Saturday, December 12, 2009

 

Data from Microsoft SQL server in Windows 7 Gadget

So I recieved another of the fan mails with the following questions. If you come across similar issues feel free to email me.

  1. Is there any sample code to use web service to pull the data from Microsoft SQL server 2005/2008?

    2. The Sitemeter Gadget chapter 9 uses Ajax to pull data from online web service and sitemeter uses database in the background to pull and display data. so as long as your web service is able to pull and display data in the form of TEXT, XML, RSS, ATOM, JSON, HTML and HTML, you can display it in the Gadget.

  2. I have an icon/image to refresh the data on the Gadget.. is it possible to change the cursor to wait/ progress till the data gets refreshed?


    3. Search for this functionality in JavaScript in an html page. Gadget main page is essentially an html page and you can inlcude a JavaScript file which can be used to change the cursor.

  3. Is it possible to show spinner on clicking the OK button in the settings page?

    4. Yes, we do this in blog gadget(loading animation) chapter 8

  4. Is it possible to show some alerts upon clicking the OK button in the settings page?

    5. Most of the widgets, allows for message alert, you should also check debugging section to see how to use JavaScript and VBScript alert boxes, look also the last chapter Tips and Tricks

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# posted by Rajesh Lal @ 10:40 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

Saturday, September 19, 2009

 

Enterprise level Windows 7 Gadget

I recently got this email from a user who is trying to build an enterprise level Gadget for Windows 7. If you are in the same boat see if you come across similar problem (my comments below).

"I am working to build a windows 7 gadget for our enterprise. We wanted this gadget to be our desktop source for our application. Below is a brief overview of what we want to achieve:

  1. Launch the gadget. Display a login screen in a flyout and try to connect to our server
  2. Once we login, try to display various modules and also favorites across each module. Each module here is an application
  3. If we select a module, display a flyout screen which displays the transactions within the module
  4. Once a transaction is selected, open the transaction in a chrome less window
All our application logic resides on a server. We do have all the API’s to perform the above functions, but we are not sure if we can achieve the same through a gadget. Below are some of the specific problems that we are coming across:

  1. How to initialize a session in a gadget and how to handle sessions? This is critical because we need to find some way of logging into the application and storing the login information
  2. Does gadgets support handling of cookies?
  3. Which is the best approach to connect to our server? Based on our research, we found out that using iFrames is a good option; but the problem is they do not support or hold session variables
Your inputs we be greatly helpful and appreciated. At this point we are currently in a deadlock. Looking forward for your response. "


Here is my comments on the question:

About Your scenario

1. Launch the gadget. Display a login screen in a flyout and try to connect to our server

I would suggest have the login in the settings page (Check sitemeter gadget chapter 9)

2. Once we login, try to display various modules and also favorites across each module. Each module here is an application

If these modules are hosted on a server and have a server page then you can directly login to server page in the iframe and redirect to module page, the cookies are maintained

3. If we select a module, display a flyout screen which displays the transactions within the module

this again can be both iframe based solution (server page embedded in the flyout) or an Ajax API calling the server and returning data in xml/json and parsing and displaying it in the flyout.

4. Once a transaction is selected, open the transaction in a chrome less window

This can be open a new window JavaScript method (note that Gadget supports full javascript as well as VB script)

About the comments:
If you come across any problem feel free to email me.

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# posted by Rajesh Lal @ 9:38 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Friday, January 2, 2009

 

SOAP based Web Service in Vista Sidebar Gadget

I got the following email the other day from a fellow gadget developer, regarding a problem with a Gadget which access a SOAP based Web Service.

"I bought your book 'Creating Vista Gadgets' and congratulations... It’s a very good book since it gives both technical details and a broader view of the subjects on other areas which engineers usually forget about.
My aim is very simple… I wanted to migrate a small windows application to the vista gadget platform. It’s an astrological quality time meter using the Webservice http://webservices.plaintime.com/Service.asmx?wsdl. Since my knowledge of XML and Javascript is more google based I’m having problems understanding how to code it. Any help is welcome.

Although I could not help him directly, except for telling him that, 
  1. A SOAP based Web Service can be called inside a gadget similar to an rss feed. which is thoroughly covered in Chapter 5 - Chapter 8. Blog Gadget covers this topic in details. A webservice also return an XML file which then will be required to parse.
  2. Sending notes to refer Chapter 9, Information Gadget which uses a Text based Web Service for a Sidebar Gadget, to get some insight and 
  3. A link to an article which elaborates a usage of webservice http://www.codeproject.com/KB/gadgets/DynamicsCRMGadget.aspx.
You wll be glad to know that he was finally able to use the Gadget Template in the book for the webservice and with his permission I am sharing his gadget with all of you. The gadget download page: http://www.maladilusoes.com/DLTL. Here is screenshot of the Gadget: Ontime – Astrology Time Management.


click to go the gadget download page

So, what kind of Vista Gadget are you creating ?

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# posted by Rajesh Lal @ 11:31 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Sunday, May 11, 2008

 

Creating Vista Gadget using HTML, CSS, & JavaScript

If you ever wanted a book on Creating Vista Gadgets, with lots of useful samples. Here is a book on the topic. Click here to buy the book.




releasing on "May 19, 2008"

Table of Content



Advanced Gadgets included in the book

This book has advanced samples using ActiveX (COM), Ajax, & Microsoft Silverlight. This guide will walk you through the process of designing and developing of each of them.



(a) Build a Blog Gadget using RSS /Atom Feed

MyBlog Gadget will walk you through a complete gadget development lifecycle using an online RSS/Atom Feed. We see the design patterns and standard practices, common assumptions and then add advanced features to the gadget with multiple feeds and advance page and record management.

(b) Create an Information Gadget with Ajax

Site Statistics Gadget uses Ajax and a Web API provided by Sitemeter.com to create a unique Information Gadget which mimics the online free service provided by Sitemeter.com. It shows how to do screen scraping and load part of a web page in the Flyout window.

(c) Develop a Utility Gadget using ActiveX COM technology

Most Recent Used (MRU).Net Projects is a innovative gadget which lists Most Recent Used projects in .Net. It shows projects for Visual Studio 2003, Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008. The gadget also shows how to read and enumerate registry data. The gadget also explains how to use advanced features of Windows Power Shell and Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) in a sidebar Gadget.

(d) Incorporate Internet Radio and YouTube Video in Fun Gadgets

Learn to create a Radio Gadget based on an online streaming server and Video Gadget using a YouTube Video feed. The gadgets also show how to incorporate windows Media Player as well as Flash Media Player inside a Sidebar gadget. See how to use XMLDOM to read online feed instead of Ajax approach.

(e) Create Cutting edge Sidebar gadget using Microsoft Silverlight

Silverlight World Clock Gadget shows time for multiple cities of the world. It also gives you an insider view of XAML and Microsoft Silverlight. Know the programming model of Silverlight in gadget development.

(f) Developing a Sidebar Gadget using Microsoft Popfly.NET

Website Comparison Gadget uses Microsoft Popfly.net to create an innovative gadget which compares the popularity of different websites with the help of services provided by Live Search and Microsoft Bar graph. It shows how to create the mashups in minutes and port it to Sidebar platform.

I would like to hear any questions/ comments/ suggestions, you may have !

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# posted by Rajesh Lal @ 10:08 PM 4 Comments Links to this post

Saturday, April 26, 2008

 

Table of Contents : Creating Vista Gadgets

Table of Contents for Creating Vista Gadgets download


Table of Contents - Creating Vista Gadgets - Upload a doc
Read this doc on Scribd: Table of Contents - Creating Vista Gadgets

Creating Vista" Gadgets: Using HTML, CSS and JavaScript with Examples in RSS, AJAX, ActiveX (COM) and Silverlight Rajesh Lal Contents at a Glance Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Part I 1 2 3 4 Part II 5 6 7 8 Part III 9 10 11 12 Part IV A B The Foundation Innovate with Windows Vista Sidebar Gadgets The Architecture ........................................7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 An Approach to Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Selling Your Gadget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Developing a Gadget Creating a Simple Gadget with RSS/Atom Feed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Design Patterns and Standard Practices The MyBlog Gadget Revisited Debugging and Deploying a Gadget Advanced Samples Site Statistics Gadget with AJAX—An Information Gadget Most Recent Used .NET Projects—An Application Gadget Radio Gadget and YouTube Video Gadget—Fun Gadgets A Silverlight World Clock—Utility Gadget Appendices Tips and Tricks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 Extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 Table of Contents Introduction 1 What’s in the Book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Section 1: The Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Section 2: Developing a Gadget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Section 3: Advanced Samples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Special Features and Notations Supporting Website .............................................................2 ............................................................................3 Part I 1 The Foundation Innovate with Windows Vista Sidebar Gadgets Windows Sidebar 7 Introducing Gadgets and the Vista Sidebar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 .......................................................................8 ..........................................................8 Technology Behind Gadgets Brief History of Gadgets ...............................................................9 Innovate with Gadgets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Types of Gadgets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Information Gadgets Utility Gadgets Fun Gadgets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Application Gadgets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Gadgets in Depth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 What Gadgets Are Not. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Different Views—The Three Hats of the Gadget. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Opacity Level and Always on Top Property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Using Flyout for More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Customization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Multiple Platforms for Gadgets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Meeting Points for Different Gadgets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 The Development Platform. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Gadget Ecosystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Other Desktop Gadget/Widget Platforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Gadget Comparison Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Contents v 2 The Architecture Gadgets Overview 29 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 The Manifest File gadget.xml . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 User Interface and Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Cascading Style Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Core Functionality of the Gadget: JavaScript Resources, PNG, and Other Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Technology Behind Gadget Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 MSHTML Component, the Core of the Gadget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Standard Web Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Sidebar Gadget as an HTML Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Gadget Object Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 ActiveX Technology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Gadget Object Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 User Interaction and Sidebar Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 APIs to Access the File System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Core Features to Interact with the System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Communication and Other APIs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Sidebar Gadgets: The Road Ahead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 3 An Approach to Design Design Considerations 49 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Putting Information First . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Constructing the Right User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Usage Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Gadget Behavior Challenges for the User Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Standard Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Gadget Page When Docked . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Undocked Gadget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Settings Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Flyout Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Other Interface Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Visual Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Drag Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Background Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Text and Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 vi Creating Vista Gadgets: Using HTML, CSS and JavaScript with Examples in RSS, AJAX, ActiveX (COM) and SilverLight Transparent Images in the Gadget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Alpha Transparency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Portable Network Graphics File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 GIF File Limitations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 About Accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Keyboard Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 General HTML accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Theme Colors and Contrast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 4 Selling Your Gadget Pull Model 75 Gadget Revenue Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Push Model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 How Gadgets Give You Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 The Ad Gadget. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Gadget as a Side Product. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Utility Gadget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Free Information Gadget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Supporting Your Gadget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Part II 5 Developing a Gadget Creating a Simple Gadget with RSS/Atom Feed Brief Background on Feeds 91 Feed Gadgets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 About the MyBlog Gadget. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Basic Framework of the MyBlog Gadget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Required Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Directory Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 How the MyBlog Gadget Works. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 The Manifest File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Gadget Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Parts of the MyBlog Gadget. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 The Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Core Functionality of the Gadget Presenting with CSS and DOM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Putting It All Together. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Contents vii 6 Design Patterns and Standard Practices 115 Design Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Maintainable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Customizable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Extensible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Elements of Design Patterns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Standard Layout for Files and Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Reusable Functionality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Display and Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Common Assumptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 The Gadget Will Always Work Regular Feed Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Internet Connection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Caching of the Feed Data Memory and Session Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Adding Accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 Putting the Focus on the Gadget when It Is Loaded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Adding Tab Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 The Enter Key Acting Like a Mouse Click . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Using the onfocus and onfocusout Events for Mouse Hover Effect . . . . . . . . . . 137 Making the Gadget’s Flyout and Settings Page Keyboard Accessible . . . . . . . 137 7 The MyBlog Gadget Revisited Recapping the MyBlog Gadget 139 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Taking the MyBlog Gadget to the Next Level. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Adding Multiple Feeds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Managing Multiple Pages in the Gadget Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 Unobtrusive Traversing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 Docked, Undocked, and Mini Me Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 Settings Page Configuration for the Mini Me Version. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Gadget Window Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 8 Debugging and Deploying a Gadget Debugging Using WScript and VBScript Debugging Tools 159 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Debugging a Gadget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Debugging Using JavaScript and DOM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 Deploying a Gadget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 Gadget Installation Target. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 Gadget Installation Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 Gadget Packaging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 viii Creating Vista Gadgets: Using HTML, CSS and JavaScript with Examples in RSS, AJAX, ActiveX (COM) and SilverLight Deployment Using a Cabinet File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 CAB File Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 A Windows Installer (.msi File) or setup.exe Comparison of Deployment Methodologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 Part III 9 Advanced Samples Site Statistics Gadget with Ajax—An Information Gadget 183 The Goal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 Background—www.sitemeter.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 Site Summary Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 Features and Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186 Application Programming Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 Loading a Portion of a Web Page with Ajax and DOM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 Design Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 Theme and Images of the Gadget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 Layout of the Gadget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 Usability of the Gadget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 Developing the Gadget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 . . . . . . . 200 Integrating the Existing Framework Retrieving Data for Site Summary Using API and Online Web Page Graphs and Pie Charts Based on the API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 10 Most Recent Used .NET Projects—An Application Gadget 211 Recent .NET Project Gadget. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 Target of the Gadget. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 Features and Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 ActiveX COM Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 Windows Power Shell and Windows Management Instrumentation. . . . . . . . . . 216 Design Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219 Theme of the Gadget. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219 Layout of the Gadget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 Usability of the Gadget Developing the Gadget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225 Integrating the Existing Framework Listing MRU Items from the Registry Reading the Registry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234 Contents ix 11 Radio Gadget and YouTube Video Gadget—Fun Gadgets 237 Media Gadgets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 The Radio Gadget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238 Background—Internet Radio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238 Features and Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 Design Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240 Developing the Gadget. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243 The YouTube Video Gadget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 Background—YouTube Video Feeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 Features and Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 Design Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 Developing the Gadget. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 12 A Silverlight World Clock—Utility Gadget 261 The Silverlight Gadget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 Background—Microsoft Silverlight. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262 Features and Technology Microsoft Silverlight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 JavaScript for Creating the Silverlight Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266 Extensible Application Markup Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 Design Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 Theme and Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 Layout of the Gadget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 Usability of the Gadget Developing the Gadget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 Integrating the Existing Framework The XAML File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272 Silverlight Clock Logic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 Creating a Sidebar Gadget Using Microsoft Popfly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280 Website Comparison Gadget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283 Creating a Mashup Using Microsoft Popfly Porting a Mashup to Vista Sidebar as a Gadget Where to Go from Here. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284 Part IV A Appendices Tips and Tricks Checking for a New Version of the Gadget Tracking Your Users 289 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290 Automatic Update and User Tracking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 x Creating Vista Gadgets: Using HTML, CSS and JavaScript with Examples in RSS, AJAX, ActiveX (COM) and SilverLight Reading XML, XHTML, RSS/Atom, Html, Text and JSON Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 The XMLHTTPRequest object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 Microsoft XML DOM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297 Windows RSS Platform & Microsoft Feed Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298 Globalization and Localization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299 Localized Gadget Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300 Locales with Country Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302 Graphic Design. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302 Gadget Protocols for Image and Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302 Sample Gadget g:Demo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304 Creating a Transparent PNG File in Photoshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307 Creating Outer Edges/Shadow Effects in Photoshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309 Security and Other Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311 Protecting Your Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312 Gadgets in an Enterprise (Accessing SQL Server). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313 Resources and References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314 B Extras 315 Reusable Framework for Creating Gadgets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315 Sample Gadgets Based on the Framework. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317 The Widget-Box Gadget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317 The Comic-Strip Gadget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319 The Trick-of-Mind Gadget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319 Share Your Gadgets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 Index 321 About the Author Rajesh Lal is an author, technology evangelist, and solutions engineer specializing in web technologies. He has received numerous awards for his articles on Windows Vista and Sidebar gadgets. He is a frequent contributor to Windows Vista Magazine and Code Project websites. With more than a decade of experience in IT industry in progressive roles from graphic designer, software developer, architect, team lead, and project leader to independent consultant, Rajesh enjoys taking an objective and pragmatic approach to developing applications using Microsoft technology. He has a master’s degree in computer science from Beaumont, Texas, and holds MCSD and MCAD titles. To read his Vista Gadget blog, go to www.innovatewithgadgets.com.

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# posted by Rajesh Lal @ 9:42 PM 1 Comments Links to this post

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

 

Downloads for Creating Vista Gadgets

Downloads for Creating Vista Gadgets

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# posted by Rajesh Lal @ 9:20 PM 7 Comments Links to this post
 

Author - Creating Vista Gadgets



Contact
Rajesh Lal

750 N. Shoreline Blvd Apt # 110
Mountain View California 94043

Cell: +1 858 335-3772
Email: connectrajesh [@] hotmail
Rajesh Lal is an author, technology evangelist, and solutions engineer specializing in windows and web technologies. He has received numerous awards for his articles on Windows Vista and Sidebar Gadgets and is a frequent contributor to Windows Vista Magazine and Code Project website.

With over a decade of experience in the IT industry, Rajesh enjoys taking an objective and pragmatic approach to developing applications using Microsoft technology. He has a master’s degree in computer science and holds both MCSD and MCAD titles.

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# posted by Rajesh Lal @ 9:01 PM 4 Comments Links to this post

Monday, April 21, 2008

 

Errata !

I would like to tell you that this book contains no errors, but of course I'd be lying. I've done everything possible to verify the accuracy of every sentence and every code samples, but errors inevitably surface.

Here is a list of errors, that have been found in the book so far, since going to print. If you find an error that isn't listed here, let me know. or add it as a comment, for other fellow readers.

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# posted by Rajesh Lal @ 8:55 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Sunday, April 20, 2008

 

Get The Gadget Book !

Buy the Creating Vista Gadgets Book from Amazon.com

Click here or select from the following.


Below is the detail from Amazon.com

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# posted by Rajesh Lal @ 8:48 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Friday, March 2, 2007

 

Creating a Video Gadget (Soapbox Video Gadget)

Guide to create a Sidebar gadget for a video feed (soapbox @ msn.com)



Screenshot - top.jpg


Introduction


When I first started sidebar gadget development1, I found gadgets cool and innovative. But the more I learned about them, the more I realized their usefulness. Gadget development provides a whole new platform, becoming more productive in ways unimagined. On one hand, it's a mini web application which can host a web page, call a web service, and use AJAX to read an RSS feed. On the other, it can interact with the Windows API using the power of .NET languages. Wow! That's the best of both the worlds, wouldn't you agree?


The most important factor is the unique way in which a gadget provides the interaction between the web, Windows and users. In this example I try to utilize this, to give user the "Power of Videos" in the sidebar. Check the architecture below.


To hold your interest, here is how it looks in the sidebar.


Screenshot - 320x240withPic.jpg


About the gadget: The power of videos


Before I start, I must warn you: this gadget is quite addictive. Indulge yourself only during your spare time.


There are a number of RSS Feeds available from the Soapbox on MSN Video Beta page which give you the contents of the videos uploaded by the users. Some of the more interesting ones are: "Most Popular Videos", "Most Rated videos", and "Most Recent Videos". There is even a feed for "Videos By Tag" available, which we will use for searching videos. The idea behind this is to use those regularly updated feeds to show the user the video of his choice on the sidebar. If you want to know the basic barebones required to create a gadget, please refer to my first article Daily Dilbert . This article is actually an extension of that first article; I try to explain only those extra features which can be used to refine a gadget further:



  1. Create a gadget which can play a video in the flyout
  2. How to take care of paging when you read an XML file
  3. Settings and Search Videos
  4. Add video to "Favorite List"
  5. Create, read, update, & delete local XML file from Sidebar Gadget (new)
  6. Some tips in general

The architecture overview


Screenshot - Architecturenew.jpg


Let's Begin


Create a video Gadget


A standard XML file with the name Gadget.xml is required as shown below:


Screenshot - settingsxml.jpg


More information about this is available here


The name of the gadget is "Soapbox @ MSN" (as seen above). The namespace is basically to group more than one gadget (reserved for future use), which you can write in "mynamespace". MinPlatformVersion. Required. The expected value is "1.0."


"Permission" controls the amount of permission in the gadget. "Full" permission is required if you want to access a webpage through the gadget. With these two files you can deploy and test your gadget in the sidebar. The <permission> tags and <type> tags will be more flexible in future versions of gadget development.


Our Video Gadget will have these files


Gadget.xml An XML file defining the gadget properties, including name, icon and description
main.html the Main HTML page
main.js The core code/script for the gadget
Settings.html Exposes gadget settings for the user to change
Settings.js Script for the Settings file
soapboxFlyout.html The html file which will be used in Flyout window
Icon, images etc For use in the gadget selection box

You can get more details on these here


Get the RSS Feed


The Main.html file will have five elements ("DIV") to get the feed data: cell0, cell1 etc. We can show the videos as a list of five videos (below) or single video.


Screenshot - main.jpg Screenshot - listview.jpg


The Feed for the Gadget


We have the URL which we call using the MSXML2.XMLHTTP object. This is the core of the AJAX until the feed gets loaded. Here is the magical JavaScript for this:

function getRSS()
{
    document.getElementById("mylogo").Title =
        System.Gadget.Settings.
        read("feedText");

    try
    {
        error.style.visibility = "hidden";

        loading.style.visibility = "visible";
        rssObj = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
        rssObj.open("GET",
            System.Gadget.Settings.read("videoFeed") , true);
        rssObj.onreadystatechange = function() {
            if (rssObj.readyState = == 4)
            { if (rssObj.status == 200)
            { loading.innerText = "";
            error.innerText = "";
            error.style.visibility= "hidden";
            loading.style.visibility = "hidden";
            rssXML = rssObj.responseXML;
            page = 0;
            parseRSS();
            if
                (chkConn) { setInterval(getRSS, 60 * 60000);
            loading.style.visibility = "hidden";
                }
            }
            else
            {
                var chkConn;
                loading.style.visibility = "visible";
                chkConn = setInterval(getRSS, 30 * 60000);
            }
            } else {
                loading.style.visibility = "visible";
            }
        } 
        rssObj.send(null);
    }
    catch(err)
    {
        loading.style.visibility = "hidden";
        error.innerText = "   Service not available";
        error.style.visibility = "visible";
    }
}

Service Not available


As you can see, if there is an error while connecting the feed or an error in the internet connection, we want to show the "Service not available" screen.


Screenshot - serviceNot.jpg


Parse the XML File


Here is the portion of the RSS Feed for a single item in the XML file and the corresponding "partial" ParseXML file to give you an idea of what we are doing with the feed.


Screenshot - feeddetail.jpg 

function parseRSS(page)
{
    rssItems = rssXML.getElementsByTagName("item");
    rssTitle = null; rssAuthors = null; rssDescription = null;
    rssLink = null;
         
    rssTitle = escape(rssItems[i].firstChild.text);
    rssLink =rssItems[i].getElementsByTagName("guid")[0]
    .firstChild.nodeValue;
    rssViews = rssItems[i].getElementsByTagName("vidAt:playCount")[0]
    .firstChild.nodeValue;
    rssDateUpdate = rssItems[i].getElementsByTagName("vidAt:pubDate")[0]
    .firstChild.nodeValue;
    rssRatingValue = rssItems[i].getElementsByTagName("vidAt:rating")[0]
    .firstChild.nodeValue;
    rssDuration = rssItems[i].getElementsByTagName("vidAt:duration")[0]
    .firstChild.nodeValue;
    rssVDescription= escape(rssItems[i].getElementsByTagName
    ("vidAt:description")[0].firstChild.nodeValue);
    rssDescription=rssItems[i].getElementsByTagName("description")[0]
    .firstChild
    .nodeValue;
    myTitle = unescape(rssTitle)
    myTitle1 = myTitle.substr(0,16);
    myRatingTip = "Rating: " + rssRatingValueFormated2 + ",
        View: "
    + rssViews + ", Duration: " + rssDurationFormated ;
 
    document.getElementById("cell" + (cell)).innerHTML =
        "onclick="
    showFlyout(\'' + rssTitle + '\',\'' + rssVDescription + '\',
    \'' + rssLink + '\',\'' + rssImage + '\',\'' + rssRImage + '\',\''
    + rssViews + '\',
    \'' + rssDateUpdate + '\',\'' + rssDurationFormated + '\',
    \'' + rssRatingValueFormated2 + '\');" >
}

Since we have the feed required, we can create a flyout from the video. This is the showFlyout function, which is created dynamically and is used to pass all the parameters from the item to the flyout page.

function showFlyout(sTitle,sDescription,sGuid, sImage, sRImage,sView,
    sDateUpdate,sDuration,sRatingFormated)
{

    if (System.Gadget.Settings.read("sTitle")==sTitle)
    {
    System.Gadget.Settings.write("sTitle", "myTitle");
    hideFlyout();
    }
    else
    {
        System.Gadget.Settings.write("sTitle", sTitle);
        System.Gadget.Settings.write("sView", sView);
        System.Gadget.Settings.write("sDateUpdate", sDateUpdate);
        System.Gadget.Settings.write("sGuid", sGuid);
        System.Gadget.Settings.write("sDescription", sDescription);
        System.Gadget.Settings.write("sImage", sImage);
        System.Gadget.Settings.write("sRImage", sRImage);
        System.Gadget.Settings.write("sRatingFormated",
            sRatingFormated);
        System.Gadget.Settings.write("sDuration", sDuration);
        System.Gadget.Flyout.file = "soapboxFlyout.html";
        System.Gadget.Flyout.show = true;
    }
}

Other Settings for the Gadget


Apart from the settings which are set on the showFlyout function, there are other settings which can be managed by the user. The user can search under "Video" or select from one of the Video feeds.


Once we have all the settings, we Build the video object in the flyout window.

function BuildVideoObject()
{
    try
    {
        if (System.Gadget.Settings.read("videoSize")
            =="large")
        {
        Video_HtmlString  = '‹OBJECT id="VIDEO"
            width="640" height="480" ';
        }
        else
        {
        Video_HtmlString  = '‹OBJECT id="Body1"
            width="320" height="240" ';
        } 
    Video_HtmlString += 'style="position:absolute; left:0;top:0;"';
    Video_HtmlString += 'CLASSID="CLSID:6BF52A52-394A-11d3-B153-"';
    Video_HtmlString += 'type="application/x-oleobject"
        VIEWASTEXT›';
    Video_HtmlString += '‹PARAM NAME="URL" VALUE="';
    Video_HtmlString +=
        "http:/soapbox.msn.com/StreamingUrl.aspx?vid="
    + System.Gadget.Settings.read("sGuid");
    Video_HtmlString += '"›‹param NAME="stretchToFit"
        VALUE="1"›';
    Video_HtmlString += '‹param name="AutoSize"
        value="1"›
    ‹PARAM NAME="SendPlayStateChangeEvents"
        VALUE="True"›';
    Video_HtmlString += '‹PARAM NAME="AutoStart"
        VALUE="True"›';
    Video_HtmlString += '‹PARAM name="uiMode"
        value="none"›';
    Video_HtmlString += '‹PARAM name="PlayCount"
        value="9999"›';
    Video_HtmlString += '‹/OBJECT›';
    document.write(Video_HtmlString);
    }
    catch (err)
    {
     document.write("Problem with the machine's Windows Media
         Player");
    }
}

More information on the flyout is available here


Paging


Since XML files can have hundreds of items, we need to be able to page it. So we add a DIV item in the main.html file with the following:


Screenshot - tab.jpg 

‹div id="tbar" title=""›
‹table width="100%" height="100%"  border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"
ID="Table2"›
‹tr align="center" valign="middle"›
    ‹td width="12" class="arrow" onclick="chPage(-999);" align="right"›
    «‹/td›
    ‹td width="12" class="arrow" onclick="chPage(-1);" align="right"›
    ‹b›‹‹/b›‹/td›
    ‹td class="sub" id="pageNum"›1/1‹/td›
    ‹td width="12" class="arrow" onclick="chPage(+1);" align="left"›
    ‹b››‹/b›‹/td›
    ‹td width="12" class="arrow" onclick="chPage(+999);" align="left"›
    »‹/td›
‹/tr›
‹/table›
‹/div›

A Change page function will Parse the content of items to that page. 

function chPage(off)
{
    try
    {

        if (System.Gadget.Settings.read("listview"))
        {
            if (rssItems.length < 100)
            {
                myval = Math.ceil (rssItems.length/5);
            }
            else
            {myval = 20;}
        }
        else
        {
            if (rssItems.length < 100)
            {
                myval = rssItems.length;
            }
            else
            {myval = 100;}
        }


        if (off === -999)
        {
            off = myval-page;
        }
        if (off === 999)
        {
            off = myval-page-1;
        }

        try
        {
            if (((page + off) > -1) && ((page + off) < myval))
            {
                page = page + off;
                parseRSS(page);
            } else if ((page + off) === myval)
            {
                page = 0;
                parseRSS(page);
            } else if ((page + off) === 0)
            {
                page = myval;
                parseRSS(page);
            }
        }
        catch (err)
        {
        }
    }
    catch (err)
    {
    }
}

Make you own Favorite Videos List


Screenshot - addtofavorite.jpg


Now with each video you will see a plus icon in the bottom, so you can add the video to your favorites list.


A portion of the code behind 

function addtoFavorites(sGuid)
{

  var variableName = "userprofile";
  var mytext ="Testing";

  try
            {    
   var variableName = "userprofile";
   xmlDoc = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM");
   xmlDoc.async="false";
   xmlDoc.load(System.Environment.getEnvironmentVariable
   (variableName) + "\\Videos\\SoapBoxFavorites.xml");
   xmlObj=xmlDoc.documentElement;
   rssAddItems = xmlObj.getElementsByTagName("channel");
   rssAddedItems= xmlObj.getElementsByTagName("item");
   var varAlreadythere = false;


  if (rssItems[i].getElementsByTagName("guid")[0]
     .firstChild.nodeValue == sGuid)
    {
    if (!varAlreadythere)
     {
       rssAddItems[0].appendChild(rssItems[i]);
      }
     break;
     }
               
xmlDoc.save(System.Environment.getEnvironmentVariable
(variableName) + "\\Videos\\SoapBoxFavorites.xml");

Screenshot - addedinfavorite.jpg


When you click on the "Add to Favorite" icon it will add the XML feed information for that video from the online feed to a local XML file.


%userprofile%/Video/soapboxfavorites.xml


Here are the new settings to view your favorite videos. Select "My Favorite Videos" to see the bookmarked videos.


Screenshot - newsetting.jpg


If any "My Favorites" are selected, the gadget will read from the local XML file.


A portion of the code behind

 if (System.Gadget.Settings.read("feedText").indexOf("My favorite") >=0)
 {
 try
 {
  var variableName = "userprofile";
  var xmlDoc = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.DOMDocument");
  xmlDoc.load(System.Environment.getEnvironmentVariable(variableName)
     + "\\Videos\\SoapBoxFavorites.xml");
  rssXML=xmlDoc;
  parseRSS();
  }

By default, the "My Favorite Video" list will show nine videos from the "Current Featured Feed".


Create the XML file for the first time from "Current Featured Feed".


A portion of the code behind 

 var variableName = "userprofile"
 var SoapboxFavoritesPath = System.Environment.getEnvironmentVariable
  (variableName) + "\\Videos\\SoapBoxFavorites.xml";

 rssObj = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
 rssObj.open("GET",System.Gadget.Settings.read("videoFeed"),true);
 rssObj.onreadystatechange = function()
 {
 if (rssObj.readyState === 4)
 {
 if (rssObj.status === 200)
 {                             
 try
  {
   System.Shell.itemFromPath(SoapboxFavoritesPath);
   return;
  }
  catch (notFound)
  {
  var stream = new ActiveXObject("ADODB.Stream");                  
  stream.Type = 1;
  stream.Open();
  stream.Write(rssObj.responseBody);
  stream.SaveToFile(SoapboxFavoritesPath, 2);
  stream.Close;
  stream = null;
  }

You can also remove the video from the Video list. Select My Favorite video, and then you can see the "Remove icon" after each video in the gadget.


Screenshot - removefromfavorites.jpg


The code behind Remove 

function removefromFavorites(sGuid)
{

   var variableName = "userprofile";
   var mytext ="Testing";
            
   xmlDoc = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM");
   xmlDoc.async="false";
   xmlDoc.load(System.Environment.getEnvironmentVariable
   (variableName) + "\\Videos\\SoapBoxFavorites.xml");
   xmlObj=xmlDoc.documentElement;
   rssRemoveItems = xmlObj.getElementsByTagName("item");

     if (rssRemoveItems[i].getElementsByTagName("guid")
         [0].firstChild.nodeValue==sGuid)
        {
        var lastNode=rssRemoveItems[i];
        var delNode=xmlObj.firstChild.removeChild(lastNode);
        xmlDoc.save(System.Environment.getEnvironmentVariable
          (variableName) + "\\Videos\\SoapBoxFavorites.xml");
        mytext = "Deleted and Saved";
        break;
        }
 }

And we are done.


Tips in general



In Action


Soapbox Gadget in Action : Size: 400 X 360 in flash player


Screenshot - FLASH.jpg


References



  1. Innovate with Gadgets
  2. Creating a Simple Gadget: A Beginner's Guide
  3. Soapbox at MSN Videos
  4. MicrosoftGadgets.com sidebar development
  5. Windows setinterval
  6. Design concepts and usage pattern

Article History



And thanks

For coming so far! I hope you find this useful, and give me a comment if you do and take care.

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# posted by Rajesh Lal @ 2:13 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
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