Xamlmammal.com

Debugging Silverlight in Firefox

2010-08-13T16:12:46Z

Just a little tip I learned recently but if you are an avid firefox user and you want to debug Silverlight 4 applications in the firefox browser, then here are a few steps you need to take to make that happen, since it doesn't work right out of the gate.

Step 1
In firefox, at the address bar type "about:config" without the quotes. If done correctly you will see a little warning.

Step 2
Accept the warning. Tell it you will be careful, you promise.

Step 3
In the filter field, type "dom.ipc.plugins.enabled.npctrl.dll" and you should see only 1 entry.

Step 4
Change the value from "true" to "false". You can do this by just double-clicking the entry.

Step 5
Restart the browser and you should be good to go.

Of course you could ignore all that and manually attach the visual studio debugger to "plugin-container.exe" but that would be painful and the above way is much easier.

Talk - XAML: Things you should know

2010-08-05T18:19:47Z

I gave my "XAML: Things you should know" talk at Chicago's Silverlight User Group last night. For those who missed it, I will be giving the same talk at CNUG: Chicago .Net User Group on August 18th. You can find out more here.

The talk focuses on subjects that are usually overlooked on your typical Silverlight or WPF presentations. I will focus on all things XAML. Specifically, I will be talking about Layout, Animation, Visual States, and Styling. So, if you are in Chicago, check it out.

As promised I uploaded the demo samples: XamlDemo.zip (570 KB)

Silverlight 4 Getting Started

2010-04-26T01:28:49Z

Silverlight 4 has officially been released for just a little over 10 days now and I thought it was appropriate to give you some details on how to get started with it. There are a few important things to understand before working with Silverlight 4. First check Tim Heuer's blog post on what is new in Silverlight 4 here.

Visual Studio 2010
First, Silverlight 4 development is only compatable with Visual Studio 2010 and NOT 2008. Therefore, if you have not yet gotten Visual Studio 2010, then I suggest using the express editions found here. (DONT WORRY! Visual Studio 2010 will install and work side by side with Visual Studio 2008)

Silverlight Tools for VS2010
Once you have Visual Studio 2010 in place, then you can get the Visual Studio 2010 tools, because VS 2010 ships only supporting Silverlight 3 out of the gate. Now this is where some confusion can set in. The tools, unlike the actual Silverlight 4 runtime have not been officially released. Thats right, the tools are only in "release canidate" mode and Microsoft promises to release these tools to official "RTM" soon but I don't know the date for them. You can get the tools here.

Silverlight Toolkit
Silverlight toolkit has been updated to an April release specifically to support Silverlight 4 and you can get those bits here.

Expression Blend 4
Like the VS2010 tools, Expression Blend 4 is also only in "RC" status and has not officially released yet. One great thing about Expression Blend 4 is if you currently own the full version of Expression Blend 3, you can upgrade to 4 at no additional cost. WOOHOO! You can download a trial of Expression Blend 4 RC here.

Silverlight 4 Training Kit
Microsoft has just released a new free Silverlight 4 Training Kit that walks you through building business applications with Silverlight 4. You can also download the entire offline version of the kit here. You can use the 8 modules, 25 videos, and several hands on labs online or offline from links on the Channel 9 site.

Careful using Mouse.OverrideCursor

2009-12-08T15:00:15Z

So I typically do not blog much about WPF but recently I have been doing so much work in WPF I only thought it fair to share my experiences with it. Today I found out a little problem when I noticed that my Cursors defined in XAML was not working. In my little test application it was working fine, but when I applied the code to my solution they weren't working. After some research eventually I had an "AH HA!" moment. In code, a typical windows developer likes to add "Cursors.Wait" when doing calls to various services. And I noticed the code looked liked this:


Mouse.OverrideCursor = Cursors.Wait; 

//random synch process stuff

Mouse.OverrideCursor = Cursors.Arrow;

The problem wasn't obvious here, but once the wait cursor is done with its task the mistake is setting the "Cursors.Arrow". The default value of "OverrideCursor" is actually null, not arrow. By forcing it to arrow means no other call can update the cursor but another Mouse.OverrideCursor. So to correct the issue your code should look like this:

Mouse.OverrideCursor = Cursors.Wait;

//random synch process stuff

Mouse.OverrideCursor = null;

Creating an Image from PixelShaders in Silverlight and WPF

2009-12-07T14:00:00Z

While this is not the best way to do image calculations in the code behind in terms of imaging with Silverlight and WPF I was perplexed with the problem of having a great pixel shader that I could apply in the xaml using Bitmap Effects but unclear as the best way to translate that to an actual Bitmap Image. If you are looking for a quick fix solution I wanted to share a little gold nugget in how to actually do this that I found. Just to explain a bit more this assumes you already know how to use Pixel Shaders, I will include a sample code to help illustrate this if you do not. But honestly that is a separate topic. I wish I had the source of this little nugget, it took alot of searching and improvising but eventually I came up with the following code:

In the XAML

<Image x:Name="OriginalImage" Source="img.jpg">

<Image.Effect>

<l:BrightContrastEffect x:Name="MyEffect"

Brightness="{Binding ElementName=bVal, Path=Value}"

Contrast="{Binding ElementName=cVal, Path=Value}"/>

Image.Effect>

Image>

In the Code

//using System.Windows.Media.Imaging;

//using System.Windows.Shapes;

//using System.Windows

//using System.Windows.Media;

BitmapSource bitmap = OriginalImage.Source as BitmapSource; //source from XAML

Size sz = new Size(bitmap.PixelWidth, bitmap.PixelHeight);

Rectangle r = new Rectangle();

r.Fill = new ImageBrush(bitmap);

r.Effect = MyEffect; //name applied in XAML

r.Measure(sz);

r.Arrange(new Rect(sz));

var rtb = new RenderTargetBitmap(

bitmap.PixelWidth, bitmap.PixelHeight,

bitmap.Dpi, bitmap.DpiY, PixelFormats.Pbgra32);

rtb.Render(r);

What it essentially does is takes the effect you apply in the XAML and in the back end you can use that effect to create a new bitmap. You do this by virtually constructing a rectangle of the appropriate size and shape of the original image and applying the effect and the image to the rectangle and then saving that out using RenderTargetBitmap. I will upload a sample solution when I get home this afternoon.

User Experience Review

2009-11-04T00:20:53Z

Let's be honest, I rarely get called into a project until development is well under way, and when I do the first thing I do is review the application in terms of it's User Experience. And for this tip I am going to give you the breakdown of how and what I look at in such a review so that you can begin to review your own applications as well as develop applications with these concepts in mind.

I begin my review by breaking the application down into six different aspects of User Experience and I note the positives and negatives of each aspect... what works and what doesn't. The aspects that I look at are as follows:

1. Communication

How well does your application communicate to the user. In most situations we as business application developers are in the habit of creating forms with a simple 1 or 2 word label and some sort of input field. The big problem is we rarely write descriptions into these forms. We rarely describe the field outside of the 1 or 2 word label and sometimes that is just not enough to explain the input field. Additionally the overall application, the overall form itself may require some simple descriptions in why or what the user is filling out. And don't just stop there, context sensitive help, tool tips, even taking a note from MS Money and provide camtasia like videos showing some brief examples of how a particular function works when its not straight forward can help communicate and lower the need for training of your applications.

2. Usability

This is probably the most synonymous to UX, how usable is your application. How intuitive is your application. There are plenty of sources of what this is and what it takes to make a usable application. A simple and easy way to determine how usable your application is, simply sit behind several users using your application without helping them with it. Let them sit down and just use it... you will be surprised where users may stumble in your application and provide very clear areas you may need to improve.

3. Visual Aesthetics

Visual Aesthetics is probably the most bizarre to some application developers as well as the most obvious to understand. We as a world generally care what something looks like it, we make decisions and spend billions of dollars on physical appearances of things consciously and subconsciously. I have been in many different development shops who quote the same thing... "I don't care what it looks like, Our users care more that it works and makes their job easier." I wont deny this as true, but I guarantee you if you application was compared to a equally working application that looks better, everyone would choose the better looking application. Its just plain fact. People do care of the physical appearance of things, and as the exposure of technology increases among our users, expectations in this department will continue to be raised. Don't let your applications feel dated by simply having an application with zero visual appeal.

4. Utility

Utility is my own term, and probably the reason most of us are employed into application development. What I mean by utility is how useful is the application. Is the work flow accomplishing its usefulness, is the interface doing what it set out to do. One of the most common mistakes I have seen in the past was business mainframe UI's converted to web based applications. Most developers didn't take the quick response and the simple fact mainframe users never really dealt with a mouse and presented these users with a web based solution. The usefulness was lost in translation and what was intended to be a better system all to often cost more time instead of saving it. The key point is make sure your application is accomplishing its stated and sometimes unstated goals.

I always use the analogy of the swiss army knife... I once had a magazine with all sorts of different swiss army knifes. Each had a different collection of blades, tools, toothpicks, pliers, spoons, etc... The idea is making sure you have the right knife set for the job. You could always purchase the knives in the back of the book that had every single utensil in them, but it was bloated and introduced a new problem that typical knives didn't have... where is the tool you need. The same holds true for our applications.

5. Delivery

Delivery is simple, small and in the world of business applications sometimes overlooked. The basic concept is your application delivering appropriately to the audience. Make sure you're not giving them a web app when they need a windows app, and vice versa. Make sure it works in the users screen resolution, that it runs effectively with their PC's. Simple, easy, and if it fails, it fails horribly. Consider the user in delivery, not the developer.

6. Hype

Last but not least is hype, the major concern I have on any job is how do users feel about the new application. Are they happy with it, what are their expectations, do they look forward to the new changes... hype is important. Its important your users have a good vibe, a good attitude towards what you're developing. A great application can fail in the eyes of the business if the users have a bad attitude towards change. It can be the difference if users use the application or continue doing what they did before the application was ever built... or keeps them from constantly complaining and making your developments look bad. Don't under estimate this.

Book Review: A Project Guide to UX Design

2009-10-01T19:13:49Z

A Project Guide to UX Design is a book that defines user experience design and its role in the project life cycle. Something I have considered missing in the traditional UX books prior. Russ and Carolyn do a great job defining roles and describing the fundamentals of UX.

The book also contains frequent references to other books and online resources through out each chapter, directly in context to what you are reading. Giving you even more great sources of information to further learn from.

I have been known to recommend books during my UX talks from authors such as Alan Cooper and Steven Krug. And while those authors are considered legendary and the forefathers to usabality and interaction design, I consider this book on par and a must have for anyone interested in UX as a practice.

Upcoming UG speaking events on Silverlight 3

2009-09-15T15:02:16Z

I am back into speaking, and with Silverlight 3 reaching the masses I have two upcoming speaking events, both in Chicago. If you are in Chicago, I encourage you to check it out.

September 16, 2009 - Chicago .NET User Group
CNUG website (rsvp here)
2 topics - Technical Introduction Silverlight 3 and Blend 3 for developers.

October 7, 2009 - Chicago Designers and Developers User Group
CD2UG website (rsvp here)
1 topic - Technical Introduction Silverlight 3

Both events will cover the introduction to what's new in silverlight 3 and then continue to show the details of some of these new bits and how to utilize them in your applications. I hope to cover both Silverlight in Visual Studio and also how developers can begin to utilize some of the new features in Blend 3, such as design with data, photoshop/illustrator import, behaviors, sketch-flow, and more.

Silverlight Firestarters available live online

2009-09-09T18:00:03Z

September 17, will be the kick off for the Silverlight Firestarters event focused on Silverlight 3. The event will be in Redmond, but the great news is you can watch it live online.

Adam Kinney has the best description so I will just quote him here on the details,

When you wake on Sept. 17th the year of 2009 you have a smile on your face. Not only did you get the day of for “training”, but the “training” is actually something you’re very interested in. Maybe you haven’t had the chance yet, or you’re looking for additional guidance; but today you’re going on a tour of Silverlight 3, Expression Blend, SketchFlow, the Silverlight Toolkit, RIA Services and XAML Power toys.

Mithun Dhar starts the day off with a welcome and logisitics.You notice his navy blazer, wondering if he’s warm or not.

The crowd cheers and waits expectantly for disco moves as Scott Guthrie presents the keynote, explaining how Silverlight is awesome in so many ways.

Tim Heuer enters next with a smile on his face and a load of scenarios where Silverlight is a smart choice. As he mentions your specific scenario, you’re convinced training was a good idea today.

Break time – you run to the bathroom, too much coffee this morning.

Adam Kinney welcomes you back from the break, actually you specifically as you were the last one back in. You begin to blush but Adam dives into Expression Blend. You can tell he enjoys the tool and the joy starts to spread among the audience.

Lunch! – free food! free drinks! cool. You find the one or two people you know there and find a place to sit down. Conversation ranges from the weather to Silverlight to something caught in between your teeth.

After lunch and returning to your seat, Janete Perez keeps you from taking your after-lunch nap by building prototypes in SketchFlow very quickly. You’re intrigued.

Justin Angel and Shawn Oster take the stage. You’re distracted by the fact Justin is wearing sunglasses inside, but your reverie is broken when they begin racing through all of the available Silverlight Controls. What a full framework.

Brad “no microphone needed” Abrams takes the stage and shows you the RIA Services framework. First the multitude of controls and now line of business application building blocks out the wazoo. You’re set and can’t wait to try this when you get home. Or maybe just tomorrow morning at work.

Break time – 52 different types of free drinks are available in the sliding door refrigerator. You counted.

One of the first ones to return to your seat this time, Karl Shifflett shows off XAML Power Toys. You know this is cool stuff, you’ll want to look at again, but you are completely lost in the palm trees on Karl’s Hawaiian shirt.

All of the speakers come back to the stage for a Q & A Panel. Discussion is lively and casual, you’re happy to be here in person.

The conference officially ends, and you find your favorite speakers and listen to them answer a few questions from the circle around them.

Ready for dinner and some Silverlight time you head out and twitter: FINALLY building something in Silverlight 3....mwa ha haaa...

Magenic hosted Silverlight web casts

2009-09-08T17:35:54Z

Starting in September I will be speaking, along with several co-magenicons on a Silverlight webinar series. I will be sharing the talks with Rocky Lhotka, Anthony Handley, and Jason Rainwater all avid speakers, all mvp's, and all with their own expertise on the matter of Silverlight. It should be really interesting.

The series will consist of 5 different talks on migrating to silverlight. Check out the Magenic website for more details. The schedule is as following:

September 15, 2009 - "Why Silverlight" - Rocky and Myself

With the launch of Silverlight 3, it is clear that Microsoft is putting more energy into Silverlight than any other aspect of their platforms. Will silverlight impact you and your applications? Should you be looking at Silverlight?

This webcast will address these questions and more. You'll leave the webcast understanding why Silverlight is important, and armed witht he knowledge so you can decide if it makes sense for your applications.

September 30, 2009 - "Windows to Silverlight" - Rocky

Silverlight is a smart-client technology and so are Windows Forms and WPF. Windows forms is essentially in "maintenance mode" and Microsoft is clearly putting their energies into Silverlight and WPF. If you use Windows Forms today, you need a long-term strategy for your applications that almost certainly revolves around Silverlight and WPF.

This webcast will focus on the Silverlight option, providing you with the information you need to form a strategy that can get you from Windows Forms to Silverlight. From one smart-client technology to another, but also from the past to the future.

October 13, 2009 - "Web to Silverlight" - Rocky and Myself

Silverlight has its origins as a web technology, starting as a browser plugin. As such it is clearly positioned as a competitor to AJAX; as an alternative solution to user demands for more interactive and responsive web applications. Is Silverlight superior vs AJAX? To HTML? When should you use traditional web technologies and when should you use Silverlight?

This webcast will answer these questions, and will dive behind the scenes to explain why Silverlight might be better than traditional web technologies for some tasks and not for others. Perhaps most importantly, you'll leave this webcast understanding how Silverlight can fit into your existing web application strategy.

October 28, 2009 - "Reimagining the UI in Silverlight" - Anthony and Jason

Silverlight and WPF rely on the underlying XAML language for describing the user interface. At first glance XAML might look a bit like HTML, but it is really not the same. XAML is compiled, and is able to describe UI elements, layout, animations and other rich levels of user interactivity. All without resorting to code or script. When you set out to build an application using XAML, you owe it to yourself and your users to consider how to leverage the power of the technology.

Join one of our Magenic Studios user experience experts in a discussion about the potential of a XAML-based user experience, and what it can mean to reimagine the UI with Silverlight. Your users can enjoy improved productivity, minimized training and often the thrill of seeing a boring business task become more compelling purely through the application of good user experience practices.

November 11, 2009 - "Silverlight; Service-oriented vs. n-tier" - Rocky

Silverlight can be used to build service-oriented or n-tier systems. In a service-oriented system, the Silverlight application will use messages to interact with your server application. You literally write two applications that interact through a service interface. In an n-tier system, the Silverlight application runs the presentation and maybe some of the business layer, while your server runs the data access and some of the business layer; but all the layers are part of the same application.

SOA is a powerful approach to building software, and Silverlight works well with SOA, but service-orientation can be complex and expensive. N-Tier is a well understood and productive approach to building business applications, and Silverlight fully supports n-tier models, but n-tier can be tricky in an Internet setting. In this webcast you’ll learn about a spectrum of architectures, and you’ll leave with the knowledge you need to choose the right architecture for your applications.