DonS.CF

My Code Camp 7 Presentations and Samples Now Available for Download

Thanks to everyone who attended my two sessions at this weekend's Code Camp7: Deer In The Headlights event. I really enjoyed the interaction, questions and comments during both sessions!

As promised, my two presentations are now available for download. The ZIP files contain both the Powerpoint slides and any sample code shown during the session.

• Windows Mobile Application Performance Best Practices (592 KB)
• Leveraging Speech in .NET Applications and Windows Vista (211 KB)

As an "added bonus", I have put up the C# project I wrote to test out Ink and Speech with Vista and the Tablet PC. It is the little spelling application I wrote for my son to do his homework, and domenstrates speech synthesis and the Tablet PC ink APIs. Even if you don't have a Tablet PC, you can fill in the fields using your keyboard. The download also includes a setup installer for the compiled version of the application, allowing you to just install it and play around with it if you'd like.

• Vista Spelling Practice Application (3.75 MB)

Enjoy!

Determining Ink Capabilities at Runtime

I've been asked on a couple of occasions whether or not it is possible to determine if the Tablet PC OS is installed on a system running a .NET application. Typically, this would be beneficial if you were writing an application that wanted to support both ink and non-ink user input. While the InkEdit control included in the Tablet PC SDK does provide a simple way of supporting ink and non-ink input "out-of-the-box", more complex solutions might wish to dynamically load different types of UI objects.

There is an example of how you might do this over at MSDN. The C# example uses assembly loading and reflection to determine if the Microsoft.Ink assembly is loaded and whether or not ink recognition is available.

Please Welcome The New Microsoft Developer Evangelist for New England - Chris Bowen!

I happened to read Chris Bowen's latest blog post today. He has accepted the position as Developer Evangelist for Microsoft in the New England district. While Chris follows a legacy of two fantaatic predecessors in Russ Fustino and Thom Robbins, he brings what I feel are the right "ingredients" for success -

• A deep understanding of Microsoft platforms, tools and technologies;
• A wealth of experience with the .NET platform;
• Strong ties to the Microsoft developer community in New England.

I have had the pleasure of knowing Chris for a while, and I am truly pleased for both him and the community.

BTW - Chris (much like his predecessors) has a great sense of humor. This "soft skill" goes a long way in my book... ;-)

Windows Live Writer Beta...

Gee - I almost forgot to mention...

I have started using the Windows Live Writer Beta. The posts made over the last several days use it. Having used w.bloggar and BlogJet in the past, I have found Windows Live Writer to be similar in functionality. Considering that it is free, it's a pretty nice little offline blogging tool.

Club Pocket PC - Boston Meeting: Wednesday, Oct. 18th, 2006

FYI - The next meeting of Club Pocket PC - Boston will be held on Wednesday, October 18th at 6:30 PM at the Microsoft office in Waltham, MA.

Presentations include:

• FIRST LOOK: Windows Mobile Device Center for Windows Vista. If you are wondering about how your Windows Mobile device will work with the upcoming Windows Vista operating system, this presentaton will give you insight to the successor to ActiveSync.
• Microsoft SLAM for Windows Mobile Smartphones. Microsoft Research recently launched SLAM (Social/Location/Annotation/Mobile), a concept application for Windows Mobile Smartphone. SLAM is focused o­n social networking with small groups, exchanging conversations and other media. If you are interested in seeing what Microsoft is thinking in the mobile device social networking space, then this demonstration is a must-see.
• Ink Enabling Applications for Microsoft Windows Tablet PC Edition. Digital ink functionality has always been a cornerstone of the Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition platform. Surprisingly, however, there has been slower than anticipated release of "ink-enabled" applications. If you are a .NET developer, you may be very surprised to see just how easy it is to provide ink functionality to your users. This presentation will demonstrate the common steps to support digital ink and related tasks.

I will be presenting the ink-enablement session (and working with my "partner in crime" Steven "fyiguy" Hughes on the other presentations as well. As always, it's a great opportunity to learn and meet other Windows Mobile and mobile technology enthusiasts. Hope to see some of you there!

Speech in 3 Lines of Code with the .NET Framework 3.0 and Windows Vista

To do this, you will need:

1) Windows Vista (prefereably, RC2 or higher). This ships with the .NET Framework 3.0 included.

Perform the following steps in Visual Studio 2005 (C# shown):

1. Create a new Windows Application project.
2. Under the project, add a new reference. Select System.Speech from the .NET tab.
3. Create a Windows Form, and add a button to it. Name the button btnSpeak.
4. [Code Line 1] Add a reference to the System.Speech.Systhesis namespace using the using keyword.
   

using System.Speech.Synthesis;

5. [Code Line 2] Create an instance variable for a SpeechSynthesizer object.
   

private SpeechSynthesizer mySpokenWords = new SpeechSynthesizer();

6. Create an event handler for the btnSpeak's Click event.
   
7. [Code Line 3] Add the following code to the Click event handler:
   

mySpokenWords.Speak("Hello World!");

Compile and run the code. Click on the button and listen to the result.

That's all there really is to it!

Total Code:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Speech.Synthesis;

namespace SpeakHelloWorld
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        private SpeechSynthesizer mySpokenWords = new SpeechSynthesizer();

        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        private void btnSpeak_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            mySpokenWords.Speak("Hello World!");
        }
    }
}

The .NET Framework 3.0 - Taking Things "One Piece At A Time"

I recently spoke at the Software Association of New Hampshire's annual InfoXchange event on the .NET Framework 3.0. I had approximately 30 minutes to address the topic "What Is the .NET Framework 3.0, and Why Should I Care?". It reminded me of those essay questions that went something like this -

Describe the American Revolution and it's impact on geopolitics in 200 words or less. :-)

I found myself facing a really serious challenge here. As I started to think about how much is really in the .NET Framework 3.0, I realized that for many developers, this could be intimidating (especially from an initial impression respective). I wanted to make certain that (given the short timeframe of the presentation and the need to generalize, I could scare off more people than I would help. I found the answer to how I finally approached the situation, thanks to my two small sons (particularly my oldest, six year-old Nicolas).

Nicolas likes to try out puzzles every once in a while. When I say "puzzles", I mean just that - the classic tabletop x number of pieces board puzzles. As he gets older, he has worked with increasingly complex puzzles. Now, he has (on occasion) opened a puzzle box and poured out the pieces and stared in disbelief at the sheer number of pieces. Usually, his response is "Dad, forget it. This is just gonna be way too hard." I usually respond with "OK - let's at a time." We first find the corner and edge pieces. Then, we group pieces by commonality (perhaps color or imagery). Finally, we focus on one area of the puzzle at a time. Usually, my son ends up saying something like "Wow, Dad! That really wasn't so hard."

I realized the other day that the .NET Framework 3.0 is a lot like my son's puzzles. At first glance, the .NET Framework 3.0 can translate to "A whole lotta new stuff to learn." Unfortunately, that typically leads to the common fears of all developers (including myself). If the time is taken, however, to look at each of the "components" of the old WinFX (the "new part" of the .NET FW 3.0) individually, the learning curve might surprise you. It certainly did surprise me.

I ended up taking the time in my presentation to break down each of the new technologies in the .NET Framework 3.0, highlighting what functionality is provided and why it might matter to the developer and/or business owner. There are any number of compelling reasons why the .NET FW 3.0 could be of benefit - but I will leave that to another blog post ;-) In the meantime, I strongly encourage you to take some time to look at the .NET FW 3.0 from a "mid-level" perspective. Not too high-level or too low-level, which can be very intimidating. Instead, take things "one piece at a time".

Using The New Microsoft.Speech Namespace in the .NET Framework 3.0/Vista

I have had the opportunity to work with the new Microsoft.Speech namespace in the .NET Framework 3.0. The short of it - it rocks! Very easy to get started, but a wealth of sophisticated functionality for developers. Of course, you need to be running Vista in order to make this happen. One thing I really liked is the bringing forward of some of the concepts of Microsoft Speech Server and the Speech Application SDK ("SASDK") into the client-side API. Most notable is the whole prompt database concept, allowing for structured interaction with the user. You do not have to use this, however, as the SpeechSynthesizer.Speak() method does allow for the use of any text string to be spoken.

While most of the messaging around the Speech API is focused on accessibility, speech interaction can be useful on the desktop in other situations. Case in point -

My 6 year-old son is in first grade and learning his spelling. He comes home at the beginning of the week with a new list of spelling words to learn. I decided to combine the power of the Tablet PC with the new Speech API. The result was an application that:

1) Allows the user (I would assume an adult) to create lists of words to practice. The list is stored as XML. Multiple lists can be created.
2) Has the user go through each word. The application speaks the word, then the user spells it by writing on the Tablet PC. Once finished, they tap on a big color-coded button to check the spelling.
3) If the answer is correct, the application says so by voice, then provides a little applause. If the answer is worng, the application says so (in a nice and encouraging way), and a little "awww" is played. The user can always try again.
4) At the end, a tally of total words and correctly spelled words is provided.

Total time to develop the application - about 4 hours from concept to realization. Most of the time was spent on UI creation; writing the Tablet PC-specific code and Speech interface was more of a matter of minutes than hours.

I really think there are many more possible uses for the new Speech API. Just think of something you do currently that involves reading. Would a voice interface be nicer or improve productivity? If the answer is even "maybe", then you should check it out.

Windows Mobile Installers and Vista/WMDC

Just a heads up to all of you Windows Mobile application developers -

If you build an installer for your application, be sure that you do *not* hard code your path to ceappmgr.exe in order to copy and install your CAB files. Instead, you should be looking at the registry for the location of ceappmgr.exe first. The registry key is the same as it has been in the past -

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\CEAPPMGR.EXE

The location of ceappmgr.exe has changed, and (always a possibility) could change again.

I have noticed that some application installs are failing under the new Windows Mobile Device Center ("WMDC"), while others are succeeding. Having used the registry key technique for all of my CAB installs, Imy applications are not experiencing any issues.

Windows Mobile Developer Virtual User Group Meeting September 20th

Call To Contact Smartphone Edition V1.0 Released

Lest anyone out there think I had forgotten about the Windows Mobile Smartphone world when I announced the release of Call To Contact for Phone Edition devices -

"The BHighlyMobile Group, L.L.C., a New Hampshire-based company focused on Microsoft mobility solutions, is pleased to announce the availability of Call To Contact Version 1.0 for Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone devices.

Call To Contact V1.0 Phone Edition Released

It's been a busy Sunday for me. Let's see -

• Got attacked (and stung) by yellow jackets this AM when I discovered that my gas grill had become the proud home of a new nest after our New England May floods;
• Installed a large window A/C unit by myself, testing my tendon strength and knowledge of leverage;
• Oh, yeah - I released my first "commercial" .NET Compact Framework application...

"The BHighlyMobile Group, L.L.C. , a New Hampshire-based company focused on Microsoft mobility solutions, is pleased to announce the availability of Call To Contact Version 1.0 for Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC Phone Edition devices.

WMDVUG July 19th Meeting - Registration Now Open

The event registration URL for the July 19th meeting of the Windows Mobile Developer Virtual User Group is now open! You can register via this link at the Microsoft Events site. Please be sure to register right away! You can also get more information (and subscribe to news via RSS) at the WMDVUG web site.

See you online! 

Introducing... The Windows Mobile Developer Virtual User Group!

As many people out there may already know, I have at various times tried to get a Windows Mobile Developer User Group going in the Boston area. The difficulties have usually been two-fold:

• This is a very focused type of user group, so attendence for one geographic region tends to be small by nature;
• Since most Windows Mobile developers also work with other technologies and user groups, a "competing for the user group dollar" tends to exist.

After conversations with a number of people, I have decided to try to overcome both issues with one felled swoop. So -

The Windows Mobile Developer Virtual User Group ("WMDVUG") is intended for individuals focusing on developing software for Windows Mobile devices. This includes connected applications using ASP.NET and rich client applications using the .NET Compact Framework and/or eMbedded Visual C++. Our meetings will be held live via Microsoft Live Meeting every other 3rd Wednesday of the month from 12 Noon - 2 PM EDT/EST.

Our first meeting will be held on Wednesday, July 19th from 12 - 2 PM EDT. Once information on registering for the meeting becomes available, I will pass it along. In addition, we are in the process of putting together the first agenda. Once again, I will pass along updates.

I am extremely excited about the potential for this medium to reach a large audience beyond the geographic confines of the Boston/New England region. I look forward to seeing you online soon!

Windows Mobile Presentations from Code Camp V Now Available

"Programming Outlook Mobile" Presentation and Sample Code Now Available

Thanks to all who attended last night's (Wednesday, April 19th) meeting of Club Pocket PC - Boston. The PowerPoint slides for my presentation, entitled "Programming Outlook Mobile with the .NET Compact Framework and Windows Mobile 5.0" , are now available for download from the BostonPocketPC.com web site.

For this presentation, I used the same sample application I used for the previous week's Boston .NET User Group presentation (which includes Outlook Mobile sample code and a whole lot more). That Visual Studio 2005 C# project can also be found at the BostonPocketPC.com web site.

The Mobile Devcasters Show - Episode 5 Now Available

After a far-too-long hiatus, Thom Robbins and I have finally gotten back on track with the Mobile Devcasters Show. Episode 5 is now available for download at the Mobile Devcasters web site -

"In this episode, Thom and Don play a little "catch-up", discussing upcoming major Windows Mobile developer events and some changes to the Mobile Devcasters Show. The main topic of the episode is Mobile Connected Application development, with Thom and Don talking ASP.NET 2.0, mobile web considerations, best practices and tips."

The "changes" we discuss are something that should have you subscribing to our RSS feed (if you have not already done so). Be sure to check it out!

Boston .NET User Group Presentation and Sample Application Now Available

Thanks to everyone that attended my presentation (Leveraging the New Windows Mobile APIs) to the Boston .NET User Group earlier this evening. As promised, the PowerPoint slides and C# sample application demonstrating the new Windows Mobile 5.0-specific managed APIs are both available at the BostonPocketPC.com web site.

Enjoy!

The Lowdown on SQL Server Everywhere Edition

On April 6th, 2006, Microsoft (via a SQL Server 2005 Update from Paul Flesner) announced a "new" product in the Microsoft SQL Server family - SQL Server Everywhere Edition (or "SQL Everywhere" for short, or "SQL/e" for shorter). At the time, I chose not to post about it until more official word came out. I did this for two reasons -

1. My unofficial word would be just that - unofficial. Better to hear more information direct from the source;
2. I would have to type a lot less if I simply pointed people in the right direction ;-)

Microsoft's own Steve Lasker has put together a good FAQ regarding SQL/e on his MSDN blog. In short, SQL/e is essentially SQL Mobile without the desktop limitations. As you may or may not be aware, SQL Mobile was authorized for use in developing Tablet PC applications as well as Windows Mobile applications. That was the extent of "desktop" deployment, however. This new structure allows for SQL Mobil... er, SQL/e to be used as an embedded database in any Microsoft OS environment.

Personally, I applaud this decision. I know that when the decision to allow Tablet PC deployments but not others first came out, a lot of folks in the .NET CF and Embedded MVP communities thought an broader expansion would be a good thing. Obviously, Microsoft listened (to MVPs and others) and responded. This change opens a number of possibilities for occasionally-connected application developers.

BTW - Steve Lasker has also posted about leveraging SQL/e in Visual Studio 2005 development. Really great article with useful information.

.NET Speech Server Day Tips and Tricks Presentation Now Available

Thanks to everyone for attending today's .NET Speech Server Day at the Microsoft offices in Waltham. As promised, my PowerPoint slides from the presentation can now be downloaded from the BostonPocketPC.com web site.

Enjoy!