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, Microcontroller programming with .NET Microframework, .NET Gadgeteer, Windows on Devices, 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:
Silverlight-in-Action
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It's customary for a Manning book to be the Deal of the Day
shortly after it is released. My book, Silverlight 5 in
Action, is the Manning Deal of the Day for June 6, 2012.
Using the information and code below, you can get half off
(50% off) the retail purchase price. This deal is good
only for 24 hours, so be sure to pick it up now!
Buy it Here
http://www.manning.com/pbrown2...
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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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A reader tipped me off that the AdventureWorks schema has
changed since I (and my tech reviewers) last downloaded a copy.
Some of the schema changes make the database unworkable with the
in-book examples for Silverlight 4 in Action and Silverlight 5 in
Action. In particular, the Person table is no longer there in
recent versions.
A version of the database that is compatible with the e...
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Well, I've completed the initial writing anyway. Anyone who has
written a book understands the, umm, pleasure of the multiple
editing cycles which shall follow. I have my normal development
editor review Thursday afternoon, and then it's turned over for
tech review the following week. Tom is really going to have his
hands full with the 1191 pages this book came in at before editing
and ...
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What follows is a small pre-editing excerpt from chapter 33 of
Silverlight 5 in Action (without footnotes, annotations and other
publishing stuff). The chapter as a whole goes into greater detail
on using COM Automation, the Native Extensions for Silverlight, and
PInvoke.
Help me avoid putting my family out on the street to support my
unquenchable robotics, synthesizer, CNC and othe...
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I'm writing a little sample for Silverlight 5 in Action. Part of
it involves a class which integrates with a 3d accelerometer sensor
on Windows. In order to use the accelerometer, I have to check to
see if elevated permissions is enabled before I go about
constructing objects which rely on COM automation. There's also a
fair bit of construction activity after that check to create the
ac...
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I'm putting the finishing touches on Silverlight 5 in Action. At
around 1050 pages of very deep Silverlight content, it's quite a
brick :) I'm really proud of how this book has come out.
Developers, especially business application developers, will be
using Silverlight for application development for years both on
Windows 7 and Windows 8 With that in mind, I wanted to make sure
that I ha...
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Increasingly, consumers have more computing intelligence sitting
in their TV rooms. Many have cable or satellite boxes which are
essentially purpose-built PCs. We have game consoles like the
Playstation and Xbox 360 which are powerful computers in their own
right. Not surprisingly, many tech-savvy consumers even have
dedicated PCs attached to their TVs, often including CableCard
units t...
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Manning and I are running a nice sale on Silverlight 5 in
Action. For the next 30 days, it's 50% off: the eBook, Print Book
and MEAP are all on sale for my blog readers, Twitter followers,
Facebook friends and even LinkedIn and Google+ friends :)
Visit http://manning.com/pbrown2
and use code svlght5a50
My goal is to make Silverlight 5 in
Action the book for learning
Silve...
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The Manning Early Access Program (MEAP) of Silverlight 5 in Action has
launched!
Just today. Today only. Did I mention the code is active just
today?
50% off if you use the code "sl550" at Manning.com
Please keep in mind that the code is good for 6/14/2011
only.
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Over the weekend, I saw my first truly bad Amazon review for
Silverlight 4 in Action. I've been really happy with reviews so
far (28 reviews, 4 1/2 stars average), but
this one, and a
meh 3 star review before it both point to the same issue with
the current text. That first 1 star review really stings (you put a
lot of yourself in a book like this), but I'm taking it to heart to
see...
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I realized I never posted the location of the source code for
Silverlight 4 in Action. You can download the
source code directly from Manning. Just click on the download
link on that page.
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You folks are awesome. This book was a metric boatload of work
(but the good kind of work, as opposed to like raking my yard), so
it's really gratifying to see it doing so well.
There are something like 8 million books on Amazon. To be in the
top 2000 is pretty awesome. To be in the top 100 best selling
computer books since pretty much Day 1 is also extremely cool.
Thanks!
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My new Silverlight book, Silverlight 4 in Action is
now out in paper, published by Manning. Several folks received
their copies today, including me
The eBook was made available last week for people who ordered it
from Manning. MEAP (early access) customers also received their
eBook editions on the same day.
Source code is coming this week. I have half of it uploaded to
the inte...
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Today, I completed the last chapter in my book, Silverlight in
Action Revised Edition by Manning. I have one chapter still in
tech review, but authoring the chapters is now complete.
Phew!
The book, before any image resizing or
print layout, has ended up at 819 pages. The page count in Word and
the book page count are usually in the same ballpark. Add in the
intro materials, to...
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This is an unedited, raw, excerpt from chapter 24 of my book, Silverlight in
Action. The chapter as a whole covers creating custom panels
and controls. This excerpt covers creating a custom layout panel
which arranges items in a circular or orbital fashion.
24.1 Creating a Custom Panel
In chapter 6, I covered the layout system. In that system, the
primary responsibility for position...
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What follows is a raw excerpt (before copy editing or final tech
reviews) from chapter 20 in my book, Silverlight in
Action. This is just a small portion of chapter 20, which
covers the media element, streaming, using IIS Smooth streaming,
using the Silverlight Media Framework, creating raw video and
audio, and using the webcam and microphone APIs. I've blogged bits
and pieces on this t...
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I'm working rapidly towards finishing up Silverlight in
Action, Revised Edition. As part of the work for this, I find
myself taking screenshots pretty regularly.
For a print publication, you want your screenshots to be the
highest resolution possible. A screen is usually 96dpi, while a
book is 300, 600 or more dpi. One way to handle the difference is
to just design big: use big fonts,...
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I'm on the road to finishing up Silverlight in
Action, Revised edition. This is really turning out to be the
definitive Silverlight book. I hope you all enjoy reading it as
much as I have enjoyed writing it.
One interesting thing that has happened is that the book has
almost doubled in size from the previous edition. I keep running
across things that I just think are really important ...
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On Wednesday February 10, 2010 my book is on sale at Manning for 50% off.That’s print, MEAP, e-book or any combination of the bunch. This is a special thanks for blog subscribers and twitter followers.To get the discount, visit my book page on Manning, choose the eBook or print book. When you’re ready to check out, enter the code:silver50nowin the coupon code box. The coupon is good...
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If you subscribe to my blog (you’re here, and it’s easy, just do it .. dooo itttt ;) click the RSS link above) there’s a Manning deal on my book coming next week. It’ll only be around for one day (Manning sets the terms, not me) and it is a really good deal.If you haven’t checked it out yet, I encourage you to do so. Some chapters are already available to peop...
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Over the past 13 1/2 years, I’ve had the pleasure of working with some really talented developers, architects and designers in what I and many others consider to be one of the very best .NET consulting companies on the east coast: Applied Information Sciences (AIS).AIS hired me right out of college and moved me down to Maryland from New England back in 1996. During my interview, due to t...