Silverlight 4 Binding and StringFormat in XAML
I discovered this amazing feature almost by accident and it has made this one part of my design so much easier that I had to share it. A new feature in Silverlight 4 is the ability to using the StringFormat feature when binding. Previously, if I wanted to have a piece of text that said…
Misspelling “Windows Phone” Makes Google Maps Work (Explained)
Yesterday, it was late and I was tired and I was looking at all the news about Google Maps not working on Windows Phone, redirecting instead to the Google home page. Google is saying: The mobile web version of Google Maps is optimized for WebKit browsers such as Chrome and Safari. However, since Internet Explorer…
Missing OpenStreamForWriteAsync on my StorageFile
I have a sample that I use when serializing data in order to save it to a StorageFile in Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8. It looks a little something (or exactly) like this: StorageFile kittenFile = await ApplicationData.Current.LocalFolder.CreateFileAsync(“Kittens4Ever.kittens”, CreationCollisionOption.ReplaceExisting); var writeStream = await kittenFile.OpenStreamForWriteAsync(); DataContractSerializer kittenSerial = new DataContractSerializer(typeof(ObservableCollection<Kitten>)); kittenSerial.WriteObject(writeStream, listOfKittens); await writeStream.FlushAsync(); writeStream.Close();…
Windows 10 Preview Jumpstart Summaries (13-14)
There are readable text and code summaries for the Windows 10 Preview Jumpstart series. If you want to know more about any particular topic, make sure you watch the videos over at Microsoft Virtual Academy. Sessions 1-3 Sessions 4-6 Sessions 7-9 Session 10-12 13 – Action Center – 22 minutes Summary: The notification system that was in place for Windows 8.1…
Weekly Links – 12-3-2012
Cool Stuff (uncategorized) Practical Sketchnoting (pdf) – Sketchnoting is the practice of taking notes using a combination of text and images. Jason Alderman gives helpful tips on how to do it. Windows Phone 8 Windows Phone 8 Toolkit overview (Adam Denning) – The WP8 toolkit isn’t required for building apps in Windows Phone 8, but…
Free Chapter From Beautiful Visualization
OK, Cory Doctorow, let’s see if this works.
I’ve recently written a chapter on storytelling and information visualization for O’Reilly media to publish in the book Beautiful Visualization.
And you can read it for free.
Basic Windows Phone 7 Motion Design
Click here if you don’t want to hear me complain about the Silverlight toolkit and you just want to get to the animations. If you are like me, you’re working on Windows Phone 7 applications in your pajamas, subsisting on pork jerky and Coke Zero and dreaming of that one project that will make you…
Getting Started With Windows Phone 8.1
If you want to get started with Windows Phone 8.1, there are 2 big options: “I’m completely new to Windows Phone development.” You need the Absolute Beginner Series for Windows Phone 8.1 It is a complete course in getting started for Windows Phone 8.1. It is 30 videos that are 10-20 minutes long. You can get the source…