Infosys | Microsoft

Windows XP SP3

Thu, 08 May 2008 01:57:20 +0000

New Service Pack - SP3 is now available for Windows XP. You can download it from here. Also note that you can also install SP3 from Windows Update.

If you are one of those who have already been working with IE 8 Beta, then you will need to uninstall it before installing SP3. Check more details on SP3's behavior with various IE versions here.

Collaboration, Connectivity and devices –Future trends and .NET

Tue, 06 May 2008 06:03:48 +0000

In Future, A Disconnected device would be strange, would be an alien.
Here’s a presentation which throws some insight into the future web trends.http://www.slideshare.net/matthewbuckland/future-web-trends?src=related_normal&rel=193809
The Presentation mainly focuses on Connectivity, collaboration and discrete devices of today that would be transformed into intelligent smart connected devices in future.

Web Accessibility: Interconnected Components

Mon, 05 May 2008 16:34:29 +0000

Much of the focus of web accessibility has been on the responsibilities of the web developer or web content developer. But accessible web content gets consumed through a series of interconnected technologies. And for comprehensive accessibility, all these interconnected component technologies must work in tandem and must all support accessibility.

WPF ObjectDataProvider vs Direct Object Use

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 04:03:19 +0000

When using object instances in XAML, there are two ways to use them. One is to directly create them as resources, assign and key and use where ever required and other is to embed them inside of ObjectDataProvider and then use.

I have worked with both ways and was curious to know the differences between the two and benefit of using one approach over another. I can across this old blog by Beatriz that explain this very well. Along same lines, here is some discussion on XmlDataProvider as well.

Web Accessibility: Overview of Laws and Guidelines

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:57:53 +0000

These days IT companies all over the world, Microsoft included, are putting in a lot of efforts to ensure that their products conform to necessary Accessibility standards. This blog article aims to touch upon the context and the business case for IT companies to be educated about Accessibility.

Understanding Web Accessibility

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 05:19:45 +0000

Starting this week, I will be addressing the area of Web Accessibility - organized in four separate blog entries. This week we will look at the big picture, the meaning of Web Accessibility and its relevance for promoting Equal Opportunity.

In the weeks to come, we will look at follow-up topics like the legal framework that dictates the implementation of Web Accessibility (Overview), the interdependent systems and components of Web Accessibility and harmful myths about Web Accessibility.

WPF makes Designers and Developers friends again

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:51:16 +0000

I have been playing around with WPF for a while and have been blogging about some of the technical aspects on it. However today I will like to touch upon another important aspect of WPF and that is designer-developer connect.

Having worked on Windows Programming using C++, MFC etc for a decade and working with the various controls, it is a real pleasure to see the capabilities now available to WPF developers. It is true to a large extent that with WPF and XAML and the tools like Expression Blend, designers and developers can work lot more closely than ever before. The working closely is more towards the ability for designers to style the UI for the WPF application and the developers to write the code for it.

WPF Data Binding

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:23:37 +0000

WPF data binding a very effective way to bind .net CLR objects to WPF UI controls and ensure appropriate updates (by proper use of binding mode and property change notifications). However it can become a bit tricky if not used properly. I recently found these interesting 10 points about WPF data binding. I am sure you would find them helpful as well.

WPF - Passing string to ConverterParameter

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:53:21 +0000

There are enough online sources that talk about how to buid and use custom Converters in WPF and also how to pass parameters to these converters. However for some reason, all these examples tend to either use a single integer or a single word string. So recently when I had a need for passing a sentence as parameter, I was confused.

Fortunately the simple trick of using single quotes inside of double quotes to provide strings worked in this case as well. Following are two ways you can pass a string that has multiple words to a converter.

Why is .NET Micro Framework so crucial for Autonomous digital enterprise

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 06:20:12 +0000

"Let there be light!" And there was light.

"Let there be organized information!" So evolved ledgers and related recording systems, computers and applications.

Now in the age of digital nervous system, when we say "Let there be Automation!" , Information flow should address the whole spectrum of source, relation, content and target.

Object-Relational Mapping(Part-II)

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 10:30:00 +0000

In this part we will try to identify the differences these two models present that brings into fore the impedance-mismatch. I have created a data model and an object model and to keep the things simple for now, all of the objects map one to one with the data entities (tables). In addition, I will be using terms Table, Row, Column etc. rather than relation, tuple or attribute as these are easy to understand. Looking carefully at the two diagrams I am sure you can identify some of the most basic differences in the approaches the two methodologies take while defining entities.

Demystifying the ‘Differentiated’ User Experience

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:54:35 +0000

These days, Microsoft Evangelists are using a new buzzword – Differentiated User Experience’ - to promote the capabilities of user interface technologies like WPF and Silverlight. Needless to say, design community is scrambling to understand what this new term means and how they can build truly unique interfaces leveraging these technologies.

After ARM7 and ARM9, Now its "BLACKFIN"

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 10:22:09 +0000

With .NET Micro Framework gaining recognition, Analog Devices have announced porting .NET Micro Framework to their BLACKFIN processors.

Developers of resource-constrained portable devices offering multimedia and other specialty applications will for the first time be able to use Microsoft’s field-proven productivity tools, .NET and Visual Studio®, with the Blackfin processor, speeding the design of small-footprint, low-power embedded systems.

Analog Devices’ Blackfin processors combine high performance, power efficiency and system integration to enable highly optimized embedded designs without compromise. With power consumption as low as 0.16 mW/MHz (at 250 MHz) and performance up to 600 MHz, applications can add greater signal-processing performance without sacrificing battery life.
Blackfin will be the first DSP in Microsoft’s .NET Micro Framework sphere, Developers will be able to work with Microsoft development tools to implement feature-rich products on Blackfin, with the power efficiency, performance level and system cost that is right for compact embedded applications. For example, one of the exciting possibilities is using Windows® SideShow™ to display information on mobile PCs and portable electronic devices such as media players, even when those devices are in sleep mode.

WPF - Binding to Image Control

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 09:11:38 +0000

Overtime, I have used different approaches to binding pictures to Image control in a WPF application. I have seen various questions on the WPF forum as well on this topic. The information is all available out there, but scattered. Hence, I decided to create a sample application to demostrate the various scenarios that can exist when you need to use the Image control to display pictures.

ASP.NET AJAX Perils

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 03:37:18 +0000

ASP.NET AJAX is come a long way since its inception a few years back and my personal take it is that it in a hype cycle right now, where everyone is trying to jump on-board and create AJAX based applications. Needless to say that it has its own benefits, but there definite downsides to it as well. You can read a set of 10 important aspects around AJAX here.

It is known that though it gives a flicker free UX, the under-the-hood story tells a different tale. Having read about it, some days back, we did a small experiment to really see the kind of differences one can get with different approaches and you can read about our findings in this report (Download file). The scenario we took is very simplistic, but the results are still eye-opening.