What is In the Box?

In the Box is a high quality, multi-media training that is consumed within Visual Studio 2010. Content is navigated and delivered using a next generation computer based training (CBT) experience, the Visual Studio 2010 Feature Extension.

In the Box is a brand name for a series of CBT Feature Extensions I’ll release that are listed in the Visual Studio 2010 Add New Project dialog; see below image. This release is MVVM Training, the next will be Prism Training.

In the Box features:

Visual Studio 2010 Feature Extension
Content delivered as text, code, images, diagrams, video, or hyperlinks to the Internet
Hierarchical navigation tool window for content navigation
Content is viewed inside Visual Studio 2010 tool windows
No additional downloads or dependencies; all content is in the box (except online videos)
Installed and updated from the Visual Studio Gallery
Managed (disabled or uninstalled) using Visual Studio Extensions Manager (see bottom of this page)
Authored using Microsoft Word and the Instant Feature Builder

What is in this Release of In the Box?

Please watch this video as it will answer most of your questions.

This installment of In the Box contains in-depth MVVM Training that includes an eleven assembly example solution with projects targeting developers at different levels of experience.

Who is the Target Audience?

If you have never used MVVM before, this training is for you.
If you have been using MVVM for a while and want to learn more, this training is for you.
If you are an expert, you will enjoy the MVVM Technical Description and MVVM Scenarios content.

What are the Requirements to Install In the Box?

Visual Studio 2010 Professional, Premium, or Ultimate.

For those developers using Visual Studio 2010 Express or Visual Studio 2008, you can use the links in the below download section to download a .mht version of the content along with the sample solution source. The .mht file can be viewed in your browser by double clicking the file in Windows Explorer.

Please note: I have not tested this solution with the Express version.

Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 Users

In order to run Feature Builder on either XP or Server 2003, you must create an environment variable named LocalAppData (set by default on Windows Vista and Windows 7).

How to Add LOCALAPPDATA variable in Windows XP:

Right-click on the My Computer icon and choose Properties
Click Advanced
Click Environment Variables
Under User variables section, click New
In the Variable name: field, type LOCALAPPDATA
In the Variable value: field, type %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data

How do I install In the Box?

Click on this Visual Studio Gallery Link and install from there.

After I Install it, How Do I Get Started?

Open Visual Studio 2010; File, New Project, Visual C#, In the Box, MVVMTraining.

Videos

In the Box – MVVM Training Introduction video

Downloads

In the Box – MVVM Training on the Visual Studio Gallery

Visual Studio Express and Visual Studio 2008 Developers download the written content and sample application from my:

SkyDrive click here to download

Note the link is to a folder; you will want to download both .zip files in the folder.

Have a great day,

Just a grain of sand on the worlds beaches.

Filed under: CodeProject, In the Box, M-V-VM, Microsoft, MVVM, Prism, Silverlight, Tips, Uncategorized, VB.NET, Visual Studio 2010, WPF General

In the Box – MVVM Training