John's Blog
Apps for Windows
Hack Arizona
I spent the weekend stepping over bodies - both real and virtual - at the Hack Arizona event in...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 01/17/2017
Popular apps on Mac vs. Windows
Thinking of switching / dual-OS-using Mac and Windows, but not sure if your favorite app is...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 12/16/2016
Keyboard and Trackpad shortcuts for Mac vs. Windows
Updated: Added a few more If you're moving between a Mac system and a Windows 10 system, you might...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 12/06/2016
Get started writing games for Windows 10 - Part 1
If you've been writing iOS or Android games and apps, you might have glanced at Windows and though...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 11/23/2016
Getting unblocked
Who doesn't love writing games? Only people who don't know it, IMHO. I was recently working on a...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 07/15/2016
Getting used to Zero
Some stats after two weeks of riding around on my new Zero electric motorcycle: Miles: 160 Cost to...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 05/05/2016
Actually porting something with Project Islandwood
Since the blog posting I made only 2 weeks ago, things have progressed quickly in Project...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 12/14/2015
Getting started with Project Islandwood
Update: The Project Islandwood repo on GitHub (aka "Windows Bridge for iOS") has been updated to...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 11/30/2015
Submitting a WatchKit app
In the spirit of our increasingly cross-platform company, I thought I'd start posting some iOS...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 05/21/2015
Declaring a XAML button programmatically and preventing it from vanishing on mouse over
Sometimes I like to make life difficult for myself, or at least it seems that way. For example, I'm...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 03/25/2015
Physics engine for XAML
After briefly playing around with SpriteKit on iOS, and enjoying the built-in Physics Engine, I was...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 06/17/2014
Book club edition
You can tell a lot about a programmer by checking out the books on their bookshelf, I would think....
Author: grantmestrength Date: 06/13/2014
Releasing a companion universal Windows app
A few months ago, I released a simple task management app for Windows 8.1 to the Windows store....
Author: grantmestrength Date: 05/29/2014
WeatherView - a universal Windows app sample written in C#
WeatherView Sample - available on CodePlex - https://weatherview.codeplex.com This is a sample which...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 05/28/2014
Looking for some Unity?
Good news - there might be a "Day of Unity" coming to a city near you! Unity and Microsoft are...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 04/18/2014
Hiding the Status Bar in Windows Phone 8.1 apps. Or Not.
I've been working on a Universal app that runs on Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows 8.1, and I have to...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 04/16/2014
A downright cheap Windows Phone which isn't actually "cheap"
If you are in the US, you might want to run to your nearest Microsoft Store (or go to...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 04/15/2014
Using Bing queries in your Windows Store app
I was working on a Windows Store app (as I usually am between 9am to 5pm) and I wanted to make use...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 04/11/2014
MonoGame 3.2
Delighted to see that MonoGame 3.2 is now available - this release contains a big set of...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 04/07/2014
Return of the FBI (Fish Based Interface)
Since I last took to the keyboard to write a blog entry, things have changed. For a start, I've...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 03/12/2014
Yet more on Data Binding with C# and XAML: Refreshing your views
I’ve touched on the awesomeness of data binding a few times in this blog. Data binding is one...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 01/30/2014
Tips and Tricks for Smaller Windows Devices
Tricks and tips for smaller devices I’ve been using my Dell Venue Pro 8 table for a while now,...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 01/17/2014
Dell Venue 8 Pro - recent updates
I'm a big fan of the Dell Venue 8 Pro tablet: the little device that runs Windows 8.1. If I had a...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 01/08/2014
More on ListBoxes: Using databinding to control appearance
In a previous blog posting, I discussed how I used a XAML ListBox to create a control rather like an...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 12/27/2013
Here's a Windows Store App to help you write Windows Store Apps..
Here's an app which I wanted to make for a while. Answer a few questions, and the app will create a...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 11/22/2013
Portable Class Libraries now supported by Xamarin on iOS
If you are a fan of C#, but you've also heard of these "smartphone things" and think they might...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 11/13/2013
Unity 4.3 Announced - now with more Windows support!
Great news for game developers today: Unity 4.3 is out! This new release packs in a lot of new...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 11/12/2013
Fix graphics glitches in VivoTab Smart ME400 tablet
I've been using the ASUS VivoTab Smart tablet as my laptop-replacement for a while now (it runs...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 11/01/2013
Making a simple UITableView-like list in Windows 8.1
In my current project, I wanted to create a simple, UITableView-like scrolling list on the side of...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 11/01/2013
The App Bar Reborn
When we wrote some topics on using the Windows 8 App Bar (such as the blockbuster hit Titlebars,...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 10/23/2013
LINQ for Beginners
If you’re coming to Windows programming and C# from the world of iOS, you’ve probably...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 10/17/2013
Tips for Writing Windows 8 apps on a Mac
My current home Windows development set-up is actually a 15” MacBook Pro with Retina display....
Author: grantmestrength Date: 10/16/2013
More on populating a ListBox using databinding
So, you've created your ObservableCollection array, and set it to your ListView or ListBox as an...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 10/15/2013
Hello ListViews, so long UITableViews!
After writing apps for the iPhone, you very quickly get to used to UITableViews. A scrolling...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 10/14/2013
TIL.. that using TFS with Parallels on a Mac doesn't like Sharing
Today I was setting up Visual Studio on my MacBook Pro using Parallels so I could continue working...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 10/13/2013
TIL.. Xcode and Team Foundation Server can be buddies
This was something I didn't expect, but it's possible to use Xcode with TFS (Team Foundation Server)...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 09/20/2013
Writing a retro 2D arcade game for Windows 8 using MonoGame
When I start using a new platform, I like to do one specific thing: write a version of Asteroids for...
Author: grantmestrength Date: 09/19/2013