Contagious Curiosity : Windows 7

SoCalDevGal answers your Windows 7 Developer Questions

llangit — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 06:18:02 GMT

Wow what a launch today in Orange, CA! Thanks to the standing-room only audience this morning. Because of the crowd size, you were so kind as to send your questions via text messages. I didn’t have time to answer all of your many questions all at the event, so here are the rest of the answers. I’ll categorize the questions for easier reading too.

General Developer readiness and internals

Q: How do I get the Windows API Code pack?
A: The new MSDN Channel9 Windows 7 online training center has links to everything you’ll need. It includes links to SKDs, code packs, as well as all of the sample code from the demos I showed in today’s presentation – enjoy!

Q: Do developers have to distribute the API code pack .dlls with their applications that use them?
A: Yes, you do, but you can select the individual .dlls that apply so as to keep your application size as small as possible.

Q: What is the best way to take advantage of 64-bit applications? If I write an application for 64-bit, will it still work on 32-bit?
A: For a deeper understanding of Windows internals in general, and 64 vs 32 bit in particular, there is no better source than Mark Russinovich – his blog is here. He also has done several interviews on MSDN Channel 9 and has recently published a book on Windows Internals.

Q: If I write an application that uses a feature that is only available in a particular edition of Windows 7 (such as Bit Locker), what happens if someone tries to run my application on an edition of Windows 7 that does not contain that feature?
A: You should use version checking and ‘fail gracefully’ in your code (i.e. ‘the edition of Windows 7 that you are using does not support feature x). For more information see the hands on lab on version checking.

Q: How has UAC changed?
A: See this hands on lab, also the MSDN guidance

Q: How is PowerShell integrated into Windows 7:
A: PowerShell 2.0 is included – more info here (showing cmdlets)

Q: Does booting from VHD work in Windows 7?
A: It sure does – here’s a lovely blog post about this topic

Q: Can you demo homegroup setup?
A: Sorry no time, but here’s a video.

Q: Does Windows 7 support languages other than English?
A: Definitely – here’s a MSDN Channel9 video to get you started.

Sensor API

Q: Does the Location API support geo-coding? complete address reporting (also called civic address)?
A: If the location device provides that information and yes it does – more in this presentation.

Q: Are there any simulated accelerometers in the Windows 7 SDK or dev kits?
A: Not that I know of, however here’s a great blog entry on how to test/use the Freescale board (that I showed and gave away as swag) accelerometer with a sample XNA racing game.

Multi touch API (and Graphics Enhancements)

Q: How much of the multi touch API is in the current beta of .NET 4.0 (beta 2)?
A: It is not complete yet. Use the Managed Wrappers until .NET 4.0 is RTM’ed, or use native code.

Q: Can you use multi touch to geo tag items?
A: Yes the location gadget can be coded to work with touch (the sample uses a mouse click on a Bing Map to set your location).

Q: Can you use multi touch on multiple monitors?
A: Yes, as long as all monitors support touch

Q: If I code for an Infrared multi touch screen, does that mean that I’ll have to write different code for a Capacitive multi touch screen?
A: No, you will not. The same code will work for both types. However each type of screen may have a different maximum number of points of touch.

Q: Is there a built-in option in Windows 7 to automatically make the screen (or icons) bigger for touch?
A: No, but that has been coded into some Windows 7 applications. You’ll also see that design in jumplist menu items (i.e. more space between them). For more on the API, see these hands on labs.

Q: Do multi touch applications have the ability to respond to the amount of touch pressure? i.e. a ‘pressed harder’ event
A: Not at this time

Q: Can you define a custom gestures?
A: Yes you can by coding a custom response to a particular WM_TOUCH message, see the HOL referenced earlier for an example.

Q: Can we see Mike and Kim’s X-Ray multi touch application?
A: There is a video on MSDN Channel 9 about this application – enjoy!

Q: Is touch capability moving us toward virtual keyboards?
A: That is possible, also still complex. Microsoft Research has been doing some work in this area.

Q: What type of touch support is built-in to Windows 7?
A: Support for mouse clicks being replaced by simple gestures – like the Word 2010 (beta) scrolling with simple inertia that I demonstrated. More complex gestures, such as those with complex inertia, must be manually coded.

Q: Will a Windows 7 multi touch application be deployable on a MS Surface device?
A: Not presently, however we are working toward parity with MS Surface capabilities, particularly controls, for more info see this MSDN Channel 9 video.

Q: What is the maximum number of points of contact that a Windows 7 application can support?
A: That depends on the capabilities of the hardware. For example, on the HP TouchSmart tx2, 5 points of touch are supported after the N-trig monitor drivers are installed.

Q: Which applications that ship with Windows 7 are multi touch capable?
A: IE8 has the ‘bump’ feature; MS Paint is multi touch enabled

Q: Does Silverlight support multi touch? Do you code it the same way?
A: It will and coding is different at this time – here’s a Codeplex sample for Silverlight 3.0

Q: Is the Surface API / SDK separate from the Windows 7 multi touch API?
A: Yes it is separate at this time.

Q: Does Window 7 support handwriting recognition?
A: Yes, we have had this since earlier versions of the OS. It performs better after end-user training as well.

Q: Which version(s) of DirectX are compatible with Windows 7?
A: DirectX9, 10 and 11

Taskbar & Library API (also UX and Search)

Q: Can you set up a default save location in a library, like in a folder?
A: Yes, and that is a recommended programming practice for Window 7. You can see this ‘hands on lab’ for more information.

Q: Can you backup a library?
A: Yes, you can and you can automate those backups as well.

Q: When you copy a file into a library, where are you actually copying the file to?
A: The physical folder that the library is referencing.

Q: Can I pin an item to the start menu? (Run…)
A: Yes, right click the item and then click ‘pin to start menu’

Q: Why is your taskbar at the top of your screen?
A: Because I have chosen to put it there. I think it makes me more productive, it is an optional placement.

Q: Are programmable taskbar enhancements, i.e. icon overlays, etc…available only in Windows 7?
A: That is correct

Q: What gadgets do you recommend for Windows 7?
A: These are fun.

Q: Can we incorporate BING into Windows 7 search? how?
A: Yes, you can, via federated search. Using the OpenSearch standard, you can incorporate BING as well as other data sources, here’s some guidance.

Q: Does Windows 7 include voice activation? (i.e. a Speech API)
A: Yes, we’ve had one since Vista – here’s a link on how to build a WPF application that is speech-enabled.

Q: Is the scenic ribbon user configurable?
A: Not by default, but you can add that functionality to it with code. To get started coding a scenic ribbon, see these hands on labs.

Q: Where can I find a list of keyboard shortcuts for Windows 7:
A: Here’s a pretty good link.

About XP Mode

Q: When will XP emulation be fully available?
A: XP Mode is part of the the professional and ultimate editions of Windows 7. Read this blog to understand more about different types of virtualization offerings.

Other questions (ahem…I did not make these up, actual texts!)

Q: Where can I find information on the new Microsoft Store opening this week in Orange County? (Mission Viejo, CA this Thursday)
A: Here’s a link – get there early this Thursday for fun and prizes!

Q: Have they fixed the bug that makes developers burst into flames at the touch of sunlight?
A: I hope so, or there wouldn’t be any developers in SoCal!

Q: How are you?
A: Fine, but a bit busy at the moment. (asked during presentation via text).

Q: I was at U2 concert last and know how you feel (directed at Mike)
A: Exactly.

Q: I am 14 years old and my mom had to wake up at 4:30 am to drive me here, can I have some swag?
A: Sorry, no, but thanks to your mom.

Q: I noticed your frequent websites link included ‘Aries and Leo love compatibility’ – would you consider a Sagittarius?
A: Well, that is supposed to be a pretty good match for a Leo

Q: Will you marry me? (assuming this was directed at me and not at Mike Roth :)
A: Not at this venue – maybe a Las Vegas event in the future.

Q: Are you single? (same assumption as above)
A: Yes, are you?

SoCalDevGal shares Windows 7 Launch LIVE

llangit — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:19:05 GMT

Well, it’s not me presenting, but it is the same content. If you couldn’t make it to the Windows 7 launch event next Monday, October 26th starting at 9am, you can watch the live stream of the presentation of my developer evangelist colleague Daniel Egan and more presenting on Monday.

Here’s the link for the live stream http://thenewefficiency.com/live

For those of you who DID register for my event on the same day (in Orange), I am looking forward to seeing you and will have some special surprises for select attendees.

SoCalDevGal recommends the new Windows 7 Online Training

llangit — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:12:20 GMT

Wow – this is GREAT! MSDN Channel 9 has a new online training center for you (developers) to learn the Windows 7 APIs. The topics included are multi touch, taskbar, sensor / location, ribbon, shell libraries, background services, instrumentation & performance, installer detection, data redirection, high DPI, session 0 isolation, user privilege isolation and version checking.

There are hands on labs written using managed code (in both C# and VB.NET), native code. Code samples are downloadable. Also there are videos and more resources around each developer topic. The developer prerequisites (with links) are listed at the top of page as well.

Happy coding!

SoCalDevGal presents Windows 7 Developer APIs

llangit — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:02:20 GMT

Next week Monday and Wednesday, I’ll be presenting at the MSDN launch events for developers for Windows 7. Both events are registered full already – however, I am posting my decks here for you. Also we may be recording one set of launch sessions, if we do so, I’ll post the link to the recording on my blog.

Session 1 – Windows 7 Taskbar and Library APIs

Windows 7 Developer APIs -Task Bar Libraries

View more presentations from lynnlangit.

Session 2 – Windows 7 Graphics Enhancements and Sensor APIs

Windows 7 Developer APIs - Graphics Sensors

View more presentations from lynnlangit.

Sessions 3 – Windows 7 Scenic Ribbon and Multi Touch APIs

Windows 7 Developer APIs - Multi Touch and Scenic Ribbon

View more presentations from lynnlangit.

Happy coding!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, please join my facebook group ‘Windows 7 Developers’ for more information.

Where is SoCalDevGal? – SoCal Developer Events for Oct 2009

llangit — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:22:21 GMT

By popular demand I am attempting to aggregate SoCal Developer events on a monthly basis. For October 2009 as follows below.
I’ll be happy to add any developer events I may have missed, just send me mail via my blog.

Week 1 (Sept 27 – Oct 3)

Mon, Sept 28 – GirlsInTech / Santa Monica / 7pm - ‘How much can you say without tarnishing your brand? (social media) – I am speaking
Wed, Sept 30 – CloudCamp / LA / MS Office / 6pm – I am attending, maybe speaking
Sat, Oct 3 – Silverlight Education Day / San Diego / 9am
*note – I’ll be at SVC Code Camp and then San Jose MSDN Windows 7 launch from Fri, Oct 2 to Mon, Oct 5*
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Week 2 (Oct 4 – Oct 10)

Tues, Oct 6 – DealMaker / LA / MS Office / 1-5pm – I am attending
Wed, Oct 7 – MSDN geekSpeak on WF / 12-1pm – I am moderating
Fri, Oct 9 – BecauseItsMyBirthday / EccoHollywood / 7pm until late – I am one of the LA City Hosts

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Week 3 (Oct 11 – Oct 17)

Thurs, Oct 15 – MindshareLA / 8pm until late – I may be attending

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Week 4 (Oct 18 – Oct 24)

Tues, Oct 20 – SQL UG / San Diego / 6:30pm to 9:00 pm – I am speaking on Gemini
Wed, Oct 21- MSDN geekSpeak on Refactoring / 12-1pm – I am moderating
Thurs, Oct 22-25 – Social Media for Small Biz Con / Aliso Viejo – 3 days – I may stop by

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Week 5 (Oct 25 – Oct 31)

Mon, Oct 26 – MSDN Windows 7 Launch Event / Irvine – I am speaking on Windows 7 for Developers (sorry, sold out)
Tues, Oct 27 – 140 conference / LA – I may be speaking (afternoon) on use of Twitter to drive nonProfit support activities
Wed, Oct 28 - MSDN Windows 7 Launch Event / LA– I am speaking on Windows 7 for Developers (sorry, sold out)
Thurs, Oct 29 – New Media Vault / LA – 7pm until late – I will probably be attending

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SoCalDevGal looks at BitLocker for USB drives in Windows 7

llangit — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 02:42:23 GMT

I’ve wanted to play around with this feature (also called ‘BitLocker-To-Go’), but hadn’t had time until today. I’ll recap what I’ve found. First, and probably most important, is that BitLocker is only available as part of Windows 7 Ultimate (or Enterprise) editions. That is, the ability to ENCRYPT is available only in these editions of Windows 7. Of course, you can DECRYPT with any version of Windows 7. For testing I used one laptop with Windows 7 Ultimate to encrypt and another one with Windows 7 Home Basic to decrypt.

To access, or start using this feature, simply insert your USB drive and then right click on the drive. (Alternatively, you can choose to ‘turn on BitLocker’ via an applet in the Control Panel). You’ll then see the option to ‘Turn on BitLocker…’ on the context-sensitive menu. You’ll then see the dialog box shown below, as your USB drive is being prepared to be encrypted.

Because the machine I am using to encrypt includes a SmartCard reader, I have option to encrypt by using either a password or a SmartCard. These options are shown in the dialog box below. Note that if you use a smart card, you’ll also have to enter your smart card PIN when you want to decrypt (read) the information on the USB drive.

For simplicity I’ll just use a password. Note that the passwords should be complex (i.e. upper/lower, numbers, etc…) to be effective, however the only validation on the password value is a length requirement. That is, users can choose to enter overly simply passwords, for example in my case I entered the digits 1-8 only. The next screen of the wizard asks you to select where you’d like to store the recovery key. Your options are either to store the key to a file or to print the key. Appropriate key storage is, of course, vital to successful security via encryption. Also, from a practical point, if you forget the USB password, the only other way to access the data stored on an encrypted USB drive is by entering the recovery key information.

Note: There is also a local (security) policy setting (Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Local Security Policy>Security Settings>Public Key Policies>BitLocker Drive Encryption) which allows you to define Data Recovery Agents. GPO discussion is beyond the scope of this blog post. For more info – go here.

I’ll select ‘Save the recovery key to a file’ for our test. After selecting the folder location for the file save, you will be presented with final dialog box which will ask you to confirm the encryption by clicking on the ‘start encrypting’ button. After you do that, you will see a dialog with an encryption progress bar on it. The process of encrypting will take a couple of minutes, during this time you have the option to ‘pause’ encryption if desired by clicking on that button on the dialog box as shown below.

When complete, a dialog will confirm the encryption. You can also easily see that a USB drive has been encrypted by viewing it in Explorer. In this case, my USB is E:\
If you wish to change BitLocker settings, you can simply right click on the encrypted drive in Explorer and then click on the ‘Manage BitLocker…’ menu option.

The options you can change are shown in the screenshot below. They include changing the password, removing the password (if you do this, you must add a smartcard, as the drive is STILL encrypted), adding a smart card, saving/printing recovery key, or auto unlocking this drive on this (the encrypting) computer. You’ll note that there is NO option to remove BitLocker encryption from the USB drive. The only way to do this is to FORMAT the USB, which, of course, also removes any data on that device.

The experience for using an encrypted USB drive is very simple. A dialog box, similar to the one shown below pops up shortly after a USB drive is inserted into the USB slot. Note that if you are using the encrypted USB drive on the encrypting computer, then you can select the option to ‘automatically unlock on this computer from now on’.

Of course BitLocker is certainly NOT just for USB drives. There is wealth of information about BitLocker as an enterprise data protection tool (enforced via Group Policies on end user’s local hard drives, etc… on TechNet), I just felt like writing this post for those of us ‘home geeks’ who are using Windows 7 Ultimate at home, and are playing around with all of the advanced features because, well, we want to.

SoCalDevGal pushes her little NetBook – what can it do for developers?

llangit — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 03:49:33 GMT

Regular readers will note that I recently purchased an inexpensive NetBook and upgraded the OS from XP to Windows 7 Home (blog detail here).

First I tested my NetBook out for plain old web browsing. It worked just fine with one exception – some websites aren’t designed for the small screen size and resolution. That is, of course, not the fault of the hardware or OS though. As a web browsing appliance, my NetBook works just fine.

Next up, time to install some applications. Thinking I’d like to make this into a junior developer machine (for students, etc…), I visited the Microsoft Express site (here) to locate the download links for Visual Studio Express 2008 and SQL Server 2008 Express. These are Microsoft’s FREE tools for development. While at the site, I noticed the Web Platform Installer Tool (here).

The WPI Tool is designed to be a one-stop shop to prepare a developer machine by installing the free versions of our tools in one long download. Our website does NOT list Windows 7 as officially supported with the WPI tool, so I thought even more reason to give it a try.

After checking all of the options in the install wizard dialog boxes, the download(s) started. I chose to install VSExpress 2008, SQL Server Express 2008 (w/mgmt tools). You can also install other applications and tools, such as PHP for Windows, WordPress or DotNetNuke.

After about an hour or so of downloading and installing with no intervention on my part required (also no reboots required!), the WPI tool reported successful installation of the applications listed below in the screenshot:

So, I first fired up Visual Web Developer 2008 Express using one of the included project types (Silverlight Navigation application). This worked with no problems. This amazes me – all of these developer tools are FREE and running on a $ 325 laptop! Below is list of the project templates that are available based on what I installed.

Next up I took a look at SQL Server Express 2008. Again, this worked perfectly. Restoring a backed-up version of the sample database --from CodePlex named AdventureWorks, I was up and running in minutes. Below is screenshot of all the FREE tools that are included with SQL Server 2008 Express. Note that we now include SQL Server Reporting Services 2008 with SQL Server Express 2008. Also of note is that SSRS 2008 does NOT require a full version of IIS (rather it simply uses http.sys) to work.

Again, I am really happy with what I see so far. This machine and this OS works like a dream as a student developer box.

Next up, I am going to test out this little laptop with Gemini. I’ll blog the results here soon.

SoCalDevGal works with virtualization in Windows 7

llangit — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 09:37:31 GMT

I am working on setting up my first VPC in Windows 7 and I found a couple of things had changed from Vista and wanted to share here. I realize that for application virtualization, ITPros would most often be using Windows 2008 Server, however, developers would more commonly use Windows 7. That’s why I decided to blog that use case here.

To use virtual hard disks as VPCs on machines with Windows 7 installed, you’ll first have to check /set the BIOS to make sure that virtualization is supported. Here are some sample instructions for some common hardware vendors.

After you’ve done that, then you’ll need to download the free add-in named ‘Windows Virtual PC’. You must select the appropriate type based on your processor – either 32 or 64 bit. Note that this is DIFFERENT from Virtual PC 2007 (which you may have used with Vista). If you have installed Virtual PC 2007, you’ll need to remove it before installing Windows Virtual PC. Then you’ll need to re-boot. After you install this application, the quickest way to find the executable is via the start menu, just type in ‘Windows Virtual PC’, then right click and click on ‘open file location’. You may be surprised to see the 4 executable files associated with Windows Virtual PC are in the ..\Windows\system32 directory as shown below in the screenshot. Remember that XP Virtualization is a new feature of some editions of Windows 7 (XP virtualization uses this set of virtualization technologies), so this is one of the reasons for the location change.

Probably the easiest way to get started is to click the VMWindow.exe executable. This will open the Virtual Machines folder, note the ‘Create virtual machine’ command on the folder toolbar. Click this to open the wizard which walks you through the configuration steps to create a VPC (or virtual machine). VPCs can be created using new or existing VHDs.

After you click ‘Create virtual machine’ a dialog box will open as shown below.

After you name the virtual machine and set the location in the dialog, then you’ll next have to set the allocated memory (up to 2550 MB) and whether or not you’ll need to set up networking as shown in the dialog box below.

In the next dialog of the wizard you’ll either create a new VHD file or associate the VPC with an existing VPC file. You can also choose to enable undo disks and / or to use advanced options when creating your VPC.

If you use advanced options, your choices are to select the type of VHD. Types include ‘dynamically expanding’, ‘fixed size’ or ‘differencing’. The wizard warns you in a subsequent dialog box that if you’ve chosen ‘differencing’, then the parent (or original VHD) should be marked as ‘read-only’, since the all changes will be accumulated on the differencing VHD only.

After you’ve successfully completed the wizard steps, then your new VPC will appear in the ‘Virtual Machines’ folder for the currently logged on user as shown below. The virtual machine will have a file name ending with a *.vmcx extension. Your .vhd file (or files) will be associated with this .vmcx file. Also there will be a *.vmc file associated. The latter holds the configuration information for the virtual machine.

To start your VPC, simply double-click the <VPCname>.vmcx file. You will first see the dialog as shown below, then your VPC will start.

If you’d like to view or to adjust the settings for your VPC, you can do so from within the VPC itself, by clicking on the Tools menu>Settings. Or you can access the Settings from the Virtual Machines folder by clicking on the <VPCname>.vmcx file to select the particular virtual machine of interest and then by clicking on the Settings item on the folder toolbar. The Settings dialog is quite similar to that of Virtual PC 2007 (shown below).

You are presented with three options on shut down of your Virtual PC. These are hibernate, shut down, or turn off. This dialog is shown below.

Also, from the Tools menu (inside an open VPC) you can optionally select to ‘install the Windows Virtual PC integration components’. These components are similar to the VPC additions that were available for Virtual PC 2007 and allow integration of hardware components such as sound.

As an alternative to using Windows Virtual PC, Windows 7 also supports booting from a VHD. That process is covered in detail in this TechNet article.

As usual, I’d be interested to hear about your experience(s) working with ‘Windows Virtual PC’ – let me know how it goes for you!

SoCalDevGal works with a NetBook – moving from XP to Windows 7 via a USB key

llangit — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 07:04:16 GMT

Today I picked up a HP Mini 110 – 1025Dx which had XP installed on it. I was looking for a cheap, light laptop. I got it for $ 329 at BestBuy.

I wanted to go through the process of moving from XP to Windows 7 via a USB boot and to document it here as a service to those of you will be doing the same soon. Here’s what I found and the process that I used to move to Windows 7.

**This guide is based on using / having another computer which is set up with Windows 7 already**

1) Obtain Hardware. Minimum spec for Windows 7 is as follows: 1 Gz CPU (32 or 64 bit), 1 GB RAM, 16 GB HD disk and DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver. My laptop meets or exceeds all of these minimums. There is no DVD drive on this laptop.

2) Select your edition of Windows 7. I selected Windows 7 Home Basic (since I have access to all editions as a Microsoft employee). There is also Windows 7 Home Premium which would be more commonly used in this scenario (it simply contains a few more features than Home Basic). For a comparison of all Windows 7 editions see this link. *There is also an edition called Windows 7 Starter, see this link for more info, also this link.

3) Obtain source media and a product key. I used my TechNet subscription to obtain both for this test setup.

If you are downloading the source files, then using a computer with Windows 7 already on it is a quick and easy way to burn the downloaded file to an .iso onto a blank DVD (assuming that you have another computer with a DVD drive), as this capability is conveniently built in to Windows 7. If not, then there are many .iso-creating utilities available for download. One example is winRar.

4) Obtain a 4 GB (or greater) blank USB drive. I used a SanDisk Cruzer Micro 4 GB USB drive for this purpose. You will have to format this drive to use it as bootable media, so it needs to be blank.

Prior to copying the .iso Windows 7 source files onto the USB drive, you must prepare the USB drive so that your laptop can boot from it. I used the process described on the MaximumPC website and it worked perfectly. You must follow the steps exactly as written and be quite careful to select the correct drive (i.e. the USB drive) when you are preparing the drive, i.e. formatting, copying the boot files, etc…Prepare the USB drive first, as described in the link above, and then copy the Windows 7 files from your .iso DVD to the USB drive. I did not create a top level folder on the USB drive for the source files, I just copied all of the files to drive exactly as they were on the .iso.

5) Test the hardware on your netbook. I know this step isn’t exactly needed, but since you’ll probably have an OS (XP) preinstalled, it’s just easy to make sure all of the hardware is working properly before you start the clean install of Windows 7. So I started the netbook, completed the mini-setup process for XP (i.e. enter a computer name, etc…) and continued until logon. You can, of course, skip this step, if you prefer.

6) Boot your netbook from the USB. In my case, this was easy, just plug in the USB, hit the ‘set boot item key’ (F9 in this case), and set the computer to boot to the USB key. From my research, you may have to use a third-party utility to add the ability to boot to USB in the BIOS if it isn’t included already.

7) Choose ‘clean install’ of Windows 7 and enjoy.

The whole process took about 2 hours. It is a pleasure to install a new OS on a new, lightweight machine and have it execute perfectly. After Windows 7 RTMs to the general public (October 22), I’ll be quite interested to hear from you about your experience with this same process. Let me know how it goes!

SoCalDevGal shares her Windows 7 for Developers Presentations

llangit — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 02:57:08 GMT

Tomorrow I start the journey over to Africa, TechEd Africa in Durban, South Africa on August 2-5, to be exact. While there, in addition to other presentations, I am scheduled to make three presentations about Windows 7 for Developers. In the spirit of sharing, I will post my session abstracts and slide decks here now. Please feel free to use / reuse them in any way you like. I would appreciate a reference to my blog and/or facebook group ‘Windows 7 Developers’ in these decks if you reuse them.

To create these decks, I’ve combined the work of our corporate evangelists (TechEd-US and PDC08 sessions), as well as added some new information of my own. When you review these decks, be sure to also read the notes, as I’ve put a large amount of additional information, including code samples, in those notes. After I present the sessions, I will ‘clean up’ the demo code and post it as well. I also plan to record these sessions via Camtasia (probably not until September).

1_Developing for Windows 7

This session introduces Windows 7 and highlights key fundamentals advances including the new desktop and Federated Search. The session also covers core fundamentals such as programmatic application service and power management, as well as the use of the new Windows Troubleshooting Platform. In this session you will learn about Windows Libraries, Search enhancements and implementing Federated Search.

1 Win7 For Devs Fund Search

View more presentations from llangit.

2_Optimizing Your Application for the Windows 7 User Experience

This session dives into new APIs that enable integration with the latest Windows desktop features. Learn about new extensibility methods to surface your application's key tasks. Discover how enhancements to the taskbar, Start Menu, thumbnails and their desktop elements provide new ways for you to delight your users. Learn about the new Scenic Ribbon. This talk is a must for application developers who want to provide the best user experience for their applications on Windows 7. This session introduces Windows 7 and highlights key UX advances including the new desktop, shell experience and taskbar. The session also introduces technologies such as Windows Touch, and the Sensor and Location Platform.

2 Win7 For Devs Ux Touch Sensors

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3_Windows Application Readiness for Developers

Learn the best practices on how to write compatible applications for the Windows operating system and migrate Windows XP applications to Windows 7 and Windows Vista. Also, discuss common application compatibility changes so you can effortlessly get your applications up and running. And this session will cover modern graphics with Direct2D, DirectWrite and Direct3D, and Windows Web Services which ISVs can use to modernize applications.

3 App Compat Win7

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SoCalDevGal is studying and recommends the Windows 7 Developer Training Kit

llangit — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 01:41:45 GMT

As I am putting the final preparations on my 3 Windows 7 Developer sessions for Tech Ed Africa, I’ve been looking at all possible resources. One that that I particularly like (and recommend) is the Windows 7 RC Developer Training Kit. It’s a free download, well-organized and quite useful. The parts of the kit that I’ve found to be the most useful are the Hands on Labs. They are to the point, written using the managed code wrappers (API pack) whenever possible and all samples work. You’ll see from the screenshot below that the following topics are included:

Taskbar, Libraries, Multi Touch, Sensor and Location Platform, Windows 7 Ribbon, Trigger Start Services and Windows 7 Instrumentation.

Also, corporate Windows 7 Developers evangelist, Yochay Kiriaty recorded a short video on MSDN Channel 9 about this kit.

Happy coding!

SoCalDevGal answers ‘What’s on your Windows 7 Demo Machine?

llangit — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 20:59:15 GMT

Many of you have asked me what applications and tools I have installed on my primary Windows 7 demo machine. I’ll remind you that I am using a HP TouchSmart tx2 (dual AMD 42) w/4 GB RAM. I’ve installed Windows 7 RC 64-bit.

I thought the easiest way to show you is via screenshots. I’ve also installed some demo files, I’ll list the public demo files at the bottom of this post.

continuing

still continuing

The demo XP2Win7 is highly recommended. You’ll also want the API Code pack (managed code wrappers). Another way to keep up with cool downloads is to join my Facebook group ‘Windows 7 Developers’ (links section of that group).

Happy coding!

SoCalDevGal is checking out the new FrontRunner site (support for ISVs developing for Windows 7)

llangit — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 08:00:09 GMT

Our newly launched FrontRunner site for ISVs nicely pulls together many of the resources I’ve been using to learn how to write applications for Windows 7. I decided to try it out. Sign up is simple, just use a Windows Live ID and fill in one page about your application. Then you’ll be ‘in’ the site. As shown below the first section just lists basic information about your application. You can, of course, register more than one application.

I really like the ‘Technical Resources’ section. Most of the resources that I’ve been using to learn how to develop on the Windows 7 platform (such as SDK, developer training kit, etc…) are referenced in a well-organized way on this section. I show a screenshot of this screen below as well.

The next section provides links to videos and (eventually) to live chat, so that you can get your tough questions answered quickly.

The last section provides access to marketing resources (templates, logos, etc…), so that you can market your Windows 7 compatible application. There is also a section on the site to list companies who have created applications (a showcase). Overall I think the site is clean and very usable. Try it out and let me know what you think.

SoCalDevGal wants to utilize Windows 7 UX features

llangit — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:55:47 GMT

As I continue my work on learning / using Windows 7 as a platform for application development, I’ve (finally!) gone beyond the multi touch features that I’ve written about to date. I’ve done this for two reasons:

1) Writing a Windows 7 applications that ONLY features multi touch would be overlooking a whole host of other new features.

2) I’ve been asked to deliver multiple presentations on developing for Windows 7 in general (rather than specific only to the new multi touch capabilities). The first ‘batch’ of these presentations will run at TechEd Africa, in Duban from August 2 to August 5. I do expect to deliver many more as well (if you are a SoCal UG and would like me to speak on some aspect of Windows 7 client development, please send me a request and I’ll get your UG on my fall calendar now – I expect to make at least one, maybe two trips to NorCal as well this fall, so I’ll gladly take requests for NorCal UGs as well).

Here are the 3 sessions on Windows 7 client development that I am scheduled to deliver. They will be recorded as well.

To that end, I’ve expanded the scope of my studies. My primary resources are the following:

1) Channel9 MSDN videos on Windows 7 development. Most of these have been produced by corporate evangelist Yochay Kiriaty. Yochay’s blog has also proven to be a valuable resource. I’ve also been working with him directly.

2) TechEd US Windows Client developer presentations. As an attendee / staff, I am able to listen to all sessions online. I do believe that many of this session content will be made available to the general public via other deliveries.

3) Windows 7 Developer Kit – this includes not only code samples, but also Hands on Labs. I’ve also downloaded the current version of the .NET wrappers – called the Code Pack.

4) The MSDN Windows 7 Developer area. This aggregates nearly all Microsoft content that is being produced. I am also looking at the site ‘Build a Better App’ which includes tutorials and more.

So, I’ll be expanding the scope of this series to include more features in my Windows 7 application. The first feature that I’ll talk about is the enhanced Taskbar. Rather than list features and include screenshots, I simply made a short screencast.

In the Windows 7 Developer Toolkit (referenced above), there is a good hands on lab (with sample managed code) which takes you through the steps in working with the taskbar. These steps include the following options for your application:

1) Jumplist Integration – which includes file association registration, customization of common file dialogs and inserting custom items and/or categorizing those items in the jumplist.

2) Thumbnail customization via customization of Aero peek via thumbnail clipping or via a completely custom thumbnail view

3) Thumbnail display of overlay icons and/or progress bars.

There are many other resources to help you learn to code for the Windows 7 taskbar. Another good location is the section on this on MSDN.

As with the taskbar, I’ve also found quite a few interesting new features around search and libraries. I’ve made another screencast to showcase these features.

As with the taskbar customization, the Windows 7 Developer Kit includes a well-written hands on lab about implementing Libraries (called ShellLibraries in the wrappers).

The best resource I have found in implementing Federated Search is the whitepaper downloadable from us. This whitepaper does a good job explaining the OpenSearch standard (i.e. a compatible web service). It also includes step-by-step instructions for you to create an OSDX file.

Next up…the new Sensor API.

Happy coding!

SoCalDevGal demos Windows 7 multi touch (and WoodyP shows off MS Surface)

llangit — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 04:13:23 GMT

Enjoy this short video shot by one of the attendees of the recent demofest at MS Irvine, CA. Woody Pewitt is demoing the MS Surface here. Thanks to Philippe Lewicki for the video.