Thursday, January 24, 2008

Silverlight-Speed Loop

 

Creating a High-speed Loop

John Bower steps up a gear, produces a Lamborghini, and examines the process of using a high-speed function loop to create a fast-paced Silverlight application.

Silverlight-Speed Loop

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

theADOguy - Code - Data Driven Astoria Silverlight

This code is probably kinda stale (it's from last Oct) but sounds like what I was looking for awhile back.

Here's an example building a data driven site using Silverlight, AJAX and Astoria (Astoria uses the Entity Framework so that's there too).

Added 10/15/2007 Download

theADOguy - Code

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Life and Death with wiimote

One application of a 3D mouse or a wiimote is in the healthcare industry, by simulating interactions with different tools, like a hammer.

The Wii Tools
Two tools, a reflex hammer and an ophthalmoscope were developed to interact with the virtual patient. Interaction with these devices is very intuitive using the wiimote.
To strike with the hammer, simply swing as though striking. You must swing hard enough that it would result in an actual strike, otherwise, it will just touch. The wiimote vibrates when a strike occurs.

Virtual Environments Projects - Brent Rossen - Spring 07

I wonder if this will work with Life and Death, the game?  Time to get the scalpel out, and remember to turn the gas on.

Friday, January 11, 2008

WiiLi.org GlovePIE Wii-Mote Scripts

So I just picked up a bluetooth adapter to test out the wiimote on the PC.  A bit awkward but it really does work!

Next... get it going with some FPS games... and flight simulator... and touchscreen-enable my laptop.

There are 42 pages of scripts & counting.  The Google Earth one is worth checking out. 

Alright, I recently got my wiimote up and working with my PC (Windows only.. no linux yet)
the main reason I wanted it was to play point blank in mame with friends.. much to my dismay, there was no half decent script to do that!

WiiLi.org GlovePIE Wii-Mote Scripts

Time to hit Active Surplus to get some IR LEDs... or maybe I'll just cough up the $20 for the sensor bar.

Monday, January 7, 2008

Microsoft Live Labs Volta Team Blog - Ignoring the architecture team

Volta is a way to ajax-ify an application with a few clicks & some minor code changes.  It converts compiled MSIL .NET languages to Javascript, among other things.  It has some limitations, mainly around VB.  It should allow clients to change their minds about tier scaling & requirements with just a little work to change.

But what is Volta?  It is probably a path from Silverlight 1.1 to Silverlight 2.0, since a core focus is not converting to Javascript, but converting from Javascript to .NET, ultimately a more powerful transition and a key driver to .NET adoption.

My question, was it named after Alessandro Volta, the guy who electrified frogs legs?

The final question that is frequently asked is how Volta relates to Silverlight.  Is Volta meant to replace Silverlight?  Are we trying to make JavaScript work for the same scenarios as Silverlight?  Simply put, no.  As others have observed, Volta is compatible with and is built to be complementary to Silverlight.  The Microsft PressPass Q&A about Volta further explains that Volta is an MSIL to MSIL toolkit aimed at making writing distributed applications easier. Silverlight is an implementation of the .NET platform that therefore will automatically benefit from the advantages of the Volta toolkit. The technologies complement each other well, and we believe that amplifies and validates the importance of the complete .NET platform, including Silverlight.   

All the benefits of the Volta toolkit, such as declarative tier-splitting and asynchronous programming or declarative import of JavaScript libraries into .NET, will apply to programs deployed to the Silverlight platform. In fact, we are in the process of replacing the browser helper objects used to facilitate debugging in this preview, which host the regular desktop CLR in IE and Firefox, and are replacing them instead with the Silverlight 2.0 runtime.

Microsoft Live Labs Volta Team Blog

Cobol.NET to ... javascript?

Volta sounds interesting.  Tier-targeting without reprogramming your apps.

"The freaking great and interesting part is that they've written a translator that converts MS IL to JavaScript! So then JavaScript is sent to the client side and executes in the browser," Mandalapa adds.

Redmond Developer News | Extending.NET to Multi-Tier Apps

Mark Johnston's Blog : Silverlight training videos

 

Adam Kinney and co held a training day at Microsoft's campus in Redmond to help people get started and answer some fundamental questions about what the technology could do. The great news from us that don't live in the Pacific Northwest is they recorded all of the audio and video for the day and put it online.

firestarter_500

It includes the following:

Mark Johnston's Blog : Silverlight training videos

POKE 53280,0: Pete Brown's Blog : Why I stopped my Silverlight 1.1 Work

Since there is no go-live license planned for 1.1 code, it's DOA for anyone not using it for academic purposes.  Looks like we will be waiting a few more months for 2.0 to go beta.

If you want to learn Silverlight today but don't plan to deploy until 2.0 is out, what would I recommend? I recommend a two-pronged approach of learning 1.0 with JavaScript and learning how to write basic WPF XBAPs using features that Scott and others have announced will be in Silverlight. IMHO, this is the best way to prepare yourself for 2.0. Learning 1.0 will get you familiar with how the browser-based Silverlight applications work, and how they fit into larger web pages. Most importantly, you'll be able to write real production-ready code, even if it is just proof of concept. Learning the basics of WPF will prepare you for some of the things that may end up in Silverlight 2.0, as mentioned by Scott and others and will also teach you another valuable RIA platform in the process. It's win-win.

POKE 53280,0: Pete Brown's Blog : Why I stopped my Silverlight 1.1 Work

Friday, January 4, 2008

WiiMote Horse Riders Page

Need a bit more than a wrist strap for this one...

WiiMote Horse Riders Page

A Wiimote,
A Spring Horse,
Need 4 Speed,
an idea,
15 minutes of time,
our 15 minutes of fame

WiiMote Horse Riders Page

Build a light show

Yes this has nothing to do with Silverlight.  But who wouldn't want to put a lightshow timed to music in their living room?

I finished this a bit later than I wanted to, but a brand new version of my Light Sequencer application and article is now available at Coding4Fun.  You may recall my previous article on creating a musical light show for the holidays.  If not, here's the video showing the output:

BrianPeek.com

WiiLi.org Wiimote Laser Tag?

This stuff is just getting started...  

Instructions:
Each player puts on their wireless "sensor bar" and switches it on, and they pick up their connected wiimote. Then they press "Run" on the script. Then it will warn you that you have 10 seconds before the game will start. So run and get into position.
After the 5 seconds your weapon will start to charge up. When your weapon is charging it will beep five times then make a sound and vibrate which indicates that it is ready. Also the LEDs will come on one at a time while it is charging.
The lights on your weapon will be on when your weapon is charged and ready to fire. You can also check whether you are player 1 or player 2 by holding the A button. Or you can check player 1's score by holding the 1 button, or you can check player 2's score by holding the 2 button. It stops counting once it gets to 10.
You can shoot with the B button. The default maximum firing rate is five rounds per second, but you can change that at the top of the script. It will make a sound and vibrate when you shoot. If you hit the opponent then their remote will make a loud noise and power down for 7 seconds. Their weapon will beep very quietly while it charges up again. They can't shoot during that time, and they can't be shot again either.
The score will also be shown in the debug box on the screen, if you don't want to check it with the 1 or 2 button.

WiiLi.org Wiimote Laser Tag?

Microsoft....Air?

Nice WPF + Nintendo Wii + Surface + Minority Report mashup.

Welcome to Cynergy Labs

Kit3D: 3D Graphics Engine for Microsoft Silverlight

Not sure if I already posted this... but it's worth a look for combining with the Nintendo wii controller for VR applications.

Kit3D is a 3D graphics engine for creating 3D content in Microsoft silverlight.

Kit3D: 3D Graphics Engine for Microsoft Silverlight