Fix to blank LightSwitch app bug with Visual Studio 2012

I needed to populate a database I’m designing with some test data and thought to myself “LightSwitch will be ideal to knock out some screens”.

One hour later I got a LightSwitch screen to actually display! Until then all I got when running it in Desktop mode (the default) was a blank window hosting Silverlight (right click to verify)

After lots of searching and playing around I found the answer near the end of this very long thread. 

1. Navigate to the Client.Properties folder inside your project
2. Open OutofBrowserSettings.xml
3. Change <SecuritySettings ElevatedPermissions=”Required” /> to <SecuritySettings ElevatedPermissions=”NotRequired” />
4. And you may also want to then make the file readonly

 Now, when this happens again I will be able to find my own post to resolve it! Enjoy!

P.S. This isn’t specific to Visual Studio 2012 … but the post title corresponds to how I was searching

Blend for Visual Studio 2012 nice touch #2

Following on from nice touch #1…

I disliked the way old versions of Blend relied on something as a subtle as a few pixels of colour to tell you something relatively important.

Circa 2010

Circa 2013

although admittedly this doesn’t appear to be universal across all properties.

Thank you.

Blend for Visual Studio 2012 nice touch #1

[Really I’m just testing out twitterfeed which has failed for me… but I needed something to post on ]

I’m just skimming through some blend tips by Mike from 2010 and  spotted a nice touch in Blend for Visual Studio 2012 I hadn’t noticed before (amongst no doubt hundreds of improvements )

When working with grids and rows (or columns) you now get a lovely visual indicator with in place editing, rather than needing to visit properties.

circa 2010 (from this post)

circa 2013

Accessing SharePoint from the browser…

SharePoint was created by Microsoft when a) Internet Explorer (IE) was by far the most widely used web browser on Windows PCs (I was at Microsoft during the “browser wars” which lead to IE being dominant in 2001 when SharePoint emerged) and b) people pretty much only ever used PCs to browse the web. Oddly enough for many years, SharePoint worked great when accessed from a Windows PC using IE and … sometimes was simply impossible to use when you strayed too far away from this pairing.

Roll forward 10+ years and things have changed significantly. In the course of their day to day lives people use many devices and many browsers.  Across my tablet, phone, desktop development pc, laptop and gaming pc I use at least 5 different browsers.

The good news is the SharePoint development team were well aware of this change and in recent versions and updates have worked hard to allow SharePoint to be used from a variety of browsers.

Last Friday this topic came up at the Back to basics with SharePoint session held at my office in Durham. Which caused me to have a look for a succinct summary of cross browser support across different versions of SharePoint. My timing was spot on. Joel has just published  a blog post which contains his SharePoint Browser Comparison Report Card. Screenshot here – but really just to encourage you to visit his post.

Thanks Joel.

Back to basics with SharePoint event in Durham, Friday 24th May

At Microsoft (not surprisingly ) we used SharePoint extensively to support the work of individuals, teams, groups and organisations. It was simply how we got things done. How we managed complexity, how we collaborated, how we remained productive.

What did we do before SharePoint? Well, we used a lot (and I mean a LOT) of server shares. Yes, you can get stuff done but it isn’t efficient, it isn’t fun and it is fraught with dangers. Unfortunately many companies still operate this way. Indeed many companies that have SharePoint are barely using the capabilities it offers to help run their businesses.

Which is why I am pleased to see the bespoke development team in my new company taking time out from coding to run a series of events which are “code free” but look at how organisations can benefit from adopting (and better still embracing) SharePoint. If your company is based near Durham then they are most definitely worth checking out.

Next session is:

Back to basics with SharePoint: Supporting business processes using SharePoint >>>
11.45am, Friday 24th May, Waterstons Durham office

P.S. And the ginger cake they serve up at these events is fabulous!

I have a permanent desk and a shiny development pc :-)

Day one back at work. My first permanent desk in 13 years and first works desktop pc (mini-tower to be exact)  in 16 years. Complete with two shiny new monitors and a first aid kit for the car.

Things do not get better than this

Live streaming 13th and 14th Dec – Windows Store App Development for iOS Developers

During the last 6 months I have been working with  iOS developers building the first wave of Windows 8 applications for the Windows Store. Pretty much all of them have told me that they enjoyed making the transition to XAML/C#/.NET and Visual Studio 2012.

I have previously posted Resources for iOS developers but today and tomorrow there is something special going on.  The Big Nerd Ranch and Microsoft have joined together to deliver two days of training designed to jumpstart your Windows Store app development.

It will be streamed on Channel 9 and The Verge from 4pm UK time.

Don’t miss it.

Merry Christmas all Windows 8 Developers and Designers from….Telerik AppMock

Those very nice people at Telerik have impressed me once again – so much so that it feels similar to the moment I woke up on Christmas day to find a TCR racing set under the tree (what an awesome thing that was).

Introducing … AppMock from Telerik

The blurb states “AppMock allows you to quickly and easily create prototypes of your Windows Store applications”

In reality “AppMock allows you to quickly and easily create prototypes of your Windows Store applications”

Sweet!

Install today!

Slides and links from Windows 8 Round Table 29th Nov 2012

If you attended the event yesterday in London then firstly, thank you for coming and secondly, you can find the slides we used attached to this post or via this direct link.

The tips I listed in my part of the day can be found at Windows Store Tips.

And finally, my group is very active in helping developers and designers skill up for Windows 8. Check out the resources (including in-person free training) at http://www.windows-store.co.uk/training

Attachment:
Round Table 29th Nov 2012 novideo

Windows Store Tips:Follow the company developer account guidelines

[Windows Store Tips]

When you create a developer account on the Windows 8 store you can either create a company account or an individual account. I have seen several companies get into a “bit of a pickle” with store company accounts.

We now have some detailed guidelines which will help avoid problems later on, including:

• Create your Microsoft account using an email address that belongs to your company’s domain, but not to a single individual—for example, windowsapps@fabrikam.com.
• Add a company phone number that does not require an extension, or an additional email distribution list as a proof.
• Limit access to your company’s Windows Store Dashboard to the smallest number of developers as possible.
• In general, use trusted PCs as your security proof. All key team members must have access to these trusted PCs.
• If you need to allow access to the Windows Store Dashboard from a non-trusted PC, limit that access to a maximum of 5 developers. These developers should access the Windows Store Dashboard from machines that share the same geographical and network location.
• Frequently manage your proofs to keep them current.