DevFish.NET

7.1.1 Windows Phone SDK - Two Emulators at Once

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 15:38:56 GMT

As I continue futzing around with the new 7.1.1 SDK for Windows Phone Technology Preview, I stumbled upon an interesting feature. Key to 7.1.1 Tech Preview are the dual emulators in 256mb and 512mb flavors.

The emulator in the 7.1 SDK can ONLY be run as as a 512 megabyte emulator, and ONLY one emulator at a time.

The 256 megabyte emulator in 7.1.1 SDK is a great environment for devs to use to test their apps in the 256mb memory environments. There is also a 512mb emulator as well. Both of them show up in the Device Launch dialog.

With the 7.1.1 Technology Preview of the Windows Phone SDK, you can have TWO emulators running at once. Launch two Visual Studios and open a Windows Phone project in each one. Deploy one to the 256mb emulator, and deploy the second project to the 512mb emulator. Voila, two emulators at once.

Where could this be useful? I know several folks working on multiplayer games. Using this approach you could debug the two windows back and forth, simulating a multiuser environment on one machine. Sweet.

With released 7.1 SDK, you could, however, run one app in the emulator, and run another instance of Visual Studio connected to a physical device for two simultaneous app debugging sessions. Of course, you could do the physical plus two emulators approach for three debugging connections. More debugging joy for all.

I tried a number of different ways to get two emulators up in the released 7.1 SDK. Command line launching, command line with a Visual Studio instance, two Visual Studio instances, two VS instance under different privileges, and whatever else I hit. Note the different privilege attempt yielded the following message - "Error: An instance of Windows Phone Emulator is launched with different User Access Privileges. Please close the current running instance and relaunch the Emulator". No luck at all!

See also - Windows Phone 7.1.1 SDK Technology Preview and Emulator Options, 7.1.1 SDK notes in dfwiki .

Tallahassee FL - PUBSEC Dev Roadshow - April 2012

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 14:37:42 GMT

The Microsoft Public Sector Developer team has asked me to pass along information about their Roadshow coming up in Tallahassee on April 3rd. If you're in Tallahassee this would be a great event to make. Enjoy! Healy...

Microsoft Public Sector Developer Tools and CRM Roadshow
When: April 3, 2012
Event ID: 1032509175 - Register here
Register by Phone: 1-877-MSEVENT 9AM-7PM EST M-F
Where: Hotel Duval, The Opal Room, 415 N Monroe St, Tallahassee, Florida 32301 - map

Microsoft invites you to join us for a day of developer-oriented technical sessions, featuring Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM. The sessions will focus on these tools both independently and also how to unlock the power of using them together.

The event begins with a presentation on Visual Studio 2010 – How to Choose a Custom Development Technology, where we will discuss the types of development and goals to consider when choosing a target technology. The second presentation will be a demonstration on our new application development acceleration technology called Lightswitch, which allows developers to quickly generate applications in a data-driven manner, often without writing a single line of code!

Next, we will take a look at Dynamics CRM, what it is, and how government agencies are using it to develop robust and effective solutions. Furthermore, we will have a discussion as to how CRM fits in with other technologies like Sharepoint and Lightswitch, and what the right situations are to target each of these.

The afternoon session will dive into a demonstration of developing Dynamics CRM applications, both from an out-of-the-box standpoint and leveraging Visual Studio 2010 to greatly extend and enhance the potential of CRM.

The last session of the day is dedicated to Microsoft’s advanced testing tools, and how these can be used to capture and automate tests, whether you are testing a from-scratch application or one generated with Dynamics CRM. Lastly, we’ll close the day with some open Q&A and a review of MSDN benefits and changes, if desired.

The sessions will target Developers, Architects, Designers, and QA/Testers, be very much demonstration oriented, and will be delivered by seasoned technical specialists with experience in Government and Public Sector. Seize this opportunity to immerse yourself amidst these exciting new technologies. We expect a very interactive and educational experience!

*Lunch will not be provided.

9:00 – 9:25 Choosing a Custom Development Technology for applications: how to choose between new technology such as HTML5, Silverlight, WPF, and Lightswitch
9:25 – 10:20 Lightswitch: Accelerating line-of-business application development
10:30 – 11:00 CRM Case Studies – examples of government solutions built with Dynamics CRM
11:00 – 11:30 Discussion: When to Use What – CRM, Sharepoint, Office, Lightswitch, etc
11:30 – 12:30 BREAK
12:30 – 2:00 Bringing It All Together: Building a CRM application with Dynamics CRM and Visual Studio
2:10 – 3:00 Testing tools: How to leverage Visual Studio and Test Manager to generate test automation and coded UI tests
3:00 – 3:20 General Q&A Session

METRO FRIDAY - Win8 or Windows Phone - April 2012

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 18:39:40 GMT

I like hackathons. Lots of interaction that wasn't planned. You get to see some really cool project. And you get to code.

Hackathons are very simply an event where folks sit around and co-work on their projects with specific goals in mind.

I also love Windows Phone and Windows 8. So I thought to myself, hmmm, "have big meeting room", "have some Fridays open", why not runs some open hackathons!.

So with that, the esteemed Jim Blizzard and myself came up with the idea for METRO FRIDAY HACKATHONS.

What: Hackathon for Metro Styled Apps on Win8 or Windows Phone
When: 900AM to 800PM - all day, April 6, 20, and 27
What: Open format hackathon focused on Metro for Windows 8 or Windows Phone
Where: Microsoft Office, 5426 Bay Center Drive, Suite 700, Tampa, FL 33609 - directions

Ideas on what you could do:
Publish your app during the hackathon! (this qualifies you for some special drawings!)
Evaluate your app for SDK 7.1.1 256mb emulator compatibility
Work on a project with experienced folks to help you. Jim Blizzard for Windows 8, Joe Healy for Windows Phone
Jump start your Windows 8 or Windows Phone Developer Experience Cowork for a Day!

Who: Anyone. You've got the time, we will be there.... Note the late hours if you can't come by during the day
Registration: Just email jhealy@microsoft.com that you're in

This is a head down hackathon. Very few lectures. Bring a computer to work with. Powerstrips are a good idea as well.

INSTALL THE DEV TOOLS BEFORE YOU SHOW UP.
WIRELESS AT THE FACILITY IS MARGINAL
YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO DOWNLOAD DEV TOOLS THE DAY OF THE HACKATHON
Windows Phone SDK
Win8 Consumer Preview
Azure SDK
Azure 90-day Trial
WebMatrix
VS11 Express Beta for Win8

Windows Phone Developer? Live in Florida? Join our special "Florida Residents Only" Windows Phone Developer discussion group at http://fla-wimo-dev.groups.live.com

Win8 Dev? Live in Florida? Join our special "Florida Residents Only" Win8 developer discussion group at http://fla-windev.groups.live.com .

These are not tech support or 'give feedback to Microsoft' routes, but a way for Florida Microsoft Devs to connect with each other.

Want 20k - write some XNA in DreamBuildPlay

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 18:06:04 GMT

GOT XNA?
WRITING AN WINDOWS PHONE GAME?
WANT A SHOT AT THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS?

Here's the short version. Over 14? Write a cool Windows Phone Game and submit it to the Dream,Build,Play site. You could win up to $20,000. Yep, that's it. In a nutshell. So on to the long-winded stuff.

Windows Phone the prizes are $20k, $10k, $5k, and $2500 respectively. The top 20 finalists will also get Phones. Want some inspiration, check out last year's XBOX winners at https://www.dreambuildplay.com/main/winners.aspx . Obviously the competition is going to be tough. Make something good. And if you publish it, let me know. I'm always looking for brag on our phone devs!

RULES - SHORT LIST
Registration until May 15, Submission until June 12
Judging on fun/innovative/quality
Must be greater than 14 years old
All submissions are in English
You cannot submit if you live in Cuba, Iran, North Korean, Sudan or Syria
Official Rules - https://www.dreambuildplay.com/main/officialrules.aspx

Imagine Cup 2012 - Vote Now!

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 14:04:35 GMT

SHORT VERSION - Click here and vote for your favorite student apps in the imagine cup.

LONG VERSION
We asked students from all over the world to come up with innovative uses of technology that would make the world a better place. They stepped up to the challenge, and the Imagine Cup US 2012 competition was on!

Imagine Cup is a global technology competition, enabling students worldwide to use technology to transform the world we live in. Every year, Imagine Cup inspires eager students to shine, developing skills that will power their futures, and applying what they have learned to make a positive impact in the world and build a brighter future.

Last year, over 325,000 students participated in Imagine Cup. Today, 22 teams from across the country have made it to the Imagine Cup US finals, developing solutions and providing awareness to issues that address environmental stewardship, the worldwide obesity epidemic, and the plight of children in war-torn Africa.

Now it’s up to you:

These teams need your votes to win the Imagine Cup People’s Choice award. The team with the most votes by May 19, 2012 will travel to the Imagine Cup Worldwide Finals in Sydney, Australia this July. Vote now by clicking here !

Your vote is powerful. By helping select the Imagine Cup People’s Choice winner, you’ll not only be raising awareness for critical social issues, you’ll also be supporting the future of technology innovation here in the US.

And of course there’s something in it for you, too. Every time you vote, you qualify to win prizes like a laptop, an Xbox, or a Windows Phone!

Visit the Imagine Cup US Facebook page to check out our US finalists and vote for your favorite—it’s fast and easy. And remember, the more often you vote, the more often you can win, so stop by every day!

Voting URL outside of a hyperlink, in case this thing gets 'textified' - https://www.facebook.com/MicrosoftTechStudent/app_170672609717521?app_data=%7B%27mtag%27%3A%27jhealy%27%7D

Win8 Metro Apps Wanted

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 21:25:05 GMT

The Release Preview of Windows 8 is coming in June . Got your apps ready?. If you haven't already, you should download the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, and the Visual Studio 11 Beta and start working on an app. This dfwiki article is a living document (aka evolving over time) that will get you started -> dfwiki.devfish.net.

OK, you've written an app! Now wouldn't it be great to have it LIVE in Win8 on day 1 of release?

At present you need a token to submit your app to the Windows Store. Some steps from Jaime Rodriguez:

If your app is ready and you want to be among those developers who get to submit to the store early, simply attend one of the 100s of free Application Excellence Labs that DPE and Windows are holding around the world.
Follow these steps to get invited to an App Excellence lab:
1.Create a really great Windows 8 Metro style app (or game) immediately. Get it as ready as if you were submitting to the store.
2.If you know your local DPE evangelists (maybe because you attended a Windows camp training), get in touch with them [ Florida folks - jhealy@microsoft.com ] and ask them to nominate your app for a lab.
3.If you don’t know your local evangelist, then email the following information to win8aefb@microsoft.com:
  a.Your name
  b.City & country where you are located
  c. Brief description for your app (no binary, screenshot is optional, but only send if the screenshot is public, non-confidential stuff )
4.Your pledge that you’ve spent at least 8 hours devouring all the great UX guidelines we have at the design section in the Windows Dev Center
5.Wait for our response letting you know where the closest app excellence lab will be and how to get in touch with the right evangelist to nominate you.

Full post on Jaime Rodriguez's blog ..

If you're ready to go with your Win8 app, and you're here in Florida, drop me a note at jhealy@microsoft.com . I'll point you in the right direction to start the process. If you're outside of Florida , start with your local DE. If you don't know your local DE, email win8aefb@microsoft.com .

SAMS Windows Phone Dev in 24 Hours - Thanks ya'll

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 19:22:54 GMT

The Windows Phone programming book a bunch of us Florida folks started on a while ago finally released. Sams Teach Yourself Windows Phone 7 Application Development in 24 Hours shipped this month. Its nice to have my name on a book cover, you know? Also made mom and dad happy. But they still don't understand programming. In addition to thanking my fellow authors ( Dorman, Wolf, Polyakov ) and our editors (Neil/Betsy), I had a few other folks that really helped me out. Not just on the book but over my life. I tried to let the dedication speak for itself.

Ryan and Morgan - fishing isn't really my life, these two are
coding moods - heads down, leave me alone, grrrr
][e - yep, my first 'puter was from fruitco. they were so much fun then
AT-Clone - egghead mailorder. I was supposed to pay my folks back circa 1986 or so. woops. hope they never run the accrued interesting. also hope my brother doesn't read this re inheritance.
Microsoft Management - dpe field. awesome. that's all i can say. many great managers over my 11 years.
cutter - LJ - college roommate ala 'cutter'. taught me how naughty computers can be without imagery
scumpy - Ken - roommate in college during the 'ibm quarters' - always had something new and cool to play with - he'll be back one day!
foghat - Chuck - highschool programming king who took the time to teach the captain of the football team about peek, poke, and byte
fla-wimo-dev - Florida-only, Windows Phone developer mailing list. I'm surrounded by some of the coolest, brightest, most giving folks in the world. Ya'll rock. Thanks...

Linked to the book and other Getting Started on Windows Phone resources are located at http://dfwiki.devfish.net/technology.Windows-Phone-Getting-Started-for-Developers.ashx if you'd like to learn more about programming Windows Phone.

Tips for Surviving and Maybe Winning a Hackathon

Wed, 02 May 2012 17:07:29 GMT

DEVFISH'S DEVELOPER CHECKLIST FOR HACKATHON ATTENDEES

Bring your own PowerStrip. I love squids cause the fit all the funky power supplies we all have. Yeah, sure, the organizers will have enough, power strips, right. But you'll have two laptops, a phone charger, and lord knows what else.
Bring energy food. Typically the food served is carb heavy crud (read nap time). Gotta keep the energy up.
Don't like coffee or water? Bring your own beverages. Stock up on whatever beverage you like and keep some in a cooler in the car.
Bring business cards. You will make new contacts. Who knows what an event like this can lead to. Networking is key benefit to an event like a hackathon.
Hackathons are noisy, bring some headphones and some think music.
Wireless internet will probably die at a hackathon. Bring your own Internet access, like a cell-carrier mobile access point (ala mifi or whatever) or even better a Windows Phone that can serveas a wireless access point
Wear comfy clothes. Wear socks. Yes, your feet smell.
The place could be cold, have a sweatshirt
Come in with a couple friends and have a team formed ahead of time. It can be frustrating to hunt for teammates at a hackathon. I used to get picked last at recess, it sucks.
Bring a designer - decent graphics by a real designer will smoke away visually anything done by normal developers. Bring toys for the designer so when they get tired of devtalk they have someplace to hide.
Game plan - once your team is formed, work out your gameplan. Assign responsibilities and work items. Setup a timeframe. Stick someone with the managerial/monitoring/coordination duties.
Bring some paper stencils or a small whiteboard to work with. I like the MerryCode stencils
Bring a pen or two to sketch with. Really, yes. Check your bag now.
Pre-deploy a web/cloud service for use in your project. Good starting point is setting up something like Azure with WebAPI site setup and ready to go with base services before you get there. This will save you a ton of time. Have echo, postsomething, and hello working. Time saver, why not do it ahead of time
Have a simple Windows Phone (or whatever) project ready to go to access those web/cloud services ahead of the game. Have echo, postsomething, and hello services being consumed. Again, a time saver
Map out good resources you can leverage, such as starter kits, graphics, and audio resources . Don't want to spent a ton of time hunting. http://dfwiki.devfish.net has some goodies to help you. Search around
Know the judges. Find out what they are looking for. Do this early. Tailor your project to the judges if your goal is to win.
Pick a spokesperson. They're going to have around 5 minutes to present your project. Make sure they're good.
Bring a toothbrush and deo - a change of clothes, and varoius other personal goods if its overnight event. Pillow and sleeping bag help for naps but sleep really isn't recommended.

Nokia CodeWarrior Spring 2012 Hackathons - Miami

Wed, 02 May 2012 18:10:53 GMT

I love hackathons. A fun way to sit there with fellow geeks and build some cool apps. Also a great way to wnetwork So I'm pretty pumped to note that Nokia is bringing their "Code Warrior" hackathon to Miami on June 7, Thursday. 900AM to 1000PM. One full day. It doesn't hurt the location is Dave and Buster's. That's their "CodeWarriorDude" to the right.

Since its Nokia, there will be a ton of play around the Nokia Lumia 710s and Lumia 900s . Exciting for a Windows Phone developer.

Hackathon defined. Bunch of software builder types in a room. Form a team. Pick a project. Develop and design madly until deadline arrives. Fine "geek who can speak". Show off your stuff. Make money off project. Die rich.

Special at the Nokia Hackathon is a 'bounty board'. Hit one of the 'bounty apps' and there will be some sweet prizes if you deliver the apps. Sign up for news on the Bounty Board via the email reg at thecodewarrior.com . Also sign up for the hackathon at the Nokia Developer EventBrite site as well - http://www.nokiadeveloper.eventbrite.com .

If you are attending the Miami event, let me know. jhealy@microsoft.com or @devfish on twitter.

And no, Miami is not the only event location for the 2012 hackathons. The rest of the locations (also available on the EventBrite site) are:

May 12, Columbus, Ohio
May 15, Atlanta, GA
May 15, Chicago, IL
May 19, Sunnyvale, CA
May 31, Houston, TX
June 2, San Diego, CA
June 5, New York, NY
June 7, Boston, MA
June 7, Miami, FL
June 12, Dallas, TX
June 12, Chevy Chase, MD
June 15, Vancouver, BC

DEVFISH'S DEVELOPER CHECKLIST FOR HACKATHON ATTENDEES
Originally posted to blogs.msdn.com/b/devfish on May 2

Bring your own PowerStrip. I love squids cause the fit all the funky power supplies we all have. Yeah, sure, the organizers will have enough, power strips, right. But you'll have two laptops, a phone charger, and lord knows what else.
Bring energy food. Typically the food served is carb heavy crud (read nap time). Gotta keep the energy up.
Don't like coffee or water? Bring your own beverages. Stock up on whatever beverage you like and keep some in a cooler in the car.
Bring business cards. You will make new contacts. Who knows what an event like this can lead to. Networking is key benefit to an event like a hackathon.
Hackathons are noisy, bring some headphones and some think music.
Wireless internet will probably die at a hackathon. Bring your own Internet access, like a cell-carrier mobile access point (ala mifi or whatever) or even better a Windows Phone that can serveas a wireless access point
Wear comfy clothes. Wear socks. Yes, your feet smell.
The place could be cold, have a sweatshirt
Come in with a couple friends and have a team formed ahead of time. It can be frustrating to hunt for teammates at a hackathon. I used to get picked last at recess, it sucks.
Bring a designer - decent graphics by a real designer will smoke away visually anything done by normal developers. Bring toys for the designer so when they get tired of devtalk they have someplace to hide.
Game plan - once your team is formed, work out your gameplan. Assign responsibilities and work items. Setup a timeframe. Stick someone with the managerial/monitoring/coordination duties.
Bring some paper stencils or a small whiteboard to work with. I like the MerryCode stencils
Bring a pen or two to sketch with. Really, yes. Check your bag now.
Pre-deploy a web/cloud service for use in your project. Good starting point is setting up something like Azure with WebAPI site setup and ready to go with base services before you get there. This will save you a ton of time. Have echo, postsomething, and hello working. Time saver, why not do it ahead of time
Have a simple Windows Phone (or whatever) project ready to go to access those web/cloud services ahead of the game. Have echo, postsomething, and hello services being consumed. Again, a time saver
Map out good resources you can leverage, such as starter kits, graphics, and audio resources . Don't want to spent a ton of time hunting. http://dfwiki.devfish.net has some goodies to help you. Search around
Know the judges. Find out what they are looking for. Do this early. Tailor your project to the judges if your goal is to win.
Pick a spokesperson. They're going to have around 5 minutes to present your project. Make sure they're good.
Bring a toothbrush and deo - a change of clothes, and varoius other personal goods if its overnight event. Pillow and sleeping bag help for naps but sleep really isn't recommended.

Want to learn some Windows Phone before the hackathon?. Getting Started on Windows Phone resources are located at http://dfwiki.devfish.net/technology.Windows-Phone-Getting-Started-for-Developers.ashx if you'd like to learn more about programming Windows Phone.

Metro Friday Tampa - May 18 2012

Mon, 07 May 2012 15:27:38 GMT

The next Metro Friday Hackathon is on the schedule. Jim Blizzard ( Windows 8 Champ ) and myself are heading up an all day, sitnhack event on May 18 at the Tampa office. The past events have been very casual, heads down type, build or learn something events. If you want a day of coding with your fellow geeks, head on by. Send us an email letting us know you're coming too.

What: Hackathon for Metro Styled Apps on Win8 or Windows Phone
When: 900AM to 700PM - all day, May 18, 2012
What: Open format hackathon focused on Metro for Windows 8 or Windows Phone
Where: Microsoft Office, 5426 Bay Center Drive, Suite 700, Tampa, FL 33609 - directions

Ideas on what you could do:
Publish your app during the hackathon! (this qualifies you for some special drawings!)
Evaluate your app for SDK 7.1.1 256mb emulator compatibility
Work on a project with experienced folks to help you. Jim Blizzard for Windows 8, Joe Healy for Windows Phone
Jump start your Windows 8 or Windows Phone Developer Experience Cowork for a Day!

Who: Anyone. You've got the time, we will be there.... Note the late hours if you can't come by during the day
Registration: Just email jhealy@microsoft.com that you're in

This is a head down hackathon. Very few lectures. Bring a computer to work with. Powerstrips are a good idea as well.

Windows Phone Developer? Live in Florida? Join our special "Florida Residents Only" Windows Phone Developer discussion group at http://fla-wimo-dev.groups.live.com .
Win8 Dev? Live in Florida? Join our special "Florida Residents Only" Win8 developer discussion group at http://fla-windev.groups.live.com .

These are not tech support or 'give feedback to Microsoft' routes, but a way for Florida Microsoft Devs to connect with each other.