|
|
Browse by Tags
All Tags » Expression Blen... » Technical stuff (RSS)
-
My editor at Sams (hey Neil :)) and I decided to convert the book I am almost done writing into an Unleashed. There are multiple reasons for that, the most important being that the book addresses multiple audiences, and has a broad range of coverage, which is typical of the Unleashed series. The content goes enough in depth (according to Neil) to be placed in the Unleashed series. While the Unleashed series usually targets more advanced users than the Teach Yourself one, this book has lots of content that can be useful for a variety of audiences with chapters that lead the user from the start of their journey through Silverlight. We put a great deal of attention in explaining complex concepts such as Object Oriented Programming, Data Binding, Templates, Transforms, the Animation system, Media integration, and so on with many practical descriptions, hands-on demos and figures which is typical of the books from Sams. I was not too sure about that move at first, but after thinking about it Read More...
|
-
Wow. That's an incredible feeling, seeing my name on Amazon :) The book is in pre-order!! I'd better get back to editing it then :) Read More...
|
-
I've been working since September 2007 (more or less) on an upcoming Silverlight book titled "Teach Yourself Silverlight in 24 Hours" at Sams. This book will be aimed at beginners with the technology (and maybe even beginners in programming). The reader is walked (with a lot of code samples and step-by-step examples) through most features of this amazing technology. The book has 24 chapters, each of them taking more or less (maybe rather a little more than a little less, to be honest :)) one hour to read. There are really tons of demos and cool examples, and so far the feedback I got has been really great. Clearly, the whole of Silverlight cannot be taught in 24 hours :) but the book should give a very good and deep insight in this framework, and give the reader a taste for more. I also tried to show where additional resources can be found, and to allow the user to continue their education on their own after they finish reading. Below, you will find the table of content for the first 13 Read More...
|
-
Here we go, Silverlight 2 beta 2 can be downloaded and installed! I had the chance to take part to an "insiders" program at Microsoft, and to play with SL2 b2 for a couple of weeks, and it's a good one. You should switch to b2 as soon as you can! There are obviously incompatibilities between b1 and b2, but much, much less than between the alpha version and b1. We're getting there!! Silverlight 2 beta 2 will be used to build applications related to the Beijing olympics, so it's going to be a real nature test for that version. As for the final release.... it's still very much hush hush, so let's leave it for now :) The best place to start is ScottGu's blog . As usual, Scott describes the new features at length, and has links to all the places where you can download the good stuff. Note that there is also a new version of Blend 2.5 which can be installed next to a "normal" Expression Blend V2. There is supposed to be a new version of Deep Zoom Composer too, but the download seems to be down Read More...
|
-
You got to be kidding me. What if I want Expression in the US locale, I can't buy it just because my IP is not in the US? Honestly? You are *that* stupid? Read More...
|
-
I just posted today's talk at the RIA conference in the World Trade Center, Zurich. Unfortunately it was not recorded, but the slides and the demos' source code is available on my site. The talk went really good, even though the crowd was rather tough :) Trying to "sell" Windows Presentation Foundation, a desktop Windows-only technology, to an audience of web developers, many of them using Java and open source technologies (and even one Adobe employee) sparkled some very interesting discussions. I can't say I convinced everyone (and it was most certainly not my intention), but I think everybody had a really good time. I know for sure that I did! To all those who stayed until the end of my presentation, and even though mine was the last presentation of the day, thank you very much!! To those who couldn't stay, I hope you'll have fun checking the slides and the demos, and contact me if anything is unclear!! Read More...
|
-
Introduction I've been posting a lot about Silverlight lately, but hey, here is a WPF post, and about WPF integration, no less. Note : To fully understand this article, you should have a basic understanding of WPF, styles and templates, triggers, etc... In my current project at work, I act as WPF Integrator. I am that dude who sits between the designers and the developers, and tries to avoid that they fight too much. Or something. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, you know how it is with kids. They need their freedom. But I digress. One important task of a WPF Integrator is (drum roll) WPF integration. For us, this operation usually occurs when we have a design iteration. The way we create application components is (roughly) the following: The Developer creates the component in Visual Studio. The component is composed of a main assembly (EXE or DLL), containing "functional XAML" and source code (code-behind), and a "Skins" DLL containing XAML resource dictionaries. (Note: Because Read More...
|
-
Introduction In WPF, one of the best know effects is the "reflection" effect, where a scene reflects itself dynamically. It's a very cool feature, because it's really easy to realize, and it allows to reflect images, but also videos or other User Interface scenes. The key to this is to use a VisualBrush. Silverlight is not exactly as powerful as WPF, and doesn't have VisualBrush, but it has ImageBrush and VideoBrush, both of them allowing cool media reflection effects (these brushes can also be used for other things!). The key to making a reflection is placing a picture (or a video), and underneath it, an element (typically a Border). Then, you set the background of this element (Border.Background) to an ImageBrush (or a VideoBrush) pointing to the source that you want to reflect. To make the reflection look more lifelike, however, you want to skew it (because the surface you reflect is forming an angle with the reflecting element); also, you typically use an OpacityMask and make it look Read More...
|
-
The Swiss edition of the TechDays 2008 is over. It was a great success,many people came, and as far as I can say, people had a good time. I didn't attend any sessions though, because I hung out in the main area instead and met a number of people (some of them I knew from MIX or other occasions), and talked talked talked. Yesterday evening, there was a party, I didn't stay too late though because I wanted to be well rested for my talk this morning. My talk titled "Siemens goes WPF, Lessons learned" went great. It was in the first slot of the day, starting at 9. Many people came (I didn't count, but the room was 90% full, I'd say). People even laughed at my lame jokes (since no designers came to the session, I was free to joke about them, bwahaha :) Seriously, I regretted that no designers attended, but it's not very surprising. TechDays are rather developer-oriented (something I hope will change in the future, and Microsoft will open up and invite more designers soon). I had a lot of positive Read More...
|
-
Robbie Ingebretsen: "This is a creative experiment" "We didn't always look into best practices" Talks about the Integrator role. Nathan Dunlap: "Designers should probably use Visual Studio more" "It's a great tool to dive into the code,check the SDK..." Snippets are distributed as a Snippet installer VSI file. Silverlight code snippets WPF code snippets By the way, check Dr WPF's snippets too! To access the Nerd snippets in the code, simply type "nerd". Displays the list of all snippets. Custom Control to display image sequences, provided for free. "ImageSequencer.cs" Propery SourceFolder, points tothe folder containing the sequence of images Snippet "Storyboard" allows to modify values of a storyboard from code. Snippet "Sound player" provides a lightweight way to play sounds. Value converters Provides a default implementation Creating a new custom panel WrapPanel in Silverlight DeepZoom snippet for Silverlight, looks pretty cool! Provides easy zooming into a DeepZoom prepared image. Get Read More...
|
-
The keynote is transmitted live at http://tinyurl.com/2x63xc Read More...
|
-
Karen Corby NB: Code will be posted on Karen's blog User control, motivations Re-use Modularization Encapsulation Same concept as in WPF No more need for "InitializeFromXaml()", good news. The "XAML hook" is done for us by the framework KeyDown Event can now be handled on any component level, not just the application level like before Databinding in Silverlight, how much sweeter can it get. Can't wait to play with it... Wondering how well the MVVM pattern can be used in Silverlight. Oh yeah, flow layout is probably even sweeter than databinding. Accessibility of controls Keyboard tab, focus, directional navigation Screen reader support based on UIAutomation (check Mark Rideout's videos) Custom Control, motivations Separate the visual from the logic For default L&F add generic.xaml file set BuildAction to Resource remove CustomTool build action add ResourceDictionary with default L&F for the Custom control. Styling Tweek minor visual characteristics Major difference to WPF: Styles Read More...
|
-
Silverlight 2 Beta 1 runtime Download Microsoft Silverlight Tools Beta 1 for Visual Studio 2008 (contains the SDK) Download Microsoft Expression Studio 2 Beta (contains Blend 2, Design 2, Web 2, Media 2 and Encoder 2) Download Microsoft Expression Blend 2.5 March 2008 Preview (can be installed side by side with Blend 2) Download Microsoft® Silverlight™ 2 Software Development Kit Beta 1 Documentation Download Source Code and Unit Tests for Silverlight 2 Beta 1 Controls Download Read More...
|
-
WeatherBug New Silverlight application running on Nokia Cool app, "very easy to develop using Silverlight" Scott Guthrie Wrapping up and summarizing. Time to have lunch!! Read More...
|
-
Cirque du Soleil Use WPF application to track cast information Cirque du Soleil recruiting ScottGu for their shows. Good idea. "Come see the Man Who Never Sleeps". Scott Guthrie Performance for WPF videos and image handling MUCH better. Pretty cool Write custom effects in WPF and they are pushed to the hardward for acceleration. (for example ripples, shadows, etc...) Effects applied to controls during runtime, physics engine calculation, all pushed to hardware for better performance. All these included in .NET 3.5 SP1 available this summer. "Let's talk about mobile", yes, let's! Silverlight available for Windows AND non-Windows mobile phones. Stimulant Silverlight application running on mobile phone. See where your friends are in real time. Photos and videos. Tell your friend you're on your way in real time. Shows current location in real time. "Rich intuitive user experience for mobile environment". Scott Guthrie "Trying to get Silverlight on as many mobile devices as possible" Microsoft Read More...
|
|
|
|