Showing posts with label Microsoft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Microsoft. Show all posts

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Scott Gu's - Silverlight 2 Tip,Tricks,Tutorial and Links

This is not the original article, the original article can be found here: http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/pages/silverlight-posts.aspx


I'll be using this page to link to Silverlight 2 articles and posts (both ones I write as well ones by others).  Check back often for updates as I'm just getting started.


Getting Started Tutorials


  • First Look at Silverlight 2: I recommend reading this post first if you are looking to get started with Silverlight 2 development for the first time.  It not only describes the high-level of what Silverlight 2 provides, but also links to a series of 8 blog posts that walkthrough building a Digg client sample application.  These tutorial posts provide a good introduction to Silverlight 2 and WPF development concepts.  You can also watch video versions of my tutorial here and here.


  • First Look at Using Expression Blend with Silverlight 2: I recommend downloading the Expression Blend 2.5 March preview and following along with this tutorial post.  I think it does a good job of showing off some of the common features of Expression Blend, and uses it to build an IM chat client sample.


  • Jesse Liberty Silverlight Tutorials: Jesse Liberty is writing an in-depth series of articles that cover Silverlight programming concepts in more depth.  Bookmark this page and check back frequently to read them as they get published (he also has PDF versions of each article that you can download and read offline).



Getting Started Presentations




  • My Getting Started with Silverlight Talk: You can download the slides + samples from my "Getting Started with Silverlight 2" talk that I recently gave in Arizona.  Feel free to re-use the slides however you want for your own presentations.


Documentation Links






Tutorials and Samples




  • Using Deep Zoom with Silverlight 2: Jacek Ciereszko has a nice blog post that describes how to use the "Deep Zoom" feature of Silverlight 2 to implement image zoom functionality like with the Hard Rock sample.




Deployment




User Controls



ListBox and ScrollViewer




DataGrid



  • Using Silverlight 2's DataGrid with WCF + LINQ to SQL: This 15 minute video blog demonstrates how to build a LINQ to SQL object model on the server and publish it using WCF.  It then demonstrates how to build a Silverlight client that uses the new Silverlight DataGrid control, and which calls the WCF service to retrieve the LINQ to SQL data to populate it with.


  • Simple Editing of Web Service Data in a DataGrid: Mike Taulty has a nice blog post that shows how to create a WCF service on the server, and then use it from a Silverlight 2 client to retrieve data, bind it to a DataGrid, allow users to update rows, add/delete rows, and then save it back to the server using Silverlight 2 Beta1.


  • Sorting with Silverlight 2's DataGrid Control: The DataGrid control in Silverlight 2 Beta1 doesn't yet have built-in column sorting support (it is coming in Beta2).  That hasn't stopped Matt Berseth though!  In this post he shows how to implement sorting using a custom header column approach.  Also check out Matt's post here, which provides a DataGrid test page that shows off a number of the current DataGrid features.


Control Templates





Web Services and Networking


  • Web Services and Silverlight: This helpful post discusses how to use web-services with Silverlight and links to relevant quickstart samples and documentation.



HTML Integration


  • Silverlight Interop with HTML: Wilco Bauwer has a great post on the HTML and JavaScript integration features enabled by Silverlight 2 (he should know all about them - since he was the developer who built them!).


Unit Testing


  • Unit Testing with Silverlight 2: This post of mine talks about how to unit-test Silverlight 2 applications using the unit test framework in the Silverlight SDK.


Video Scenarios



Accessibility and 508 Compliance


  • Accessibility in Silverlight 2: Mark Rideout from the Silverlight team talks about accessibility support with Silverlight 2, and talks about how you'll be able to build section 508 and accessible solutions using Silverlight.


Hope this helps,


Scott

Saturday, May 03, 2008

Beginning with Silverlight

I'm trying to get to grips with WPF and Silverlight, the possibilities of interfacing this technology with .NET 2.0 Winapps and Webapps, and the use of the expression range of application, Design;Blend; and Media.

If you are a student make your way to :

https://downloads.channel8.msdn.com/products.aspx

For access to Visual Studio 8 Professional Edition, Windows Server 2003 Standad Edition, SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition, The Microsoft Express Studio and XNA Game Studio 2.0

If you have access to your (ISIC) NUS Extra Card, you can sign-up to download these applications free of charge. Just remember to put the letter S in front of last twelve digits.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

[OS] Will Open Source ever oust Microsoft?

Two Harvard Business School Professors say "No". Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Pankaj Ghemawat explore the fundamental competitive dynamics question in their study, 'Will OSS ever displace traditional software from its market leadership position?'

They said that the one main advantage of OSS is that because users can modify the code directly (as they encounter problems or have new ideas on how to improve it), the development cycle is significantly shorter.

However, OSS has disadvantages too. Most importantly, it comes from behind in terms of market share (installed base). Because the value of an operating system depends critically on the number of users, traditional software has an advantage.

Their paper introduces a dynamic mixed duopoly model in which a profit-maximising competitor (Microsoft) interacts with a competitor that prices at zero (Linux), with the installed base affecting their relative values over time. The authors use a formal model to ask what conditions are needed for Linux to take over Windows. The questions that they addressed are:


  • Is Linux's superior demand-side learning sufficient to win out?
  • What is the effect of forced procurement by governments and some large corporations on the long-run equilibrium?
  • How do cost asymmetries play out?
  • Can Microsoft use piracy strategically to improve its market position?

From a managerial perspective, these are significant questions.

There is an interview with the report's authors here

Friday, June 30, 2006

Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer

I have now completed the exam to qualify as a MCSD: Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer. Exam 70-300: Analysing Requirements and Defining Solutions.