20 replies to this topic

[PaulOBrien]

In a discussion on the Mobius list earlier this week, someone commented on how difficult it was to find a free, simple solution to removing duplicate contacts. Being a developer at heart, I rustled up a quick 15 min app called 'DupeDeDupe' (quick and dirty is the phrase here).

Anyhow, DupeDeDupe was widely reported on *bizarrely) and people started to request new features etc., which set me thinking about the best way to develop / maintain the app. This in turn led me to think about a concept i've been pondering (and talking about) for a while, 'community development'.

The idea is that projects such as DupeDeDupe, NoData, DoNew etc. could be Open Source and completely viewable by the community at large, to help drive updates, improvements and education for those wanting to get started in development. Projects like these are ideal because they are generally small and simple, with lots of scope for tweaks. [b]The best way to enable this seems to be Popfly.[b]

Popfly does a lot of things, but the most interesting aspect for me is the Popfly Explorer. The PopFly explorer plugs into Visual Studio 2005 or 2008, and allows you to 'Share' your projects. I can open up DupeDeDupe for example, select to share it, and then my Popfly friends can just download the source etc. as I update it. Pretty cool, and of course it's FREE!

Now I don't know how well or if this is going to work, but if you are interested in development or like the idea, then load up your copy of VS, install Popfly Explorer, add 'paulatmodaco' as a friend and we'll give this thing a go!

Good idea? Bad idea?

Finally, if you're interested but you're not set up for development yet, I have a copy of Visual Studio 2005 to give away to the first person to reply asking for it (genuine interested developers please!), and you can grab the Visual Studio 2008 90 day trial version.

Enjoy

P

[markhempstead]

..I've joined popfly   - user "h3mp"..

sounds a cool idea..

[ghozd]

Paul, I would like to have a copy of Visual Studio 2005.

I am highly interested in Developing for windows mobile. I have some experience in developing but not too much.
I think it is a VERY good idea to open this up, because development for windows mobile would be much easier if some good small apps would be opensource. (like NoData and AppToDate..)

Edited by ghozd, 25 April 2008 - 06:28 PM.

[PaulOBrien]

ghozd - it's yours, PM me your address

P

[mwright]

Paul (MVP), on Apr 25 2008, 18:32, said:

ghozd - it's yours, PM me your address

P

Oh - are there any more available please? I have been trying to get back into development but still lack the tools.

Edited by mwright, 25 April 2008 - 09:28 PM.

[chucky.egg]

Popfly sounds cool.  I'll give it a go.
How does it work though - presumably a copy of the source is made and edited by other people, otherwise somebody could knacker your app!

[Rolandhurt01]

I've joined poplfly.  I've been interested in learning to develop, perticularly for WM for sometime but all the online resources seem to technical for the newbie.  This could lead to some good new apps being developed as Modaco Popfly members would be able to look at the source code for apps and learn the internals of WM apps.

My Popfly account is Rolandh25

Roland

[encece]

Liking where this is going. My iPhone life has been short and coming to an end (after June update). Maybe I should finally install windows on my mac and continue my WMDev Training!

Paul and Mono were giving away copies of VS2005 in past Podcasts...should give them a listen to see if they do it again!

Anywho....all exciting developments.

[chucky.egg]

Just got it installed, added Paul and Roland

My Popfly user is ChuckyEgg

[lunatik]

If this is an open source project why not use Visual Studio Express?

It is free for download at:
http://www.microsoft...press/download/

[PaulOBrien]

VS Express doesn't support Mobile development.

P

[gerryr]

I'm trying to get into development (loved it in college but veered off towardes IT support) but haven't a clue where to start (not even whether to concentrate on web based dev or more program based, never mind what languages!)

I have a copy of VS5 and have just installed popfly, maybe looking at some working code will help (any other suggestions on where to start greatfully received)!

username:

gerryRdotcom  (why dont user names accept dots "." ??)

[chucky.egg]

Quote

I'm trying to get into development (loved it in college but veered off towardes IT support) but haven't a clue where to start (not even whether to concentrate on web based dev or more program based, never mind what languages!)

I have a copy of VS5 and have just installed popfly, maybe looking at some working code will help (any other suggestions on where to start greatfully received)!

I'd say web-based development personally (I'm looking for a new job and every 3rd advert is for web developers).  I suspect many of the skills transfer across quite easily, if you're looking C# for Windows and C# for web that is.

I plumped for C# in the end because:
1.  I'm lazy, and it seemed like the least effort (from an out-of-date VB background)
2.  There's a ton of sample code, especially for WM
3.  Er, that's it really.  I didn't give it a whole lot of thought!

I started this thread a while back about getting started with C#.

[gerryr]

chucky.egg, on May 6 2008, 11:02, said:

I'd say web-based development personally (I'm looking for a new job and every 3rd advert is for web developers).  I suspect many of the skills transfer across quite easily, if you're looking C# for Windows and C# for web that is.

I plumped for C# in the end because:
1.  I'm lazy, and it seemed like the least effort (from an out-of-date VB background)
2.  There's a ton of sample code, especially for WM
3.  Er, that's it really.  I didn't give it a whole lot of thought!

I started this thread a while back about getting started with C#.

Thanks for the info/links chucky.egg

Too many bloody options out there!  and conflicting views on them all! (as your other post demonstrated)

Head ......  Going ......   To ......   Explode!!

[gerryr]

Btw, I forgot to ask, how's the programming going for you chucky?

[chucky.egg]

It's good.  C# was really easy to pick up (or, to be precise, "to pick up well enough to write Nested Tasks")
I'm starting to spec a couple of other apps that I'd like, and might post some samples of my own in Popfly in future

[gerryr]

chucky.egg, on May 6 2008, 12:23, said:

It's good.  C# was really easy to pick up (or, to be precise, "to pick up well enough to write Nested Tasks")
I'm starting to spec a couple of other apps that I'd like, and might post some samples of my own in Popfly in future

Nice work m8!  Very encouraging!

I have an idea for a very simple app I might try myself.  I'm veering towards VB.net as I have some (re: a tiny bit) of experience with VBScript (que: someone to tell me there's zero simalarities between VBScript and VB.net

[chucky.egg]

I've done loads of VBscript myself.
The core language is the same, but IME scripts tend to be more linear whereas Windows, WM and Web apps tend to be more event driven.

I'd never seen C# before, and had a VBscript and VBA background, but the transition was not painful.  

There was only one thing that I got really stuck on (to the point of considering giving up) and that was because of an inconsistency in MS's naming conventions and unhelpful help.  Pocket Outlook Tasks have a unique ID - in the Task collection it's "OID" but in the Task items themselves the same field is called "ItemID".  Go figure.

[gerryr]

Stupid question but is there much of a diff between c# and c++ or is one just an updated version of the other?

[chucky.egg]

Good question actually, I never knew how they all relate...

Quote

C# is a cocktail of Java, C, C++ and Delphi/C++ Builder

http://www.developer...o.uk/show/1743/