David Boschmans Weblog : WPF/E

Building better Web Experiences: from ASP.NET AJAX to WPF/e

David Boschmans — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 01:13:48 GMT

This afternoon I did a workshop on Microsoft's Web Platform & Tools for LBi. I think it went really well, despite the amount of topics the cover and the time constraints. I started to discuss the importance of building better online experiences and how these influence business opportunities. Next we took a dive into the different web technologies.

From the technology side I started with covering ASP.NET AJAX. As most of the developers where already familiar with ASP.NET AJAX and even had some hands-on experience we could almost immediately dive into some examples. I showed some of examples of the AJAX Library, the ASP.NET AJAX Extensions and the AJAX Control Toolkit. While preparing my demos I had to update some of them to the latest bits. This migration guide (RC to RTM) were of great help to get them to work.

Some sample sites build using ASP.NET AJAX can be found here. I showed PageFlakes and ... the audience was impressed.

Next we had a look at the Windows Presentation Foundation as one of the elements of the .NET Framework 3.0 Framework for building desktop and (Windows) web applications. After looking at the architecture the coding and compilation/XAML parsing model I showed some demos from this list. I also showed how designer and developers can work better together using the XAML collaboration model to design user interfaces. Most developers where impressed when they saw how this worked: creating a XAML based UI in Expression Blend beta 2 - saving the project - opening it in Visual Studio 2005 + Cider - adding some code - etc. In a couple of weeks I'll be visiting the designers of LBi!

Moving from WPF to WPF/E was a little step but it remains difficult to explain the differences. Hopefully we'll soon get rid of the confusing codename (WPF/E). I hope the final name won't get any link to WPF ... Main difference is that WPF/E is cross-platform & cross-browser where WPF only runs on Windows because it requires the .NET 3.0 runtime. WPF/E doesn't need the .NET 3.0 runtime but a lightweight browser plug-in that will be made freely available. It's currently in February CTP status.

Some examples using WPF/E can be found here. I also showed the WPF/E SDK and the Visual Studio template that comes with it. The programming model even lets you integrate ASP.NET AJAX and WPF/E applications very easy. More on developing WPF/e applications using the SDK can be found on the WPF/E quickstart page.

Finally I explained how Windows Live gadgets and Windows Vista Sidebar gadgets can embrace the technologies above to extend the reach of connected applications. Karsten and Charles have some examples of a Vista gadget using WPF. I don't have an example yet of WPF/E in a Windows Vista Sidebar gadget, but I'll have a look at it in the upcoming weeks.

These are the technologies I covered during the workshop. Of course if time would have permitted I could have talked about creating Media Center experiences using MCML. A deeper look at the Expression Tools is definitely something that not only designers should do but also developers. Till today - and the availability of the March CTP of Visual Studio "Orcas" - Cider is just not sufficient for exploring XAML in Visual Studio. And yes, the development experience of WPF/E will only get better when getting closer to a beta stage.

If you want to experience all of this live, you can at Developer & IT-Pro Days 2007. During the web developer pre-conference all (except WPF) will be covered by Jeff Prosise.

Technorati tags: ASP.NET 2.0, ASP.NET AJAX, WPF, .NET Fx 3.0, WPF/E, Windows Vista Sidebar gadgets, Windows Live Gadgets

Nice list of demo-able WPF applications

David Boschmans — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 00:56:18 GMT

At Designertopia a couple of weeks ago I had some informal talks with people from McCann-Erickson on how the web might evolve in the next couple of years. I told them a little bit about the upcoming Microsoft platform technologies and how this can create new opportunities to reach people.

Today I delivered a presentation about this at McCann-Erickson. I explained why user-experience is so important these days. I started with some ASP.NET AJAX samples and then showed a lot of demos based on the Windows Presentation Foundation. While I had most applications installed locally on my demo box, this published list of WPF apps below helped me a lot, to show the power of the deployment models.

Here is the list of some public WPF applications that you can download or play with today. Note that the deployment model has been added so that you know what you are getting into as far as installation goes. Lots are using ClickOnce application files and .xbaps, so installation is trivial!

Yahoo Messenger for Windows Vista - New IM client (SCREENCAST).
New York Times Reader - Next-generation online reading experience for the NY Times (MSI).
Microsoft Calendar Printing Assistant - Generate printed calendars from your Outlook schedule (MSI).
Microsoft Expression Blend - Designer tool for building WPF experiences (MSI).
Microsoft Expression Design - illustration and graphic design tool (MSI).
Microsoft Windows Live for TV - 3D access to Messenger contacts from Media Center or IE (MSI).
Electric Rain Standout - High-end custom presentation software (SCREENCAST).
Wikipedia Explorer - 3D exploration of related articles from Wikipedia (APPLICATION).
iBloks - Mashup application for creating 3D movies (MSI).
RikReader - RSS Reader that integrates with Internet Explorer 7 (APPLICATION).
Nostalgia - Yahoo! Flickr browser and photo manager (APPLICATION).
Cine.View - Netflix movie queue manager (APPLICATION).
Cool Text Vector Draw - A vector drawing program with 1200 fonts available via a web service (XBAP).
Actipro Wizard - A control for building wizard dialogs in WPF (XBAP).
UniveRSS - A 3D Vista RSS reader (APPLICATION).
Xceed Datagrid for WPF Live Explorer - Hands-on demo of Xceed's free new Datagrid for WPF (XBAP).
DominoKen - Artistic 3D XBAP demonstration from Microsoft Japan (XBAP).
Denounce - Stand-alone podcast listener and blog reader (APPLICATION).
British Library Turning the Pages - British Library's 'virtual viewer' for some of their most precious books (XBAP).
ITN Hub Player - Video clips and news stories from ITN (APPLICATION).
Evolution Media Center - HTPC Front-end with stunning animations and dynamic XAML-skinning (ZIP).
OTTO - Online clothing shopping (APPLICATION).
Metaliq - Snowboarding data visualization (ZIP).
WeatherNews - 3D Weather visualization (XBAP).
Shiseido - Make up online shopping (XBAP).
DOSV - Computer Configuration (XBAP).
Warner - Movie Previews and Showtimes (XBAP).
Notescraps - Random information manager (MSI).
Valil.Chess.WinFX - Chess game (XBAP, APPLICATION)
NetAdvantage for WPF - Infragistics NetAdvantage for WPF 2007 controls (APPLICATION).
fnac.com - French electronics retailer shopping experience - must set machine to French locale to run it (APPLICATION).

After having demo-ed some of these applications I went through some of the WPF/e applications, how they will be running cross-browser, cross-platform.

Here's a list of the "WPF/E" (codename) CTP (February 2007) SDK Samples (online):

Page Turn Media: The Page Turn sample shows how "WPF/E" uses XAML to create a compelling presentation of images. It also shows an additional navigation element that allows users to quickly jump to a specific image.
Media Library: This example uses a real world scenario of a video site. The sample is rendering a progressive download video feed from Channel 9 and uses ASP.NET AJAX to improve the interaction parameters of this sample (watch how back button works). Notice how resize works as the underlying presentation player (XAML) is vector-based.
Sprawl Game: "WPF/E" is perfect for creating casual games. This sample shows a typical casual game. All the elements of this game were created using the Microsoft Expression suite.
Simple Video Playback: The simple video playback samples provide the essentials you need for showing video playback on your site. The minimalist control uses an efficient design that hides the control when it is not needed using subtle animations.
Film Strip Slideshow: Learn the value proposition of "WPF/E" while viewing a "WPF/E" sample. This example uses animation to implement a slide show style presentation.

You can also download these samples from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=515684FD-C8A0-4588-88C5-54CE224925E7&displaylang=en.

Finally I briefly touched on the Windows Media Center development capabilities and how this might become increasingly important with the convergence of the internet and television.

I think it was quite an eye-opener for most of the people that were there. Especially that none of them were deep tecnical. I hope they will be using these ideas when building new creative ideas!

Technorati tags: ASP.NET AJAX, Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Windows Presentation Foundation Everywhere (WPF/e), demo applications

Developer & IT-Pro Days 2007 - Pre-conference on ASP.NET AJAX and WPF/E

David Boschmans — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 04:28:48 GMT

I'm in Seattle, WA this week attending a Microsoft internal training event. While traveling to the US I've been working hard on the agenda of our upcoming Belgian Developer & IT-Pro Days 2007. This annual primary developer event on Microsoft technologies takes place in the ICC in Ghent, 27-28-29 of March 2007.

For the first time we're organizing a pre-conference on March 27th. The pre-conference will discuss the Microsoft Web Platform and its related technologies.

Web, Microsoft, and You: Introducing ASP.NET AJAX and WPF/E:

ASP.NET AJAX is a free framework that simplifies the development of AJAX-enabled Web pages and Web applications. It is both a set of server-side extensions to Microsoft ASP.NET 2.0 and a client-side library written entirely in JavaScript that is agnostic to browser types and server platforms. WPF/E enables developers to build even richer browser-based applications by escaping the bonds of HTML and JavaScript.
Together, these two frameworks represent the cutting edge of Web development and comprise the future of Web programming on Microsoft platforms. In one action-packed day, you'll learn about ASP.NET AJAX and WPF/E and come away with an understanding of where to target your development efforts for years to come. The future of Web development is today!

Session 1: The Microsoft Web Story: ASP.NET 2.0, ASP.NET AJAX, and WPF/E
If you build Web apps for Microsoft platforms, times are changing--and fast. First there's ASP.NET 2.0, which is arguably the richest server platform available for building scalable, high-performance Web apps.
Then there's ASP.NET AJAX, which extends ASP.NET 2.0 with a rich AJAX framework. Finally, there's WPF/E, which extends browsers to support incredibly rich and interactive content. This session surveys these technologies, overviews their features and capabilities, and sets the stage for the drill-downs in subsequent sessions.
Session 2: The ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX Extensions
The ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX Extensions are the half of ASP.NET AJAX that run on the server. They include a suite of server-side controls that make AJAX programming as simple as dragging controls onto a form, and a set of ASMX extensions that enable Web services to serve as endpoints for asynchronous XML-HTTP requests from JavaScript clients. This session drills down into the ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX Extensions and provides critical information not only about they're used, but how they work.
Session 3: The Microsoft AJAX Library
The heart of ASP.NET AJAX is the Microsoft AJAX Library, which is a JavaScript framework that runs on the client and is not only browser-agnostic, but server-agnostic as well. This session takes a deep dive into the client-side framework and demonstrates how developers can leverage it and extend it to build cutting-edge Web apps. Among other things, you'll learn how the Microsoft AJAX Library adds OOP to JavaScript and how to use this knowledge to implement features that aren't possible from the server side
Session 4: Introducing WPF/E
WPF/E, which is short for "Windows Presentation Foundation Everywhere", is a subset of WPF that combines XAML and JavaScript to create incredibly rich browser-based content, and it's the perfect medicine for boring, plain-vanilla Web pages. This session introduces developers to the wonderful world of WPF/E and provides a glimpse at the future of Web programming on Microsoft platforms.

This pre-conference consists of 4 breakout sessions will be delivered by Jeff Prosise. Jeff is not only an excellent speaker and teacher, he also delivered the highest rated pre-conf on ASP.NET AJAX at TechEd: Developers in Barcelona last year. The sessions that Jeff will deliver in Belgium will be different talks from those delivered at TechEd: Developers. Meanwhile the ASP.NET AJAX bits have been RTM'ed and thus new material and best practices are available. In the 4th session Jeff will take a dive in the WPF/e set of technologies. Using these technologies anynone will be able to build rich interactive applications that integrate AJAX like functionality with media (video, audio, etc).

Register before February 28th and get 15% off!

If you plan to attend and already registered: add the event to your calendar!

More info on the pre-conference and the main conference can be found on http://www.microsoft.com/belux/devitprodays/. I'll be posting updates on the agenda of the main conference soon!

Technorati tags: ASP.NET, ASP.NET AJAX, Developer & IT-Pro Days 2007, Jeff Prosise

Scott Guthrie was in Belgium and an udpate on Designertopia in London

David Boschmans — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 17:55:33 GMT

While I'm currently in London, attending Designertopia, the VISUG/MSDN meeting with Scott Guthrie in Belgium was a success! 250+ attendees saw Scott deliver two excellent sessions on the newest ASP.NET technologies:

First Look at Visual Studio and ASP.NET “Orcas”
ASP.NET 2.0 and ASP.NET AJAX Tips and Tricks

It was the first time Scott was in Belgium. Our VISUG-community appreciated it. Microsoft Belux appreciated it. And therefore I want to thank Scott, Hans Verbeeck (for the support) and last but not least, all of the attendees! I've also noticed that Jan blogged about the event and the question whether the UpdatePanel works in web parts.

UPDATE: Tom posted Scott's first video on his blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/tommer/archive/2007/02/03/video-of-scott-guthrie-s-newest-presentation-first-look-at-visual-studio-orcas.aspx.

You are probably wondering how Designertopia is going, right?

The first day, yesterday started off with a keynote by Eric Zocher, General Manager Expression Tools. The keynote covered Microsofts approach towards designer and developers. Of course the Expression Tools were featured. Some news that I missed earlier this week - probably due to the Wow - were some new product releases of the Expressions Tools Suite:

Expression Design hit Beta 1
Expression Blend hit Beta 2

Both downloads are available from the Expression website. More info on these releases can be found on Robert's blog.

The keynote was filled with demos - that unfortunately - failed a couple of times. Some cool demos of ASP.NET AJAX, WPF, WPF/E and the Expression Tools were shown though. They gave a good overview what Microsoft technologies can and should be used, and in which scenario (on/off line) to create the richest user experience possible. Personally I was most impressed by Expression Media. This is due to the fact that I already played around with the other tools that are part of the Expression Suite. But the demos of Expression Media convinced me to give it a try soon.

Later on the day I was really impressed by the presentation on "Participatory Design" by the director of the Webby Awards. The Steel-Software Blog has an excellent wrap-up of day 1 where the "Participatory Design" session details are covered. The session showed how user participation can (Doritos) or cannot (Chevy) work.

In the evening we had dinner with all the Belgian agencies that attended Designertopia. It was the first time that Geert and myself brought these people together at a Microsoft event, but it turned out very well. Thanks to all of you for joining us!

Technorati tags: Scott Guthrie, ASP.NET Orcas, ASP.NET AJAX, VISUG, Designertopia, Expression Tools

Getting started with developing WPF/E applications

David Boschmans — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 13:07:14 GMT

The release of the first (December) CTP of WPF/E and the announcement of the new names and design of the Microsoft Expression tools has generated quite some interest in the technology according to the Technorati search results for WPF/E and Microsoft Expression.

Running the "WPF/E" (codename) CTP (December 2006) SDK Samples is fairly simple but when starting with the development of a WPF/E application quite some questions might pop up. A few examples:

what exactly is WPF/E?
how does it relate to XAML?
how do I get started in Visual Studio 2005?
what's a "WPF/E" JavaScript application template and why do I need the Web Applications Project?
which tools should I use for creating the design of the application?
how should I configure my app to deploy the XAML runtime to Internet Explorer and Firefox?
what will be running in the browser: xml or binary content?
how does ASP.NET AJAX relates to WPF/E?
what are the scenarios for using WPF/E?

The good news is that all of these questions are answered in the following white papers on MSDN:

Getting Started with "WPF/E" (Code Name) - Laurence Moroney
This white paper provides a high-level overview into "WPF/E" and how it fits into the development stack for the next generation of Web applications.
"WPF/E" (Code Name) Architecture Overview - Barak Cohen
This white paper provides a high-level overview of the "WPF/E" architecture and how it fits into the Microsoft offering for building next-generation Web applications. Also, this white paper provides an architectural review of the "WPF/E" technology.
"WPF/E" (Code Name) for Web Media Scenarios
This white paper describes the benefits, features, and usage of the "WPF/E" (code name) Community Technology Preview (CTP) for delivery of rich audio and video experiences on the Web.

Finally you also might want to check out this example, or the result of integrating Adobe's (Flash) and Microsoft's (WPF/E) web technologies: Microbe.

Technorati tags: WPF/E, Microsoft Expression Studio, Microbe

WPF/E is coming ...

David Boschmans — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 23:55:00 GMT

I've been talking a lot to web agencies about the rich web experiences and how these can be created on the Microsoft platform. Besides ASP.NET AJAX , WPF/E is certainly the most important technology for delivering a rich cross-browser and cross-platform...(read more)