The Microsoft journal for developers April 2013 VOL 28 NO 4
MSDN Magazine April 2013 issue

Component Extensions
A Tour of C++/CX

Ready to write your first Windows Store app? One of the first decisions you’ll need to make is whether to use HTML/JavaScript, .NET, or C++. In this article, learn about what makes the C++/CX language extensions for building Windows 8 apps unique and when to use C++/CX to build your Windows Store app.
Thomas Petchel

Bruno Terkaly and Ricardo VillalobosAzure Insider: NoSQL Data in the Cloud with Microsoft Azure Tables
This column introduces you to Azure Tables, a NoSQL technology for storing massive amounts of data offered as a service in the cloud.
Bruno Terkaly
Ricardo Villalobos

 

Online-only Features

MVVM - Maximizing the Visual Designer’s Usage with Design-Time Data

MVVM:   Maximizing the Visual Designer’s Usage with Design-Time Data
In his third MVVM article, Laurent Bugnion explains how you can simulate nonstatic data even at design time by tricking the visual designer into executing some design-time-only code.
Laurent Bugnion

SDL - Using the SDL for LOB Windows 8 Apps

SDL:   Using the SDL for LOB Windows 8 Apps
Part 1 of a two-part series, this article examines the planning phase of the Secure Development Lifecycle (SDL). The article examines how to build security into a Windows Store project, describing how to compile a risk assessment and identify security and privacy requirements.
Tim Kulp

Patterns in Practice - Adding Functionality to an Object: Loading the Right Classes

Patterns in Practice:   Adding Functionality to an Object: Loading the Right Classes
In this column, Peter Vogel continues his exploration of implementing the roles pattern in a typical business scenario by using Microsoft’s Managed Extensibility Framework to select and load the SalesOption objects that the design pattern requires.
Peter Vogel

Leading LightSwitch - Hello, Mobile

Leading LightSwitch:   Hello, Mobile
Microsoft makes getting started with HTML5 even easier in the latest LightSwitch update.
Jan Van der Haegen

ALM Rangers - Simplifying the Configuration of Lab Management 2012

ALM Rangers:   Simplifying the Configuration of Lab Management 2012
Find out how to set up and configure Lab Management 2012 to maximize the benefits of each component and technology involved.
Micheal Learned

Features

Microsoft Office - Exploring the JavaScript API for Office: Data Binding and Custom XML Parts

Microsoft Office:   Exploring the JavaScript API for Office: Data Binding and Custom XML Parts
Here’s part 3 of a series of four in-depth walkthroughs exploring the JavaScript API for Office, focusing on data binding and support for working with custom XML parts.
Stephen Oliver
Eric Schmidt

TFS - Building and Validating Windows Store Apps with Team Foundation Service

TFS:   Building and Validating Windows Store Apps with Team Foundation Service
Learn how to use Team Foundation Service to build your Windows Store apps and validate them using the Windows Apps Certification Kit.
Thomas LeBrun

ALM Rangers - A Treasure Hunt Through ALM Readiness

ALM Rangers:   A Treasure Hunt Through ALM Readiness
Learn the UX design considerations, coding principles and techniques the ALM Rangers used in developing an instructional Windows Store “treasure map” app to help increase ALM proficiency.
ALM Rangers

CLR - Classification and Prediction Using Adaptive Boosting

CLR:   Classification and Prediction Using Adaptive Boosting
James McCaffrey explain a fascinating technique called adaptive boosting classification, which uses training data to generate a large collection of very simple rules of thumb that are then weighted and combined to improve their predictive quality.
James McCaffrey

Columns

Modern Apps
Power Your Modern Apps with Microsoft Azure Mobile Services
It’s a complete set of cross-platform, back-end services for rapid modern app development, and Rachel Appel shows you how to set it up in Visual Studio, explains how the API works and demonstrates the necessary coding to get started.
Rachel Appel

Cutting Edge
Essential Facebook Programming: Widgets and Timeline
Learn about the tools and techniques to view and retrieve content from a Facebook wall in order to share it through other means and catalog it for something else, such as business intelligence analysis.
Dino Esposito

Data Points
Why Does Entity Framework Reinsert Existing Objects into My Database?
Entity Framework sometimes reinserts existing objects into databases. In the first of a two-part series, Julie Lerman explains why this happens, and how you can avoid it.
Julie Lerman

The Working Programmer
Capturing Important Business Logic
On April 1, Ted Neward pays homage to his feline friends and introduces an important language for your .NET programming toolbox: LOLCODE.
Ted Neward

DirectX Factor
Streaming and Manipulating Audio Files in Windows 8
Windows 8 makes it easy to write programs that can access individual music files. Using DirectX components is more difficult, but adds versatility, as Charles Petzold describes.
Charles Petzold

Don't Get Me Started
Coining Currency
One of the delights of writing this column is that I get to see lots of new things. Sometimes their creators forget to name them, so I get to do it.
David Platt

Editor's Note
Patterns in Practice
Check out the new Patterns in Practice on the MSDN Magazine Web site.
Michael Desmond