September 2005 - Posts
I have been sitting here for a couple of hours with Atlas, and I love it! It works really good, and it´s easy to use it.
I have done a translater with it here:
http://www.mikaelsoderstrom.com/
That´s all for now, folks!
The clock is 4:35 am at the moment and I´m sitting here at my computer, installing WinFX SDK again because I just formatted my hard drive while I´m drinking my 7th cup of coffee.
While sitting here I have been thinking about the Windows Presentation Foundation and all the amazing stuff you can do with it such as 3D images flying around. Well, it´s a really nice feature, but how will that affect the application designers? The ability to use 3D in the applications can be nice, but what if it will be abused?
I really hope that I don´t have to go nuts because the menu in the application is flying away when I try to click on it, or if I they (the designers) put some videos in the application that is flying around just because they
can.
*getting my 8th cup of coffee*
By the way, before I formatted my hard drive, my computer was a mess. Nothing worked, so I felt I really had to do it.
After I reinstalled Windows XP I could finally test Windows Codename (btw, how should I write it? Code-name, Codename, Code Name? :P) Max. It´s a really nice application that is done with XAML. It´s clean, good looking and is easy to use, great job!
*getting another cop of coffee*
Am I a caffeine abuser? I have been drinking 9 cups of coffee the last 2 hours, that can´t be good.
Thats all for now. Finally done with the worst blog I have ever done. I must be the most boring man on the world.
Just found this picture:
Sad, but true. :)
The Internet Explorer team just released a developer toolbar for IE 6 & 7. I just installed it and tested the functions and hI have to say that it´s great!
You can validate your site against W3C, get information about all the tags, outline tags, resize the window, disable cache/images/cookies/script/popup blocker and much more!
Go to the IE Team Blog
There are so many new things to try out so I´m going crazy. But I decided to try out Linq (Language Integrated Query) first.
I got really inspired starting with this while watching the Channel 9 interview with Ander Hejlsberg.
Who haven´t dreamt about writing SQL direct in your C# with CLR debugging instead of creating a string with the SQL or using stored Procedures. Now you are able to use CLR data types and get all the functionality in .NET while filtering the data!
If you want to use Linq you need to download the Tech Preview from MSDN. It will be integrated in Visual Studio 2005 so you can easilly start building applications using Linq + C# or VB.NET.
Here is an example I wrote in 2 minutes just to see if it worked correctly:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.Query;
using System.Xml.XLinq;
using System.Data.DLinq;
namespace LINQTest
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
int[] iNumbers = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 };
var expr = from s in iNumbers
where s > 3 && s < 7
orderby s
select s;
foreach (int item in expr)
Console.WriteLine(item);
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
}
This example is selecting the numbers from a collection where the value is between 4 and 6.
The output should look like this:
4
5
6
The fact that you can actually run queries against all collections that inherits IEnumerable is so damn cool! You can save a lot of code using this since you don´t need to run nested loops that checks everything.
I´m going to write about DLinq (how to use Linq while querying relational data) and XLinq (how to run queries against XML).
For further reading:
MSDN LINQ Home
LINQ Blogger RSS Feed
Download the Tech Preview
View 101 LINQ samples online
Googles has released Google Blog Search which let you search after blogs with a special keyword. Looks very interesting!
http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch
Oh man.. all these new things are driving me crazy. The latest application is Microsoft Codename Max which is an application written with WinFX Beta 2. I am installing it right now, and if you want a copy yourself you can download it for free at http://www.microsoft.com/max/.
The application needs WinFX RuntimeComponents 3.0 Beta 2 to run, but that is being downloaded automatically under the installation.
It feels like christmas! <g>
Official Max website
Max Team Blog
Microsoft has released a new web site for the new gadgets they are providing.
Gadgets come in three flavors:
- Gadgets for Windows Sidebar will run on your desktop or dock into Windows Sidebar, an upcoming feature in Windows Vista alongside other applications. Desktop Gadgets can developed using Windows Presentation Foundation, DHTML/Atlas, and even ActiveX controls. The beauty of Desktop Gadgets is that they are visually and programmatically rich – scaling from vector-based graphics and managed code to standard techniques you’d use for the Web. You’ll be hearing more about Windows Sidebar over the coming months here as we approach release around Beta 2 of Windows Vista.
- Gadgets for Start.com (a.k.a. Web or Server-based Gadgets) provide a fast, customizable homepage with a clean user interface – putting the user in control of more of their online experience. Currently in incubation/public preview, Start.com is a place where consumers can customize the web to their liking by adding their own sources of content including RSS web-feeds and web-based Gadgets that extend functionality of their site- anything from custom calendars to service integration. Start.com demonstrates the use of DHTML and ASP.Net Atlas, which separates the data from the UI resulting in significant performance improvements. In addition, Start.com Gadgets can easily support docking into the Windows Sidebar.
- Gadgets for Windows SideShow(tm) (a.k.a. Auxilary Display Gadgets) allow users to view their information on devices. Users can view their data where they want it, whether it is for instant access on the lid of a laptop PC, for notifications on a keyboard display or for convenience on a detached device like a cell phone. Gadgets for Windows SideShow run on the PC and use COM interfaces to send data to devices. This Windows SideShow platform combined with the power of desktop applications allows for new scenarios and opportunities.
Take a look at it at http://microsoftgadgets.com/.
Finally the Start.com Developer Center is here.
Today's preview of the Start.com Developer illustrates fundamental shifts in web programming patterns:
- DHTML-based Gadgets
Start.com consumes DHTML-based components called Gadgets. These Gadgets can be created by any developer, hosted on any site, and consumed into the Start.com experience. The model is completely distributed. You can develop components derived from other components on the web.
- Adding Behavior to RSS
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is an incredible platform for sharing content and information. Today all RSS feeds are treated equally by aggregators. Start.com integrates the world of RSS with Gadgets enabling any feed to optionally be associated with a rich, interactive experience. Some feeds present information that may be better presented in an alternative format. Other feeds leverage extensions or provide extra semantics beyond standard RSS (e.g., Open Search, Geo-based coordinates, etc). By enabling a feed to define a unique experience or consume an existing one, the richness of the aggregator experience can improve organically without requiring a new application. Of course, we also allow the user to control whether a custom experience is displayed for a feed.
- Open-ended Application Model
An open-ended application consumes Gadgets and provides core application services and experiences. This is and has been the Start.com model since its inception (that's how we stay so agile). By opening up Start.com, we have removed the boundaries around Start.com features and experiences. The community of developers and publishers can now define and control the richness of the Start.com experience.
The Start.com Blog
The Microsoft Gagdgets Blog
Today at the PDC Microsoft showed pictures from Office 12.
Well, my first thought was: "Oh.. Que?". Actually it is far from what we have seen earlier. Instead of the old general menus and the toolbar we have seen since 1997 they have now got an brand new toolbar since Offcie has evolved so much. Word 1.0 had around 100 commands, so then the old way were great, but now, Word 12 has over 1500 commands which makes the old way a little bit clumsy.
Since I do not have a copy of Office 12 yet I dont want to say too much about my own user experience, but as soon as I got one I will show you more of what´s new.
Read more & Screenshots
MSDN got two new Developer Centers, MSN and WinFX.
MSN Developer Center contains:
BTW.. A new version of WinFX SDK is out.
I just read on CNN that there was a black out earlier today. Maybe it´s done by someone upset for not getting a ticket to the PDC? ;)
This is really nice if you want to know how to light up your windows vista applications:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsvista/top10/