Silverlight for Windows Phone Toolkit Feb 2011 is now available. Components included in this update are:

• AutoCompleteBox
• ContextMenu
• DatePicker
• GestureService/GestureListner
• ListPicker
• LongListSelector
• Page Transitions
• PerformanceProgressBar
• TiltEffect
• TimePicker
• ToggleSwitch
• WrapPanel

This update also includes the samples project for Visual Basic phone developers.

You can download this update from http://silverlight.codeplex.com/releases/view/60291 .

As mentioned in my earlier post, I would be covering my experience of working in Expression Blend. In this article we start from the basic layout of Blend and how you can use it more efficiently by using Keyboard Shortcuts.

Microsoft Expression Blend is the tool used to design WPF, Silverlight(SL) & Windows Phone 7 Applications. It is a designing application focused on providing designers the flexibility to create the better User Experience which was not possible prior to WPF. The latest version of Blend is 4.0.

When you start Expression Blend 4 and create a new WPF project, you get an option to create .NET 3.5 or .NET 4.0 application. You can select the framework version based on the project you have been working.

Just like .NET version you get to select the programming language in which you want to design your application. You can select from Visual C# and Visual Basic.

Below is the default layout of the application once the new project is created. Earlier version of Blend did not have dockable panels, but since Blend 3 you can adjust the workspace to suit your need by moving the panels around to your liking.

The artboard is the area where you visually design your document. Using the Tools panel you can place controls on the artboard based on your requirement. Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML) code specifies the user interface of the WPF/SL application. In my next article I will cover XAML in-depth.

Following are the panels you will require most while working in Blend:

• Projects
• Objects and Timeline
• Resources
• Properties
• Assets
• Triggers

Just like Visual Studio you can click and drag the header of the panel to move them around and dock them as you like. In case you want to revert back to the default workspace you can do so by using keyboard shortcut “Ctrl+Shift+R”.

The active document has three views: Design, Split and XAML. You can use keyboard shortcut F11 to switch between these three views.

Design view shows you the artboard,

Split view lets you view artboard as well as the XAML code window simultaneously and

in XAML view you see only the XAML code for that particular window.

In split view you can choose how the artboard and XAML view align. By default the views are aligned vertically. From the view menu you can select the option to arrange panes Horizontally.

Following are some of the important keyboard shortcuts, which I use while working in Blend and I am sure you will find them useful too.

December 31, 2010 – today is the last day of the decade.

1999 ended with lots of fear in people’s mind about what will happen when we enter the year 2000, whether all computer systems will come down because of Y2K, thankfully nothing bad happened and we survived Y2K.

2000-2010 Decade has given us so much. Online Social Networking has become a norm. Websites like Facebook and Twitter have changed the way we communicate. Different industries are using social networking for advertising their products. Hence Social Networking has been the biggest offering of the decade gone by.

For developers this decade has been exciting. The .NET Framework especially Windows Presentation Foundation(WPF) and Silverlight have opened new dimensions. Windows Phone 7 launched in 2010 has the new revolutionized technology which helps us stay ahead. Silverlight5 beta will be announced in January 2011 which should enhance the power of Silverlight.

The year 2011 seems to be the year of Tablets, where all computer companies will be announcing their tablet offering at the CES 2011. I am hoping to see an exciting Tablet option from Microsoft.

Like the decade gone by, I hope this coming decade brings a new range of exciting technologies to make our lives better.

I wish a very Happy New Year 2011 to all my readers. See you all in 2011 :)

WPF has changed the way we design & develop our applications. Prior to WPF it was not that easy to change the look of the application. WPF gives the power of designing simple yet powerful applications which are user friendly. Visual Studio 2010 is a great tool for developing WPF applications, but Microsoft Expression Blend gives you the precise design control over the interface of your application.

It is also great to see how Blend has progressed to the current version. It was introduced as Microsoft Expression Interactive Designer(EID) code-named “Sparkle”. It was renamed to Expression Blend in December 2006. Since then many new features have been added to Blend to support the new .NET framework as they are made available. Along with designing for WPF, It is also a great tool for designing Silverlight and Windows phone 7 applications. Current version of Expression Blend is 4 which was released in June 2010.

Below is the screenshot of the earlier version of EID.

next screenshot shows the “Objects and Timeline” in Blend 4.

In next couple of articles I intend to share some of my experiences of working with Blend. I would share my tips and tricks to get the maximum out of Blend.