LP Pinsonneault blog's

Saturday, i did my presentation at the Montréal Code Camp. I’m very proud of myself. This was my first time as a speaker. My presentation focus on some advanced features of Expression Blend.

I tried to show the feature available in Blend 3 based on my past experience. When i went at MIX 09, i saw some new features like Sketch Flow, which introduce the ability to use Blend as a prototype tool. But while, preparing my presentation, i find out that Blend is really a great prototype tools out of the box. Like i said during my presentation, many times i was requested to do some prototype of application.

So my presentation was for both developer and designer. I didn’t focus on the technology (Silverlight or WPF) behind but on the tool itself.

So the feature that I've talked about was:

• Photoshop Importation
• Sample Data Source
• Behaviors
• Sketch Flow

I the next few days i will post on those features (except Sketch Flow, because i only got the right to do a live presentation of this new feature).

For now here is the slides of my presentation and a demo that combine the Photoshop importation, Sample Data Source and the behaviors.

View Full Album

Regards,

Louis-Philippe

I’m proud to announce that I've been selected to present a session at the Code Camp Montreal on May 30th 2009. My session will focus on the advanced feature of Expression Blend. I will present some of the new feature of Expression Blend 3 (which should be released in a couple of month). The sample data source, behaviour, Intellisense, Photoshop importation will be part of that presentation.

Date : Samedi 30 mai 2009
Heure : 8h30 à 17h00
Endroit : Marriott Château Champlain au centre ville (Carte), salles Viger A-B-C.
Stationnement: Payant. Le 1000 de la Gauchetière qui est juste à côté de l'hôtel offre un tarif réduit le week-end.
Métro: Bonaventure (ligne orange)
Coût : gratuit
Repas: non inclus
Thème : Les meilleures pratiques de développement logiciel.
Organisé par la Communauté .NET Montréal

Regards,

Louis-Philippe

Sometime we have some question that we don’t get the answer right away. This one was one of them. I often ask myself “How to get a DLL from the GAC?”, and i didn’t really search for the answer because i was able to retrieve the DLL from another location.

Recently, i had the same question once again but i wasn’t able to find the assembly anywhere else. So i finally got the answer from my college Dominic Sévigny. The trick it’s that we cannot export a DLL from the GAC from the Windows interface. So we need to do it from the DOS console. Here is the procedure to do it:

First you need to open a new command window. You need to browse to the GAC_MSIL folder (c:\Windows\assembly\GAC_MSIL)

Each assembly have it own folder. So if you need to access the assembly “CrystalDecisions.ReportAppServer.ClientDoc” you can do it by accessing the folder.

Once in the folder, you should see a subfolder for each version of the assembly in the GAC.

Select the version you need by accessing the folder.

Now you have access to the DLL of the assembly you need. So you can copy the DLL, using Copy or XCopy, to the location you want 

This is why i love my job i always learn new stuff everyday, even it’s something very simple!!

Regards,
Louis-Philippe

The last day of the MIX 09, was interesting and also a little bit frustrating, because i had to left Las Vegas :) But i will always remember the good i had   there with my friend Laurent Duveau.

Session #1 – Consuming Web Services in Microsoft Silvelight 3

Eugene Osovetsky give us a good overview of what will be available with Web Services and Silverlight 3. Mainly the availability to consume binary XML, Debug and server to client “push”.

Video: Consuming Web Services in Microsoft Silverlight 3

Session #2 – Adding Microsoft Silverlight to your Company’s Skill Set

I was a disappointed, because the speakers was talking more about Flash than they were talking about Silverlight. And i yes, I'm not a fan of showcase presentation and this one was one.

Video: Adding Microsoft Silverlight to Your Company's Skill Set

Session #3 – Building Microsoft Silverlight Controls

This session was very interesting Karen Corby, know what she was doing. It was also related to the styling. A great presentation to watch.

Video: Building Microsoft Silverlight Controls

Session #4 – High-Speed RIA Development With the Microsoft Silverlight Toolkit

This was my last session. Shawn Oster present the Silverlight Toolkit. But i wasn't able to view the whole presentation because i had to leave to take my plane back to Montréal.

Video: High-Speed RIA Development with the Microsoft Silverlight Toolkit

Conclusion

In conclusion, i really enjoy the experience. I hope to be there next year! I’ll try over next few weeks to blog more technically about what I’ve learned at MIX.

Regards,
Louis-Philippe

Be ready for the next version of Silverlight!

Laurent Duveau as announced that he will give a french Silverlight 3 training at the end of this month in Montreal, Qc.
http://weblogs.asp.net/lduveau/archive/2009/04/03/the-very-first-silverlight-3-training-in-montreal.aspx

The Silverlight Tour has already been modified to include Silverlight 3 content. If you want to be ready for the next version of Silverlight, this is the place to be. This three-day workshop is going to teach the latest features of Silverlight as well as the complete Silverlight 2 stack.

The second day was more about the tools like Expression Blend and Expression Web. Those tools are now part of the toolbox of any web developer or designer. The feature that attract more my attention are the SuperPreview from Expression Web (this allow you to compare a web page between different browser and fix any discrepancies. Also, in Expression Blend there a lot of new feature like Skecth Flow (this allow you to easily build a wire frame of your application that the end user can interact with and add feedback), the SampleDataSource which provide the ability to a designer to fill any object that require data without having to enter any data.

Keynote

• Dean Hachamovitch
  The keynote of Dean wasn’t a surprise. But it was cool to be at the release of IE8. I’ve seen a lot of improvement. I’m still learning the new feature.
  
• Deborah Adler 
  Present her showcase about the design of container to solve some labelling issues. This was very interesting, to only thing the presentation was a little bit too long.

Session #1 – The Future of Microsoft Expression Blend

Expression Blend will evolve as much as Silverlight 3. This tool that was at first build to target designer is now considered as premium tool for developer to build Silverlight application. In this new version, Designer are now allowed to implement action and response to event without having to implement code. On the other side developer can now code without having to switch to Visual Studio. They have implemented the code editor with intellisense. Also, Blend can now handle project under source control like TFS. Another new feature is the ability to import Photoshop and Illustrator files and convert some of the layer into controls.

Session #2 – The Best Video and Photography on the Web in Microsoft Silverlight

This session was presented by Vertigo. This presentation was good but it was more a showcase than a technology presentation. I`m not a big fan of showcase presentation.

Session (video) - User Experience Design Patterns for Business Application with Microsoft Silverlight 3

I’ve planned to assist at this session but it was full. So i’ve downloaded the video. One thing that kept my attention, it’s the new SampleDataSource that generate the data to help the design of the application. So there is no more need to hardcode data to be able to test a DataGrid or a DropDownList. Corrina Black also present the new control that help build great user experience like the DataGrid, the validation control, etc… This is an excellent presentation.

Other Session

There was other session that look interesting that i will look later in video. I wasn’t able to attend to those due to schedule conflict.
-When Errors Happen: Debugging Microsoft Silverlight (John Papa)
-Microsoft Silverlight is Ready for Business (Ward Bell)
-Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Web Developers (Thomas Deml)

Conclusion of Day 2

The second day was more about Expression Blend. All Blend feature are very interesting. I’ll take some time to test all those new feature. But i regret that the Sketch Flow feature is not available in the current preview of Blend 3.

Regards,
Louis-Philippe

Hi,

This years at MIX it was a great year for the Silverlight technology. For my part, i focus on the session about Silverlight and Expression Blend. So here is the review and the highlight of the session i attend.

Keynote

• Bill Buxton 
  Bill did a really good introduction. I didn’t know much about him. I’m really glad to have his book. His knowledge in user experience seems his very good. I’m looking forward to read his book.
  
• Scott Guthrie
  What to says!! I’ve heard a lot about him, read his blog. But seeing him live on stage it was unbelievable. His introduction was very funny. It very impressive to see how he know the software and the framework the teams under him are developing.

Session #1 – What’s new in Microsoft Silverlight 3

This presentation was very interesting because it give a full overview of all the new features in Silverlight 3. Joe Stagman did a great job showing these new features.
- Pixel Shader
- Perspective 3D
- Style and theme
- Animation easing

I suggest this session: http://videos.visitmix.com/MIX09/T14F

Session #2 – Building Amazing Business Centric Applications With Silverlight 3

Brad Adams present us Silverlight in way i was waiting to! If you are looking to develop business application this is really a session you want to see! Don’t miss his blog http://blogs.msdn.com/brada/.
- Silverlight 3
- .NET RIA Services

I suggest this session:  http://videos.visitmix.com/MIX09/T40F

Session #3 – .NET RIA Services - Building Data-Driven Applications with Microsoft Silverlight and Microsoft ASP.NET

This session presented by Nikhil Kotari, shows us how simple it is now to work with data wit the new .NET RIA Services. This session complete perfectly the presentation of Brad Adams. It is now possible to develop business application with minimum effort. 

Again don’t miss Nikhil blogs, http://www.nikhilk.net/.

I suggest this session:  http://videos.visitmix.com/MIX09/T41F

Conclusion of Day 1

This day was probably the most impressive. First it was the first time i attend at this kind of event. Second, being able to see some people i used to read on blogs or see in video, was incredible. Also it was really focused on Silverlight 3. The day ended perfectly with the attendee party at the Tao club.

Regards,¨
Louis-Philippe

This week i had the chance to go at the MIX 09 at Las Vegas. We were invited at a private party “Together @ MIX09”. I was enough lucky to be able have a quick talk and to take a picture with Scott Guthrie.

Regards,
Louis-Philippe

Hi everyone!

Everyone knows that kids are like sponge, they learn everything very fast! So i decide to start right now to teach mine some great technology like Silverlight!

Regards,

Louis-Philippe

Hi,
There is 28 days left to vote for the IGNITE IT AWARDS. And yes, RunAtServer Consulting is in the list. So feel free to vote for our team: http://www.microsoft.com/canada/igniteit-awards/view_SubmissionDetails.aspx?ID=258

Regards,

Louis-Philippe