XAML and UI, whever it is found. Phone, Surface, Silverlight or WPF
Posted in Tips on Mar 23rd, 2010
WPF has had bitmap effects since the first release. With WPF 3.5 SP1 Microsoft has rewritten the effects framework and dramatically improved their performance at the same time. If you want to start using the effects API without creating your own effects classes, you can use the built-in DropShadow or Blur effects. In this tip, [...]
Posted in Tips on Mar 22nd, 2010
A frequent scenario in UI applications is gathering information for later use. Dialog windows are a common way to solicit this information. Modal dialogs have an advantage over other types of windows in that the user has to answer your questions before they can continue. This benefit can turn into a curse however if use [...]
Posted in Silverlight, Windows Phone, XNA on Mar 15th, 2010
Yes, it’s true. The king of Windows programming books, Charles Petzold, has a new project in the works. He’s writing a book about Windows Phone 7 Series development. Here is an excerpt. Sometimes it becomes apparent that previous approaches to a problem haven’t quite worked the way you anticipated. Perhaps you just need to clear [...]
Posted in Silverlight on Mar 15th, 2010
Those of us who remember the Microsoft of ten or fifteen years ago recall the interminable long development cycles for certain products. Sometimes, it seemed that half a decade would pass before a new version of big product would ship. Project velocity at Microsoft these days is another story however. Microsoft is cranking out products [...]
Posted in Silverlight on Mar 8th, 2010
Stating the problem I need a place to store my streaming media files. I used the Silverlight streaming site for awhile, but Microsoft Azure came along and killed off the site. Azure is a more general purpose application hosting service than the Silverlight streaming offering and provides many more services so this is a logical [...]
