Abstract: In Part 6 of of their “Using Windows Azure to Build Back-End Services for Windows 8 apps” series Brian Hitney and Andrew Duthie   explore the world of built-in support for authentication in Windows Azure Mobile Services. Tune in as they quickly demo for us the process of adding authentication for your mobile and Windows Store apps.  Check out the full article here. Watch Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 After watching this video, follow these next steps: Step #1 – Try Windows Azure...

We’re coming up on the annual Code Camp here in Charlotte, and this year, we thought it would fun to hold a hackathon leading up to the code camp, rather than simply run an all day event at the code camp.  Here’s your chance to develop a great app for Windows 8, elev8 your skillset, and potentially win some cool stuff  Here are the details: The short version: develop a Windows 8 app, optionally attend some of our workshops, and submit it to the challenge.  At some point you need to be in person...

Abstract: In Part 5 of of their “Using Windows Azure to Build Back-End Services for Windows 8 apps” series Peter Laudati , Brian Hitney and Andrew Duthie   show us how to quickly add the ability to implement push notifications for his GameLeader Service using Azure Mobile Services. Check out the full article here. Watch Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 After watching this video, follow these next steps: Step #1 – Try Windows Azure: No cost. No obligation. 90-Day FREE trial. Step #2 – Download the Tools...

Abstract: In Part 4 of of their “Using Windows Azure to Build Back-End Services for Windows 8 apps” series  Peter Laudati , Brian Hitney and Andrew Duthie show us how to build the same game leaderboard service on top of Windows Azure Mobile Services. Tune in as Andrew demos for us how to get started as well as lays out what some of the +/- are for using Azure Mobile Services for this kind of service.  Check out the full article here. Watch Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 After watching this video, follow...

Abstract: Back for part 3 in their series for “Using Windows Azure to Build Back-End Services for Windows 8 apps”, Peter Laudati , Brian Hitney and Andrew Duthie show us how easy it is to host services built with the ASP.NET Web API using the new Windows Azure Web Sites feature. Check out the full article here. Part 1 | Part 2 After watching this video, follow these next steps: Step #1 – Try Windows Azure: No cost. No obligation. 90-Day FREE trial. Step #2 – Download the Tools for Windows 8 App Development Step...

I’ve gotten a few requests about how to do a mashup in Dark Skies … so, thought I’d do a blog post on how it was put together. First, what’s a mashup? A mashup is an application that combines data from multiple sources into what is, hopefully, a more useful or interesting way to view the data. They are often done as web applications because the data is often pulled from online sources. But, mashups are ideal for Windows 8 and Windows Phone apps, too. Dark Skies is simply a mashup that combines 3 main sources...

Let’s see how long it takes Jim Christopher to jump in with a better PowerShell solution. :) I had a directory full of .avi files that contains RAW, uncompressed data at 60fps from a camera (for astroimaging). Even capturing just a few minutes of data amasses over 10GB of data: No wonder my drive filled up so quickly. For archiving the data, I wanted to zip each file into its own file, not into a folder. Because I had about 50GB of videos to do, I wanted a simple cmd to do it for each folder. This is pretty...

Abstract: Peter Laudati , Brian Hitney and Andrew Duthie are back for part 2 of their series and in today’s episode Andrew shows us how to deploy the OData Service for his Windows 8 app to Windows Azure as well as outlines the advantages and disadvantages to building back-end services via this approach. After watching this video, follow these next steps: Step #1 – Try Windows Azure: No cost. No obligation. 90-Day FREE trial. Step #2 – Download the Tools for Windows 8 App Development Step #3 – Start building...

When developing locally, often times you don’t want to use SSL for a variety of reasons.  There’s no real point, since the request isn’t going over the wire.  Most of the time, connections are done via the loopback 127.0.0.1 address (although localhost can be used) which throws certificate errors.  This one problem is often easy to solve, but it relates to a bigger issue: dictating when (and when not) to use SSL on your site.  In the ol’ days, you wouldn’t want an entire site to be SSL for...

Recently, a colleague of mine, Adam Hoffman, posted a great tip on serializing a generic List<t> to a Windows 8 App’s RoamingSettings. As Adam points out, taking advantage of roaming storage is so easy to do, it’s criminal not to take advantage of it. There are three basic types of data: local, roaming, and temporary. The APIs are all used similarly, and more info on them can be found here . There are a few things to keep in mind when using roaming data. One is: the data might change after the app is running...

Abstract: Peter Laudati and Brian Hitney welcome fellow Developer Evangelist, Andrew Duthie to the show as they kick off their series on how to build back-end services for their Windows 8 apps using Windows Azure. Tune in for part 1 as Andrew gives an overview of the series and introduces some potential techniques you could incorporate as you build your back-end services. After watching this video, follow these next steps: Step #1 – Try Windows Azure: No cost. No obligation. 90-Day FREE trial. Step #2 – Download...

A lot of apps require internet connectivity to function – like my app, Dark Skies .   One thing I overlooked when first releasing Dark Skies was a graceful check for network connectivity.  If the app launches and there is no connectivity, it should fail gracefully and notify the user.  Ideally, we should also plug into the Network Status Changed event handler, so our app is notified when the internet goes up or down during the app’s session. There are a couple of ways to accomplish this. ...

This put a smile on my face today: void App_UnhandledException( object sender, UnhandledExceptionEventArgs e) { throw new NotImplementedException(); }

At the Columbia Windows 8 DevCamp this weekend, the topic of side-loading apps came up in a few different scenarios, but it was particularly appropriate during the app showcase.  We had a number of developers working in the lab room, all competing to come up with the coolest app at the end of the day.  During the showcase where developers pitch their apps to the audience, it works best to have all the apps on the same machine.  Here’s the best way to do it without having to copy source code/solution...

I’m happy to finally have the next update to Dark Skies in the Windows 8 store !  In the initial release, I used Bing Maps to display light pollution data.  In this version, I allow users to display and share favorite viewing spots, and spruced up the live tile with some cool info. The main page can display information about a pin on the map: Admittedly, there aren’t too many pins just yet, but it will grow over time.   It’s not just favorite viewing locations – astronomy shops, user groups...

Never too late to post!  Here’s an episode of DevRadio Peter and I did on TFS Projects in Azure!   Abstract: Peter Laudati and Brian Hitney are back for today’s show as they show us how we can integrate TFS (Team Foundation Server) projects with Windows Azure Web Sites. They also discuss Windows Azure’s latest price reduction for Storage as well as tee up new features in Windows Azure Mobile Services. After watching this video, follow these next steps:   Step #1 – Try Windows Azure: No cost. No...

What’s this?  Another Windows Azure Mobile Services (WAMS) post?!  In the next version of my app, I keep a record of the user’s Channel in order to send down notifications.  The built in todo list example does this or something very similar.  My table in WAMS looks like: Not shown are a couple of fields, but of particular interest is the device Id.  I realized that one user might have multiple devices, so the channel then is tied to the device Id.  I still haven’t found a perfect...

Lots of great events coming up in the Carolinas: 1/18/2013  Charlotte, NC:  We’re hosting a Windows 8 “Office Hours” at the Microsoft Office.  More info here .  Essentially, if you’re looking for time to hack on a Windows 8 solution, work on ideas, test some stuff out, enlist some testers – we’re there for you.  1/19/2013  Columbia, SC:  Windows 8 DevCamp .   This event is really shaping up to be great!   Interesting sessions, and hands-on time in the labs...

First, many thanks to Chris Risner for the assistance on this solution!   Chris is part of the corp DPE team and has does an extensive amount of work with Windows Azure Mobile Services (WAMS) – including this session at //build , which was a great resource for getting started. If you go through the demo of getting started with WAMS building a TodoList , the idea is that the data in the todo list is locked down to each user.   One of the nice things about WAMS is that it’s easy to enforce...

I was surprised, yet delighted, that Windows Azure Mobile Services uses a SQL database.   Schema-less table storage has its place and is the right solution at times, but for most data driven applications, I’d argue otherwise. In my last post , I wrote about sending notifications by writing the payload explicitly from a Windows Azure Mobile Service.   In short, this allows us to include multiple tiles in the payload, accommodating users of both wide and square tiles.   In my application...

Those that know me know I am not a fan of javascript, in pretty much all of its forms (including node.js), however, I’m really digging Windows Azure Mobile Services (WAMS).  WAMS allows you to easily provide a back end to applications for storing data, authenticating users, and supporting notifications on not just Windows and Windows Phone, but also iOS with future plans of supporting Android soon. Now, I mention javascript because WAMS provides a slick node-like powered data service that makes it really...

I’m a little late getting this out (pesky vacations and all) but we re-launched Rock, Paper, Azure (RPA) a few weeks back with weekly competitions! What is Rock, Paper, Azure?  In short, it’s a game, primarily for developers.  It’s also a fun way to learn programming, as the concept is simple however winning is not.  You write code that plays a modified Rock, Paper, Scissors like game and tries to beat everyone else doing the same.   The code that you download has everything ready to...

The worst best part about being the Microsoft guru when a new OS ships is configuring PCs for family members.   In Windows 8, it’s a big relief that the new start screen makes things inherently more secure and less worrisome, but in desktop mode and since I have family members who haven’t upgraded yet, I get asked about pop ups and pop “under” windows all the time, and configuring family safety settings.  The challenge is striking a balance between stopping annoying popups while allowing desirable...

Lots of things going on in Windows Azure this week!  First up, I’ll be presenting at the TRINUG on Windows Azure on Wednesday, Nov. 14th 2012 .   If you’re in the area, stop by! This Wednesday, the corp team is also holding a Windows Azure conference appropriately named Windows Azure Conf ,  be sure to check it out.    The event will be streamed online via Channel 9 and include a keynote from ScuttGu: On November 14, 2012, Microsoft will be hosting Windows AzureConf, a free...

I’m going to talk about one of my favorite Windows 8 features – it’s one that everyone will love, but no one really knows much about.  In fact, it’s one that is so good, you’d think it’s a problem.  (Like, if you hit the power button and your machine _instantly_ slept, you’d think there is a problem, wouldn’t you?) I’ve got 2 disclaimers.  Obviously I work for MSFT so I’m biased, but the second one is, to Joe’s disgust, I actually have an iPad in house.  The excuse is that I have a large...