WPF and SilverLight

Mix10 Session Downloader

Frank La Vigne — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:57:00 GMT

I’ve created a very basic downloading tool for grabbing all the MIX10 Session Content.

Absolutely, no frills, in the UI . Seriously.

Downloads are all synchronous. Did I mention it was a no frills, quick and dirty app?

It’s alpha code all the way.

On the plus side, it renames the files to something more friendly than just the session code.

For example: “CL02” becomes “CL02_Authoring for Windows Phone, Silverlight 4 and WPF 4 with Expression Blend.wmv”

It’s based heavily on my no-frills PDC09 Downloader with a few improvements.

The primary improvement is that it screen scrapes directly from the MIX10 site. There’s no longer the intermediary step of me creating an XML file based on the HTML. I do that programmatically now.

The app also creates a sub-director for each content type: WMV, WMVHigh, Slides, and MP4.

Here’s how it works:

Download from www.franksworld.com/Downloads/MIX10Downloader.zip [20k zip file]
Pick a directory and the program will download all the MIX10 sessions listed on http://live.visitmix.com/videos
Click on the checkboxes to choose which content you want to download
Click the Start Download Button
Let simmer for a few hours (or days) depending on your internet connection
When it’s done, the program will show a dialog box of any errors it encountered.
If you need to stop it, close the program and delete any unfinished downloads: the program is smart enough to pick up missing files.

I’ll post the source code soon here on franksworld.com as soon as I clean it up a bit.

UPDATE: Removed dependency on .NET 4.0 Thanks to Daniel McCoy for pointing that out!

UPDATE 2: Removed bug that stopped download of sessions with “|“ and “:“ in the session title.

Technorati Tags: Mix10

Chuck Norris and Silverlight Facts

Frank La Vigne — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:52:00 GMT

Inspired by Chuck Norris and SharePoint: here’s Chuck Norris and Silverlight.

Silverlight’s original codename was CN/E or Chuck Norris Everywhere.
Even when Silverlight throws an AG_Unkown_Error, Chuck Norris knows what caused the problem.
Chuck Norris not only codes XAML by hand, he does it while fighting off ninjas, terrorists, and kung fu masters.
Even when you use hardware acceleration, Chuck Norris’ fists are still too fast to see them coming.
Chuck Norris chooses to put his files in isolated storage to protect you from him.
Chuck Norris didn’t have to wait until version 4 to get Commanding support
Chuck Norris doesn’t have to ask for permission to use your web cam.
Chuck Norris has to run in out of browser mode. No browser can contain him.
There’s actually only one timeline that matters: Chuck Norris’.
Chuck Norris isn’t afraid to use Expression Blend. Expression Blend is afraid of being used by Chuck Norris.
Chuck Norris doesn’t refactor to MVVM. MVVM refactors to Chuck Norris.
In addition to COM Interop, Silverlight 4 now sports Roundhouse Kick Mode.

If you think of any more, let me know via Twitter. (@tableteer)

Technorati Tags: Chuck Norris,Silverlight,Fun,Humor,Geek Humor

Bea Stollnitz on Advanced Features for Line-of-Business Applications in Silverlight and WPF

Frank La Vigne — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:12:00 GMT

Bea Stollnitz, formerly of Microsoft, gave a talk on Advanced Features for Line-of-Business Applications in Sliverlight and WPF at Øredev and now it’s on Vimeo.

The latest versions of Silverlight and WPF make it easier than ever to create compelling user interfaces. This presentation will cover advanced topics of these frameworks, with a special focus on features relevant to business applications. You will gain a solid understanding of virtualization, data validation, and other advanced areas that are sure to increase your productivity and effectiveness.

It looks like she has video embedded disabled, so you’ll have to watch the video on this page.

Technorati Tags: Silverlight,WPF,Line of Business,AppDev

Mike Swanson on MIX10

Frank La Vigne — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:50:00 GMT

Mike Swanson has a blog post on the MIX10 conference taking place next week. Here are some of the highlights:

Windows Phone 7 Series – Honestly, it was tough to keep this one under wraps, especially with something this exciting. If you haven’t watched the Mobile World Congress keynote with Steve Ballmer, Joe Belfiore, and Andy Lees yet, go do that first. It’s a great introduction.
We have 12 Windows Phone sessions, and while we haven’t revealed the real titles and descriptions yet, know that MIX10 is the best place to learn how to build applications and games for Windows Phone 7 Series. You’ll be introduced to the development platform and we’ll show you how to use the tools. Best of all, attendees will receive exclusive free developer support.
To stay in-the-loop on Windows Phone 7 Series-related information, be sure to follow @ckindel on Twitter.
Channel 9 Live – Similar to PDC09, Nic Fillingham (@nicfill) and crew are planning to broadcast live content during most of MIX10. Watch the 10-minute Countdown to MIX10: Let’s do it Live for the details and follow @ch9live on Twitter.

Keynoters:

Back by popular demand is Bill Buxton, recently honored as one of BusinessWeek’s World’s Most Influential Designers. Bill was a favorite at MIX09, and we received a lot of positive attendee feedback about how accessible Bill was in the hallways between sessions. Well, Bill loved it just as much, and he’s excited to be back again this year.
MIX veteran, Scott Guthrie, returns to the stage as one of our highest-rated keynote speakers. I’ve been working with Scott and his team on keynotes and demos for the past few months, and I have to say that I’m excited about what he has to show this year. Well, I’m excited every year, but MIX10 feels special. Be sure to watch Bill and Scott in the MIX09 day 1 keynote.
The astute among you may remember MIX10 keynoter, Joe Belfiore, and his Beyond the Browser general session from MIX06 (the first year of the conference). He’s back this year, and as the Corporate Vice President of Windows Phone Program Management, you can probably guess what he’s going to talk about.
Last, but certainly not least, is Dean Hachamovitch, another MIX veteran and General Manager of Internet Explorer. You can watch Dean in last year’s MIX09 day 2 keynote. To get a sense of what his team has been up to, watch the PDC09 day 2 keynote with Steven Sinofsky, and jump to 39:34.

I’ll be in MD, but my head will be in Vegas next week. ;)

Technorati Tags: MIX10,Windows Phone 7,WP7

Sneak Peek at .toolbox design school for Silverlight and Expression

Frank La Vigne — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:56:00 GMT

Adam Kinney shows us a sneak peek at the .toolbox design school for Silverlight and Expression tools.

The site will be launching soon, so follow @designtoolbox to be among the first know when it does.

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The animation reminds me a bit of South Park. ;)

Technorati Tags: .toolbox,Silverlight,Expression,Training

Avast Ye XAML Heads

Frank La Vigne — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:16:00 GMT

Arrr, Cameron Albert is cookin' up a cool Sil'erlight Game Gar, Where can I find a bottle o'rum?

Sorry, I couldn’t resist using the Pirate Translator.

Cameron shares a screencast of the pirate themed game he’s developing in Silverlight.

Technorati Tags: Games,Silverlight,Casual Games,Silverlight Game Dev

Silverlight 4 Book Discount Codes

Frank La Vigne — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:05:00 GMT

If you plan on picking up Silverlight 4 Business Application Development – Beginner's Guide, you might as well save money. Use the following codes when purchasing directly from Packt Publishing.

MsSilver15 – Save 15% off hard copy of the book

MsSilver30 – Save 30% off the eBook

If you are a .NET developer looking to expand your skills into Silverlight this is a great introductory book.

The book gets you involved in the code right away and we try and keep the working code philosophy throughout. If you like to learn by doing, then this is the book for you.

So, what are you waiting for? Pre-order now. ;)

Technorati Tags: Silverlight,Silverlight 4,Book,Packt

Slides from Bing Maps & Silverlight Talk at N3UG

Frank La Vigne — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:39:00 GMT

To go along with the links from my talk, here is the slide deck:

Bing & Silverlight: Perfect Together

View more presentations from Frank La Vigne.

I’ll be giving a similar talks in the near future in the Mid-Atlantic area, so keep an eye on my blog and Community Megaphone for more details.

Technorati Tags: North Jersey,N3UG,Bing Maps,Silverlight,GeoLocation

CapArea.NET Silverlight SIG News

Frank La Vigne — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:29:00 GMT

In case you're wonder WTH happened to the Silverlight SIG in January and February: you may have heard the good news: I'm a dad now!

You may not have heard the bad news: I seriously injured my shoulder in January.

Meetings will resume March 31.

In fact, I’ll be doing a Deep Dive talk on Silverlight 4. [add to calendar]

If you can't wait until March 31 to get your Silverlight fix, keep a close eye on the goings on next week at MIX10. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I won’t be able to make it this year. :(

Congratulations to Leonard Van Lowe!

Congratulations are in order to the Leonard Van Lowe (@lvanlowe), the new vice-president of the SIG.

He's a local Silverlight expert and all around great guy. He'll be there to help run the group and make sure I am no longer a single point of failure.

Sponsors!

We're looking for sponsors to help support the group. Seriously, we need sponsors. Our pizza fund is in jeopardy.

see more dog and puppy pictures

I'll bring cake to a meeting in the near future to celebrate the publication of my Silverlight 4 book, but unless more sponsors step up, that'll be all the food we'll get for a while. Contact us for details. (frank@franksworld.com or scott@caparea.net)

There are a lot of great things coming down the pipe this year: Windows Phone 7, Silverlight 4, etc..

Here's to a great 2010, even if we have to start it in March. ;)

Technorati Tags: Silverlight,SilverlightDC,Pizza

Links from Bing Maps Silverlight Talk at N3UG

Frank La Vigne — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:06:00 GMT

Thanks to everyone who attended my Bing Maps & Silverlight talk the other night at the North Jersey .NET User Group.

It was good to be home, even if just virtually.

As promised here are some links I mentioned in my talk.

IP to Location – free IP to LatLong service
Download the Bing Maps Silverlight Control
Bing Maps Silverlight Edition
Interactive SDK
Bing Maps Developer Portal – this is where you’ll get an API key
Cake-O-Rama Locations – basic mapping sample from my book
Delivery Application – advanced sample from my book with geocoding, reverse geocoding and routing
Twitter Map – see who’s tweeting what and where

Paul (@moon) was kind enough to record the session on video and post it to his site, so you can relive the entire experience. ;)

Technorati Tags: Silverlight,Bing Maps,Bing,Mapping,GeoLocation