Windows SideShow Team Blog : Gadget Development

Last chance to enter your gadget to win a trip to CA and a Dell XPS420!

auxall — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:18:00 GMT

Just a friendly reminder that the Gadget Development Contest for Windows SideShow entry period ends this coming Friday, July 18, at 11:59pm PDT, so be sure to get your entries finished and submitted before then! We want to see what you can do!

- Dan

New gadgets from SideShow Jim!

auxall — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 20:21:00 GMT

The folks over at Ikanos Consulting have just released a Windows Live Messenger gadget for Windows SideShow! Check out the announcement, as well as more SideShow-related posts over on the SideShow Jim blog. I have a feeling this isn't the last of them :)

- Dan

Write a Gadget, Win Cool Stuff!

auxall — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 23:17:00 GMT

Now that we've released the Windows SideShow Managed API SDK and Windows SideShow for Windows Mobile Developer Preview, we figured we'd give you some incentive to stick the two together: a gadget contest! Yes, you heard us right: free stuff for building the best gadget for Windows SideShow. We've teamed up with NVIDIA to provide some great prizes, including a trip to San Jose, CA in August for NVISION 2008 for all finalists (including transportation to CA, hotel accomodations, and a per diem), and a grand prize Dell XPS 420 SideShow-enabled desktop.

For more details on the contest, including the complete rules and entry form, head on over to www.nzone.com/gadgetcontest.

If you're new to SideShow gadget programming, there's a good book on the subject to help you get started: Professional Windows Vista Gadgets Programming by Wei-Meng Lee (ISBN: 978-0-470-17661-0). Or if you're more of the do-it-yourself type, just download our SDK, create a new gadget using our template, and forge your own path. There are even a few articles by Jeffrey Richter and Dr. Neil Roodyn to help you get your bearings. When you need some guidance, just head on over to our MSDN forum and we'll help you out.

Let your creative juices flow and show us what you can do! Remember, the contest ends July 18, 2008, so don't delay.

- Dan

Come visit us at TechEd: Developers in Orlando, FL!

auxall — Thu, 29 May 2008 17:39:00 GMT

Want to learn more about our new managed API, or just want to come see the latest and greatest Windows SideShow-enabled devices? Or do you just want to see what new things we have coming? Come visit the Windows SideShow team at TechEd: Developers (June 2 - 6, 2008) in Orlando, FL! Go ahead and add these items to your schedule so you don't forget.

While you're at TechEd, make sure to stop by our booth in the Windows section of the Technical Learning Center; we'll be there all-day, every-day with a few surprises to show off. We've also got two hands-on labs available for the entire event:

WIN04-HOL: Writing Gadgets for Windows SideShow using Microsoft Visual C# (NOTE: if you're feeling adventurous, we've also snuck in a Visual Basic version of the lab into this image--so give it a shot if you're more of a VB person!)
WIN12-HOL: Writing Gadgets for Windows SideShow using Microsoft Visual C++

In addition, I'll be presenting a session:

WIN203: Gadget Development for Windows SideShow (Wednesday, 8:30 - 9:45 AM)

Immediately after the session, I'll be appearing in the Windows "Ask the Experts" zone in the Technical Learning Center on Wednesday from 10:00 - 11:00 AM. This will be a much more informal setting, so come on by to ask questions and learn what we're up to!

Travel safely, and we hope to see you in Orlando!

- Dan

Don't read English? No problem!

auxall — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 04:32:00 GMT

Windows SideShow is a technology used around the world (and, in fact, many of the cool SideShow-enabled devices on the market today are only available outside the US), but most gadgets we've written so far have been provided only in English. Until now. It gives me great pleasure to announce, on behalf of the entire Windows SideShow team, support for sixteen new languages for our Microsoft Office Outlook, Microsoft Office PowerPoint Remote, Feed Viewer, and Stocks gadgets! The supported languages include (in no particular order):

Please note, the language of the gadget you install must match the UI language of Windows Vista you are using; otherwise, the gadget will still appear in English. Enjoy!

- Dan

New book that covers gadget development using C# and VB.NET

auxall — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 23:00:00 GMT

Wrox has recently published a new book by Wei-Meng Lee called Professional Windows Vista Gadgets Programming. The second half of the book is dedicated to Windows SideShow development using the Windows SideShow .NET Framework Components (beta) release--a.k.a our managed API. The book is a great introduction to Windows SideShow as well as gadget development, covering the major aspects of the API in C# and VB.NET, as well as the Simple Content Format (SCF). There's even a comprehensive gadget sample included as well!

Happy readings!

- Dan

IntelliSense for SCF in Visual Studio

auxall — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 21:49:00 GMT

Our friend Daniel Moth has written a great article explaining how to get the XML schema for Simple Content Format (SCF) working with Visual Studio's IntelliSense feature. For those of you who are generating the actual SCF XML yourself, this is a very cool feature that will make it much easier to generate content without having to always refer back to the documentation.

We are aware of some issues with the currently published version of the schema XSD file on MSDN, and are working to have those corrected. In the mean time, following Daniel's instructions will get you up and running nice and quickly!

- Dan

Device Simulator version 1.3.3.0 released

auxall — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 16:19:00 GMT

A new version of the Device Simulator for Windows SideShow is available for download on the Microsoft Download Center site! This is a new, standalone package which includes version 1.3.3.0 of the Windows SideShow firmware based on the .NET Micro Framework. The standalone package contains everything you need to run the simulator, so you no longer need to download the entire Windows SDK just to get at this one tool. Please note, there are separate versions for 32 and 64-bit versions of Windows Vista, and you must use the one appropriate to your architecture.

The link: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=bba99eb2-aa6d-4133-b433-933a2c4d41dc&displaylang=en

- Dan

Writing a SideShow-enabled Sidebar gadget

auxall — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 23:04:00 GMT

Did you know that you can write a single gadget that works on both Windows Sidebar and Windows SideShow-enabled devices? It's unfortunate that we don't publicize this technology as much as we should, and so that's what I want to share with you today. Writing a combined gadget, as we call them, requires about 110% of the effort (not scientifically measured) required to write just a gadget for Windows Sidebar. Due to differences in how content is rendered on the desktop (JScript, HTML) and on the devices (Simple Content Format), we don't have any sort of automatic translation between the two (note: any enterprising developers want to build this?). What that means is that you have to "render" your data twice--but that's easy, since the hard part is typically just getting access to the data in the first place!

If you're currently writing a Sidebar gadget, I urge you to add SideShow support as well. It's easy, it can differentiate and add tremendeous value to your gadget, and it allows you to reach your users beyond just the desktop. To get started, you'll want to review the methods on the System.Gadget.SideShow object, which is the main API used to extend Sidebar gadgets to Windows SideShow-enabled devices. You'll also want to review the MSDN document "Extending a Windows Sidebar gadget to Windows SideShow."

Of course, as all developers appreciate, the real documentation is in the code. We've actually had sample code for a long time, but no one really knew it! Windows Vista includes a Stocks gadget for Windows Sidebar; well, we decided to take this gadget, extend it to support Windows SideShow, and make it available on the SideShow portion of the Windows Live Gallery. If you're curious just how you would extend your gadget to work with Windows SideShow, download our Stocks gadget (it's called "StocksPlus" in the gadget picker) and look at the source code. Specifically, the sideshow.js file. That's where all the magic happens. Oh, and if you don't happen to have a Windows SideShow-compatible device handy, you can find a software Simulator in the Windows SDK.

Now that you're excited about the potential opportunities and have decided to take the plunge, I want to bring your attention to this post which covers some very important information regarding the API that didn't quite make it into the documentation. Please give it a read if you'ore going to build a gadget--it will make the experience much better! I also want to point out that the folks over at WeatherBug have also SideShow-enabled their Sidebar gadget, which you can also get at the Gallery.

Of course, if you have any questions on this, head over to our Windows SideShow Development forum on MSDN and ask away!

- Dan

i-mate Debugging Tool for Windows SideShow

auxall — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 07:41:00 GMT

Curious about exactly what type of data gadgets for Windows SideShow send to devices? Want to know how the Simple Content Format translates into something you can see on a device? Our partners at i-mate have put together a great little tool to show you all the behind-the-scenes content provided by gadgets. They can even show an interactive preview of the content. This tool builds upon their extensive knowledge of writing and implementing SideShow-compatible devices, such as Momento digital picture frames and Windows Mobile devices, to provide a great resource for both gadget developers to test their gadget (in conjunction with the Microsoft-provided Simulator in the Windows SDK) and device manufacturers to learn how to implement an SCF rendering engine. I encourage you to check it out; you can find the link in this forum post:

http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1364331&SiteID=1

- Dan

Feed Viewer beta now available on the Gallery

auxall — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 02:47:00 GMT

It's been a while since I've posted, but I promise you it was worth the wait :) We've finally got a public beta of our RSS Feed Viewer gadget up on the Windows Live Gallery! This gadget will allow you to view your subscribed RSS feeds (from IE) on your Windows SideShow-enabled device. Here's a direct link to the gadget:

http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=23395559-bd9a-4457-8914-6e883c1efdd5&l=7

Since it is a beta, be sure to check out the release notes. We'd also appreciate your feedback, bug reports, and suggestions in this thread in our forum.

Screencast: Building gadgets in C#

auxall — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 01:49:00 GMT

If you're considering writing a gadget for Windows SideShow in C#, but don't know where to start, I recommend checking out Daniel Moth's screencast Writing Gadgets in C#. Daniel's been a great advocate for us over in the UK, and I encourage you to watch this video if you want to learn how to get started with our new managed API!

Introducing the Windows SideShow .NET Framework Components Beta...

auxall — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 01:33:00 GMT

Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, and SideShow fans from around the world: I am pleased--no, thrilled!--to announce that the beta version of the Windows SideShow .NET Framework Components 1.0 (aka the managed API) is now LIVE. That's right, folks, it's here. I know it has been a long wait for many of you, and I thank you for sticking with us. Here's the full link:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=06FA2ACE-A42D-4117-821C-BCE80786F1C4&displaylang=en

Now, before you go off and start cranking out a whole lot of gadgets (which you will upload to http://gallery.live.com), a few words of wisdom:

The documentation is available on MSDN (and in the Windows SDK). However, it's a little old. We've since tweaked and refined the API to our liking, and will be updating the documentation shortly. But in the meantime, it should get you started.
The IntelliSense help file may also be a little out-of-date. We're aware of this and will be working to update it in the future.
For development questions, please use the Laptop, Tablet PC, and UMPC Development forum at MSDN Forums. We'll keep an eye on it to answer any development questions or bugs that may arise.
We appreciate your feedback on this! It's still in beta, and we want to make this as developer-friendly as possible, so please send us or post your feedback on the API.

UPDATE: I should have mentioned this the first time, but in addition to this download, you'll also need to install the Windows SDK to get the Simulator for Windows SideShow, as well as a local copy of our documentation (which is also available on MSDN).

View MSDN Webcast on Windows SideShow gadgets

auxall — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 17:51:00 GMT

You can register to view the recorded MSDN Webcast on writing gadgets for Windows SideShow. If you have not done this before, you will need to register for the webcasts - a pretty straightforward process.

MSDN Architecture Webcast: Using Windows SideShow (Level 200)

Start Time: Wednesday, April 05, 2006 10:00 AM (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time
End Time: Wednesday, April 05, 2006 11:00 AM (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time

Article in CoDe Maganzine

auxall — Wed, 11 Jan 2006 03:58:00 GMT

I had a chance to chat with Markus Egger from the CoDe Magazine on where our platform currently is and where we'd like to see it going. He wrote a great article Unveiling Windows SideShow that descirbes the Windows SideShow platform covering some potential gadgets and a sample from our presentation at PDC.

- Sriram