Education Raodmap, Create Games for Window Phone 7

 

http://creators.xna.com/en-US/education/gettingstarted

Step by step instructions for android on hd2

I've just got a very detail instruction to get android working on HTC HD2.
 

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS FOR TESTING ANDROID ON HD2

1) Download an Android build (with or without sense user interface) (e.g. from gamesquare.co.uk)
2) Extract the contents to the ROOT of your sd card (Preferably format the card beforehand)
3) Launch any file manager from within windows mobile.
4) Launch haret.exe in the root of your sd (storage) card. Click Run (Preferably just after a soft reset)
Thats it!

Important Notes:
YOU WILL GET A BLACK/BLANK SCREEN (Linux text will disappear) if you don't have 2.xx.50.xx radio rom version. (2.xx.51.xx will not work)
Yes 51 radio versions are european and 50 radio versions are US, BUT 50 radio WILL WORK with your european HD2. In any case, you can always go back to your original radio. (Write down your version beforehand. You can get the info from HTC startup screen or from settings - phone information - software information
You don't need HSPL for linux boot. But you need HSPL if you need to change your radio to a 50 version. Your phone comes with original SPL only.

STEPS ONLY IF YOU GET BLACK SCREEN:
The following information is ONLY needed if your linux doesn't boot and freezes with black screen and you want to change your radio to a linux compatible one.
1) Get HSPL3 from: forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=6891358&postcount=1893 (Only if you don't have HSPL, if you don't know, then you don't have HSPL)
2) Get a 2.xx.50.xx radio rom from: forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=611787 (2.10.50.xx is fine)
3) Get Custom RUU from: forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=4798017&postcount=1
4) Install HSPL(connect your phone in activesync mode via usb cable)
5) Install 2.xx.50.xx radio via customruu. Don't worry about what CustomRUU says, you will not lose settings and data. (It won't hard reset when upgrading only the Radio ROM)
Thats it! Now you can run haret and boot android
PLEASE COPY PASTE THE LINKS BECAUSE I AM NOT ALLOWED TO POST LINKS.

Dual boot android and win mobile
HSPL How To
Via: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=7108995#post7108995

PDF libraries

 http://www.pdfsharp.net/MainPage.ashx

http://www.pdfsharp.com/PDFsharp/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=40

http://csharp-source.net/open-source/pdf-libraries
http://sourceforge.net/projects/itextsharp/

Implement MultiTouch Behavior in Window Phone 7

There are two video demonstrate the implementation MultiTouch Behavior in Window Phone 7 by Microsoft MVP Laurent Bugnion, an author of Silverlight 4 Unleashed.

Here, quote from Laurent:

I just published two videos on Vimeo (see the embedded videos at the end of this post)

* One is a short video showing the highlights of the MultiTouch Behavior I have been working on. It shows what gestures are available, and how easy it is to add it to a Windows Phone 7 application.
* The other is a detailed 15’ video that explains exactly how the behavior can be used.

I am still polishing a few things up and should be ready to release V1 on Codeplex very soon.

Features:

* Scale, Rotate, Translate are supported.
* Possibility to show markers on the screen for demos/projections/videos.
* Debug mode with addition on-screen information.
* “Mock” mode for development without multitouch screen. Simulate fingers with just one mouse.
* Enable/disable Scale, Rotate, Translate X and Y individually.
* Constrain Scale with minimum and maximum value.

Future plans:

Not supported (but in the plan) are:

* Multiple elements: Right now, the gestures can only apply to one element on the screen.
* Friction/inertia.
* Constraining the element to the screen.

More info

I will post more info as we progress. Stay tuned to this blog (“touch” tag), on my website http://www.galasoft.ch/touch or on Twitter (@LBugnion).
Credits

I want to thank Pete Blois (from the Microsoft Expression Blend team) for his help and some of the multitouch code, and the kind permission to open source it.

Also heartful thanks to Davide Zordan for starting this project on Codeplex and for the inspiration.

The Videos

The first video is a demonstration of his MultiTouch behavior implemented in a demo applications:



The second video is a 15mins long tutorial showing you how to implement it in your application:



Source: Laurent Bugnion, mobiletechworld

Learn Silverlight and Expression Blend in 5 days

Learn how to design and develop innovative user interfaces for Window Phone 7,..using Expression Blend 4.0

Head over: Learn Silverlight and Expression Blend in 5 days

Windows Phone 7 Design Resources

I've just got good resources from:
davidcrow on June 21, 2010

MS Holm Daylight app from Clarity Consulting

I updated my Open Source Icons post earlier to include updated list of icons. The interesting part was this brought up some great mobile design and development resources. With the list of available mobile icons being just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Speckboy provides an unprecedented list of resources for mobile developers and designers it includes: Android, iPhone & iPad, mobile web & app testing, .PSDs of different phones, and other mobile platforms.

Tools

• Expression Studio 4
• Blend 4 for Windows Phone
• Visual Studio 2010 & Developer Tools
• GIT Extensions for Visual Studio

Training Materials

• Using SketchFlow to Prototype for Windows Phone
• Prototyping RIAs in Silverlight with Expression SketchFlow
• Windows Phone 7 Developer Training Kit
• Expression Blend for WP7
• Windows Phone 7 Designing, Building & Deploying Tutorials (12 step tutorial)

UX Guidelines & Tools

WP7 Design Template for Clarity Consulting

• UX Guidelines for WP7
• Windows Phone 7 Design Template (CS4 PSD)
• Clarity Consulting’s WP7 Design Blog

Panorama Navigation

Panorama Navigation on Windows Phone 7

• Building a Windows Phone Panorama Control
• Panoramic Navigation on Windows Phone 7 with No Code
• Panorama and Pivot controls for Windows Phone 7
• WP7 Panorama Sample code

Icons

• Windows Phone 7 Icon Pack
• Windows Phone 7 Application Bar Icons

Windows Phone 7 Icons by yankoa

Need window phone 7 icons for your applications? Download here

Working with Excel in .Net

There are two ways of reading and writing Excel. However, there are some differences between each of them. Sometime i found this helpful but sometime the other is better, so let me try to illustrate two ways in reading Excel file and their pros and cons.

1. Use ADO.NET to Retrieve and Modify Records in an Excel Workbook
• Pros:  
• Easy to use with ADO.net objects
• Easy in loading data into Dataset or Datable, Once we have a Datable, we can use Select method to filtering data.
• Easy in querying data by using SQL Select Statement
• Easy inserting or modifying data by using DataAdapter with SQL Insert and Update statement.
• Cons:
• Provide only basic features with basic purpose (Retrieve and Modify data only)
• Not able to format Excel Cell or Range
• There is a bug when writing or modifying data in Text type. Text value will be preceded by a single quote (').
• In some cases, it cannot read the value of some Cells. It always retrieve Null value, but in fact, the value do exist in the Cells (It happens mostly in formatted Cells)
• Not flexible regarding to Table Name. It's required to know Excel's SheetName as TableName to query from.
•  Connection string:
• Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=C:\Book1.xls;Extended Properties="Excel 8.0;HDR=YES;"
• Excel 8.0 work for Microsoft Excel 8.0 (97), 9.0 (2000), 10.0 (2002) and also 11.0 (2003)
• Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0;Data Source=c:\myFolder\myOldExcelFile.xls;Extended Properties="Excel 12.0;HDR=YES";
  
• Excel 97-2007 Xls files with ACE OLEDB 12.0, this connection string to use the Office 2007 OLEDB driver
• Note: 
  The quota " in the string needs to be escaped using your language specific escape syntax.
  c#, c++   \"
  VB6, VBScript   ""
  xml (web.config etc)   "
  or maybe use a single quota '.
  
  "HDR=Yes;" indicates that the first row contains columnnames, not data. "HDR=No;" indicates the opposite.
  
  "IMEX=1;" tells the driver to always read "intermixed" (numbers, dates, strings etc) data columns as text. Note that this option might affect excel sheet write access negative.
• Table Naming Conventions
  There are several ways you can reference a table (or range) in an Excel workbook:
• Use the sheet name followed by a dollar sign (for example, [Sheet1$] or [My Worksheet$]). A workbook table that is referenced in this manner includes the whole used range of the worksheet.
  
  
  
  Select * from [Sheet1$] 
• Use a range with a defined name (for example, [MyNamedRange]):
  
  
  
  Select * from [MyNamedRange] 
• Use a range with a specific address (for example, [Sheet1$A1:B10]):
  
  
  
  Select * from [Sheet1$A1:B10]
• Add and Update Records
• Directly run a command to insert or update records: To do this, you can create an OLEDbCommand object on your connection and set its CommandText property to a valid command to insert records:
• INSERT INTO [Sheet1$] (F1, F2) values ('111', 'ABC')
• UPDATE [Sheet1$] SET F2 = 'XYZ' WHERE F1 = '111'
• Make Changes In Dataset/Datable and Use OleDbDataAdapter:
• Set OleDbDataAdapter's InsertCommand to: INSERT INTO [Sheet1$] (F1, F2) values (?, ?)
• Set OleDbDataAdapter's UpdateCommand to: UPDATE [Sheet1$] SET F2 = ? WHERE F1 = ?
• Export data from another data source into an Excel workbook
•  Use OLEDbCommand object, set CommandText property to: INSERT INTO [Sheet1$] IN 'C:\Book1.xls' 'Excel 8.0;' SELECT * FROM MyTable" or SELECT * INTO [Excel 8.0;Database=C:\Book1.xls].[Sheet1] FROM [MyTable]  
• Create Workbooks and Tables
•  To create a table in an Excel workbook, run the CREATE TABLE command: 
• CREATE Tjavascript:void(0)ABLE Sheet1 (F1 char(255), F2 char(255))
• Sample Code

Private m_sConn1 As String = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;" & _
               "Data Source=C:\ExcelData1.xls;" & _
               "Extended Properties=""Excel 8.0;HDR=YES"""

Private m_sConn2 As String = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;" & _
               "Data Source=C:\ExcelData2.xls;" & _
               "Extended Properties=""Excel 8.0;HDR=YES"""

Private m_sNorthwind = _
      "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\Samples\Northwind.mdb"

Private m_sAction As String

Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
      RadioButton1.Text = "Create_Workbook"
      RadioButton2.Text = "Retrieve_Records"
      RadioButton3.Text = "Add_Records"
      RadioButton4.Text = "Update_Records"
      RadioButton5.Text = "Update_Individual_Cells"
      RadioButton6.Text = "Use_External_Source"
      Button1.Text = "Go!"
End Sub

Private Sub RadioButtons_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _
      Handles RadioButton1.Click, RadioButton2.Click, RadioButton3.Click, _
      RadioButton4.Click, RadioButton5.Click, RadioButton6.Click
      m_sAction = sender.Text'Store the text for the selected radio button
End Sub

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
      Try
         ' Call the associated routine to add/update/modify the workbook.
         Select Case m_sAction
            Case "Create_Workbook" : Create_Workbook()
            Case "Retrieve_Records" : Retrieve_Records()
            Case "Add_Records" : Add_Records()
            Case "Update_Records" : Update_Records()
            Case "Update_Individual_Cells" : Update_Individual_Cells()
            Case "Use_External_Source" : Use_External_Source()
         End Select

      Catch ex As OleDbException
         Dim er As OleDbError
         For Each er In ex.Errors
            MsgBox(er.Message)
         Next
      Catch ex2 As System.InvalidOperationException
         MsgBox(ex2.Message)
      End Try


End Sub

Public Sub Create_Workbook()

      ' If the workbooks already exist, prompt to delete.
      Dim answer As MsgBoxResult
      If Dir("C:\ExcelData1.xls") <> "" Or Dir("C:\ExcelData2.xls") <> "" Then
          answer = MsgBox("Delete existing workbooks (C:\ExcelData1.xls and " & _
                   "C:\ExcelData2.xls)?", MsgBoxStyle.YesNo)
          If answer = MsgBoxResult.Yes Then
              If Dir("C:\ExcelData1.xls") <> "" Then Kill("C:\ExcelData1.xls")
              If Dir("C:\ExcelData2.xls") <> "" Then Kill("C:\ExcelData2.xls")
          Else
              Exit Sub
          End If
      End If

'==========================================================================
      ' Create a workbook with a table named EmployeeData. The table has 3 
      ' fields: ID (char 255), Name (char 255) and Birthdate (date).  
'==========================================================================
      Dim conn As New OleDbConnection()
      conn.ConnectionString = m_sConn1
      conn.Open()
      Dim cmd1 As New OleDbCommand()
      cmd1.Connection = conn
      cmd1.CommandText = "CREATE TABLE EmployeeData (Id char(255), Name char(255), BirthDate date)"
      cmd1.ExecuteNonQuery()
      cmd1.CommandText = "INSERT INTO EmployeeData (Id, Name, BirthDate) values ('AAA', 'Andrew', '12/4/1955')"
      cmd1.ExecuteNonQuery()
      conn.Close()

'==========================================================================
      ' Create a workbook with a table named InventoryData. The table has 3 
      ' fields: Product (char 255), Qty (float) and Price (currency). 
'==========================================================================

      conn.ConnectionString = m_sConn2
      conn.Open()
      Dim cmd2 As New OleDbCommand()
      cmd2.Connection = conn
      cmd2.CommandText = "CREATE TABLE InventoryData (Product char(255), Qty float, Price currency)"
      cmd2.ExecuteNonQuery()
      cmd2.CommandText = "INSERT INTO InventoryData (Product, Qty, Price) values ('Cola', 200, 1.35)"
      cmd2.ExecuteNonQuery()
      cmd2.CommandText = "INSERT INTO InventoryData (Product, Qty, Price) values ('Chips', 550, 0.89)"
      cmd2.ExecuteNonQuery()
      conn.Close()

      ' NOTE: You can ALTER and DROP tables in a similar fashion.

End Sub

Public Sub Retrieve_Records()

      '==========================================================
      'Use a DataReader to read data from the EmployeeData table.
      '==========================================================

      Dim conn1 As New System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection(m_sConn1)
      conn1.Open()
      Dim cmd1 As New System.Data.OleDb.OleDbCommand("Select * From [EmployeeData$]", conn1)
      Dim rdr As OleDbDataReader = cmd1.ExecuteReader

      Debug.WriteLine(vbCrLf & "EmployeeData:" & vbCrLf & "=============")
      Do While rdr.Read()
         Debug.WriteLine(System.String.Format("{0,-10}{1, -15}{2}", _
            rdr.GetString(0), rdr.GetString(1), _
            rdr.GetDateTime(2).ToString("d")))
      Loop
      rdr.Close()
      conn1.Close()

      '========================================================
      'Use a DataSet to read data from the InventoryData table.
      '========================================================
      Dim conn2 As New OleDbConnection(m_sConn2)
      Dim da As New OleDbDataAdapter("Select * From [InventoryData$]", conn2)
      Dim ds As DataSet = New DataSet()
      da.Fill(ds)
      Debug.WriteLine(vbCrLf & "InventoryData:" & vbCrLf & "==============")
      Dim dr As DataRow
      For Each dr In ds.Tables(0).Rows'Show results in output window
         Debug.WriteLine(System.String.Format("{0,-15}{1, -6}{2}", _
            dr("Product"), dr("Qty"), dr("Price")))
      Next
      conn2.Close()

End Sub

Public Sub Add_Records()

'==========================================================================
      ' Run an INSERT INTO command to add new records to the workbook. 
'==========================================================================
      Dim conn1 As New System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection(m_sConn1)
      conn1.Open()
      Dim cmd As New System.Data.OleDb.OleDbCommand()
      cmd.Connection = conn1
      cmd.CommandText = "INSERT INTO [EmployeeData$] (ID, Name, BirthDate) values ('CCC', 'Charlie', '10/14/48')"
      cmd.ExecuteNonQuery()
      cmd.CommandText = "INSERT INTO [EmployeeData$] (ID, Name, BirthDate) values ('DDD', 'Deloris', '7/19/98')"
      cmd.ExecuteNonQuery()
      conn1.Close()

      '====================================================================
      'Use the InsertCommand object to add new records to the InventoryData
      'table.
      '====================================================================
      Dim conn2 As New OleDbConnection(m_sConn2)
      Dim da As New OleDbDataAdapter("Select * From [InventoryData$]", conn2)
      Dim ds As DataSet = New DataSet()
      da.Fill(ds, "MyExcelTable")

      ' Generate the InsertCommand and add the parameters for the command.
      da.InsertCommand = New OleDbCommand( _
         "INSERT INTO [InventoryData$] (Product, Qty, Price) VALUES (?, ?, ?)", conn2)
      da.InsertCommand.Parameters.Add("@Product", OleDbType.VarChar, 255, "Product")
      da.InsertCommand.Parameters.Add("@Qty", OleDbType.Double).SourceColumn = "Qty"
      da.InsertCommand.Parameters.Add("@Price", OleDbType.Currency).SourceColumn = "Price"

      ' Add two new records to the dataset.
      Dim dr As DataRow
      dr = ds.Tables(0).NewRow
      dr("Product") = "Bread" : dr("Qty") = 390 : dr("Price") = 1.89 : ds.Tables(0).Rows.Add(dr)
      dr = ds.Tables(0).NewRow
      dr("Product") = "Milk" : dr("Qty") = 99 : dr("Price") = 2.59 : ds.Tables(0).Rows.Add(dr)

      ' Apply the dataset changes to the actual data source (the workbook).
      da.Update(ds, "MyExcelTable")
      conn2.Close()

End Sub

Public Sub Update_Records()

'==========================================================================
      ' Run an UPDATE command to change a record in the EmployeeData
      ' table.
'==========================================================================
      Dim conn1 As New System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection(m_sConn1)
      conn1.Open()
      Dim cmd As New System.Data.OleDb.OleDbCommand()
      cmd.Connection = conn1
      cmd.CommandText = "UPDATE [EmployeeData$] " & _
                    "SET NAME = 'Aaron', BirthDate = '5/4/1975' WHERE ID = 'AAA'"
      cmd.ExecuteNonQuery()
      conn1.Close()

      '====================================================================
      ' Use the UpdateCommand object to modify records in the InventoryData
      ' table.
      '====================================================================
      Dim conn2 As New OleDbConnection(m_sConn2)
      Dim da As New OleDbDataAdapter("Select * From [InventoryData$]", conn2)
      Dim ds As DataSet = New DataSet()
      da.Fill(ds, "MyInventoryTable")

      ' Generate the UpdateCommand and add the parameters for the command.
      da.UpdateCommand = New OleDbCommand( _
         "UPDATE [InventoryData$] SET Qty = ?, Price=? WHERE Product = ?", conn2)
      da.UpdateCommand.Parameters.Add("@Qty", OleDbType.Numeric).SourceColumn = "Qty"
      da.UpdateCommand.Parameters.Add("@Price", OleDbType.Currency).SourceColumn = "Price"
      da.UpdateCommand.Parameters.Add("@Product", OleDbType.VarChar, 255, "Product")

      ' Update the first two records.
      ds.Tables(0).Rows(0)("Qty") = 1000
      ds.Tables(0).Rows(0)("Price") = 10.1
      ds.Tables(0).Rows(1)("Qty") = 2000
      ds.Tables(0).Rows(1)("Price") = 20.2

      ' Apply the dataset changes to the actual data source (the workbook).
      da.Update(ds, "MyInventoryTable")
      conn2.Close()

End Sub

Public Sub Update_Individual_Cells()

'==========================================================================
      ' Update individual cells on the EmployeeData worksheet; 
      ' specifically, cells F3, G3, and I4 are modified.
'==========================================================================

      ' NOTE: The connection string indicates that the table does *NOT* 
      ' have a header row.
      Dim conn As New System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection(m_sConn1.Replace("HDR=YES", "HDR=NO"))
      conn.Open()
      Dim cmd As New System.Data.OleDb.OleDbCommand()
      cmd.Connection = conn
      cmd.CommandText = "UPDATE [EmployeeData$F3:G3] SET F1 = 'Cell F3', F2 = 'Cell G3'"
      cmd.ExecuteNonQuery()
      cmd.CommandText = "UPDATE [EmployeeData$I4:I4] SET F1 = 'Cell I4'"
      cmd.ExecuteNonQuery()
      conn.Close()

End Sub

Public Sub Use_External_Source()

      ' Open a connection to the sample Northwind Access database.
      Dim conn As New System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection( _
            "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=" & m_sNorthwind & ";")
      conn.Open()
      Dim cmd As New System.Data.OleDb.OleDbCommand()
      cmd.Connection = conn

'=======================================================================
      ' Run an INSERT..INTO command on the Northwind database to append 
      ' the records from a table/query to an existing table in the Excel 
      ' workbook.
'=======================================================================
      cmd.CommandText = "INSERT INTO [EmployeeData$] IN 'C:\ExcelData1.xls' 'Excel 8.0;'" & _
         "SELECT EmployeeID AS ID, FirstName AS Name, BirthDate FROM Employees"
      cmd.ExecuteNonQuery()

'==========================================================================
      ' Run a SELECT..INTO command on the Northwind database to insert 
      ' all the records from a table/query into a new sheet in the Excel 
      ' workbook.
'==========================================================================
      cmd.CommandText = "SELECT * INTO [Excel 8.0;Database=C:\ExcelData2.xls].[ProductSales]" & _
                      "FROM [Product Sales for 1997]"
      cmd.ExecuteNonQuery()

      conn.Close()

End Sub 

• Extra Source Code:
• Get Excel SheetName: 

private String[] GetExcelSheetNames(string excelFile)
{
  OleDbConnection objConn = null;
  System.Data.DataTable dt = null;

  try
  {
    // Connection String. Change the excel file to the file you

    // will search.

    String connString = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;" + 
        "Data Source=" + excelFile + ";Extended Properties=Excel 8.0;";
    // Create connection object by using the preceding connection string.

    objConn = new OleDbConnection(connString);
    // Open connection with the database.

    objConn.Open();
    // Get the data table containg the schema guid.

    dt = objConn.GetOleDbSchemaTable(OleDbSchemaGuid.Tables, null);
 
    if(dt == null)
    {
      return null;
    }

    String[] excelSheets = new String[dt.Rows.Count];
    int i = 0;

    // Add the sheet name to the string array.

    foreach(DataRow row in dt.Rows)
    {
      excelSheets[i] = row["TABLE_NAME"].ToString();
      i++;
    }

    // Loop through all of the sheets if you want too...

    for(int j=0; j < excelSheets.Length; j++)
    {
      // Query each excel sheet.

    }

    return excelSheets;
  }
  catch(Exception ex)
  {
    return null;
  }
  finally
  {
    // Clean up.

    if(objConn != null)
    {
      objConn.Close();
      objConn.Dispose();
    }
    if(dt != null)
    {
      dt.Dispose();
    }
  }
}
References: 
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316934

http://www.connectionstrings.com/excel 

2. Using Excel Object Library

Import Textfile(.txt) to an existing excel file

The following uses ADO.NET to import into an existing Excel Worksheet named ReportSheet. The source
text file is ReportFile.txt.

Function ImportTextToExcel() As Boolean

Dim ExcelConnection As New
System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection("Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;" & _
"Data Source=e:\My Documents\Book20.xls;Extended Properties=""Excel 8.0;HDR=NO;""")

ExcelConnection.Open()

Dim ImportCommand As New System.Data.OleDb.OleDbCommand("INSERT INTO [ReportSheet] (F1, F2,
F3, F4, F5, F6, F7, F8, F9, F10) SELECT * FROM [Text;HDR=NO;DATABASE=E:\My
Documents\TextFiles].[ReportFile.txt]", ExcelConnection)

ImportCommand.ExecuteNonQuery()
ExcelConnection.Close()

End Function

Another contest of Window Phone 7

Got a great idea for an app, but no programming skills? Microsoft has a new contest going on where you can send them some great application ideas... Then everyone else votes on which application sounds the best. Whomever wins gets their application built and made available for free on the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace. You also get $5000 and a Windows Phone 7 device. For more information and to enter, visit WindowsPhone7.com/INeedThisApp/

I've already entered one of my ideas. What do you think? Feel free to vote for it, even though it's highly unlikely that Microsoft would even be able to build that one by December.

Develop games on the Window Phone 7 Series

Want to develop game on Window Phone 7 Series? Quick! Quick! Be the first of all to get yourself around the new OS. Guys from channel9 have created a tutorial on how to create game running on the platform.

Here is the table of content:

Overview

Exercise 1: XNA Games on the Windows Phone 7 Series
o Task 1 – Game Basics
o Task 2 – Game Resources
o Task 3 – Game Loop
o Task 4 – Game Input
o Task 5 – Alien Game Logic

Summary

There is also Window Phone Series "Rockstar" Awards will be given away to the developer team who win the competition range from first prize to third prize.

Award Finalists receive:

* First Prize: $8,000 USD, a trip to the Worldwide Finals in Warsaw, Poland from July 3-8, 2010, and a Windows Phone for each team member.
* Second Prize: $4,000 USD and a Windows Phone for each team member
* Third Prize: $3,000 USD and a Windows Phone for each team member

Deadline for application entry: May 24, 2010 at 11:59 P.M. GMT.

Detail info and how to register: go to here

Let me know if you are interested. I am thinking to build a team for this competition.

Count total number of pages in pdf file (C#)

It is actually a simple solution to get a total number of pages in pdf file. I found it from devasp and I think it's worth to share.

using System.IO;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;

public static int GetNoOfPagesPDF(string FileName)

{
int result = 0;

FileStream fs = new FileStream(FileName, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read);

StreamReader r = new StreamReader(fs);

string pdfText = r.ReadToEnd();

System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex regx = new Regex(@"/Type\s*/Page[^s]");

System.Text.RegularExpressions.MatchCollection matches = regx.Matches(pdfText);

result = matches.Count;

return result;
}

Window Phone 7 Series Development Tools

In this Mix10 event, Microsoft has released a set of development tools for Window Phone 7 Series.

The Windows Phone Developer Tools CTP includes the following


Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone CTP

Windows Phone Emulator CTP

Silverlight for Windows Phone CTP

XNA 4.0 Game Studio CTP


Download here

Android on HTC Window Mobile Phone

The XDAndroid project, Android Mobile OS for Window Mobile-Based HTC devices, has progressed tremendously and has archived many great performances for lots of Window-Mobile-Based devices to work with Android platform (sorry for HTC-HD2 users. Base on my understanding no any Android version working on HTC HD2 yet because of device driver issue). In the previous release, not many components worked, but in the recent release guys from pocketnow has tested with HTC touch pro and it works with call, sms, data.

Checkout the following links to get Android platform installed on your specific device.

Android on HTC Windows Phones:

• Touch Pro2 (GSM)
• Touch Pro2 (CDMA - must take SIM card out)
• Touch Diamond2/Pure
• Touch HD
• Touch Pro/Fuze (GSM)
• Touch Pro (CDMA)
• Touch Diamond (GSM)
• Touch Diamond (CDMA)


Via: pocketnow

Android Development Kits Hits Several New Update

At the same time of the announcement of Window Phone Series 7 which seems to rock the mobile market so much, Google Android is also working hard with its platform to bring developers realistic development features for their mobile development market.

The release of several update of development kits I believe will make the platform become more interesting to mobile companies and developers.

Below are several new update of development kit of Android in this March-2010.

- ADT 0.9.6: ADT Plugin for Eclipse hit version 0.9.6

- Android SDK, R5: The pakage include SDK Tools which provide developer the Development and Debugging Tools. If you are using the old version of SDK tools and want to upgrade to the new version, no need to download the whole SDK package again. You can just update the SDK tools by using the Android SDK and AVD Manager (via Eclipse or run "SDK Setup.exe" under SDK package folder)

- Android NDK,r3: Known as Android Native Development Kit currently hit Revision 3, bring new support for OpenGL ES 2.0 native library, will bring a new generation of fantastic 2D and 3D games like what we've seen in IPhone. NDK is used conjunction with Android SDK which mean we need to have Android SDK installed and you will likely use C/C++ language for coding.

Read more: http://developer.android.com

Regular Expression Examples

Regex to get Class Name from CSS content:

Regex: \.[-]?[_a-zA-Z][_a-zA-Z0-9-]*|[^\0-\177]*\\[0-9a-f]{1,6}(\r\n[ \n\r\t\f])?|\\[^\n\r\f0-9a-f]*

Input:

.center {text-align: center;}
.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u {text-decoration: underline;}

#body { ...}

Output:

.center
.smcap
.u

Regex to get all element from CSS content:

Regex: \.[-]?[_a-zA-Z][_a-zA-Z0-9-]*|[^\0-\177]*\\[0-9a-f]{1,6}(\r\n[ \n\r\t\f])?|\\[^\n\r\f0-9a-f]*

Input:

.center {text-align: center;}
.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u {text-decoration: underline;}
#body { ...}
div.test div.yoyo {...}

Output:

.center
.smcap
.u
#body
div.test div.yoyo

Regex to get HTML element and its content

Regex:

<span\b[^>]*>(.*?)</span>
(wrong in case this: onetwoone).

and

<span\b[^>]*>(?:(?=([^<]+))\1|<(?!table\b[^>]*>))*?</span>

Input:

<p><span><a name="bookmark1" />dirt farmer's son</span></p>

Output:

<span><a name="bookmark1" />dirt farmer's son</span>

Cross browser object check

HTML

<input type="button" onclick="handleViewHTMLContent(event);" id="button1" value="View Content" style="float: right;">

<input type="button" onclick="handleViewHTMLContent(event);" id="button2" value="View Content" style="float: right;">


Javascript

...
function handleViewHTMLContent(event) {
var button = event.srcElement || event.currentTarget; //IE : Firefox
alert(button.id);
}