Mark Russinovich: Inside Windows 7

http://channel9.msdn.com/shows/Going+Deep/Mark-Russinovich-Inside-Windows-7/

Windows 7 Can scale upto 256 processors. whoohoo!!

The Numerati – Stephan Baker

They’ve Got Your Number

Maybe you’re the kind of person who doesn’t believe that the kind of person you are can be deduced by an algorithm and expressed through shorthand categorizations like “urban youth” or “hearth keeper.”

Maybe I’d agree with you, and maybe we’re right. But the kind of people — “crack mathematicians, computer scientists and engineers” — whom Stephen Baker writes about in “The Numerati” clearly see things differently. NYTimes Article

A Simple RSS Reader in WPF

I present here, a simple Rss reader written almost entirely in XAML. I personally find WPF Data binding powerful and exciting to work with.

To start with, i've used the XmlDataProvider class to hook up the source to an rss feed and set it's XPath property to "rss/channel/item", so that i get all items in the channel.

The layout is an utterly simple dockpanel which has a stackpanel docked to the top, a status bar docked to the bottom and a grid which fills up the remaining space.

The databinding is self explanatory with the following code.,However an important thing to note is that the <Textbox> which has the rss feed link is binded to the source directly. The 'UpdateSourceTrigger' property is by default set to LostFocus(). I've changed it to 'PropertyChanged', so that when a user enters an rss feed, the bindings get updated. Also notice that 'BindsDirectlyToSource' is set to True. Another interesting feature is the Master-Detail binding. Notice that between Line numbers 53-63. The listbox's selection is binded to  description and link which are textblocks inside a stack panel. Now, when the listbox gets focus, we bind the frame's source to the uri in the texbox.

I've added some styles to the listbox aswell. all of which could be found in the source code. This surely is very simple and yet a foundation to write a powerful rss reader in wpf. :)

We could add more rss feeds, write value converters, validation rules etc. as required.

Window1.xaml

   1: <Window x:Class="RssReader.Window1"

   2:     xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"

   3:     xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"

   4:     Title="RssReader" Height="600" Width="800">

   5:     

   6:     <Window.Resources>

   7:     <XmlDataProvider x:Key="rssdata"

   8:                      Source="http://newsrss.bbc.co.uk/rss/newsonline_uk_edition/front_page/rss.xml"

   9:                      XPath="rss/channel/item"/>

  10:         

  11:     </Window.Resources>

  12:     

  13:     <DockPanel   DataContext="{Binding Source={StaticResource rssdata}}">

  14:         <StackPanel DockPanel.Dock="Top"

  15:                     TextElement.FontWeight="Bold" Background="Gray">

  16:         

  17:             <TextBlock Text="{Binding XPath=./../title}"

  18:                     FontSize="20" Margin="10 10 10 0"/>

  19:             

  20:             <TextBlock Text="{Binding XPath=./../description}"

  21:                     FontSize="10" FontWeight="Normal" Margin="10 0"/>

  22:             

  23:             <TextBox Margin="5" Text="{Binding Source={StaticResource rssdata},                             

  24:                                 BindsDirectlyToSource=True,

  25:                                 Path=Source,

  26:                                 UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged}"/>

  27:         </StackPanel>

  28:  

  29:         <StatusBar DockPanel.Dock="Bottom">

  30:             <StatusBarItem Content="{Binding XPath=title}"/>

  31:             <Separator/>

  32:             <StatusBarItem Content="{Binding XPath=pubDate}"/>

  33:         </StatusBar>

  34:  

  35:         <Grid>

  36:             <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>

  37:                 <ColumnDefinition Width="25*"/>

  38:                 <ColumnDefinition Width="75*"/>

  39:                 <ColumnDefinition/>

  40:             </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>

  41:            

  42:             <ListBox Grid.Column="0" IsSynchronizedWithCurrentItem="True"                     

  43:                      ItemsSource="{Binding}" DisplayMemberPath="title"

  44:                      Style="{StaticResource ListBoxHand}"/>

  45:             <GridSplitter/>

  46:             

  47:             <Grid Grid.Column="1">

  48:                 <Grid.RowDefinitions>

  49:                     <RowDefinition Height="Auto"> </RowDefinition>

  50:                     <RowDefinition Height="85*"> </RowDefinition>

  51:                 </Grid.RowDefinitions>

  52:  

  53:                 <ListBox x:Name="selection" Grid.Row="0" IsSynchronizedWithCurrentItem="True"                         

  54:                          Style="{StaticResource SimpleListBox}"

  55:                          VerticalAlignment="Stretch"

  56:                          GotFocus="selection_GotFocus">

  57:                              

  58:                     <StackPanel>

  59:                             <TextBlock Text="{Binding XPath=description}" />

  60:                             <TextBlock x:Name="txtlink" Text="{Binding XPath=link}"/>

  61:                         </StackPanel>

  62:                 </ListBox>

  63:                     <Frame x:Name="Explorer" Grid.Row="1"/>

  64:             </Grid>

  65:         </Grid>

  66:  

  67:       </DockPanel>

  68:     </Window>

  69:  

Window1.xaml.cs

   1: private void selection_GotFocus(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) {

   2:   Uri uri = new Uri(this.txtlink.Text.ToString());

   3:   this.Explorer.Source = uri;

   4: }

   5:   

Screenie

C0d3 : here

Silverlight 2 released! :)

Microsoft releases SL 2. The  press release can be found here. More details and specifications from the SL Developer team can be found here. Also, check out Visual Studio Tools for SL 2 and the sdk documentation.

SL 2 Highlights from the press release

• .NET Framework support with a rich base class library. This is a compatible subset of the full .NET Framework. • Powerful built-in controls. These include DataGrid, ListBox, Slider, ScrollViewer, Calendar controls and more. • Advanced skinning and templating support. This makes it easy to customize the look and feel of an application. • Deep zoom. This enables unparalleled interactivity and navigation of ultrahigh resolution imagery. • Comprehensive networking support. Out-of-the-box support allows calling REST, WS*/SOAP, POX, RSS and standard HTTP services, enabling users to create applications that easily integrate with existing back-end systems. • Expanded .NET Framework language support. Unlike other runtimes, Silverlight 2 supports a variety of programming languages, including Visual Basic, C#, JavaScript, IronPython and IronRuby, making it easier for developers already familiar with one of these languages to repurpose their existing skill sets. • Advanced content protection. This now includes Silverlight DRM, powered by PlayReady, offering robust content protection for connected Silverlight experiences. • Improved server scalability and expanded advertiser support. This includes new streaming and progressive download capabilities, superior search engine optimization techniques, and next-generation in-stream advertising support. • Vibrant partner ecosystem. Visual Studio Industry Partners such as ComponentOne LLC, Infragistics Inc. and Telerik Inc. are providing products that further enhance developer capabilities when creating Silverlight applications using Visual Studio. • Cross-platform and cross-browser support. This includes support for Mac, Windows and Linux in Firefox, Safari and Windows Internet Explorer.

Winforms vs WPF

We have two powerful technologies to build windows client applications. The obvious questions are

when to use which technology ?

Which technology to choose for new applications and when organizations developing Windows Forms applications should adopt WPF ?

Answers here

Quick conclusions from the same source.

If you have an existing Windows Forms application or are building a traditional forms-based application and are looking for a mature technology to use with mature tools and component support then Windows Forms is a good fit.

 

If you have an existing Windows Forms (or MFC/Win32) application that could benefit from some of the advanced presentation features of WPF, you can add WPF to your existing project.

 

If you’re wanting to create a new experience for your users that is rich, interactive, sophisticated, or highly custom or branded, WPF is Microsoft’s next-generation platform for your project today.

 

If you’re targeting the web, Silverlight shares the same development model as WPF but is optimized for a lightweight, cross-platform runtime. Investing in either WPF or Silverlight nets you the skills, tools, and assets for both platforms.