Alexander's Embedded Techwire: Application Development

What does help in the development jungle?

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 10:56:48 GMT

Right, only a guerilla event. You wanna be trained by two Microsoft regional Directors?

Well, then here is Your chance: http://blogs.thinktecture.com/cweyer/archive/2008/02/22/415115.aspx

My fellow RDs Christian Weyer and Ingo Rammer are ready to give You the complete insight on the .NET enterprise functionality.

And additionally, Munich in May is not a bad place to be.

Alexander

WCF in the .NET Compact Framework 3.5

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 07:42:02 GMT

Distributed applications on mobile devices are hard to handle as soon as You need to have a reliable and robust communication mechanism. But wait, did You ever think about using email as transport layer for Your application?

Doing this is not too hard leveraging the new WCF capabilities in .NET CF 3.5!

Have a look at Andrew Arnott's article on MSDN to find our more about the details: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc164240.aspx.

Alexander

Time to write Windows Mobile business applications!

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 06:19:52 GMT

Lots of products and tools are cranked out by the product teams in Redmond every year. Therefore it is quite important to get some guidance through that wealth. The Windows Mobile Line of Business Solution accelerator is both. Great architectural guidance as well as a great implementation sample. Go and check it out!

Alexander

ClickOnce with Windows Mobile and SSCE

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 08:00:06 GMT

ClickOnce is a great technology to handle change management for applications in the field. Unfortunately its support is a bit confusing. Especially, if you are writing SQL Server Compact Edostion (SSCE) applications. SSCE claims support for ClickOnce, which is correct only for applications based on the normal .NET Framework running on desktop or tablet PCs. .NET Compact Framework apllications are unfortunately left behind. So, be awrea of this. It is, at least in my eyes, really a missing feature.

Of course, You are able to create something similar using the SSCE synchronisation features yourself, but this means to develop infrastructure code that ideally should come with the platform you are developing on.

Alexander

Join the European Silverlight Challenge!

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 09:18:41 GMT

Silverlight is the new and exciting Microsoft UI technology that crosses browsers and operating systems.

My friends from INETA have prepared a uniique competition at: http://www.silverlightchallenge.eu

This is really cutting edge technology and there are great prizes to win.

Go there or be square!

Alexander

SQL Server 2005 Compact Edition

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 08:19:17 GMT

Did You know that SSCE (SQL Server Compact Edition) aka SQL Server for Widows CE aka SQL Mobile has enlarged its reach by jumping onto the desktop? This is quite exciting, because with SSCE it is possible to develop small footprint, well-connected and mobile applications on any of the Microsoft platforms. Check it out at: http://www.microsoft.com/sql/editions/compact/downloads.mspx

Alexander

Parsing strings for numbers in the .NET Micro Framework

Mon, 18 Jun 2007 07:34:05 GMT

During one of my last .NET Micro Framework courses we ran into an interesting problem. We wanted to parse a string containing an integer such as "15" to get the integer value 15.

This normally can be done easily in the .NET Framework using the corresponding methods Int32.Parse or the Convert.ToInt32 methods of those framework classes. The bad thing is, that these methods are currently missing in the .NET Micro Framework versions of Int32 and Convert. According to Microsoft, this is kind of a mishap and will be fixed in future releases.

Until then You can use this workaround:

public static bool TryParseFloat(string s, out float result)
{
bool success = true;
int decimalDiv = 0;
result = 0;
try
{
for (int i = 0; i < s.Length; i++)
{
if (s[i] == '.' && decimalDiv == 0)
decimalDiv = 1;
else if (s[i] < '0' || s[i] > '9')
success = false;
else
{
result = result * 10;
decimalDiv = decimalDiv * 10;
result += (int)(s[i] - '0');
}
}
if (decimalDiv > 0) result = (float) result / decimalDiv; //Avoid devision by zero
}
catch
{
success = false;
}
return success;
}

This routine will give you back a float value for your string, that can then be casted, e.g. into an integer.

Alexander

Exciting news from MIX07!

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 20:04:32 GMT

Just a few minutes ago Ray Ozzie announced in his keynote at the MIX conference in Las Vegas, that the next version of Silverlight will include a fullsize .NET CLR.

This is a mjor step made by Microsoft to extend the .NET development technology on other platforms. Later on Scott Guthri showed how to remote debug a C# application running in a Safari browser on a MacIntosh from Visual Studio running on Windows.

This technology really is exciting because it closes the gap between true platform interoperability while leveraging the powerful Microsoft toolchain. Additionally and fitting good into this strategy, Expression Studio was released. A too that helps to decouples the work process between Designers and developers without making the the reintegration painful. It uses the new application paradigm introduced with the Windows Presentation Foundation coming as part of VISTA and the .NET 3.0 framework.

Alexander

A silver light on the horizon!

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 06:41:44 GMT

Microsoft has been working on a new cross-platform, cross-browser technology named WPF/E for some time now. It can be (in a nutshell) regarded as a common language runtime with highly portable but also streamlined framework classes for UI/web development.

WPF/E now will be officially announced under its new name Silverlight at the Mix 07 conference in Las Vegas, but if you want to have an ealier look, here you are:

http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight (main)
http://www.silverlight.net (community)
http://www.microsoft.com/expression
http://www.microsoft.com/design
http://www.microsoft.com/wpfe (General)
http://msdn.microsoft.com/wpfe (Developer)
http://channel9.msdn.com
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/forpros/default.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/default.mspx (link to find press release and QA)

I will be in Vegas for MIX and I am looking forward to hear all about this cool new technology. I expect it to change the look and feel of modern web applications quite a bit.

Alexander

Get to know Microsoft's newest operation system - the .NET MicroFramework

Sun, 29 Oct 2006 08:36:04 GMT

Have You ever dreamed of running .NET code directly on a device without any OS?

Well, then You should have a look at this Tuesday's Windows Embedded webcast.

Frank Prengel and me will tell You all You need to know to get a good start with the beta of the .NET MicroFramework SDK and give You a good overview on the architecture and the possibilities. The .NET MicroFramework really completes the vision of having the means for creating exciting user experiences with the help of connected devices in a digital world.

Frank and me would be delighted to meet You in the virtual conference room. As always: The talk will be in German but the slides in English.

8o)

Alexander

BTW: Frank will also be on the road in Germany with the MSDN TechTalk series, presenting the .NET MicroFramework, as well, beneath other interesting stuff. If it happens to be in a town close to You, try to meet him there.

.NET Development in Frank's and Alexander's Embedded Radio Show (webcast)!

Thu, 19 Oct 2006 19:48:29 GMT

Tomorrow afternoon Frank and myself are very happy being able to tell You a lot of interesting stuff on .NET development for all kinds of embedded devices. It is my sincere pleasure that our webcast will be hosted by Frank Prengel our Microsoft Developer Evangelist for EMEA.

So, if You have a few minutes drop by and lend us one of Your ears (but we also take both, if possible).

The talk will be held in German, but I do have slides in English. It could therefore be a great start to learn a new language, as well.

Looking forward to meet You there!

Alexander

Running on IE 7 RC1

Tue, 19 Sep 2006 21:03:18 GMT

Yes, I was frightened when it uninstalled the previous beta to loose all my favorites and settings.

But --- it behaved quite nicely! And although I cannot tell the difference to beta 2 by the looks, everything feels like having a smoother touch.

Curios? Well, then try and get it Yourself.

Alexander

Develop .NET 2.0 applications for XP embedded

Fri, 14 Jul 2006 07:41:42 GMT

The .NET Framework 2.0 component for XP embedded has been released this week.

You can download it from this location.

The new component includes the .NET Framework as well as the ASP.NET infrastructure.

Please be aware that ASP.NET requires Internet Information Server as its host. This might add some footprint to Your image.

Nevertheless the Framework and ASP.NET are seperate components. So one just can choose what is required.

Alexander

SQL Server 2005 Everywhere - a new database for mobile and embedded developers!

Thu, 06 Jul 2006 15:41:26 GMT

Maybe You have heard the rumors, there is a new version of SQL mobile in the pipe that will change quite a few things in the mobile and embedded market: SQL Server 2005 Everywhere. Yes, marketing people in Redmond like short and catchy product names.

Nevertheless will the new db run on every Microsoft platform and this is quite interesting. Not only because it carries the very good out of the box connectivity to a SQL Server backend, but it also comes with a very low footprint that helps You e.g. squeezing Your XPe system and app on a smaller CF card.

It is said, that it even is able to synchronze with an Access DB. This could mean starting a new kind of a client server scenario between Your desktop and Your smartphone.

Well, just check it out, the CTP is ready for download!

Alexander

Installing IE 7 Beta 3

Fri, 30 Jun 2006 19:45:30 GMT

Today I ran in a lot of trouble while trying to install the new IE 7 beta 3 and I really felt like being in the old DLL hell days again.

Thank god the blog entries from the IE team helped me out.

If You are in trouble as well, that's the place to go for a solution!

Alexander

Building Rich Interactive Kiosks

Wed, 14 Jun 2006 14:00:59 GMT

Just blogging about POS yesterday I ran into this article today! It can be found in the MSDN solution architecture dev center and shows how technologies accompanying VISTA are able to improve user experience tremendously.

The good things are that this technology will not be bound exclusively to VISTA but will also be available e.g. for XP embeded and WEPOS.

Therefore it is certainly worth while to have a closer look at the new Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), WCF and WWF because good looking presentations will help You sell more products, or?

Alexander

TechEd Keynote - embedded view

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 17:57:04 GMT

The keynote did, as expected, not contain too many embedded stories (well TechEd is at the end still focused on the "normal" enterprise people), but there were at least some quite interesting things. I really liked the seamless integration of instant messaging as well as unified messaging in the upcoming version of Windows Mobile, Outlook and Exchange Server. There are really some barriers breaking down and the media breaks between mail, voice mail and instant messaging are fixed to quite some extent. This certainly will boost the adoption of PPC and Smartphones and creative embedded developers might even think of using this APIs for even more advanced tasks such as notifications and alerts e.g. in industrial automation systems.

Alexander

Atlas toolkit released!

Wed, 19 Apr 2006 12:32:21 GMT

Have You see that the ASP.NET guys released the Atlas toolkit?

The "Atlas" Control Toolkit is a collection of samples and components that makes it easier then ever to build and consume rich client-side “Atlas” controls and extenders. The toolkit provides both ready to go samples and a powerful SDK to simplify the creation and re-use of your own custom controls and extenders.

So smart clients even do get smarter!

Check it out and make your end users stand in awe about what their web app can do now!