A friend, a coworker, and an all-around great guy, Page Brooks, has created a contest for building controls for Silverlight.

Here’s the highlights:

"Welcome to the Silverlight Control Builder Contest! With this contest, we hope to incite the development of many open and free Silverlight Controls that all developers can use in their applications, and what better way to do this than through a friendly contest! This contest is your chance to demonstrate your control building skills to the Silverlight community and win some pretty cool prizes at the same time!"

Check out the prizes:

1st Place

• 1-Year MSDN Premium Subscription (Not for Resale)
• Your choice of one book from the entire O'Reilly catalog

2nd Place

• Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Standard Edition
• Your choice of one book from the entire O'Reilly catalog
  

3rd Place

• Essential Silverlight 2 Up-to-Date from O'Reilly
• Your choice of one book from the entire O'Reilly catalog

Great opportunity to build a little fame and win some great prizes. Find out more after the jump: http://gosilverlight.org/

Microsoft has published a marketing site for Windows Mobile 6.1, and I'm glad they used Silverlight to create it.

Check it out:

Windows Mobile 6.1 – New Windows Mobile Software for Pocket PC and Smartphone

• Instant messaging-like texting
• Improved Internet browsing
• Simpler e-mail and Bluetooth setup
• New Home screen interface
• New Getting Started Center
• Security enhancements
• Easier Wi-Fi connection
• More personal choice

[Source: DevHawk - Morning Coffee 160]

I've post an article about Microsoft Popfly on CodeProject.com.

CodeProject.com: Meet Microsoft Popfly: Part I - Mashup App Creator Built On Silverlight

It covers the following areas:

Popfly Space	Popfly Web Page Creator
Popfly Mashup Creator	Popfly Block Creator

If there is enough interest, then I'll do a part two on building mashups, and a part three on creating Popfly blocks.

I've put together a beginner's introduction into Silverlight on CodeProject.com. The article covers how to use Silverlight to create the famous Sierpinki Triangle fractal. It's really meant to help someone who wants to create their first Silverlight experience, but then again maybe that's you?

Sierpinski Triangle - An Introduction into Silverlight by Example

Yeah, I was tempted to name it, Chris Craft's Custom Clock Block officially, and then I decided to just name it Clock.

There didn't appear to be an easy way to get access to Date and Time information in Popfly, so I figured it would make for a good test case for my first custom Popfly block.

Clock Block

• displayMilitaryTime
• displayTime
• getSeconds
• getMinutes
• getHours
• getDay
• getDate
• getMonth
• getFullYear
• getTime
• about

Clock Block Popfly Example Application: Clockr

 I made a quick application to see Clock Block in action. It takes the current military time and grabs images off of flickr for each digit and makes a Ransom Note clock out of it.

As you can see in the screenshot it was 15:08:46, a little after 3pm, when I took the screenshot.

I've been using Popfly for just a short while now, and while I do enjoy the drag and drop visual design surface, it doesn't lend itself to text lists very well. Sometimes I just want a text list of all my possibilities in one place.

This "Cheat Sheet" covers the top 50 official Popfly blocks, and not any end user created blocks. There's almost another 50 of those as well.

I figured I'm probably not the only one so here's my list. I created the list using the Block Inspector Block's getOperations method.

Overtime I'll probably spruce this up some and add more detailed information. Hope it helps!

  BLaugh Block

• getRandomComics
• getComic

 Block Inspector Block

• getOperations
• getAllowedValues

 Calculator Block

• getRandomWholeNumber
• getRandomNumber
• getMaximum
• getMinimum
• round
• add
• subtract
• multiply
• divide

 Carousel Block

• addImage
• setFrameColor
• setAttribution

 Combine Block

• combineTwoLists
• combineThreeLists

 Conversation Block

• addMessage

 Digg Block

• GetStories
• GetPopularStories
• GetUpcomingStories
• GetStoriesByContainer
• GetPopularStoriesByContainer
• GetUpcomingStoriesByContainer
• GetStoriesByTopic
• GetPopularStoriesByTopic
• GetUpcomingStoriesByTopic
• GetStoryByStoryId
• GetStoriesByUser
• GetTopics
• GetTopicByName
• GetUsers
• GetUser
• GetUserFriends
• GetUserFans

 Digital Podcast Block

• Search

 Facebook Block

• getFriends
• getUserInfo
• getPhotosOfMe
• getPhotos
• getPhotoAlbums
• getGroups

 Filter Block

• filter
• truncate

 flickr Block

• getGeotaggedPhotos
• getPhotos
• getTags
• getUserPhotos
• getPhotoset

 Gauge Block

• setValue
• increaseValue

 GameTrailers Block

• getFeeds
• getTrailers

 GeoNames Block

• getLatitudeAndLongitude
• lookupOnPlaceName
• lookupOnLatitudeLongitude
• lookupOnZipCode
• lookupOnCityState

 Image Scaper Block

• getImages
• getUniqueImages

 Image Comment Block

• comment

 Indeed Jobs Block

• search

 Live Spaces Block

• getPhotos
• getFriends
• getLists

 MSN Horoscopes

• getMonthlyHoroscope
• getWeeklyHoroscope
• getDailyHoroscope

 MSN News Feeds

• TopBoxOffice
• JimJubekMoneyCentralColumn
• LizPulliamMoneyCentralColumn
• InCarNation
• TopCelebrities
• TopMovieRentals
• InTheaters
• ComingSoon
• TopStories

 My Live Contacts Block

• getContacts

 News Reader Block

• addNewsItem

 Page Turner Block

• addNewsItem

 PhotoFlip Block

• addImage

 PhotoSphere Block

• addImage

 PhotoStack Block

• addImage

PhotoTiles Block

• addImage

RegExp Block

• getMatches
• isMatch
• isWholeNumber

 RSS Block

• getItems
• getFeed

 SeattlePublicLibrary Block

• getBooks

 Slideshow Block

• addImage

 Snipshot Block

• editImage

 SoapBox Block

• search
• getFeaturedVideos

 Sort Block

• sort

 Stock Quotes

• getStockGraph
• getQuote

 Text Helper Block

• getSubstring
• append
• skipFirstCharacters
• split

 Timer Block

• tick

 Trynt Block

• calculateLoveFactor

 Twitter Block

• getLatestPosts
• getFriendsPosts

 Upcoming Block

• findEvents

 User Input Block

• getText
• getTwoTextValues
• getThreeTextValues
• getChoiceFromDropdown
• getTwoChoicesFromDropdowns
• getThreeChoicesFromDropdowns
• getTextAndChoice

 Video Player Block

• findEvents

 Virtual Earth Block

• addPushpin
• setMapView
• drawLine
• deleteAllPushpins

 Whack-A-Mole Block

• addImage

 Yahoo! Answers Block

• getAnswers

 Yahoo! Images Block

• search

 Yahoo! News Block

• search

 Yahoo! Term Extraction Block

• getTerm

 Yahoo! Traffic Block

• getTrafficForAddress
• getTrafficForZipCode
• getTrafficForCoordinates

 Yahoo! Video Block

• search

 XBox Live Block

• getGamerCard
• getLastPlayedGames
• getPlayerPresence

The Silverlight Launch Pad has been popular, so I figured I start one for Microsoft Popfly as well, and see how it goes.

My Popfly user name is CJCraft (got my invite today) feel free to add me as a friend.

Popfly Core Web Sites

• www.popfly.ms
• Watch the Popfly screencast
• Microsoft Popfly on the MSDN Forums
• Microsoft Popfly official team blog

Popfly Downloads

• Popfly Custom Block Builder SDK

Popfly Videos

• Popfly Video on Channel 9

Popfly Web Sites

• PopflyIt.com

Popfly Blogs

• Popfly Team Blog
• John Montgomery
• Andy Sterland
• Steven Wilssens
• Dan Fernandez
• Adam Nathan
• Aaron Brethorst - [somebody has some invites they are offering - if anyone is interested]
• Somasegar's WebLog

"Moonlight is sculpture."

— Nathaniel Hawthorne

Microsoft Top Banana Silverlight Application: watch Video Interview, watch Video Presentation

Adventures In SoftwareLand: Silverlight is going to be huge for MicroISVs

Hannes Preishuber: Silverlight Slot Machine

Ozzie Rules Blogging: Writing a Windows Sidebar Gadget in Silverlight-dead simple!

Ozzie Rules Blogging: Easily create cool XAML objects from the WMF files/Clipart collection

"The intellect of the wise is like glass; it admits the light of heaven and reflects it."

— Augustus Hare

Ezequiel Jadib - Silverlight: Where to start?: excellent collection of Silverlight resources

The Code Project - Sierpinski Triangle - An Introduction into Silverlight by Example

ScottGu's Blog - Tip/Trick: Supporting Full Screen Mode with Silverlight

Silverlight first steps: Getting started with simple analog clock - Build Silverlight in Notepad

Free: Clinic 5135: Introduction to Developing with Windows® Presentation Foundation and Visual Studio® 2005

"All I know to do is to light the candle that has been given to me."

— Fred Rogers a.k.a. "Mister Rogers"

Web.Next - Silverlight Book: looks like someone is working on a book for Silverlight for MS Press.

Doug Turnure - Silverlight Resources: Doug has a great collection of Silverlight resources.

Page Brooks - Silverlight Isolated Storage: Page discusses how to use Isolated Storage in Silverlight, and how it works, view demo, view source.

Silverlight City - Silverlight News: good site for Silverlight news. It has lots of information without overwhelming you with details.

Microsoft Popfly: "Popfly is the fun, easy way to build and share mashups, gadgets, Web pages, and applications." view the 15 minute screencast.

"I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness for it shows me the stars."

— Og Mandino

Jeff Prosise's Blog - A Touch of Silverlight: has a really cool Silverlight Web comic book catalog viewer, MyComix.

Bryant Likes's Blog - Silverlight Examples: Hong Button, Matrix Digital Rain, iPhone, Rolling Gear, WPF/E Reflection.

Dave Relyea's Blog - Silverlight 1.1 Alpha Layout System and Controls Framework: view demo, view source.

Andy Beaulieu's Blog - Silverlight Rocks!: has created an Asteroids clone, Silverlight Rocks!, view demo, view source.

Mark Heath's Blog - Silver Nibbles: has made a Nibbles clone, Silver Nibbles, view demo, view source.

MSDN Forums: Silverlight General Discussion, Silverlight Designer Issues, Silverlight Developer Issues.

The Sierpinski triangle, also called the Sierpinski gasket, is a fractal named after Wacław Sierpiński who described it in 1915. Originally constructed as a curve, this is one of the basic examples of self-similar sets.

View Silverlight Sierpinski Triangle demo

Download Silverlight Sierpinski Triangle source code

Note: The background stripes are from Stripe Generator - ajax diagonal stripes background designer, very cool Web 2.0 stripe generator.

As promised, I have updated the Silverlights Out game. Really all I did was give it a new paint job, so it looks as cool as it really is. :) Animated scrolling starfield background, transparency, and those cool glass icons everyone likes to use these days.

Silverlights Out 2.0

So you're downloading the eight 743.9 MB files needed to install Visual Studio Code Name "Orcas", and you're thinking to yourself, "Self, there HAS to be a better way."

Well, there is. Two simple registry changes and you can go from 2 maximum downloads to 10!

Oh BTW, we're working with the Registry so you know the drill. Be careful. Enter at your own risk.

Increasing IE's Maximum Concurrent Downloads Setting

1. Click on the Start button and select Run.
   
2. On the Run line type Regedt32.exe and hit Enter.
   This will launch the Registry Editor.
   
3. Locate the following key in the registry:
   

   
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings

4. Click on the Internet Settings Key. Now go to the Edit menu, point to NEW, and click DWORD Value.
   
5. Type MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server for the name of this DWORD Value.
   
6. Double-click on the MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server key you just created and enter the following information:
   
   • Value data: 10
   • Base: Decimal
     
7. When finished press OK.
   
8. Click on the Internet Settings Key. Now go to the Edit menu, point to NEW, and click DWORD Value.
   
9. Type MaxConnectionsPerServer for the name of this DWORD Value.
   
10. Double-click on the MaxConnectionsPerServer key you just created and enter the following information:
    
    • Value data: 10
    • Base: Decimal
      
11. When finished press OK.
    
12. Close the Registry Editor.

It was really hard for me to find the settings needed to configure a server to "serve" Silverlight applications. So I've posted them here. Hopefully it will help someone.

These are really for WPF, but they worked fine for me with deploying Silverlight applications. The key ones are highlighted in a bold green.

Register MIME Types and File Extensions

You must register several MIME types and file extensions so that the browser on the client's system can load the correct handler. You need to add the following types: