Pete Brown's Blog (POKE 53280,0)
Pete Brown writes on a variety of topics from XAML with the Windows Runtime (WinRT), .NET programming using C#, WPF, Silverlight, XNA, and Windows Phone, Microcontroller programming with .NET Microframework, .NET Gadgeteer and even plain old C, to raising two children in the suburbs of Maryland, woodworking, CNC and generally "making physical stuff". Oh, and Pete loves retro technology, especially Commodore (C64 and C128). If the content interests you, please subscribe using the subscription link to the right of every page.
Archive for tag:
.NET
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.NET 4.5 quietly introduced several attributes which are useful
for debugging and error reporting: CallerMemberName, CallerFilePath
and CallerLineNumber, all collectively referred to as "Caller Information". One of those,
CallerMemberName, is also very useful for MVVM apps and other apps
using INotifyPropertyChanged for change notifications.
Getting the calling function name
The Cal...
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I recently upgraded my main desktop PC to Windows 8. When I did
that, the Microsoft LifeCam software stopped working. It was
recognized as incompatible with Windows 8. For most people, this is
not an issue, as it works perfectly fine with the built-in Windows
8 camera app.
For me, however, I need a small camera app sitting on my desktop
so I can see the hallway leading to my office. I...
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I've posted a few videos lately on YouTube. Here they are,
newest to oldest. Take a look, and if you like them, drop a comment
on the video and/or "like" it. Thanks!
All videos are available on my channel on
YouTube.
My
tutorial on how I hand-solder tiny surface mount components. Watch
in 1080p.
A drone I
created with my JP8080 and Spectrasonics Omni...
Published
Sunday, August 26, 2012 |
Tagged:
.NET, Synthesizer, WindowsClient, Videos, Netduino, Micro+Framework, Electronics, Gadgeteer, Windows8 |
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In this post, I show how to create a simple talk countdown timer
using a Netduino GO and the komodex Seven Segment Display
Module.
Yesterday, I received the
Seven Segment Display Module I pre-ordered from komodex
systems. Matt Isenhower did a great job with designing this board
and making it an attractive piece of kit. It has a lovely shiny
black silkscreen, professionally installed...
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The Maker Geek Roundup aggregates information of interest to
makers everywhere. Topics include .NET Micro Framework, Arduino,
AVR and other MCUs, CNC, 3d Printing, Robotics, Microsoft Robotics
Studio, Electronics, General Maker stuff, and more. If you have
something interesting you've done or have run across, or you blog
regularly on the topics included here, please send me the URL and
...
Published
Tuesday, June 26, 2012 |
Tagged:
.NET, Commodore, c64, Netduino, Micro+Framework, Electronics, Gadgeteer, GHI-FEZ, MakerRoundup, Maker |
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In this post, I show how to have bidirectional UDP
communication: The Win8 Metro style app will send messages to the
Gadgeteer device which responds with ACKs.
This is part 3 in a series of posts about using sockets to
communicate between Windows 8 Metro apps and a microcontroller. The
rest of the series may be found here:
Part 1: Simple UDP networking test from a Metro style XA...
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In this post, I show how to set up the UDP code on the Micro
Framework side so it can listen to messages coming from the Windows
8 app.
This is part 2 in a series of posts about using sockets to
communicate between Windows 8 Metro apps and a microcontroller. The
rest of the series may be found here:
Part 1: Simple UDP networking test from a Metro style XAML
app
Part 2: This ...
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One of my pet projects requires using UDP sockets from a Windows
8 Metro style app to talk to a microcontroller. UDP sockets are a
pretty efficient way of communicating across wired and wireless
connections.
In this first part, we'll focus on prototyping the Metro style
XAML/C# app. The NETMF piece will be in the next post.
Test Setup
The first step is to figure out how we'll tes...
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Last week, at Tech Ed US, I gave a WPF 4.5 overview to a
completely packed room. The materials and video links are
below.
Downloads and Links
Video and Downloadable Slides
Information on AutoHotKey, the tool I used for
snippets.
Demo Code (for WPF 4.5 RC) attached below.
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My main machine uses what one manager used to call "the monkey
keyboard". It's one of those split ergonomic jobs. So, when I go
type on a laptop, especially a smaller laptop like my x220, my
typing speed and accuracy aren't exactly production-quality.
In addition, fast-paced "lap around" demos often require either
a bunch of pre-build projects, or a lot of code snippets. There are
ton...
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The next book is well underway! We released several chapters
from Windows 8 XAML in Action as part of this week's
MEAP (Manning Early Access Program) kickoff.
Through the MEAP, you get access to chapters right after my
development editor takes a look at them. You don't have to wait for
the full book to be finished and in print (which takes forever) to
be able to use it. Bonus: MEAP ch...
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Today we released the Windows 8 Release Preview (RP)! I haven't
been this excited about an operating system since Windows 95 first
came out, when there was no such thing as downloading an OS, and we
had to actually wait in line in a store to get our blue cloud box
full of floppies (or was it a CD? I forget).
Windows 95 was a big deal for users and developers alike. It had
a brand new ...
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It took forever to edit and print such a huge tome, but I'm
happy to say that Silverlight 5 in Action is now in. You should see
them available from Manning this week, and from Amazon next week.
Here are my four boxes, just delivered today. The UPS man
probably hates it when he has to deliver books to my place. At 968
pages each, they're pretty heavy. That top box: 1 book. Plu...
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Last September, I introduced the idea of Tasks in Silverlight.
One of the things I really like about .NET 4.5, and the C# compiler
that comes with it, is the ability to simplify asynchronous code by
using the async modifier and await operator. Just yesterday, I posted a bit on how these two keywords are used by
the compiler to take care of all the heavy lifting of asynchronous
code.
T...
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This past Monday (May 14th), I officially started a new role at
Microsoft. I like to be as transparent as possible, so I thought
I'd share with you all the details of this role as well as where I
was before I moved to it.
TL;DR:
XAML. Windows. Developers. 'nuf said.
A little (optional) history
I've been working for Microsoft for a bit over two and a half
years now. In that...
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IL DASM (The Intermediate Language Disassembly tool) is
something I haven't used in a while. When .NET 1.0 first came out
in beta over a decade ago, a much younger me went and created a
"Hello World" in IL just to see how it's done. I still have it:
//
// Hello World IL Program
// ------------------------------------
// Written by Peter M. Brown
// August 15, 2001
//
// This is ...
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The Maker Geek Roundup aggregates information of interest to
makers everywhere. Topics include .NET Micro Framework, Arduino,
AVR and other MCUs, CNC, 3d Printing, Robotics, Microsoft Robotics
Studio, Electronics, General Maker stuff, and more. If you have
something interesting you've done or have run across, or you blog
regularly on the topics included here, please send me the URL and
...
Published
Saturday, April 21, 2012 |
Tagged:
.NET, CNC, Commodore, Synthesizer, c64, Netduino, Electronics, Gadgeteer, GHI-FEZ, 3d-Printing, MakerRoundup, Maker, Arduino |
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This connect bug describes an issue with creating certain types
of Silverlight projects in Visual Studio. If you're referencing
Silverlight 4 DLLs from a Silverlight 5 project, you may run into
this
code analysis/FXCop issue yourself if code analysis is part of
your process. The core of the problem is a versioning decision in
Silverlight 5 which results in compile-time violation due ...
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I just received a bunch of packages from both Secret Labs and
GHI Electronics. The Secret labs packages contained their brand new
Netduino GO. The GHI package contained the FEZ Cerebus Starter kit
I ordered.
This post looks at the new Netduino GO and briefly compares it
to the .NET Gadgeteer (Cerebus and others). I also build a couple
simple example applications using the Netduino GO ...
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The Maker Geek Roundup aggregates information of interest to
makers everywhere. Topics include .NET Micro Framework, Arduino,
AVR and other MCUs, CNC, 3d Printing, Robotics, Microsoft Robotics
Studio, Electronics, General Maker stuff, and more. If you have
something interesting you've done or have run across, or you blog
regularly on the topics included here, please send me the URL and
...
Published
Sunday, April 01, 2012 |
Tagged:
.NET, Commodore, c64, Netduino, Micro+Framework, Robotics, Electronics, Gadgeteer, MakerRoundup, Maker, Arduino |
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You may have noticed that your current copy of Expression Blend
for Silverlight 5 expires in the next day or two. A new version of
Expression Blend Preview for Silverlight 5 is now out. Get it here.
This new version has the all important go-live license, and also
extends the expiration date to June 20, 2013 (over a year from
now)..
More information on the Expression Blend Team Blog.
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Recently, a reader asked how they should go about
setting the Typography properties from code-behind.
The original question was about Silverlight, but the approach
works in WPF, Windows 8 and more.
Given the following markup:
<StackPanel>
<TextBlock x:Name="OriginalText"
FontSize="72"
FontFamily="Gabriola"
Text="Hello ...
