Tag Archives: c#

Channel 9 Video – Windows App Studio UWP from No Code to Code

Join MVP Russ Fustino and all of the Fustino Brothers in this live studio audience session recorded recently at the Tampa Code Camp. They present a deep dive into Microsoft Windows App Studio. It is a hot off the metal session.

https://channel9.msdn.com/Series/Russ-ToolShed/Windows-App-Studio-UWP-from-No-Code-to-Code

Building universal Windows apps with no code using Microsoft App Studio. It’s all about creating quality apps quickly using templates. The enhanced App Studio (now for Windows 10) gives you a great start. Use the new Universal Windows Platform (UWP) – one binary, one project for phone and tablet. Employ new the pivot control API’s for YouTube and Flickr integration. Deploy ads easier. And wrap-up a responsive website in an app.

We uncovered the new enhancements that the June 2016 release and their recent experience in building the Ani DiFranco LivingMuseum app with data collections, graphic requirements and team testing. We show the new REST API Data source.

Finally, we take a deep dive into the incredible code that the Windows App Studio team created for all us. App Studio is even open source: https://github.com/wasteam/waslibs. Russ shared tips on how to use the Command Bar, crash reporting, master/detail pages, Search, Caching, Ads and all with the generated code. Questions addressed:

  • When importing a CSV for my data in a collection, how do I upload it without getting numerous errors?
  • Is there an Excel macro/Add-in I can use to help this process, so I have the ability to keep commas in the field data, use semi colons as a delimiter and double quotes around all of the field data items?
  • What is the maximum number of items in a collection? Is there a work around?
  • How do I assign actions on a detail page of a collection item?
  • How do I take advantage of Hero images on each page and what sizes are needed? Where do I load the background of the app?
  • Where do I set the splash screen vs the logos for the app?
  • What are the size limitations?
  • Is there an easy way to install the app for reviewers and team members?
  • How do we integrate the UWP Command Bar to execute one set of event handlers for the app?
  • How do we integrate the latest crash reporting from Microsoft called Hockey App?
  • How do master/detail page relationships work in App Studio code?
  • You want a Navigation bar in your app? And search?
  • You want to write an app that functions completely in Airplane mode, once it is cached is created? If you are a UWP coder, you won’t want to miss this caching topic.
  • “IT’S HUGE”, like one of the local car dealers says on his radio and TV ads! We will also show you how to setup the Ad Client using App Studio and look at the generated XAML!

YOU HAVE TO KNOW THE CODE TO GET IN THE SHED! KNOW THE CODE.

App Studio Webcasts now posted to Channel 9!

I am very excited to announce the return of Russ’ ToolShed at my new MVP channel on MSDN’s Channel9 at https://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/russtoolshed/

Here is a great 3 part series you can lick your chops on for the latest release of Windows App Studio.

RussToolShedNetwork3b

Part 1 – App Studio Building Universal Windows Apps with No Code

It’s all about creating quality apps quickly using templates. The enhanced App Studio (now for Windows 10) gives you a great start. Use the new Universal Windows Platform (UWP) – one binary, one project for phone and tablet. Employ new the pivot control API’s for YouTube and Flickr integration. Deploy ads easier. And wrap-up a responsive website in an app. These features for app development including “T!PS” for business were discussed and demonstrated during this webinar. See all of the Fustino Brothers Webcasts at: http://www.inbusinessseo.net/tps-blog

 

Part 2 – App Studio Data, Graphics, REST Services, Updates

Join MVP Russ Fustino and all of the Fustino Brothers in this webcast for the Mobile App Dev Tampa (MAD Tampa) as they present to you this hot off the metal session on a deep dive into Microsoft Windows App Studio. FBI-Apps covered the new enhancements that the June 2016 release brings to building Universal Windows apps that run on the Phone and Tablet/Desktop. They focused on their recent experience in building the Ani DiFranco LivingMuseum app with data collections, graphic requirements and team testing.
Questions addressed:

  • When importing a CSV for my data in a collection, how do I upload it without getting numerous errors?
  • Is there an Excel macro/Add-in I can use to help this process, so I have the ability to keep commas in the field data, use semi colons as a delimiter and double quotes around all of the field data items?
  • What is the maximum number of items in a collection? Is there a work around?
  • How do I assign actions on a detail page of a collection item?
  • How do I take advantage of Hero images on each page and what sizes are needed? Where do I load the background of the app?
  • Where do I set the splash screen vs the logos for the app?
  • What are the size limitations?
  • Is there an easy way to install the app for reviewers and team members?

App Studio – Part 3 Know the Code

Join Microsoft MVP Russ Fustino, brothers Rich and Gary.  FBI Apps, is proud to resurrect “Russ’ ToolShed”!

 

FBI Apps takes a deep dive into the incredible code that the Windows App Studio team created for all us. You know App Studio is even open source… go to: https://github.com/wasteam/waslibs. Russ shared tips on how to use the Command Bar, crash reporting, master/detail pages, Search, Caching, Ads and all with the generated code.

Windows App Studio Questions Answered:

  1. How do we integrate the UWP Command Bar to execute one set of event handlers for the app?
  2. How do we integrate the latest crash reporting from Microsoft called Hockey App?
  3. How do master/detail page relationships work in App Studio code?
  4. You want a Navigation bar in your app? And search?
  5. You want to write an app that functions completely in Airplane mode, once it is cached is created? If you are a UWP coder, you won’t want to miss this caching topic.
  6. “IT’S HUGE”, like one of the local car dealers says on his radio and TV ads! We will also show you how to setup the Ad Client using App Studio and look at the generated XAML!

YOU HAVE TO KNOW THE CODE TO GET IN THE SHED!
KNOW THE CODE.

Know the code, inside App Studio Webcast today!

 

When
Monday, July 11, 2016 from 12:00 PM to 12:45 PM (EDT) – Add to Calendar
Where
IBLN-FBI / MAD Tampa Free Webinar – Online, Webinar Only

register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/webinar-part-3-top-10-reasons-to-know-the-code-inside-windows-app-studio-tickets-26478368513

Join Microsoft MVP Russ Fustino and his two brothers, Rich and Gary. Our company, FBI Apps, is proud to resurrect “Russ’ ToolShed”!!! On what topic, you might ask?  CODE!  Let’s take a deep dive into the incredible code the Windows App Studio team creates for us to use. App Studio is even open source. (https://github.com/wasteam/waslibs). We will show how to use a Command Bar, crash reporting, master / detail pages, Search, Caching and Ads in App Studio and then dive into the generated code.

Join this webcast and get answers to these questions:

1. How do I integrate the UWP Command Bar to execute one set of event handlers for the app?

2. How do I integrate the latest crash reporting from Microsoft called Hockey App?

3. How do master/detail page relationships work in App Studio code?

4. You want a Navigation bar in your app? And search?

5. You want to write an app that functions completely in Airplane mode, once it is cached is created? If you are a UWP coder, you won’t want to miss this caching topic.

6. “IT’S HUGE”, like one of the local car dealers says on his radio and TV ads! We will also show you how to setup the Ad Client using App Studio and look at the generated XAML!

Be there or be talked about. Why wouldn’t you start a UWP App, by generating your template with App Studio? Share your experiences with App Studio in this meet up!

YOU HAVE TO KNOW THE CODE TO GET IN THE SHED! KNOW THE CODE.

“T!PS” for business, and apps development. Reserve your virtual seat today.

Live Online Screen Meeting Instructions:
1. On Your Computer- It’s Recommended to Use a Headset.
- Join-In 3-5 minutes before meeting
- Over the Internet, with your computer / laptop / tablet at -this link: https://www.startmeeting.com/wall/679-256-129
- If you don’t already have the “Start Meeting” free software  – A dialog box will come up and ask permission to download, please click/tap Yes.
- The system will guide you through the process to participate in the online meeting.
- Click/Tap “Join”, complete your name and email address, then click/tap “Submit”.
- First, the “Fustino Brothers, Inc.” dashboard with show on screen.  – Test your speaker/mike. If headset doesn’t work, or if connection is lost try “Rejoin”.
- Click/Tap on the green microphone symbol. When the symbol turns red you are live.
- Introduce yourself.

Or, Conference Call Instructions to Join-In: 
1. For the Phone Take Your Call in a Quite Location-
- Join-In using a land line / mobile phone (no computer needed for this option).  – Dial (530) 881-1212(530) 881-1212 when prompted enter access code followed by the “pound” key.
- 679-256-129# (be sure to include the “#” symbol).
- Meeting time approximately 45 mins. Meeting may be recorded.

June’s Free MAD Tampa Webcast: Part 2 Windows App Studio: Data, Graphics & Installation

Lots of new stuff announced in June 2016  release of Microsoft App Studio including consuming REST services and new load/list management for long lists. Good stuff!

Date: June 20, 2016
Start Time: 11:30 AM
Interactive Webinar

RSVP at: https://madtampafbiappsjune202016.eventbrite.com

Join MVP Russ Fustino, Gary and Rich of the Fustino Brothers in our next webcast for the Mobile App Dev Tampa (MAD Tampa) User Group as we bring you this hot off the metal session on a deep dive into Microsoft Windows App Studio. We will also cover the new enhancements that the June 2016 release brings in building Universal Windows apps that run on the Phone and Tablet/Desktop. These new features include, consuming REST services, enhanced list loading, increased size of your YouTube Playlists as well as collections and more! We will focus on our recent experience in building the Ani DiFranco LivingMuseum app with focus on data collections, graphic requirements and team testing. Join this session to learn answers to these questions…

  • When importing a CSV for my data in a collection, how do I upload it without getting numerous errors?
  • Is there an Excel macro/Add-in I can use to help this process, so I have the ability to keep commas in the field data, use semi colons as a delimiter and double quotes around all of the field data items?
  • What is the maximum number of items in a collection? Is there a work around?
  • How do I assign actions on a detail page of a collection item?
  • How do I take advantage of Hero images on each page and what sizes are needed?
  • Where do I load the background of the app?
  • Where do I set the splash screen vs the logos for the app?
  • What are the size limitations?
  • Is there an easy way to install the app for reviewers and team members?
  • Register today and reserve your virtual seat.

Webinar: Building Universal Windows Apps with No Code in Microsoft App Studio

When: Monday 5/9/16 at Noon to 12:30 PM EST

Where: Online using Start Meeting (details below)

Registration link:

http://www.meetup.com/InBusinessLinksNetwork-FustinoBrothersInc/events/229812621/

Join Microsoft MVP Russ Fustino and the Fustino Brothers in Building universal Windows apps with no code using Microsoft App Studio. It’s all about creating quality apps quickly using templates. The enhanced App Studio (now for Windows 10) gives up great start. Use the new Universal Windows Platform (UWP) – one binary, one project for phone and tablet. Employ new the pivot control API’s for YouTube and Flickr integration. Deploy ads easier. And wrap-up a responsive website in an app. These features for app development including “T!PS” for business will be discussed and demonstrated during the webinar. Register today and reserve your virtual seat.

WP_20141021_012

Live Online Screen Meeting Instructions:
1. On Your Computer- It’s Recommended to Use a Headset.
- Join-In 3-5 minutes before meeting
- Over the Internet, with your computer / laptop / tablet at -this link: https://www.startmeeting.com/wall/679-256-129
- If you don’t already have the “Start Meeting” free software – A dialog box will come up and ask permission to download, please click/tap Yes.
- The system will guide you through the process to participate in the online meeting.
- Click/Tap “Join”, complete your name and email address, then click/tap “Submit”.
- First, the “Fustino Brothers, Inc.” dashboard with show on screen. – Test your speaker/mike. If headset doesn’t work, or if connection is lost try “Rejoin”.
- Click/Tap on the green microphone symbol. When the symbol turns red you are live.
- Introduce yourself.

Or, Conference Call Instructions to Join-In:
1. For the Phone Take Your Call in a Quite Location-
- Join-In using a land line / mobile phone (no computer needed for this option). – Dial (530) 881-1212(530) 881-1212 when prompted enter access code followed by the “pound” key.
- 679-256-129# (be sure to include the “#” symbol).
- Meeting time approximately 45 mins. Meeting may be recorded.

Contest: 4 days left! Favorite Xamarin Studio Feature

With recent updates to Xamarin Studio and the introduction of very affordable $25 per month Xamarin Indie subscriptions, more developers than ever are finding out just how fast, easy, and fun mobile development with Xamarin Studio can be. Submissions are needed by August 18,  so don’t let this pass by with just 4 days left. Click on the Xamarin blog post below for more info on how to enter and some great prizes.

http://blog.xamarin.com/contest-favorite-feature-of-xamarin-studio/

XamarinStudioDocumentWindow[1]

YouTube For Apps and Biz

Topic: “YouTube” for Apps Dev and Biz Mtg

Date 7/14/14 at Noon EST

Presentations by Gary (dba: Design For Communication), Russ (of Russ’ ToolShed fame), and Rich (entertainment industry’s Steele Productions). Live chat and Q&A. Bring your expertise to the table.

Register here:

http://www.meetup.com/InBusinessLinksNetwork-FustinoBrothersInc/events/181789272/

Theme: How to use You Tube, another very important social media tool, for your application (apps) development and online business marketing. Discussion is open for you to share in your successful expertise or painful experiences.

Pain Points: What is the problem with YouTube?
• Finding (the right) videos can be a challenge
• Playlists help, but how do I use them?
• Who can see videos I post?
• Who can see playlists I create?
• If picture is worth a 100 words. What is a video worth?
• Can I create an app with YouTube videos?

 

Agenda:

•Basics
•Uploading Videos
•Playlists
•Privacy settings
•App Studio and the YouTube API
Join us for a free webinar and discuss this challenges live.

Associated Websites:
www.inbusinesslinks.net
www.fustinobrothers.com

Event Note: Online Meetup only. Takes place every second Monday of each month (unless a holiday). Includes business, B2B, tech talk and online solutions engagement. Meeting starts with participant introductions, then a targeted live presentation on topic. Join us online for free. Your interest and expertise are invited. Advertise with us at a very low investment (not mandatory, but it’s one of the benefits). Live Online Screen Meeting and Conference Call Instructions to Join-In:

1. On Your Calendar – Block-Out Approximately 35-55 Mins for the Live Meeting/Conference Call.

2. On Your Computer- It’s Recommended to Use a Headset. Join-In 5-7 minutes before meeting, Over the Internet, with your computer/laptop/tablet at- This link: https://www.startmeeting.com/wall/679-256-129

If you don’t already have the “Start Meeting” free software a dialog box will come up and ask permission to download – please click/tap “Yes”. The system will guide you through the process to participate in the online meeting. Click/tap “Join”, complete your name and email address, then click/tap “Submit”.

First, the Fustino Brothers, Inc. dashboard with show on screen. Test your speaker/mike. If headset doesn’t work, or if connection is lost – try “Rejoin”.

3. For the Phone- Take Your Call in a Quite Location. Join-In using a land line/mobile phone (no computer needed for this option). Dial- 530-881-1212, at 12:01PM. When prompted enter access code followed by the “pound” key.

679-256-129# (be sure to include the “#” symbol).

4. Meeting May be Recorded. Meeting ID: 679-256-129

5. For Advertising opportunities go to: http://www.inbusinesslinks.net/about/ads.html

Russ Fustino, Xamarin Developer Evangelist!

Hello all! I am happy to announce I am the new Developer Evangelist for Xamarin! I am so excited about this next chapter in my career. I am looking forward to learning and teaching one of the hottest set of software products on this planet, which will help the lives of many fellow geeks! It is a very rewarding position indeed and I am on cloud 9. Everyone I have met at Xamarin is awesome and I look forward getting to know the entire team.

For those that unfamiliar on what Xamarin does… we produce software for programmers which facilitates creating the same mobile app, natively, on multiple platforms such as Windows Phone,  Android and iOS. It is a ‘must have’ tool in the industry with some incredible recent announcements on the new version Xamarin 3.

xamarin

Xamarin

I will be traveling up to the Boston Xamarin office on occasion and I look forward to seeing all the “Shed Heads” back home. So, New England crew, get those lobsters ready!

And of course, I will be hitting up all the conferences for speaking engagements in and around Florida and all over the country. Drop me an email if you are interested in having me speak at your user group or conference. My new email at Xamarin is russell.fustino@xamarin.com .

I also setup a new twitter @RussFustino with my actual name (about time huh?). Please follow! I will have more details on my Xamarin blog once it gets set up. Stay tuned and follow me on twitter. Thanks!

 

Xamarin 3 Rocks! Tampa Xamarin Meetup Recap

I had the great pleasure of attending the Xamarin user group in Tampa the other night.  Xamarin 3 was recently announced on May 28, 2014.  James Montemango, Developer Evangelist for Xamarin, delivered a killer online session for the Tampa Xamarin User Group. The folks at the meeting were very appreciative of the fact that James took the time to present to us.  We had a packed house at the AgileThought office to see all the new features of Xamarin 3. Wow. Everyone was blown away. I overheard one attendee saying on the very next day, he would pitch  to his boss to get Xamarin licenses for entire staff at his company. So, I guess it was a successful meeting! Special thanks go to Michael Stark for heading up the new group and organizing this meeting with James.

20140611_225644270_iOS

James Montemagno delivered a session to Tampa from Seattle on Wednesday night at the Tampa Xamarin User Group.

20140611_225621773_iOS

MVPs Kevin Wolf and yours truly, Russ Fustino were in the house.

James gave a quick overview of Xamarin and  covered the Xamarin Designer for iOS as well as Xamarin Studio & Visual Studio Enhancements.

Local developer,  Imaya Kumar, then showed off the new Xamarin Forms!

image

Imaya Kumar, Solution Architect Convene Technologies
Ex MSFT

Here are my notes from the meeting:

  • C# on 2.6 Billion devices! Yes, billion not million!
  • Xamarin 3 is the best release yet!
  • Xamarin Mission Statement: Make it fast, easy and fun to create apps.
  • The third year of the company was celebrated with a Birthday cake! Happy Birthday Xamarin!

birthday

Birthday Cake and Pizza were provided by Xamarin!

  • Xamarin is seeing explosive growth with strong recognition from the Gartner Magic Quadrant as a Visionary :

image

  • Xamarin has a test cloud for all of the different Android devices. Wow! So, now you don’t have to buy all sorts of Android devices to test with.

image

 

  • Users prefer to use Native apps that are fast, smooth and deliver a great experience. Hybrid apps typically don’t get good reviews. For example,  Facebook switched to a native interface and the downloads doubled.

image

  • F# and C# are supported.
  • New meaning to “write once and run anywhere”.  Shared C# backend  code is typically  %75 of the code, but  now the UI code can be sharable too, raising that number even higher!
  • All native API’s are supported and are made available to C# Developers.

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  • Xamarin University is the quickest way to become a Mobile Developer? Numerous classes in all time zones are available 6 days a week with live training.

Major elements in Xamarin 3

  • Xamarin Designer for iOS
  • Xamarin Studio & Visual Studio Enhancements
  • Easy code sharing
  • Xamarin.Forms

Xamarin Designer

  • iOS provides and intuitive interface for developing iOS apps. For example, when you double click on an item in the designer it opens a code windows for the default event handler, etc.
  • Comprehensive editor, auto layout, etc.
  • iOS6 and iOS7 are both supported
  • Works on Windows and Mac

Xamarin Studio

  • Handy for those that don’t’ have Visual Studio and the interface has been improved. NuGet Package manager along with integration with Xamarin Component Store provides ease of access to many libraries.
  • Easy assess to solution
  • Main panel has new information from Xamarin, blogs, etc.

Visual Studio and Xamarin Studio

Easy code sharing

  • Shared project support
  • Editing can be in the context of the editing container. For example,  Android code is grayed out when in the iOS context.

Miscellaneous

  • Same project can be opened in both VS and XS
  • Build Story Boards to provide app functionality
  • iOS has native calls for face detection and sepia color editing, since 100 percent of the calls are available in Xamarin, this is no problem.
  • Custom Controls can be built as well
  • Screen shots of sample custom control, to crop and apply sepia filter

image

Auto Crop (uses automatic face detection in iOS): provides real time update in designer.

image

Sepia filter:

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Xamarin Forms:

Besides the Xamarin Birthday cake, Xamarin Forms was the topic I was the most excited about! Can you imagine using shared code for multiple platforms. Wow!

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  • Build native UI’s for iOS, Android and Windows Phone from a single shared C# codebase
  • uses XAML like code for the Xamarin compiler

With Xamarin Forms you can…

  • build the entire app with Xamarin Forms…
  • or use this to prototype, leaving the door open to incorporate  further platform specific features…
  • or take an existing project and add a new page, build you don’t want to do that three times

Pages, Layouts and Controls oh my!

  • Controllers are provided for pages using Master Detail , navigation, tabbed pages and more
  • Layouts are provided for stack, Absolute, relative, grid and more
  • Controls, controls and more controls. Being a former developer evangelist for control vendor, this is huge!

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I am about to update my Tull Tribute Windows Phone app (to be renamed Jethro Tull, which is endorsed with Tull assets). There is no doubt in my mind when porting to iOS and Android, I will be using Xamarin to to this.

If you missed the meeting, don’t worry… here are links to the deck and a recording of the announcement of Xamarin 3. The video features Xamarin’s Nat Friedman, CEO and Co-Founder, Miguel de Icaza, CTO and Co-Founder and James Montemagno, DE.

 

See more details of the Xamarin 3 Announcement:

http://blog.xamarin.com/announcing-xamarin-3/
Download Xamarin:
http://xamarin.com/
Webinar recording:
https://xamarin.wistia.com/medias/dnm9rouaer
Webinar slides:
http://www.slideshare.net/Xamarin/say-hello-to-xamarin-3

Several RussCam ComponentOne Unplugged Videos released

It was my pleasure to assist in producing these great technical sessions.

Great job to Roger Hobbs and Tommy Hodges at ComponentOne on editing and filming these episodes!

 

Russ Cam® Unplugged: Xamarin Real World Experiences with MVP Bill Reiss who shares some Xamarin real world experiences.

ComponentOne Unplugged: Getting Started with MVC 5 and Visual Studio 2013 with Thom Robbins in front of a packed house, shows MVC5 and Visual Studio 2014. Check out the full session.

Russ Cam® Unplugged: Rock Your Code with Visual Add-ins MVP David McCarter, a ComponentOne Influencer, shares his experience with add-ins for coding, debugging, profiling and more! So let’s check out that session right now as Russ Cam Unplugged presents Rock Your Code with Visual Add-Ins by David McCarter.

Russ Cam® Unplugged: App Studio, Then What? MVP Russ Fustino, ComponentOne Influencer, shows how easy and quick it is to make a Windows Phone app using App Studio!