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XAML as DSL
05 May 13 04:14 PM | pavely | 2 comment(s)

About 3 years ago, when .NET 4 and Visual Studio 2010 were just released, I’ve blogged (part 1, part 2) about the changes that took XAML from its WPF inception to the System.Xaml namespace and System.Xaml.Dll assembly, to be available more generally, not just for WPF. I’ve shown that XAML is just a declarative way of creating objects, setting their properties – sometimes in interesting ways. I did promise at the end of that second post that I’d show how to use attached properties, but never did have...

תגים:.NET, C#, PARSING, DEV, XAML, WPF, .NET 4.5

C# 5.0: await and Reentrancy
28 January 13 04:45 AM | pavely | with no comments

The relatively new async/await keywords in C# 5.0 are truly great. I’ve been using them for a while now, and I always contrast these to the way things can be done in C++11 ; and even with the help of PPL tasks – it stands out as clearly victorious, with its ease of use and lack of verbosity. In fact, it’s so easy to use that I find myself creating new methods that are mostly “Async”, even if the benefit may not be that great – just because it’s easy to do. For example, suppose there is a method that...

תגים:DEV, C# 5.0, .NET 4.5, Windows Runtime, Visual Studio 2012

Making HTTP calls in WinRT with C++
14 January 13 04:36 AM | pavely | with no comments

When working with Windows Store applications (“metro”), it’s sometimes necessary to make HTTP calls. one classic example is to register for push notifications . After obtaining a unique channel URI, the app needs to send that URI to its application server, as that particular URI is the one to use by the application server to execute a push notification against the Windows Notification Service (WNS). Getting the channel URI is fairly simple, with a call to the static PushNotificationChannelManager...

תגים:C++, DEV, C# 5.0, Tips, Windows 8, .NET 4.5, C++11, Visual C++, Windows Runtime, Visual Studio 2012, C++/CX

Preview of Blend 5 available
25 December 12 03:41 AM | pavely | with no comments

When Visual Studio 2012 came out, one thing was sorely missing. An Expression Blend tool that can handle WPF 4.5 applications. Blend for Visual Studio that is currently available only supports Windows 8 Store Apps, but not WPF (or Silverlight). A few days ago, Microsoft released a preview of Blend 5 (with Sketchflow), that’s able to work with WPF and Silverlight, along with Windows 8 Store apps. The tool can be downloaded from here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30702 Microsoft...

תגים:Silverlight, DEV, XAML, WPF, Windows 8, .NET 4.5

Windows Phone 8: Integrating with the Wallet
08 November 12 11:18 AM | pavely | with no comments

Earlier this week, Microsoft held the Discovery event in Tel Aviv, Israel, with a distinguished guest, Steve Ballmer. In the event, Microsoft has officially launched Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 (and XBOX 360 and Kinect…) in Israel. During the presentations, a wallet application on Windows Phone was shown, which was developed by us, CodeValue (and specifically by me ). This article and this one describe something about the app (in Hebrew). Here are some screenshots (some text is in Hebrew): In this...

תגים:C#, DEV, C# 5.0, .NET 4.5, Windows Phone 8

Windows 8 Store Apps: Class Library vs. Windows Runtime Component
30 October 12 03:14 PM | pavely | 1 comment(s)

When working with Windows 8 Store apps in C# (or VB, but I’ll stick with C#), there are several ways of creating reusable (or at least seemingly reusable) class libraries for Windows 8 Store projects. In this post, I’ll take a to look at the options, contrasting their features and usefulness. Looking at the new project dialog in Visual Studio 2012, under the Windows Store node (under Visual C# ), we can see the following: There is a third option, the traditional Class Library project located under...

תגים:C++, .NET, C#, DEV, Windows 8, .NET 4.5, Windows Runtime

WPF 4.5: Accessing bound collections on non UI threads
21 July 12 12:23 PM | pavely | with no comments

The single threaded behavior of WPF (and other UI technologies) requires that anything tied to the user interface be manipulated on the UI thread, incuding data bound objects. There are several ways to do that, assuming the code is on a non-UI thread, such as using Dispatcher .( Begin ) Invoke , capturing and using the current SynchronizationContext , etc. Specifically, if some collection is data bound, items cannot be added or removed from it from a non-UI thread. WPF 4 (and earlier) throws an exception...

תגים:Threading, DEV, WPF, .NET 4.5, Visual Studio 2012

Windows 8 Metro: C++/CX vs. C#
25 June 12 10:05 PM | pavely | 9 comment(s)

Lately, I’ve been doing development of a Windows 8 Metro application using C++ only (yes, that’s right, no C#) for a client. The reasons for that are mainly an existing C++ code base and a good C++ acquaintance that the team in question has. I’ve been using the new C++/CX extensions that make it easier to work with the Windows Runtime (WinRT); easier with respect to the Windows Runtime Library (WRL) that uses standard C++ with a bunch of helpers (such as ComPtr<T> as a smart pointer for a COM...

תגים:C++, C#, DEV, C# 5.0, Windows 8, .NET 4.5, C++11, Windows Runtime, Visual Studio 2012, C++/CX

My Visual Studio 2012 & C# 5.0 Presentation
18 June 12 02:02 PM | pavely | 1 comment(s)

This morning I presented a session on new features in Visual Studio 2012 and the new language features in C# 5.0. Thank you all for attending! The presentation and demos can be downloaded from https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=45C1880107EBE12C&id=45C1880107EBE12C%2118700

תגים:C#, DEV, C# 5.0, Windows 8, .NET 4.5, Visual C++, Windows Runtime, Visual Studio 2012, Metro

Visual Studio 2012 and C# 5.0: Upcoming session
02 June 12 03:47 PM | pavely | with no comments

I’m going to give a session at Microsoft offices in Ra’anana (Israel), on the 18th of this month, showing new features in Visual Studio 2012 (RC released a few days ago) and the new features of C# 5.0 (there are two. If you think about async/await – that’s one). The event is free, but you should register at https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032514296&Culture=he-IL See you there!

תגים:Visual Studio, OpenDay, DEV, C# 5.0, .NET 4.5, Visual Studio 2012

WPF 4.5 Cookbook
26 April 12 07:40 PM | pavely | with no comments

A few months back, I was approached by Packt publishing , asking me to write a WPF book, in their “cookbook” style, and I accepted. I haven’t written an entire book before, but I have written dozen of courses for Hi-Tech College, John Bryce Training and now for CodeValue , in a range of topics, from Windows Internals and device driver development, to advanced C++, to basic and advanced .NET topics, to WPF, and even some oddities such as the Windows Media Foundation . Writing a book, however, is different...

תגים:.NET, C#, DEV, XAML, WPF, Visual Studio 2010, C# 5.0, .NET 4.5, Visual Studio 11

WPF 4.5: Markup Extension for Events
07 April 12 06:34 PM | pavely | with no comments

One of the new features coming in WPF 4.5 (already available through the Visual Studio 11 Beta and .NET 4.5 Beta) is the ability to create markup extensions that work on events (as opposed to properties, which have always had this capability). Markup extensions for properties are crucial, and there are quite a few useful ones, such as {Binding } and {StaticResource} . Would this ability be useful for events? One such case is when a command is needed to be invoked ( ICommand ) because of some event...

תגים:C#, DEV, XAML, WPF, .NET 4.5, MVVM

What’s New in CLR 4.5 Debugging API?
03 April 12 07:51 PM | pavely | with no comments

The most used command in the SOS extension DLL is probably !dumpheap . This command is able to show every object on the managed heap. This capability has no match within Visual Studio. The reason is that Visual Studio uses the CLR debugging API , that doesn’t seem to have this capability. At first glance, the ICorDebugProcess interface has the perfect method: EnumerateObjects . What could be better than that? Unfortunately, the documentation states that this method is not implemented… bummer. A while...

תגים:COM, C++, CLR, CLR Explorer, DEV, Win32, .NET 4.5, Visual Studio 11

My Async Programming with C# 5.0 & .NET 4.5 session is available for viewing
28 March 12 10:26 PM | pavely | with no comments

The session I gave at Microsoft Ra’anana two days is available on channel 9 . This was in Hebrew, so if this is not your native tongue, you can probably still enjoy the code demos. Here are the links: Part 1 Part 2 Enjoy!

תגים:video, DEV, C# 5.0, Windows 8, .NET 4.5, Visual Studio 11, Windows Runtime

Asynchronous Programming with C# 5.0 & .NET 4.5 Session
26 March 12 01:38 PM | pavely | 1 comment(s)

This morning I gave a session on asynchronous programming with C# 5.0 at Microsoft offices in Ra’anana. Thank you all for attending, it was great fun! As promised, the presentation slides and demos are attached below (the Windows 8 demos can naturally be run on Windows 8 only). The session was recorded, so if you missed it, or just want to hear the same jokes again, the recording will be available in a few days – check out the MSDN blog for details of availability. Async Demos Async Metro Demo Presentation...

תגים:OpenDay, DEV, .NET 4, C# 5.0, Windows 8, .NET 4.5, Windows Runtime