Southern California Evangelist - Kevin Boyle

Windows Phone 7 Development Jump-Start Events

2010-05-07T16:45:00Z

As part of our efforts to help developers get started with building their applications and games on the Windows Phone 7 platform we’re planning a couple of events in Redmond (May 18-19) and Silicon Valley (May 25-26). If you’re interested, be sure to register using the links below.

Abstract

Get a jump-start on building apps for Windows Phone 7 with this 2 day hands-on training event. You’ll learn how to build Silverlight or XNA applications that take advantage of the many Windows Phone 7 platform features.

We’ll introduce all the basic topics required to get started building Silverlight applications or XNA games. We’ll cover the Windows Phone 7 platform, the frameworks and both designer and developer tooling. We’ll also cover the process for publishing your application or game to the Marketplace. Topics covered will be reinforced with hands-on-labs where attendees practice on their own laptops.

This event will take a basic approach so, while it may be helpful to know Visual Studio etc, that will not be a prerequisite. Developers new to the platform are welcome (encouraged, even!) to attend.

Attendee Prerequisites:

Attendees are expected to bring their own laptops to follow along and to participate in the Hand-On Labs.

Supported Operating Systems: Windows 7 or Windows Vista
- Windows® Vista® (x86 and x64) ENU with Service Pack 2 – all editions except Starter Edition
- Windows 7 (x86 and x64) ENU – all editions except Starter Edition
Installation requires 3 GB of free disk space on the system drive.
Minimum 2 GB RAM
DirectX 10 capable graphics card with a WDDM 1.1 driver

Technical Prerequisites: To save time, be sure to have the following installed on your laptop before arriving for the event:

Knowledge of a development language such as C#, C/C++, Java, or JavaScript is expected.

Knowledge and experience with previous versions of Visual Studio, C#, Silverlight and XNA is useful but not required.

Agenda Topics

The following topics will be covered at the event:

Windows Phone 7 introduction & design philosophy
Lap Around Windows Phone 7 platform
Lap Around the Developer and Designer tools
Introduction to Silverlight
Building Silverlight Applications for Windows Phone 7
Hardware Access (camera, accelerometer, touch, etc.)
Push notifications
Marketplace
Introduction to XNA
XNA and Windows Phone 7
Performance tips

Fees

This event is free of charge. However, attendees are responsible for booking and paying for their own travel and accommodation. Both breakfast and lunch will be provided for session days.

Accommodations

Redmond: Numerous hotels are available close to the Platform Adoption Center. For your convenience we’ve provided a hotel map of the area as well as a more comprehensive list of Redmond-area hotels.

Silicon Valley: The Silicon Valley event will be held at the Hilton Santa Clara hotel.

Register Information

Register Today:

Redmond:
Please register here!

Silicon Valley:
Please register here!

Date and Time

Redmond: May 18-19
Silicon Valley: May 25-26
9:00am-5:00pm

Location

Redmond:

Microsoft Campus
Platform Adoption Center
Building 20
Redmond, WA
Platform Adoption Center

Silicon Valley:

Hilton – Santa Clara
4949 Great America Parkway
Santa Clara, CA 95054
www.hiltonsantaclara.com

Information

Level: 300-400

Language: English

Audience: Mobile Application and Game developers

Register now for the Visual Studio 2010 Launch event

2010-04-13T17:21:00Z

Join us for a free, in-person event you won’t want to miss
Join a select group of developers for an event near you and get hands-on experience with Microsoft^® Visual Studio^® 2010.

Learn about the rich application platforms that Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 supports, including Windows^® 7, the Web, SharePoint^® 2010, Windows Azure^™, and Windows Phone 7 Series. Visual Studio 2010 is packed with new and enhanced features that simplify the entire development process from design to deployment. From all new multi monitor support to SharePoint and Silverlight tools out of the box, there’s a lot to love in 2010.

Attend presentations, demos, and training from Microsoft engineers, evangelists and partners and see for yourself the power of Visual Studio 2010:

Learn how Visual Studio 2010 helps drive tighter team collaboration across the entire software development lifecycle.
See how quickly you can build rich websites with ASP.NET MVC 2 and Dynamic Data.
Learn about the powerful capabilities of the new Windows Phone 7 Series application platform and the familiar tools experience that Visual Studio 2010 provides for developers.
Find out how easy it is to leverage your existing code and move to the cloud with Windows Azure.

CITY	DATE
Denver, CO	Tuesday, April 20
LA (Costa Mesa), CA	Tuesday, May 18
San Francisco, CA	Thursday, May 20
Seattle, WA	Thursday, May 27

Get session details >>

Can’t make the dates above? Register for our half-day, in-person events featuring Launch 2010 highlights in a city near you.

CITY	DATE
Fort Collins, CO	Wednesday, April 21
Phoenix, AZ	Thursday, April 22
San Diego, CA	Monday, May 3
Albuquerque, NM	Tuesday, May 4
Salt Lake City, UT	Wednesday, May 5
Los Angeles, CA	Tuesday, May 11
Sacramento, CA	Wednesday, May 19
Portland, OR	Wednesday, May 26
Boise, ID	Thursday, June 3
Mountain View, CA	Tuesday, June 15

Free and no Azure token required - PDC Windows Azure walkthrough, Step-by-step ‘hello world’

2009-11-16T03:10:00Z

If you learn best by doing, here's how to get started with the PDC Azure tools without signing up for Azure or buying any software.

This will provide you the scaffolding you need to build more interesting Azure programs.

If you are an Architect, this will give you a "hands-on" feel for Azure.

Notes:

All you need is Windows
No Azure token required
Warm up your skills using the Azure Simulation Environment
No purchase of Visual Studio required

Step 1) Go to http://www.microsoft.com/web. You will use the Microsoft Web Gallery and Web Platform Installer to get started.

The Microsoft Web Platform Installer gives you the framework, web server, database and tools you need to build and run Web sites.

Step 2) Click Get Started

This brings you to the page for ‘The Web Platform Installer', called ‘Web PI'.

The web installer saves hours of time by installing all the pieces one needs to get started and later install more sophisticated "starter kits". It also handles all the configuration, e.g. turning on IIS.

Get started by using the Microsoft Web Platform Installer (Web PI). Web PI handles the heavy-lifting by installing and configuring each component of the platform from top to bottom.

Step 3) Click "Get the Microsoft Web Platform Installer"

Step 4) Choose all the recommended pieces provided by Web PI. See the scroll bar?? Don't forget to scroll down and choose everything!

Step 5) At some point, you might be asked to create a password for SQL Server Express.

Step 6) Now go to http://www.azure.com/ to the Windows Azure Tools for Visual Studio. This gives you all the Visual Studio add-ins and simulators you need to get started on Windows Azure.

Step 7) Click Get Tools and SDK. Make sure this is the November version. It was released on 11/13 and is still propagating. I had to click on the "Developers" tab at the top then click "Get Tools & SDK" to find the November version.

Step 8) Run Microsoft Visual Web Developer as administrator

Step 9) In Visual Studio, choose File -> New Project. In the project dialog, Visual C# -> Cloud Service. In Templates, Choose Windows Azure Cloud Service. Feel free to rename your project

Step 10) In the next dialog, choose ASP.NET Web Role. I changed the name to "WebRolePDC" by clicking on the pencil next to the name. Then click OK.

Step 11) On the project window on the right-hand side, right click on the .cs file to find the "View Designer" option. Click it.

Step 12) On the left side, find the "Toolbox" button. In the "Standard" section, find and drag a "Button" to the design surface, then find and drag a "Label".

Here's what the design layout looks like.

Step 13) Double click on the "Button". This will create the code that will handle the click event.

Step 14) As shown below, type is this single line of code.

Label1.Text = "hello Azure PDC";

Step 15) Press F5 to run. You will see the "Windows Azure Simulation Environment" startup.

Step 16) Your web browser will come up. Press the button to see your message!!

Next steps:

Bring your apps to the Azure cloud by signing up for a token at http://www.azure.com/

Takes about two weeks
Tokens will only be easy to get until January 1st, then you will have to go through the Evangelism team

The biggest shift for Azure will be how you handle state. Your app runs in a distributed environment and are stateless

You will have to use Windows Azure Storage (which also has a simulator installed with the Azure tools so you can start now)
It provides tables, queues, and blogs
The best place to learn more is the training kit, which has labs on this topic and much more

Azure Training Kit, http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=413E88F8-5966-4A83-B309-53B7B77EDF78&displaylang=en

Have fun!!!

Hello, world!

2009-11-13T00:38:00Z

Migrating over from my old space so some redundancy for awhile, http://blog.boilerproductions.com.

Do sign up for in-person Architect Councils in Los Angeles and Irvine, http://blogs.msdn.com/sac/.

Also, on twitter @kevinmsft.