Connecting to SQL Server CE from Visual Studio

Connection string is the entry point to develop any data-centric application that includes handheld or mobile platform. It really is the first step. If you are accessing SQL Server Compact then this article tells you all that you need to know about connecting to SQL Server Compact from Visual Studio, be it the latest VS2010 or an older data tecnnology.


Check out this article and let me know if you liked it.
http://www.packtpub.com/article/connecting-microsoft-sql-server-compact-3.5-visual-studio

After connecting you can develop a Pocket PC forms application as shown in this article on the same site:

http://www.packtpub.com/article/pocket-pc-application-visual-studio-2005

Here is an abstract of the above article:

This article by Dr. Jayaram Krishnaswamy teaches how you may create a .NET Compact Framework (CF) 2.0 forms application. This can be used with Pocket PC 2003, or later devices. In the absence of a device being available for testing, the emulator is the next best thing. The application will be tested on one of the many emulators available in Visual Studio 2005. You may try other devices as well just by choosing the item in the Device Emulation Manager described in the article.

Two must have programs if you are using Visual Studio

CodePlex site now has a one stop resource where you can find all the samples for applications that can be created using Visual Studio suite of products(2008 and 2010). Specifically it has provided the All-In-One Code Framework "Sample Browser". All you need to install is the package from this site, http://1code.Codeplex.com/releases. The "Sample Browser" is in the root folder of your All-In-One Framework package. It is an ongoing feature and more things will be added in the future.


Here is a screen shot of all Silverlight code samples you can find with ample documentation.

Here is an example of documentation you will find for a ADO.NET Data Service sample.

This is indeed a very valuable resource you must be aware of if you are using Visual Studio.

(Web)Matrix Reloaded

Microsoft has resurrected WebMatrix the free tool for developing web pages. The latest WebMatrix includes ASP.NET Extensions and IIS Express - a free developer tool. The new tool also supports creating ASP.NET MVC and or ASP.NET Web Pages. This is how this new feature 'Razor' is explained by Scot Guthrie in his blog [http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2010/07/02/introducing-razor.aspx].
The design goals for this upgraded WebMatrix are,

Compact, Expressive, and Fluid (looks like this has been achieved)
Easy to Learn
Is not a new language (corollary to the above)
works with any Text Editor
Has great intellisense
Unit Testable

Appears to be an all round improvement. The replacement for 'cassini' may be a more robust web server in the form of IIS Express.

Here is the trick to using Razor

<%=name%/> is replaced by @name
<%=productID%/> is replaced by $productID

You get the picture. Six characters replaced by a single character. Quite a saving if you had had a great big page and you don't need to handle those awkward angles (sigh! I have so gotten used to them).

There are more examples in Scott's blog, make sure you look it up.

I went back to take a look at an article I created in 2006 on the previous version. Even back then it was quite interesting.

When it comes to diagnostic help Mozilla outshines IE

I was recently trying to troubleshoot an application on the Windows Azure Cloud and I was struck by the browser differences when it came to debugging the application.


Here is the browser display for a page which had errors in Mozilla (version 3.6.6)

Here is the same page as rendered on IE 8.0.7600.16385

Do you want to test drive Microsoft Office Web Apps?

Go to this page:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/web-apps/office-web-apps-FX101825822.aspx

Convenience is the key word here. You can be anywhere and you are not too far from your Office Applications any time. If you want to know more, watch this video .

You access the app on SkyDrive for personal use and deploy it for your organization.

But you need to sign up with windows Live. When you login after installing you will see this in your Live IN window.

You have all the pieces (the four programs) now.

Click on any you want to use and your previous experience will come in handy. You get the same experience as the one you get from this program on your desk top.

Here are some screens using the Web word as I would like to call it.

I click Word in the above screen to create a new word document which will be present in my SkyDrive.

Then I save it by clicking Save. This opens up the editor on my SkyDrive (see web URL at the top of the page).

I type in a few words. The ‘ribbon’ is somewhat empty but then who is complaining. It’s free stuff. But this is good enough if you are fishing in deep arctic or having a drink with your girlfriend by the pool (watch the video, my friend).

I suggest you better install the Sign-in Assistant so that you do not need to remember authentication etc. This will bring in more programs to your computer, go thru’ this just one time. It makes it easier.

Do you see the Word icon on the ribbon?
Click this if you want to save this document.  But then you have to agree for more terms such as this one.

 Well if you allow this, then you will see this.