Category Archives: Windows8

But in DataContractSerializer–does not handle object-types well

Posted on October 18, 2012 by SocialEbola

In using SuspensionManager and the Session State on Windows 8, I tried saving an object into it and the app kept crashing on load.. Just spent four hours chasing my tail… Finally figured it out. Here it is if anyone … Continue reading →

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ColdTask implementation for Windows 8

Posted on October 15, 2012 by SocialEbola

Tasks in Windows 8 are used all over the place – they are a really great way of getting things done asynchronously. Sometimes though, you find yourself wanting to change the way these tasks execute. Most .NET tasks are “hot” … Continue reading →

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Turn any UserControl into a pleasing Dialog/Flyout in Windows 8

Posted on October 14, 2012 by SocialEbola

Windows 8 comes with a somewhat extended Message box functionality – you can control the text on the message box and the content of the buttons. However, for Flyouts and arbitrary content, there’s no easy mechanism to use. WinRT does, … Continue reading →

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What to do when getting reference errors with Microsoft advertising SDK

Posted on October 13, 2012 by SocialEbola

When compiling Windows Store apps that contain references to the Microsoft Advertising SDK, you may, every now and again, hit the following two errors: Error 13 The .winmd file ‘Microsoft.Advertising.WinRT.UI.winmd’ contains duplicate type names. Type ‘Microsoft.Advertising.WinRT.UI.XamlAdControl_XamlTypeInfo.XamlMetaDataProvider’ is already registered with … Continue reading →

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Partial System.Windows.Interactivity for Windows 8 (WinRT)

Posted on October 6, 2012 by SocialEbola

If you are writing Windows Store Apps (as they are called now), and you’ve written Windows Phone/Silverlight/WPF apps before, you may be missing System.Windows.Interactivity which allows developers to attach behaviors and triggers (among other things) to UI elements in their … Continue reading →

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Alt key in WinRT’s (Win8) VirtualKey enum

Posted on October 5, 2012 by SocialEbola

Just a note, if somebody ends up searching for this… KeyEventArgs and the VirtualKey enumeration in Windows 8’s new APIs have the “Alt” key code in them – it’s just hiding behind the “Menu” name. This used to be documented … Continue reading →

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Using multiple styles on elements in XAML (Windows 8/WP7)

Posted on October 4, 2012 by SocialEbola

XAML styles are great for creating formatting and general properties setters that can be applied to elements in your UI easily. They are used massively in Windows Phone, Windows 8 and Silverlight as well as in WPF. (Note that some … Continue reading →

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VariableSizedWrapGrid inside an ItemsControl with ColumnSpan and RowSpan

Posted on September 28, 2012 by SocialEbola

Recently, I used an ItemsControl control to my XAML page and wanted to use a VariableSizedWrapGrid as the container. The idea was to show the first item in my collection as large (2×2 in the grid) and the rest of … Continue reading →

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