comprehensive Microsoft Surface book for developers and designers! Developing for Microsoft Surface: Crafting Exceptional Experiences gives you everything you need to start creating great software for Microsoft Surface.
via nsquaredsolutions.com

This looks interesting. The labs that are presented in the book are downloadable from nsquared's site.

Filed under  //  coding   microsoft  

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Nov 20 / 10:03am

Microsoft Surface Manipulations and Inertia Sample for Microsoft Silverlight available for download!

Download link: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=4b281bde-9b01-4890-b3d4-b3b45ca2c2e4

The manipulations and inertia processor classes allow graphical user interface (GUI) components to move in a natural and intuitive way. Manipulations enable users to move, rotate, and resize components by using their fingers. Inertia enables users to move components by applying forces on the components, such as flicking the component across the screen. The contents of this sample are covered by the Microsoft Surface SDK 1.0 SP1 license agreement, with any additional restrictions noted in the Readme file. The purpose of this download is educational use only and is made available "as-is" without support.

Also interesting: The Silverlight Multitouch Input Documentation on MSDN.

Filed under  //  coding   microsoft   web  

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Nov 20 / 9:55am

Monster-Mashup Surface demo video from #PDC09. Crazy!

A great demo that shows Surface-/Object-Interaction using fiber optics to display parts of the Surface UI on top of an object placed ON the Surface.

Source: http://blogs.msdn.com/surface/archive/2009/11/19/surface-monster-mashup-and-real-world-objects.aspx

Filed under  //  coding   gadgets   microsoft  

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Nov 19 / 11:33am

John Papa explains what's new in Silverlight 4 in 12 minutes up on Channel 9.

The video can be found here: http://channel9.msdn.com/learn/courses/Silverlight4/Overview/WhatsNew/

A word-doc format whitepaper going into details of these new features can be found here: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=177698

Filed under  //  coding   microsoft  

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Nov 19 / 9:24am

Microsoft Surface SDK can now be freely downloaded!

As announced at PDC 2009, the Microsoft Surface SDK 1.0 SP1 has been released for download at http://www.microsoft.com/surface/Pages/Technical/Learn.aspx.

Surface SDK includes the APIs, documentation, and tools to help you develop Surface touch-enabled applications on your workstation. No Surface unit is required for development and testing, a Surface simulator allows you to test multi-touch input – just attach as many mice as you want touch points - and 2D-barcode / tag recognition.

Before you download the Surface SDK, make sure you read the Setting Up a Development Environment article to learn about the hardware and software requirements for developing Surface applications on a workstation.

Make sure to follow the Surface blog if you are interested in Surface development.

Filed under  //  coding   microsoft  

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Oct 28 / 9:16am

"Through the Eyes of Expression Blend" - 10 free online Tutorials on Silverlight using Blend.

These tutorials are for everyone wanting to get to know Silverlight and Expression Blend quickly.  The tutorials have been created to learn about the features of Silverlight by simply drawing, resizing, dragging and dropping elements on the design surface of Blend. No code or prior Silverlight knowledge needed.

The content is provided at a high-level to cover a wide array of topics in a short time. Links to more detailed information are provided at the end of each tutorial.

1. Drawing an emoticon in Expression Blend
First steps in getting to know the tools and workspace in Blend

2. Element Transformations
Learn to use Scale, Rotate, Skew and 2.5D Transformations

3. Get Started with Animation
A Quick Overview on Creating Time-Based Animations

4. Playing Video with the MediaElement
Using the flexible MediaElement control as a reusable Surface

5. Arranging Pictures to Learn Layout
Use the Grid, StackPanel, ScrollableViewer and Border to position Images

6. A Look at Text in Silverlight
Learn about Displaying Text, Font Properties and Embedding Fonts

7. Import an Adobe Photoshop File into Blend
Convert the assets from a Photoshop file into Interactive Controls

8. Styling and Skinning Controls
Customize the Look by Setting Properties and Building Templates

9. Styling and working with Design-Time Data
Explore how Templates and Bindings are used to display dynamic data

10. Giving Behaviors a Test Drive
A brief overview and walkthrough of the Behaviors included with Blend

Filed under  //  coding   microsoft   web  

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Oct 26 / 4:45pm

Get the Windows Azure Service Management CmdLets from the MSDN Code Gallery

via code.msdn.microsoft.com

The Windows Azure Service Management CmdLets are a set of PowerShell cmdlets wrapping the Windows Azure Service Management API. These cmdlets make is simple to script out your deployments, upgrades, and scaling of your Windows Azure applications.

Samples and documentation are available on the download page: http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/azurecmdlets

Filed under  //  coding   microsoft  

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