Posted by
al on
12/27/2011 8:46 PM |
Comments (0)
The SQL Compact Database format is a simple file that acts as a SQL database, lately I have loved that kind of database as the set up is mainly non existing and the portability is amazing. Of course, without explicitly saying it, there are lots of limitations. You need to use that kind of technology for simple applications that do not require lots of data.
Using the SQL Compact Database with Entity Framework Code First is just elegant and clean code, then a little ASP.NET MVC 3 creates a project that can be deployed almost anywhere.
First stop was the Azure Cloud, just by adding a new project Azure to the solution, will let you publish the web project to Azure, that simple, you do not need to convert the ASP.NET MVC 3 app to Azure, you still can deploy the web app to your server with a simple Publish or Web Deploy.
Now, when deploying to Azure, you’ll see this error with the SQL Server Compact:
General failure Unable to load the native components of SQL Server
Compact corresponding to the ADO.NET provider of version 8482.
Install the correct version of SQL Server Compact.
Refer to KB article 974247 for more details.
The problem is a missing DLL that is required for the SQL Server Compact, to avoid this problem,
I recommend to go to project and add all deployable dependencies to the project like the image below:
Now all the dlls required to run the application will be in a folder ready to package and be sent to Azure.
In a few minutes, your ASP.NET MVC 3 with SQL Server Compact Database using Entity Framework Code First will be running in the cloud. Please make sure to delete the package from Azure when you are not using it to avoid charges, just by doing an stop of the application is not enough.
Cheers
Al
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So, it's the end of the year.And what have I done? My pet projects for 2011 was to learn Objective-C and the iOS SDK. I plan a few apps that will use different parts of the SDK and I stated creating those and submitting them to the app store.
In the process, I have learned more than expected about the Apple App Store process, I was lucky to be contacted by Apple a few times to discuss my submissions, after the first time, I shamelessly targeted some apps to the issues that trigger the phone call from Apple.
I have learned that I’m not good designing user interfaces for the mobile platform, even when Apple makes it simple with limited controls. Bad news for me is that biggest percentage of people look at the screen shots instead of reading the descriptions.
4 apps were completely rejected from Apple, of course I use 1 of them to target different reactions from Apple. They didn’t disappoint as much as TSA when trying to smuggle a huge toothpaste at the airport.
For the record, I was a little late submitting the flash light app to Apple after iOS came out.
For all the applications I wrote, I created a website to keep track of them, some of them are in the 3rd version, others need a face lift still.
You’ll find the complete list at http://sprinkleware.com
Cheers
Al
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Categories: Blog
Posted by
Admin on
12/8/2011 7:07 PM |
Comments (0)
This is my first try of a iPhone game. Using some animation this game is a puzzle of 4 letters words. I need as many ideas as possible to improve this game.
You can download it here:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/squaremashup/id483854117?ls=1&mt=8
Other apps you may want to consider:
For Learning to read there are 2 apps. Learn2Read 1 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/learn2read/id473522680?ls=1&mt=8
and then Learn2Read 2 for more advance readers https://itunesconnect.apple.com/WebObjects/iTunesConnect.woa/wo/11.0.9.7.3.11.1.11.5.0.4.4.3
Have fun.
Cheers
Al
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Posted by
al on
11/26/2011 8:07 PM |
Comments (0)
A few notes I have been gathering from DevConnections this year.
Main attraction to me is to see what Scott Guthrie is interested on. I like that he introduces the hold presentation before turning into the slides. This time everything is about the Microsoft Cloud; Azure.
The cloud save money? What about for development and research that is not expecting to have users for a long time? Mr Guthrie didn’t tell us how can developers start testing Azure without adding a credit card on the profile.
You can start to create a Azure app by just creating an MVC 3 app. Then add Windows Azure Deployment project that creates a new project that will take care of all your Azure options without changing your MVC app. Great to port existing Web Apps to Azure, this are great news, when there are so many projects that start like a web application and when you are ready to deploy, you decide to go to the cloud instead of hosting it in a “classic” way.
Debugging for Azure creates 2 instances in your computer. I can see that Microsoft is providing all the tools for developers besides allowing it to run on the cloud for limited IPs for free.
Background roles to run without UI for processing data is everything we always need in a web application, the database to create reports, for example, always needed a background process. This is the way to do it in the cloud.
The publish process is easier and can be done in TFS as well to let the team keep building and testing without the overhead of deployment and configuration. A real agile approached here, I see a lot of companies adoption Azure for dynamic development.
Storage with Azure is for safe and massive amount of data with NOSQL, drag and drop files to the web. The presentation from Mr. Guthrie didn’t answer the question: Can it also work in SQL 2008 Compact files?
Cheers
Al
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Categories: Blog
Posted by
Admin on
10/27/2011 9:01 PM |
Comments (0)
Found a fantastic documentation for the Google Voice API to send SMS messages, Google does not have a documentation of how to use Google Voice, in fact is always hard to find any good documentation to any of their products besides Google Wave, any we all know where that project went.
This will give you the rest api to place a call as well as send an SMS, there is possible as well to read your SMS messages. We should all thank Chad Smith.
http://posttopic.com/topic/google-voice-add-on-development
For SMS
POST /accounts/ClientLogin accountType=GOOGLE&Email=[google account]&Passwd=[google password]&service=grandcentral&source=[your app name]
Sending an SMS:
POST /voice/sms/send/ id=&phoneNumber=[number to text]&text=[URL Encoded message]&_rnr_se=[pull from page]
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Categories: Blog
Posted by
Admin on
10/22/2011 11:12 AM |
Comments (0)
I attended and participated at the Water Hackathon in Washington DC connected via uStream to other places in the world, I personally love the stream from Lima. Many problems were presented and people responded quickly to find solutions to those problems. We helped each other with technology and writing code. I mainly wrote code to solve a water access map to centralized all that data into a common editable dataset.
The problem:
For the solution, we went to centralize all data and create an iPhone application as well as a JS Viewer using ArcGIS.com http://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=d79f0fc97aa3426eb96f780ade9ce815
Water Access Map View Larger Map
The Climate Change Picture Game also needed a map service from ArcGIS.com to geo tag pictures to show the difference from year to year in different parts of the world.
View Larger Map
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Categories: Blog
Posted by
Admin on
10/9/2011 7:00 PM |
Comments (0)
New changes on iOS 5 has cause application using the default MainWindow.xib will break on the new SDK.
Make sure you add the RootViewController
RootViewController *rootViewCont = navigationController.visibleViewController;
- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions { }
All iOS 5 applications should have a root view controller
Found a great sample of how make modifications to your existing application or to start a new app here:
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
@class RootViewController;
@interface AppDelegate : UIResponder <UIApplicationDelegate>
@property (nonatomic, retain) UIWindow *window;
@property (nonatomic, retain) RootViewController *rootViewController;
@end
and
#import "AppDelegate.h"
#import "RootViewController.h"
@implementation AppDelegate
@synthesize window = _window;
@synthesize rootViewController = _rootViewController;
- (void)dealloc {
[_window release];
[_rootViewController release];
[super dealloc];
}
- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions {
self.window = [[[UIWindow alloc] initWithFrame:[[UIScreen mainScreen] bounds]] autorelease];
// Override point for customization after application launch.
self.window.backgroundColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
_rootViewController = [[RootViewController alloc] init];
self.window.rootViewController = self.rootViewController;
[self.window makeKeyAndVisible];
return YES;
}
@end
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Categories: Blog
Posted by
Admin on
10/7/2011 3:06 PM |
Comments (0)
Thanks for everything Steve Jobs.
Picture from Apple posted in their website 10/6/2011 http://apple.com
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Tags: iOS, Cocoa |
Categories: Blog
Posted by
al on
8/29/2011 4:23 PM |
Comments (0)
A website that people creating controls for the iOS can share as Open Source libraries. Those Custom UI Component Database for iOS and Mac OS X are now at your finger tips to create more exciting applications
You can find the controls here http://cocoacontrols.com/platforms/ios/controls
My favorites :
WhirlyGlobe is an interactive 3D globe toolkit for ios. It handles the rendering and data manipulation side and strives to maintain a constant frame rate. It's pretty and it's quite good. It can be used to display a few data points on the earth or as a center piece for an earth based app.
Read more…
Basic PDF reader/viewer code for iOS developers struggling with wrangling PDF files onto iOS device screens.
Read more…
A collapsible toolbar that is affixed to one of the four corners of the screen.
Read more…
DCRoundSwitch is designed to be a drop in replacement for UISwitch. It is styled 'modern' so will unify the look of your apps into the future whilst retaining backwards capability. Drawing is done in CoreGraphics so no images are required.
Read more…
MKTickerView is a drop-in replacement for a horizontal stock ticker kind-of control. Infinite scrolling, and wraps around automatically when the last item is hit. Butter smooth scrolling.
Read more…
A pie menu implementation specially designed for iPhone and iPod touch
Read more…
Cocoa/UIKit view to display text like light-up bulbs on a sports scoreboard.
Read more…
Dashboard-style gauges for iOS.
Read more…
An iOS library for displaying tiled maps with support for custom tile providers.
Read more…
An open-source version of iPhone's native Messages app.
Read more…
CoolButtons is a subclass of UIButton that draws glassy iOS style buttons, all using CoreGraphics and no images.
Read more…
Draw line charts and pie charts in iOS.
Read more
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To the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community:
I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.
I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.
As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.
I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.
I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.
Steve
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