The Expression Blend release candidate is now available! Get it here! As was recently noted in a comment, there are a bunch of very cool samples in Blend. One of them has a sweet page turning demo. I converted it to an xbap… check it out here:
Josh Smith (formerly of Infragistics) is putting on an XBAP contest! Submissions are required by March 12th. I can’t wait to see what people create!
As Tim Sneath announced earlier in his blog today, the British Library has released a just awesome XBAP. I’ve been giddy about this app since I saw the first prototype. Here’s an example of technology really opening doors and offering new experiences. The public can see these Da Vinci’s notebooks, Mozart’s compositions, and many other (usually locked up) rare books in a fuller fidelity, richer environment than ever before. Tim goes in to all the specific coolness of the app in his post. I definitely recommend the read. Try out “Turning the Pages” here.
Hats off to the Japanese design agency Bascule for this excellent xbap. The funky 3D & music is just awesome. A great watch. Notice the little camera in the lower left hand corner? Click on it to control the camera position and zoom in/out. Sweetness. Thanks Karsten for the tip!
An updated version of the December CTP Expression Design has been posted that has a 180 day trial license. Get it here!
XAML Browser Applications (XBAPs) in this version are promptless in-browser experiences. This has many implications: clean experience when navigating to an XBAP. (There is no Information Bar or security warning before launching the app.) cached (not installed) on the user’s machine. security sandbox. Sandboxed Applications The third bullet above is especially important for XBAP developers. XBAPs obey the security contract of being in the browser: they are sandboxed according to their deployment zone. Today, there is no way to seamlessly “elevate” and prompt the user for additional permissions. (This is an often-requested feature and something we are investigating for …
At CES today, Yahoo announced a new Windows Vista Messenger application built in WPF. It looks VERY hot. On Yahoo’s announcement page, they have a video demo. Check it out!
Using my new template, I wanted to create a screen saver for my photos. I liked the look of the Picasa screen saver and wanted to see if I accomplish something similar in WPF. Below is the result. The photos animate in & out to random locations. It’s also configurable to show photos from any directory on your machine. You can get the screen saver here. To Install Be sure you have .NET Framework 3.0. (If you’re running Vista, you’re good to go!) Download the ZIP file and Extract All files. Copy the PixPile.scr file to convenient location on your C: drive. Right click the PixPile.scr …
I thought it would be fun to create a WPF screen saver. I built one with Robert Hogue‘s most excellent Material Group “Background Animation” visuals. (You can find it in his Sample Pack.) You can download the screen saver and/or the code. However, I thought it would be even more fun if everyone else would write screen savers too. 🙂 To facilitate this, I’ve written a VS template for WPF screen savers. Screen Saver Template – Installation Instructions Download the template here. Move the zip file to <MY DOCUMENTS>Visual Studio 2005TemplatesProjectTemplatesVisual C#”.. (DO NOT unzip it) When creating a new project, …
A couple exciting updates: WPF/E has released their first CTP! Download it for Windows and Mac. Karsten Januszewski has released source code for the Woodgrove Finance Application. Expression Blend (formerly Expression Interactive Designer) has released their Beta with a hot new look. Download the trial here.