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Showing posts from 2017

UI design with XAML in Visual Studio 2017 - 1

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XAML is a XML based language that Microsoft developed to create a applications the easy way. XAML is declarative that means that whatever you declare up front is what you get. There is no more secret to it. Universal Windows Projects use this language to build applications. In this slideshow I show a step-by-step procedure to create an application with XAML which has just a button that displays Hello. It has some color and size to it. Although you will be seeing 18 or more slides once you grasp the spirit, you would do it under a minute. In order to work with XAML you need Visual Studio 2017 Community. The good news is it is free. What is more BLEND, its comprehensive designer also installed at the same time. You may also need Windows SDK for Windows 10 which can be found on the Internet. There are various versions. In developing on Windows Platform be sure to use the intellisense feature that takes out all the mystery out and gives you a very practical and intelligent way to

Is Windows Phone dead?

 Looks like it is not completely dead. There is a flicker. TrekStor German firm has come up with a new Windows Phone called WinPhone 5.0, a mobile-enterprise quality device. While the phone is being developed it will have 3GB RAM, 16GB built-in storage, a microUSB port and headphone jack. According to the ZD Net article (), it features 5" HD display and runs Qualcomm's Snapdragon 617 chip-set. The same site says the cost would be around $350. Wileyfox UK-branded smartphone also launched a Windows 10 Mobile phone. There is no doubt Windows 10 is having better security than like priced or lower priced Android phones. As to the question, Is there a future for windows Phone, this is what Nadella thinks . I have a Lumia 950 and I have had great time with it. With Universal Windows Projects I can deploy my projects to this phone.

Workaround: UWP project with Visual Studio 2017 Community

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Visual Studio 2017 and accompanying Blend for Visual Studio are well suited tools for developing Universal Windows projects. There appears to be some hard-coding in the application (I tried the recommended Hello World) and after some goading managed to load the project correctly starting with a blank template for C#. The device size in Design is hard-coded and the drop-down to choose size is greyed out. The loaded project (Code and XAML) appears as shown. MainXAML_HW_1 The device size in the Design is hard-coded. The design has very little flexibility to do anything unless I manipulate via the XAML code. However it is possible to adjust if you use the Blend as shown. The same project is now open in Blend. MainXAML_HW_1 Pick the size in XAML and click Save All in File menu in Blend. MainXAML_HW_2 Smaller device is chosen here. MainXAML_HW_3 Now Open the same project in Visual Studio 2017 Community and you will see that the chosen size of device appe

Merry Christmas 2017

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Aloha Hope to post more in coming years.... Keep fit and look forward to great things.

Windows IP over USB for Phone development

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It is a Windows Service that you find in Control Panel...Services window. It is needed to be running if you are developing for Windows Phone. It enables communication between the Windows SDK and a Windows Device. If the service is stopped, application deployment and debugging will fail on the device. If it is not started, you should start it from the Control Panel. When it is running you should see the process in the Windows Task Manager. You can start and stop the service in the above Services screen in Windows. If you are using Windows PowerShell, you can start and stop this service using PowerShell as shown: You need to use the service name- IpOverUsbSvc

Mobile app options using Visual Studio 2017 Community.

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The Web application templates in VS 2017 Community has not changed much from those available in VS 2013 except that the Facebook web application has disappeared and a new Azure API App has been added. You can add folders and core references to: Web Forms MVC API The various templates available in VS 2017 Community are: Empty - No content but a template for creating ASP.NET applications Web Forms -For building event driven dynamic web sites with drag and drop support. You have whole toolset of controls and components MVC - Using Model-View-Controller architecture with support for test-driven apps Web API -Use RESTful HTTP services that can be used by broad range of clients-browsers and mobile devices Single-Page application Client side rich JavaScript driven HTML5 with CSS3 Azure API app -Microsoft Azure API apps for hosting REST APIs as well as API Market place. They can be consumed by mobile, desktop and web apps Visual Studio 2017 templates:

Installing Android Studio 3.0 on Windows 10

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Android Studio 3.0 is the official Integrated Development environment (IDE) for Android app development. Android App studio brings in many features : • A flexible Gradle-based build system • A fast and feature-rich emulator • A unified environment where you can develop for all Android devices • Instant Run to push changes to your running app without building a new APK • Code templates and GitHub integration to help you build common app features and import sample code • Extensive testing tools and frameworks • Lint tools to catch performance, usability, version compatibility, and other problems • C++ and NDK support • Built-in support for Google Cloud Platform, making it easy to integrate Google Cloud Messaging and App Engine The installation is straight forward on Windows 10 as the installation program downloads all the necessary items during Android Studio installation. It is driven by a wizard which makes it very easy. You can download Android Studio from here: https://develop

Does your Windows 10 computer support Mixed reality?

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The computer I am using is a Dell Computer (a laptop, actually) with Intel Core I7 and it has a NVIDIA GeForce GTX card. Can I run Microsoft Mixed Reality on this laptop? I have 8GB installed RAM. It is a 64-bit OS with x64-based processor. The Intel i7-6700HQ CPU runs at 2.60 GHZ. The OS software is Windows 10 Pro Insider Preview, Version 1709. To check whether it can support Microsoft Mixed reality you should download an app that you can find in Microsoft Store shown here. Run the app and agree for the conditions. Looks like my NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX chip may not be adequate. I could try updating the drivers.

What do you need for developing Android apps on Windows?

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First of all you need Android Studio and for Windows you can download Android Studio 3.0 here. Of course you need to accept the license terms. https://developer.android.com/studio/index.html Once you download the file you will be taken to the installing directions page here. https://developer.android.com/studio/install.html Review this page's image here: Run the downloaded executable and follow the wizard.

Get started with Thimble by registering

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Just signing up for Thimble gets you this page... I signed up and this is where I landed. It is an untitled project. ThimbleStart_0 The file icon brings this up. ThimbleStart_1 Click Add a Tutorial adds this page-tutorial.html ThimbleStart_2 You can type over Untitled with a name of your own and click Save. ThimbleStart_3 Let us see what Publish would do. Click Publish. Provide some description here: ThimbleStart_4 Click Publish It gets published here: https://thimbleprojects.org/mysorian/344268 The tutorial page is found at: https://thimbleprojects.org/mysorian/344268/tutorial.html Very fast, no fuss. That's great. Look forward to more on Thimble at this site.

Get Thimble to design your web pages now!

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It is from Mozilla.org. It is free and has many cool features. It's Remix mode allows you easily modify existing Thimble projects to suit your requirements. Thimble is a one-stop program bundling code editor, web server, web browser and developer tools. It has an unbelievable number of cool features. Sure, I will test drive it! Make a change and see your changes in real time Has handy code snippets Has a built-in JavaScript console Add your files (drag and drop) and manage them Has both dark and light themes Embedded tutorials-follow or create OK Get code hints Edit CSS right in the HTML file Publish to Web Pick colors in the editor Test project on your mobile device Has a DOM inspector to work with HTML elements Has Image filters Take selfies You start here . Here is a video that explains it all:

Compiling a Typescript file using the command-line

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Please r ead the post about downloading the latest Typescript here. Once you have downloaded Typescript file, you can compile it using the command tsc from the C:\ prompt. Here is a Typescript file , Person.ts: -------------------------------- interface Person {     age: number,     name: string,     say(): string } let mike = {     age: 25,     name:"Mike",     say: function() {         return "My name is " + this.name +                " and I'm " + this.age + " years old!"     } } function sayIt(person: Person) {     return person.say(); } -------------------- Save it to a location of your choice as shown. Typescriptsample_0 Now compile it using the command tsc as shown here: ---------- C:\Users\Owner> tsc Person.ts C:\Users\Owner>dir ------------ The program compiles it to a JavaScript file as shown: ----------- Typescriptsample_1.png The JavaScript file now reads as shown: ---------

Download now: Typescript 2.5 is available

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You can download TypeScript2.5 right now. http://www.typescriptlang.org/#download-links TypeScript2-5_0 You can download the command-line TypeScript compiler as a Node.js package.  It is supported in more programs including Visual Studio 2017 and Visual Studio 2015. ----------- Your environment has been set up for using Node.js 6.11.1 (x64) and npm. C:\Users\Owner>npm install -g typescript C:\Users\Owner\AppData\Roaming\npm\tsserver -> C:\Users\Owner\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\typescript\bin\tsserver C:\Users\Owner\AppData\Roaming\npm\tsc -> C:\Users\Owner\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\typescript\bin\tsc C:\Users\Owner\AppData\Roaming\npm `-- typescript@2.5.3 ---------------------------------------- One way to download Node.js is described here ( http://hodentek.blogspot.com/2016/05/get-nodejs-tools-for-visual-studio.html ). How do you use the compiler? Create a program with extension .ts and you can call it from command line using the command > tsc pr

Great resource if you want datacentric apps

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This is a very useful site that you should acquaint yourself with. You can create apps that work with SQL Server with all of the following: C# Java NodeJS PHP Python on Windows macOS RHEL UBUNTU SLES (Suse...) You need to start at this link: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sql-server/developer-get-started/

Where I can find the latest TypeScript?

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TypeScript 2.5 (the latest) is now available for download here: http://www.typescriptlang.org/#download-links TypeScript2.5_0 If you have installed npm , installing TypeScript is a breeze. > npm install -g typescript Read here for installing npm: http://hodentekhelp.blogspot.com/2017/08/what-is-npm-and-how-is-it-useful.html

Most useful program for mobile development

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npm is the package manager for JavaScript and the world’s largest software registry. npm is distributed with Node.js - which means that when you download Node.js , you automatically get npm installed on your computer. Test if you have installed Node.JS and npm . There are lots of versions of Node.JS and npm and be aware of the versions and their compatibility. NodeNmpInstalled.png npm registry has the largest(millions) number of packages of free, reusable code. Depending on your needs you may choose one of these account types for using npm. Node_NpmAccTypes It provides an huge registry with many different programs like jQuery, AngularJS etc. For example, if you are installing Cordova package you can do so from command-line like in here;  C:\>npm install -g cordova The -g switch means globally, otherwise it will be installed in the node_modules subdirectory. Here is help file for npm: --------- npm is the package manager for JavaScript and the wor