Kunal's Blog

Download Visual Studio 2012 RC (Release Candidate)

2012-06-02T00:06:00.001+05:30

Microsoft released Visual Studio 2012 RC (Release Candidate) on 31st May 2012. The available Visual Studio 2012 RC products and localizations are pre-release versions of the next release of Visual Studio. This blog post will cover all the product details and the downloadable links to each product of Visual Studio 2012 including the web installer and ISO image link for offline installation. Product Details Here are the product details of the Visual Studio 2012 entire family and the download links towards each one of them. Click the square boxes below to navigate to the proper download page from where you can chose whether to download the web installer and/or the standalone/offline installer. Visual Studio Ultimate 2012 Delivering a continuous flow of value requires state-of-the-art tools. Visual Studio Ultimate 2012 is the comprehensive ALM offering for organizations developing and operating highly scalable...

Download Windows 8 Release Preview (All Languages, ISO/Offline/Standalone Installer)

2012-06-01T18:31:00.001+05:30

Microsoft released Windows 8 Release Preview yesterday, 31st May 2012. It's an all-new touch interface. It's a new Windows for new devices. And it's easy to try now - whether you're installing it for the first time, or moving from Windows 8 Consumer Preview which was released few months ago. In this blog entry, find out the links to download Windows 8 Release Preview. You can find the ISO images for all different languages, which you can download to install it offline. What is Windows 8 Release Preview? Windows 8 Release Preview is a prerelease version of Windows 8 that focuses on people, apps and gives you powerful new ways to use social technologies to connect with the people who are important to you. It's Windows reimagined. Windows 8 Release Preview is built on the rock-solid foundation of Windows 7 and has the security and reliability features you expect from Windows. It’s fast, and it’s made to work on a variety of form factors - especially the new...

Sign up for Telerik Q2’12 Webinar Week and Win a License and Great Discounts

2012-05-30T23:36:00.001+05:30

The Telerik Q2 - 2012 Webinar Week is approaching! As always, Telerik is organizing this week-long event packed with hour-long webinar sessions to walk you through all the awesome things they have been working on during the past four months. If you’re eager to be among the first to learn how the Q2 bits can enhance your productivity, follow the post and book your seat now. Webinar Week will be held June 18-22, 2012. And you know the drill, one lucky attendee at each webinar will win more than $2,000 worth of software. This time, as a token of appreciation Telerik is also granting each Webinar Week attendee with a discount code valid towards a next Telerik purchase, upgrade or renewal! For more details, read the complete post. Sign up for Release Webinar Week – a 5-day event, packed with hour-long webinar sessions on the coolest new features shipping with Telerik’s Q2 2012 release for each product. Release Webinar Week will be held on June 18–22 (the...

Giveaway: Telerik Ultimate Collection License worth $1999

2012-05-27T23:31:00.001+05:30

Today I am starting a new giveaway contest of Telerik Ultimate Collection License. The contest is starting on 28th May 2012 and will end on 8th June 2012. At the end of the contest period I will raffle 2 Telerik Ultimate License worth $1999 each. So, why are you waiting for? Take part in the contest, ask others to participate and win $1999 license for Free. As much as you share, the probability of winning will be high. For more details, check out the complete post. 2 Telerik Ultimate Collection License worth $1999 each *** Your each and every activity counts. Come back daily and participate. Reshare to social networking sites to increase the chance *** Terms & Conditions 1. We are using RaffleCopter to manage this giveaway.The winning decision of Raffle Copter is full & final 2. Giveaway includes 2 Telerik Ultimate Collection License worth $1999 (Developer License with Priority Support) each 3. Giveaway is open to all...

Introducing “dotPeek” - A free .NET Decompiler by JetBrains

2012-05-18T00:10:00.000+05:30

JetBrains released a new Decompiler and Assembly Browser named “dotPeek” for .NET Application Developers. It is a FREE productivity tool which decompiles .NET 1.0 - .NET 4.5 assemblies to C# code and has support for .dll, .exe, .zip, .vsix, .nupkg, and .winmd files. It has many features like Quick jump, Effortless navigation, Support for downloading code from source servers and many more. Continue reading the post to know details about the features and find the downloadable links. I have also embedded one video describing the features published by JetBrains. Download dotPeek 1.0 Features JetBrains dotPeek is a FREE tool for developers. There are plenty of features available in dotPeek 1.0 and few of them are list below (for a complete list of features visit dotPeek Features Page): Decompile.NET 1.0 – .NET 4.5 assemblies to C# code Support for .dll, .exe, .zip,...

WP7 Launchers and Choosers - A WP7Dev should know

2012-05-17T06:00:00.000+05:30

Windows Phone 7 launchers and choosers enable users to perform common tasks in WP7 device by providing a consistent user experience throughout the Windows Phone application development platform. I already covered many of the Launchers and Choosers in my blog. On popular demand, I am sharing them in this single page post. I hope, this will be helpful for you to get started with the Windows Phone 7 launchers and choosers very quickly. Let’s start discussing about launchers and choosers followed by links to all the launchers and choosers. Launchers for Windows Phone 7 Launchers API launches a built-in application through which the user completes a task. Once the application opens up in the screen, the user can complete or cancel the task and return back to the parent application. The parent application reactivates and continues with it’s stuffs. Launchers never return any data to the calling application. In general here are the few steps to use a...

Learn about RadDiagnostics for retrieving Exception Details using the Telerik Controls for WP7

2012-05-16T06:00:00.000+05:30

Telerik introduces a new component called “RadDiagnostics” in their Q1.2012 release. RadDiagnostics component enables an application developer to receive crash reports and other debugging information from the end user of the application. As a WP7Dev, you may want to include a functionality in your application which will mail you the stack trace and other debugging information. This post will guide you to implement the same functionality in your Windows Phone app using the Telerik controls. Continue reading to learn more about it. Know About the API When our Windows Phone application crashes at runtime and generates exception due to unhandled cases, this is needed by the app developer to know about the exception details with StackTrace so that the developer can debug that piece of code and fix the issue. Note: You can skip to the next section to learn about the integration Telerik RadDiagnostics component allows you to integrate an...

KolkataGeeks Present Kolkata Developer Conference (DevCon 2012) - 26th May 2012

2012-05-09T06:00:00.000+05:30

Kolkata Geeks are pleased to announce Developer Conference 2012 on Saturday, May 26th. Developer Conference is the premier technical event for technology professionals at Kolkata interested in learning, connecting and exploring latest Microsoft technologies. This is an In-Person community event and is absolutely free, no registration charges required. Register now and be there, enjoy the flavor of cutting edge Microsoft technologies and win lots of prizes. Read out more to find about the session details. Event Agenda Here is the complete Agenda of the Kolkata Developer Conference 2012 event. Take part of all the sessions to learn more about the cutting edge technologies: Time Session Speaker 09:00 AM – 09:30 AM Registration 09.30 AM – 10:00 AM Keynotes Abhishek Sur, Microsoft MVP Abhishek Kant, Country Manager Telerik 10:00...

Nokia Lumia 800 Review

2012-05-06T09:29:00.001+05:30

I have two Windows Phone 7 devices, one of them is the HTC 7 Pro and the other one is the Nokia Lumia 800. I was using HTC 7 Pro for quite a long time but when I received Nokia Lumia 800 by participating in the Microsoft iUnlockJoy program, I am using that only. Few people asked me to write a review on Windows mobile phones and hence I decided to write a small review on my current experience on Nokia Lumia 800. This post will cover specification of Nokia Lumia 800 and my review on that. When I first received the box, I found it very slim and light weighted other than the HTC 7 Pro which has a Querty keyboard inside and thus makes it heavy. First thing that I gone thru was the specification and here is that for you. Nokia Lumia 800 Specification: Operating System Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) Processor 1.4 GHz Qualcomm processor Built-In RAM 512 MB ...

Learn about RadPhoneApplicationFrame for Page Animations using the Telerik Controls for WP7

2012-05-05T19:17:00.001+05:30

Currently I am working on a Windows Phone 7 application using the Telerik controls and learning a little more bit about the controls present in their library. So, I thought to share the same in my blog for next few days. If you are using these controls, it will help you to learn very quickly. As a WP7Dev, you might want to build a stunning application with an animation to the page navigation or orientation changes. This article will help you to do so by using the Telerik RadControls for Windows Phone 7. Continue reading to learn more about the APIs and the implementation steps. Know About the API RadPhoneApplicationPage present in the “Telerik.Windows.Controls.Primitives.dll” under “Telerik.Windows.Controls” namespace allows you to set the Page Transition and the Orientation change animation to the root application frame. There are couple of animations defined in the Telerik RadControls for Windows Phone 7 libraries which you can use to create your stunning...

Monthly Summary - April 2012

2012-05-02T19:36:00.001+05:30

Here comes the “Monthly Summary” post of April 2012. Last month I published 14 blog posts, among them 12 was on “How to” series of my Windows Phone 7 Tutorial for developers. In this summary post I am going to share them in a single page, so that, you can find them very easily. Continue reading to find out all the Windows Phone 7 tutorial series. Don’t forget to check out the API implementations of the SDK in the “How to” posts. Articles Here is the list of “Windows Phone 7 Tutorial” series for beginners on Launchers and Choosers. In many of those posts, I described about the internal implementation of the SDK class. Didn’t read them? Find it out from here: How to Search for a Contact in WP7 using the Contacts class? How to Save Phone Number in WP7 using the SavePhoneNumberTask? How to Call a Number in WP7 using the PhoneCallTask? How to Retrieve Phone Number from Contacts in WP7 using the PhoneNumberChooserTask? How to Save Email...

How to Save Ringtones in WP7 using the SaveRingtoneTask?

2012-04-30T06:00:00.000+05:30

Continuing my Windows Phone 7 Tutorials on Launchers and Choosers. Today in this blog post we will discuss about the Windows Phone 7 class named “SaveRingtoneTask”. We will first describe about the internal class implementation of the SDK itself. Later we will see how to implement it in your application. Continue reading to learn about the API and code implementation. Don’t forget to share your thoughts and feedbacks at the end in the comments section. Also, share this to your friends/colleagues who might feel it useful too. Know About the API “SaveRingtoneTask” is a sealed class present in the “Microsoft.Phone.Tasks” namespace and inherits ChooserBase class of type TaskEventArgs. It enables an application to launch the ringtones application and allows users to save a ringtone from the application to the system ringtones list. It exposes three properties named Source, DisplayName and IsShareable. You can set or retrieve the file path to the local...

How to Share Links from WP7 to Social Networking Sites using the ShareLinkTask?

2012-04-28T06:00:00.000+05:30

Do you want to create an application or game for your Windows Phone 7 that can share links to various social networking sites of users choice? Then this post will help you to integrate the same in your application. Continue reading the complete post to know more about the API, the internal implementation of the WP7 SDK and the way to include it in your application. Don’t forget to share your feedback and if you like the post, please share it to others as this might be helpful for them too. Know About the API Windows Phone 7 SDK exposes an API named “ShareLinkTask” which allows an application to launch a dialog that enables the user to share a link on the social networks of their choice. ShareLinkTask is a sealed class present in the Microsoft.Phone.Tasks namespace and inherits ShareTaskBase. The class exposes three properties (i.e. LinkUrl, Title, Message) to set the optional values to construct the shared link. Here is the meta data of the...

Download Free eBooks on Windows7

2012-04-27T06:00:00.000+05:30

Today I received a great offer from my blog partner who is giving away few eBooks on "Windows 7" for my blog readers. In this post, I am going to share 3 FREE eBooks on the same topic. You can request to download by clicking the "Request Now" button Stay tuned to get more free eBook offers on various topics. The Windows 7 Guide: From Newbies to Pros (The Proper Introduction to Windows 7) In this 46 page guide you will be introduced to Windows 7 and what it has to offer. This guide will go over the software compatible issues, you will learn about the new taskbar, how to use and customize Windows Aero, what Windows 7 Libraries are all about, what software is included in Windows 7, and how easy networking is with Windows 7 along with other topics. The advice within this guide will help new users become acquainted with Windows 7 and can also help those who are on the...

Why VisualStudio is taking a huge time to Load Components while debugging?

2012-04-26T06:00:00.000+05:30

Today while debugging a Silverlight application, I noticed that, my Visual Studio 2010 was taking too much time to load the referenced assemblies and the browser was freezing for some time while loading the XAP. First I thought that it is due to the solution file but after doing some investigation I noticed that it is happening for all Silverlight application. Finally I found the solution and thought to share with you. In case you come across same situation, this post will help you to resolve it easily. What was the Issue? After doing investigation of the issue I noticed that, it was due to a settings that I enabled yesterday. So, what was that settings changes? Ok, let me tell you that, I enabled the “Microsoft Symbol Server” to cache dependent assemblies in a local directory while debugging and it was causing the issue. Here is the issue that I was facing: You can see that, here the assembly symbols are loading one by one...

How to Share Status from WP7 using the ShareStatusTask?

2012-04-25T06:00:00.000+05:30

Do you want to develop an application or game which will update your status or game result in some social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In and/or Windows Live? Then this post will help you to integrate such task in your app. Using “ShareStatusTask” of the Windows Phone 7 SDK, you can update your status line on the social networking sites. Continue reading the post for more details of the API and the implementation steps. Know About the API “ShareStatusTask” is a sealed class present in the namespace “Microsoft.Phone.Tasks” and inherits the class named “ShareTaskBase”. ShareStatusTask exposes a string property called “Status” where you will set the message that you want to share on social networking sites. Here is the meta data of the ShareStatusTask: namespace Microsoft.Phone.Tasks { public sealed class ShareStatusTask : ShareTaskBase { public string Status {...

How to Compose SMS in WP7 using the SmsComposeTask?

2012-04-23T06:00:00.000+05:30

In last few articles I was discussing on Launchers and Choosers of Windows Phone 7. In today’s blog post I am going to continue on that again. This time we will discuss on “SmsComposeTask” of the WP7 SDK, which you can use to create SMS from code. SmsComposeTask launches the Messaging application with a new SMS message displayed and requires user intervention to send the message. Continue reading to learn in depth of the API implementation and uses of the API. Related Articles How to Retrieve Phone Number from Contacts in WP7 using the PhoneNumberChooserTask? How to Search for a Contact in WP7 using the Contacts class? How to Retrieve Contact Information in WP7 using the AddressChooserTask? Know About the API “SmsComposeTask” is a sealed class present in the “Microsoft.Phone.Tasks” namespace and contains two properties called “Body” and “To”. You can set the phone number in “To” field where you want to send the sms. Set the message in...

How to Retrieve Email Address in WP7 using the EmailAddressChooserTask?

2012-04-21T06:00:00.000+05:30

In last two blog posts we learnt how to save email address in WP7 and how to send email. We also learnt the internal implementation of the APIs used by the Windows Phone 7 SDK. Today in this blog post we will explore how to retrieve email address from contact list with a simple example (including the internal implementation of the API). Don’t forget to provide your feedback. If you have any queries, let me know. I will try to answer you as early as I can. Related Posts How to Save Email Address in WP7 using the SaveEmailAddressTask? How to Send Email in WP7 using the EmailComposeTask? How to Retrieve Email Address in WP7 using the EmailAddressChooserTask? Know About the API EmailAddressChooserTask is a sealed class present in the Microsoft.Phone.Tasks namespace and derives from ChooserBase of type EmailResult. It contains only a single method named Show() when called opens the Email Chooser UI in the screen. It allows an...

How to Send Email in WP7 using the EmailComposeTask?

2012-04-19T06:00:00.000+05:30

In the last blog post we learnt “How to Save Email Address in WP7 using the SaveEmailAddressTask?” where we shared code snippet of the internal implementation of the SaveEmailAddressTask along with the code implementation of a demo app. Today in this blog post we will learn how to compose an email using the Windows Phone 7 SDK class called “EmailComposeTask”. Also sharing the decompiled version of the class, so that you can know the SDK implementation. Continue reading and at the end don’t forget to leave your feedback. Know About the API Like all other launchers and choosers, “EmailComposeTask” is also a sealed class present inside the namespace Microsoft.Phone.Tasks . It exposes few properties to populate the email fields like “To”, “Cc”, “Bcc”, “Subject”, “Body” etc. The one and only one method named “Show()” opens up the Email Composer dialog in the screen. Here is the meta data of the EmailComposeTask class: ...

How to Save Email Address in WP7 using the SaveEmailAddressTask?

2012-04-17T06:00:00.000+05:30

Do you want to build an application which will allow you to save an email address? Then this post will allow you to understand the API of Windows Phone 7 SDK. In this post we will learn about SaveEmailAddressTask class and it’s API with a simple demo. Continue reading to learn about it. Also, I will share the code snippet of the internal implementation of the SaveEmailAddressTask, which will help you to understand the actual implementation of the API of WP7 SDK. Know About the API Like other tasks “SaveEmailAddressTask” is also a sealed class present in the Microsoft.Phone.Tasks namespace and inherits ChooserBase of type TaskEventArgs. The class exposes Email property of type string where you can set the email address which you want to save. Here is the meta data of the SaveEmailAddressTask class: namespace Microsoft.Phone.Tasks { public sealed class SaveEmailAddressTask :...