I'm excited to announce that we have finally released a free tool to help you visualize resource usage in your WPF applications.  Kudos to the team on a job well done!

Pistachio helps you by:

• Seeing what resources are being used.
• Finding unused resources.
• Displaying the types of resources being used.
• Filtering, Sorting, etc.
• Cool Visualizations of Usage

If you were at either of my talks at Boston ReMix or Tulsa Tech Fest you got a pre-release preview but now it's all ready for you to use!  Please let us know if you have any suggestions or problems while using.  There are several more features being planned so let us know what's important to you.

DOWNLOAD HERE:  Pistachio - WPF Resource Visualizer

Ed B.

It's been a while since I last blogged something but that's because I've been hard working on our latest exemplar at Infragistics.  It's a WPF "reference application" and is released.... RIGHT NOW!  So if you want to learn some good techniques about including a WPF application in an enterprise realm, take a look at Tangerine!

It's available both as a ClickOnce deployment, or if you really want to dig in, head to the Full Source Code and documentation download.

Learn Windows Presentation Foundation and NetAdvantage for WPF

Use Tangerine, our first exemplar for WPF, to not only learn WPF and NetAdvantage for WPF but also to learn good practices for enterprise application development across the board. This solution provides a full application, including complete source code, as well as several accompanying papers to help guide you in your application development. In addition to using it as a learning tool, the solution has been architected in such a way as to make it easy for you to reuse it in your own development, either in whole or in part.

Tangerine v1.0 is a WPF-based asset browser application. It has a pluggable architecture so that you can provide any number of different back-end asset providers while reusing the same snazzy UI that's based on Infragistics NetAdvantage for WPF toolset. In our first release, we have supplied an Amazon Web Services' E-Commerce Service provider so that you can use the application to browse and search the Amazon.com catalogue. You can use the links below to both run the application (via ClickOnce deployment) now or download the solution and papers.

To learn more about the solution, check out Introducing Tangerine, which describes the tools we used to build Tangerine as well as an overview of the accompanying papers.

We've got quite a few exciting things and a number of solutions to problems solved.  We've also included 6 white papers to help you learn a little more about the project...

Delve into Tangerine

The best way to really dive into Tangerine is to go ahead and download the complete solution so that you can explore the code. However, for your convenience, you can delve into the accompanying papers online.

• Introducing Tangerine (PDF/XPS) [~1.2 MB] - The best way to get started learning about the solution.
• Story (PDF/XPS) [~800 KB] - Tells the story of the application’s development, including key decisions and problems solved along the way.
• Vision & Scope (PDF/XPS) [~410 KB] - The original, unaltered vision & scope document that started the development process that you can use as an example and to get a feel for how the application changed over time. It is an artifact of the application’s development.
• Requirements (PDF/XPS) [~650 KB] - The original, unaltered requirements document that can be used as an example of how to do scenario-based requirements w/o falling into the rut of prescribing an implementation. It is another artifact of our development.
• Architecture (PDF/XPS) [~700 KB] - An architectural overview of the solution—a good starting point before delving into the code.
• Perspectives on WPF (PDF/XPS) [~370 KB] - Discusses learning WPF from the viewpoint of different developer/designer roles.

How about some screen shots?  This is the home screen:

This is the "Glance View" which uses the xamCarouselListBox to show of browse or search results in an animated fashion:

Last but not least, this is the "List View" which uses the xamDataGrid to show off the same browse/search results but in a tabular data fashion:

Just want to say thanks to the other members on my team in the User Experience Group and to our GREAT designers in the Visual Design Group!  (They're really awesome by the way.  We've got 5 now!)

Ed B.

Grant Hinkson (our Director of Visual Design at Infragistics) and I will be doing our talk "Meeting in the Middle - Designer/Developer Interaction in WPF."  It looks like we have the first breakout session on Tuesday, October 9 at 9:00 AM.  Take a look to see what other sessions are going on:  https://admin.viewcentral.com/events/uploads/ms_events/agenda.html

Session Details

Date:  10/9/2007

Time:  9:00am – 10:15am

Title:  Meeting in the Middle - Designer/Developer Interaction in WPF

Abstract:

In this session, Ed and Grant will highlight many of the lessons they learned when developing the enterprise-level WPF reference application, Tangerine. Tangerine is an asset browser built using the data provider model to browse the Amazon online catalog. Additionally, they will discuss the Software Release Status application currently under development. This project management tool uses the power of WPF to visually represent the status of your software projects using data from your Team Foundation Server. You'll get an inside look at the interaction between development and design, and gain insight into practical solutions for common problems.

Brad Abrams, Group Product Manager for the Microsoft .NET Framework, will be the keynote speaker and will be talking about the Rising Tide of User Experience.  Pretty awesome!  You know we like UX!

Want to Save Some Money on Registration?

Well, just because I want to make sure everyone is coming... If you use the following RSVP code, RM07EXTB, it will save you $100 of your registration.

More Info

http://www.remix07boston.com

What to expect at ReMIX07 Boston …

If you’re in the web business, learn about:

• Building a better user experience to unlock new revenue opportunities
• Forging tighter, stickier customer connections
• Building innovative media experiences into your site

If you’re a web developer, build:

• Silverlight applications quickly and easily
• Sites and applications that consume Windows Live services
• Rich, interactive sites made for the next web

If you’re a web designer, learn about:

• Using Silverlight to design gorgeous and highly functional user interfaces
• How a real-world application is built and the best practices associated with it
• The suite of Expression tools that revolutionize the way designers work with developers

If you attend, regardless of your job role, check out:

• Xbox Gaming Area where you can test your skills at Halo 3 and Guitar Hero among others
• Express Yourself Design Contest where key design agencies compete to solve a real-world design problem
• Stay tuned: We may feature some cool products and demos around XNA, Popfly, Robotics Studio and Surface

It’s Happening Here

Monday-Tuesday, October 8-9, 2007

October 8:             Registration & Breakfast from 7:00-9:00 am
Keynote & Breakouts from 9:00 a.m.-5:45 pm
Welcome Reception from 6:00-9:00 pm

October 9:             Registration & Breakfast from 8:00-9:00 am

                                Keynote & Breakouts from 9:00 am-5:00 pm

Hyatt Regency Cambridge

575 Memorial Drive,
Cambridge, MA 02139

For directions click here.

Ed B.

Come check us out if you'll be in the area!  Ambrose Little and I will be giving our WPF and UX talk on Thursday, August 2 at the New Jersey Microsoft Developer's Group in Iselin, NJ.  We've got some exciting new stuff if you've already heard this talk from us!

August 2nd, 2007

Windows Presentation Foundation, Infragistics

Humanizing Software: Creating Better User Experiences with WPF Ed and Ambrose will discuss the concepts and disciplines involved in the field of user experience and show how WPF can be used to empower developers to create better user experiences through some of its built-in features.

Ed B.

It's out there and available:  http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions

MSRP:  $499.99 - OUCH!

Bad thing though is that Expression Blend (along with the rest of Expression Studio) is only available for Team Suite with MSDN Premium subscribers.  Expression Blend and Web are the only products released in the Studio as of now.  MSDN Premium subscribers without Team Suite are still licensed for Expression Web which is already available in Subscriber Downloads.

In the words of Rob Caron:

The best deal is reserved for Team Suite customers with MSDN Premium subscriptions, who will receive the entire Expression Studio. The value of Team Suite just gets sweeter.

You can read more about the Expression Studio for MSDN subscribers announcement here:  Listening to your feedback - Expression and MSDN

Ed B.

Saturday, May 19th I'll be speaking in the Poconos in Pennsylvania at TECH Bash 2007.  If you'll be in the area, make sure you attend!

Session Topic:  Humanizing Software:  Creating Better User Experience with WPF

Session Description:  End Users today expect great and exciting experiences in their software that allow desirability, findability, and a high value of information presented. We will discuss Microsoft’s latest technology to enable developers to create great User Experiences by using Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF.) We will also briefly cover User Experience (UX) and related topics.

Location: 

Luzerne County Community College
1333 South Prospect Street
Nanticoke, PA 18634-3899
800.377.LCCC

Ed B.

Right now there are limited training resources for learning WPF and pretty much a non-existence of proven patterns and practices.  All of these assets will eventually come to the developer community as more people adopt the technology.  For right now, I would recommend this book for learning and as a keeper for a decent reference book.

Title: Windows Presentation Foundation Unleashed
Author(s):  Adam Nathan
ISBN-10: 0672328917
ISBN-13: 978-0672328917
Publisher: Sams

Some of the things that I really appreciated out of this book:

· This is truly a value-add, especially for a “visual” technology. There are other WPF books that don’t have a single screenshot and it is extremely helpful to have the visual side of WPF represented throughout the book.

· XAML Demystified and Important New Concepts Chapters -- I’m really happy that he did this at the beginning of the book and is where any beginner of WPF or Silverlight (formerly WPF/E) should start the learning process.

- Organized Extremely Well:  It's great if you want to read it from cover to cover or hit a particular topic.  I always give a book the "Index Test" and check to make sure I can easily find the most common WPF topics.

So, be sure to check it out!  Let me know what you think about it too.

Ed B.