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Words from the CTO
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100-year-old Economic Lesson Still Relevant Today
Bernardo Castilho, Chief Technology Officer
This time of year if you're part of any conversation for long enough you'll likely hear these words uttered without much enthusiasm: taxes, IRS, fiscal, and budget. No matter your situation, these words apply to each of us in some way. For many, it's a goal to figure out how to make ourselves and our businesses financially fit in 2013.
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I recall a lesson I learned in economics years back about opportunity cost, which you may remember too, "The cost of any activity measured in terms of the value of the best foregone alternative that is given up when that action is taken."
Now think about how this relates to your .NET development efforts and using third-party controls from vendors like ComponentOne. In this issue of the Tech Connection, you'll find case studies about customers saving countless development time and cost by choosing to use ComponentOne controls in their applications. I encourage you to read the case study and watch the video case study to realize the value others like you have experienced by spending more of their time on business logic rather than building controls.
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Featured Article
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The Power of Names
Sean Lawyer, Product Manager
Spread is the go-to control for embedding Microsoft Excel-compatible spreadsheet functionality into your .NET, ASP.NET, Silverlight, WPF, Windows Store, and COM applications. For all platforms, the control is easy to customize using the Spread Designer (or code if you prefer). In this example we'll show how to modify your spreadsheet by assigning names. |
Most people familiar with spreadsheets know about assigning names for cells and ranges. The "name box" shows the name for the cell or range selected in Spread and Excel. Names can be much more though; for example, any valid formula expression can be set for a name. Read the full article.
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What's New
Case Study: Silverlight Controls
| Robert Stewart, Senior Database Administrator, set out to review multiple control vendor offerings for the Microsoft Silverlight platform. Read about his experience with the grids, charts, and other controls inside OLAP for Silverlight. |
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Video Case Study: Jet CRM
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Long-time ComponentOne user, Greg Gum, shows off his CRM built using ComponentOne Silverlight controls, specifically FlexGrid and RichTextBox. The fast and flexible grid and rich textbox along with the responsive support team has made Greg a huge fan of ComponentOne. Watch the video case study. |
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Webcast Series: Windows 8 WinRT XAML
This multi-part introductory level webcast series will familiarize you with Windows Store application development using XAML and C#. Register for one or all three webcasts at no cost. All webcasts take place at 2:00PM Eastern Time (ET). |
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 February 28, 2:00PM ET
Part 1: A Look at Windows 8 Tile, Collection View, Calendar, Chart, and TileView Controls
Learn about the Tile, Collection View Class, Calendar, and TileView controls from Studio for WinRT XAML. This webcast covers the control features in depth and shows examples to get you started with coding.
March 14, 2:00PM ET
Part 2: A Look at Windows 8 PdfViewer, Date Time Editor, Input, Layout Panel, and FlexGrid Controls
We'll continue to explore Windows 8 controls by showcasing the PdfViewer, Date Time Editors, Input, Layout Panels, and FlexGrid controls from Studio for WinRT XAML. Learn about the control features in depth and get started with coding.
April 4, 2:00PM ET
Part 3: A Look at Windows 8 Gauges, ListBox, Zip, and TreeView Controls
In the last webcast of the three-part series, we'll wrap up the Windows 8 control discussion with the Gauges, ListBox, Zip, and TreeView controls from Studio for WinRT XAML. We'll go over the control features in depth and demonstrate examples to get you coding.
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Facebook Contest: Chance to Win a Surface
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Browse recipes from the .NET Gurus Can Cook! second edition cookbook, and vote for your favorite recipe. Just by "Liking" ComponentOne on Facebook and "Liking" your favorite recipe, you're entered into a Microsoft Surface drawing! To enter: Like ComponentOne and Like a recipe from the May the Best Recipe Win album. |
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INETA Recognizes Russ Fustino with the INETA Lifetime Achievement Award
| INETA has recognized Russ Fustino as the 2012 winner of the INETA Lifetime Achievement award. At a reception held during the 2013 MVP Global Summit in Redmond, WA, Joseph Guadagno, president of INETA North America, presented Fustino with the award citing the significant contributions Fustino has made to the software development community over many years. Read more. |
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What People are Saying
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"The only .NET control tools we trust. They scale well and meet all the needs of our diverse development needs (Web, WinForms, etc.). We have retired all other vendors as a result." Rick Erickson, Senior Systems Architect |
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"Overall I found the Studio for Entity Framework capable and well thought out. If you are already using the Entity Framework this product will fit into your environment with little effort in return for greater flexibility and greater robustness in your solutions." Tim Murphy, Solution Architect at PSC Group, LLC |
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"I am really enjoying the Calendar control for Windows 8, it is very easy to use and it has saved me hours of programming." Jonathas Sucupira, Software Developer at Bloomin Brands |
Webcast Center
Upcoming Webcasts: Free to Attend
Tips for Creating EPUB Manuals, Guides, and Books: This webcast covers tips and tricks including single-sourcing to EPUB, reviews documentation options for EPUB, EPUB properties, and how to create MOBI (for Kindle) with Calibre.
March 26, 3:00PM (ET) Register
Introducing Doc-To-Help: This webcast lays out the essential features and technologies that Doc-To-Help uses to encompass every aspect of your software documentation project. Topics covered include customization and creation of the Table of Contents, Context IDs, and the Index, as well as an overview of how the software works, tips, tricks, and best practices.
March 13, 3:00PM (ET) Register
March 28, 3:00PM (ET) Register
April 10, 3:00PM (ET) Register
Event Center
ComponentOne supports and sponsors community and developer events throughout the world, including conferences, code camps, tech fests, and user group meetings. Here is a list of upcoming events:
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Nebraska Code Camp: Lincoln, NE | March 15-16, 2013 |
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Orlando .NET Code Camp: Orlando, FL | March 16, 2013 |
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Utah Code Camp: Salt Lake City, UT | March 23, 2013 |
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DevIntersection: Las Vegas, NV | MGM Grand | April 8-11, 2013 |
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Code PaLOUsa: Louisville, KY | April 25-27, 2013 |
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Fluent: San Francisco, CA | May 28-30, 2013 |
Survey Center
What is your experience with Visual Studio LightSwitch?
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