If you are a software developer who uses Microsoft Developer Network often, then you might be well aware of this neat little feature.
A feature which allows you to add certain articles, tips and resources from their portal to a set of pages and then export it to PDF neatly.
As a newbie in to development, I find this feature really useful. It allows me to 'take-away' certain really good articles as PDF documents so I can read them in my leisure time, offline.
How to use the export to PDF feature
Let's see in detail as to how to make use of this feature:
First of all, you must have a Microsoft Windows Live ID to sign in and use this export option. Creating a Live ID is simple and you can use any email address as the user name for your new Microsoft account, including addresses from Outlook.com, Yahoo! or Gmail. If you already sign in to a Windows PC, tablet, or phone, Xbox Live, Outlook.com, or OneDrive, use that account to just directly sign in to the Developer Network.
Once you sign in to the developer network, head to the different dev resource portals available in the library.
There if you want to include a page to your set of pages to be exported, just right click on the page link (given on left side of the screen) and select Add this page. This also alerts you before adding - if there are too many pages within that group.
You can also browse to the page you would like to read, select Export on top right side of the screen and within the options given under Export feature, you can click Add this page. You will also find Manage pages on the same options strip.
Clicking on Manage Pages is where you will find the next steps - especially exporting your added contents to PDF. Here you'll find Advanced Options section which helps you select what kinds of
- Example Code Languages you prefer,
- to include community content or not,
- if you find any localized content - if you would want that to be translated or not.
Once the content creation is done, the PDF can be downloaded by hitting the download button. This contains neatly organized information with links working within the PDF document.
PDF ready to download
The PDF document looks like this after downloading:
Conclusion
The opportunities and resources in the Microsoft Developer Network are really good and organized, in my opinion. They offer subscription options, code samples, software developer tools and frameworks, app development guidance, cloud and server details, developer access to downloads and builds, innovative options and access to libraries and various other options. Sometimes, you can get access to latest build sets and information, fundamentals, game design aesthetics and promo offers, discounts too.
Am not that great a fan of Microsoft. I love Apple and their developer programs. However, for Microsoft, this portal definitely is organized and useful - especially for the Microsoft related development purposes. Hence thought of posting this for the benefit of everyone who might be new to the MSDN and aren't aware of the export to PDF feature.
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Written by +Arun Sarathy
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