Paul Maher's Blog

I get asked quite often when working with customers using WPF about recommendations for a 3rd party grid control and when will Microsoft provide one out of the box. Eric has just done a posting here on a couple of suggestions and an announcement from Microsoft...YES you got it, just post .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 release Microsoft will be shipping a Datagrid :-)

Feel free to post any good WPF 3rd part control recommendations...

Microsoft patterns & practices is pleased to announce the latest addition to the p&p library:

"Composite Application Guidance for WPF"

Resources

·          MSDN site: http://msdn.microsoft.com/compositewpf

           (use http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc707819.aspx for now)

·          Community site: http://www.codeplex.com/compositewpf

I was doing a tidy up at my Mum and Dad's house the other week...you know how it is, I've not lived at home for several years but you leave some junk behind. Anyway I decided (or should I say was prompted) to do a clear out. I stumbled upon a couple of my old home computers...and magazines that I subscribed to - you know the ones that have games in (i.e. Code on the page) and you would type in the code line by line and 6 months later (slight exaggeration) you would have some crumby game to play - but you were proud...it was just like you had climbed Everest :-)

Anyway I grabbed some screen shots for old times sake...

Mattel Aquarius Computer

I also had a mini expander - Nice!

Acorn Electron

WOW..WOW, I've just discovered lots of retro websites and games for download...busy day at work today so the reminiscing will have to put off until the weekend ;-)

Thought I'd pen a quick post about my new toy. I needed a keyboard and mouse for my Windows Media Center. I originally had a separate  keyboard and mouse, but decided to make life easier and go for an all in one combo - Keyboard with TouchPad. I looked at one or two, but finally ended up with one from KeySonic shown below. I've been so happy with it, I even use it when I hook my laptop up to a monitor and keyboard at home. Star Buy!!

The team get together a couple of times a year for a Research Day. This basically involves picking a topic to research, spending 2 days heads down researching and then coming together in a room to do a 45 minute presentation on the topic to the group; 4 or 5 presentations delivered throughout the day with Q&A. I always look forward to these events as they are great fun and a fantastic way to learn something new.

So what was my topic I hear you ask - "Microsoft Surface and Multi-Touch". This was a relatively new area for me; although I have seen a few Surface videos and of course read a little about multi-touch when the iPhone & iPOD Touch was released.

I thought I'd share some of high level information and research links if you are interested in finding out more about these technologies.

Microsoft Surface; great starting places Surface home page and Surface blog.

What does the current Surface device look like?

What is Surface High Level?

• Surface = Hardware, Software & Services

• Multi-Touch device using series of 5 cameras (near infra-red), screen projector for display

• Built on top of Vista plus additional software; no changes to OS

• “s”urface – Development framework. Use Surface Developer SDK to build applications (Core and WPF Framework; Build applications mainly using WPF & XNA)

Surface Principles?

• Direct interaction. Users can actually “grab” digital information with their hands, interacting with content by touch and gesture, without the use of a mouse or keyboard.

• Multi-touch. Surface computing recognizes many points of contact simultaneously, not just from one finger like a typical touch-screen, but up to dozens of items at once.

• Multi-user. The horizontal form factor makes it easy for several people to gather around surface computers together, providing a collaborative, face-to-face computing experience.

• Object recognition. Users can place physical objects on the surface to trigger different types of digital responses, including the transfer of digital content.

Want to learn more then go take a look at the mass of videos that are available...

Possibilities of Microsoft Surface

Microsoft Surface at the Rio in Las Vegas

Power of Microsoft Surface

I also did some research around what is multi-touch in general and what exists out there...For the Wikipedia definition then take a look here.

I found an interesting and fun example of a multi-touch implementation at my local indoor shopping complex. Basically there is a projector with cameras that rotates fun games for children projecting them on the floor of the shopping centre. In this case there is a football pitch and a ball that can be kicked around by you...with of course the objective of scoring in the oppositions net - or in your own net if you are my son...He'll learn, he is only 3 after all...I'm a proud Dad really :-)

Some fine examples from Apple with the iPhone and iPOD Touch

Sharp are obviously also looking to get in on the game...

There are also great examples of new keyboards on the market that are multi-touch and much...much more. Just do a search in your favourite search engine to find out further information.

So in summary some very useful research and an exciting part of the Microsoft business with Surface and multi-touch in general seems to look to play a prominent part in our lives moving forwards.

Happy to hear any more feedback in this area...feel free to drop a post!

I was asked the other day about what is in Silverlight 2 Beta 2. For a full list go to: www.silverlight.net

At a high level here is some detail:

· UI Framework: Beta 2 includes improvements in animation support, error handling and reporting, automation and accessibility support, keyboard input support, and general performance.  This release also provides more compatibility between Silverlight and WPF.

· Rich Controls: Beta 2 includes a new templating model called Visual State Manager that allows for easier templating for controls. Other features include the introduction of TabControl, text wrapping and scrollbars for TextBox, and for DataGrid additions include Autosize, Reorder, Sort, performance increases and more.  Most controls are now in the runtime instead of packaged with the application.

· Networking Support: Beta 2 includes improved Cross Domain support and security enhancements, upload support for WebClient, and duplex communications (“push” from server to Silverlight client).

· Rich Base Class Library: Beta 2 includes improved threading abilities, LINQ-to-JSON, ADO.NET Data Services support, better support for SOAP, and various other improvements to make networking and data handling easier.

· Deep Zoom: Beta 2 introduces a new XML-based file format for Deep Zoom image tiles, as well as a new MultiScaleTileSource that enables existing tile databases to utilize Deep Zoom. Better, event driven notification for zoom/pan state is another improvement in Silverlight 2 Beta 2. 

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I've not had a chance to go through this site in depth, but looks like a great resource to kick start any Silverlight 2 development.

It would be great to get feedback on any other useful resource on Silverlight you may recommend.

I was chatting with Ian Moulster who works in the Windows Live team the other day over lunch about all things Windows Live. For me this is a very exciting part of the Microsoft business.

A good place to learn more is at Windows Live Home. If you've not tried out Windows Live Software and Services already, try exploring the following link for installation and setup. You get lots of goodies to play with. For example I am using Windows Live Writer to write my blog, you get an online Blog, Photo Gallery, Mail etc. etc. and something call SkyDrive (5 GB of file storage) plus lots lots more...

Ian has written a post detailing what services you can use with a Windows Live ID.

There is also an excellent article where Microsoft Windows Live GM Brian Hall talks about Microsoft cloud-based computing and social networking technologies today.

I'm sure most of you have heard about and played with Deep Zoom by now. Take a look here for further information.

My team mates Mike O, Michael M and Eric all have write ups and examples.

This is a very exciting technology. The point I wanted to make is that the technology has some great applicability for example in Line Of Business solutions. Its not just an eye candy technology - but you knew that :-)

Go and take a look at the Microsoft Common User Interface Patient Journey Demonstrator. If you go to the Secondary Care Demonstrator and look at the patient test results, you will see a great example where Deep Zoom has been used.

I couldn't resist sharing this one with you. I worked with our web and marketing team earlier in the year on a campaign around Microsoft web technologies...Silverlight, Expression etc.

...Anyway take a look and if you are a Deliverance fan then you should find it entertaining!

--Enjoy, brings a smile to my face every time...watch out for the pig on top of the monitor!!

My team mate Eric has just launched a new blog focusing on Visual Basic Development called  Goto 100

It's early days, but I'm sure you will find it a very useful resource!

In Eric's own unique way, this is what to expect from the blog :-)

I've been working on a variety of very cool Proof of Concepts with ISVs lately. Most recently I was in the labs with an ISV doing some work on Collaboration and Mobility was part of the solution - we decided to build out a Silverlight 1.0 for Mobile solution...very very cool :-)

If you've not heard of Silverlight for Mobile before then check out the landing page here for more information.

There is a great MIX presentation by Giorgio Sardo of Microsoft Consulting Services Using Microsoft Silverlight for Creating Rich Mobile User Experiences.

I managed to track Giorgio down when I was in our Microsoft Reading offices last week and took the opportunity to get him on film for a couple of minutes positioning Silverlight for Mobile - Enjoy!

A must for every .NET and WCF Developer...

Today we released the BETA version of our WCF Security guide. The guide, Improving Web Services Security: Scenarios and Implementation Guidance for WCF, is our Microsoft playbook for Windows Communication Foundation (WCF /"Indigo".) It shows you how to build secure services using WCF. It's a compendium of proven practices, product team recommendations, and insights from the field. It includes end-to-end application scenarios (Web applications / Smart Clients), as well as step-by-step How Tos. Most importantly it frames out the Web services security space and shows you how to be effective with WCF.

Download the Guide

· Guide Download: http://www.codeplex.com/WCFSecurityGuide

I've been working with Partners in the UK this year on a wide variety of projects using Microsoft's next generation technologies.

Whilst I have SilverLight in my head (per my previous posting) I thought I'd plug a fantastic Partner who is also doing some very cool leading edge work with SilverLight 2.0 and Microsoft's emerging technologies - a Partner called AnyTM.

AnyTM are an ISV who have developed an online Sports Performance Management System - AthletiPlan™ using SilverLight 2.0, SQL Server 2008 and WS 2008 built in conjunction with and to be utilised by Olympic and Paralympic bodies.

This is a great complementary story to the NBC Universal deal Microsoft have in place for SilverLight Live and On-Demand streaming of the 2008 Olympics!