I'm tyring to figure out what the best way to do this, and haven't really been able to come up with a good solution

Okay, here now.

@TomWijsman oh good! :)

I really wished they fixed Chrome for me, or I probably should go for a clean profile.

@Bob: Yeah, not a problem. Just saying, it takes a lot of effort to really hide the source.

So here's the deal, the SE.Api allows me to download all the sites basic info (logo url, name, etc,.)

Perhaps an option is to only provide ngen'ed binaries.

I'm trying to figure out the best way to store that data without have to pull it all up when the user first pulls up the data

My current idea, is to save a file with these:

SiteName: LogoURL: IconURL: Audience(used as a brief description):

@TomWijsman I thought that only worked on the local computer?

and then load those at startup, if the file doesn't exist then I'll load download the data

if the user want to update the list, then I'll update the file list

@KronoS You could use that settings thing

@Bob Not sure, but there shouldn't be that much difference, 32 vs 64 vs ia64?

@KronoS No.

@Bob No.

Use a database, please.

eh, time to break out SQLite? :P

seriously, though, use a DB? seems a little overkill

I tossed the idea of using sqlite but since it's a single table, and sqlite require multiple project per architechture i didn't want to go that route unless necessary

@Bob And a database doesn't have to impose a sever like SQL Server, also no tertiary solutions like SQLite. You can just use a SQL database that saves to a mdb file.

@Bob that was my thought

@TomWijsman then what do you suggest?

@KronoS weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2010/07/16/…

Entity Framework 4: Code First (Means you work with entities that get saved into database tables for you, it generates these tables based on a model (class with properties) you make in code)

As for migrating to newer versions of the database, blogs.msdn.com/b/adonet/archive/2012/02/09/… can help with that.

I don't know why, but MSDN articles aren't loading for me right now :/

It's also possible to create a pure T-SQL database from some model or by pure SQL code, but entities make things easier, allow you to use LINQ queries and all that.

also, @TomWijsman I'm not sure that works for WinRT platforms (Windows Store App)

@KronoS Hmm, interesting fact there, I'd hope they do or otherwise they have just made yet another reason to lose my interest.

@TomWijsman they've lost your interest I'm pretty sure

:p

wp.qmatteoq.com/…

> As a little surprise for developers, Windows 8 doesn’t come out with native database support.

@KronoS: Okay, they did.

This lists some alternatives.

Seems closest approach is using WCF / ODATA which you could let talk to some database back end, but that's sad.

@KronoS: Looking back at the two suggestions, manual text files are probably going to lock you down when you go for more advanced features and aren't as efficient as a database. If you're planning to support something like search it might not be handy to save the entire list of questions in a text file.

No clue what the deal with Properties is, but I don't see how you'd reasonably create something database like on that.

@TomWijsman I don't plan on storing the questions at all

But at the moment it's just basic site data

@Bob ya exactly

heck, you could probably pull this information on the fly

You don't want your full database loaded into memory, which is why you shouldn't use Properties, I think.

@Bob not as easy as you think...

there's no point trying to browse SE if it's down

@KronoS why not?

@KronoS: Hmm, you could pull it all, but doesn't that use a lot of bandwidth?

@TomWijsman it's just site data, relatively small

SE has a lot of sites, and pulling those all everytime the app starts takes up quite a bit of resources

@TomWijsman exactly

@Bob: Don't forget there's the rate limit...

@TomWijsman that's going to be more of an issue for questions

@Bob I agree that the data is fairly small, but it's still more than I want to deal with on a daily basis, especially since the data will stay fairly static

@Bob Planning on listing the trilogy, with the settings pane listing all site for the user to enable/disable

You could have just a couple of 'favourite' sites, considering most people won't care about the majority of SE ites

@KronoS Another option, although this involves more resources on your part, is to create a service that tracks activity. You could then have the client tell "I have everything till datetime X" and then your service would sent that client an update set with the edits and new questions so that the client can be updated to have datetime Y.

The service would just query everything between datetime X and Y and send that to the client.

oh, be careful when using fromdate and todate

@TomWijsman thought about that too, but I think I'll leave it up to the user to update for more sites

This data isn't going to change all that much

stackapps.com/q/3733/14033

@Bob It might be possible to base this of the activity date, although I don't think fromdate/todate use that.

did the link come up? stackapps.com/q/3733/14033

timeout issues :\

Yes.

@TomWijsman unless you can really convince me otherwise (i.e. find a way to easily implement a db), I think I'm going to go with the static file for now

@KronoS: You know, first time I wanted to try to write some cheap simple web browser to experiment some what and I was quite disappointed that you couldn't simply fetch something from HTTP like you could in .NET...

And I did spent quite some time on figuring that out, just to see it's not supported in any way.

If you were to fetch all sites, it's only 13 kB

in a single request

api.stackexchange.com/2.1/sites?pagesize=10000

Quite some high-level things present, but it made me clueless over how Chromium or Firefox would implement that. Also, how did you do this? Do they support arbitrary HTTP requests by now? :P

> The pagesize parameter for this method is unbounded, in acknowledgement that for many applications repeatedly fetching from /sites would complicate start-up tasks needlessly.

@KronoS That SO question listed some alternatives.

@TomWijsman using WebRequest & WebResponse classes

So it looks like SQLite is my only option

and:

@KronoS So... They added / ported System.Net functionality. o_O

> SQLite - AFAIK it works, but doesn't pass the store certification yet

@TomWijsman yes... I think

ya... it's a slimmed down version though I think

@KronoS Yeah, creating Windows Store apps is painful at the moment imo...

Or they might assume that all developers use some web service to store their data at.

Alright, Alright, I'll check out SQLite

wp.qmatteoq.com/…

> After the Windows Phone Summit (where Microsoft announced Windows Phone 8), the situation started to be more clear: SQLite will be the database officialy supported by Microsoft and SQLite will be officially released both for Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8.

> We’ll use for this example a very simple class, that can be used to store a list of person.

At least that part feels Code First / Entity like... :D

SQLite.Indexed(Name = "IndexVAT",Order = 0,Unique = true)

what does that mean?

@KronoS ...my eyes hurt.

@Bob i know right

Grr... I know nothing about databases

@TomWijsman you familiar with SQLite at all?

@KronoS Not really.

@KronoS Just guessing, I think that's some sort of constructor that creates something indexed which has the name IndexVAT, has some Order that's 0 and is Unique.

Index / Unique is usually placed on a Column in a database.

So, Order specifies some order, dunno what kind of order though...

@TomWijsman you around still?

Yes.

Need to bounce another idea off of ya

Btw, the db was dead on... It works real nice

I'm trying to figure out how configure the list of site the user may want to add...

There are ~190 of them

ACtually 183

I was originally going to use the Setting panel, but now, I'm not so sure...

@TomWijsman any thoughts?

Also where should I store that list? In the DB?

@KronoS: Yeah, a DB table with sites is perhaps interesting. Then you can later add columns to that to do per-site configuration.

is putting all 183 sites on the setting panel worth while?

@KronoS: Hmm, tricky. Perhaps some way to select which site you're configuring at the moment. Sounds like evaluating different layouts / approaches might be needed here.

@KronoS you can expect it to change, though

should at least grab an updated version every now and then

crap programming C is awkward, guess I should pick up K&R again

@OliverSalzburg it seems I'll be needing your help :P

@IvoFlipse What's up?

<-- wants a Nexus 4 & 10 ^^

Oh, I see :D

There's a Media Markt around here

I was shopping for HDDs there the last time I was at this client

I'm not sure if the Media Markt sells them and they will probably mark it up significantly

I needz Play Store version :P

@IvoFlipse You got an URL for me?

Seems like I'm finding it myself right now...

It says they'll be available tomorrow

Yeah, I'm just too excited that I already started bothering you right now, hehe

I blame the coffee

@IvoFlipse Heheheh

I just hope I can let them go once I order them ;D

@OliverSalzburg I know an easy fix for that, how about I pay you once I have them :P

@IvoFlipse Oh, of course, I just suddenly feel the need to own a Nexus as well :D

@OliverSalzburg So order 2 :P

Well 3, because I also need the tablet

:D

There's really nothing wrong with my phone right now. wtf is wrong with me :P

I'd be happy to order for you

Would they ship directly to your place?

Nope insert sad pandaface

What does the shop say when it's released in .nl?

And what's the reason anyway?

It does not

We don't have a Play Store yet and there are reports that if we have to wait for LG to sell it, it'll be more expensive and won't arrive until the end of the month

I see

And though I'm going to Dusseldorf somewhere this week, the delivery is probably not very predictable, so I'd rather not have my planning rely on it

@IvoFlipse It says 3-5 business days

So I wouldn't count on arrival this week either

You can link a device to your Google account during purchase

Neat

I wonder if it'll automatically sync up when you power it on :D

I hope not :P

Indeed :D

At least not until I put in my password ;P

I have 2-way auth anyway, so I could simply retract access

Same here

Btw I'm not worried about it not being delivered this week, but at least I'll know it will come

I like the "charge without cable" feature of the Nexus 4

They don't sell it in the bundle though

I imagine myself on the road, first plugging in the mat, then placing my phone on the mat to charge wirelessly :P

I have a sticky mat for the car, which works fabulously. But obviously its not inductive

@IvoFlipse I hope the system catches on

So do I

...now that we have standardized chargers

just as I hope the new tablet will make developers take the Android tablet eco-system seriously

I believe the tablet doesn't have a proprietary charging port either

hurray!

@IvoFlipse I'm really missing Chrome on my girlfriends Galaxy Tab

Missing lots of stuff actually :P

I guess its not running Jelly Bean?

@IvoFlipse Hell no :D

Guess you need to order both of each :P

Honeycomb IIRC

lol

Or a Nexus 7

I miss JB after I downgraded to CM9.1 :(

I installed a Jelly Bean port on my GFs Desire HD, but its not really stable

So I want her to have my Galaxy Nexus instead ^^

I'm still torn between getting the 16 or 32 Gb Nexus 10

Yeah, the JB ROM I used was horribly unstablöe

Though I honestly think I'll never use the extra storage

Paying 50€ for 8GB feels wrong :P

Paying 100 euro for 16 even worse

Indeed

It still supports SD cards though, doesn't it?

It sadly does not

Oh

The Nexus 4 neither

How come? Any word on that?

Which is one the major complaints reviewers had, together with the lack of LTE and the non-removable battery

Google seems to have sd-cards, because they claim its ambiguous what goes where and whatnot

And they want to push Google Music/Drive and other cloud services

Yeah, makes sense

Which is nice, if they were A: available and B: we had the data plans that allowed you to use them

Drive is working well for me... when I'm online ;P

Its a bit half baked to force people to adopt if you don't try your best to make it as good as possible

Google Music works well, though they should really buy a music app startup and add in their existing features :P

Like automagic playlists

And update my metadata, because I have songs that didn't come out well, with weird artist names or korean letters

I still haven't bought a single MP3 online :P

Or equivalent

And I get duplicated artists, because one char was spelled wrong

@OliverSalzburg They match up to 20.000 from your own collection

@IvoFlipse Would be interesting to see...

I listen to a lot of weird stuff

Most of which isn't even sold commercially

@OliverSalzburg Go to Google Music through a VPN, activate it, done :)

They match if they have it, else they upload it

@IvoFlipse Oh right, last I rememberd it wasn't available in Germany

It will be starting tomorrow I think

Cool

Then I'll definitely give it a try

Just use Tunnelbear (or wait a day)

You know you've screwed up something really bad when the error in the debugger gives you a Catastrophic failure exception

:P

@KronoS Indeed you are

@OliverSalzburg can't you just time travel and order it already?!?

@IvoFlipse Let's see if they unlock at 0:00

@OliverSalzburg Do those things launch local time?

It's been the 13th for almost 11 hours here :P