Friday, March 30, 2012

Silverlight layout: Grid

        <Grid ShowGridLines="True" Background="Gray">
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition></RowDefinition>
<RowDefinition></RowDefinition>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition></ColumnDefinition>
<ColumnDefinition></ColumnDefinition>
<ColumnDefinition></ColumnDefinition>
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Button Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="0" Content="0 - 0"></Button>
<Button Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="1" Content="0 - 1"></Button>
<Button Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="2" Content="0 - 2"></Button>
<Button Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="0" Content="1 - 0"></Button>
<Button Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="1" Content="1 - 1"></Button>
<Button Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="2" Content="1 - 2"></Button>
</Grid>



Silverlight layout: Grid

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Windows Phone SDK 7.1.1 Update Now Available

The Windows Phone SDK 7.1.1 Update provides additional functionality to the existing Windows Phone SDK 7.1. Using this update, you can more easily develop apps and games that are optimized to run on 256-MB devices. This update includes a new 256-MB version of Windows Phone Emulator, an updated 512-MB version of Windows Phone Emulator, and IntelliSense support.

Windows Phone SDK 7.1.1 Update includes the following

  • New 256-MB version of Windows Phone Emulator
  • Updated 512-MB version Windows Phone Emulator

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Silverlight: HorizontalAlignment

Silverlight: HorizontalAlignment
    <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="White">
<StackPanel Background="Gray" Width="400">
<TextBlock Text="HorizontalAlignment"></TextBlock>
<Button Content="Default"></Button>
<Button HorizontalAlignment="Center" Content="Center"></Button>
<Button HorizontalAlignment="Left" Content="Left"></Button>
<Button HorizontalAlignment="Right" Content="Right"></Button>
<Button HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" Content="Stretch"></Button>
</StackPanel>

</Grid>

Silverlight layout of StackPanel

Silverlight layout of StackPanel

    <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="White">
<StackPanel Background="Gray" Width="400">
<Button Content="Button"></Button>
<Button Content="Button"></Button>
<Button Content="Button"></Button>
<Button Content="Button"></Button>
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" Background="LightGray">
<Button Content="Button"></Button>
<Button Content="Button"></Button>
<Button Content="Button"></Button>
<Button Content="Button"></Button>
</StackPanel>
</StackPanel>

</Grid>

Border of Silverlight

Modify on MainPage.xaml of last article of "Silverlight 5/Visual Basic: Add event handling code" to add borders on the TextBlock and Button.

    <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="White">
<StackPanel>
<Border Margin="5" Background="Yellow">
<TextBlock x:Name="textBlock" Text="Hello!"></TextBlock>
</Border>
<Border Margin="20" Background="LightBlue" BorderBrush="SteelBlue" BorderThickness="5" CornerRadius="10">
<Button x:Name="button1" Click="button1_Click" Content="Click Me"></Button>
</Border>
</StackPanel>
</Grid>


Border of Silverlight

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Pro Windows Embedded Compact 7: Producing Device Drivers


Windows Embedded Compact 7 is the natural choice for developing sophisticated, small-footprint devices for both consumers and the enterprise. For this latest version, a number of significant enhancements have been made, most notably the ability to run multi-core processors and address more than the 512 MB of memory constraint in previous versions.

Using familiar developer tools, Pro Windows Embedded Compact 7 will take you on a deep-dive into device driver development. You’ll learn how to set up your working environment, the tools that you’ll need and how to think about developing for small devices before quickly putting theory into practice and developing your own first driver from the ground up.

As you delve deeper into the details of driver development, you’ll learn how to master hardware details, deal with I/O and interrupts, work with networks, and test and debug your drivers ready for deployment—all in the company of an author who's been working with Windows CE for more than a decade.

Packed with code samples, Pro Windows Embedded Compact 7 contains everything you'll need to start developing for small footprint devices with confidence.

What you’ll learn

  • Understand the internals of Windows Embedded
  • Know how the Windows Embedded Compact device driver model works
  • Plan and design your device driver from scratch
  • Develop stream interface device drivers
  • Learn how to develop NDIS network device drivers
  • Debug and test device drivers for quality and performance

Who this book is for

This book is ideal for anyone who wants to learn how to develop device drivers. While primarily focused on driver development, it also provides useful insights for both application developers and BSP developers.

Table of Contents

Part I: Getting Started
  1. Introduction to Device Driver Development for Embedded OSs
  2. Development Environments—The Tools of the Trade
Part II: Fundamentals
  1. Design your Device Driver First!
  2. Mastering the Hardware Details
  3. Dealing with Device Driver Registry Settings
Part III: Device Driver Types
  1. Understanding Device Drivers
  2. The Essence of Stream Device Drivers
Part IV: Device Driver I/O Essentials
  1. Device Driver I/O and Interrupts
  2. Device I/O Control Handling
  3. Network Device Drivers
Part V: Debugging and Testing
  1. Debugging Device Driver Code
  2. Using CTK to Develop Test Code

About the Author

Abraham (Avi) Kcholi holds a bachelor of science degree in pure mathematics from the London School of Economics. He has developed time critical systems, GIS infrastructure components, and command and control systems for military and industrial automation based on Windows CE technologies since 1998, and Windows XP Embedded technologies since 2004. Some of his projects include designing medical and GIS systems for military usage and creating the 2008 classroom materials for the SPARK initiative. Avi also develops and teaches courses on Windows programming covering technologies such as MFC, COM+, .NET, and Windows Embedded.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Lang.NEXT 2012

Lang.NEXT 2012 is a cross-industry conference for programming language designers and implementers on the MIcrosoft Campus in Redmond, Washington. With three days of talks, panels and discussion on leading programming language work from industry and research, Lang.NEXT is the place to learn, share ideas and engage with fellow programming language design experts and enthusiasts. Native, functional, imperative, object oriented, static, dynamic, managed, interpreted... It's a programming language geek fest.

details: http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Lang-NEXT/Lang-NEXT-2012

Monday, March 12, 2012

The new features available in Visual Studio 11 for web developers




If you're a web developer, Mads Kristensen and Jorge Gabuardi are about to be your new best friends. In this episode of Web Camps TV, Mads and Jorge introduce you to all the new features available in Visual Studio 11 for web developers. From the improved CSS editor to serious JavaScript improvements, a new set of color tools, and the brand new Page Inspector, Visual Studio 11 is loaded with new ways to enhance your web development experience.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Silverlight 5/Visual Basic: Add event handling code

- Modify from the last article "Hello Visual Basic Silverlight 5, using Microsoft Visual Studio 11 Ultimate Beta". Edit MainPage.xaml in XAML view to add property of Click="button1_Click", to specify the call-back function once the button clicked.
    <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="White">
<StackPanel>
<TextBlock x:Name="textBlock" Text="Hello!"></TextBlock>
<Button x:Name="button1" Click="button1_Click" Content="Click Me"></Button>
</StackPanel>
</Grid>


- Click the Design tab to switch to Design view, and double click on the button, to insert code of button1_Click() in MainPage.xaml.vb.


- Enter the code:
    Private Sub button1_Click(sender As Object, e As RoutedEventArgs)
textBlock.Text = "Hello, I'm here!"
End Sub

button1_Click()

- Run it.
Silver 5/Visual Basic: Add event handling code


Next:
- Border of Silverlight

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Hello Visual Basic Silverlight 5, using Microsoft Visual Studio 11 Ultimate Beta

- Click New Project... in start-up page of Microsoft Visual Studio 11 Ultimate Beta.
New Project...

- Select template of Silverlight under Visual Basic, Silverlight Application with name of "hello_VBSilverLight". Click OK.
New Project

- Uncheck "Host the Silverlight application in a new Web site", select Silverlight Version of Silverlight 5, click OK.
New Silverlight Application

- The application wizard will generate the start-up project for you.
Start-up Silverlight 5 project

- Edit MainPage.xaml in XAML view - double click on the XAML tab to open XAML editor, we are going to insert something using XAML manually, instead of using graphical Design tool.
Open XAML editor

- Type in something inside the <Grid> element:
<UserControl x:Class="hello_VBSilverLight.MainPage"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
mc:Ignorable="d"
d:DesignHeight="300" d:DesignWidth="400">

<Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="White">
<StackPanel>
<TextBlock x:Name="textBlock" Text="Hello!"></TextBlock>
<Button x:Name="button1" Content="Click Me"></Button>
</StackPanel>
</Grid>
</UserControl>

Edit XAML

- Now, click the "Start" button. A browser will open and load your Hello World Silver 5 application.
Hello VB Silverlight 5


Next:
- Silverlight 5/Visual Basic: Add event handling code

Cliplets - create imagery that sits between stills and video

A still photograph is a limited format for capturing a moment in time. Video is the traditional method for recording durations of time, but the subjective "moment" that one desires to capture is often lost in the chaos of shaky camerawork, irrelevant background clutter, and noise that dominates most casually recorded video clips.

Microsoft Research Cliplets is an interactive app that uses semi-automated methods to give users the power to create "Cliplets" -- a type of imagery that sits between stills and video from handheld videos. The app provides a creative lens one can use to focus on important aspects of a moment by mixing static and dynamic elements from a video clip.

Project Page: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/cliplets/


Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Beginning Kinect Programming with the Microsoft Kinect SDK


Beginning Kinect Programming with the Microsoft Kinect SDK gets you up and running developing Kinect applications for your PC using Microsoft tools and the official SDK. You will have a working Kinect program by the end of the first chapter! The following chapters will open up the secrets of three-dimensional vision, skeleton tracking, audio through the Kinect, and more. Examples illustrate the concepts in the form of simple games that react to your body movements. The result is a fun read that helps you learn one of the hottest technologies out there today.



Beginning Kinect Programming with the Microsoft Kinect SDK
also provides building blocks and ideas for mashing up the Kinect with other technologies to create art, interactive games, 3D models and enhanced office automation. You'll learn the fundamental code basic to almost all Kinect applications. You'll learn to integrate that code with other tools and manipulate data to create amazing Kinect applications. Beginning Kinect Programming with the Microsoft Kinect SDK is your gateway into the exciting world of three-dimensional, real-time computer interaction.



  • Helps you create a proper development environment for Kinect applications.
  • Covers the basics of three-dimensional vision, skeleton tracking, gesture recognition, and audio
  • Provides fun examples that keep you engaged and learning

What you’ll learn

  • Create a proper development environment
  • Work with data streams from the Kinect sensor
  • Use skeleton-tracking for interactive applications
  • Build speech-aware applications
  • Develop simple, Kinect-based games for the PC
  • Learn the underlying math involved in three-dimensional programming

Who this book is for

Beginning Kinect Programming with the Microsoft Kinect SDK is for Microsoft developers who want to learn to program for the newest and coolest Microsoft input device. The book assumes familiarity, but not expertise, with WPF and C#. Developers will be able to use their current knowledge and experience with the Microsoft stack to build new types of applications that have never been possible before. Most of all, this book is for developers who want to go beyond simply creating data-entry applications and recapture the fun of creating software.

Table of Contents

  1. Getting Started with Kinect
  2. Application Fundamentals
  3. Depth Image Processing
  4. Kinect Skeletons
  5. Advanced Skeleton Tracking
  6. Kinect Gestures
  7. Speech
  8. Beyond the Basics

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Free Book: touchdevelop — programming on a phone

touchdevelop — programming on a phone
This book contains an introduction to the idea of programming on a phone, illustrating in depth everything one needs to know to get started with the TouchDevelop app and the TouchDevelop language. The book is comprehensive in its treatment of the language, and follows a logical structure from simple constructs to more advanced ones. The aim of the book is twofold: It tells a teacher everything there is to know about the new programming paradigm, and it serves well as a reference to students who are learning the system.

Download here: http://www.touchdevelop.com/book

TouchDevelop: Program your phone directly on your phone with TouchDevelop!

TouchDevelop
With TouchDevelop, you do not need a separate PC. Scripts can perform various tasks similar to regular apps. Any TouchDevelop user can install, run, edit, and publish scripts. You can share your scripts with other people by publishing them.



Learn programming with TouchDevelop...

Microsoft Translator web page widget

Microsoft Translator web page widget
The Microsoft Translator web page widget allows you to bring real-time, in-place translation to your web site. Users can see your pages in their own language, without having to go to a separate translation web site, and share your page with friends in multiple languages.

Get it here: http://www.microsofttranslator.com/widget/

Microsoft Translator web page widget work on Android phone running Opera Mobile:
Microsoft Translator web page widget work on Android phone running Opera Mobile

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Install Visual Studio 11 Beta

- To download Visual Studio 11 Beta, visit http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/11/en-us/downloads, click the download link.
http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/11/en-us/downloads

- Click to Run the downloaded file,
vs_ultimate.exe.

- Accept (or change) the install directory, accept the terms and conditions, and click INSTALL.



- Setup completed with error: Windows Software Development Kit for Metro style Apps Service unavailable! May be because I run on 32-bit PC. click LAUNCH to start Visual Studio 11 Beta.



- Choose default environment settings and local help documentations. Click Start Visual Studio.


- It will take a moment.


- Visual Studio 11 Beta started
Visual Studio 11 Beta

- Microsoft Help Viewer will be opened also, you can update with expected help topics.
Microsoft Help Viewer

Delete Windows.old after installed Windows 8 Consumer Preview

After installed Windows 8 Consumer Preview, it will save the original Windows folder to Windows.old. If it's no need for you, you can remove it using Disk Cleanup.
Windows.old

- Enable administrative tools, refer to the article "Enable administrative tools on Windows 8 Consumer Preview".

- Run Disk Cleanup from Metro Interface.
Disk Cleanup

- Click "Clean up system files".
Clean up system files

- After the system files scanned, you can check to include "Previous Windows installation(s)".
include Previous Windows installation(s)

- Finally, click OK to cleanup it.

Enable administrative tools on Windows 8 Consumer Preview

To enable administrative tools on Metro Interface of Windows 8 Consumer Preview

- Move the mouse to the lower-right corner, click the Settings icon on the pop-up menu.
Start Settings

- Click Settings.
Settings

- Click to say "Yes" on Show administrative tools.
Enable Show administrative tools

- More icons will be shown on Metro interface. (May be you have to log-out and log-in again).
Windows 8 Consumer Preview with Administrative tools

Windows 8 Consumer Preview Demo