Channel 9 - Entries tagged with Developer

Comparing Eclipse to Visual Studio

keantonc — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:04:00 GMT

Just as you use Eclipse to build Android apps, you use Visual Studio to build Windows Store apps. This video gives a brief comparison of the two.

For more resources to help Android app developers get started building Windows Store apps, go to http://aka.ms/AndroidtoWindows.

Comparing Xcode to Visual Studio

keantonc — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 17:51:54 GMT

Just as you use Xcode to build iOS apps, you use Visual Studio to build Windows Store apps. This video gives a quick comparison of the two.

For more resources to help iOS developers get started building Windows Store apps, go to http://aka.ms/iOStoWindows.

Updating a live tile from a background task

keantonc — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 17:28:51 GMT

Make your app stand out with a live tile. You can use a background task to update your app's live tile with fresh content.

For a closer look and more details, check out Quickstart: Update a live tile from a background task on the Windows Dev Center.

Personalize your app with Windows services

keantonc — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 17:33:58 GMT

Give users a more personalized experience by letting your Windows Store app connect to their Microsoft account profile, data, and SkyDrive.

Mapping your location

keantonc — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 17:13:34 GMT

Learn how to display a location in an app using a Bing Maps. You can test your app with a variety of locations using the Simulator included in Microsoft Visual Studio 2012.

For a walkthrough of the steps, see How to display your location using Bing Maps in the Windows Dev Center, and download the complete source code here.

Introduction to globalization and localization

keantonc — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 16:57:47 GMT

Want to get your Windows Store app in front of as many customers as possible? This video shows you how to globalize your app and adapt it for languages and regions throughout the world.

Want to learn more? Check out Globalizing your app in the Windows Dev Center for how-to guidance, code samples, and best practices.

What is a Windows Store app?

keantonc — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 00:14:50 GMT

A Windows Store app is a new type of application that runs on Windows 8. Learn about their key features, what makes them different from desktop apps, and how to get started building your own app.

Want to learn more? Check out Meet Windows Store apps in the Windows Dev Center.

Developer Diaries: Blake Miller talks Bodeefit and Think Big Partners

Laura Foy — Thu, 30 May 2013 19:25:41 GMT

Blake Miller, co-founder of Bodeefit, talks about his experience working with different UI's, app building, and start-ups.

Developer Diaries: Erin Strange from Migration.Mobi

Laura Foy — Fri, 10 May 2013 03:33:58 GMT

In this latest episode, Erin Strange stopped by to talk about developing some super high profile apps. Erin is the creative director at Migration.Mobi and here she talks about what it's like developing both the IHeartRadio app and the United Airlines app.

Andrew Garrison from Jundroo- Developing mobile games

Laura Foy — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 03:53:16 GMT

We sat down with Andrew Garrison from Jundroo to talk about developing engineering games for Windows Phones. We talked about the pros, the cons and the challenges you face when developing for different platforms. Get to know Andrew and then get to know some of his awesome games.

Ping 172: MVP Program, Developers get paid, TMall in China, Xbox hacked

Laura Foy — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 03:20:12 GMT

Laura and Paul bring you this weeks top buzz worthy news stories. Here's a sampling...

Windows Phone Design Bootcamp 201: The System

Jean-Christophe Cimetiere, Laura Foy, jaredtpotter — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 20:34:55 GMT

Windows Phone Design Bootcamp Overview:

Windows Phone Design 101 covers the philosophy, inspiration and visuals that are Windows Phone Design Language. Starting with the basic terminology of design, this boot camp will take you from its early origins to the Design Principles each screen in Windows Phone was measured against. From there, we will show you the design process that guided its creation. Lastly, we will discuss the larger Microsoft Design ecosystem including Windows 8.

In Windows Phone Design 201 focuses on the skills necessary to implement "pixel-perfect" Windows Phone UI. 201 will cover the "system" including basics of the phones navigation model, interaction with the shell and an overview of gesture system. Next it will cover "composition", which is about how to clearly define when it is appropriate to use a page template and when to use a particular animation or page transition or how to harness screen orientation. Lastly, we will cover, controls and APIs available for creating your own experiences and give tips on how to do simple prototyping.

[YOU ARE HERE] Session 1: The System
Session 2: Composition
Session 3: Controls & APIs

Boot camp presenter: Jared T Potter

Former Windows Phone Design Integration Lead for 3 years, Jared is now Principle Designer for SixThAveStudios.com. Jared's focus is to combine the most cutting edge design language, user experience and motion graphics into a complete mobile user experience. http://www.linkedin.com/in/jaredpotter

Useful resources

Windows 8: Pure Imagination - The In-Person and Virtual Experience

Jonathan Rozenblit — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 04:22:27 GMT

The buzz word is REIMAGINATION. The list of new products and technologies launching is endless. Windows 8: Pure Imagination will bring developers, designers, game builders, students and start-ups entrepreneurs together to explore the possibilities of Windows 8. At Windows 8: Pure Imagination you'll be encouraged to look beyond the features... to what can be accomplished when inspiration and technology intersect. Tommy Lee dishes the details about this weekend developer must attend event!

About Windows 8: Pure Imagination

Windows 8: Pure Imagination brings developers, designers, game builders, students and start-ups entrepreneurs together to explore the possibilities of Windows 8. You'll be encouraged to look beyond the features... to what can be accomplished when inspiration and technology intersect. In less than 40 hours, you'll get everything you need to make your vision into the next great Canadian app, including on-site presentations, brainstorming sessions, hands-on labs and access to industry experts for guidance and treated to spontaneous moments of fun to keep your energy up.

Register for Windows 8: Pure Imagination

Register for Windows 8: Pure Imagination - The In-Person Experience (Toronto) >>
Register for Windows 8: Pure Imagination - The Virtual Experience >>

Join the Conversation
Will you be attending Windows 8: Pure Imagination in-person or virtually? What would you want to get out of the weekend? Share your thoughts by starting a new conversation in the Canadian Developer Connection group on LinkedIn. Tommy, Jonathan, as well as other fellow Canadian developers are there networking, sharing, and learning. While visiting the group, make sure to join the group and stay connected.

This segment was presented and recording LIVE on Wednesday, November 5, 2012.

D³: LIVE & INTERACTiVE
In case you haven't heard about the show, Developers, Developers, Developers: LIVE & INTERACTIVE (D³) is a monthly show hosted by Jonathan Rozenblit. The show airs live every first Wednesday of the month at 12:00 PM ET and features the latest updates on what's new and exciting in the world of development; featured presentations; and guests. LIVE and INTERACTIVE means that you'll be part of the show – You're invited to interact with us; ask questions and get them answered; and share your thoughts and opinions.

Join the Canadian Developer Connection LinkedIn group
Follow @devsdevdevs
Like D³ on Facebook
Subscribe to podcasts via iTunes, Zune, or RSS
Download the Canadian Developer Connection Windows Store app
Download the Canadian Developer Connection Windows Phone app

More D³: LIVE & INTERACTIVE >>

BUILD Day 2 Keynote Developer Love Video

Laura Foy — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 21:01:43 GMT

After speaking with some of the most influential developers around we decided to grab some BUILD attendees and asked them to share why they love what they do.

Making money with your Windows Store apps

Roxanne Beaver — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 16:55:14 GMT

This video discusses how you can make the most amount of money with your Windows Store apps.

Windows 8 provides the greatest developer opportunity ever! If you take a look at the Windows EcoSystem, Windows has sold over 650 million copies of Windows 7 in 200 plus countries, and in over 100 different languages.

This is the potential starting point for your audience for people to purchase your app from the Windows Store. And that's a pretty great starting point.

For more information see the following reference link here:

Making money with your apps

See also related videos here:

Windows Store: How do I get paid?

Roxanne Beaver — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 16:14:29 GMT

In Windows 8, there are a lot of different ways you can make money with your Windows Store app. In this video, we'll cover how you can receive payments for your Windows Store app sales.

For more information on how to get paid, please see the following link:

Getting Paid

See also related videos here:

Graphic Improvements in Windows 8

Roxanne Beaver — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 16:07:03 GMT

In Windows 8, performance and battery life are important factors so we wanted to offload as much as possible on to the machine's graphics hardware to speed up everything you do.

That's why we invested in DirectX to hardware accelerate almost every aspect of the user experience. Graphics is literally at the core of every Windows 8 experience.

For more information on graphic improvements in Windows 8, see the reference links here:

See also related videos here:

Windows 8 for Gaming

Windows Store: Setting up a developer account

Roxanne Beaver — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 23:38:08 GMT

Before your customers can acquire your app from the Windows Store, you'll need to sign up for a Windows Store developer account. This video provides an overview of the signup process and some insights into a few of the key questions you'll need to answer.

For more information on setting up a developer account, please see the related topics here:

See also related videos here:

Designing your Windows 8 app to be the best in its category

Roxanne Beaver — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 23:16:16 GMT

When starting to design a Windows 8 app, the most important thing to do is pick out a best-at statement. To create one, answer the question: "This app is the best app in its category at what?"

Take the time to come up with a great best-at statement because many of your decisions, from what features you build to how you lay out the content in your app will be based on it.

For more information on designing your app, please see:

Planning Windows Store apps

Beyond Just Beautiful - Part 2

Roxanne Beaver — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 17:53:13 GMT

This video discusses Part 2 on how to use the Windows 8 platform to build great Windows Store apps. It covers a number of aspects to the platform that aren't always visible but are essential to building great apps.

For more information on best practices, please see:

See also related videos here:

Beyond Just Beautiful Part 1

For a link to Kraig's book, please see:

Programming Windows 8 apps

Beyond Just Beautiful - Part 1

Roxanne Beaver — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 17:44:02 GMT

This video discusses Part 1 on how to use the new Windows 8 platform to build great Windows Store apps. It covers a number of aspects to the platform that aren't always visible but are essential to building great apps.

For more information on best practices, please see:

See also related videos here:

Beyond Just Beautiful Part 2

For a link to Kraig's book, please see:

Programming Windows 8 apps

Microsoft Intern Hack-A-Thon

Laura Foy — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 21:16:44 GMT

The Microsoft Developer Division hires students for a summer internship each year, and these interns were given a special chance last week to test their skills at building applications. It was called the Microsoft Intern Hack-a-thon, and these students formed teams and got the chance to build an application that targeted Windows 8, Windows Phone 7, Kinect, or the Azure platform.

At the end of the 2-day competition, these applications were demoed by the interns, then judged and voted on by those in attendance, including a few Microsoft execs. Competition was pretty intense, as was the eating at an intern barbecue - and in the end there were 4 teams who took winning memories back to school with them.

Let's take a look at what they built.......

Platform Hygiene

Tim O'Brien — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 18:11:36 GMT

Yesterday, Google's Vic Gundotra proudly exclaimed that "I'm not interested in screwing over developers" as he piled on top of Dalton Caldwell's post accusing Facebook of being naughty on the platform front. I'm not here to defend Facebook or Twitter or anyone else who takes lumps in Dalton's blog, but Vic's opportunistic post warrants a little scrutiny, as I always worry when people in power positions go over the top to proclaim what they're *not* doing (Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton come to mind). I rather hope Google can back up the claim going forward, because it certainly hasn't in the past. To be specific, I'm talking about things like ...

Google deprecating its SOAP Search API in favor of the more restrictive AJAX API ... see here
Google deprecating its Translation API ... see here
Google deprecating Tables and Records feeds for the Spreadsheets API ... see here
Google, well, just deprecating lots of APIs in general ... see here ... and then trying to pacify developers with pitiful 1-year support commitments
Google jamming the websockets protocol onto developers before it was actually done, in a fiasco that was well-chronicled ... here was our take on it
Google head-faking web devs with Gears ... in 2008, Chrome + Gears was supposed to be the new desktop, but in 2011 Gears was pulled out of Chrome ... see here
Google marshaling the developer community around Open Social, only to put it out to pasture later ... see here
Google marshaling the developer community with an API for Google Buzz, only to pull the plug later
Google marshaling the developer community with an API for Google Wave, only to pull the plug later
Google doing next to nothing to solve the Android fragmentation conundrum for developers ... see here and here
Google making late payments to Android developers in Europe, exposing a number of other developer support pain points ... see here
Google welching on its promise to Mozilla to remove H.264 support from Chrome in support of their WebM science project, effectively forcing Mozilla to reverse course on H.264 ... see here

The list goes on and on.

Now, to be fair, Google is no different than any other platform provider, in the sense that we've all (including Microsoft), at one time or another, changed/reversed/adjusted course on a number of things over the years, either because of developer community feedback, technical strategy course-corrections, competitive pressures, "the world has changed" scenarios, etc., but a little humility goes a long way, and Vic's post, which All Things D describes as having a "sense of delight", contains none of it. Ten-year support commitments are always helpful, too, but I'm not sure Google's big on those, either. Maximizing the amount of developer investment in things like skills and code that come forward into new technologies is another piece that we continue to work hard at, but Google seems more inclined toward making a clean break with these sorts of things (and I'm being polite here). Enough with the compare & contrast ... the point is this: opportunistically taking advantage of an anti-Facebook meme to grandstand about how Google+ is somehow the shining beacon of platform goodness just feels oily. But more importantly, it deserves some proper context ... the reason Google is or isn't holding back on a write API for G+ is irrelevant ... this is about taking a humble tone in the wake of a dubious track record.

Change is a Developer's Opportunity with Richard Campbell

Jonathan Rozenblit, Richard Campbell — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 03:58:55 GMT

According to Richard Campbell, there are big changes in the development world on the horizon, and while potentially scary, change is a great opportunity for developers. Hear about the history of how we got here and why the things you know now will stay valuable when you add a bit more in. Plus: Richard shares his advice on embracing change to propel you forward.

Richard Campbell
Richard Campbell has been involved with microcomputers and software since 1977. His career has spanned the industry both on the hardware and software sides, from manufacturing to sales, service, game development, line-of-business software and large scale systems. He's been deeply involved in creating new businesses around software, hardware, services and products in a huge range of roles, including technical, management and financing. During the halcyon days of the DotComBoom he was a consultant to venture capital firms providing technical due diligence and architectural direction.

Today Richard is on the board of directors for Telerik, a leading vendor of development, team productivity, automated testing tools, UI components and content management solutions in the Microsoft space. He is one of the co-founders of Strangeloop Networks, developing an appliance for web site performance. He's a partner in PWOP Productions, creating a variety of multimedia programs including ".NET Rocks!, the Internet Audio Talk Show for .NET Developers," a podcast produced twice a week for more than 150,000 listeners in 120 countries and The Tablet Show, a podcast focused on tablet and mobile development across all platforms. In addition he's the host of RunAs Radio, a podcast for the IT Professional using Microsoft technologies. Richard also serves as a technical director for Penton Media, planning the content of magazines and conferences that engage technology professionals all over the world.

D³: LIVE & INTERACTiVE
Developers, Developers, Developers: LIVE & INTERACTIVE (D³) is a monthly show hosted by Jonathan Rozenblit. The show airs live every first Wednesday of the month at 12:00 PM ET and features the latest updates on what's new and exciting in the world of development; featured presentations; and guests. LIVE and INTERACTIVE means that you'll be part of the show – You're invited to interact with us; ask questions and get them answered; and share your thoughts and opinions.

More D³: LIVE & INTERACTIVE >>

WIN280 - Metro in Windows 8 and Windows Phone (Part 2)

Jonathan Rozenblit, Atley Hunter — Tue, 22 May 2012 16:40:07 GMT

The Metro interface has the potential to change how a lot of people use computers. You've started seeing it in the Windows Phone. More if you have downloaded the Windows 8 consumer preview. In this session, we will demonstrate how the power exposed by Metro (through live tiles, push notifications, immersive user experiences, etc.) can be harnessed to provide a usable and intuitive application.

This Session's Experts

Atley Hunter (Twitter, LinkedIn, Blog)

This session was recorded live at ObjectSharp's annual "At The Movies" event - May 1, 2012, Scotiabank Theatre, Toronto, Ontario.