First Steps on Win7 and Instrumentation - windows-7

Hello as showed in the last pdc, we as developers can take advantage of SO capabilities and add instrumentation to our code (based on best practices).
So in that session they introduce the new Windows PowerShell-based troubleshooting platform, and how it enables you to easily monitor multiple data sources to empower the end user and IT pro to detect and resolve software problems. But the demo was never uploaded, and I want to know how to "write-code" using Instrumentation on Win7 or How to demostrate with some prof tools how my code help to improve software quality.
I Also try the Windows 7 for Developers Training Kit, but demo is apparently not using WMI
Thanks

I found this place to be a good place to start. Windows 7 Training Kit

Related

h2o4gpu on windows 7 platform for R

great to see the news about h2o4gpu in R world, but just wondering if there would be an option for folks using windows based environment. Appreciate if you could respond
Currently we don't support Windows but we're considering it. The main constraint is the build process, which we're redoing this week and should make it easier to add Windows support in the future.
Please vote on this issue https://github.com/h2oai/h2o4gpu/issues/517 so we can see what's the demand.

DJI Phantom API or hackable procedure

Maybe I have't looked hard enough, but I spent yesterday googling for a bit and found no relevant projects on hacking the DJI Phantom Drone in order to create new coordinating apps. This is besides the app for coordination DJI currently uses for their drone. I'm trying to see if there's a way to communicate with the Drone with a specific protocol in order to accept a set of procedures.
Any help would be awesome,
Thanks.
Great News for you and all us Droneys! DJI has launched their SDK since you asked this question. They released it last November and you can now apply for a license and write your own apps for the Phantom2 Vision+ using their SDK.
Check it out at https://developer.dji.com/
I am already building a project using the SDK - you can follow my progress on my blog / product site. I will also try to update it with good DJI related development links and tips.
This post is old but I think it is good to leave a foot print for others :)
There is this new company called NVdrones, which created a peace of hardware that you can attach to any drone (you need physical access to the flight controller), and once you do that you can use their SDK (Arduino, Java, Android and Javascript) to write your app without the need of hacking, soldering or anything else. It is just plug and play.
Another benefit is that you are not locked with a specific drone (DJI SDK or 3DRobotics SDK), you can use the board on anything you want. Which gives lots of flexibility.
The developer site is http://developers.NVdrones.com
Hope this helps.
This is a great topic!
You could check how to hack your copter here: https://github.com/flyver/Flyver-SDK/wiki/-2.2--How-To:-Flyver-Hack-a-Copter
By opening the drone, taking out the original controller, soldering a few wires and sticking an Android phone to it, you will have the ability to program your Phantom in a modern manner with an open source SDK and application based development. This means that you could add computer vision to it, automation or additional hardware. You could also use smartphones, web and other interactive devices for remote controlling the copter instead of using the standard remote controls.
The Phantom, however, is offcenter balanced due to the fact that most people use gimbal with it. Without the gimbal is a lot less stable from my experiments so you will have to put some extra work in center balancing it.

Pre Requisites to start development for windows phone Mango

I am an android developer and now I am trying to learn Mango too. What are the SDK, system requirements, IDE required to start development?
Also I am from a Java background so I know that apps for windows phone can be developed using C#. So please guide me how to set up a development environment and start development on Mango.
Everything you need to know is right here at Microsoft App Hub. Click on "Download the free tools. Get started now."
An important thing to know is that you have to be registered with App Hub which takes some time (they will be checking your ID) and costs some money (99$ the last time I checked). You need this to debug on your device and to publish to the Marketplace.
For you as an Android developer the Windows Phone Guide for Android Developers will be helpful.
The Channel 9 jump start sessions are also quite good as well as their training course for beginners. Apart from that there is plenty of information in the web right now and the MS documentation and tutorials are really good. Keep googling, you'll find them.
Regarding the xp question, I think the emulator requires at least Windows Vista, so if your employer limits you to xp, you are out of luck (in this respect also :-)

Which are the best sources for learning the Windows Installer technology?

I would like to know if you could share some (trusted) sources of information (books, URLs) that you consider the most relevant for learning Windows Installer. They could be for starting on this technology or for an advanced or professional level of knowledge.
Where can a future deployment engineer start and where can he/she go to keep on the right direction (step by step)?
I'm obviously biased but I think my blog and the WiX toolset are good ways to learn:
http://robmensching.com/blog
http://wix.sf.net (click on the Manual or Tutorial links on the right)
Some people like Phil Wilson's "The Definitive Guide to Windows Installer" but I never read it. I learned straight out of the MSI SDK.
I did 7 years of writing InstallScript installers before ever picking up MSI. While there is a huge difference between procedural script-driven imperative installs and data driven declarative installs, they both do the same fundemental thing: deploy software.
I became an MSI Expert but studying everything I could on the domain, writing LOTS of installs and by blogging for 7 years and answering over 4,400 posts on the InstallShield community forums. The only way to go in my book is to have been there and done that.
So the first step in your quest should be to understand the Windows Platform and related technologies very thoroughly. These evolve over the years but you should get a decent understanding of:
Fundamentals
Registry
FileSystem
NTFS
ACL's
DLL Types ( Win32, COM, .NET Assembly)
Win32 API
.NET Base Class Libraries
Service Control Manager Drivers ODBC
SQL IIS Active Directory ( GPO, LDAPand so on )
Global Assembly Cache
WinSxS Cache
DLL Hell
Good and Bad Installer Behavior
The second step is
Tools
Now let's start to writing installs. As Leslie ( Easter I assume ) said in another answer, pick a tool and learn how to use it to accomplish the above things. But don't stop there, as soon as you can go to the next step.
MSI
Start digging deep down into how your tool is working behind the scenes as soon as you can. Just as you can write C# in .NET and look at the IL with ILDASM, learn to use ORCA and see what is happening. Read the MSI SDK. Yes, it's rough and cryptic but I spent 3 months commuting beween DC and TX and I spent at least 16 hours a week traveling away from internet connections but nothing except the SDK to read. Read it, know it, live it... the cryptic help topics will eventually start to click and become second nature.
And finally, read my blog: DeploymentEngineering.com and every other blog you can find.
There is not a simple answer. The primary reason is that most install developers use a specific tool which in turn hides the bulk of Windows Installer behavior. While it would be nice if those developers had an in-depth knowledge of Windows Installer, that's not the case. 
My suggestion would be as follows: 
Focus on a specific tool. Many of the development environments offer a trial period and some are free. The on-line help for these tools plus the act of building some sample packages will be a useful process.
If practical, consider taking a training class for the tool. I know Flexera sells their basic and advanced InstallShield course manuals. They are a bit over-priced, but it does include need-to-know Windows Installer specifics. The problem you'll run into is that most documentation is specific to the tool without explaining a lot of the connectivity to Windows Installer.
You'll need the Windows Installer SDK -- in addition to the help file, there are some interesting tools and VBScript scripts. Orca is one tool that is included with the SDK and there are similar tools on the Internet (SuperOrca, InstEd, etc.). The SDK is not a great read but it is a great reference. As you come across specific questions regarding Windows Installer use the SDK help file to understand the deeper internals.
Google 'windows installer blog'. You probably don't want to hear that, but there are many great blogs available that cover many bits and pieces of Windows Installer. Make sure you pick up the Windows Installer Team blog.
No matter what path you choose, you'll find learning Windows Installer to be a hands-on process. I hope this helps! 
I'm also biased, but this might be helpful. I recently revisited WiX for a real-world Windows Installer project and wrote up my solution which ultimately plugged into a continuous integration server.
The steps in the article take you through using WiX, localizing the MSI, and creating a bootstrapper for installing any prerequisites.
For learning, Tramontana's tutorial WiX helped me a lot.
A nice little blog post about how to debug custom actions is WiX and DTF: Debug a Managed Custom Action and how to generate an MSI log.

Windows 7 - What to expect from a developer's standpoint?

What features can I look forward to in Windows 7 that will:
Make my job easier as a developer.
or...
Make my job "different"(harder) as a developer.
I've been hearing a lot about performance improvements and a few UI effect enhancements, but nothing really about what development on Windows 7 will be like. Thanks.
Following are areas that are new:
multi touch API for developing touch based applications
new concept of 'libraries' for storing user specific data (similar to mydocuments)
Enhanced support for GPS and other such hardware
Office2007 Ribbon like user interface
Refer to http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/developers/default.aspx for details.
The new sensors API will make your job easier, provided Microsoft can get enough people on-board with it. It should provide you a standard way to interface with things like GPS and light sensors, if you program with that kind of thing.
Very east to use and seamless Virtual PC is great for debugging and testing.
Touch is another new capability.
Feature list from Wikipedia.
To answer your actual question:
I don't think any of them are aimed at developers explicitly (such a tiny niche really).
For the begged "Features to use in apps" question:
I'd like to see lots of search extenders, jump lists, and those little "preview shortcut" button things (I have no idea what they're called).
Microsoft publishes an official Windows 7 Developer Guide.

Resources