Channel 9 Microsoft http://mschnlnine.vo.llnwd.net/d1/Dev/App_Themes/C9/images/feedimage.png Channel 9 http://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/karstenj/Posts Channel 9 keeps you up to date with the latest news and behind the scenes info from Microsoft that developers love to keep up with. From LINQ to SilverLight – Watch videos and hear about all the cool technologies coming and the people behind them. http://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/karstenj/Posts en Fri, 24 May 2013 02:55:52 GMT Fri, 24 May 2013 02:55:52 GMT Rev9 17 1 25 Announcing TechEd Achievements We are excited to announce the launch of TechEd achievements for both TechEd North America and TechEd Europe.  There are five achievements you can earn: 

Go Getter (10 points)
Comment on five sessions before the conference begins. Visit the content catalog, search for the sessions you are interested and give the speaker feedback on what you'd like to hear in the session by clicking on the session title and submitting a comment in the comment section. Start commenting on the TechEd North America Sessions or the TechEd Europe Sessions.
 

I Love Apps (10 points)
Install the conference app.
 

Where Do You Want To Go Today (10 points)
Add ten sessions to your personal  agenda in our schedule builder. Start by creating your personal TechEd North America Session Schedule or TechEd Europe Session Schedule.  
 

Golden Ticket (10 points)
Buy a ticket to the conference.  If you've registered for TechEd, you have already earned this badge!  If not:  Register for TechEd North America or Register for TechEd Europe to earn it today!
 

Complete ten evaluations during the event.
 

When you unlock an achievement, a unique page is generated, like this one below, perfect for sharing on Facebook or Twitter. You can get to your achievements from your profile page:

I Love Apps is coming soon and How Do You Really Feel can be earned during the event as you fill out session evaluation forms. The other three are live and ready for you to start earning achievements.   Check out the achievement board to see how many people have unlocked the Golden Ticket!

It is worth noting that awarding achievements happens asynchronously, meaning it can take 5 - 10 minutes from the time you complete the steps required to earn the achievement and when you are awarded the badge.

So, what are you waiting for? Start the dialog with speakers about their sessions, fill out your schedule. Haven't gotten the golden ticket achievement yet? Do so by registering now!

Register for TechEd North America

Register for TechEd Europe

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/TechEd/Announcing-TechEd-Achievements We are excited to announce the launch of TechEd achievements for both TechEd North America and TechEd Europe.  There are five achievements you can earn:  Go Getter (10 points)Comment on five sessions before the conference begins. Visit the content catalog, search for the sessions you are interested and give the speaker feedback on what you'd like to hear in the session by clicking on the session title and submitting a comment in the comment section. Start commenting on the TechEd North America Sessions or the TechEd Europe Sessions.  I Love Apps (10 points)Install the conference app.  Where Do You Want To Go Today (10 points)Add ten sessions to your personal  agenda in our schedule builder. Start by creating your personal TechEd North America Session Schedule or TechEd Europe Session Schedule.    Golden Ticket (10 points)Buy a ticket to the conference.  If you've registered for TechEd, you have already earned this badge!  If not:  Register for TechEd North America or Register for TechEd Europe to earn it today!  How Do You Really Feel (10 points)Complete ten evaluations during the event. When you unlock an achievement, a unique page is generated, like this one below, perfect for sharing on Facebook or Twitter. You can get to your achievements from your profile page: I Love Apps is coming soon and How Do You Really Feel can be earned during the event as you fill out session evaluation forms. The other three are live and ready for you to start earning achievements.   Check out the achievement board to see how many people have unlocked the Golden Ticket! It is worth noting that awarding achievements happens asynchronously, meaning it can take 5 - 10 minutes from the time you complete the steps required to earn the achievement and when you are awarded the badge. So, what are you waiting for? Start the dialog with speakers about their sessi http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/TechEd/Announcing-TechEd-Achievements Thu, 02 May 2013 18:52:10 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/TechEd/Announcing-TechEd-Achievements D. Begley, Karsten Januszewski D. Begley, Karsten Januszewski 22 http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/TechEd/Announcing-TechEd-Achievements/RSS Tech.Ed teched europe Announcing Channel 9 Notifications Whether it is comments on a video, forum posts or events, Channel 9 is all about facilitating conversations. And there are a lot of conversations. Wouldn't it be handy if Channel 9 aggregated the conversations you were interested in and notified you when there was new activity?

We're excited to announce we've implemented such a feature. The idea is that in one place -- your notification feed -- you can see activity for any posts and threads you are following.  For this new feature, you'll notice we've incorporated ideas from other popular social network websites .  Here's how it works:

  • All video posts and forum threads now have a follow button next to them.
  • You can see and manage your notifications from your profile page:

  • Anytime anyone comments on an item you are following, an entry is added to your notification feed, which can be found on your profile page.

  • In addition, you can opt in to receiving emails whenever something is added to your notification feed.

 

 

We think the infrastructure we've built to enable this notification system has a lot of possibilities, such that Channel 9 brings the content you care about directly to you, instead of you having to seek that content out yourself. We're just getting started here and there's more we want to implement, including the following:

  • Following shows, so you are notified when a new video has been added to a show
  • Following people, so you are notified when there is activity by a person on the site
  • Digest emails, so you get one email a day instead of multiple emails
  • Giving you the choice to 'auto-follow' any conversation you participate in

We're excited to release this feature and looking forward to your feedback. I can tell you right now: I'm following this post and will be notified as soon as you comment!

 

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Announcing-Channel-9-Notifications Whether it is comments on a video, forum posts or events, Channel 9 is all about facilitating conversations. And there are a lot of conversations. Wouldn't it be handy if Channel 9 aggregated the conversations you were interested in and notified you when there was new activity? We're excited to announce we've implemented such a feature. The idea is that in one place -- your notification feed -- you can see activity for any posts and threads you are following.  For this new feature, you'll notice we've incorporated ideas from other popular social network websites .  Here's how it works: All video posts and forum threads now have a follow button next to them. You can see and manage your notifications from your profile page: Anytime anyone comments on an item you are following, an entry is added to your notification feed, which can be found on your profile page. In addition, you can opt in to receiving emails whenever something is added to your notification feed.     We think the infrastructure we've built to enable this notification system has a lot of possibilities, such that Channel 9 brings the content you care about directly to you, instead of you having to seek that content out yourself. We're just getting started here and there's more we want to implement, including the following: Following shows, so you are notified when a new video has been added to a show Following people, so you are notified when there is activity by a person on the site Digest emails, so you get one email a day instead of multiple emails Giving you the choice to 'auto-follow' any conversation you participate in We're excited to release this feature and looking forward to your feedback. I can tell you right now: I'm following this post and will be notified as soon as you comment!   http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Announcing-Channel-9-Notifications Thu, 11 Apr 2013 17:54:14 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Announcing-Channel-9-Notifications Karsten Januszewski Karsten Januszewski 6 http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Announcing-Channel-9-Notifications/RSS Announcing Visual Studio Achievements For Windows 8 App Development We are excited to announce an update to the Visual Studio Achievements extension: the availability of nineteen new achievements all oriented toward Windows 8 app development.

These new achievements can be earned in JavaScript, C#, VB and C++. Some examples include: I Like To Move It Move It which is earned by using the accelerometer and The Play Is The Thing which is earned by using the AutoPlay contract. You can see a complete list of the nineteen new achievements below.

If you are new to Visual Studio Achievements, check out this post.

Download It

Download Now

If you already have the extension installed, you can update the extension right from the Visual Studio Extension Manager.

Complete List of New Achievements

 

 

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Announcing-Visual-Studio-Achievements-For-Windows-8-App-Development We are excited to announce an update to the Visual Studio Achievements extension: the availability of nineteen new achievements all oriented toward Windows 8 app development. These new achievements can be earned in JavaScript, C#, VB and C++. Some examples include: I Like To Move It Move It which is earned by using the accelerometer and The Play Is The Thing which is earned by using the AutoPlay contract. You can see a complete list of the nineteen new achievements below. If you are new to Visual Studio Achievements, check out this post. Download ItDownload Now If you already have the extension installed, you can update the extension right from the Visual Studio Extension Manager. Complete List of New AchievementsBRAVE NEW WORLD (10 points) Run Visual Studio 2012 on Windows 8. Welcome to the future. Learn more. Crouching Coder, Hidden Worker (10 points) Use background tasks. Can be earned in Javascript, C#and VB. Learn more about supporting your app with background tasks using JavaScript and HTML. Learn more about supporting your app with background tasks using C#/VB/C++ and XAML.Did You Bring Enough For The Whole Class (10 points) Support the share target contract. Can be earned in Javascript, C#, C++ and VB. Learn more about receiving shared content in Javascript and HTML. Learn more about receiving shared content in C#/VB/C++ and XAML.Feed Me (10 points) Consume an RSS/ATOM feed using Syndication APIs. Can be earned in Javascript, C# and VB. Learn more about syndication in Javascript. Learn more about syndication in C#/VB/C++ and XAML.Fifty Shades Of Data (10 points) Inherit from BindableBase. Can be earned in C# and VB. Learn more about BindableBase.Finders Keepers (10 points) Use the search contract. Can be earned in Javascript, C#, C++ and VB. Learn more about adding search to an app in Javascript and HTML. Learn more about adding search to an app in C#/VB/C++ and XAML.First& http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Announcing-Visual-Studio-Achievements-For-Windows-8-App-Development Wed, 12 Dec 2012 20:53:23 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Announcing-Visual-Studio-Achievements-For-Windows-8-App-Development Karsten Januszewski Karsten Januszewski 13 http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Announcing-Visual-Studio-Achievements-For-Windows-8-App-Development/RSS achievements Visual Studio Achievements Announcing Achievements For Visual Studio 2012 RC We are excited to announce a version of Visual Studio Achievements that works on Visual Studio 2012 RC.  Running this version of the extension will enable you to unlock a new achievement called Brave New World, which is unlocked when you create or open a project when running Visual Studio 2012 RC on Windows 8 RP.  Expect lots more Windows 8 oriented achievements coming soon!

Download It

Download Now

With this version of the extension installed, you can also earn any of the 47 other achievements all from Visual Studio 2012 RC on either Windows 8 or an earlier version of the OS.

Note that the Visual Studio Achievements Extension for Visual Studio 2012 RC is a different binary.  This is because the extension has a dependency on the FxCopSdk.dll that ships with Visual Studio and the FxCopSdk.dll is not binary compatible between versions of Visual Studio.

 

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Announcing-Achievements-For-Visual-Studio-2012-RC We are excited to announce a version of Visual Studio Achievements that works on Visual Studio 2012 RC.  Running this version of the extension will enable you to unlock a new achievement called Brave New World, which is unlocked when you create or open a project when running Visual Studio 2012 RC on Windows 8 RP.  Expect lots more Windows 8 oriented achievements coming soon! Download ItDownload Now With this version of the extension installed, you can also earn any of the 47 other achievements all from Visual Studio 2012 RC on either Windows 8 or an earlier version of the OS. Note that the Visual Studio Achievements Extension for Visual Studio 2012 RC is a different binary.  This is because the extension has a dependency on the FxCopSdk.dll that ships with Visual Studio and the FxCopSdk.dll is not binary compatible between versions of Visual Studio.   http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Announcing-Achievements-For-Visual-Studio-2012-RC Fri, 06 Jul 2012 22:31:16 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Announcing-Achievements-For-Visual-Studio-2012-RC Karsten Januszewski Karsten Januszewski 4 http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Announcing-Achievements-For-Visual-Studio-2012-RC/RSS Announcing MSDN Profile Integration We just released a feature that integrates MSDN profile information directly into Channel9. Now, for any niner that has an MSDN account, Channel9 shows that user's MSDN statistics – points earned in the MSDN profile system, badges, and links to their MSDN activity page and profile – both on hover of that user's avatar and on the users profile page. 

Here's a screenshot of the UI that shows up when you hover over a user on Channel 9:

This new UI surfaces more than just their MSDN reputation though; it also brings up the user's Channel 9 stats and Visual Studio Achievements, perfect for the active community member who wants to show off his points.

We've already linked all users who have a corresponding profile on MSDN and we do this lookup for all new users, but if anyone wants to opt-out that is as easy as a quick click in their own 'hover box' or on their profile page.

Check it out for yourself in any Channel 9 forum thread, or in the comments on any videos.

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Announcing-MSDN-Profile-Integration We just released a feature that integrates MSDN profile information directly into Channel9. Now, for any niner that has an MSDN account, Channel9 shows that user's MSDN statistics – points earned in the MSDN profile system, badges, and links to their MSDN activity page and profile – both on hover of that user's avatar and on the users profile page.  Here's a screenshot of the UI that shows up when you hover over a user on Channel 9: This new UI surfaces more than just their MSDN reputation though; it also brings up the user's Channel 9 stats and Visual Studio Achievements, perfect for the active community member who wants to show off his points. We've already linked all users who have a corresponding profile on MSDN and we do this lookup for all new users, but if anyone wants to opt-out that is as easy as a quick click in their own 'hover box' or on their profile page. Check it out for yourself in any Channel 9 forum thread, or in the comments on any videos. http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Announcing-MSDN-Profile-Integration Wed, 16 May 2012 22:44:37 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Announcing-MSDN-Profile-Integration Geoffrey, Karsten Januszewski, Mike Sampson Geoffrey, Karsten Januszewski, Mike Sampson 8 http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Announcing-MSDN-Profile-Integration/RSS Announcing Visual Studio Achievements For Windows Azure Achievements For Windows Azure

In January, we released Visual Studio Achievements to the delight of the developer community -- 80,000+ downloads and counting!  With cloud computing being all the rage these days, we thought it made sense to cook up some achievements for Windows Azure. As such, we are excited to announce an update to the extension which includes fifteen new achievements, all focused on exercising features of Windows Azure.

There are 15 new Azure achievements, such as publishing to Windows Azure from Visual Studio (Heading into the Cloud), using page blobs (Attack of the Blob), using SQL Azure (Database Darling) and configuring start up tasks (It's My Party).

Azure Achievement Unlock

Download It

Download Now

Using Windows Azure

If you aren't using Windows Azure yet, now's a great time to start. If you are an MSDN subscriber, a Microsoft partner or a BizSpark member, this is a chance to use your free Azure benefits (up to $3,700 dollar a year!). If you aren't a member of one of these programs, you can sign up for a free three month trial.

Once you are signed up, you'll need to download the Windows Azure Tools For Visual Studio (from November 2011, also known at the 1.6 SDK). To learn more about developing Windows Azure solutions for .NET, check out all the great tutorials, how-to guides, training kits and other resources in the .NET Azure portal page.

Two of the achievements (Phone in the Cloud and Game in the Cloud) require the use of the most excellent Windows Azure toolkits, which can be found here and here respectively.

Visual Studio Achievements

If you aren't familiar with Visual Studio Achievements, check out the video below, which should give you a quick overview of what Visual Studio Achievements are in 60 seconds:

The New Achievements

The 15 new achievements can be found on the Visual Studio Achievements homepage (scroll down to see them) with links to documentation about learning more.   You can also find the complete list below.  Happy coding and have fun!

Unleashing  Windows Azure

Database Darling (5 points) Use SQL Azure. Learn more about SQL Azure.

Desktop Debutante (5 points) Configure Azure for Remote Desktop Connection. Learn more about using Remote Desktop Connection with Azure.

Get On The Bus (5 points) Use the service bus. Learn more about the Windows Azure Service Bus.

Heading Into The Cloud (5 points) Publish to the cloud from Visual Studio. Learn more about publishing to Windows Azure from Visual Studio.

IntelliTrace Rocks (5 points) Configure Azure to use IntelliTrace. Learn more about using IntelliTrace with Azure.

It's My Party (5 points) Configure Azure to use a start up tasks. Learn more about using start up tasks with Azure.

Keep Heading Into The Cloud (5 points) Publish to the cloud from Visual Studio 10 times. Learn more about publishing to Windows Azure from Visual Studio.

Performance Power (5 points) Configure Azure to use performance profiling. Learn more about using the Performance Profiler with Azure.

Show Me The Cache (5 points) Use Windows Azure Caching. Learn more about Windows Azure Caching.

Union Jack (5 points) Configure Azure to use a worker role. Learn more about using Worker Roles with Azure.

Write Once, Run Anywhere (5 points) Run multiple websites in a single web role. Learn more about running multiple websites in a Windows Azure Web Role.

Windows Azure SDK Guru

Attack of the Blob (5 points) Use page blob features of Windows Azure Blob Storage. Learn more about the Windows Azure Blob Storage.

Tired Of Waiting In Line (5 points) Use time out features of Windows Azure Queues. Learn more about the Windows Azure Queues.

Windows Azure Toolkit Wizard

Game In The Cloud (5 points) Use Windows Azure Toolkit For Social Gaming. Learn more about the Windows Azure Toolkit For Social Gaming.

Phone In The Cloud (5 points) Use Windows Azure Toolkit For Windows Phone. Learn more about the Windows Azure Toolkit For Windows Phone.

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Announcing-Visual-Studio-Achievements-For-Windows-Azure Achievements For Windows AzureIn January, we released Visual Studio Achievements to the delight of the developer community -- 80,000+ downloads and counting!  With cloud computing being all the rage these days, we thought it made sense to cook up some achievements for Windows Azure. As such, we are excited to announce an update to the extension which includes fifteen new achievements, all focused on exercising features of Windows Azure. There are 15 new Azure achievements, such as publishing to Windows Azure from Visual Studio (Heading into the Cloud), using page blobs (Attack of the Blob), using SQL Azure (Database Darling) and configuring start up tasks (It's My Party). Download ItDownload Now Using Windows AzureIf you aren't using Windows Azure yet, now's a great time to start. If you are an MSDN subscriber, a Microsoft partner or a BizSpark member, this is a chance to use your free Azure benefits (up to $3,700 dollar a year!). If you aren't a member of one of these programs, you can sign up for a free three month trial. Once you are signed up, you'll need to download the Windows Azure Tools For Visual Studio (from November 2011, also known at the 1.6 SDK). To learn more about developing Windows Azure solutions for .NET, check out all the great tutorials, how-to guides, training kits and other resources in the .NET Azure portal page. Two of the achievements (Phone in the Cloud and Game in the Cloud) require the use of the most excellent Windows Azure toolkits, which can be found here and here respectively. Visual Studio AchievementsIf you aren't familiar with Visual Studio Achievements, check out the video below, which should give you a quick overview of what Visual Studio Achievements are in 60 seconds: The New AchievementsThe 15 new achievements can be found on the Visual Studio Achievements homepage (scroll down to see them) with links to documentation about learning more.   You can also find the complet http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Announcing-Visual-Studio-Achievements-For-Windows-Azure Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:52:22 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Announcing-Visual-Studio-Achievements-For-Windows-Azure Karsten Januszewski Karsten Januszewski 3 http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Announcing-Visual-Studio-Achievements-For-Windows-Azure/RSS _techmeme Visual Studio Achievements Release Notes Version 3.0 - Released January 17, 2013

20 new Windows 8 App Development Achievements added. Note: VS Achievements does not work with the code coverage feature of Visual Studio.  If you are experiencing issues with code coverage analysis tools in Visual Studio, disable the VS Achievements extension. Note: VS Achievements does not work with Wix. Disable the VS Achievements extension if you are using Wix.

**************************************************************************************************************************

Version 2.1 - Released July 23, 2012

Two bug fixes. First, this release addresses an issue in the VS2012 version, which caused FxCop achievements from not being achievable. Second, this release fixes the "Show Me The Cache" Azure achievement.

**************************************************************************************************************************

Version 2.0 For Visual Studio 2012 RC- Released July 6, 2012

1 achievement added. Learn more here.

**************************************************************************************************************************

Version 2.0 - Released April 26, 2012

15 new Azure Achievements added. Learn more here.

**************************************************************************************************************************

Version 1.7 - Released April 5, 2012

More FxCop tweaks.Hopefully the last of them.

**************************************************************************************************************************

Version 1.6 - Released March 26, 2012

More FxCop tweaks.

**************************************************************************************************************************

Version 1.5 - Released March 8, 2012

Additional work fixing the FxCop locking issue that wasn't completed in version 1.4.

**************************************************************************************************************************

Version 1.4 - Released March 2, 2012

Addresses the FxCop locking issue. Also adds a setting under Tools/Options/VS Achievements in which FxCop rule checking can be turned off entirely. Fixes picking up goto statements that are in comments. Fixes WPF crashing bug. Updated menu icon.

**************************************************************************************************************************

Version 1.3 - Released February 10, 2012

Addresses the issue where progress based achievement never get award and increment past their target number, aka 14 of 10 completed.  This fix will prevent this from happening. If you have an achievement in this state, you will need to perform the action one more time and it will then unlock the achievement. For example, if you have the 14 of 10 showing for the OCD achievement, you will need to invoke the "Close All But This" command one more time, and it should unlock the achievement.

**************************************************************************************************************************

Version 1.2 - Released February 2, 2012

Addresses the issue where after installing the extension, achievements could be earned in Visual Studio but the Channel9 profile page was never updated. The extension could not communicate with the server.

In specific, some proxies were sending a Expect: 100-Continue header from the HttpWebRequest class, which the server wasn't prepared to handle. The fix was to set the static System.Net.ServicePointManager.Expect100Continue property to false. 

We believe many people reporting issues with proxies will be fixed by this build. There is no reason to upgrade to this build otherwise.

**************************************************************************************************************************

Version 1.1 - Released January 24, 2012

Addresses the issue of users with an underscore in their Channel9 username.  If your username doesn't have an underscore, there is no need to upgrade. If you installed version 1.0 of the extension and registered with a username that had an underscore, you will need to take the following steps. 

1. Go to Tools --> Extension Manager...
2. Click Updates and update the Visual Studio Achievements Extension
3. Restart Visual Studio
4. Go to Tools --> Options --> VS Achievements and click the Change User button
5. Log in and authorize the app

**************************************************************************************************************************

Version 1.0 - Released January 17, 2012

Initial release!

 

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Visual-Studio-Achievements-Release-Notes Version 3.0 - Released January 17, 2013 20 new Windows 8 App Development Achievements added. Note: VS Achievements does not work with the code coverage feature of Visual Studio.  If you are experiencing issues with code coverage analysis tools in Visual Studio, disable the VS Achievements extension. Note: VS Achievements does not work with Wix. Disable the VS Achievements extension if you are using Wix. ************************************************************************************************************************** Version 2.1 - Released July 23, 2012 Two bug fixes. First, this release addresses an issue in the VS2012 version, which caused FxCop achievements from not being achievable. Second, this release fixes the "Show Me The Cache" Azure achievement. ************************************************************************************************************************** Version 2.0 For Visual Studio 2012 RC- Released July 6, 2012 1 achievement added. Learn more here. ************************************************************************************************************************** Version 2.0 - Released April 26, 2012 15 new Azure Achievements added. Learn more here. ************************************************************************************************************************** Version 1.7 - Released April 5, 2012 More FxCop tweaks.Hopefully the last of them. ************************************************************************************************************************** Version 1.6 - Released March 26, 2012 More FxCop tweaks. ************************************************************************************************************************** Version 1.5 - Released March 8, 2012 Additional work fixing the FxCop locking issue that wasn't completed in version 1.4. ************************************************************************************************************************** Version 1. http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Visual-Studio-Achievements-Release-Notes Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:23:06 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Visual-Studio-Achievements-Release-Notes Karsten Januszewski Karsten Januszewski 5 http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Visual-Studio-Achievements-Release-Notes/RSS Visual Studio Achievements in 60 seconds We just released the Visual Studio Achievements extension, here's the 60 second recap with what you need to know about how it works. Want more information, check out the Visual Studio Toolbox episode

Download the Visual Studio Achievements extension

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Visual-Studio-Achievements-in-60-seconds We just released the Visual Studio Achievements extension, here's the 60 second recap with what you need to know about how it works. Want more information, check out the Visual Studio Toolbox episode Download the Visual Studio Achievements extension 60 http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Visual-Studio-Achievements-in-60-seconds Fri, 20 Jan 2012 01:11:47 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Visual-Studio-Achievements-in-60-seconds Dan Fernandez, Karsten Januszewski, Golnaz Dan Fernandez, Karsten Januszewski, Golnaz 12 http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Visual-Studio-Achievements-in-60-seconds/RSS Announcing Visual Studio Achievements Beta Bring Some Game To Your Code!

A software engineer's glory so often goes unnoticed. Attention seems to come either when there are bugs or when the final project ships. But rarely is a developer appreciated for all the nuances and subtleties of a piece of code--and all the heroics it took to write it.  With Visual Studio Achievements Beta, your talents are recognized as you perform various coding feats, unlock achievements and earn badges.

Learn More About Visual Studio

Visual Studio is a powerful tool with tons of features, many of which you may not know about.  Earning some of the badges may result in learning about features you didn’t even know existed!

Azure Achievements

With Version 2.0 of the extension, we've added 15 new achievements all based on Windows Azure cloud development, which you can read more about here.

Download It

Download Now

How It Works

With the Visual Studio Achievements Extension, achievements are unlocked based on your activity. Your code is analyzed on a background thread each time you compile.  In addition, the extension listens for certain events and actions that you may perform in Visual Studio, reporting progress on these events to the server.

When you unlock an achievement, Visual Studio lets you know visually with a pop-up:

 

pop up

Figure 1 - Unlocking An Achievement

 

In addition, your Channel 9 profile is updated with any achievements you earn, recalculating your position on the leaderboard:

leaderboardFigure 2 - The Visual Studio Achievements Leaderboard

 

Some examples of individual achievements include Regional Manager (have more than 10 regions in a single class), Close To The Metal (use 5 preprocessor directives), Stubby (generate method stubs 10 times) or Interrupting Cow (have 10 breakpoints in a file). All in all, there are 47 achievements awaiting to be unlocked, all of which are listed here. Here's what the 7 different badges look like:

The Six Categories of Achievements

wrenchscissorsbroom
Customizing Visual Studio Don't Try This At HomeGood Housekeeping
 
funpower coderunleashing vs
Just For FunPower CoderUnleashing Visual Studio
 power coder 
 Windows Azure 

 

Share Your Flair

Each time you earn a badge, a unique page is created with your profile picture, the badge and a description. You can tweet about achievements you earn and/or share them on Facebook:

facebook

Figure 3 - Share A Page

 

Or, you can show a list of achievements on your blog using the Visual Studio Achievements Widget which is as simple as adding one line of script to your page. After all, those badges look so shiny and nice! Here's an example of the widget on a blog: 

blog

Figure 4 - The Visual Studio Achievements Widget On A Blog

The widget uses our Visual Studio Achievements public API, which you are welcome to access to create your own mashups and apps.

Genesis

We have to give props to the blog While True, whose blog post What If Visual Studio Had Achievements inspired us to go build this. That post spawned a reddit post that is the thread which started it all!

Feedback

We're just getting started with Visual Studio Achievements and are hoping to release more in the future. If you have ideas for additional achievements, we'd love to hear about them.  Please use the Q&A section of the achievements extension to make suggestions for future achievements. And if you have suggestions, concerns, issues or problems, again, use the Q&A section of the achievements gallery page. Give a read to the FAQ as well as your question may already be answered.

Download Now

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Announcing-Visual-Studio-Achievements Bring Some Game To Your Code!A software engineer's glory so often goes unnoticed. Attention seems to come either when there are bugs or when the final project ships. But rarely is a developer appreciated for all the nuances and subtleties of a piece of code--and all the heroics it took to write it.  With Visual Studio Achievements Beta, your talents are recognized as you perform various coding feats, unlock achievements and earn badges. Learn More About Visual StudioVisual Studio is a powerful tool with tons of features, many of which you may not know about.  Earning some of the badges may result in learning about features you didn’t even know existed! Azure AchievementsWith Version 2.0 of the extension, we've added 15 new achievements all based on Windows Azure cloud development, which you can read more about here. Download ItDownload Now How It WorksWith the Visual Studio Achievements Extension, achievements are unlocked based on your activity. Your code is analyzed on a background thread each time you compile.  In addition, the extension listens for certain events and actions that you may perform in Visual Studio, reporting progress on these events to the server. When you unlock an achievement, Visual Studio lets you know visually with a pop-up:   Figure 1 - Unlocking An Achievement   In addition, your Channel 9 profile is updated with any achievements you earn, recalculating your position on the leaderboard: Figure 2 - The Visual Studio Achievements Leaderboard   Some examples of individual achievements include Regional Manager (have more than 10 regions in a single class), Close To The Metal (use 5 preprocessor directives), Stubby (generate method stubs 10 times) or Interrupting Cow (have 10 breakpoints in a file). All in all, there are 47 achievements awaiting to be unlocked, all of which are listed here. Here's what the 7 different badges look like: The Six Categories of Achievements Customizing Visual Studio http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Announcing-Visual-Studio-Achievements Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:06:24 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Announcing-Visual-Studio-Achievements Karsten Januszewski Karsten Januszewski 100 http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Announcing-Visual-Studio-Achievements/RSS _techmeme Visual Studio Achievements Visual Studio Achievements FAQ What versions of Visual Studio does the achievements extension work on?

Visual Studio 2010 Professional, Premium or Ultimate.  Achievements marked with Uses FxCop only work on Visual Studio 2010 Premium or Ultimate unless FxCop is installed. FxCop is a free download and can installed from here: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=6544.

Are you going to release any more achievements? I have a great idea for an achievement. Where can I suggest it?

Yes, we are planning to release more achievements for Visual Studio. Please use the Q&A section of the achievements extension to make suggestions for future achievements.

I performed the action of a progress-based achievement multiple times (aka, "Used 'Organize Usings' 50 times") but it only updated the counter once.  What gives?

You can only earn progress-based achievements once a minute.

I did what I was supposed to earn an achievement, but it didn't unlock.

Some achievements are a bit finicky; there may be multiple ways to accomplish the task in Visual Studio but only one way to unlock the achievement. Keep your eye on the Q&A section of the achievements extension for additional discussion about individual achievements.

Is there a screencast about this?

Check out this video on Visual Studio Toolbox, which has a walkthrough of the extension and discusses more about how and why we built this.

How do I see my achievements in Visual Studio?

Once the extension is installed, there is a menu item called Achievements, under the Tools menu:

tools menu

How do I see my achievements on Channel9?

Once you've installed the extension, an achievements page gets created on Channel9 at http://channel9.msdn.com/niners/username/achievements/visualstudio. This lists all your achievements, both locked and unlocked.  You can find a link to this page on your profile page, which looks like this:

profile link

I installed it but it doesn't work at all! What gives?

Is there an underscore in your username? There was a bug with Version 1.0 of the extension if that is the case. Version 1.1 of the Visual Studio Achievements Extension addresses this issue of users with an underscore in their Channel9 username.  If you installed version 1.0 of the extension and registered with a username that had an underscore, you will need to take the following steps. 

1. Go to Tools --> Extension Manager...
2. Click Updates and update the Visual Studio Achievements Extension
3. Restart Visual Studio
4. Go to Tools --> Options --> VS Achievements and click the Change User button
5. Log in and authorize the app

Follow these steps in this exact order and you should be good to go!

I installed it and I can earn achievements, but the server never gets updated.

Version 1.2 (uploaded 2/2/2012) should address the experience where you were able to install the extension and VS notified you that you earned achievements, but then your profile was never updated on Channel9.There's no reason to upgrade to this build otherwise. We believe many people reporting issues with proxies will be fixed by this build.

In specific, some proxies were sending a Expect: 100-Continue header from the HttpWebRequest class, which the server wasn't prepared to handle. The fix was to set the static System.Net.ServicePointManager.Expect100Continue property to false.

Also, when you upgrade your extension, if you get a certificate mismatch error, install this hotfix: http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/Downloads/DownloadDetails.aspx?DownloadID=38654, which will address updating this extension and any other extensions. If you don't want to install the hot fix, you can manually uninstall the extension and then reinstall with the new version.If you are still having issues with your proxy server and this build doesn't solve your problems, please post here and we will continue to investigate the proxy problem.

Some of these achievements promote bad coding practices. Aren't you doing a disservice to engineers by giving badges for bad coding practices?

A few of thoughts on that. First, the "Don't Try This At Home" category was designed to be playful -- in jokes for developers. Second, any badges in that category award zero points. Third, all of the awards in this category are pretty egregious, except perhaps the GOTO achievement, which is a source of contention, as it turns out!  Ultimately, one goal of VS Achievements is to add some humor to the levity of coding.

The Visual Studio team should be spending time working on the product, not turning the IDE into a game! What's up with that?

This project is a Coding For Fun project built by the Channel9 team; no Visual Studio product devs were deployed in the making of this add-in!

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Visual-Studio-Achievements-FAQ What versions of Visual Studio does the achievements extension work on? Visual Studio 2010 Professional, Premium or Ultimate.  Achievements marked with Uses FxCop only work on Visual Studio 2010 Premium or Ultimate unless FxCop is installed. FxCop is a free download and can installed from here: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=6544. Are you going to release any more achievements? I have a great idea for an achievement. Where can I suggest it? Yes, we are planning to release more achievements for Visual Studio. Please use the Q&A section of the achievements extension to make suggestions for future achievements. I performed the action of a progress-based achievement multiple times (aka, "Used 'Organize Usings' 50 times") but it only updated the counter once.  What gives? You can only earn progress-based achievements once a minute. I did what I was supposed to earn an achievement, but it didn't unlock. Some achievements are a bit finicky; there may be multiple ways to accomplish the task in Visual Studio but only one way to unlock the achievement. Keep your eye on the Q&A section of the achievements extension for additional discussion about individual achievements. Is there a screencast about this? Check out this video on Visual Studio Toolbox, which has a walkthrough of the extension and discusses more about how and why we built this. How do I see my achievements in Visual Studio? Once the extension is installed, there is a menu item called Achievements, under the Tools menu: How do I see my achievements on Channel9? Once you've installed the extension, an achievements page gets created on Channel9 at http://channel9.msdn.com/niners/username/achievements/visualstudio. This lists all your achievements, both locked and unlocked.  You can find a link to this page on your profile page, which looks like this: I installed it but it doesn't work at all! What gives? Is there an underscore in your username? There wa http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Visual-Studio-Achievements-FAQ Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:06:09 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Visual-Studio-Achievements-FAQ Karsten Januszewski Karsten Januszewski 19 http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Visual-Studio-Achievements-FAQ/RSS Visual Studio Achievements Visual Studio Achievements API You can access the Visual Studio Achievements via an API.

To get a list of all achievements as JSON, do an HTTP GET to the achievements page like this: http://channel9.msdn.com/achievements/visualstudio?json=true

To get a list of a user's achievements, do an HTTP GET to the user's achievements page. For example, getting all my achievements looks as follows: http://channel9.msdn.com/niners/karstenj/achievements/visualstudio?json=true. Simply replace the karstenj with any user who has registered for achievements and you'll be good to go. Note that this will return a merged set of achievements the user has earned combined with the achievements a user has not earned yet, just like is shown in the UI.

To get a list of the user's achievements that only shows earned achievements, do an http GET to the user's achievements page passing the querystring raw=true.  For example, using my username of karstenj the url would look like this:http://channel9.msdn.com/niners/karstenj/achievements/visualstudio?json=true&raw=true.

To get JSON-P, pass the additional querystring callback={callback_name}.

We've got a sample coming that shows how to use this API to add a widget to your blog, displaying the achievements you've earned. Check back soon!

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Visual-Studio-Achievements-API You can access the Visual Studio Achievements via an API. To get a list of all achievements as JSON, do an HTTP GET to the achievements page like this: http://channel9.msdn.com/achievements/visualstudio?json=true To get a list of a user's achievements, do an HTTP GET to the user's achievements page. For example, getting all my achievements looks as follows: http://channel9.msdn.com/niners/karstenj/achievements/visualstudio?json=true. Simply replace the karstenj with any user who has registered for achievements and you'll be good to go. Note that this will return a merged set of achievements the user has earned combined with the achievements a user has not earned yet, just like is shown in the UI. To get a list of the user's achievements that only shows earned achievements, do an http GET to the user's achievements page passing the querystring raw=true.  For example, using my username of karstenj the url would look like this:http://channel9.msdn.com/niners/karstenj/achievements/visualstudio?json=true&raw=true. To get JSON-P, pass the additional querystring callback={callback_name}. We've got a sample coming that shows how to use this API to add a widget to your blog, displaying the achievements you've earned. Check back soon! http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Visual-Studio-Achievements-API Tue, 22 Nov 2011 22:52:23 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Visual-Studio-Achievements-API Karsten Januszewski Karsten Januszewski 12 http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Visual-Studio-Achievements-API/RSS Visual Studio Achievements FxCop For VS Achievements You may notice that earning some of the achievements requires FxCop.  If you have Visual Studio 2010 Premium or Ultimate, you are all set, as FxCop gets redistributed with these products. However, if you have Visual Studio 2010 Professional, you will need to install FxCop from here. Note that it must be FxCop 10.0.

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/FxCop-For-VS-Achievements You may notice that earning some of the achievements requires FxCop.  If you have Visual Studio 2010 Premium or Ultimate, you are all set, as FxCop gets redistributed with these products. However, if you have Visual Studio 2010 Professional, you will need to install FxCop from here. Note that it must be FxCop 10.0. http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/FxCop-For-VS-Achievements Tue, 22 Nov 2011 22:35:06 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/FxCop-For-VS-Achievements Karsten Januszewski Karsten Januszewski 34 http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/FxCop-For-VS-Achievements/RSS Visual Studio Achievements Coming Soon: Visual Studio Achievements We are going to be rolling out a new project soon called Visual Studio Achievements. With the Visual Studio Achievements add-in, your code will be monitored and, as you proceed, you will unlock various achievements based on your activity. When you unlock an achievement, Visual Studio will let you know visually with a pop-up. In addition, your Channel9 profile will be updated with any achievements you earn, also updating your rank on the leaderboard.

You may see some updates to Channel9 as we begin rolling out the infrastructure for this service and do some additional testing.  Check back and soon you'll be able to download it and start earning achievements!

 

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Coming-Soon-Visual-Studio-Achievements We are going to be rolling out a new project soon called Visual Studio Achievements. With the Visual Studio Achievements add-in, your code will be monitored and, as you proceed, you will unlock various achievements based on your activity. When you unlock an achievement, Visual Studio will let you know visually with a pop-up. In addition, your Channel9 profile will be updated with any achievements you earn, also updating your rank on the leaderboard. You may see some updates to Channel9 as we begin rolling out the infrastructure for this service and do some additional testing.  Check back and soon you'll be able to download it and start earning achievements!   http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Coming-Soon-Visual-Studio-Achievements Tue, 22 Nov 2011 22:32:28 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Coming-Soon-Visual-Studio-Achievements Karsten Januszewski Karsten Januszewski 17 http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/C9Team/Coming-Soon-Visual-Studio-Achievements/RSS Visual Studio Achievements Deploying PHP Applications to Windows Azure without Visual Studio A screencast on how to publish PHP to Windows Azure without using Visual Studio. Follows along with this blog post:  http://rhizohm.net/irhetoric/post/2011/04/18/How-To-Do-PHP-Deployment-To-Windows-Azure.aspx 

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/php-azure A screencast on how to publish PHP to Windows Azure without using Visual Studio. Follows along with this blog post:  http://rhizohm.net/irhetoric/post/2011/04/18/How-To-Do-PHP-Deployment-To-Windows-Azure.aspx  795 http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/php-azure Mon, 18 Apr 2011 22:43:03 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/php-azure Karsten Januszewski Karsten Januszewski 4 http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/php-azure/rss Azure PHP Databinding In Expression Blend: Forget the Data and Do the Bind Charles Petzold article and show how, in Blend, you can extract a style and template from a piece of XAML to be reused in other parts of your application.  ]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/karstenj/Databinding-In-Expression-Blend-Forget-the-Data-and-Do-the-Bind In this screencast, I show how to wire up to UI elements using Blend.  The general premise is that databinding in WPF is about more than just data; it also allows you to connect UI properties, like wiring a slider up to a progress bar. Blend exposes this is a very useable way, once you know your way around.  I also use some cool styles from this Charles Petzold article and show how, in Blend, you can extract a style and template from a piece of XAML to be reused in other parts of your application.  1310 http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/karstenj/Databinding-In-Expression-Blend-Forget-the-Data-and-Do-the-Bind Fri, 26 Jan 2007 19:21:58 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/karstenj/Databinding-In-Expression-Blend-Forget-the-Data-and-Do-the-Bind Karsten Januszewski Karsten Januszewski 3 http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/karstenj/Databinding-In-Expression-Blend-Forget-the-Data-and-Do-the-Bind/RSS WPF Workflow Between Expression Interactive Designer and Graphic Designer How would you like to create assets in Graphic Designer and apply them to your WPF applications in Expression Interactive Designer without ever touching a line of XAML?  With some new features in the May 2006 CTPs of EGD and EID, you can do this.  This screencast shows you how it can be done. (Note -- the screencast seems to hide the dialog that appears when you apply a resource, but if you are following along w/ EID, it will make sense.)

Another thing you may not realize: you can cut/paste from Adobe Illustrator into EGD, which isn't lossless, but is pretty good.

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/karstenj/Workflow-Between-Expression-Interactive-Designer-and-Graphic-Designer How would you like to create assets in Graphic Designer and apply them to your WPF applications in Expression Interactive Designer without ever touching a line of XAML?  With some new features in the May 2006 CTPs of EGD and EID, you can do this.  This screencast shows you how it can be done. (Note -- the screencast seems to hide the dialog that appears when you apply a resource, but if you are following along w/ EID, it will make sense.) Another thing you may not realize: you can cut/paste from Adobe Illustrator into EGD, which isn't lossless, but is pretty good. 330 http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/karstenj/Workflow-Between-Expression-Interactive-Designer-and-Graphic-Designer Tue, 20 Jun 2006 21:31:53 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/karstenj/Workflow-Between-Expression-Interactive-Designer-and-Graphic-Designer Karsten Januszewski Karsten Januszewski 1 http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/karstenj/Workflow-Between-Expression-Interactive-Designer-and-Graphic-Designer/RSS WPF Developer/Designer Workflow in WPF This screencast demonstrates how developers and designers can work together on a project using Expression Interactive Designer and Visual Studio in conjuntion.  It also shows how to create a custom .dll in Visual Studio to be used in Expression Interactive Designer. You can also download the corresponding code sample.

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/karstenj/DeveloperDesigner-Workflow-in-WPF This screencast demonstrates how developers and designers can work together on a project using Expression Interactive Designer and Visual Studio in conjuntion.  It also shows how to create a custom .dll in Visual Studio to be used in Expression Interactive Designer. You can also download the corresponding code sample. 661 http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/karstenj/DeveloperDesigner-Workflow-in-WPF Fri, 09 Jun 2006 21:18:06 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/karstenj/DeveloperDesigner-Workflow-in-WPF Karsten Januszewski Karsten Januszewski 1 http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/karstenj/DeveloperDesigner-Workflow-in-WPF/RSS WPF