DevFish.NET

Calling All Windows Phone 7 Devs in Florida

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 04:55:18 GMT

Obviously, Windows Phone 7 is going to be on my radar for the next couple of months. We're looking to have some early adopter events in Florida, and are trying to make sure you've got the resources you need to get some apps developed. If you LIVE IN FLORIDA and are developing apps for Windows Phone 7, whether they are 0.99 apps, or more expensive type apps, let me know about them. Send an email to jhealy@microsoft.com and lets make we know about what you're working on. Note we also have a email list for devs in Florida who are Windows Phone or Windows Mobile developers. Apply to the group at http://fla-wimo-dev.groups.live.com if you're looking for some local types to dialog with.

IDFLinkable 2010 July 11

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:27:55 GMT

ON THINGS MICROSOFT
Silverlight Analytics Framework :: Silverlight for Symbian :: HTC HD3 :: SQL CE Compact Edition 4 :: VS2010 Report Viewer Redistributable :: Deep Zoom Hooters App :: Sharepoint Developer Center :: Security Guidelines for SQL Azure :: Microsoft by the Numbers :: Microsoft by the numbers interpreted by TechCrunch :: Beginners Guide to ADO.NET EF :: .NET Framework Source Code Libaries from Microsoft :: F# Banking Case Study

MISCELLANEOUS
Google says html5 is good, flash is better, webM is the future :: HTML5 Catfight

WP7 Tools Beta and CTP uninstall issues

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 19:10:07 GMT

Windows Phone Developer Tools Beta was released yesterday at the Microsoft World Partner Congress. Basically, this release means the toolset and runtime apis are pretty much feature complete.

If you're developing for Windows Phone 7 (WP7), upgrade to the latest tools. If you're not developing for WP7, well, that's a different issue.

If you installed the CTP of the Developer Tools, you'll need to remove the existing tools to proceed. To do this click Start :: Control Panel :: Uninstall a Program :: choose "Microsoft Windows Phone Developer Tools CTP - ENU" and uninstall the software.

CTP WANT TO REINSTALL ON UINSTALL - Occasionally there will be an error uninstalling the tools where it actually looks like the CTP wants to reinstall itself instead of uninstall. This is basically an issue where the tools can't uninstall as they dont have the msi's available anymore. Let the re-install of the CTP complete, then run the uninstall again. If the process still doesn't work then uinstall all the Silverlight runtimes and SDKs, and repeat the uninstall process for the CTP.

XNA TOOLS WONT UNINSTALL - Occasionally the XNA tools will just flat out NOT uninstall. If this is the case, you may want to try using the XNA Studio Cleanup Tool from http://blogs.msdn.com/b/astebner/archive/2009/04/10/9544320.aspx .

STILL DOESNT WORK - Aaron Stebner has written the definitive post on hacking it out. Go to this post to read more - http://blogs.msdn.com/b/astebner/archive/2010/07/12/10037442.aspx

Once your uninstall is complete (or you just didn't have any CTP tools installed), its time to install the beta tools. Best bet is to hit the "get the tools" link at http://developer.windowsphone.com .

Once the beta tools are installed, there are some great learning resources such as ebooks and videos at http://developer.windowsphone.com . Also download the Windows Phone Training Kit from its homesite or the direct download link and work through the labs.

If you're a WP7 dev in Florida, let me know - http://www.devfish.net/fullblogitemview.aspx?blogid=754. For devfish's favorite WP7 links go here - http://dfwiki.devfish.net/technology.Windows-Phone-7-0.ashx.

IDFLinkable 2010-07-25

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 16:28:45 GMT

LOCAL SCENE
Building the Hooter Mosaic by Jay Kimble of Tampa :: DrPopper on WP7 from @billreiss of Tampa :: YABOG on WP7 from @bytemaster of Tampa

ON THINGS MICROSOFT
FREE EBOOK - Parallel Programming for .NET :: CCR v TPL :: Updated Design Tempaltes for WP7 :: UI Design and Interaction Guide for WP7 :: FaceBook C# SDK :: FREE ebook - Windows Azure Platform: Articles from Trenches: Volume 1 :: WP7 Physics Engine Demo :: Migrating from WP Dev Tools CTP to Beta :: Windows Phone Developer Tools Beta :: Hungry Castaway XNA WP7 Game

MISCELLANEOUS
taiwan on antenna-gate :: free cases for iphone4s :: Rippy the Alligator on Zune and YouTube :: how to find out if your iphone4 is bad :: issa questions google

IDFLinkable 2010-Aug-06

Fri, 06 Aug 2010 19:45:23 GMT

LOCAL SCENE
Silverlight DragDrop Checklist by Jay Kmible :: WP7 UI Guide 2.0 by Nikita Polyakov :: LightSwitch review by Dave Noderer :: got Visual Studio ideas? via Sedo Dream (a former local) :: Coaster Search WP7 App by Delvin Hall of Brandon, FL :: wpb.net meeting review by sam abraham

ON THINGS MICROSOFT
Azure 1 Month pass - no credit card required :: VS2010 ALM Content Pivot translated from German via bing :: Mark Russinovich joins the Azure team :: Win7 share up :: Houston SQL Azure Management IDE Links WP7 LOL Cat App :: wp7 paper prototypes :: Brian Prince : Bytes @ MSDN - Teched on Azure BootCamps with DevFish Interviewing :: Diane OBrien : Bytes @ MSDN - Teched on Azure Economics DevFish Interviewing

MISCELLANEOUS
iPhone PDF Fix coming soon :: Apple is patenting apps :: How Android can stumble :: Why iphone dominance is over :: Android Sales pass iPhone Sales :: W3C Unicorn Web Validator

SwampCoast er SouthWest .NET Florida CodeCamp III

Sat, 07 Aug 2010 16:50:11 GMT

photos from 2009 CodeCamp

CALL FOR SPEAKERS // REGISTRATION OPEN

What: SouthWest Florida .NET CodeCamp III
When: Saturday, September 25, 2010
Where: Florida Gulf Coast University, Estero, FL
URL and Twitter contact points: http://codecamp.swfldev.net, @swfldev, #swflcodecamp
Why: Up to 50 sessions, with over 300 attendees. Note SW Florida is the only codecamp with an Airboat as a logo! See the photos from last year for a glimpse of the all day geek fun. Raw notes from John Dunagan, fearless codecamp leader, are below...

Greetings, Devs!

Your Code Camp Organizing Committee is proud to announce that SW Florida .Net Code Camp 2010 is opening Call for Speakers and Open Registration at http://codecamp.swfldev.net .

As per last year, you’ll need a Live ID (the one that gets you on this list will do nicely) to register, and then if you choose, you may elect to present a topic at Code Camp by checking the box and entering your session information.

We grant preference in speaking at Code Camp to locals and new speakers, so I hope those of you who’ve never presented at Code Camp before will take advantage of this chance to put your talent on display for your fellow devs, the Florida .Net community at large, and even your potential future employer. Code Camp will take place on September 25th, 2010 at Florida Gulf Coast University. Room is not set, but we’ve indicated our first option is the same place we had last year (Embarq Aud. and Academic III for classrooms). We apologize for leaving it so late this year, but site problems and our ongoing transition to a non-profit agency for handling finances has stalled us.

However, we still believe we can execute successfully by that date, and once again improve over last year’s Code Camp. If your company, or the one you work for, is interested in Sponsorship Opportunities at Code Camp, they may contact me directly at jd.naples@hotmail.com . We need a minimum of six Platinum Sponsors this year to cover operating expenses for a Code Camp. I’d like at least the significant majority of those to be within our community, not least so that they can take a bow for keeping it possible for SW Floridians to earn a living at what they love.

I’m also happy to announce that although this isn’t a PASS-sanctioned event, I still have commitments from several people to deliver SQL topics, and you know Max and Chad are going to bring the Powershell. This in addition to the rich variety of topics we have always had, including multi-disciplinary stuff, should make it highly beneficial to you. Which is good, because that’s our goal.

Thank you all for your patience, and special thanks to Frank Salinas, Diane Leeper and Kevin Sheffield for their diligent work to get the site looking the best it has ever been, and rocking once again. I’ll be going out to the Florida Community with the call in about two hours, and many of them are already on this list, so get on in there.

:D Woot!
John

Windows Phone Garage East Coast Tour - Fall 2010

Sat, 07 Aug 2010 22:53:36 GMT

Windows Phone Garage (and FireStarter) - East Coast Tour Fall 2010
Dream It. Build It.
The power to build smart, visually stunning games and applications is right in your hands with Windows Phone 7. Want to see what's under the hood? You are invited to join your local Microsoft Developer Evangelists for an inside look at the Windows Phone 7 platform. You'll learn how to harness the strength of Silverlight and XNA to create compelling user experiences with rich, multi-media content. We'll also outline the new distribution and revenue opportunities Windows Phone 7 and the Windows Marketplace offer to web, game, mobile and interactive developers and application publishers.

Morning Sessions (9:00am-12:00noon)
• Introduction to Windows Phone Development and the WP7 platform
• Building Windows Phone 7 Applications with Silverlight
• Building Windows Phone 7 Applications using XNA

Lunch (12:00noon-1:00pm)

Afternoon Sessions (1:00P-5:00P)
• Monetizing Your Apps with Marketplace
• Windows Phone 7 Services
• Light Up Windows Phone 7

Amplify your creativity, productivity and profits with Windows Phone 7 – and don't miss these full-day sessions in your local area.

Windows Phone Garage| 6pm-9pm
As one of our most valued customers, we'd also like to invite you to a special Windows Phone Garage for mobile application developers following the Firestarter from 6-9 pm. This hands-on workshop will feature one-on-one proctoring from Microsoft and community experts. It's the perfect opportunity to design and implement that cool new app you've been dreaming about, so bring your ideas and get ready to code.

Locations and Dates

NOTE: Register for both day and evening events if attending both so we can get a food count!

TAMPA
2010-08-31
Joe Healy and Glen Gordon
Microsoft Office [ map ]
Day event: click here
Night garage: click here

LAUDERDALE
2010-09-02
Joe Healy and Glen Gordon
Microsoft Office [ map ]
Day event: click here
Night garage: click here

JACKSONVILLE CODE CAMP
Not an "official" event but a full day track of WP7 goodness anyway. Saturday, August 28, all day. http://www.jaxcodecamp.com

OTHER EAST REGION
8/24 - Atlanta - fire/garage
8/26 - Birmingham - coming soon
8/24 - Waltham - fire/garage
9/7 - New York - fire/garage
9/8 - Raleigh - fire/garage
9/21 - Charlotte - fire/garage
9/21 - Chevy Chase - fire/garage
9/22 - Philadelphia - fire/garage
9/28 - Pittsburg - fire/garage
9/30 - Farmington - fire/garage

Dont want to register online? Call 877.673.8368 with the event ID

If you have questions, please contact Joe Healy at jhealy@microsoft.com

WP7 Build Gives CAS Pol err and FileLoadException

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 00:48:47 GMT

Spent a good part of this Sunday working on getting 4square for WP7 working deployed to my Prototype LG WP7 device. My basic route was to pull the 4square for wp7 fork for the beta devtools ( thaks Anand ), and attempt to build it. Nothing is ever that easy. I received the following work of joy in the output window of Visual Studio 2010.

Error 1 The "ValidateXaml" task failed unexpectedly. System.IO.FileLoadException: Could not load file or assembly 'file:///C:\dev\WP7\Foursquare.2010.0804\References\Layout\System.Windows.Controls.Layout.Toolkit.dll' or one of its dependencies. Operation is not supported. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131515) File name: 'file:///C:\dev\WP7\Foursquare.2010.0804\References\Layout\System.Windows.Controls.Layout.Toolkit.dll' ---> System.NotSupportedException: An attempt was made to load an assembly from a network location which would have caused the assembly to be sandboxed in previous versions of the .NET Framework. This release of the .NET Framework does not enable CAS policy by default, so this load may be dangerous. If this load is not intended to sandbox the assembly, please enable the loadFromRemoteSources switch. See http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=155569 for more information. Blah blah blah...

<rathole>
Following the 155569 link led me to want to dig into setting loadFromRemoteSources in the config file.
Well, you can't do that in WP7, but Tim Heuer had experienced something different when dealing with Authenticode signed files.
He posted a nifty Powershell script to fix the issue here.
Tried that, couldn't get it working even after stripping out the certs. Same error.
So I moved on to my next Sunday project, leaving my 4square-on-the-phone-install on the shelf.
Next project of the Sunday was working @billreiss 's Popper2 code to see how his new touch revisions worked on a physical WP7 phone (we had already loadfested this once and he'd made some improvements).
His code hit the same CasPol type build error.
DevTools release maybe? I'm running some of the more recent devtools builds so I tried both popper2 and 4square on the pure Beta builds on my other machine. Same effect. But, saints be praised, during the course of the dialog @billreiss mentioned that he'd heard you needed to 'unblock' the DLL when it was copied over or you'd get a message like this.
</rathole>

Great for me and great for 4square as unblocking the System.Windows.Controls.Toolkit.dll and the System.Windows.Controls.Layout.Toolkit.dll resolved the 4square issues.
Bad for @billreiss as his dependency chain was a little more intense due to some framework stuff he's doing, and we're still working on his issue. LoadFest with @billreiss Wednesday at the Microsoft Tampa Office.

Moral of the story, if you're getting FileLoadExceptions with CAS policy yuckiness, try unblocking the file, then try TimH's PowerShell cert remover. Here's hoping someone else gets the three hours of their life back I just spent on this!

KEY LINKS
Unblocking a DLL - http://www.izenda.com/Site/KB/FAQ/How-to-unblock-your-dll-under-windows-7
@billreiss - http://www.twitter.com/billreiss - web url at his twitter feed
4square beta fork - http://4square.codeplex.com/SourceControl/network/Forks/anandiyer/FoursquareWP7DevToolsBeta

7 Steps to Get You Going on Windows Phone 7 Dev

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 18:34:05 GMT

Windows Phone 7 is hot right now, and I'm getting a ton of Qs on how to get started. Many different ways you could approach present themselves, but what's the best? Actually, I don't know but here's DevFish's Top 7 Steps to Windows Phone 7 Development ...

INSTALL THE DEVTOOLS - easy enough. Click once on the installer and down come all the goodies, including Expression Blend for WP7 and VS2010 Express for WP7. Click on "Download the Developer Tools" here , and while you're at it, explore some of the other links
WORK THROUGH THE TRAINING KIT - The WP7 Training Kit is a fine piece of work (if you're like me and love Hands On Labs to plod through at your own pace). Seven Hands-On-Labs covering basics, navigation, controls, push notifications, game dev with XNA, launchers, tombstoning, and more. Download from here .
READ PETZOLDs FREE EBOOK - Over 11 Chapters (and growing) of top notch "petzold-level-content" with source code even - Charles, I promise I'm buying a copy when it comes out - well worth downloading and printing (pine trees are a renewable resource) - find it here .
EXPLORE SOME ONLINE LEARNING VIDEOS - Traditionally the old DevFish doesnt do well with online videos, but there are some good sources out there to help you along. Here's some of his favorites - teched10 wp7 - MIX2010 (dated by still relevant)
WORK THROUGH SOME FUNCTIONING APPS - obviously you can learn a great deal by exploring other folks source code. A number of people are putting their projects on codeplex for all to see. I'm keeping a list of source code available apps I find here. There are also some great samples available online demonstrating various techniques at this MSDN Link. Read the code and get an idea of what's going on.
STAY CONNECTED - subscribe to the following blogs using your favorite RSS reader (I prefer RSSBandit )
- WP7 Official Developers Blog - http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_phone/b/wpdev/
- Anand Iyer - http://www.artificialignorance.net/blog/
- Bill Reiss - http://blogs.silverarcade.com/silverlight-games-101/
- Brandon Watson - http://www.manyniches.com/
- Kevin @Bytemaster Wolf - http://new.efficientcoder.net/
- Mark Artega - http://blog.markarteaga.com/
- Michael Kucher - http://klucher.com/
- On WP7 Blog - http://blogs.claritycon.com/blogs/windows_phone_7/default.aspx
- Rob Tiffany - http://robtiffany.com/
- Shawn Hargraeves XNA Game Blog - http://blogs.msdn.com/b/shawnhar/
- Silverlight Cream WP Dev(added by popular demand aug 12)
- Windows Phone Secrets - http://windowsphonesecrets.com/
JUST FOR DA FLORIDA FOLKS - furthest point of land from redmond in the usa - we gotta learn to be self-sufficient with all the hurricanes and mosquitos, you know? - so first, we've got over 50 hardworking WP7 devs signed up for the Florida focused wimo/wp7 developer list at http://fla-wimo-dev.groups.live.com . If you're up to it, signed up for the group for a chance to interact with some of your dev peers in Florida. Also, if you're working on apps in Florida (or for that matter anywhere in GA/SC/NC/AL/MS)? Fill out this form and get it back to me - http://cid-75364d9e73295107.office.live.com/self.aspx/publicstuff/wp7survey.docx . I'm particularly interested in release dates for your app, and any issues preventing you from getting your stuff 95% done in the emulator. I'm trying to get a mental handle on what's cooking in the area.

Looking for more resources? Here's a nice one-stop-shop for you. My wiki (yes, shameless linkback link spamming) for all things I like WP7 is at http://dfwiki.devfish.net/technology.Windows-Phone-7-0.ashx . My wiki is where I put "all those links I couldnt throw away". It changes week by week, but hopefully you'll find something there that's helpful. And if you have a top notch resource I dont have listed, let me know at jhealy@microsoft.com .

Where is my VS 2010 Windows Phone Express

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 21:36:01 GMT

OK, so you install the dev tools from http://developer.windowsphone.com .
Install on a clean box, and you'll get a sweet (free) IDE for WP7 - Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone.
But, install on a box with VS 2010 already it, well, "what happened to my Visual Studio Express 2010 for Windows Phone".
The notes from the install page at http://developer.windowsphone.com said it would be there!

Turns out, regardless of what's pre-installed, the WP7 tools installer always installs the Express Editions.
But if there's another version of VS on the box already, the installer will not create the start menu shortcuts for VS2010 WP Express.

Want to run VS2010 WP Express or setup a shortcut to it?
Dig into your file structure and set a shortcut to it.
I found mine at "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\VPDExpress.exe" .

For a smattering of various other tips and links on WP7, check out the pages at my public WP7 Wiki ...