How to enter the Code'n my way to PDC Contest | The Coffeehouse

jeffsand
Inch by Inch

WE ARE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THE WINNERS:

PDC05 Interact for Outlook 2003

and

cameraFlow Labryinth

Thank you to everyone for your very creative entries and best of luck with your applications!

Write some code with Beta 2 of Visual Studio 2005, put the Shareware Starter Kit Beta through its paces and just maybe you’ll win a $1000 airfare voucher, hotel accomodations and tickets to attend PDC05.

The Shareware Starter Kit is a sample application that implements the common features in shareware applications. The Shareware Starter Kit includes sample components that show integrated e-commerce using PayPal, secure product activation, product registration, error reporting, and more using Web services.

In order to enter this contest you will need to build an application using Visual Studio 2005 Beta 2 and a beta of the Shareware Starter Kit and submit them to Channel 9.

Don't have beta 2 of Visual Studio 2005?
Instructions on how to get it are available here.

Need the Shareware Starter Kit Beta?
We have that for you in C# and VB.NET versions.

How do you enter?
Once you’ve built your killer app, return to Channel 9 and visit the Shareware Contest Forum and select new topic. Just follow the instructions on the form submitting the binaries of your application in the form of a zip file along with a a screenshot of your application.

For an example of a properly packaged submission, you can download a zip file containing the SimpleExplorer sample application that comes with the starter kit, from here.

~~We will be accepting entries until August 12, 2005 and the winners will be announce on Monday, August 15th, 2005.~~

For more information please review the official contest rules.

Good luck and happy coding!
-Jeff

Ian
Proud to be geek ....

Cool!

dahat

What is the policy on applications that rely on external applications or hardware? Say... a person makes a game that absolutely requires (for whatever reason) a joystick, or another application that requires an mp3 player, webcam or something even more obscure (LCD panel, gps, etc)?

Also, is it safe to assume that any judging will be done on Windows XP machines?

jeffsand
Inch by Inch

dahat wrote:
What is the policy on applications that rely on external applications or hardware? Say... a person makes a game that absolutely requires (for whatever reason) a joystick, or another application that requires an mp3 player, webcam or something even more obscure (LCD panel, gps, etc)?

Also, is it safe to assume that any judging will be done on Windows XP machines?

The judging panel will test the applications on Windows XP. As far as 3rd party applications as long as you are operate within the appropriate terms specified by the 3rd party application and we're not prevented from trying out your application then its fine.

Vipul
Vipul

where is my keyboard?

Steve411

I actually have a finished project in .net 2.0. I could so win this. BUt I wouldn't be able to go.

Loadsgood
What is your answer?

Steve411 wrote:

I actually have a finished project in .net 2.0. I could so win this. BUt I wouldn't be able to go.

Sell your code to the highest bidder! Wink

I might as well whack something up just for fun Smiley

This'll be fun.
Loadsgood.

AIM48

Does the SWSK work on the express edditions?

Michael Lehman
Microsoft Blueprints

No, the SSK requires any version above Express.

Both the SSK and VS2005 are both freely available for D/L.

Visual Studio is available here
The SSK is available here for C# and here for VB

AIM48

As far as I can tell VS2005 is only avialable for DL thru msdn - I am not a msdn member.
You can also order it - in DVD format ,unfortanatlly I do not have A DVD drive. Sad

Oh well....

gaelhatchue

Damm it...
Why is it required that contestants are at least 21 years of age? I am 2 years younger and wanted so bad to enter the coding contest.
I guess I will have to wait 2 years and hope that there is another one...

Tom Servo
W-hat?

Are we required to use that Shareware Starter Kit? Or does freeware work, too?

--edit: Is it possible to use Avalon for UI business?

Robowho?
Everything in this world is in jest

So, how about some flair for the coding contest to put up on our websites, product about boxes and splash screens?

Michael Lehman
Microsoft Blueprints

The admission requirements for PDC are 21 and up so we were obliged to use the same requirements for the contest.

Michael Lehman
Microsoft Blueprints

Yes, the contest requires that you use the starter kit. The starter kit is a collection of classes (and a web service) that help you manage registration and payment.

Unfortunately, the Avalon bits are currently in a not-for-commercial-use status so they cannot be distributed as part of a shareware application yet.

Robowho?
Everything in this world is in jest

I wonder how much we can stretch the rules.

What if we used the shareware kit, but used it to collect payments for a charity, hence make it donationware, hence non-commercial.

Or something else. Excluding Avalon products from the contest doesn't match with the spirit of the contest, which is to use latest technologies, no?

amotif
No Silver Bullet

jeffsand wrote:

The judging panel will test the applications on Windows XP.

Does the contest (or starter kit's capabilities) specifically preclude the submission of mobile apps?

CareBear

What kind of source code licenses are approved in the submissions? There is a description in the rules but it's a bit vague for me to understand completely.

Is the CPL (Common Public License) a good alternative? It is the same as WiX (Windows Installer XML Toolkit) and I've been using it for previous projects.

Regards,
Sondre

CareBear

Customization of the Shareware Kit:

To what level can we customize the Shareware Kit itself. Mostly interrested in the graphical changes.

It looks a bit weird that the splashscreen says "Shareware Starter Kit" and then my application loads which have a very different UI.

Are all changes allowed except changes to the Web Service/Licensing mechanism?

Regards,
Sondre

briant

I believe customizing the look and feel of the SSK should be recommended. It's designed in such a fashion that the UI layer is abstracted from the helper classes handling all the licensing and web service functionality. It should be easy to replace the background images in the provided forms to customize the color scheme and layout.

In my opinion, as long as the SSK is used for the base functionality customize away!

Michael Lehman
Microsoft Blueprints

The source code license is up to you...however...do not include source code in your submission!

Binaries only plus a screen shot.
We'll be posting a sample submission zip shortly.

Michael Lehman
Microsoft Blueprints

Customize away!

Any changes that don't change the existing API to the class library and/or the messages sent/to from the web service are at your discretion.

You are welcome to add your own API calls as long as you don't ask us to debug them Wink

Note that we will need to test your submission on a out-of-the-box Windows XP and VS2005 B2 configuration.

Michael Lehman
Microsoft Blueprints

We must be able to test the app on an out-of-the-box Windows XP (SP2) plus Visual Studio 2005 Beta 2 configuration. If your app can be run (somehow) in that config... go for it.

We will not be setting up any enhancements, external devices, or installing anything other than your app as part of the testing process.

Michael Lehman
Microsoft Blueprints

The issue is not just the "commercial" aspect.

The existing code licenses for pre-release technology, especially before Beta 2, of developer products restrict "redistribution". So you could build an app but you won't have a license to distribute it until you're issued either a "go-live" licence, which is provided sometimes at Beta 2, or the product RTMs.

So yes, it's about "latest technologies" but in this case "latest redistributable technologies" which excludes Avalon and Indigo (for now).

Obviously we share your enthusiasm and are looking forward to the day when Avalon and Indigo apps can be built on top of the SSK!

Robowho?
Everything in this world is in jest

Can we assume that this test PC will have an internet connection and our applications will be authorized to access the internet through the firewall?

Maybe it would clear things up if some specs were to be determined so we know what resources would be available to the apps. Yes, internet access is probably a no-brainer, but I am sure there are other less obvious resources that some developers might be counting on.

One more good thing to know would also be whether the apps could expect to be run under Admin privileges if needed, or limited user only.

Stuff like that.