Microsoft Windows 10 Event.

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Working in designtime with Data in MVVM

If we develop applications ( XAML based) we have a problem with see the data in design view. Every application become successful when its interface is attractive. If our application is based on internet or any other computational task there is difficulty on make Interfaces without running the application real time. Here is solution for it

Use design time data binding which already with the xaml based application 

Today we going to develop the windows 8.1 store application. ( This is same with any XAML based Application )

1. Create Windows 8.1 store application form the Visual studio. (I named it as DesignTimedata )
2. Create ViewModel to bind the run time data , In following here is My MainViewModel.cs

With this example we are not going to the use internet or other tasks .therefore just hard corded the values in constructor 

namespace DesignTimeData.Runtime
{
    public class MainViewModel:INotifyPropertyChanged
    {
 
        private string _Title { get; set; }
        public string Title
        {
            get { return _Title; }
            set
            {
                _Title = value;
                OnPropertyChanged("Title");
            }
        }
 
        private string _Description { get; set; }
        public string Description
        {
            get { return _Description; }
            set
            {
                _Description = value;
                OnPropertyChanged("Description");
            }
        }
 
 
 
        public MainViewModel()
        {

        // Hard coded runtime data

            this._Title = "Title in Run time";
            this._Description = "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna.";
        }
 
        // Create the OnPropertyChanged method to raise the event 
        // Use in MVVM
        public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
        protected void OnPropertyChanged(string name)
        {
            PropertyChangedEventHandler handler = PropertyChanged;
            if (handler != null)
            {
                handler(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(name));
            }
        }
    }
}

2. Then bind the ViewModel to the View with relevant tags.
You can use Singleton or Page Resource binding . In here Im using Bind the ViewModel to the Page in XAML . It gives me intellisense in XAML .

Here is my MainPage.xaml

<Page
    x:Class="DesignTimeData.MainPage"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    xmlns:local="using:DesignTimeData"
    xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
    xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
    xmlns:runtime="using:DesignTimeData.Runtime"
    mc:Ignorable="d">
    
    <Page.DataContext>
        <runtime:MainViewModel/>
    </Page.DataContext>

3 .Then Create New Class which have exact name of your view model. Better to use different namespace / folder . In this case It is MainViewModel 
Here is my design time ViewModel. It will contains all test data which displayed in design view in visual studio

namespace DesignTimeData.DesignTimedata
{
    public class MainViewModel
    {
        public string Title { get { return "DesignTime Title"; } }
 
        public string Description { get { return "Design time description"; } }
    }
} 

4. Then lets bind the design time data into the design (xaml) . In here there is always tag like this

      mc:Ignorable="d" 

with every page. something defines under this tag will not be displayed in the runtime. then this is the one that we need to use.

With this d we can define all the properties which page have and change them. but none of them are effecting the real application .

Lets bind the ViewModel to the page and use it with design time . Here is my full page

<Page
    x:Class="DesignTimeData.MainPage"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    xmlns:local="using:DesignTimeData"
    xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
    xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
    xmlns:desgn="using:DesignTimeData.DesignTimedata"
    xmlns:runtime="using:DesignTimeData.Runtime"
    mc:Ignorable="d">
    
    <Page.DataContext>
        <runtime:MainViewModel/>
    </Page.DataContext>
    
    <d:Page.DataContext>
        <desgn:MainViewModel />
    </d:Page.DataContext>
    
    <Grid Background="{ThemeResource ApplicationPageBackgroundThemeBrush}">
        <StackPanel Margin="100,150,0,0">
            <TextBlock Style="{StaticResource HeaderTextBlockStyle}" Text="{Binding Title}"/>
            <TextBlock Style="{StaticResource SubtitleTextBlockStyle}" Text="{Binding Description}"/>
        </StackPanel>
    </Grid>
</Page>

Now we can see the vaues that we put to test the Application UI and make any changes to it.

Here is runtime result of the app

Enjoy







Full Code 
http://bit.ly/1xiJ3yZ

 

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Time Zone clonflictions with Cloud Services .. How to avoid .

There is problems when you are developing applications which based on cloud services. That is , time of your service (servers ) are different than the time that your application. If you are using time stamp based data pulling  from the cloud service you are in big trouble.

Here if two basic solutions that you can use in those scenarios
1. Use UTC (absolute) Time (highly recommended)
2. Change time zone of the server according to the  requirement

Use absolute time you can just do with simple DateTime object.
in C# simply like this

DateTime.UtcNow

Change Time zone of the Server ( Instances of cloud service )
This is the Task that you cannot find lot of documentation
 If you follow following steps You can easily change server time zone ( In azure (cloud) it will randomly create and no one can predict that which instance of the server will run entire service life cycle *Its never happens with cloud) in every running instance once it starting


1. Create batch (*.bat) file with flowing command

tzutil /s "Sri Lanka Standard Time" 

Here is time zone reference 

Index	Name of Time Zone	Time
000	Dateline Standard Time	(GMT-12:00) International Date Line West
001	Samoa Standard Time	(GMT-11:00) Midway Island, Samoa
002	Hawaiian Standard Time	(GMT-10:00) Hawaii
003	Alaskan Standard Time	(GMT-09:00) Alaska
004	Pacific Standard Time	(GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US and Canada); Tijuana
010	Mountain Standard Time	(GMT-07:00) Mountain Time (US and Canada)
013	Mexico Standard Time 2	(GMT-07:00) Chihuahua, La Paz, Mazatlan
015	U.S. Mountain Standard Time	(GMT-07:00) Arizona
020	Central Standard Time	(GMT-06:00) Central Time (US and Canada
025	Canada Central Standard Time	(GMT-06:00) Saskatchewan
030	Mexico Standard Time	(GMT-06:00) Guadalajara, Mexico City, Monterrey
033	Central America Standard Time	(GMT-06:00) Central America
035	Eastern Standard Time	(GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US and Canada)
040	U.S. Eastern Standard Time	(GMT-05:00) Indiana (East)
045	S.A. Pacific Standard Time	(GMT-05:00) Bogota, Lima, Quito
050	Atlantic Standard Time	(GMT-04:00) Atlantic Time (Canada)
055	S.A. Western Standard Time	(GMT-04:00) Caracas, La Paz
056	Pacific S.A. Standard Time	(GMT-04:00) Santiago
060	Newfoundland and Labrador Standard Time	(GMT-03:30) Newfoundland and Labrador
065	E. South America Standard Time	(GMT-03:00) Brasilia
070	S.A. Eastern Standard Time	(GMT-03:00) Buenos Aires, Georgetown
073	Greenland Standard Time	(GMT-03:00) Greenland
075	Mid-Atlantic Standard Time	(GMT-02:00) Mid-Atlantic
080	Azores Standard Time	(GMT-01:00) Azores
083	Cape Verde Standard Time	(GMT-01:00) Cape Verde Islands
085	GMT Standard Time	(GMT) Greenwich Mean Time: Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London
090	Greenwich Standard Time	(GMT) Casablanca, Monrovia
095	Central Europe Standard Time	(GMT+01:00) Belgrade, Bratislava, Budapest, Ljubljana, Prague
100	Central European Standard Time	(GMT+01:00) Sarajevo, Skopje, Warsaw, Zagreb
105	Romance Standard Time	(GMT+01:00) Brussels, Copenhagen, Madrid, Paris
110	W. Europe Standard Time	(GMT+01:00) Amsterdam, Berlin, Bern, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna
113	W. Central Africa Standard Time	(GMT+01:00) West Central Africa
115	E. Europe Standard Time	(GMT+02:00) Bucharest
120	Egypt Standard Time	(GMT+02:00) Cairo
125	FLE Standard Time	(GMT+02:00) Helsinki, Kiev, Riga, Sofia, Tallinn, Vilnius
130	GTB Standard Time	(GMT+02:00) Athens, Istanbul, Minsk
135	Israel Standard Time	(GMT+02:00) Jerusalem
140	South Africa Standard Time	(GMT+02:00) Harare, Pretoria
145	Russian Standard Time	(GMT+03:00) Moscow, St. Petersburg, Volgograd
150	Arab Standard Time	(GMT+03:00) Kuwait, Riyadh
155	E. Africa Standard Time	(GMT+03:00) Nairobi
158	Arabic Standard Time	(GMT+03:00) Baghdad
160	Iran Standard Time	(GMT+03:30) Tehran
165	Arabian Standard Time	(GMT+04:00) Abu Dhabi, Muscat
170	Caucasus Standard Time	(GMT+04:00) Baku, Tbilisi, Yerevan
175	Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan Standard Time	(GMT+04:30) Kabul
180	Ekaterinburg Standard Time	(GMT+05:00) Ekaterinburg
185	West Asia Standard Time	(GMT+05:00) Islamabad, Karachi, Tashkent
190	India Standard Time	(GMT+05:30) Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi
193	Nepal Standard Time	(GMT+05:45) Kathmandu
195	Central Asia Standard Time	(GMT+06:00) Astana, Dhaka
200	Sri Lanka Standard Time	(GMT+06:00) Sri Jayawardenepura
201	N. Central Asia Standard Time	(GMT+06:00) Almaty, Novosibirsk
203	Myanmar Standard Time	(GMT+06:30) Yangon Rangoon
205	S.E. Asia Standard Time	(GMT+07:00) Bangkok, Hanoi, Jakarta
207	North Asia Standard Time	(GMT+07:00) Krasnoyarsk
210	China Standard Time	(GMT+08:00) Beijing, Chongqing, Hong Kong SAR, Urumqi
215	Singapore Standard Time	(GMT+08:00) Kuala Lumpur, Singapore
220	Taipei Standard Time	(GMT+08:00) Taipei
225	W. Australia Standard Time	(GMT+08:00) Perth
227	North Asia East Standard Time	(GMT+08:00) Irkutsk, Ulaanbaatar
230	Korea Standard Time	(GMT+09:00) Seoul
235	Tokyo Standard Time	(GMT+09:00) Osaka, Sapporo, Tokyo
240	Yakutsk Standard Time	(GMT+09:00) Yakutsk
245	A.U.S. Central Standard Time	(GMT+09:30) Darwin
250	Cen. Australia Standard Time	(GMT+09:30) Adelaide
255	A.U.S. Eastern Standard Time	(GMT+10:00) Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney
260	E. Australia Standard Time	(GMT+10:00) Brisbane
265	Tasmania Standard Time	(GMT+10:00) Hobart
270	Vladivostok Standard Time	(GMT+10:00) Vladivostok
275	West Pacific Standard Time	(GMT+10:00) Guam, Port Moresby
280	Central Pacific Standard Time	(GMT+11:00) Magadan, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia
285	Fiji Islands Standard Time	(GMT+12:00) Fiji Islands, Kamchatka, Marshall Islands
290	New Zealand Standard Time	(GMT+12:00) Auckland, Wellington
300	Tonga Standard Time	(GMT+13:00) Nuku'alofa

2. Add it in to the cloud service ( Not to the cloud service project )

*Add it to project which identifies as role (web, worker) by cloud project . In following example You need to add batch file into WebRole1 project

3. Then R-Click on the batch file and select properties from visual studio . In properties under the Advanced change Copy To Output Directory property in to copy always.

4. Then go to the Cloud project and open the ServiceDefinition.csdf file

5. Under WebRole Tag add Start up task as follow .

 <WebRole name="*****" vmsize="Small">
    <Startup>
      <Task commandLine="NameOfBatchFile.bat" executionContext="elevated" taskType="simple"/>
    </Startup> 

     <Sites>
      <Site name="Web">
        <Bindings>
          <Binding name="Endpoint1" endpointName="Endpoint1" />
        </Bindings>
      </Site>
    </Sites>
    <Endpoints>
      <InputEndpoint name="Endpoint1" protocol="http" port="80" />
    </Endpoints>
  </WebRole>

Now it is done ... You free to go with your cloud service


Enjoy 

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