Silverlight 2.0 training with Tamir Khason

We are holding a local Silverlight 2.0 training event at Microsoft Israel Development Center and the room is super full (round 140+ people). Tamir Khason's knowledge of Silverlight is phenomenal. 

Here is a first shot of the event:

Up until now it looks very interesting :)

If you've missed it, there is a second event.

Silverlight String-To-PathGeometry Converter

Alex Golesh has release String-To-PathGeometry Converter to OpenUp.

About the project: "Silverlight 2 is great technology. But for some developers who used to work with WPF there are some missed helper classes, which are very handy.
One of them is “PathFigureCollectionConverter” object, which accepts string with figure path definition and convert it to Geometry object. This project provides similar functionality for Silverlight 2: it accepts string with path definition, and return PathGeometry object which could be used in Silverlight 2 applications to set “Data” property for Path object. Also, it can convert PathGeometry object back to string with path definition."

Thanks Alex!

OpenUp - Gmail desktop application.

Shai Raiten has released a really cool, and free,  gmail desktop application to OpenUp called GSender.

Gsender is a simple Gmail desktop application that you can now use to send emails with your Gmail account, moreover no configuration is needed to run the application.
Gsender features include - Drag and Drop attachment, Schedule email, add and remove contacts and more…

Thanks Shai!

OpenUp - .NET Assembly Information

Rotem Bloom has submitted to openup a nice, small and free .NET tool that display useful information on .NET DLL (Assembly).

The tool shows information like:

1) Compilation mode Debug\Release.

2) .NET Assembly full name.

3) .NET Assembly references.

Thanks Rotem,

OpenUp - WCF Extras

Eyal Post has released an open source project to OpenUp called WCF Extras.

WCF Extras is a collection of useful WCF extensions including Soap Header support, WSDL documentation etc.
The WCF platform is very extensible and allows you to easily add features that are not part of the core product.
This project contains some extensions needed in a WCF based project:

• SOAP Header support for WCF
• Adding WSDL Documentation from Source Code XML Comments
• Override SOAP Address Location URL
• Single WSDL file for better compatibility with older SOAP tools.

Thanks Eyal!

OpenUp- Save the planet (and money) with TurningOffService

Roni Furer has released a great green open source project call TurningOffService to OpenUp.

About the project: By turning off your computer instead of leaving it in sleep mode, you can  save 40 watt-hours per day. That adds up to 4 cents a day, or $14 per year. Turning off a computer extends its lifetime, contrary to some misconceptions. Leaving a computer running the whole year will cost you more than 1,000 kWh/y, or almost as much a the total electricity consumption of a high-efficiency household. The easy-to-install windows service "TurningOffService" forces a computer shotdown in an hour chosen by the user. "A small service to help save the planet.

You can read more about this project here.

Thanks Roni!

OpenUp - Licenser - A Software license package

Eyal Levin has released a free and open source software licensing package to OpenUp:

About this project: "A package used by the software developers for licensing their products. The produced license file is digitally signed. It is also specific for the licensed computer. The developer may license any feature in his program separately. Each of the license features might be time depended (optional)."

It is nice to see a licensing utility released in to the open source :)

Thanks Eyal.

OpenUp - Adding a string to pictures

Sagi Levi has released a project to OpenUp that enables you to to add text to an image.

If this is something you need or just interested in how it is done, check it out here.

This reminds me of a cool web site where you can generate things like this:

Thanks Sagi.

OpenUp - Sudoku, WPF Poker and SnakeX

We got 3 new games submitted to OpenUp, All these application are free and open source software:

Gil Shinnar and Simon Grinberg have released WPF poker, a simple WPF base poker for local area networks. The project is developed under Visual Studio 2008 and uses .NET 3.5.

Eyal Vardi has contributed a Sudoku Puzzle application.

Omer Hanetz has released SnakeX,  a Direct3D based snake game (using C# and .NET Framework 3.5). This game demonstrates basic DirectX usage. SnakeX uses basic Direct3D components such as Fonts, Sprites and Vertexes, to create basic Direct3D based game, which contains abilities like object movement, input handling and collisions.

Thanks guys!

Tipeysh! – VS Add-in that helps you create C/C++ header files on a single click.

Here is another OpenUp project, with an hilarious name:

About Tipeysh- "Are you also feel miserable when you need to create a new header file in your Visual Studio C/C++ project? Repeatedly choosing "new header file", then writing the annoying (but needed) "#ifndef" section, then writing the class name with it's "private", "protected" and "public" access modifiers... too much clicks and typewriting! Well, there is a solution: Tipeysh! is a simple, easy to use, very handy and configurable Visual Studio Add-In, compatible for both the 2005 and 2008 versions. Once you'll start using it, you won't go back... The Add-In is programmed using C# under the 3.5 .NET Framework."

Thank you Jacob Barkai

OpenUp- Automate TFS Build Delete

Shai Raiten has released a Team System utility to openup:

About this project: "For TFS 2005 users Deleting Builds are not a problem anymore. For TFS 2008 users, Automate TFS Build Delete can be used as third party tool to easily manage your builds. Simple statistics about all Builds and their status, fast way to enter Build Log, Build Drop Location, Changesets and of course delete them. You can easily filter your Builds list by Date.( Example - Delete all builds before DD/MM/YYYY) "

Thanks Shai

OpenUp - DirectX Video Player

Yinon Eliraz has released a Video Player application to openup, our open source competition:

This simple .NET based application allows you to control Video from the DirectX library. The code is designed in VisualBasic2008 - a NET framework, it is a simple and easy to understand. Using this Video player you can play many Video formats, inside the code there is, in addition to the Video controller, an Audio controller in which I decided not to use. The Video player have simple functions such as- Playing, Puasing and stopping, a slider that allows you to control the Video's current position. I also added some new functions such as Fast forward and ReWinding the Video.

You can download and player and code for free here.

Thanks Yinon!

Play fair - White hat endorsement

One of the projects in OpenUp was disqualified due to the use of an automated download script.

There are lots of white-hat SEO methods and many other ways to get your project downloads up:

1) Get as many people to blog about you

2) Post articles about your projects anywhere you can

3) Get links to FOSS and other hi-tech sites by registering or adding a link.

4) Submit your projects to search engines

Please let’s try to keep it clean and play nice.