Microsoft Startker Kit Video (Silverlight)
by Victor on Mar.13, 2012, under Custom ListBox, Microsoft, Silverlight, silverlight video tutorials, Starter Kit
Hello All,
A while back I recorded a Microsoft Starter Kit Video. The goal of the Starter Kit was to take the viewer through the development of a Silverlight project; in this series I show how to create a custom ListBox using a Circular Panel to show a series of ColorSwatches. You can watch the videos here:
1. Import XML Sample Data: http://tinyurl.com/7g54dbq
2. Styling the ListBox: http://tinyurl.com/7eko872
3. DataBinding to the Values of the XML Data Object: http://tinyurl.com/7f2ddww
4. Importing the Custom Circular Panel: http://tinyurl.com/83y9bc6
5. Creating the Details Balloon (like you see when comic book characters speak): http://tinyurl.com/6qxytrp
6. DataBinding for the Details Balloon: http://tinyurl.com/7d5s28j
7. Adding the Visual States for the Details Balloon: http://tinyurl.com/7e9hvpb
8. Adding the GoToState Behavior: http://tinyurl.com/72rwt4d
9. Adding the SendToTop Behavior: http://tinyurl.com/7gopnb8
10. Testing and Modifying the ColorSwatch Application: http://tinyurl.com/7pggon3
Note: this application was done in Silverlight 3 but everything I show how to do is the same in Silverlight 5.
You can download the Entire Series, the Demo Projects and Assets I used to create the application such as the Circular Panel resource here:
Enjoy! Victor Gaudioso, MVP
New Silverlight Video Tutorial: Importing Photoshop Files into Expression Blend
by Victor on Feb.12, 2012, under silverlight video tutorials
Hello All!
In this new video tutorial I show you how you can easily import Photoshop PSD files into Expression Blend. I show you how you can import the entire flattened image, called a Compatibility Image or you can import only certain Photoshop Layers. Enjoy:
Video: http://tinyurl.com/7agvz55
If you would like to be alerted of new video tutorials email me at wpfauthor at gmail dot com with the subject line “Silverlight Email List”
You can also follow me on Twitter to hear about new video tutorials. Just follow victorgaudioso
New Silverlight Video Tutorial: Make a Sliding Panel ALL in Blend (NO Code-Behind) with ONE Toggle Button
by Victor on Feb.12, 2012, under articles, Demos, LASLUG, Open Source, Open Source Code, Presentations, Silverlight, Silverlight 4 Video Tutorial, silverlight video tutorials, Source Code, tutorials
Hello All,
In my last two videos I showed how to make a sliding panel all in Blend, but I had to use two Buttons, one that would slide the panel in and one that would slide it out. In the Storyboards for SlideIn & SlideOut I just Collapsed the respective Button. I couldn’t figure out how to do it with only one Button.
So in my next video I showed how to slide the panel in/out with only one Button but had to switch over to Visual Studio and create a property called something like PanelIsShowing and then use that to run the appropriate Storyboard (Slide in or Slide out).
Then someone gave me the idea to use a Toggle Button. And then another reader asked that I make a new Video Tutorial showing how to use ONE (Toggle) Button and do it all in Blend.
So, that is exactly what I did. I:
1. Created a Rectangle for my sliding panel (and put sample data (ListBox) so it would have some content;
2. Created an Ellipse and turned it into a ToggleButton;
3. Edited the built in Checked and Unchecked Visual States of the newly created Toggle Button (made the arrow “>” change directions depending on if it was Checked or Unchecked.
4. Created ShowPanel and HidePanel Storyboards;
5. Used two ControlStoryboard Behaviors and added them to the ToggleButton;
6. On Checked I ran the HidePanel Storyboard;
7. On Unchecked I ran the ShowPanel Storyboard (I had to play with these options to get it exactly right but I got it working perfectly);
So there you have it a way to make a Sliding Panel using one ToggleButton ALL in Blend, using a custom ToggleButton with custom Checked and Unchecked Visual States, Storyboards and ControlStoryboard Actions.
The video is about 20 minutes but most of that was me trying to figure out what Storyboard needed to be hooked up to the Checked vs Unchecked States. Watching me make mistakes will help you to avoid them yourself, or so I hope 
So enjoy!
Video: http://tinyurl.com/6pbpbxe
Source Code: http://tinyurl.com/75ewtod
Victor Gaudioso
Founder, President, Organizer
Brought to you by the Los Angeles Silverlight Usergroup (LASLUG) www.laslug.com
A Question to you the reader…Need your feedback here to decide if I should do a Tutorial
by Victor on Feb.10, 2012, under articles, Demos, LASLUG, Los Angeles Silverlight User Group, mvp, MVP 2010, Open Source, Presentations, prizess, Silverlight, Silverlight 4 Video Tutorial, Silverlight 5, Silverlight 5 Tutorials, silverlight video tutorials, Source Code, tutorials
Hello Loyal Readers!
I started doing this all in Blend with no code-behind to show/hide panels in Silverlight but I used two identical Buttons, one to show the panel and one to hide it and made them either Visible or Collapsed depending on what state the panel was currently in.
My Good friend Todd Knudsen (Twitter: DataArtist) asked me if I could do it with just one Button.
I tried by turning the StoryBoards into Visual States, creating a DataStore and using Conditions. But as soon as I used the ChangeDataStoreValue Behavior (for a bool property named IsPanelShowing) it seemed to step on the toes of my conditionals and thus making it not work all together.
So my idea was to make a code-behind (C#) property whereby I kept the state of the panel in a Boolean and ran the correct StoryBoard based upon that. It worked perfectly!
A reader left a comment and said “why not just use a ToggoleButton”? Great idea! Why didn’t I think of it?!
So I think that will be my next tutorial maybe “How to use ONE Button and slide a panel in or out depending on its current state using the Visual State Manager, a DataStore, a Conditional and a ToggleButtton All in Blend!”
Sound like a good tutorial or are all of you done with sliding panels?
Let me know in the comments and your feedback will determine if I do the tutorial or not.
Thanks, Victor Gaudioso
PS: When you give your opinion please try and suggest a tutorial that has been giving your grief…I may just take it on and even mention you as the tutorial idea contributor. T
hank You All! Victor Gaudioso
AND, you can find my 70+ Silverlight/WPF/Windows Phone 7 step by step Video Tutorials here: http://wp.me/pWN5M-bu
Victor
Win a Free Month Pass to PluaralSight Online Training Courses from the MSFT Stack – Contest Closed
by Victor on Feb.09, 2012, under Awards, LASLUG, Los Angeles Silverlight User Group, prizess
UPDATE: Hello LASLUGers! Thank you all for you entries but effective immediately the contest has been canceled. But not to worry, I will think of other ways to reward you for your efforts. As for the tutorials I made them all easy and with step-by-step instructions with video.
So, if you are serious about your desire to learn Silverlight/ WPF / Windows Phone 7 then you are in the right place.
Thankfully, I been given the God given talent to take any subject, no matter how difficult the subject matter may seem, and make it understandable so much so that I can have my 16 year old daughter (Brianna), who has no desire to be a programmer whatsoever, to follow along the video tutorial and complete it perfectly. She is very smart though but if you are reading this than I think you must be as well.
On a side note, soon I’ll be implementing a rating system to all 70+ video tutorials in place whereby I rate the tutorial between 1 and 10; 10 being the most difficult and 1 being simple enough that my preschool son (Luke) would he able to complete it (I don’t know that his attention span could handle it but if it were he would be able to complete it).
So, if you do want to learn Silverlight (that uses XAML which will be included in the Windows 8 SDK (WinRT)) then please pick a tutorial and give it a go as what you learn here will be transferable to developing applications for Win8.
Once you see how easy your chosen tutorial is then you can pick another
If you are so inclined send me a URL to your published work or just zip up your entire solution and send it to me so I can take a look. I ask this because I love to see what my “students” have created. Some even get a little over zealous and make the app do things that the tutorial didn’t ask of them; that is when I get really excited as I know they (you) really understand what you are doing and can even go above and beyond what the tutorial requested of you!
Good luck and I cannot wait to see your completed work. If you choose to zip up the Solution then email it to me at my personal email address: wpfauthor at gmail dot com.
Victor Gaudioso
–
Hello All,
PluralSight, which does online training courses of MSFT technologies was kind enough to donate me a bunch of one month free trial activation codes. All you need to do to win is follow ANY of my Silverlight Video Tutorials, show it to me and you get the prize. You can find all 75-or so Video Tutorials here: http://www.windowspresentationfoundation.com/?p=712 Some are very short and most are very easy. So, pick a short easy one and complete it and email me at my personal address wpfauthor at gmail dot com and I will email you back with the code. Good luck! Victor
All of my Silverlight/WP7 Video Tutorials in One Place (Updated 02.11.11)
by Victor on Feb.05, 2012, under articles, Demos, MVP 2010, Open Source, Silverlight, tutorials, Windows Phone 7, WP7
This post was commented on by Microsoft’s own Scott Guthrie (the Gu) on 5.31.10
Hello All,
This is a post that keeps growing day by day so I need to update its postion to be at the top of my blog as the content grows. So, here it is again by popular demand:
75. Microsoft Starter Kit Video Series: Creating a Silverlight Color Swatch Application – a 10 part video series complete with sample project and assets (custom Behaviors, custom Panels, etc.): http://wp.me/pWN5M-fX
74. New Silverlight Video Tutorial: How to use a ToggleButton to create a Sliding Panel, ALL in Blend with ONLY ONE Button: http://wp.me/pWN5M-fy
73. New Silverlight Video Tutorial: How to make sliding panels that only uses one button (uses Code-Behind): http://wp.me/pWN5M-eN
72. New Silverlight Video Tutorial: How to make sliding panels ALL in Blend: http://tinyurl.com/6on9e8o
71. Windows Phone 7 (Mango): Making use of PageOrientations (Portrait, Landscape and PortraitOrLandscape): http://tinyurl.com/44lvduo
70. How to create a Rotating Banner: http://wp.me/pWN5M-dG (30 min). Demo: http://tinyurl.com/3ql6e8o
69. How to create a SL4 Fake Windowmthat can be dragged, expanded and collapsed: http://wp.me/pWN5M-dC
68. New Silverlight 5 Video Tutorial: How to create Implicit DataTemplates: http://www.windowspresentationfoundation.com/?p=820
67. How to use the FluidMove Behavior: http://wp.me/pWN5M-d2
66. Use Blend’s Sketchflow Animation panel to create a Sketchflow animation to show users how to use your application: http://wp.me/pWN5M-cP
65. Use the LocalMessageSender/Receiver to send messages accross UserControls or even across Silverlight applications: http://wp.me/pWN5M-cC
64. Create a Data Store in Blend w Conditional Behaviors (GotoStateAction/SetDataStoreValueAction) & VSM: http://wp.me/pWN5M-ct
63. Learn how to use the Windows Phone 7 Turnstyle Control from Codeplex (13 min): http://wp.me/pWN5M-ca
62. How to make a Multi-Touch Windows Phone 7 Silverilght 4 application (6 min): http://wp.me/pWN5M-c5
61. How to build a Windows Phone 7 browser page with a WebBrowser control (if you have taken the 5 part tutorial consider this part 6):
http://wp.me/pWN5M-bU
60. Part 5: how to use the CaptureCameraTask to take an image from a menyItem btn:
http://wp.me/pWN5M-bO (Source Code: http://tinyurl.com/36lyfs7)
59. Part 4: Compose and send an email from a MenuItem: http://wp.me/pWN5M-bI
58. Part 3: Make a Phone call from a MenuItem: http://wp.me/pWN5M-bD
57: Part 2: Add new pages when the ApplicationBarIconButtons are clicked: http://wp.me/pWN5M-bp
56. Part 1: How to build a Windows Phone 7 (WP7) appliaction with an ApplicationBar complete with IconButtons and MenuItems: http://tinyurl.com/352fm4u
55. How to use a Behavior to fire methods from objects in Styles: http://tinyurl.com/33e444h
54. How to style a Silverlight HyperLink Button: http://tinyurl.com/365ubrv
53. How to create a ListBox with a static Image background: http://wp.me/pWN5M-aP
52. How to stream video to iPhone/Pad devices using IIS7 and HTML5: http://www.windowspresentationfoundation.com/?p=653
51. Use Silverlight to create Windows Phone 7 Series applications: http://wp.me/pWN5M-a0
50. How to do Hit Detection (HitTesting) in Silverlight based on Andy Beaulieu’s technique: http://tinyurl.com/2bgbp7s
49. How to add multiple BitmapEffects to one object in Silverlight: Post
48. How to build a Slider with a ToolTip that follows the thumb button and displays the value of the Slider: Post
47. How to build your very own TutorialCam like I use in my video tutorials! Post
46. Fire one of two Visual States based on the value of a Boolean variable: Post
45. How to add Fast Forward to the Silverlight MediaElement: Post
44. Create a custom ToolTip with a Delay: Post
43. Create a Silverlight Paging Systems to Load Pages on the Fly: Post
42. Create a Slide In/Out Navigation Panel: Post
41. How to use Joe Stegman’s PngEncoder to save an image from your Silverlight application: Post
40. How to create complex gradients: Post
39. My Blend IDE series – Part 1 – the Blend Toolbar: Blend1
38. My Learn Blend IDE series Part 2 – Layout Controls and User Input Controls: Blend2
37. My Learn Blend IDE series Part 3 – The Properties, Projects and Data panels: Blend3
36. My Learn Blend IDE series Part 4 – The Objects & Timeline and States panels: Blend4
35. My Learn Blend IDE series Part 5 – Blend’s Animation Workspace – Everything you need to know to create Storyboard Animations – Blend5
34. How to make a 3 column ListBox in Silverlight: Post
33. How to read XML into Silverlight and turn it into Native Silverlight Objects: Post
32. Create a default Silverlight 4 Out Of Browser app that allows you to create new OOB apps in mere seconds: Post
31. How to make a forever scrolling Silverligh banner: Post
30. How to create a Silverlight Color Resource in a ResourceDictionary: Post
29. How to make an Out of the Browser SL4 Web Browser Applicaiton: Post
28. Use the new Silverlight 4 Webcam API to create a cool webcam app that even let’s you save images to your hard drive: Post
27. Use the new Silverlight 4 COM API to make an Out of the Browser application that is able to open a MS Word document: Post
26. Learn Silverlight with this new RefCard that I developed Post
25. Create a Functioning Login UserControl: Post
24. Use the FarseerPhysics Library to create a Ragdoll with simulated Physics: Post
23. Create a Sortable ObservableCollection: Post
22. Create a Silverlight Ragdoll with Simulated Physics: Post
21. How to create a functioning Silverlight Login UserControl: Post
20. How to create a Silverlight Timer using the DispatcherTimer class: Post
19. How to create custom RoutedEvents in Silverlight using Andrew Whiddett’s (IdentityMine) Eventing assembly reference: Post
18. Use the Silverlight Toolkit’s WrapPanel to create a ListBox that displays three rows of Data: Post
17. Create a Silverlight custom Silder: Post
16. How to create a Visual Tree Helper to locate FrameworkElements in the Visual Tree: Post
15. Using DataBinding to control the Visibility of any Silverlight Object using Blend and Visual Studio: Post
14. How to create a complete Sketchflow Prototype in Silverlight: Post
13. Creating a Custom Silverlight Button Just for Designers (using linear and radial gradients, the gradient tool and opacity masks): Post
12. Creating a Custom Silverlight Button: Post
11. Creating a Storyboard Helper Class: Post
10. Importing Photoshop PSD files into Expression Blend 3:
http://wp.me/pWN5M-1n
9. Creating Morphing Vector Path Storyboards in Blend
Post
8. Re-Creating a Metallic Logo in Vector using Blend 3
Post
7. Creating Timed Storyboard Animations
Post
6. Using TemplateBinding to Replace a ContentPresenter in a Silverlight Button
Post
5. Working with Data in BLend 3
Post
4. Silverlight 3 Behavior Tutorial Video
Post
3. This Tutorial will teach you how to create a Card Flipping Animation!
Post
2. Observable Collection Tutorial
http://is.gd/3ajLK
1. Silverlight Extended Drag and Drop Behavior:
Post
Enjoy! Victor
How to Make Sliding Panels with Only One Button (Using Code-Behind (C#)
by Victor on Feb.04, 2012, under articles, Demos, LASLUG
In my last tutorial I showed you how to make a sliding panel (#72: http://wp.me/pWN5M-bu or direct URL: http://wp.me/pWN5M-eG). What I did was to have two identical buttons, one to slide the panel in and one to slide it out. I just made the appropriate one collapsed when the user clicked one. I did this all in Blend using the ControlStoryboard Behavior.
But my good friend Todd Knudsen challenged me over Twitter to make it all work using only one Button. I tried using the DataStore, changed all Storyboards to Visual States and using the ChangeDataStoreVale Action. No matter what I tried I could not get it to work. So I decided I would have to use code-behind (C#) in this situation and that is what I show how to do int his quick video. So take a look and enjoy!
Victor
Video: http://tinyurl.com/6lwoxpx
Source: http://tinyurl.com/86quctt
PS: If anyone can help show me how to do this all in Blend, without having to use code, please shoot me an email at wpfauthor at gmail dot com. Thanks, Victor
New Silverlight Video Tutorial: How to make Sliding Panels (All In Blend!)
by Victor on Feb.02, 2012, under Uncategorized
In this short, 14 minute video I show you how to make a panel that slides off and onto the page when you cilck the expand/collapse Button. This is in direct response to the call I made for tutorial ideas. There is a way to make this Buttonless, so if you are interested in seeing how to do that drop me a line at wpfauthor at gmail dot com.
Thanks! And Enjoy! Victor Gaudioso
URL: http://tinyurl.com/6on9e8o
First Video: (10 min): http://tinyurl.com/7ons4sq
Second Video (4 min): http://tinyurl.com/7ozwmy4
Source Code: http://tinyurl.com/7qyn6mn
If you would like to be part of my personal email list whereby you get informed first of new tutorials then email me at wpfauthor at gmail dot com. And you can follow me on twitter at victorgaudioso
Please send me ideas for tutorials and I will make them for you.
Thanks, Victor
New Silverlight/Windows Phone 7/Mango Video Tutorial: Working with Phone’s Video Feed
by Victor on Oct.29, 2011, under Demos, Mango, tutorials, Windows Phone 7 Applications, WP7
Hello All!
In this 13 minute video I show you how to make use of the WP7 Phone’s video feed by using a VideoBrush to Brush the video feed onto a Rectangle and then use a Behavior to make it draggable.
Video: http://tinyurl.com/6bl7x7b
Source Code: http://tinyurl.com/3u3rren
Enjoy! Victor Gaudioso (twitter: victorgaudioso)
New Silverilght Windows Phone 7 (Mango) Video Tutorial: PageOrientation
by Victor on Oct.27, 2011, under Mango, Windows Phone 7, Windows Phone 7 Applications, WP7
Hello All,
In this video I show you how to:
1. Create an application bar with Menu Items for Portrait, Landscape and PortraitOrLandscape Page Orientations.
2. Create an Event Handler for OnOrientationChanged
3. In the above Event Handler we set the PageOrientation for the page using a Switch statement
4. Add an image and use the Windows Phone 7 (WP7) emulator to change the page orientation and see how the different PageOrientations layout the objects in the Visual Tree
5. Add a TextBlock that is Data Bound to the Supported Page Orientation of the page
Video: http://windowspresentationfoundation.com/Tutorials/WP7PageOrientation/
Source: http://windowspresentationfoundation.com/Tutorials/WP7PageOrientation/PageOrientationDemo_01.zip
Enjoy and look for more WP7 Mango Video Tutorials coming soon!
Victor Gaudioso
Some Images from my Trip to MIX10 in Las Vegas (March 15-17, 2010)
by Victor on Mar.17, 2010, under MIX 2010
Victor Gaudioso and Jared Potter at MIX10
Jarred Potter
Victor Gaudioso and Laurant Bugnion at MIX10
Laurant Bignion
Victor Gaudioso and Warren Wilbee at MIX10
Warren Wilbee
Victor Gaudioso and Joe McBride (my new tech editor) at MIX10
Joe McBride
Dave Campbell
Matthias Shapiro
John Papa
The Los Angeles Silverlight Usergorup will be Streaming its March Meeting LIVE in Silverlight – Tonight!
by Victor on Mar.23, 2010, under Los Angeles Silverlight User Group, Presentations, Silverlight 4 Video Tutorial, silverlight video tutorials
UPDATE: Here is just the first part of my presentation: http://www.windowspresentationfoundation.com/LASLUG/March/MarchMeeting.wmv
Here is Michael Washington’s presentation on how to use MVVM to build a Silverlight File Manager: http://www.windowspresentationfoundation.com/LASLUG/March/LiveStream03242010.wmv
Hello All!
For the first time in its short history the LA Silverlight Usergroup will be streaming its meeting LIVE in Silverlight. Please log on at 6:45pm PST and watch our meeting Live!
Tonight Michael Washington MSFT MVP will show how to build a Silverlight FileManger
After that I, Victor Gaudioso, Co-Founder of LA Silverlight Usergroup and MSFT MSA will talk about, what else? How to do Live Streaming in Silverlight!
The URL for this event is: http://windowspresentationfoundation.com/LASLUG/March/
Make sure and joing us and leave any comments regarding the meeting on this blog post or on our usergroup website, www.laslug.com.
Also, if you attend the meeting we will have what we call “Hello Mom!” time where you can get on the camera and say hello to whomever you like. Just keep it clean. So be sure to tell your loved ones you are going to be at the on the VCast of the LA SL Usergroup meeting tonight and come on down!
See You There! Victor
New Silverlight/Blend Refcard!
by Victor on Mar.29, 2010, under articles, Open Source Code, REFCARDZ, tutorials
Hello All,
DZone has something called REFCARDZ that help you to get started in any programming platform. They needed a series that were dedicated to help people learn Expression Blend and Silverlight. You can do the math and guess who they approached to do this; Yep they ASKED ME! So, I did my first one for them and today it just went LIVE. So, check it out (It’s a FREE DOWNLOAD):
http://refcardz.dzone.com/refcardz/getting-started-silverlight?oid=hom20371
Please provide comments here!
Victor
The New Microsoft MVPs (Most Valuable Professional) Were Just Announced
by Victor on Mar.31, 2010, under Uncategorized
Hello All,
Tonight (March 31st, 2010) Microsoft announced their new highly coveted MVP award recipients. MVP stands for Most Valuable Professional and it is a pretty big deal in the technology space. And tonight they announced the three newest awardees and I was one of them! Yes, you read correctly, I am now a Microsoft Expression Blend MVP!
So, I would like to say thank you to all of those who supported me, read my books, tutorials and articles. If it were not for you I would not be one of the few Blend MVPs in the world.
And Congrats to the other two newly awarded MVPs: Adam Grocholski (@agrocholski) and Colin Blair (@slcolinblair).
You can read all about what it is to be an MVP here: http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Thanks, Victor
New Video Tutorial: How to Use a Behavior to Fire Methods from Objects in Styles
by Victor on Apr.03, 2010, under silverlight video tutorials, tutorials
Hello All!
Recently I had a developer ask me how he could fire an event from the CheckBox that I had put in the Style of the UserControl I gave him.
I thought about it and, the problem is that objects in a Style are not really part of the Visual Tree until the Style is attached at runtime.
After a lot of thought and many failures I developed a Behavior (IN CODE) that can be attached to objects in or out of Styles that allows you to specify what Method they need to fire. This Behavior uses Reflection to find and invoke the specificed method.
I made a video tutorial to show you how to do it too!
Enjoy!
Victor Gaudioso
Video: http://tinyurl.com/yhp96zr
My Microsoft MVP Award!
by Victor on Apr.06, 2010, under Awards, MVP 2010
My MVP Award just came in the mail and it did not dissapoint. There was a really nice plaque, a glass award, an MVP ID card and an MVP pin. Take a look at the video of me opening my award!
New Silverlight Video Tutorial: How to Create Gradients
by Victor on Apr.10, 2010, under Demos, mvp, tutorials
Hello All!
In doing a lot of speaking engagements I get asked lots of Silverlight questions. From these questions I have noticed a pattern emerging whereby many people have a terrible time working with gradients. Of course the real trick, as is with anything, is practice but before one can start to practice they have to understand the tools of the trade. So, in this short, 10 minute video I show you how to duplicate a somewhat complex gradient while along the way explaining the tools required to do the job; namely, the Gradient tool, the color palette and the Gradient Eyedropper tools.
With this video and a little practice you too will be able to duplicate the most complex of gradients all on your own!
So, roll up your sleeves, fire up Expression Blend and Get To It!
http://www.windowspresentationfoundation.com/Tutorials/Gradients/
I have Joined TechPath as a Senior UX Evangelist
by Victor on Apr.30, 2010, under Uncategorized
I have decided to accept a position as a Senior UX Evanglist developing WPF and Silverlight with TechPath.
TechPath, a Microsoft Managed and Gold Certified Partner is an expert in Microsoft technologies. TechPath aids a host of different Fortune 500 companies decide what MSFT technology best meets their specific needs and then aids them in implementing that technology. Some of these clients are, but not limited to: Microsoft, Disney, Universal, Viacom among others.
I am proud to join TechPath as their principal Silverlight UI expert!
New Silverlight Video Tutorial: How to Save an Image in Your Silverlight Applications
by Victor on May.01, 2010, under Demos, MVP 2010, Open Source Code, Silverlight 4 Video Tutorial, tutorials, Uncategorized
Hello All,
I get asked this question probably more than most and that is, how can I save an image to my hard drive from my Silverlight applications. Well the answer is, I use Joe Stegman’s PngEncoder.cs to do the job. It works so well and you can implement it in about 5 minutes. Don’t believe me? Watch this 7 minute video where I show you how to create a new Silverlight application, add an image to it, add two class files and one method and then save an image right from my Silverlight application.
Video: http://tinyurl.com/34b6lqp
Source Files:
The SaveTheImage Method (text file) http://tinyurl.com/34xu9ms
My PhotoboothApp http://tinyurl.com/3957u55
The PngEncoder.cs file: http://tinyurl.com/28u26mq
The EditiableImage.cs file: http://tinyurl.com/2uuhvrn
New Silverlight Video Tutorial: How to Create a ToolTip with a Delay
by Victor on May.12, 2010, under articles, Codeplex Projects, MVP 2010, Open Source Code, Silverlight 4 Video Tutorial, silverlight video tutorials, tutorials, Uncategorized
Have you ever needed to have your Silverlight Object’s ToolTip appear after a delay? Say, two seconds? Well, if you have done this in WPF you know that it is quite easy but not so for Silverlight. Until Microsoft adds that property we are just out of luck, or are we?
Well, after some research I found THIS project on CodePlex called the Advanced ToolTip project. The author, someone named XavierDecoster has extended the ToolTipService class and added a property called InitialDelay that sets the time before the ToolTip will appear and one called DelayTime that will set how long the ToolTip shows before it disappears. AWESOME!
So, I made a short, 7 minute video tutorial that shows you how to use this awesome ToolTipService.
Watch the video here: http://tinyurl.com/2bbklrk
Download my source here (the Silverlight.Controls.dll can be found in it): http://tinyurl.com/23pxxzw
Checkout my Interview with Microsoft's Murray Gordon at MIX 10
by Victor on May.13, 2010, under Interviews, MIX 2010, MVP 2010, Uncategorized
I sat down and talked Silverlight 4 with Murray Gordon at MIX 10. Check out the interview here:
New Silverlight Video Tutorial: How to Create Fast Forward for the MediaElement
by Victor on May.15, 2010, under articles, Demos, mvp, Open Source Code, Silverlight 4 Video Tutorial, silverlight video tutorials
Hello All!
As you probably already know there is no “built-in” way to accomplish Fast Forward with the Silverlight MediaElement. So, in this 24 minute video I show you how to:
1. Create a new Silverlight application;
2. Add a MediaElement, a Fast Forward Button and a TextBlock for the video’s position information;
3. Create a PlayState Enum and a DispatcherTimer
4. Then on click of the button I show you how to a. Make the video Fast Forward at 1x speed and b. click it again for 2x speed.
If you are doing video this is a must for any self-respecting video player!
Enjoy!
Video: http://tinyurl.com/3933h8t
Demo (see the Fast Forward button in action here): http://tinyurl.com/32kfu8q
Download my Source Code: http://tinyurl.com/265n5he
(My Source code is not downloading well for me and a few others, if that is the case Michael Washington, MVP has hosted the source on his servers: download here: http://tinyurl.com/2dwgsnm) Thank you Michael
New Silverlight Video Tutorial: How to Fire a Visual State based upon the value of a Boolean Variable
by Victor on May.20, 2010, under Demos, mvp, Open Source Code, Silverlight 4 Video Tutorial, silverlight video tutorials, tutorials
Hello All!
In this short 7.44 minute video I show you how you can, with one line of C# code fire one of two Visual States based upon the value of a Boolean variable, one if it is true or another one if it is false. This is much easier than evaluating the variable yourself and then firing each VisualState manually. Enjoy!
Video: http://tinyurl.com/2wj7fvu
My Source Code: http://tinyurl.com/36mro2k
New Silverlight Video Tutorial: How to Build Your Very Own TutorialCam
by Victor on May.23, 2010, under articles, Demos, mvp, Open Source Code, Presentations, Silverlight 4 Video Tutorial, silverlight video tutorials
Hello All!
IMPORTANT: Watching the video I see I said “I am going to Undo that…” To Undo in Blend hit Control+Z
I have been asked repeatedly for the source code for the camera application I use to show myself when filming Silverlight video tutorials. Well, I decided to make a tutorial on how to build your very own TutorialCam (shown above). I takes about 27 minutes but is much easier than you would think. There are a lot of little things that you need to do but it is fun and when you are done you will be ready to make your very own Silverlight video tutorials just like me and possibly get MSFT MVP along the way.
Enjoy!
Victor
Video: http://tinyurl.com/2um4w4a
Source Code: http://tinyurl.com/28dw5ok
My June and July 2010 Speaking Schedule
by Victor on May.24, 2010, under Guest Speaker, Los Angeles Silverlight User Group, mvp, MVP 2010, Open Source Code, Presentations, silverlight video tutorials
Hello All,
As always I like to keep you all informed of where/when you can come and see me present on Silverlight. So, here is my current speaking schedule for the months of June and July 2010. Please note that some of these dates are tentative and subject to change. If they are tentative I will mention it. Thank You and I Hope to see some of you at these events. Be sure to come up and say hello if you do come!
Sat. June 19, 2010: Book signing/Silverlight 4 presentation – The Microsoft Store – Mission Viejo, CA:
This event is sponsored by Microsoft, Apress and DevExpress and held at the Microsoft store in Mission Viejo, CA. There will be food and lots of free stuff. DevExpress will be giving away free copies of their very popular Silverlight Controls like the AgDataGrid Suite. Apress, will of course be giving away books on Silverlight, WPF and .NET development. I am sure there will also be free copies of my last book, Foundation Blend 3 with Silverlight and possibly even advance copies of my next book Foundation Blend 4 with Silverlight 4. I will also be signing books and then doing a presentation right on stage. Will be showing off some new features of Silverlight 4 including but not limited to the Webcam and COM Interop APIs!
Sat. June 26: SoCal Code Camp – San Diego, CA
SoCal Code Camp is a place for developers to come and learn from their peers. I will be speaking on new Features of Silverlight 4, but this time with an emphasis on building Out Of Browser applications. Join me as I build right on stage an OOB Chromless application with Elevated trust. I am going to show you how to build the TutorialCam that I use on all of my free Silverlight video tutorials.
Friday July 23 – RIAPaloosa 3 – Chicago at the Illinos Technology Association:
RIAPALOOZA is a community-driven, non-profit, day-long event for professionals who design, develop, customize, maintain and maximize business value using rich platforms like Flash, Silverlight and HTML5. Join me as I present on Building RIAs without writing code with Silverlight 4 (session link coming soon). During this session I am going to show how to build Silverlight games using the Farsser Physics Library. More specifically, I am going to show how to build the popular 80′s game Asteroids all without writing a single line of code!
Wed. June 16 – Los Angeles Silverlight Usergroup – June Meeting
The Los Angeles Silverlight usergroup is a group created by myself and Jason Campbell so that interaction designers and developers can come together to learn about Silverlight, Expression and creating rich internet applications. Join us for some free food, free prizes and some great presentations. I say that because Yours Truly is going to present at this meeting and show how to develop Windows 7 Mobile applications using Silverlight! For this event Microsoft has sent me some Win7 Mobile swag that you’ll just love to have and I will love to be giving away!
New Silverlight Video Tutorial: How to create a Slider with a ToolTip that shows the Value of the Slider
by Victor on May.24, 2010, under articles, Demos, mvp, Open Source Code, Silverlight 4 Video Tutorial, silverlight video tutorials, tutorials
Hello All!
Recently I was asked to make a ToolTip that now only followed the Thumb of the Slider but also showed the value of what the slider was (see image above). I thought about this and I came up with a pretty quick solution. There may be other ways to do it but watch the short 1o minute video to see how I did it.
See it in action: http://tinyurl.com/39mbakt
Video: http://tinyurl.com/2wjzcps
Source Code: http://tinyurl.com/2wxln7j
New Speaking Event: Microsoft Book Signing/Silverlight 4 Presentation
by Victor on May.26, 2010, under Books, Demos, Guest Speaker, Los Angeles Silverlight User Group, Open Source Code, Presentations, Silverlight 4 Video Tutorial
Hello All!
On Saturday June 19th, 2010 from 7:00 to 9:00 pm (PST) I will be signing copies of my latest book Foundation Blend 3 with Silverlight and presenting/demoing the new features of Silverlight 4 at the Microsoft Store in Mission Viejo, California!
Join me as I show how to use the new Webcam and COM APIs, show how to build Out-Of-Browser (OOB) Silverlight applications and talk about Sketchflow Prototyping with Silverlight.
There will be plenty of prizes and give-aways from our sponsors. Microsoft will be giving away copies of the Expression Blend Suite, Apress will be giving away some of its most popular book titles based on .NET technologies and finally DevExpress will be giving away copies of its popular Silverlight Tools.
Join us for an evening of book signing, food and drinks, presentations and everything Silverlight! attendance is free but RSVP as space is limited.
See you there!
Just some of the free give-aways from DevExpress:
Just some of the free give-away prizes from DevExpress.
Sponsored By:
Los Angeles Silverlight Usergroup Meeting: Presenting Windows Phone 7 – Event-In-a-Box – June 16, 2010
by Victor on May.26, 2010, under Demos, Guest Speaker, Los Angeles Silverlight User Group, mvp, Open Source Code, Presentations, Windows Phone 7
Hello All!
The June 16th Los Angeles Silvelright Usergroup meeting is going to be a very special one. Not only will one of the foremost experts in the world, Jason Cook, present on Behaviors but yours truly will present on Windows Phone 7!
Microsoft has sent me a special materials dubbed Event-In-a-Box. This special promotional material includes a pre-defined training regime as well as some pretty cool stuff to give away! There will be free shirts, mobile cases, USB drives and Window-Clings!
Make sure and join the LA Silverlight Usergroup if you have not done so already and attend our June 16th meeting! You can join and get meeting details at www.laslug.com
See you there!
New Silverlight Video Tutorial: How to Add Multiple BitmapEffects to One Object
by Victor on May.28, 2010, under Silverlight 4 Video Tutorial, silverlight video tutorials, tutorials
In response to my Twitter buddy Funwithcoding I made this post: In Silverlight you can only add one BitmapEffect (Blur or DropShadow) to one object at a time. But these effects are passed down to their child objects (inheritance). For that reason we can use a little trick and apply multiple effects to one object (or so it appears). In this Short two minute video I show you how:
An object with a DropShadow and Blur effect:
Enjoy
New Silveright Video Tutorial: How to Do Hit Detection
by Victor on Jun.06, 2010, under Demos, Open Source Code, Silverlight 4 Video Tutorial, silverlight video tutorials, tutorials, Uncategorized
Hello All,
I was playing around and making a Silverlight game and I realized I needed to do hit detection, that is, I need to know when one object hits another. After some searching I came accross Andy Beaulieu’s blog where he writes about how to do it in a very effective way. I show how to implement Andy’s solution in this new video.
Video:
http://tinyurl.com/24wzh5m
Source:
http://tinyurl.com/2bmharb
See it in action:
http://tinyurl.com/24ytd9a
Andy’s Post:
http://tinyurl.com/mroklb
New Silverlight Video Tutorial: Use Silverlight to Develop your First Windows Phone 7 Series Application
by Victor on Jun.19, 2010, under Demos, Open Source Code, Silverlight 4 Video Tutorial, silverlight video tutorials
Hello All!
In this 20 minute video I show you how to get all of the tools you need to develop Window Phone 7 Series applications using Silverlight. I then show you how to create a Windows Phone application that shows you how to:
1. Create a Homepage with a logo;
2. Add an Application Bar to the Homepage;
3. Add two menu items;
4. Create two new application Pages;
4. Have the two menu items navigate to the new pages;
5. Add a Web Browser control to the page;
6. Add a TextBox and Button to the page;
7. Add an event handler to the Button;
8. Have the Web Browser navigate to the URL in the TextBox.
So, roll up your sleeves and learn how to develop Windows Phone 7 Series applications using Silverlight!
Video: http://tinyurl.com/2u9sml4
Source: http://tinyurl.com/2dmt9ds
Enjoy! Victor
The Book Signing / Silverlight Demo at the Microsoft Store was a Hit!
by Victor on Jun.20, 2010, under Demos, Guest Speaker, Microsoft Store, Presentations, Windows Phone 7
Victor Gaudioso signing a copy of his book at the Microsoft store in Mission Viejo, CA
Hello All!
Lastnight Microsoft, DevExpress, Apress and Friends of ED put on an event where I signed books and presented the new features of Silverlight 4. This was a trial run for developer presentations at the Mission Viejo Microsoft store and it was a HUGE success! We had about 40 attendees and they all walked away happy with an greater understanding of Silveright and at the very least a giftbag. One attendee even walked away with a copy of Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate and a subscription to MSDN! Others won books, DevExpress software, copies of Expression Studio and much more!
Below are some videos of the event:
Setting up: http://tinyurl.com/27bao6o
Intro and Presentation: http://tinyurl.com/2etpd3u
More to come!
Thanks to all of those who attended! Victor
Checkout my Interview with Bytes on MSDN (Microsoft)
by Victor on Jun.28, 2010, under Interviews, Silverlight
Hello All!
I sat down with Tim Huckaby at MIX10 and talked about what else? Silverlight of course! This was a cool interview with a real set, two cameras and even TV makeup! Take a look, I had some really interesting things to say.
How to Stream Video to your Apple Device (iPhone/Pad) in Five Minutes
by Victor on Jul.13, 2010, under Demos, Open Source, tutorials
Hello All,
In this short, 5 minute video I show you how to stream adaptive video to your iPhone or iPad device using IIS7 and HTML5. This article asumes you have an IIS7 website setup on your local machine and know how to get to it: http://LocalHost/ It also assumes you have Expression Encoder 4 Pro. So, if you have these then let’s get busy and stream some video to your Apple devices!
Video: http://tinyurl.com/365aecg
HTML5 Source Code: http://windowspresentationfoundation.com/Tutorials/AppleStreaming/iPhone.txt (in IE click View Source).
Enjoy!
Speaking at RIAPalooza in Chicago
by Victor on Jul.26, 2010, under Demos, Guest Speaker, mvp, Open Source Code, Presentations, Silverlight
Hello All!
This weekend (7.23.10) I was invited to speak at RIAPalooza, a one-day conference dedicated to building Rich Internet Applications (RIAs). During my presentation I showed how to build Silverlight applications without writing any code whatsoever. In doing so I introduced and showed off Silverlight Behaviors. I then used the Farseer Physics Engine to build a very simple version of Asteroids complete with simulated physics, a ship that could move and rotate using the arrow keys and a few asteroids that when hit would destroy your ship. I then showed how to build the Slide to Unlock control that is used on many smartphones these days. This was especially cool because I had a touch screen laptop running touch-enabled Windows 7.
After my presentation I then participated in a speaker panel that was addressing questions, topics, etc proposed by the audience. We talked about some very cool subjects including HTML5vs Plugins.
A very good time was had by all and I look forward to returnining next year for RIAPalooza 4. If you missed this year I suggest you make plans to attend next year as it was an enlightening experience. Also, I suggest you do as I did and stay the entire weekend and visit Chicago as it is a wonderful city. I also suggest that you take in two restaurants, Gibbson’s Steakhouse and then Joe’s Steak and Seafood Stone Crab House. Both had simply amazing food and an atmosphere that was crazy-fun! During the day make sure and checkout the Navy Pier for boat rides, shopping, and a stain glass museum to die for.
Getting back to RIAPalooza, you can view my presentation by clicking the link below:
Video NowAvailalbe
I will be posting the Source code for the two sample Silverlight applications I developed on stage in about 3 hours.
Victor
New SIlverilght Video Tutorial: How to Create a ListBox with a Static Background
by Victor on Jul.26, 2010, under articles, Demos, mvp, Open Source Code, Presentations, Silverlight 4 Video Tutorial, silverlight video tutorials
Someone from my Silverlight Email List emailed me and told me that he had been struggling trying to create a ListBox with a static background image. So, I made this short, 3 mintue tutorial I show you how to do it all in Blend. So, if you need a ListBox with a background image then watch the video located here:
Download the Source Here
Enjoy! Victor
PS: To join my Silverlight Email List email me at wpfauthor at gmail dot com with the subject line Silverlight Email List. I never advertise or share your email address with anyone.
Sharing in the Light – I dive into Silverlight Development with Blend – Two day event in Dallas Sept. 25 & 26
by Victor on Sep.03, 2010, under Open Source Code, Presentations, Silverlight, Windows Phone 7
Hello All,
I am participating in a two day event in Dallas on Sept. 25 & 26 where I teach an intense course on how to develop in Silverlight using Blend and Visual Studio. Join me in this hands-on, lab style event where I show how to develop Silverlight applications using Blend and Visual Studio.
The basic outline for both days will contain the following:
- Blend IDE
- Objects and Timelines
- Storyboards
- Drawing
- Event Handling
- Sample Data
- Data binding
- Sketchflow
- Debugging with VS 2010
- Visual State Manager
- Using reference assemblies
- New Features of Silverlight 4
- Webcam and COM API’s
You can expect to learn how to create appearing/disappearing navigation bars, how to use the Farseer Physics Engine to build Astroids and much much more!!
Go here to register for the event: http://sharingthelight.eventbrite.com/
I would like to thank:
Teresa Burger @t_burger http://geekswithblogs.net/tburger/ for organizing the event;
@Improving http://improvingenterprises.com/ and Shawn Weisfild @shawnweisfeld www.shawnweisfeld.com for helping to create awareness about the event!
Windows Phone 7 Developer Launch: Jump Start your Mobile Development – I will be holding Session 3!
by Victor on Sep.07, 2010, under Guest Speaker, Presentations, Silverlight, tutorials, Windows Phone 7
Hello All,
I am sure you have heard that Microsoft is releasing a new mobile phone operating system called Windows Phone 7. Well, did you know that if you know how to develop in Silverlight using Blend and Visual Studio then you already know how to develop Windows Phone 7 Applications? Well you do and Microsoft is holding a few awesome events to show you how. And I will be presenting at one of those sessions!
I will be holding Session 3: Supercharge Your Windows Phone 7 Apps with Microsoft Silverlight at the Sept. 29-30 (FYI: my session is on the 29th) event in Orange County, CA! In this session I am going to show how to build Windows Phone 7 applications with Silverlight. More specifically I will show the following:
1. The Blend Integrated Development Environment: Panels, the Toolbar, Design v Animation views, the Timeline, built-in controls such as the ListBox and Button controls, Content controls such as the Grid and Canvas and much more;
2. How to take everything you have learned and build a WP7 application with a custom, reusable UserControl.
If you would like to attend this totally FREE and awesome two-day event in Orange County, CA you can do so here:
There are also Windows Phone 7 Launch Events in Mountain View and San Francisco; to read about and register for them, go here: http://tinyurl.com/2f56uos
Thanks and I hope to see you there!
Victor
An Amazing Review of my new Silverlight 4 Book
by Victor on Oct.02, 2010, under Books, Reviews, Silverlight
Hello All!
A reader named Peter Henry wrote an awesome review of my new Silverlight 4 book on his blog. Its funny, the way he describes my writing style is EXACTLY what I was shooting for; that is, as if I were right over your shoulder telling you step by step how to develop in Silverlight using Blend and Visual Studio. Here is his review, you can also read it here: http://www.pchenry.com/Home/tabid/36/EntryID/343/Default.aspx
A few weeks ago, I saw a message on Twitter asking people to reply to get a free book. Now, usually I disregard those emails/phone calls/unsolicited advancements with utter and complete contempt (too polite? LOL) but this time around I thought I might read this a bit further.
The posting was from Simon Yu from apress.com, he was asking for reviewers for an upcoming Expression Blend book. Interesting. I was familiar with the previous book (Expression Blend 3) since Sylvain had bought one last year and I was kind of envious he was learning WPF and Expression Blend with this book. Ya, it looked that impressive when I leafed through it.
But then……..life got busy, work got busy…..life just happened…..you probably know what I mean right? Well, fast forward to Simon’s posting and I thought, eeehhhhh……what’s the worst that can happen? Oh ya, he could be bogus and I get spammed forever? AAAAAHHHHH let’s try it out, could be interesting?
As I would say to Bert lately, “long story short”, I got the book in the mail (thank you very much Simon!) and I have to tell ya, WOW!!!!!!!!!!!! VERY COOL! I guess in the last year, I’ve kind of gotten a bit gun-shy with the whole WPF/XAML/Blend thing. Why? Not quite sure why actually…..just that there’s A LOT to bite off to get something done. Layout managers, data binding, POCOs or EF, WCF or web services, resources, triggers, behaviours, then there’s the whole XAML and Blend thing…..maybe you’re where I am? You feeling a bit OVERWHELMED with all that?
Well, this is where this book comes into play. I said to myself, with WP7 coming out, I’m getting on that band wagon and I’m going to do WPF this time! Yes siree Bob! Who’s Bob? I don’t know, that’s the expression! Anyways, here are my first impressions!
- Who’ the book aimed at? People like me! COOL!
- It’s NOT 800 pages!
- It reads less like MSDN and more like a book that keeps you excited! Sorry MSDN, no slight against you, when I goto you, I want info HERE AND NOW, nothing pretty, nothing fancy, but when I’m reading about something brand new, I need a bit of spoon feeding and a bit of excitement to keep me interested.
- “LOTS of pretty pictures!” Which is good for a visual designer tool that Blend is! Ironic eh? Lots of sites, even books don’t have pictures, WTF? The HUGE benefit of pictures is I can see IMMEDIATELY when I’m begining to deviate away from the lesson and starting to get lost. Not here!
- Juicy info is had right away, not half way through the book. Ever read a Tom Clancy book? Doesn’t matter which one, they ALL, only get interesting half way through. Boooooooring! Not with this book!
- Yes, I did get the book for free, but NO I’m not biased nor inclined to give this book a good rating just because of that. I’m cheap, but I’m also not looking to make my living with book reviews. I have ONE objective with this book, to learn Blend!
- And my last, first impression, which is the most important point in this post, Victor’s writing feels COMPLETELY interactive and dynamic. Think about it, it’s a book written months ago, and it STILL feels like a conversation with him right there! What do I mean? He does this a lot and I love it…..he explains something, and I’m thinking…but, but but……then in the very next sentence he answers my very same question in my head. Ya, and he does that continuously. I’ve done good and bad training courses before, this guy writes this book like a beautiful training course. I’m 50pgs into it and have HUGE expectations now for him to continue doing his “set’em up and knock’em down” style of teaching!
So, there you have it, my first impressions about this new book from Victor Gaudioso. Keep your eyes peeled on this blog for a followup blog with my end of book review. Now it’s time to grab a coffee and get coding (well, reading and coding that is LOL).
Thanks so much Peter! Victor
Video of my two day Sharing in the Light Silverilght/Blend/Visual Studio Course in Dallas
by Victor on Oct.07, 2010, under Demos, Guest Speaker, Open Source Code, Presentations, Silverlight 4 Video Tutorial, tutorials
hello All, as you probably know I held a two day training course in Dallas dubbed Sharing in the Light. During this course I taught 80-some students all about Silverlight, Blend, and Visual Studio. A friend and fellow MVP Shawn Weisfeld (@shawnweisfeld) recorded both my screen and me on stage for the entire two days. He was kind enough to post the entire two days worth of videos here: http://live.ineta.org/Presentation/Speaker/88
I have embded the first video here for your convenience:
You can also download all of the source code for all of the projects I showed how to build here:
I’d like to give a special thanks to Teresa Burger (@t_burger) for organizing the whole event.
Part 3: New WP7/Silverlight Video Tutorial: Learn how to Make a Phone call from a MenuItem Button
by Victor on Oct.07, 2010, under Silverlight, Silverlight 4 Video Tutorial, tutorials, Windows Phone 7, WP7
Hello All,
In this new 6 minute video tutorial I show you how to raise and handle a Click event from a MenuItem Button. Then I show you how to use the Windows.Phone.Tasks to have your phone call a phone number.
This is part 3. Part 1 and two can be found here:
Part 2: Add new pages when the ApplicationBarIconButtons are clicked: http://wp.me/pWN5M-bp
Part 1: How to build a Windows Phone 7 (WP7) application with an ApplicationBar complete with IconButtons and MenuItems: http://tinyurl.com/352fm4u
Thanks, Victor
Video: http://tinyurl.com/2dls3rj
Part 4: New WP7/Silverlight Video Tutorial: Learn how to Compose and send an email from a MenuItem Button
by Victor on Oct.07, 2010, under Silverlight, Silverlight 4 Video Tutorial, WP7
Hello All!
This is Part 4 in the Windows Phone 7 / Silverilght series. Parts 1-3 can be found here:
Part 3: Make a Phone call from a MenuItem: http://wp.me/pWN5M-bD
Part 2: Add new pages when the ApplicationBarIconButtons are clicked: http://wp.me/pWN5M-bp
Part 1: How to build a Windows Phone 7 (WP7) appliaction with an ApplicationBar complete with IconButtons and MenuItems: http://tinyurl.com/352fm4u
In this video I show you how to create and send an email from a MenuItemButton. Enjoy!
Video: http://tinyurl.com/2brthed
Part 5: New WP7/Silverlight Video Tutorial: How to Capture an image from the MenuItem Button using the CaptureCaptureTask
by Victor on Oct.08, 2010, under Demos, Silverlight, Silverlight 4 Video Tutorial, silverlight video tutorials, tutorials, Windows Phone 7, WP7
Hello All!
I have added a new 5 minute tutorial on how to use the CaptureCameraTask task to capture an image from clicking the MenuItem Button. This is part 5 of this tutorial. The other parts can be found here:
Part 4: Compose and send an email from a MenuItem: http://wp.me/pWN5M-bI
Part 3: Make a Phone call from a MenuItem: http://wp.me/pWN5M-bD
Part 2: Add new pages when the ApplicationBarIconButtons are clicked: http://wp.me/pWN5M-bp
Part 1: How to build a Windows Phone 7 (WP7) appliaction with an ApplicationBar complete with IconButtons and MenuItems: http://tinyurl.com/352fm4u
Here is the video for the new, Part 5 video tutorial: http://tinyurl.com/32lhmhv
SOURCE CODE: http://tinyurl.com/36lyfs7
Enjoy! Victor
New Windows Phone 7 / Silverlight Video Tutorial: How to make a Browser Application
by Victor on Oct.09, 2010, under Open Source Code, Silverlight, Silverlight 4 Video Tutorial, silverlight video tutorials, tutorials, Windows Phone 7, WP7
In this 15 minute video I show you how to create a new WP7 application, add an ApplicationBar, add an ApplicationBarIconButton that when clicked loads a new Browser page. I then show you how to add a TextBox, a Go Button and a WebBrowser control. I then show you how to load whatever URL you type into the TextBox load into the WebBrowser control.
This could be considered Part 6 of the 5 part sereies on how to make a cool WP7 application, and you can certainly use it to build out your browser page that you created in the 5 part series; but I also wanted to make this application independent of that tutorial. Meaning, this tutorial will still be relevant to you even if you have not taken the previous 5 part tutorial. So, in summary this tutorial will be good for you if you have or have not watched the 5 part tutorial.
Video: http://tinyurl.com/33ylyvl
Source: http://tinyurl.com/36kkh78
How is Blend Extensible?
by Victor on Oct.10, 2010, under articles
A follower on Twitter asked me if I know anything about Blend extensibility. The fact is, I think I know a little and I will share what I know. If you happen to know more than I write about here please feel free to add it into the comments section. As time goes on I will move those comments into the post itself (if they are correct, that is ).
What is Extensibility?
From what I understand, Extensibility is the ability to build functionality upon already existing functionality. For example if I wanted to create my own Behavior I would extend the Behavior class and my new class would “inherit” all of the base functionality of a Behavior. Thus I don’t have to re-write that base functionality every-time I want to make a new custom Behavior.
Blend Custom Controls are Extensible:
When you create custom controls in Blend they are highly extensible. How you ask:
1. Context Menus – When you create custom controls you have the ability to add items into the default context menu. For example if you had a custom LoginControl you could create a Context Menu Option for something like “Add a Remember Me” Button.
2. Categorization of Properties – When you create a custom control you can not only add properties that will show up in the Properties panel but you can even tell that property where to show up (other than the default Misc. bucket). For instance, if you have a custom layout property called VerticleOrientation you could specify that property go into the Layout bucket of the Properties panel. Further, Blend will give you custom adorners for certain properties, out of the box. For example, if your property is a Double then you get a slider adorner. If your property is a Color property you will get the ink chooser. Blend will do this automatically.
3. Customization of Custom Control Adorers – This allows you to build custom controls that have adorners at design-time that allow you to easily customize that control. For example, say I have a Custom DialogBoxControl and I want the designer to easily change the background color. Well, I could add a design-time adorner of a color picker and have that value show up as the background of the control.
4. Setting Default Properties – This allows you to set default properties for your custom controls. This will allow your deisgner to quickly see what properties you have exposed in your custom control.
Blend Project Types and Templates are Extensible
This means that you can build upon the basic functionality of Project Types and Templates to add your own custom ones. For example, say you want everyone of your projects to have a left, vertical navigation bar. Well you would build a template that would do exactly that.
Silverlight Behaviors are Extensible
This allows you to build upon the basic functionality of a Behavior and make your very own custom Behaviors. For instance in this video tutorial I show you how to create your very own Behavior that changes the color of an object when clicked and then back to its original color when the mouse is released. I then show you how to use it in Blend.
Like I said there are more examples of Blend’s Extensibility and I will leave it up to other readers to provide more examples but this should give you a good foundation and understanding of what Extensibility is and how Blend and Silverlight are Extensible.
Thanks! Victor Gaudioso
New Silverlight/Windows Phone 7 Video Tutorial: Use ManipulationDelta to Create a Multi-Touch Application
by Victor on Oct.19, 2010, under Silverlight, Silverlight 4 Video Tutorial, silverlight video tutorials, Windows Phone 7, WP7
In this short 7 minute video I show you how to create a Windows Phone 7 application that has a draggable Ellipse that can be resized using multi-touch gestures.
Video : http://tinyurl.com/25sjf6e
Source Code: http://tinyurl.com/298xc2o
Enjoy! Victor Gaudioso
New Silverilght/Windows Phone 7 Video Tutorial: Learn how to make a Turnstile Control
by Victor on Oct.19, 2010, under Silverlight, Silverlight 4 Video Tutorial, tutorials, Windows Phone 7, WP7
How to Implement the Windows Phone 7 Turnstile Control for Silverlight in a Real WP7 Application
Hello All!
Brian Henderson Tweeted about this cool Turnstile control located on Codeplex. I checked it out and realized it only showed how to show this control with Rectangles and only in a web browser Silverlight page. I wanted to show how to actually download the source and use it with real controls (Buttons, StackPanels, Images, etc.). I also wanted to demonstrate how to use this control in a real Windows Phone 7 application. So, in this 13 minute video I show you how to make use of the Windows Phone 7 Turnstile control from Codeplex.
Specifically, I show you how to:
1. download the source from Codeplex;
2. create a new Windows Phone 7 application;
3. add the downloaded source project to your solution;
4. add a reference to the newly added project;
5. add a Turnstile control;
6. populate your Turnstile control with Images, Buttons and StackPanels;
7. add animate in and animate out Buttons;
8. create Click event handlers;
9. tell your Turnstile control (in code) to animate in or out depending on what Button was clicked.
So, rollup your sleeves, download the code from Codeplex here and get busy!
My Project Source (Turnstyle.zip): http://tinyurl.com/29c8fhq
Video: http://tinyurl.com/22u5846
PS: I’d like to thank Roberto Sonnino for developing this control. Also, I thought that “Turnstile” was spelled “Turnstyle” so my source code will have a typo. I thought that because Roberto lives in France that “Turnstile” was the French way of spelling it. I was mistaken, I just don’t know how to spell very good
New Silverlight Video Tutorial: Learn how to use Blend to create a Data Store, Add Properties to it, Use the GotoStateAction Condition panel and the SetDataStoreValueAction Behavior to Determine if a Visual State Can Fire
by Victor on Feb.19, 2011, under MVP 2010, Open Source, Silverlight 4 Video Tutorial, silverlight video tutorials, tutorials
Hello All!
In this 12 minute video I show you how to create a Visual State Group with Visual States, then I show how to add a Condition to the GotoStateAction Behavior by making a Data Store and adding a Boolean Property. I then show how to use the SetDataStoreValueAction to change the value of the new property. The value of this property determines if the Visual State can fire.
Topics covered:
1. The Visual State Group and Visual States;
2. The GotoStateAction Behavior to fire a Visual State;
3. Creating a Condition for the GotoState Action;
4. Creating a Data Store and adding a Boolean property;
5. DataBinding the value of the new Boolean property to a TextBlock;
6. Changing the value of the new Boolean property using the SetDataStoreValue Action Behavior.
Its a lot to cover in 12 minutes but its pretty simple once you see it done, and I do it all without leaving Blend!
Video:
http://www.windowspresentationfoundation.com/Tutorials/DataStore/
Source:
http://www.windowspresentationfoundation.com/Tutorials/DataStore/SilverlightApplication9.zip
Enjoy! Victor
New Silverlight Video Tutorial: Create a Sketchflow Animation using the Sketchflow Animation Panel
by Victor on Feb.21, 2011, under Open Source, Silverlight, Silverlight 4 Video Tutorial, Silverlight Communication, silverlight video tutorials, Sketchflow, Sketchflow Animation, Sketchflow Animation Panel
Hello All!
I often get asked “What is the Sketchflow Animation panel for?” In this short 5 minute tutorial I show you how to use the Sketchflow Animation panel to create a Sketchflow Animation that will demo how to use your application to users.
Enjoy! Victor
Video:
http://windowspresentationfoundation.com/Tutorials/SketchflowAnimation/
Source:
http://www.windowspresentationfoundation.com/Tutorials/SketchflowAnimation/SketchFlowAnimation.zip
New Silverlight Video Tutorial: How to use the Fluid Move Behavior
by Victor on Mar.13, 2011, under articles, Demos, Open Source, Silverlight, Silverlight 4 Video Tutorial, silverlight video tutorials, tutorials
Hello All,
In this short 7 minute video tutorial I show you how to use the Fluid Move Behavior. What you will learn:
1. How to create sample data (text and images);
2. How to create a ListBox and bind the ItemsSource to the sample data;
3. How to create a Details Grid that reflects the selected item of the ListBox;
4. How to use the Fluid Move and Fluid Set Tag Behaviors to make the selected item animate from the ListBox to the Master Details Grid;
Video: http://tinyurl.com/6dhgro5
Source: http://tinyurl.com/6brfm7k
Enjoy! Victor Gaudioso
Visual Studio Live in Las Vegas is Coming (April 18-22)
by Victor on Mar.14, 2011, under Uncategorized
Visual Studio Live! is coming up soon (April 18-22) in Las Vegas.
I’ll be there – will you? Join me at Visual Studio Live! in Las Vegas! If you’ve never been to Visual Studio Live, it offers developers, programmers, software engineers and architects an unbiased blend of practical and immediately-applicable training in Visual Studio, Silverlight, WPF, .NET and more. Plus, there will be 2 new tracks on mobile development and HTML5 this year!
Check out the Visual Studio Live! Agenda at http://bit.ly/VSLiveTrks.
See You There! Victor
New Silverlight 5 Video Tutorial: How to Create Implicit DataTemplates
by Victor on Apr.15, 2011, under Open Source, Silverlight 5, tutorials, Uncategorized
Hello All!
Silverlight 5 Beta just came out yesterday and I am jumping on it with my first video tutorial.
In this short 12 minute video I show you how to:
1. Create a custom DataType called Developer.
2. How to create an ObservableCollection of Developers and then turn that into a DataSource.
3. How to bind that DataSource to a ListBox and define a DataTemplate that describes how to show the data (namely a TextBlock for the name and an Image for a picture of the developer).
4. How to remove that DataTemplate and add it to App.xaml and define a new property called a DataType.
You will then see how Silverlight 5 will automatically find that DataTemplate anytime you are displaying that custom DataType.
Enjoy! Victor
Source: http://www.windowspresentationfoundation.com/Tutorials/ImplicitDT/ImplicitDT.zip
Video: http://www.windowspresentationfoundation.com/Tutorials/ImplicitDT/
The Los Angeles Silverlight Usergroup (LASLUG) is Growing by Leaps & Bounds – State of the Usergroup
by Victor on Apr.29, 2011, under Books, Demos, Guest Speaker, Open Source, Presentations, Silverlight, Silverlight 5
Hello LASLUGers!
Today we had an occurrence that sets us apart as a premier .NET Usergroup; today we hit the BIG TIME: Telerik has signed on to become a proud sponsor of the Los Angeles Silverlight Usergroup. In their own words, Telerik’s Emily Parker writes “(we) provide 1 Telerik Ultimate Collection valued at $1999/month. This license is our largest bundle so it includes tons of software – check them out here: www.telerik.com/purchase. I know you said other’s do two licenses/month but this license is a huge bundle which always goes over well. We send a demo CD with the license codes on them so your winners can just walk away with this and they are all set!“
Visit www.laslug.com to join today!
New Silverlight Video Tutorial (10 minute): How to create a fake Winow Control that can be dragged, Expended and Collapsed
by Victor on May.04, 2011, under articles, Demos, Guest Speaker, Los Angeles Silverlight User Group, Open Source Code, Presentations, Silverlight, Silverlight 4 Video Tutorial, silverlight video tutorials, tutorials
Hello All!
In Silveilght 4 there is no WindowControl..that is a Control that looks like a traditioanl Windows window. So, I made my own version, a Window control that can be dragged around, expanded and collapsed. In this video I show how to do it with two simple Grids, one for Collapsed and one for Expand. I then use the Visual State Manager (VSM) to make it collaspe and expand. Further I use the MouseDragElementBehavior Behavior to make both the collapsed and expanded windows draggable, just like a real window! You can see the functioning demo on this Silverilght page: http://tinyurl.com/456xsno
Working Demo: http://tinyurl.com/456xsno
Video: http://tinyurl.com/3jocf5c
Source: http://tinyurl.com/3fc3cb2
IMPORTANT: If you watch the video you will wee that after I drag, expand and collapse the window a few times I get a JavaScript error marked by an exclaimation point in the bottom left of the browser window. Shawn Wildermuth speculates that it is because the Behavior get’s confused about who its parent object is. The way I fixed it was to wrap the Expanded grid into another Grid and put the MouseDrageElementBehavior on the parent Grid. I don’t show how to do this in the video but it is in my source code (ie., the source code has no JavaScript errorrs).
Enjoy! Victor
PS: We have been growing the Los Angeles Silverilght Group (LASLUG – www.laslug.com) like crazy…for instance we gave away $2500 in gifts in our April meeting…in our next meeting we will be giving away over $12,000 in prizes all FREE to our members; we do not even charge for the Raffle tickets! So join us for pizza, refreshments, great presentations (Morten Neilsen and Josh Kales in May), plenty of Swag from our sponsors and all things Silverlight!
PSS: Our new prizes have been made possible from our new sponsors, Syncfusion, ComponentOne, Manning Books, O’Reilly Books, Nowcom, Telerik, the Windows Phone Dev Podcast, Jeff Levy (the Digital Doctor on KFWB 980 am – Sundays from 5-6pm) where I host a segment called “The Silverlight Corner” bi-monthly.
To stay abreast of everything going on with LASLUG and get prizes you don’t need to live in the LA area..we often hold online prize give-aways and online meetings and soon all of our meetings will be streaming live. So, if you live in Los Angeles or Baton Rouge, LA you can be a LASLUG member by simply signing up for free at www.laslug.com
Victor!
New Silverlight Video Tutorial: How to create a Rotating Banner
by Victor on May.17, 2011, under articles, Open Source Code, Silverlight, Silverlight 4 Video Tutorial
Hello All!
In this 30 minute video I show you how to create three different UserControls; create Storyboards to fade them all in and out; then programatically loop through them. But you can also click buttons on the bottom of the page to make them skip to a certain frame and the animation continues.
Video: http://tinyurl.com/3je2rpc
Working Demo: http://tinyurl.com/3ql6e8o
Source Code: http://tinyurl.com/3vwy7vt
Enjoy! Vicrtor
PS”This was all from a Twitter request from a user named Anaynapalisuc09
The Los Angeles Silverlight Usergroup (LASLUG) is Growing by Leaps & Bounds!
by Victor on May.17, 2011, under Los Angeles Silverlight User Group, Silverlight, Windows Phone 7
* To be eligible to win prizes online you must live outside of a 100 mile radius of Los Angeles. All shipping costs associated with prizes won online are the responsibility of the prize winner.
Victor Gaudioso
Silverlight/WPF User Experience Developer
Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP)
Blog: windowspresentationfoundation.com
Twitter: victorgaudioso
The Los Angeles Silverlight Usergroup (LASLUG) Mentioned in the Weekly MVP Newsletter
by Victor on May.20, 2011, under Los Angeles Silverlight User Group, mvp, Presentations, Silverlight
Hello All,
As I do every Friday I opened up my weekly MVP News Letter and there it was, a whole section on the Los Angeles Silverlight Usergroup (LASLUG). Don’t take my word for it…take a look at this screenshot I took of it:
LASLUG gets mentioned in the weekly MVP Newsletter
The Los Angeles Silverlight Usergroup (LASLUG) is TONIGHT! May 25, 2011 7pm PST
by Victor on May.25, 2011, under Demos, Guest Speaker, Presentations, Silverlight, Silverlight 5 Tutorials, tutorials, Windows Phone 7, WP7
Hello All!
Tonight is the LA Silverlight Usergroup Meeting! You can attend this meeting in-person or, for the very first time, ONLINE via our custom UStream Page: http://tinyurl.com/3fmgfgv
In order to participate you must go to http://laslug.com to register as a member for FREE!
There will be prizes given away but you MUST have a RAFFLE Ticket! These will be given away at the door when you attend in person but if you are planning on watching ONLINE (Yes, Online Attendees can win prizes too!) you can email LASLUGTicket@gmail.com and your ticket number will be emailed back to you. This is WORTH doing because we have OVER $12,000 in PRIZES to give away*
And, our crack staff over here at LASLUG even made a special Windows Phone 7 Application to make choosing the winners, easy, fast and random (application screeenshot shown below). Our online meetings are brought to you by our great sponsors Infragistics and Reg Gate Software and others such as ComponentOne, Telerik, Apress, WP7 Dev Podcast, O’Reilly, Jeff Levy Show, UXSynergy, Syncfusion, Silverlight Show, Nowcom, Pluarlsight, VIBlend, Safari Books Online, Microsoft and others.
So, if you live within a 100 mile radius of Los Angeles then we hope to see you in-person tonight and if you live outside of a 100 mile radius then we hope to see you Online at http://tinyurl.com/3fmgfgv (remember to be eligible to win prizes online you must live outside a 100 mile radius of Los Angeles), where you can watch us through multiple camera angles, see speacial video spots and even interact with us via the chat module on the page – Provided by UStream!
Oh, also, try and be there early if you are showing up in person because we have cool SWAG BAGS filled with little goodies (key chains, Flash drives, stress balls, tee-shirts, etc.). But we fall short of the 45 RSVP’d members and when we run out you are out of LUCK! So come early!
See you there! Victor Gaudioso
* Online attendees who win physical prizes such as books are responsible for all shipping costs.
The LASLUG Raffle Chooser App has been Published in the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace
by Victor on Jun.01, 2011, under LASLUG, Los Angeles Silverlight User Group, Source Code, Windows Phone 7 Applications, WP7 Marketplace
Raffle Chooser App in the WP7 Marketplace
Hello All,
If you attended our May 25, 2011 Los Angeles Silverlight Usergroup (LASLUG) meeting then you saw Kim S (LASLUG Special Event Coordinator) use the custom built Raffle Chooser Windows Phone 7 Application to choose the Winning Raffle Tickets.
Well, I figured that this could be a handy tool for our other .NET Usergroups such as LA C# Usergroup or even our friends at SoCal Code Camp ran by Woody
Pewitt (@woodyp on Twitter) as I think they all hold raffles as well. So I published it on the Zune Marketplace. It is under the Social Category and is FREE!
You can Install the Raffle Chooser app directly from here: http://tinyurl.com/4xhcltr
If you would like the source code feel free to email me at victorg at laslug dot com.
Thanks!
Victor
-
Hi! Welcome to Victor Gaudioso's Silverlight Blog!
Thanks for dropping by! Feel free to join the discussion by leaving comments, and stay updated by subscribing to the RSS feed. See ya around!
