Blue Blip

Dynamic Item Templates for LongListSelector

2013-01-30T03:07:00-08:00

For one of the Windows Phone 8 pet projects I am working on, there was a need to list/enumerate available theme resources (see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsphone/develop/ff769552(v=vs.105).aspx for the list) and show a preview of each of them on the screen. While it sounded very simple when I started off, it all became too tricky because I wanted this feature to be dynamic.

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Windows Store App Design Templates (Link)

2013-01-16T05:07:00-08:00

Great collection of Windows 8 App design templates.

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Passing Metadata to Exports in MEF

2012-09-27T07:36:00-07:00

Perhaps this post should have been out before my previous one the topic. Anyway, continuing the journey on Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF) in .NET, let us see how we can attach metadata to an exported type and how it can be retrieved on the importing side, all in short steps (I am not going to spend much time and dig deep in to each of the available options; this objective here is simply to highlight the available options). I cannot stress enough the importance of metadata in MEF and discuss various scenarios where it proves useful. Nevertheless,

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Metadata Inheritance in Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF) in .NET 4.5

2012-09-14T08:14:00-07:00

I have been playing around with Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF) of .NET 4.5 for a while now. Overall, it is a great framework for designing many plug-in/extensibility scenarios of .NET applications, web, desktop or even Windows Store (Metro). One area that got interesting in my MEF experiment was the way in which metadata worked in the case of inherited exports. As you know...

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Surface in Tablet

2012-06-19T02:03:00-07:00

Microsoft now reassured its affection for tablets! Its earlier attempts on tablets with Windows XP Tablet PC editions and Windows 7 had only slim chance to make a successful entry into the market, as both lacked a sound hardware counterpart. This time now

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Zip Archive Gets Native Support in .NET 4.5

2012-05-21T02:53:00-07:00

With v4.5, zip archival handling comes natively to .NET. No longer do you have to rely on 3rd party components to create, manage and extract zip files, though most of them are free.

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Open Source Libraries from Stack Exchange

2012-02-23T02:38:53-08:00

I never knew Stack Exchange, the base of many world-popular Q&A sites on varying topics, has so many cool open source libraries. Many of them seem to be performance-tuned for large web traffic. Worth taking a look: http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2012...(read more)

No Prescriptive Requirements

2012-02-09T06:00:46-08:00

A nice and worthy read on what makes a good business requirement: http://devlicio.us/blogs/casey/archive/2012/02/09/avoiding-prescriptive-requirements.aspx...(read more)

SQL Server Express LocalDB - The New Express!

2012-02-01T05:09:10-08:00

With the introduction of SQL Express LocalDB (part of SQL Server 2012 a.k.a. "Denali"), the available Microsoft SQL database options available now are: Regular SQL Server SKUs SQL Server Express SQL Server Compact Edition (CE) SQL Express LocalDB...(read more)

Windows Server AppFabric 1.1 Caching - Data Cache Store Provider

2012-01-11T05:07:16-08:00

Windows Server AppFabric version 1.1 has worthy improvements over its predecessor version. The first from my v1.1 favorites list is the ability to retrieve data from data sources when the client-requested data is not available in the cache ("cache...(read more)

Android Market Strikes 10 Billion Downloads

2011-12-06T12:50:00-08:00

Google celebrates 10billion + app downloads today. To mark this, it is giving away some great apps for just 10 cents ($0.10) for the next 10 days starting today ! Some popular games and apps are for picks already! I got myself SoundHound Infinity!! :...(read more)

Subtle SqlDependency Notification Issue

2011-11-22T07:55:46-08:00

While working on a SQL Server change notification library (for cache invalidation) recently, the SqlDependency change notification handler kept receiving a notification with SqlNotificationEventArgs.Info = Options , SqlNotificationEventArgs.Source = Statement...(read more)

Architecture & Architect in Agile

2011-11-17T05:05:01-08:00

A very good read I came across after a long time that throws out lot of thoughts to ponder upon: http://codingthearchitecture.com/presentations/skillsmatter2011-the-frustrated-architect/...(read more)

Dell Venue Pro Not Ready for Mango!

2011-09-29T05:02:56-07:00

All right, mine is an open-market (pure Dell factory unlocked, no hacks/workarounds) Dell Venue Pro Windows Phone purchased in India. As excited as others, I thought I would update my device too to the latest greatest Mango RTM version. Since Microsoft...(read more)

Virtualization ≠ Cloud Computing

2011-09-16T07:51:03-07:00

Let's get it right. Virtualization is about reducing the physical footprint of IT infrastructure and maximizing the utilization of the same. It helps to drastically reduce cumulative maintenance and onetime procurement costs of physical hardware....(read more)

iResign

2011-08-26T05:16:59-07:00

The whole Internet is buzzing with Steve Jobs' resignation as Apple CEO and the possible effects it might have on Apple and its products. There are people who hate, admire, get inspired and feel hatred about him. But, someone who shaped and revolutionized...(read more)

Enterprise Architecture - ROI

2011-08-19T06:24:39-07:00

As I noted in my previous post , before an organization starts spending a penny for EA, it should identify the real needs of EA from various perspectives and figure out subjectively the impact of having or not having EA and ways how EA can be sustained...(read more)

Enterprise Architecture Challenges

2011-08-18T09:35:08-07:00

Weeks back I had an opportunity to watch a panel discussion on why businesses haven't fully accepted enterprise architecture holistically (or why enterprise architecture discipline is in the way, it is today) and some top challenges around enterprise...(read more)

Lessons from Steve Jobs

2011-06-17T03:19:07-07:00

One of my favorite bloggers JDM has put down beautiful lessons learned from the unique man Steve Jobs here: http://goo.gl/3KrM2 Here are my most favorite ones from JD's list: #1 "Beginners don’t have baggage." – When you free of worries...(read more)

My First iOS Application

2011-06-16T10:11:17-07:00

Of late, I have been making my hands dirty with iOS development and obviously Objective-C. Coming from .NET/C# background (lending the OOPS knowledge) and knowing the C language already (pointers, memory, etc.), learning Objective-C was not difficult...(read more)