List of windows APIs

Below site is very informative about Windows APIs and its functionality. One can take help of msdn to collect more details about these APIs. For windows programmer and specially who works with embedded product, this site is very important for them.

Link: http://www.pinvoke.net/

Entity Framework in ADO.Net

Entity Framework Overview

The Entity Framework is a set of technologies in ADO.NET that support the development of data-oriented software applications. Architects and developers of data-oriented applications have struggled with the need to achieve two very different objectives. They must model the entities, relationships, and logic of the business problems they are solving, and they must also work with the data engines used to store and retrieve the data. The data may span multiple storage systems, each with its own protocols; even applications that work with a single storage system must balance the requirements of the storage system against the requirements of writing efficient and maintainable application code. 

The Entity Framework enables developers to work with data in the form of domain-specific objects and properties, such as customers and customer addresses, without having to concern themselves with the underlying database tables and columns where this data is stored. With the Entity Framework , developers can work at a higher level of abstraction when they deal with data, and can create and maintain data-oriented applications with less code than in traditional applications. Because the Entity Framework is a component of the .NET Framework, Entity Framework applications can run on any computer on which the .NET Framework starting with version 3.5 SP1 is installed. 

The following sections in this topic provide more detail about the Entity Framework :

• Giving Life to Models
  
• Mapping Objects to Data
  
• Accessing and Changing Entity Data
  
• Data Providers
  
• Entity Data Model Tools
  

 Ref  Link: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb399567.aspx

Silver Light Technology

Silverlight Overview

 

 

Microsoft Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform implementation of the .NET Framework for building and delivering the next generation of media experiences and rich interactive applications (RIA) for the Web. Silverlight unifies the capabilities of the server, the Web, and the desktop, of managed code and dynamic languages, of declarative and traditional programming, and the power of Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF). 

Silverlight enables you to create a state-of-the-art application that has the following features:

• It is a cross-browser, cross-platform technology. It runs in all popular Web browsers, including Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and Apple Safari, Google Chrome, and on Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac OS X.
• It is supported by a small download that installs in seconds.
• It streams video and audio. It scales video quality to everything from mobile devices to desktop browsers to 720p HDTV video modes.
• It includes compelling graphics that users can manipulate—drag, turn, and zoom—directly in the browser.
• It reads data and updates the display, but it doesn't interrupt the user by refreshing the whole page.
• The application can run in the Web browser or you can configure it so users can run it on their computer (out-of-browser).

Ref:  http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb404700%28v=VS.95%29.aspx

Useful utilities for programmers

Some useful command and its functionality

MMC - Microsoft Management Console

A comment I frequently hear is users wishing there was one central location where they could go to perform the majority of the administrative tasks that are a part of life with a computer. Just remembering all the locations where these tasks can be accomplished is no small feat in itself. Microsoft must be keeping it a secret or user curiosity isn't what it once was, but such a place does exist; Microsoft Management Console. In Microsoft's own words, "Microsoft Management Console (MMC) hosts administrative tools that you can use to administer networks, computers, services, and other system components." That's all well and good, but what does it mean in real life? Basically, it means that you can create a customized set of tools and group them in a 'console' that is easily accessible without having to search through different locations to find one particular setting or group of settings.

Microsoft Management Console Basics

The first thing to understand is that a Microsoft Management Console is a host for an administrative tool called a snap-in. A snap-in is actually an Active-X module that is used to perform a specific function, but without a snap-in a console is useless. It's sole purpose is as an application to hold the snap-ins you select and provide a mechanism for them to become functional.  Each console is created from either a single snap-in or combination of snap-ins. Once a basic console has been created it's up to you to add snap-ins appropriate to the intended use of the console. To illustrate, use the Run command in Start Menu to open the Event Viewer Console (eventvwr.msc) and the Computer Management Console (compmgmt.msc). The Event Viewer Console will contain only the event viewer snap-in. The Computer Management Console also contains the same event viewer snap-in under the category System Tools. A comparison of Event Viewer in both locations will show they contain identical data. The event viewer snap-in can be used by itself to construct a single purpose console, or as a component part of a multiple purpose console such as Computer Management. Whether one snap-in or multiple snap-ins are used, once they are added to the host and saved with a .msc extension it becomes a functional Microsoft Management Console.

I mentioned the Event Viewer and Computer Management consoles. Both are pre-configured consoles that come with Windows XP. In addition there are quite a few others that are standard issue with XP. I've listed them in the table below with their everyday name and the file name that is used to launch them using the [Start] [Run] command.

Certificates	certmgr.msc
Indexing Service	ciadv.msc
Computer Management	compmgmt.msc
Device Manager	devmgmt.msc
Disk Defragmenter	dfrg.msc
Disk Management	diskmgmt.msc
Event Viewer	eventvwr.msc
Shared Folders	fsmgmt.msc
Group Policy	gpedit.msc
Local Users and Groups	lusrmgr.msc
Removable Storage	ntmsmgr.msc
Removable Storage Operator Requests	ntmsoprq.msc
Performance	perfmon.msc
Resultant Set of Policy	rsop.msc
Local Security Settings	secpol.msc
Services	services.msc
Windows Management Infrastructure (WMI)	wmimgmt.msc
Component Services	comexp.msc

As you can see from the table the pre-configured consoles that come with XP cover a wide array of tasks and services. Does it really make sense to create custom consoles when all of these are already available? Actually, it does. It's unlikely that any of the pre-configured consoles will precisely match the tasks you are faced with on a regular basis. Modifying the pre-configured consoles or creating new ones allows precise tailoring of the console to a specific task or group of tasks. This can eliminate having to move between different locations to accomplish tasks while helping to prevent overlooking parts of a specific task. In situations where administrative tasks are performed by multiple users, creating custom consoles related only to the specific task they perform lessens the chance of error or accessing areas that should remain unavailable. Additionally, since some consoles can be configured to administer remote as well as local computers, customizing a console can restrict access when required.

Reference Link:

http://www.theeldergeek.com/microsoft_management_console.htm

Robotic technology in VS.Net 2008

Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio enables academic, hobbyist and commercial developers to easily create robotics applications across a wide variety of hardware.

• Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 2008 - New R3 Release

 

Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 2008 is a platform for developing robotics applications. The RDS 2008 R3 download is now available as a single Edition at no cost. It will also be available from MSDN, MSDNAA, DreamSpark or BizSpark. The Robotics web site has been updated with new information. For a list of the new features and changes, please see What’s New .

• CodePlex Samples

 
Additional code samples for RDS are available from CodePlex. This web site will allow small samples to be released outside of the normal product cycle. Users of RDS are also welcome to contribute to the code samples.

Reference Links:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/robotics/default.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/robotics/