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Build, Day Two

Day 2 & things didn’t slow down even a bit!

There are some great new features in Visual Studio 2019 that work together to make coding much more productive.  From advanced code cleanup tools to better context following in IntelliCode to improved ways to creating Interfaces & keep updating members from classes into the appropriate Interface, over 50 major changes & new features come together to make creating good code easier than ever!

I got to talk to my long time friend Jeff Fritz about the work he is doing on Twitch to help developers educate & help each other evolve their skills as well as the cool things he is working on to innovate the chat bot experience in a multi-channel scenarios!  Make sure you check that out in the DevCollective.

Xamarin is continually evolving & 2019 is no different!  Now devs can access over 50 different API’s on EVERY PLATFORM all in one place with the new Xamarin Tools in VS 2019. A mere 7 GB (pretty much an XCODE install) & you can dev for every major platform on the planet!

Azure!!! From Pipelines, to DI coming to .NET Functions on Azure, & so many more, there was no dearth of cool things to find out about MS in the Cloud.

Day 3 is mere hours away and I’ll be Tweeting & blogging here! Stay tuned
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By Atley – May 8, 2019

Build, Day One

OMG, msbuild has been so crazy!!! Where to start???

An insane demo of Cortana improvements this morning showed a person having a conversation with Cortana that had 34 separate interactions or functions in it.  She not only kept up, but also got new information added & modified calendar entries in real time.

The number of incredible new & updated features & services in Azure are way too many for me to remember right now.

And lastly, but surely not least, as many of you know, I am a very Anti-Chrome person

Then I went into a couple of sessions in the afternoon & was actually blown away by how frank & forward Microsoft was being about why they made the switch, how they were focused on privacy, giving the users control of their information & who had access to it.

They clearly outlined the plans for Edge over the  next year, they were even more honest & open when I got to speak to the presenter & asked him questions that were related to my personal concerns.

One thing that was made clear on day one, Microsoft was continuing its evolution; this was not the same Microsoft I had known, its culture & outlook had changed. From what I am seeing so far, the change has been for the better.

I can’t wait til day 2.

devmc DevCollective windowsdeveloper MSbuild

Posted in Events, Microsoft.

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By Atley – May 8, 2019

What do YOU want to know at Build?

I am so happy to announce that I will be one of a great group of Dev Mc’s selected to get you all the highlights & tell you the best bits from MS Build 2019!!!

The coolest thing is that they are going to let me track down nearly ANYONE at Microsoft to ask questions about what is going on both at Build and in development at Microsoft!

Leave your questions (and who you would like to have answer them) below and I will track them down and get your answers!!!

Lets find together out what the future holds at Build 2019!!!

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By Atley – May 3, 2019

A Podcast for Microsoft Users and Enthusiasts Alike

Microsoft - in a new light

The goal of this post is to ask you, the reader (and hopefully podcast listener to tell me what you want from a new podcast on Microsoft.

One thing I have learnt from over 20 years as a software developer is that, unless I am making something for just me, my opinion isn’t really that important… yours is.

What I will say is that I will do my best to deliver something that is worthy of the time you will spend listening to it. 

What I need from you is suggestions on what is missing in the Microsoft podcast world, and what you would like to see in it.  Please comment below,  I look forward to hearing from you.

Posted in Microsoft, Podcasts, The Microsoft Show, Uncategorized.

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By Atley – August 14, 2018

In Case You Missed It (ConfigureAwait)

In Case You Missed It is a periodic series of cool tidbits, reminders and things I have found useful in coding.

I recently picked up this valuable little tidbit from a developer I had the pleasure to work with. I can’t believe that I hadn’t known this before, but when I found out that several other developers I have worked with before weren’t aware of it either, I stopped feeling quite so foolish…

ConfigureAwait on the end of an awaited call can serve many purposes. First of all, it helps to avoid deadlocks by enabling a small amount of parallelism and ensure that it runs in parallel with the GUI main thread, the second is that it stops the continuous check-ins with the main thread, thereby ensuring optimal performance with no UI hiccups.

It does this by ensuring a consistent context for the running code. Awaited calls without ConfigureAwait check back into the main thread (GUI) at the completion of their run and subsequent calls to that context can result in deadlocks.

The syntax is simple:

await Task.Delay(500).ConfigureAwait(continueOnCapturedContext: false);

or just:

await Task.Delay(500).ConfigureAwait(false);

One other important thing to note is that once you invoke ConfigureAwait in a method, it is best to do it for every awaited call after that point in the method. This ensures a more consistent flow in the way the code runs and allows the code to continue to execute in parallel without checking back in to the GUI or main thread.

You should, however, avoid ConfigureAwait if you have to use the context of the method after the await. This is especially true for apps with a user interface. Any code that is used to affect GUI elements or is involved in updating bound properties or needs access to GUI-specific types such as Dispatcher/CoreDispatcher should not use ConfigureAwait.

ConfigureAwait is a powerful little tool in the Async arsenal, used wisely it will make your users’ experiences much better!

Hope this helps.

Posted in In Case You Missed It, Periodic Post Series.

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By Atley – March 30, 2018

Tips & Tricks & Bits (Xamarin)

Tips & Tricks & Bits is a periodic series that will showcase things that I have found useful to know in my coding endeavors.

Here’s a quick list of a couple of things I have found useful to know when writing apps for Xamarin (check back, this list will grow):

  • Android projects hate hyphens.

    Don’t use a hyphen in an images or resource names. Using “my-icon.png” in your drawable folder will give you all sorts of strange errors, which, unfortunately, will not, in any way include “Don’t use hyphens” in the messaging at all. Use “my_icon.png: instead and all will be well.

  • Make Sure Platform Heads Get Their Packages Too.

    Even if you are only using a particular feature in your PCL(s) (e.g. settings, file system, location sensor, etc.) make sure that the platform head projects get the appropriate packages. What you have to keep in mind is that Xamarin compiles to native code and the heads need to have the appropriate platform specific libraries available so that you cool PCL code will run. Often the NuGet Package Manager will take care of that for you, but, you should always be aware for those times that it doesn’t.

  • DON’T create your UI in code unless you absolutely have to

    It is cool to create code only custom control (I do it a lot), but really, unless you absolutely have to, it is not a great idea. There is a lot going on in the simplest of controls in Xamarin once you factor in the multi-platform support and therefore, it can get tricky to manage and maintain very quickly. With all the binding, converters and commands involved in controls, it is easy to end up with strange, platform-specific issues when you start to build complex user/custom controls in code. Avoid the headaches where possible and do code only controls in Xamarin only when absolutely necessary.

  • ListView Properites HasUnevenRows and SeparatorVisibility.

    Xamarin Forms ListView can seem to make it tricky to create the UI you want in lists. This is especially when trying to get the vertical layout to dynamically “grow” the way you need it to. You also may find that (mainly on iOS) you have ugly horizontal lines dividing items. To help with these issues, Xamarin has something that UWP/WPF doesn’t have: HasUnevenRows and SeparatorVisibility. Setting these properties to False and None, respectively, will help you easily to solve these annoying UI issues.

  • AbsoluteLayout is not your friend.

    I am sure that you need this thing to be exactly here… I am sure that you think that you need AbsoluteLayout, but from my experience with Android, it is not going to be your friend. It is hard to be sure that it will look correct in all the form factors and play nicely with all the other layout settings of all the other controls. Avoid it when you can and only use it when you must.

    • Posted in Periodic Post Series, Tips & Tricks & Bits.

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    By Atley – March 30, 2018

    Contrary To Popular Opinion

    Surprisingly, there is still a lot of money to be made from Windows Phone users. I know that there are no new devices coming out and the latest ones were released almost two years ago (not counting WileyFox’s phones which were only available for a short time before the company entered into bankruptcy, TechCrunch , Digital Trends).

    I am speaking from personal experience, I am seeing a marked uptick in downloads and income from my apps over last year. It seems surprising until you think of it logically. There are still millions of Windows Phones out there and as developers leave the market or as apps get abandoned, the users are motivated to download and support the apps that are being maintained and properly marketed.

    One thing to make sure you’re doing is to update existing apps to UWP, it will help to ensure you are future-proofing your apps for whatever comes next. With full Windows coming to Arm, new devices and new categories will be made with form factors that will embrace and need the flexibility of UWP.

    Remember, as always, the development and deployment of an app is only about 30% of the actual work involved in making serious money from your app portfolio. Stay tuned for more tips and info on how you can make money on your apps.

    Posted in App Developer Success, Mobile Development, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone, WP App Lifecycle.

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    By Atley – March 28, 2018

    Where UWP Makes Sense

    I get asked this question a lot and here is my point of view.

    UWP is still important for it’s webpage-like flexibility while having the trust and power of the desktop. It allows for relatively fast prototyping and grows more powerful with every release. There are lots of form factors from, Hub, Xbox, Desktop and, to some extent, still Windows Mobile.

    Microsoft screwed up their phone play… They admitted as much. That takes a lot of the wind out of the sails of the UWP development proposition, but all is far from lost.

    With the advent of WOA (Windows on ARM), there is a host of new devices coming our way, all with different form factors. These form factors will be non standard and varied as the industry searches for the next new thing. Making sure your software solutions get the most eyeballs and the most use is paramount in an app developer’s mind and drives much of what we do. To that end, UWP has a whole new shot at relevance and increased import. At least that is how I see it and why all my new apps targeting Windows in any flavor are UWP projects.

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    By Atley – March 28, 2018

    I’m back!

    After a long time away, I am back and active again in the community scene! Looking forward to talking to lots of devs and expect a lot of new stuff from my blog. As always, any questions or comments can be sent directly to me at devMentor@outlook.com

    Posted in General.

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    By Atley – March 28, 2018

    Slakr – Call for Beta Testers

    If you use Slack (www.slack.com) for team communications and you are a Windows or Windows Phone user, you may have noticed a bit of a hole in the support for these platforms.

    I decided last weekend to create a Slack client for Windows Phone and Windows.   I am a good way through the app now and am looking for some beta testers. 

    THIS IS NOT THE OFFICIAL SLACK APP, but has the blessing of Slack and hopefully will make lots of Slack users very happy.  As much as I love the name Slakr, i have to change to comply with the rules of using the API, so I don’t confuse users. 

    If you want to beta test the app, please email me at codemonkeyjunkie@hotmail.com and give me your email address so I can add you to the Slakr team of testers.  There will be channels to ask for features, report bugs or issues and to discuss the project directly with me.

    Some of the basics:

    • Slakr will support multiple teams out of the box.
    • To be on the beta test team, the first team you have connected to Slakr must be the Slakr team.  You can connect to as many other teams as you like.
    • As an added bonus, the beta testers that give the most constructive and useful help and reporting will be rewarded with a gift to be revealed at the end of the beta.
    • You will be asked to be polite to the other members of the team and do not solicit or spam them.
    • If you advise or request a feature that becomes a paid feature, you will get a special code to get all paid features for free.  This code will be good only for two devices at a time and will be attached to the email address you used to join the beta.

    The team is set up now and I will be taking requests for features even before the app is available to the store!  

    Hope to see you on the team!

    Posted in Beta Testing, Mobile Development, Windows Phone, Windows RT.

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    By Atley – July 16, 2015