John's Blog

Apps for Windows

Hack Arizona

I spent the weekend stepping over bodies - both real and virtual - at the Hack Arizona event in...

Author: grantmestrength Date: 01/17/2017

Thinking of switching / dual-OS-using Mac and Windows, but not sure if your favorite app is...

Author: grantmestrength Date: 12/16/2016

Keyboard and Trackpad shortcuts for Mac vs. Windows

Updated: Added a few more If you're moving between a Mac system and a Windows 10 system, you might...

Author: grantmestrength Date: 12/06/2016

Get started writing games for Windows 10 - Part 1

If you've been writing iOS or Android games and apps, you might have glanced at Windows and though...

Author: grantmestrength Date: 11/23/2016

Getting unblocked

Who doesn't love writing games? Only people who don't know it, IMHO. I was recently working on a...

Author: grantmestrength Date: 07/15/2016

Getting used to Zero

Some stats after two weeks of riding around on my new Zero electric motorcycle: Miles: 160 Cost to...

Author: grantmestrength Date: 05/05/2016

Actually porting something with Project Islandwood

Since the blog posting I made only 2 weeks ago, things have progressed quickly in Project...

Author: grantmestrength Date: 12/14/2015

Getting started with Project Islandwood

Update: The Project Islandwood repo on GitHub (aka "Windows Bridge for iOS") has been updated to...

Author: grantmestrength Date: 11/30/2015

Submitting a WatchKit app

In the spirit of our increasingly cross-platform company, I thought I'd start posting some iOS...

Author: grantmestrength Date: 05/21/2015

Declaring a XAML button programmatically and preventing it from vanishing on mouse over

Sometimes I like to make life difficult for myself, or at least it seems that way. For example, I'm...

Author: grantmestrength Date: 03/25/2015

Physics engine for XAML

After briefly playing around with SpriteKit on iOS, and enjoying the built-in Physics Engine, I was...

Author: grantmestrength Date: 06/17/2014

Book club edition

You can tell a lot about a programmer by checking out the books on their bookshelf, I would think....

Author: grantmestrength Date: 06/13/2014

Releasing a companion universal Windows app

A few months ago, I released a simple task management app for Windows 8.1 to the Windows store....

Author: grantmestrength Date: 05/29/2014

WeatherView - a universal Windows app sample written in C#

WeatherView Sample - available on CodePlex - https://weatherview.codeplex.com This is a sample which...

Author: grantmestrength Date: 05/28/2014

Looking for some Unity?

Good news - there might be a "Day of Unity" coming to a city near you! Unity and Microsoft are...

Author: grantmestrength Date: 04/18/2014

Hiding the Status Bar in Windows Phone 8.1 apps. Or Not.

I've been working on a Universal app that runs on Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows 8.1, and I have to...

Author: grantmestrength Date: 04/16/2014

A downright cheap Windows Phone which isn't actually "cheap"

If you are in the US, you might want to run to your nearest Microsoft Store (or go to...

Author: grantmestrength Date: 04/15/2014

Using Bing queries in your Windows Store app

I was working on a Windows Store app (as I usually am between 9am to 5pm) and I wanted to make use...

Author: grantmestrength Date: 04/11/2014

MonoGame 3.2

Delighted to see that MonoGame 3.2 is now available - this release contains a big set of...

Author: grantmestrength Date: 04/07/2014

Return of the FBI (Fish Based Interface)

Since I last took to the keyboard to write a blog entry, things have changed. For a start, I've...

Author: grantmestrength Date: 03/12/2014

Yet more on Data Binding with C# and XAML: Refreshing your views

I’ve touched on the awesomeness of data binding a few times in this blog. Data binding is one...

Author: grantmestrength Date: 01/30/2014

Tips and Tricks for Smaller Windows Devices

Tricks and tips for smaller devices I’ve been using my Dell Venue Pro 8 table for a while now,...

Author: grantmestrength Date: 01/17/2014

Dell Venue 8 Pro - recent updates

I'm a big fan of the Dell Venue 8 Pro tablet: the little device that runs Windows 8.1. If I had a...

Author: grantmestrength Date: 01/08/2014

More on ListBoxes: Using databinding to control appearance

In a previous blog posting, I discussed how I used a XAML ListBox to create a control rather like an...

Author: grantmestrength Date: 12/27/2013

Here's a Windows Store App to help you write Windows Store Apps..

Here's an app which I wanted to make for a while. Answer a few questions, and the app will create a...

Author: grantmestrength Date: 11/22/2013

Portable Class Libraries now supported by Xamarin on iOS

If you are a fan of C#, but you've also heard of these "smartphone things" and think they might...

Author: grantmestrength Date: 11/13/2013

Unity 4.3 Announced - now with more Windows support!

Great news for game developers today: Unity 4.3 is out! This new release packs in a lot of new...

Author: grantmestrength Date: 11/12/2013

Fix graphics glitches in VivoTab Smart ME400 tablet

I've been using the ASUS VivoTab Smart tablet as my laptop-replacement for a while now (it runs...

Author: grantmestrength Date: 11/01/2013

Making a simple UITableView-like list in Windows 8.1

In my current project, I wanted to create a simple, UITableView-like scrolling list on the side of...

Author: grantmestrength Date: 11/01/2013

The App Bar Reborn

When we wrote some topics on using the Windows 8 App Bar (such as the blockbuster hit Titlebars,...

Author: grantmestrength Date: 10/23/2013

LINQ for Beginners

If you’re coming to Windows programming and C# from the world of iOS, you’ve probably...

Author: grantmestrength Date: 10/17/2013

Tips for Writing Windows 8 apps on a Mac

My current home Windows development set-up is actually a 15” MacBook Pro with Retina display....

Author: grantmestrength Date: 10/16/2013

More on populating a ListBox using databinding

So, you've created your ObservableCollection array, and set it to your ListView or ListBox as an...

Author: grantmestrength Date: 10/15/2013

Hello ListViews, so long UITableViews!

After writing apps for the iPhone, you very quickly get to used to UITableViews. A scrolling...

Author: grantmestrength Date: 10/14/2013

TIL.. that using TFS with Parallels on a Mac doesn't like Sharing

Today I was setting up Visual Studio on my MacBook Pro using Parallels so I could continue working...

Author: grantmestrength Date: 10/13/2013

TIL.. Xcode and Team Foundation Server can be buddies

This was something I didn't expect, but it's possible to use Xcode with TFS (Team Foundation Server)...

Author: grantmestrength Date: 09/20/2013

Writing a retro 2D arcade game for Windows 8 using MonoGame

When I start using a new platform, I like to do one specific thing: write a version of Asteroids for...

Author: grantmestrength Date: 09/19/2013

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