Jerry Nixon

Microsoft Developer Evangelist

Posts
  • Jerry Nixon

    Hey IT Pros! What developers already know about Windows 8

    Remember how Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan ended? Spock saved the Enterprise but died from radiation exposure. Fortunately, Spock mind-melded with Bones before his famous “I am and always will be your friend”. That’s how Kirk restored Spock’s Genesis...
  • Jerry Nixon

    SQL Express v LocalDB v SQL Compact Edition

    LocalDB is created specifically for developers. It is very easy to install and requires no management, yet it offers the same T-SQL language, programming surface and client-side providers as the regular SQL Server Express. In effect the developers that...
  • Jerry Nixon

    What web developers need to know about IE10 compatibility

    imageNew browsers introduce new ways of thinking. IE10 is no different. There are compatibility concerns to make your site look awesome everywhere. So where do you start to learn about this stuff? How about right here!

    Compat Inspector

    Compat Inspector is a JavaScript-based testing tool that analyzes your site while it runs. Compat Inspector watches for patterns of interaction known to cause issues and reports them automatically. This allows you to identify problems quickly without first memorizing a bunch of documentation. See this page to learn how to use it.

    To help demonstrate Compat Inspector, known compatibility patterns have been introduced into the tooltip script used for this page. Use Compat Inspector to learn about the issues present in the tooltips above. Just click on the Compat Inspector widget in the upper right-hand corner of the page to get started.

    For a given reported issue, check the "Verify" checkbox and refresh the page to temporarily simulate the expected behavior. Focus on one issue at a time. Although you can "Verify" multiple issues at once, typically only one represents the root cause of the problem. Continue this process until the tooltips start working correctly. After that, take a look at the patched version of the tooltip script.

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  • Jerry Nixon

    DevRadio: Developing your Windows 8 Apps using Visual C++

    Abstract: clip_image002
    Jerry Nixon welcomes Eric Battalio, Ayman Shoukry and Raman Sharma from the Visual C++ team as they discuss how you can develop Windows 8 apps using C++. Tune in as they provide best practices and reasons why you would want to use this language.

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  • Jerry Nixon

    C++ for C# Developers

    C++ is an uncontested tool for delivering innovation outside the box (augmented reality, natural user interfaces, compelling games, and more). But how to reconnect with C++ using our C# background as starting point? This is a somewhat short guide to the...
  • Jerry Nixon

    Where is PhoneGap for Windows Phone 8? Right here!

    imageNative applications on mobile devices deliver a great experience to users. Only native applications can deliver excellent fidelity and performance, and support a disconnected state. But if you don’t know the devices mobile technology development can be difficult.

    Mobile web sites deliver a poor experience to users. Mobile web sites are simply web pages; they cannot access the device itself and necessitate an always-connected device. But because it’s just HTML, developers have an easier time supporting multiple devices.

    A Real Option

    Mixing native with web is PhoneGap – it executes local HTML and JavaScript in an embedded browser wrapper app. PhoneGap apps are not as awesome as native apps, but they are surely the next best thing – and are a viable option.  These types of apps don’t require developers to know much about a device – and can be deployed across the various mobile platforms with little investment. They also have access to the device itself (including sensors, battery and more); they support offline scenarios, too.

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  • Jerry Nixon

    Windows 8: 1,000 Metro icons you already have installed

    Windows 8 metro applications have a few things in common. One of them is typography. Segoe (pronounced “se-go” not “see-go” or anything else), specifically we’re talking about the Segoe UI font (or a derivative of it), is the standard san serif font in...
  • Jerry Nixon

    Visual Studio 11: New Features Preview

    Tim Huckaby and Cameron Skinner, General Manager – Visual Studio Ultimate at Microsoft, discuss the Visual Studio 11 Dev Preview. Cameron talks about the exciting new features coming that developers can expect, especially in the Application Lifecycle...
  • Jerry Nixon

    XAML Binding Basics 101

    imageHello Windows 8 XAML developer. XAML is a declarative UI language; it's most powerful feature is surely data binding.  But, I admit, with such power comes a lot of things to know. Let’s take a minute to step back, smell the roses, and build out some simple bindings.

    Read to learn?

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  • Jerry Nixon

    Windows 8: Connected Standby

    Windows 7 has Power Management features allowing you to impact power consumption. One feature is Standby (called S3); this puts your PC to bed – during which no code is executed. The resume time from S3 is very fast because the system has been suspended...
  • Jerry Nixon

    Amazing. What’s new in WPF 4.5?

    image

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  • Jerry Nixon

    Develop Windows 8 Apps without Windows 8? Yes, you can!

    Windows is the premiere development platform in the world. With Windows 8, developers can leverage their existing skills and code assets to create applications. Step into these virtual labs and learn how to build, share and sell interesting and easy-to...
  • Jerry Nixon

    Ready to learn XAML?

    Daren May and I teach the basics of Windows 8 XAML in a Jump Start course for Microsoft Virtual Academy (Recorded May 2013). If you are learning XAML, come learn with us in this free, all-day course (now available on demand). We have a lot of fun in these...
  • Jerry Nixon

    Top 10 features of the Microsoft Surface

    imageMicrosoft Surface is the new tablet device made by Microsoft, running Windows RT and Windows 8. InformationWeek, today, released their top 10 for the coolest features of Microsoft Surface. I have listed them below with a little more information next to each.

    Surface: Where work meets play. The power of Windows, the productivity of Office Home & Student 2013 RT Preview, and the joy of Xbox – not to mention apps, social media, music, and more. Surface is also cloud-connected with SkyDrive, so you can access your content from anywhere, at any time.

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  • Jerry Nixon

    Hooray! Here’s all 316 pages of the Windows 8 UX Guidelines in one cool PDF

    Fortunately, we are providing UX guidelines to developers. Unfortunately, those guidelines are seriously comprehensive (aka long). As a result, and to all our benefit, the UX guidelines have been consolidated into a single PDF document. Get the full PDF...
  • Jerry Nixon

    Walkthrough: Monetize Windows 8 with the Microsoft Advertising SDK

    imageAn interstitial advertisement is traditionally recognized as a full-page ad appearing between two pages. Interstitial, which means “gap” perceives a gap between to parts of the UI (especially pages on a web site) and fills it with an advertisement.

    Wiki: On the World Wide Web, interstitials are web pages displayed before or after an expected content page, often to display advertisements or confirm the user's age (prior to showing age-restricted material). Most interstitial advertisements are delivered by an ad server. Full-screen interstitial ads are referred to as hyperstitials.

    I am sure we have all experienced this type of advertising. And, I think I can speak for everyone, we all hate this type of advertising. These ads make apps or sites feel slow; we spend most of the time hunting for “skip this ad”, not reading it. So, what’s this article about then?

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  • Jerry Nixon

    Team Foundation Service is live! It’s Free!

    TFS : One year ago, at the first BUILD conference, we unveiled the limited preview of Team Foundation Service. At Tech Ed, in June, we removed the “invitation code” mechanism and opened it up for anyone to try in a public preview. Now, a year after its...
  • Jerry Nixon

    Windows 8: Windows Phone SDK (7.1.1 update) Ready to Go!

    Cliff Simpkins : I’m pleased to announce that the Windows Phone SDK 7.1.1 Update is now available for your download ; it’s the final version of the CTP we released last month, and enables Windows Phone developers to do two things: Develop apps that work...
  • Jerry Nixon

    Windows 8: Making the case for Expression Blend

    imageOne of the coolest parts of the XAML designer in Visual Studio 2012 is that it is the same code base as the designer in Expression Blend for XAML. That’s right. Blend’s designer used to be better, but now Visual Studio developers are first class, too.

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  • Jerry Nixon

    White Paper: Assessing the Windows 8 Development Platform

    I love to see the great insights our partners are making: At the Build conference in September 2011, Microsoft provided details about their next operating system release, code name “Windows 8.” Leading up to this conference there has been...
  • Jerry Nixon

    Windows 8 apps, what’s an Enterprise to do?

    For decades, thousands of enterprises have run their business on custom, line-of-business systems. These can be Windows Forms, WPF, Silverlight, and even web-based Windows apps. These often include a desktop tier, some service tier, and a backend database...
  • Jerry Nixon

    Walkthrough: Implementing SnapView in your Windows 8 App

    imageThere are four supported orientations in Windows 8. There is Full View, Snap View, Fill View and Portrait View. Each is important in the overall strategy of Windows 8. In order to get your app into the Windows Store, you must support the Full, Snap and Fill view. And to support them, XAML uses ViewStates that easily execute custom animations and show your tailored content.

    What view?

    The different views in Windows are something developers have to deal with but are fundamentally one of Windows 8’s core differentiators in the marketplace. Since a Windows 8 is only active when it is visible it means that only one app can run at a time – similar to the IPad. But because of SnapView, Windows 8 allows users to view more than one app at a time, even if the second app is in a narrow format. As a result, the user can enjoy more than one app at a time, increasing the opportunity for productivity.

    image

    The image above shows the Full, Snap, and Fill View on a slate device, respectively. It is an important note to say that Snap is not a touch-only mechanism. I run on a desktop that has no touch input. I use snap. It allows me to have more than one Windows 8 app up at one time. It also allows me to have a desktop app and a Windows 8 app running at the same time. It’s nice.

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  • Jerry Nixon

    Windows 8: Semantic Zoom versus Optical Zoom

    Windows 8 is full of groovy nuggets of innovation. One of my favorites is the Sematic Zoom . This control is a container of two other controls – usually list controls. The first declares the UI when zoomed out. The second declares the UI when zoomed in...
  • Jerry Nixon

    We did it! Office 2013 RTMs today!

    This is truly our season of launch. With the release of Windows and everything else all aligned to a single schedule (you may never see such a feat accomplished again) it is awesome that Office is on that list.

    What’s new?

    Well, the new Office means new Office 365 service, Office 2013 clients, SharePoint 2013, Exchange 2013, Lync 2013, Project 2013, and Visio 2013! That’s a boat load of new, awesome products in the basket of Microsoft offerings this season.

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  • Jerry Nixon

    Walkthrough: Building a Sweet Dial in XAML for Windows 8

    imageCustom XAML controls are a breeze. But, honestly, if you aren’t familiar with building them, there’s a learning curve. Let’s break this barrier and build a custom user control together.

    I’ll build a control that works like a standard oven dial. The application uses of such a control are many. The implementation is a little sticky, but I can do it in about 10 minutes. That should raise your confidence a little. Plus, it will demonstrate the flexibility and power of the XAML framework for building complex controls with simple implementation.

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