For the love of Technology

The Daily Six Pack: August 20, 2013

A COLLECTION OF LINKS FOR LOVERS OF I.T. Dirk Strauss . . . . Feature link: Windows 8.1 Pinned Site Tiles Notifications Dev Tip: Windows 8.1 Brings Notifications to Pinned Site Tiles, Shawn Keene Other What is AutoMapper and How to map two objects using AutoMapper?, Kunal Chowdhury Windows 8.1…

Continue ReadingThe Daily Six Pack: August 20, 2013

Facebook Privacy – Securing Your Online Content

facebook privacy securityFacebook Privacy – This is a topic of thousands of blogs posts. It is something we have been warned about time and time again. Almost weekly we hear about social media accounts being compromised.

In all honesty, how bad can it really get? Is that what you are thinking? Who would want to hack my online content? Well perhaps you should ask Mat Honan that question.

We need to be aware of an online culture, where (let’s call them) hackers will try to compromise your on-line accounts just for the challenge of doing so. For others, there is a more sinister agenda behind their motives. Just ask the South African Postbank. (more…)

Continue ReadingFacebook Privacy – Securing Your Online Content

The Daily Six Pack: August 19, 2013

A COLLECTION OF LINKS FOR LOVERS OF I.T. Dirk Strauss . . . . Feature link: InstallShield Limited Edition What’s new in Visual Studio 2013 and InstallShield Limited Edition, Visual Studio Blog Other Webinar Recording: C# Async on iOS and Android, Rich Taylor Improving NET Application Startup Speed, Jeff Martin…

Continue ReadingThe Daily Six Pack: August 19, 2013

Existing Data And Visual Studio LightSwitch

lightswitch existing dataExisting Data – LightSwitch has shown us this week how easy it is to create a fully data aware application in a very short amount of time and with minimal developer effort. But what about adding existing data?

I received a message from a reader in Johannesburg this week. His company used an Access database for one of their applications, but needed to migrate away from Access (probably because the data grew large enough to warrant the use of SQL). They had already created the SQL database and migrated the data, and now needed to quickly create a user interface.

His question to me was what technology he could use to create a GUI in the shortest amount of time, without having to learn how to program. Obviously I suggested LightSwitch. (more…)

Continue ReadingExisting Data And Visual Studio LightSwitch

LightSwitch Themes – A Change Is As Good As A Holiday

lightswitch themesLightSwitch Themes – One of the most pivotal moments for me during my LightSwitch adventures were themes. If you have been following the previous articles, you will know that LightSwitch brings exceptional ease of use to your development repertoire.

One of the most confining areas of an application is the look and feel. Once you have created an app, it becomes extremely difficult to change the look and feel without being an extremely painful experience. With LightSwitch Themes, this is no longer a problem. The process to follow to change a LightSwitch Theme isn’t immediately obvious. But this doesn’t make the process any more difficult to perform.

(more…)

Continue ReadingLightSwitch Themes – A Change Is As Good As A Holiday

The Daily Six Pack: August 15, 2013

A COLLECTION OF LINKS FOR LOVERS OF I.T. Dirk Strauss . . . . Feature link: Windows Live Writer Tips 8 Windows Live Writer tips, Jon Galloway Other Visual Studio 2013 Preview: Code Map Debugger Integration, zainnab Visual Studio 2013 – Enhanced Scrollbar, Colin Beales Handling Unhandled Exceptions, Sean Sexton…

Continue ReadingThe Daily Six Pack: August 15, 2013

LightSwitch Data – Fleshing Out Your Application

lightswitch data logoLightSwitch Data – If you have followed the previous two articles I wrote (Visual Studio LightSwitch – True Power Lies In Simplicity and Extending LightSwitch – Deeper Down The Rabbit Hole), you will by now know that our little application is becoming more sophisticated and feature rich.

I have to hasten to add, our application is becoming more feature rich without us having to do much work. It seems almost like stealing candy from a baby, and I almost feel guilty for getting so much satisfaction from creating with LightSwitch.

If by now you aren’t hooked on LightSwitch, I don’t know what will get you hooked. The more I play with LightSwitch, the more I love it. It is easy to see why there is such a large community behind this technology.

As I have mentioned before, it is the data that drives LightSwitch. The underlying data layer needs to be correct, so a basic understanding of databases is preferable. But the technology is also very forgiving. Give it a few hours time, and you will be quite fluent with it. (more…)

Continue ReadingLightSwitch Data – Fleshing Out Your Application