Within Windows

I was chatting recently with Microsoft Sr. SDE Garrett Serack – that cowboy open-source guy – and kept hearing a faint beep in the background. When asked what that was, he kindly shared he had configured Windows to emit a tone whenever he hit a breakpoint in Visual Studio. My eyes enlarged while I processed how awesome that was (and how long I’ve been unaware of this long-present feature in Visual Studio.)

To set this up, simply open the Sound applet and click the Sounds tab. Scroll down the list of Program Events and locate Microsoft Visual Studio. The rest is pretty straight forward. I’m currently using a small “blip” sound from a public domain sounds archive. You can use anything you wish, however it must be converted to a WAV file. (Your best bet is to use a 1 second or less, subtle cue.)

What’s intriguing is that I feel like I’m processing breakpoint information more efficiently. By processing, I mean the audio cue gives me that “you’re at a breakpoint” information seemingly faster than processing the yellow/red color combo on the screen. If you’re aware of any research in the area of audio vs. visual cues, would love to read it.

From MSDN:

In Silverlight applications, sometimes you want to call unmanaged libraries or native code, including Microsoft Win32 functions. In Silverlight 5, you can call unmanaged or native code through the platform invoke feature. Platform invoke is also referred to as PInvoke or P/Invoke. Platform invoke in Silverlight is very similar to platform invoke in the .NET Framework. However, there are some important differences.

• Platform invoke in Silverlight can only be used in trusted applications hosted either in-browser or out-of-browser.

• Platform invoke in Silverlight can only be used on computers running the Windows operating system. There is no Mac support.

Can someone share why I would want to adapt Silverlight’s model then bolt myself to the Windows platform using P/Invoke? I can’t imagine many Silverlight developers were clamoring for P/Invoke functionality, as they made the decision to go Silverlight based on its operating system agnosticism. The only case fumbling around in my head now is one involving “enhanced experiences”. Perhaps a Silverlight developer would want to detect the OS it’s running on and upgrade itself if it’s on Windows. But that’s far-fetched given the requirements to do so (full trust). So, err… what the heck is the use case here? Why not just use WPF?

Discuss.

Just got this little gem regarding Microsoft Flight in my inbox:

The Microsoft® Flight team is excited to announce that we are now accepting applications to our beta. To apply for the beta:

1. Make sure you have a LIVE Gamertag. To sign up for the Microsoft® Flight beta, you will need a LIVE Gamertag. If you don’t already have one, you can get your LIVE Gamertag here.

2. Opt in to stay informed. We are in the process of integrating our newsletter with Xbox LIVE®. To make sure that you receive the upcoming news and information about Microsoft Flight, be sure to opt in to receive marketing emails when you sign up for your Gamertag. If you already have a LIVE Gamertag, review your opt-in preferences to make sure you’re receiving marketing emails.

3. Fill out your application on Microsoft Connect. Beta invitations will be sent out in early January 2012. While we will try our best to include as many of our interested users as we can, completing the beta application does not guarantee an invitation to the beta program.

One of the reasons I hate using Windows Live Messenger is that it contains overzealous photo and video sharing capabilities. I often share links with Paul Thurrott, for example, to only be greeted with a full screen representation of what’s behind my link… as if I needed confirmation of what I just pasted in. Worse is the fact that Messenger window gyrates, shakes, and moves around, repositioning itself for a direct view of my eyeballs. But wait, there’s more – all this affects the recipient too. That’s three strikes.

I’ve had this on my TOHACK list for quite some time now, perhaps even a year. But I never got to it. (Blame Minecraft.) Thankfully, I can scratch this off my list because someone by the pseudonym of Erazor beat me to it. Messenger customization software A-Patch (version 15.4.3538.0513) now features his hack in the form of two little checkboxes. Just run the utility and you’re cured for life. (Microsoft don’t really update Windows Live Messenger, so expect the change to stick for a long time.)

As those A-Patch folks would say: Praise be to God.

Nitpicker’s Corner: The recipient could disable the expansion of images on their screen by un-ticking “Automatically accept when I receive: Invitations to view photos”. But there is no option to disable this behavior for the originator.

This isn’t directly related to Windows however I try to promote ooShirts any chance I get. You may recall we ordered shirts through them for the ChevronWP7 Labs experiment. Well, while mailing out shirts this week, I discovered this cute 19-page choose-your-own-adventure book. I narrated the book to Long Zheng over Skype and he gave it (and the narration) 112 stars.

Head over to ooShirts to read the digital copy.