WinForms, Icon files and PNG Compression

davec@softwareknowhow.info — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 12:14:00 GMT

Icon files produced using PNG Compression cause issues on Win XP.

Getting started with Windows Phone 7 Development

davec@softwareknowhow.info — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 11:10:00 GMT

First we had the iPhone, next came Android, and now the latest in the smartphone offering is Windows Phone 7 from Microsoft. Having heard mixed feelings about Microsoft’s previous phone software, I have never owned a phone running Microsoft software. I currently use a HTC Desire running Android as this prevents me becoming part of the “Apple” cult!

I have to say I love the Android operating system but have never had the desire to develop an application for it. This maybe because I am a C# developer and feel that I probably do not have the skills to develop for the Android platform, or it maybe that I am just plain lazy! The latter is probably true.

The launch of Windows Phone 7 has caught my interest due to the ability to develop applications by utilising technology that I am already familiar with. It appears that I can create applications in a similar fashion to rich internet applications or WPF applications.

As we speak, I am downloading the free “Windows Phone 7 Developer Toolkit” from Microsoft. This contains all the necessary tools to get you started. What’s more, if you are a hobbyist developer it also comes with a copy of Visual Studio 2010 Express aimed specifically at Windows Phone 7 development. For Free! You can download the toolkit here.

I have started gathering some information about how to get started with developing for Windows Phone 7 and thought it might be polite to share my findings. There is a wealth of information available but here you can find some starting points consolidated in one place.

App Hub

App Hub is the central location for Windows Phone 7 and Xbox LIVE developers. You will find free tools, sample code along with a usual community and education resources. App Hub is also the place where your finished apps will be uploaded for users to purchase. If you are a developer interested in selling your applications, you will need to sign up to App Hub which will cost you an annual fee of $99.

App Hub Home Page

Developer Resources

Below are some links to developer resources that look interesting. I need to put time aside to go through these articles and get to grips with all the cool stuff that can be achieved on the new platform.

Application Platform Overview for Windows Phone

Windows Phone 7 Developer Training Kit

Windows Phone Development – MSDN

Getting Started with Windows Phone Development Tools

TouchNote talk Windows Phone 7 app development

A Few More Windows Phone 7 Apps

I hope you find this blog useful and I would love to hear from you regarding your own experiences with Windows Phone 7 development.

More ...

Loopless recursion with SQL Server

davec@softwareknowhow.info — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 17:45:00 GMT

When it comes to writing T-SQL, one of my pet hates is the unnecessary use of loops and cursors. As we all know, SQL is a set based language and has been designed to work using sets of data. Far too often do I see people looping unnecessarily in their back-end code resulting in a slow user interface.

Tags: SQL Server,T-SQL,Tips,Loops,Recursion,Iteration

Category: Database

Category: Development

What is DotNetNuke?

davec@softwareknowhow.info — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 12:34:00 GMT

DotNetNuke (DNN) is a multi-portal web content management system. The softwareknowhow.info web site is a working example of what can be achieved using the DNN framework. DNN started out as an application from Microsoft designed to demonstrate the functionality available in their new ASP.NET 1.0 platform. This application was named the IBuySpy Portal.

Tags: DotNetNuke,ASP.NET