RavenDB - locked database base when running Azure emulator

Thought I'd note this down for anyone observing this in the future - this was purely down to user (me) error!If you ever find yourself using the embedded version of RavenDB in an asp.net based azure hosted service running in the azure emulator locally don't play around with azure instance settings as it can f**k-up royally and cause you no end of pain with your RavenDB instance.Specifically if you change the number of instance to anything other...

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Configuring default page for azure service

Been playing around with Azure for a week or so now and I'm starting to get my head round it, to be honest it ain't that difficult. @RichGee & I are going to be deploying RESTful services into the cloud for our shiney ninja project and whilst we are spiking these out I wanted to be able to set the default page, you know something like 'default.html'.Now this was easy when hosting a service in IIS, all you had to do was specify the default document...

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Getting app feedback from windowsphone.com

I was chatting with my good friend Denis (@dhaman) about user feedback for the apps he's produced for the iPhone & droid app stores and just like the WP7 app store they all fall short in supporting your app once released out into the wild. I was also reading the final post in the '31 days of mango...' by @jeffblankenburg and he talks about promoting your app, he mentions the great work Nick (@spacescape) did originally for...

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Observations on web service design for mobile devices

This post was prompted by my use of back end third party services for the FINDaPAD app and my recent set of posts about push pins and Bing Maps control. I want to explore the affect the design of the back end services can have on a mobile app UX & UI design.For FINDaPAD we make use of two sets of third party services, Nestoria & UK Crime API. Nestoria is a property search service for the UK and other countries whilst UK Crime API provides...

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How many pins can Bing Maps handle in a WP7 app - part 3

I've finally got round to finishing this 3 part series about manipulating push pins on the Bing Maps control in WP7 - the final part took longer than expected!In the first part I showed what happens to memory usage and UI performance when you have to many pins to show and how virtualizing the pins can reduce and improve both of these. In the second part I showed how you could optimise the HTTP calls to the back end services and how scrolling around...

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Setting up RavenDB in IIS 7.5

I started exploring RavenDB today and the first part was to get an instance running under IIS, specifically running under IIS 7.5 (Windows 7). This is a quick post to help explain a very simple issue I had because of my lack of familiarity with IIS 7.5.I downloaded the latest binaries and followed the instructions for setting up RavenDB can be found here. This was very quick and simple, I thought I had everything working, but...

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Please welcome FINDaPAD to the WP7 app store

I'm proud to announce the release of FINDaPAD into the WP7 app store, it's been a long journey working on this app and I'd like to thank my co-workers Rich & Nick for all their hard work. We've spent the last 6 months working on this at the weekends and as with all software released to market the last few weeks seem to have been the hardest.So what is a FINDaPAD? FINDaPAD is a property search app for buy or rental...

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Tessellating shapes on top of Bing Maps in a WP7 app - part 2

In my previous post I showed how to tessellate polygons over Bing Maps control. This was a demonstration of how to achieving tessellation over the map control for a WP7 app. The problem is this is a sub-optimal solution from a UI perspective. This post shows how I've changed to code to use an asynchronous pattern for creating the polygons. The code is available for download.The primary problem with the solution is not the actual calculation...

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