Hans VB's WebLog - For FREE!!! : DaMashupCode

When XML MAKES personal sense

Hans VB — Thu, 10 May 2007 15:24:17 GMT

I've always seen the benefits of XML but I never got really really excited by it because it's always been 'just' a data format (with good sides and bad sides). Until today:-)

Here's why. Last week I bought a Garmin Edge 305, GPS device to put on my bike. I don't think this device is the ultimate device to help you find your way while riding - although you can create routes through track points - but it is a brilliant device to track your rides and your performance.

The Garmin device comes with a desktop application called the Garmin Training Center.

I like the app. It's simple to use and has snappy performance. One thing I'm missing though, is the ability to take this data online, to my own website. Fortunately, it's easy to export your history data. You can just expert your history to a .hst file.

This is where I want to thank the developers at Garmin, you can just rename the hst file to .xml and you got all the data you need to feed your site. Here's a sample:

You get:

- date and time, duration, distance, maxspeed, calories, average and max heartrate and cadance (if you have the sensor installed)

- Every 2-4 seconds you get

- longitude and latitude

- altitude

- distance

- heartrate

That should be plenty to build a nice web app (sure someone has already done it) with:

- ride showing on virtual earth map

- graphs with distance, time, speed, heartrate, cadence

- graphs with distance, altitude, heartrate....

This really get's me excited - for the first time about XML. I see fun evenings ahead. I see Ajax, Windows Live services, Silverlight video... I see a lack of time because I will want to ride and program at the same time!

Getting started with writing code

Hans VB — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 00:01:17 GMT

You want to start writing a piece of software but you are an absolute beginner, what do you do?

Check out this site on MSDN: http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/beginner/

Choose between web development and windows development and get started reading and of course also writing code! An overview of the learning paths can be found here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/beginner/learningpath/

And you just got to check out the kids corner, for yourself or for your little Einstein Kid.

I think I'm going to refresh my javascript and CSS skills, the web deserves it :-)

Visual Studio on Vista

Hans VB — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 03:37:45 GMT

I know this is nothing new but I thought it might be interesting to share my experience anyway...

I recently decided I would would continue to work on my DaMashupCode site on my day to day business machine. Also I decided I would work with Visual Web Developer 2005 instead of VS2005 Team Suite because I want to approach it how a non professional developer would.

One thing that doesn't work well on Vista is Visual Studio. Whenever I had built my project my code editor was all messed up. Now there is a fix out there. It (Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 Update for Windows Vista Beta) is still in beta but you can download the ~~here~~. Link was broken. Go here now: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=90e2942d-3ad1-4873-a2ee-4acc0aace5b6&displaylang=en

Also I'm using Expression Web trying to get some more CSS standard work into the site. The product has been released, you can download a trial here.

Some interesting links

Hans VB — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 01:03:40 GMT

Before I forget to share...

Live development:

Danny Thorpe's blog (from inside the Live product team): DThorpe's Blog

Liveside Developer blog: http://www.liveside.net/blogs/developer/default.aspx

http://www.my3dvistas.com/ cool VE app

Adding a great Live searchbox to you site: http://search.live.com/macros and http://search.live.com/siteowner

Some javascript resources

Do you want to use .innerHTML or .createElement?

http://ajaxian.com/archives/dhtml-versus-dom-comparing-both-approaches

Some nice tools to turn CSV's into XML or javascript arrays:

http://www.creativyst.com/cgi-bin/Prod/15/eg/csv2xml.pl

A javascript faq:

http://www.faqts.com/knowledge_base/index.phtml/fid/53/

Windows Live SDK

Hans VB — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 13:40:56 GMT

On dev.live.com you can find out all about the release of the Windows Live SDK. It's great to see a more one-stop-shopping approach and of course major updates and even new SDK's (Search, Alerts, adCenter).

On Thursday I delivered my presnetations on the Live Developer Platform at the Turkish Developer Event Microsoft had. I believe they were well received. I also learned a lot about the API's so now I only need to implement them on www.mahupcode.net which is currently in a macabre state!

I got quite some questions at the event. For instance:

- When can we expect better tool support in VS 2005? I don't have the answer yet but I understand where this question comes from. I'm already very happy that VS Orcas will include much better support for client side script. That will help trmendously. But what about managed wrappers or stubs so I can at least test my code partially when offline?

- Can we use Virtual Earth without it showing the logo on the maps

I had more about the Contacts control too but I expect to post about that soon. But first I need to write some code to make my mashup site somewhat presentable.

If you are into mashups, check out this site: www.go2web20.net, the programmable web stays the reference imho.

ASP.NET Ajax v1.0 is available!

Hans VB — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 00:41:57 GMT

Now there's nothing that should stop you from Ajaxifying your web applications. As indicated by my previous post, I'm an absolute beginner at building mash-ups. If you are as well and want to get started, here's what I suggest:

1. Get Ideas

What do you want to create a mash-up on? Look around, there probably are a few ideas out there that will inspire you. The programmable web is a great resource. http://www.programmableweb.com/

I'm sure you can create something new. You very likely have a unique value proposition to make. Things unique about you could be:

Your opinions. Maybe you can write great editorials.
Your language, geo. Although a lot of services already exist, they are not always localized.
Your audience. Have you got an audience already, you could just boost the experience you are offering

2. Get the tools

If you have Visual Studio 2005, great. You can also start using the free of charge Visual Web Developer 2005 - Express Edition: http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/vwd/
Download ASP.NET Ajax.
Download the fantastic Ajax Control Toolkit
Download the ASP.NET RSS Toolkit (in a mashed up world I expect you will want to use quite a bit of RSS)
Download the Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar

3. Get a hoster

http://www.asp.net/hosters/

4. Mash it up

Just one source! http://dev.live.com ENJOY.

Da mashup code

Hans VB — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 21:17:22 GMT

I've been waaaaay to quiet on this blog. My last post dates from the 6th of December 2006. Aaaargh!

In the mean time I've been taking a break, playing with Google Sketchup, Second Life (which I assume will get married one day - as mentioned here) and also I've been spending an bit of my free time playing Gears of War (I'm still no good).

I'm making an end to my silence as I've decided to start digging into creating mash-ups. Obviously I'll be focussing on Live Services which I hope to use to create some experiences around some of my favourite topics. My main objective is to learn and share so I will document the things I learn on this blog in my posts which I will also try to display (eventually) on my mashed up site.

This is my playground: http://www.damashupcode.net/ (not much to see yet as I've just started building)