You've reached the internet home of Chris Sells, who has a long history as a contributing member of the Windows developer community. He enjoys long walks on the beach and various computer technologies.
Friday, Feb 18, 2005, 7:45 AM in .NET
What's New in the VS05 Toolbox for Windows Apps
Dino Esposito takes you on "a whistle-stop tour of the new controls slated for Windows Forms 2.0 to make writing code more productive and pleasant than ever." Woo-Woo! : )
Wednesday, Feb 16, 2005, 2:43 PM in .NET
Building Extensible Windows Forms Applications
Another hot topic among Windows Forms programmers is extensibility:
- Add run-time functionality to your application by providing a plug-in mechanism
- Add Plugins to Your App 2: Search dynamically for plugins without Config Files
- The SharpDevelop add-in tree architecture
- Writing Plugin-Based Applications in .NET
- The MS-INC Plug-In Library
- The Razor Framework :: Part 1 :: Plugins/Extensibility
- Several nifty pieces on Lutz's Reflector add-in model
- "Customizing the Microsoft .NET Framework Common Language Runtime," by Steven Pratscher
- On Plug-ins and Extensible Architectures: Avoiding "plug-in hell" is from the Eclipse world, but I'm guessing it applies...
I know there are more pieces than just these, so send them along!
Wednesday, Feb 16, 2005, 11:51 AM in .NET
Windows Forms Threading Techniques
It seems that there are any number of ways to do multi-threading in Windows Forms. Here are some of the interesting techniques:
- Give Your .NET-based Application a Fast and Responsive UI with Multiple Threads, Ian Griffiths
- A number of Ted Pattison's Basic Instincts column pieces cover threading
- Safe, Simple Multithreading in Windows Forms 1.x (part 1, part 2 and part 3), Chris Sells
- Safe, Even Simpler Multithreading in Windows Forms 2.0, Mike Weinhardt
- Asynchronous Windows Forms Programming, Juval Lwy (provides a BackgroundWorker component for Windows Forms 1.x)
- Making windows forms thread safe, Rüdiger Klaehn (generates a proxy class to do synchronization)
- The Daemon Inside and When to go async?, Matthew Adams
Wednesday, Feb 16, 2005, 11:30 AM in The Spout
Hitchhiker's Guide Might Not Suck
Here. After watching the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trailer on Amazon.com, I have to say, it might not suck. Any Portland Nerds that want to join me for the first show on 4/29 (but don't tell my boss, he thinks I'm working that day... : )?
Wednesday, Feb 16, 2005, 10:11 AM
The MS Official Story Direct to Your RSS Reader
If you'd like the official Microsoft press releases and top stories as soon as they're available, point your favorite RSS reader at the following two new Microsoft PressPass RSS feeds:
Microsoft PressPass - Press Releases: Provides links to the latest Microsoft corporate press releases.
Microsoft PressPass - Top Stories: Provides links to the latest Top Story feature articles published by Microsoft PressPass. These articles provide in-depth background on Microsoft technologies and strategies, including executive Q&As and technology backgrounders.
Enjoy!
Wednesday, Feb 16, 2005, 9:50 AM in .NET
Windows Metafile to Avalon XAML Conversion
Cristian Civera, a Microsoft .NET MVP, has posted a preview of a tool to convert Windows Enhanced Metafiles, an existing vector graphics file format, to XAML, Avalon's new format for describing vector graphics (among other things). Thanks, Cristian!
Wednesday, Feb 16, 2005, 9:21 AM in .NET
Joe's Codeless Avalon XAML Samples Updated
Joe Marini, has updated his famous XAML-only Avalon samples for the Nov. 2004 CTP. Thanks, Joe!
Monday, Feb 14, 2005, 6:00 PM in .NET
Fear, Uncertainty and Longhorn
Robert Scoble has some stuff to say about Avalon, Indigo, Longhorn and packaging. Enjoy.
Monday, Feb 14, 2005, 2:56 PM in The Spout
Experimenting with Windows Alternatives
Here. The one where I give thumbs up to three Windows alternatives and a thumb sideways to another.
Monday, Feb 14, 2005, 2:45 PM in .NET
VSLive in Vegas Has "SmartClient Live"
The Las Vegas edition of VSLive (May 8-11, 2005) will include smart client coverage: "SmartClient Live! - Pragmatic and practical advice on smart client development with VB, C#, and .NET Framework." There's no real description of what that really means, but it's got potential. : )
Saturday, Feb 12, 2005, 10:20 PM in .NET
Service Contracts in Indigo
Don Box has posted an article on the basics of specifying a service contract in Indigo. Enjoy (I plan to : ).
Saturday, Feb 12, 2005, 12:32 PM in The Spout
Airing The Dirty Laundry
I was sitting at Jim Blizzard's going away party the other night when my phone rang. This was the side of the conversation that the Portland nerds heard:
"Hello?"
"What?"
"Well,why don't you have any underwear?"
"Put your brother on."
"Why doesn't your brother have any underwear?"
"Well, why does he think he doesn't have any underwear?"
"OK. Put your brother back on."
"Are you sure you don't have any underwear?"
"Look in your hand; is there any underwear in it?"
"Then check your other hand."
"OK, how many pairs of underwear are you wearing?"
"And how many pairs do you need between right now and the time I get home?"
"Good. Bye."
About halfway through the conversation, the nerds around me could no longer continue their conversations and were laughing openly. Ah, the joys of parenthood...
Saturday, Feb 12, 2005, 12:00 AM in The Spout
Experimenting with Windows Alternatives
When I used to teach COM, we would brag about its cross-platform-ness, i.e. it worked across Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT 4, etc. So, when I'm talking about Windows alternatives, of course I mean Windows XP, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows CE and Windows XP Tablet Edition:
Windows XP: This is the workhorse of my day and with SP2, it's even more wonderful than it was before. Love it.
Windows XP Media Center Edition: The mix of a pleasing 10-foot UI, picture, music and video playback, content and UI extension, PVR, Windows-based expansion and MCE extenders makes this a fabulous media client and server. Love it.
Windows CE/SmartPhone 2003 Second Edition: The 10-inch UI, the built-in apps and services, the extension apps, the internet access and a set of apps optimized for 9-key + joystick input all make this a fabulous user platform that's replaced my phone, my mp3 player and even my laptop in some cases. Plus, I can build my own apps! I haven't felt this way since my first laptop freed me from the tyranny of the desktop. Love, love, love it!
Windows XP Tablet Edition: I love reading text on this OS. The ClearText, the form factor and the scroll-specific buttons near the screen make it a wonderful reading experience. I also look forward to reviewing articles and book chapters with my tablet. However, I doubt I'll get to it because I dread picking it up and being faced with all of the text input I'm forced to perform. Unlike the MCE or SP OSes which have been optimized for remote control/keypad input, the tablet is more general purpose and therefore supports far more general purpose applications. This means text input for dialogs and passwords and URLs and all kinds of other things where my poor handwriting is often painful. Of course, handwriting is faster than joystick/keypad input, but because there seems so much more input required in an average tablet session, it seems slower. I with the apps for the tablet were more special-purpose and optimized for stylus-only input. Love it and don't so much love it.
BTW, I paid $6000 in college for my Mac IIcx that I used to log into the Unix machines in the lab, so I've had a full range of computer UI experiences. I do truly love Windows best.
Friday, Feb 11, 2005, 11:53 PM in The Spout
i-mate SP3 Smartphone: How do I love thee?
Let me count the ways:
- Pocket-sized and no bigger than my old dumb phone and tons smaller than tricorder-sized PDAs
- Synchronized calendar, contacts and inbox every 10 minutes everywhere I go
- IM and web browsing everywhere I go
- 512MB miniSD upgrade (for $60), giving me room enough for 300+ minutes of songs/audio books, making the phone a wonderful mp3 player, both for personal use (via the included stereo headphones) and in my car (via a $3 Radio Shack part, the Audio Adapter 274-373)
- Bluetooth headset, freeing me from untaggling wires all the damn time and letting me answer the phone while it's still in my pocket
- Voice tags, letting my dial the phone while it's still in my pocket
- Extensible with inexpensive custom apps of all kinds, including ones I can build myself in native or managed code (and a wealth of development information)
- Backlit ebook for darkened movie theaters during the commercials and the slow bits
- A quicky flashlight in a pinch
- Theoretically acts as a modem for my PC to give it an internet connection via my cell phone's GPRS service, although I haven't gotten that set up yet : )
That's not to say that all is well. The following mars the i-mate's perfection:
- When the keypad is locked and a notification pops up, the screen remains dark, but the Unlock button turns into the Dismiss button, which dismisses the notification w/o showing it first
- Notifications can only be snoozed for 5 minutes
- No WMP10 and WMP9 on the smartphone has terrible playlist management
- A dearth of web sites targeted at the smart phone. I've only found msnbc.com so far. I really miss a decent movie showtime info web site (imdb.com works, but it's a pain)
- Cramped screen and keyboard (I've heard the Motorola MPx220 flip phone solves this problem)
- Doesn't use Wi-Fi when it's available
- No FM radio
It's my understanding that some of these flaws are fixed in the later smartphones (like the Audiovox SMT5600), but even with the issues I mention, I can't imagine that someone with a cell phone wouldn't pick a smart one over a dumb one, nor can I imagine that more then a relative few would prefer a PDA to a smart phone. The smart phone represents a perfect storm of form factor, capability and developer tools. Keep your hands and feet inside the ride, boys and girls, it's going to be a wild ride.
Friday, Feb 11, 2005, 12:30 PM in The Spout
Local Boy Does Good
Microsoft's own Robert Scoble has broken his way into the secular press, with an article in both Fortune (Why There's No Escaping the Blog) and The Economist (Chief humanising officer). Way to go, Robert!