Visual Studio Code

Do you ever use some text editor such as Notepad++ to look into your code? If you do you could probably try something quite different, more powerful. Or, sometimes you want capability of Visual Studio IDE environment but need light weight version. Or, you want to use like Visual Studio IDE but on non Windows OS. You don’t want wizard but prefer command line tool. And you want Git support for your version control. All this could be yours using Microsoft tool called Visual Studio Code.

Visual Studio code is part of Visual Studio family and is light weight code editor that works on every platform: Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. When you install and start Visual Studio Code you get good starting point:

Visual Studio code combines two approaches: simplicity of code editor and with the best of what developers need in their edit-compile-debug loop:

What is really power of Visual Studio Code is great support for extensions that you can easily install to work with your language of choice:

Main features:

• file and folder based source code editor
• side by side editing (up to three editors open side by side)
• great support for command line tools
• navigation, keyboard support with customizable bindings, syntax highlighting, bracket matching, auto indentation, and snippets
• built-in support for always-on IntelliSense code completion
• built-in support for Node.js development with TypeScript and JavaScript
• great tooling for web technologies such as HTML, CSS, Less, Sass and JSON
• Git support
• built-in debugger support
• public extensibility model that lets developers build and use extensions
• support for many languages through language extensions available on the VS Code Marketplace

You can find more information about Visual Studio Code on official page here.

If you prefer a code editor-centric development tool or are building cross-platform web and cloud applications Visual Studio Code is a tool that you must try.

Happy coding

New Microsoft documentation service

If you work with Microsoft technologies as developer you will for sure use one of the newest Microsoft documentation service which is running 100% on Azure. And please remember it because you’ll need it in the future:

docs.microsoft.com

Service started as preview in May 2016 but get more serious with the content few days ago when Visual Studio Update 3 and .NET Core 1.0 was publically released (27th June 2016). So why this new service?

As Microsoft would like to say, content matters. And indeed, if you look into the content I’m pretty sure that you would like it. MS created modern web experience for content, simple and effective. And what’s goal is that could be only one to rule them all:

So, the goal for Microsoft is to transfer all content from two popular services MSDN and TechNet into this new service. Of course, hard to believe that it would be done in near future, but for some time it will be for sure. New look and feel is created during the survey of hundreds of developers and IT Pros and getting feedback from UserVoice.

Some of the key features for the new services are:

• Readability
• Estimated Reading Time
• Content and Site Navigation
• Shortened Article Length
• Responsive Design
• Community Contributions
• Feedback Mechanisms
• Social Sharing
• Friendly URLs
• Website theming

You can find more about this key features here.

And if you look for the documentation for .NET Standard and .NET Core Guide, this is possible the best place.

You could also actively participate getting better experiences with your comments to this new service.

One downside of the site at the moment is that you can’t search the content. You can help if you provide your feedback here.

At the and, I would like to mention also one special place which is not new but interesting to remind you, Roslyn powered .NET framework reference source browser:

referencesource.microsoft.com

Happy coding

Microsoft Dev Center–Action needed for Age ratings

If you have apps in Microsoft Windows Store (Windows Phone or Windows Store app) you need to act in order that your app still be available in Microsoft Windows Store Apps.

Namely, Microsoft change Age rating policy for published apps that are not yet rated with new Dev Center Age rating questionnaire. But, just to be sure that you don’t miss this info, Microsoft already sent you email about this. So, if you don’t update new Age rating in Dev Center until September 30, 2016 your app will be unpublished.

What you need to do will cost you only few minutes of your time to finish everything what is needed. First, go to Dev Center, choose your published app, press Update button:

and you’ll see that Age ratings is incomplete:

Press Age ratings link and you’ll get start of the questionnaire:

So, if you didn’t rate your app till now choose first option and then pick up type of your app:

When you choose type of the app then you need to say Yes or No for few questions such as:

• Does the app contain violent material?
• Does the app contain sexual material or nudity?
• Does the app contain any potentially offensive language?
• Does the app share user-provided personal information with third parties?

These questions are really self-explanatory. After finishing this process you’ll find something like this for Age ratings:

At the end, Submit your app and you are done.

If you find out that you made mistake answering this questionnaire or you have change in your app you can always do the same process in order to change Age ratings for your app.

After some time, you’ll get email about IARC Rating Certificate providing a link to permanent record of this certificate.

NOTE: Downside of this action is that we will probably loose some apps from the store.

So, developers, please do this necessary update!

NTK conference 2016–presentation

I’m really proud that I have been part of the official Microsoft conference in Slovenia, NTK conference 2016, Portorož from 16th to 18th May 2016. It was one of the biggest and for sure one of the greatest technical conference in the region.

Some facts for the NTK conference for 2016:

• 1700 participants
• 150+ speakers
• 10+ seminars
• 21 year of tradition

My presentation took for the first day of conference with one session and it last for 60 minutes: Windows App Studio – Windows apps for 45 minutes.

So, what is Windows App Studio?

Windows App Studio is Microsoft’s Web development tool, which allows rapid and efficient development of applications for Windows without writing code.
No matter whether you are a developer or not, this tool will allow you the rapid development of Universal Windows Platform apps for Windows 10 (UWP) or Universal Windows apps for Windows/Windows Phone 8.1 based on predefined templates.
Although it is not functional as Microsoft Visual Studio, it gives a lot of possibilities and options for the development of very powerful and good designed WP8 applications.
Also you can benefit from Visual Studio and export your project in Visual Studio to fine tune your app.

In General, agenda for the session was as follows:
– Templates for creating new application
– Main application data: title, description, logo and language
– Application concept in Windows App Studio
– Defining data: data source, sections and using predefined data source
– Define custom data source using Collection data source
– Using static Resources
– Using App Studio Data Services
– Styling the app
– Generating application
– Export to Microsoft Visual Studio

Slides from the presentation you can find here.

Some photos from the conference:

Windows App Studio – new enhancements

Every few months we get new update in Windows App Studio. The newest one is ability  to use new app to install and share app created using Windows App Studio. Till now, it was very hard or better say complex to install app on device to test it (sideloading). Namely, you needed to deploy certificate using PowerShell scripts which was not the best and easiest way for sideloading.

Now, we have app you can install from the Windows Store, Windows App Studio Installer.  This app is UWP and you can use it on Windows Mobile 10 and Windows 10 operating system.

When you run it and have some apps that you installed with it, it looks like:

So, what is idea behind this app?

When you create app using Windows App Studio and create package for installment – appx package, you need to initiate download from Windows App Studio (click on download button in Windows App Studio – white box).

If you have installed Windows App Studio Installer, then it will start automatically and provide you install button for your app:

Windows App Studio Installer will download package and do install on device. Then you could even open newly installed app from Studio Installer.

So, what this tool is doing is:

• When start download from Windows App Studio, it finds if your device is ready for sideloading or in developer mode in Windows 10. If not, it will open that settings page in order that you change that settings.
• Automatically install necessary certificate if it is not installed on device.
• Install app on device.

So, installing app from Windows App Studio is peace of cake as you can see.

Sharing app from Windows App Studio

When you create installable package from Windows App Studio, it is very easy to share your app with your friends. Just choose one of the provided options (email, twitter, facebook).

For instance, if you choose email, you need to provide email/emails to whom you need to provide your app. With that your app become public, whoever has link could install it.

Your friend will get mail with link to install app. Then it is the same process, user will download Windows App Studio Installer if it is not installed and then app will be installed.

Important Note: You can share app that is not published to Windows Store, then just created in Windows App Studio. When sharing app, you share just that specific version of your app. If you do update of the app, you again need to share new version!

With Windows App Studio, it is very easy to create Windows 10 UWP app and also easy to test and share app with your friends.

Happy coding

Cloud integration for UWP at Sinergija 15

I was one of the speaker for the one of the biggest conference in the region – Sinergija 15, held in Serbia, Belgrade from 21th till 23rd October 2015. This was great conference with long tradition and really great content. My presentation was at 22nd October with title:

Connected mobile experiences – Cloud integration for Universal Windows apps

Agenda for this presentation was:

• Connected mobile experiences
• Roaming data
  • Roaming settings
  • Roaming folder
  • Credential locker
• Sharing state using One drive
• Creating an Azure App Service – Mobile app
• Offline sync
• Push notification

Some of the tips for Roaming data:

• Use roaming folder and roaming settings in the same way as local folder and settings.
• HighPriority setting is available on Windows Desktop for quick sync but has no effect on Windows Mobile.
• Good for app customization settings, most recent activity , partially completed work.
• Synchronization stops if roaming data is larger then 100KB.
• Bad for synchronizing large amount of data or instant syncing scenarios.
• Last writer wins.
• Data deleted from cloud if app not used for a period of time large than 30 days.
• You can use capacity for roaming data in KB with RoamingStorageQuota.
• Do not use Roaming data as a general purpose data syncing mechanism.

Azure App Service is one integrated offer:

• Web apps
• Mobile apps (know as Mobile Services in the past)
• LOGIC apps
• API apps

With Azure App Service you can:

• Create web and mobile experiences that share data access and business logic.
• Automate business processes with logic apps.
• Build custom APIs or consume connectors from Marketplace
• One common billing model for all of your App Services.
• Use common Gateway to authenticate.

In presentation I also presented how to create Azure Mobile App and how to use offline data sync and how to work with push notification.

 

Happy coding

Great resources for Windows 10 development

As we get Windows 10 operating system it is right time to learn how to develop for Windows 10. It is really great opportunity because you can reach millions of devices from IoT to PCs, tablets, mobile devices, HoloLens etc. As Microsoft plan is to have 1 billion installed Windows 10 for three years, you don’t have to miss this fantastic opportunity.

So, here are the links that will help you to get started with development for Windows 10.

Develop Windows apps
How-to articles and API reference for Windows 10 development.

Developer Tools Download
Tools for Every Developer and Every App (Visual Studio, Visual Studio Online, Visual Studio Code…).

Developer for Windows 10 – What’s New
What’s new for developers in Windows 10.

Get started with Windows apps
Build Windows apps now. Windows 10 makes it easier than ever to develop apps for the Universal Windows Platform with just one API set and one app package to reach all Windows 10 devices – PCs, tablets, phones, and more.

Design UWP apps
A great app starts with a great user interface. Learn how to design a Universal Windows Platform (UWP) app that looks fantastic on all Windows 10-based devices, from phones and tablets to PCs and Surface Hub.

Publish Windows apps
The new unified Windows Dev Center dashboard lets you publish and manage all of your apps for Windows devices.

Windows 10 courses in MVA
Microsoft Virtual Academy is great learning resources as courses (video tutorials, slides…) for Developers, IT Pros, Data Pros and Students.

Channel 9
Channel 9 provides videos for developers, delivered by the people who work behind the scenes at Microsoft.

Windows 10 Jumpstart
Preparing Your Enterprise for Windows 10 as a Service.

Migrate apps to the Universal Windows Platform (UWP)
Make the necessary manual changes to your existing project files for Windows Store 8.1 apps, Windows Phone 8.1 apps, or Universal Windows apps created with Visual Studio 2015 RC, so that they can be used with Visual Studio 2015 RTM.

I hope that you can find these resources useful.

Happy coding

Microsoft Network 5 conference in Neum

Network 5 conference is the the biggest conference organized by Microsoft in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 27-29th April 2015. This time, it is decided to organize conference on the Adriatic sea in Neum, the only Bosnian city on the Sea. Everything happened in Grand Hotel Neum. Everything was almost perfect (stuff need to do a little more education regarding customer’s support) but at the end, it was really great decision. Hotel is big enough to have a lot of rooms for 6 sessions at the same time, great lobby for networking and swimming pool and sauna for relax time.

This year, session was organized in six tracks:

• Business
• Developer
• Educational
• ITPro
• MS Community
• Case Study

And the main topic this year was Azure, that is for sure. My session was also about Azure:

Azure Mobile Services for Universal Windows Apps

This time, I was happy that had session with my friend from Belgrade, Nemanja Stančić, MVP for Windows Platform. We had really great time during presentation with 48 attendees in the DEV room.

Here, you can find our presentation with slides and useful info in notes.

Also, as previous years, I developed official Universal Windows apps for the conference (Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1).

Here, you can find some pictures from the conference.

See you next year on MS Network 6 in …

Presentation from Tarabica conference in Belgrade

Tarabica is the biggest community conference in Serbia which was organized by Microsoft community on 28th March 2015 in Belgrade.

I was the speaker at this fantastic conference with one session:

Storing local data in Universal Windows apps

Some of the abstracts from the session:

• Application data
  • LocalSettings (settings container in local data store)
  • RoamingSettings (settings container in roaming data store)
  • LocalFolder (root folder in the local app data store)
  • RoamingFolder (Gets the root folder in the roaming app data store)
• Create data using list – List<Object>
• Serialization – JSON.NET
• Local database SQLite using .NET API SQLiteWinRT

Here is the Power Point presentation from the session. You can find more useful data in notes of the slides.

Picture Info update adds extensive list of changes

Social media coverage:

• Windows Central: http://www.windowscentral.com/picture-info-update-brings-new-tag-information-ability-delete-exif-data-photos
• 1800 Pocket PC: http://www.1800pocketpc.com/picture-info-gets-extensively-updated-99881/

Picture Info for Windows Phone is kind of application that many users said that its functionality need to be part of the operating system as native feature. Many of us use Windows Phone device everyday as camera so we want to find out many information about picture. For that reason, Picture Info is perfect choice.

Picture info reads EXIF information that all images have incorporated such as width, height, file size, file name, date time picture taken, ISO Speed and many more and if image contains GPS coordinate, show location of the image on the map.

Main features:
* Read Exif data from the picture
* Run app from the Picture Hub
* Show location of the picture
* Share image details by email
* Share image location/GPS details via text/SMS
* Delete all EXIF data from the picture
* Rename picture and Delete all EXIF data
* Share image location/GPS details via text/SMS
* Lock/Unlock Map to help with scrolling Map
* Location name (address, city, country) on the Map
* Support light/dark theme

Picture Info has over 1000 rates in US Store with overall rate in all Worldwide Stores with average rate about 4.5.  Also application is spotlighted in many Worldwide stores more that 300 times. App is translated in many languages (current number is 8).

As it is very popular application for reading Photo EXIF data, I collected the most wanted features that users ask and brought update that add extensive list of changes. One of the most wanted features is to hide EXIF data in the situation when you want to share picture and want to hide location coordinate of the picture.

New Features in version 2.7:
– Add new EXIF tags: Date modified, Type of the file, EXIF version information, Color space, Aperture Value, Shutter Speed Value, Exposure Index.
– Day taken of the picture.
– Delete all EXIF data from the picture.
– Rename picture and Delete all EXIF data.
– Share image location/GPS details via text/SMS.
– Lock/Unlock Map to help with scrolling Map.
– Location name (address, city, country) on the Map.
– Explanation for EXIF tags.
– Detail page is default page of the app.
– Donate page.
– Minor UI improvements and fixes.

Resolved bugs
– Text wrapping for the File name when longer filenames are not visible.
– Exposures longer than 1 second are shown as 1/0 sec.
– Resolved bug with dark theme.

Also, now it is possible to get smiles on developer’s face with some donations that is possible using In-App Purchase on Donate page. Make developer happy.

List of all EXIF tags that Picture Info can read are extensive:
File Name
Type: JPG, PNG
Date taken
Day taken: Monday, Tuesday..
Width in pixels
Height in pixels
Effective Pixels in megapixels
File size in KB and MB
ISO Speed
X resolution
Y resolution
Color space
Exposure time
Exposure index
F-stop
Aperture value
Flash On or Off
Camera
Camera model
Software
GPS Altitude
GPS Latitude in degrees, minutes and seconds
GPS Lat (Dec) as decimal number
GPS Longitude in degrees, minutes and seconds
GPS Long (Dec) as decimal number
Orientation
Resolution Unit
Focal Length
Focal Len. 35mm
Dig. Zoom Ratio
Metering Mode
Shutter speed value
Artist
Copyright
Description
Exif version

Link to US Store here.
Link to universal country store here.

But that is not all. I have list of ideas that want to add in future versions, so stay tuned.