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Wednesday, 29 August 2012

ObjectStorageHelper : Generic Object Storage Helper for Windows RTM Now Available


Project Description
ObjectStorageHelper<T> is a Generic class that simplifies storage of data in WinRT applications while still maintaining the Async principles of Windows 8 apps

Overview
While exploring WinRT I came up with this, ObjectStorageHelper<T>, a Generic class that wraps (and greatly simplifies) use of the RoamingFolder, TemporaryFolder & LocalFolder storage folders within the ApplicationData class.

With ObjectStorageHelper<T> saving and loading an object to/from disk is now just a simple method call.

I blog about ObjectStorageHelper<T> at ObjectStorageHelper

Restrictions
Under the covers ObjectStorageHelper<T> uses XML Serialization hence T needs to be an object that can be serialized as XML. There is a useful thread on Stack Overflow Using .Net what limitations (if any) are there in using the XmlSerializer? that talks about those restrictions better than I ever could.

Check it out on CodePlex

Lessons Learned Designing a Windows 8 App


Lessons Learned Designing a Windows 8 App
Windows 8, expected to be released in October 2012, is the latest version of Microsoft’s flagship operating system. Its release also marks the first time that Microsoft has significantly evolved its design since 1995. Microsoft’s new, touch-oriented design language opens the door to designers, giving them a chance to reconsider their existing applications.

Christina and I are graduate students in Human Centered Design & Engineering at the University of Washington. In April we were hired as interns by Blink Interactive, a UX research and design agency in Seattle, to become their resident Windows 8 experts. We scoured the Internet for articles and videos, attended Windows 8 developer events, spoke with Microsoft evangelists, and spent a good, long time using Windows 8 on both tablet and desktop computers.

Read full article here

Minimalistic MVVM for Windows Runtime XAML Platform Development with C#


I have been using MVVM for a few years now and always felt it needed a summary of the state of things as well as my own opinion about it. This is it today. My approach to MVVM has been changing from the time when I was an eager student, through a devoted disciple, till today when I see it as a small tool in the toolbox of a XAML developer.

MVVM

The Model View View Model (MVVM) pattern is an architectural pattern used for separation of concerns in applications. It is popular in Microsoft’s XAML-based UI frameworks such as WPF, Silverlight or WinRT/XAML.

Read full article here

Stimulsoft Reports.WinRT : Generate Reports & Export To HTML & Excel


Stimulsoft Reports.WinRT : Generate Reports & Export To HTML & Excel
Stimulsoft Reports.WinRT. Design Great Reports in Windows 8 Today! Creating reports usually consists of two parts – creating reports in the report designer and delivering reports to end-users. For the first part we provide a good reports designer with the great set of tools to increase quality of finished reports, decrease time of reports creation and providing easy way to design reports for non-developer users. For the second part we are happy to propose the pure Metro reports viewer to display all possibilities of created reports to customers. Both parts are important and both parts must be perfect! This is why we recommend using Stimulsoft Reports.WinRT in your Metro apps, to make the both parts of the report rendering perfect! Designed for Touch Stimulsoft Reports for Metro is specially designed to be touched! We provide great touchable interface of the reports viewer. We make work with reports more comfortable and ergonomic

Check out Stimulsoft Navigator in Windows Store
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