John's Web Thoughts : Learning more

Silverlight Deployment

johnel@microsoft.com — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 16:50:33 GMT

As Silverlight becomes more prevalent in the enterprise, some challenges will occur for those considering wide scale deployment. David Tesar has kindly come to the rescue and written a very comprehensive white paper that answers all these questions plus many more. The Silverlight Enterprise Deployment Guide is available for download now.

Tech Ed Presentation on Silverlight 1.1

johnel@microsoft.com — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 13:22:00 GMT

Hi,

I recently gave a presentation at our Tech Ed in Kuala Lumpur and was asked if I could do a web cast of it. I am struggling a bit with the resolution right now but here is the first draft. I have also published the video and the source code for download.

Web Analytics

johnel@microsoft.com — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 08:44:00 GMT

Here is a quick post on some of the latest in analytics thinking.

First if you are new to this space Avinash Kaushik has a great blog on the topic and has provided a great overview of the industry in his video.

Also view the premier of Microsoft's launch presentation for our Beta Gatineau product here. Our Microsoft leader in this area is Ian Thomas and his blog can be found here.

Surviving the Silverlight RC Release

johnel@microsoft.com — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 10:05:00 GMT

If you are like me, the recent release of the 1.0 RC version of Silverlight has been a mixed bag. Clearly the new version has a wealth of new features that make it event better but at the same time these improvements have also broken existing implementations. Here are some tips to resurrecting your demos and prototypes:

1) Remove Sys. from all calls to the helper js files. This namespace has bee deprecated.

2) Do a find and replaced on .Hidden with .Collapsed. Hidden has be deprecated as well.

3) Use the new silverlight.js files.

4) If you manually configuring the object/embed tag, use "x-silverlight" instead of "ag-plugin"

5) If all else fails....download the the 1.0 SDK

Building Silverlight Apps

johnel@microsoft.com — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 11:03:00 GMT

In a previous post I documented the steps to install the latest in tools and technologies to support development of Silverlight Applications. One comment I received was that it seemed like allot to do to just start developing Silverlight Applications. This may have mislead other people and so I will document how to get started with a minimal software install.

To begin with you can write a silverlight app in note pad! Here is an example: Open a new file and save the following with an .htm extension. Then open it IE and you can see the result!

<html>
<script type="text/xaml" id="MySilverlight">
    <Canvas xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/client/2007"> 
        <TextBlock  Text="Hello World from my Script Tag"/>
            </Canvas>
</script>
       <object
           type="application/ag-plugin"
            id="myControl"
           width="400"
            height="100">
           <param name="background" value="Red" />
           <param name="source" value="#MySilverlight" />
 </object>
</html>

Obviously this is a simple example but we can see here how this simple xaml fragment and object tag can enable the basic UI instantiation. There is a lot you can do with XAML but to really enable interactivity you need to support some eventing framework. We will start with java Script. Add the attribute Loaded="Page_Loaded" to the base canvas element and the following script block:

<script type="text/javascript"> 
function Page_Loaded(){
alert("Loaded");
}

</script>

We could then extend the integration to other entry points of the control and embrace the full range of functionality in the Silverlight 1.0 framework.

Notepad is not the best tool for development and there are many more examples of tools for editing HTML and Javascript. Microsoft produces some express tools that have this functionality and are freely available for download. Microsoft's Expression Suite is also a good place to go to view some of our latest in design tools.

To take advantage of Silverlight 1.1 ability to host a subset of the .Net CLR functionality, we will have to compile assemblies and while this can be done with a command line interpreter, Visual C# Express edition is what I will use next. I will also need to download and install the Silverlight 1.1 SDK. This will provide me with the assemblies I will need in order to compile my project.

Start by launching C# Express and selecting File-New Project and select a Class Library Template.

Remove the auto generated class1.cs file and add three code files and Modify them as below:

SampleSL.xaml

<Canvas x:Name="parentCanvas"
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/client/2007"
           xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
        Loaded="Page_Loaded"
        x:Class="DemoSilverlight.SampleSL;assembly=bin/Release/DemoSilverlight.dll">
    <TextBlock x:Name="MyText" Text="This is the start"/>
</Canvas>

SampleSL.xaml.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Controls;

namespace DemoSilverlight
{
    public partial class SampleSL : Canvas
    {
        public void Page_Loaded(object o, EventArgs e)
        {
            Canvas can = o as Canvas;
            TextBlock txt = (TextBlock)can.FindName("MyText");
            txt.Text = "Hello from C#";
           
        }
    }
}

ShowMySilverlight.htm

<html>
    <object
           type="application/ag-plugin"
          id="myControl"
          width="400"
          height="100">
          <param name="background" value="Red" />
           <param name="source" value="SampleSL.xaml" />
     </object>
</html>

Remove all references in the project and then right click on the project file and select "Properties" and then "Build".

Click on the "Advanced.." button and check the setting to remove the automatic inclusion of mscorlib.dll during compile.

Now go to the references section of the project and add the following references from the directory you installed the Silverlight SDK in (default=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Silverlight).

agclr.dll

mscorlib.dll

system.dll

system.core.dll

system.silverlight.dll

system.xml.core.dll

Compile the project and then view the html file in the browser. You should see the SIlverlight 1.1 control and have an example of how to access xaml objects.

One thing to keep in mind is that in these examples I have avoided using the Silverlight.js helper file to instantiate the host objects to improve the clarity of what is happening. Therefore these examples will only work in an IE browser. If you would like to use firefox / safari to view them, replace the object tag references with embed tag or use the helper file provided. Details on this file can be found here.

Let me know if this helps

Web 2.0 and The Financial Industry

johnel@microsoft.com — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 10:03:58 GMT

The Web 2.0 disruption is driven by social and business drivers and the increased level of broadband connectivity. Web 2.0 is about enabling consumers through community collaboration and social aggregation. New solutions to old problems are being discovered and embraced by a new generation of internet savvy consumers who believe in a global marketplace rather than a geographically constrained one. OnLine communities are emerging like Prosper that may displace portions of the FSI. Prosper is an online community that allows individuals loan money to other individuals. The power of the individual is also being amplified through membership in online communities and Enterprises need to understand how to engage at a community level as well as a personal one. Another example is a Hong Kong Web 2.0 startup called Bullpoo (so named because they believe that Bull markets are always followed by Poo markets). Bullpoo allows users from around the world to collaborate and share investing knowledge through blogs, discussion, and virtual trading. Bullpoo calls this "social finance" and considers itself as a type of social networking platform for the finance industry.

RAF 2007

johnel@microsoft.com — Fri, 18 May 2007 04:05:00 GMT

Well its looks like the event was a success as our venue was filled to capacity. Our guest speakers were great and the audience seemed to appreciate the content. I understand that the speaker slides will be posted shortly at a common website and I will share that when it becomes available. In the mean time here is the link to my slides on Business Architecture and one of Michael’s sessions.

Marketing to the 2.0 Consumer

johnel@microsoft.com — Thu, 10 May 2007 11:12:00 GMT

The Web 2.0 world is one that embraces the collective knowledge of the community as a resource to making individual buying decisions. Marketing can be defined as the science/art of influencing these decisions. Traditional approaches have embraced mass marketing as the primarily way to economically address the consumer with this messaging. These traditional campaigns sometimes claim to be “Segmented” by the fact that they differentiate their message based on demographical information but ultimately they share the common thread of mass distribution of one way communication to a large audience base. This is becoming less effective as the Enterprises ability to influence a single consumer is becoming overshadowed by the effect of communities on their members buying decisions.

Enterprises need to start thinking about how they engage communities of interests with their products and services. This level of engagement needs to be more than simple messaging; Enterprises need to be seen as part of the community and share in its overall well being. Enterprises that merely “prey’ on these communities with differentiated messaging become a disruptive “noise” to the general collective. This “noise” may have the reverse affect and too often results in the general collapse of the initial community that it is targeting.

Communities cannot be “created”. They can be grown, facilitated, enhanced, and disrupted but communities by they’re nature are organic to a central idea or concept. Enterprises interacting with these communities need to respect the boundaries imposed by the social system at work and seek to enhance the general experience rather than capitalize on revenue opportunities presented. Enterprises that find ways to embrace these concepts will ultimately find revenue opportunities in these interactions that will be seen as adding value rather than detracting from the general experience. The challenge for enterprises to do so is to find means to economically support these types of interactions by leveraging technology in innovative ways.

In future posts I will try and explore how Enterprises may use emerging Web 2.0 technology to achieve this goal.

Step by Step on how to start with new MS Technology

johnel@microsoft.com — Thu, 10 May 2007 05:15:00 GMT

I have been asked to provide some prescriptive guidance on how to get up to speed on the latest technology introduced at Mix. I thought I would post this information in my blog to spread the word (I am an evangelist after all)

1) Install Silverlight version 1.1.

2) Install Orcas Beta 1. This is strictly not necessary for all the technology but is a great place to get started using LINQ and new WCF features. The read me suggests that you have to repair VS 2005 so ensure that you do that afterwards. FYI the two have been coexisting on a couple of my machines for a couple of weeks now and I have not noticed any problems.

3) Install the orcas Alpha tools. This will give you the templates for Silverlight projects.

4) Install the ASP.Net Futures. This will give you some cool Silverlight AJAX controls.

5) Install Expression Media Encoder. Note the 180 license key (YVJ79-XQ8CM-8YKWF-GKRKH-83X8G). This tool is great for encoding your video to web compatible standards. Note the template option that gives you out of the box Silverlight controls. This is a great place to start to learn the platform and has all the pieces you need to upload into the Silverlight streaming environment.

6) Install Blend 2. This integrates well with Orcas. I would also install the Blend 1 version as well. They seem to coexist with no problems. Note the 180 day trial key for Blend 2 J9RVG-FJM6D-2Q9HC-296MR-PHC2M.

7) Install Expression Design. Now you can cut and paste XAML Designs into your projects.

8) Install Expression Media. Now the option of selecting a group of assets and creating a website with no code.

9) Install Expression Web

Now you are ready to start coding awesome RIA Apps. Let me know about your experiences and if you want maybe we can profile them at some of our events.

Rich Internet Applications and Financial Services

johnel@microsoft.com — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 11:47:00 GMT

I was just reviewing industry trends in the use of Web 2.0 technologies and found a wealth of information related to the Financial Services industry. Here are some webcasts that describe what some of the Microsoft technology that is being used.

ASP.NET AJAX for Financial Services

Web 2.0 for Financial Services

Software as a Service in the Insurance Industry

Financial Services: Designer/Developer Collaboration with Windows Presentation Foundation

There are also some great articles available as well

WEB 2.0 Poised to Help the Securities Industry Usher in New Paradigm in Technology Usability and User Management

Web 2.0 Enriches Applications and Services, Making Them More Compelling to Users

Web 2.0 and Data Privacy Will Define Financial Services in 2007, Says Steve Rapp, SVP & CIO, Nicholas Applegate

Adoption of Web 2.0 Is Taking Off, But Some Firms Are Still Reluctant

MIXU - Public Resource for Various Web Related Technologies

johnel@microsoft.com — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 05:00:00 GMT

MIXU is a public-facing resource where anyone interested in overviews, demos and drill-downs into our various web-related technologies. Check it out!