February, 2012

In March, we are visiting four cities across Canada to give a full day workshop to help you get started building Windows Phone apps. In this workshop, you can expect to learn how to build apps for Windows Phone and have expert support for you to build your very own Windows Phone app or game. It’s a full day of learning, doing and fun – get brained up on Windows Phone! If you live...

Not too long ago, in my post Because There’s Always More To Learn… , I introduced TechDays TV – the bi-weekly online show where we’ll be bringing you fresh new sessions exclusively created for TechDays TV by Canadian and international experts. The show will be presented live and will be interactive, meaning that as you’re watching, if you have questions for the expert, you’ll be able to type them into...

From Episode 3 – Securing .NET Applications | February 1, 2012 Security experts Joël Hébert and Steve Syfuhs talk all about security – principles, documentation, attack vectors, testing tools, and more. Key Points [03:14] Security as part of standard design documentation and why security is not part of day-to-day practices ”For me, herein lies one intrinsic problem with some of our business processes...

(Originally posted by Susan Ibach) I know I’m not the only one curious about the contents of Visual Studio 11 and .NET 4.5 so here are some resources to help you see what’s coming! Get the beta February 29th! The Visual Studio team has gone hog wild the past few days releasing lots of great information about Visual Studio 11 and the .NET 4.5 Beta that will be available February 29th. I just wanted...

In this post, I’ll share what I learned about how to get started writing HTML5 code in Visual Studio 2010. HTML5 seems to be everywhere these days! I started trying it myself a few months back and I quickly decided that if possible, I wanted to play with it in Visual Studio. I’ve been working with Visual Studio for years, it’s got to be simpler to keep working with the developer tool I already know...

Too often I get asked whether the Windows Azure trial is actually FREE because you have to enter a credit card when signing up. With the introduction of Spending Limits , yes, yes, it is. Here’s the situation – you’ve been following the Canadian Developer Connection , my blog , or wherever you get your updates on what’s new and exciting in the developer world. You’re...

Ok, I admit it. The headline was a bit of link bait given how obvious it is. That being said, it’s surprising how often the mistake is made by app developers to add more features and screen activity than is necessary. This is especially true of developers porting a PC app to the mobile form factor. It’s actually really easy to fall into the trap of making an app busier than it needs to...

Even if the actual version of HTML as been discussed for a couple of years now, it is fairly new. We see a lot more enthusiasts around this new version of this Web standard, and trust me; it's just a beginning. If you have already started to give a closer look to the new features and elements, you probably asked yourself where are the tools to help you build your next amazing HTML5 website or application...

I believe that the best way to learn is to learn from each other, so I’m always on the search for stories of Canadian developers who have either built new applications using Windows Azure services or have migrated existing applications to Windows Azure. This is the story of Agile Business Cloud Solutions . Key Points [01:36] HTML5 and Windows Azure ”We use real-time graphs where...

From Episode 3 – Securing .NET Applications | February 1, 2012 ASP.NET MVP Joël Hébert had one of the most attended sessions at TechDays 2011. In the session, he walked through creating a template that can be re-used in every ASP.NET-based application to protect against common security vulnerabilities and attacks. The full session is available on-demand on TechDays Online. Here, Joël explores a common...

The title of this post is “Because there’s always more to learn.” Where’s that from? You know it… That’s right – TechDays. But wait… time to talk about TechDays 2012 already? Not quite. But it is time to talk about TechDays Online ! Whether you were able to attend Tech·Days 2011 (or even 2010!) or not you’ll find it all on Tech·Days Online. It looks like many of you have already been perusing the training...

As a Web developer, we need to think about many devices, screen sizes and orientations. It’s not enough now to build our application or website to target only desktop screens: you need to keep in mind that your visitors will come to your site with their smartphones, their netbooks, their tablets, their slates and even their living room TV. We need to give them a good experience. Instead of...

As you may know, we have had 4 Platform Previews for Internet Explorer 10. But how do you make sure that existing apps won’t break or be incompatible with it without exhaustive testing? An easy way is to use the IE10 Compat Inspector . Simply insert the script before other scripts in each page you want to test: Then in the corner of your page you will see something similar to the image below where...

Everyone who has used a modern smartphone knows that with very few exceptions, apps that have the most value to its users are those that are connected to services.  Standalone apps just don’t cut it anymore.   With that being said, finding data sources through web-based services can be difficult and even when you find them, the format those services return data in can be messy.  OData...

The Microsoft MVP programme is an award programme that recognizes individuals who are active in online and local communities that show the value of Microsoft products and the Microsoft platform in general. The individuals who receive this designation are some of the most hard-working and knowledgeable technology professionals in Canada. If you have followed a tutorial on a Microsoft product or read...

You are in front of your computer, wanting to learn a new technology for your job, or because you have this awesome idea on what will be the next Angry Birds. Whether you are a professional, a student or a hobbyist, learning a technology is sometimes a challenge. Where to start? In this blog post, I will give you my tips around getting up to speed with a new technology. Before your start If you...

From Episode 3 – Securing .NET Applications | February 1, 2012 Following his presentation at the East of Toronto .NET User Group ( @easttorontoug ), Gladstone Grant ( @gladstonegrant ) takes on my questions as well as some from the viewers about the opportunities developers have working with the Microsoft platform. [01:52] Directions of IT: The Developer Opportunity Recap [04:15] What in your mind...

Rob Labbe, Senior Security Program Manager at Microsoft challenges us to think about security in a new way: does it matter if someone gets in to your system if you stop them from taking anything out?   One of the best parts of doing webcasts is people often ask you questions you hadn’t quite thought about, or make you think about issues in different ways. I just finished recording a security webcast...

Windows Azure is a platform with many different services that you, the developer can piece together to create your solutions. But when do you use which service and how? In this blog series, you’ll discover the answer to that by using different scenarios used by developers working with Windows Azure today. I’ll never forget this one time (at band camp? LOL) I was doing a presentation and after a full...

Microsoft Canada is hosting Canadian finals this year for the Imagine Cup, a worldwide technology competition for students. Do you know someone who might be interested? Have you heard about Imagine Cup? This is the worldwide competition organized by Microsoft where students from around the world use technology to try and solve some of the worlds problems. Students choose the problem they want to solve...

Once you have built your app or game and have published it into the Windows Phone Marketplace, you’re likely going to want to monitor the uptake of your app via download and (potentially) revenue statistics.  You are also going to want to find ways to market your app to people who may not know about it.  There are several ways of doing this, some more costly than others.  One of the...

I believe that the best way to learn is to learn from each other, so I’m always on the search for stories of Canadian developers who have either built new applications using Windows Azure services or have migrated existing applications to Windows Azure. This is the story of Epilogger . Key Points [01:42] (Rationale behind using Windows Azure for storage) ”We needed some place that was not hosted by...

You know the projects you’re currently working on and the technologies you use to get them done. But what about future projects? What would they be using? The people that can answer that are the developers and architects that not only keep themselves up to date with technologies of today, but that also know what’s coming tomorrow and how to get there. On February 22 , you’ll have the opportunity to...

Even though it hasn’t really been a typical winter for many areas across the country, it’s still cold enough for most of us to want to stay inside. The question is, what are you doing with your indoor time? If you’re like me, this is the time to catch up on the latest and greatest, taking the time to sit and learn something new. If you’ve had a chance to watch the D³: LIVE & INTERACTiVE special...