Category Archives: Visual Studio

Ninja Cat Runner: My First Windows 8 Game!

By Shahed C on June 23, 2013
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Download: Download Ninja Cat Runner for free from the Windows Store!

Web: Play the web version on your smartphone, tablet or desktop browser!

Download: Download Ninja Cat Runner for free from the Windows Phone Store!

Having published 2 XNA games on Xbox Live Indie Games, I have been interested in looking at new platforms for future game projects. When Windows 8 was announced, I was disappointed that Microsoft didn’t officially support XNA for Windows 8. I looked at the other options for Microsoft game development, and even wrote a blog post about it.

But recently, I learned about a game creation tool called Construct 2, which provides a UI for quick game design. The games can be exported to all major platforms, as an HTML5/web game, a PhoneGap package, even a Windows 8 game.

Construct 2, from Scirra

Construct 2, from Scirra

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TechEd 2013, Day 4: Scrum in Waterfall, DirectX and Tina Turner

By Shahed C on June 9, 2013
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On the 4th day of TechEd, there’s always a rush to get of lot of things done: expo promotions and booth visits, final sessions, special offers and the closing party. Fortunately, I had my day planned to attend a few sessions and to visit the booths which had special promotions. As for the special offer of TechEd, I had already picked up my Surface earlier in the week.

To start the day, I visited the almuni lounge in the morning, to get some blogging done. Unlike earlier in the week, when I was using the seating area outside the lounge, I had discovered that there was an actual private lounge beyond the doors. There were round tables with extension cords and power outlets. There as an endless supply of snack and drinks, served all day long.

Alumni Lounge

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TechEd 2013, Day 1: Keynote, Surface and Reception

By Shahed C on June 4, 2013
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The highlight of opening day is usually the keynote. And the highlight of the TechEd keynote was the Aston Martin. From the snazzy video clip of the fast and furious sports car, to the stage entrance of Brad Anderson in said vehicle, the exotic did not disappoint.

Brand Anderson exiting the Aston Martin

But enough about cars. What are we here for, again? Oh yeah, Microsoft TechEd.

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Entity Framework Code First Migrations

By Shahed C on April 21, 2013
7 Replies

Updates:

  • the sample files are available on the Downloads page.
  • this speaking engagement has been added to a new Speaking page

Original Post:

I recently spoke at NoVA Code Camp (at Microsoft’s Reston VA office) about Entity Framework Code First Migrations. This talk was about the Data Layer of an enterprise web application, part of a larger presentation about Lean Enterprise Architecture. It was followed by presentations on the Domain Layer and Presentation Layer, given by my colleagues Sahil Talwar and Doguhan Uluca.

So what the heck is (are?) Code First Migrations? Read on to find out!

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Hitting Breakpoints in Global.asax

By Shahed C on March 23, 2013
4 Replies

Every .NET developer should know how to set breakpoints in Visual Studio 2012.

  • Right-click a line in your code, then select Breakpoint -> Insert Breakpoint.
  • Or, simply press F9 after placing your cursor on the line of code.

But, what if that line of code is in your Global.asax code? Will the breakpoint still work when you run the application? If not, what can you do to get it to work?

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