October 27, 2011 in News
Pumpkin Face Free is now available from the Marketplace. It lets you create fun or spooky pumpkin faces. You can even save them to the Pictures Hub where you can use them later. Here is a link to Pumpkin Face Free.
If you tweet your image to @shazaml, then your face could appear on this site and even as a sample screen in the Marketplace. How about them bragging rights!
September 16, 2011 in News
An update to Compass Expert is available in the Marketplace.
Compass Expert is the only Windows Phone compass that is designed to look and work like a real baseplate compass. Use it for hiking, backpacking, orienteering, scouting, and camping.
Free Trial available.
Features:
1. Set the compass dial and rotate the baseplate until the needle is in the house.
2. See the declination for your current location.
3. Understand important concepts by reading the included guide.
4. Works while in airplane mode and with GPS disabled.
Added in 1.1:
1. Ability to add multiple users; compass settings and training saved per user.
2. Added more entries to the guide.
Direct link: http://windowsphone.com/s?appid=8d988c39-0b30-4599-ba0b-2b75ac876c4a
App.net: http://app.net/compass-expert
September 15, 2011 in Silverlight, Uncategorized, Windows Phone 7
The MSDN documentation gives a walkthrough of how to update a local database application on the Windows Phone over time. The documentation gives quite a bit of detail but seems to miss a likely scenario. So let’s investigate the process step-by-step.
Initial Version
We are creating the first version of our application and decide that we need a User database table with the following columns: Name (primary key), LastAccessedDate
So we create a User class as follows:
[Table]
public class User : INotifyPropertyChanged, INotifyPropertyChanging
{
private string name;
private DateTime? lastAccessed;
[Column(IsPrimaryKey = true, CanBeNull = false, AutoSync = AutoSync.OnInsert)]
public string Name
{
get { return name; }
set
{
NotifyPropertyChanging("Name");
name = value;
NotifyPropertyChanged("Name");
}
}
[Column]
public DateTime? LastAccessed
{
get { return lastAccessed; }
set
{
NotifyPropertyChanging("LastAccessed");
lastAccessed = value;
NotifyPropertyChanged("LastAccessed");
}
}
// Version column aids update performance.
[Column(IsVersion = true)]
private Binary version;
// INotifyPropertyChanged Members
// INotifyPropertyChanging Members
}
September 15, 2011 in Silverlight
The Isolated Storage Explorer (ISETool.exe) is a command-line tool that comes with the Windows Phone SDK. It allows you to copy files and directories from isolated storage on the phone (or emulator) to your PC file system. One use for this is to take snapshots of your database over different versions in order to test upgrade scenarios.
To copy from the emulator’s isolated storage to your computer’s file system use:
ISETool.exe ts xd 11111111-2222-3333-4444-555555555555 “C:\MyApp\DbVersion1″
Where:
To later copy those files from my desktop directory back to isolated storage on the emulator, use:
ISETool.exe rs xd 11111111-2222-3333-4444-555555555555 “C:\MyApp\DbVersion1\IsolatedStore”
In this case rs means restore snapshot.
But the restoring wasn’t working for me. I would restore the snapshot, run my code and no database would be found so my code would create a new database. It took me a few times to notice that what I was doing wrong was reusing the take snapshot command line and changing ts to rs.
But the problem with that is that the directory that you specify with ts is different than the one needed for rs. Notice that rs adds “\IsolatedStore” to the end.
Hopefully this will save you from pulling a few hairs out.
December 15, 2010 in Uncategorized
Just minutes after downloading the WP7 app, I was able to tap out a post. Why did they not use an InputScope that included the word hints?
Posted from WordPress for Windows Phone
November 13, 2010 in Windows Phone 7
App Hub – http://developer.windowsphone.com (http://create.msdn.com/en-US/)
Code Samples (Silverlight) – http://create.msdn.com/en-US/education/catalog/article/wp7_code_samples
Code Samples (XNA) – http://create.msdn.com/en-US/education/catalog/?contenttype=4&devarea=0&platform=0&sort=1
Application Bar Icons for Windows Phone 7
Theme XAML files
Windows Phone Developer Registration
Application Deployment
Capability Detection
Silverlight Performance Analysis tool – Coming Soon (announced at PDC10) – http://www.shazaml.com/archives/silverlight-performance-analysis-tool-coming-soon
Fundamental Concepts – http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff967549(v=VS.92).aspx
Windows Phone Design System – Codename Metro – http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=189338
Design Templates for Windows Phone 7 – http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=196225
UI Design and Interaction Guide for Windows Phone 7 – http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=183218
Summary – http://www.shazaml.com/archives/summary-ui-design-interaction-guide-for-windows-phone-7
Windows Phone 7 Application Certification Requirements – http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9730558
Summary – http://www.shazaml.com/archives/summary-of-windows-phone-7-application-certification-requirements
Top 10 Tips for a Successful Marketplace Certification – http://blogs.msdn.com/b/jodonnell/archive/2010/10/06/windows-phone-7-top-10-tips-for-a-successful-marketplace-certification.aspx
WP7 Training Course – http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/wp7trainingcourse.aspx
Fiddler and the Windows Phone 7 Emulator – http://blogs.msdn.com/b/fiddler/archive/2010/10/15/fiddler-and-the-windows-phone-emulator.aspx
16 MIX10 Videos – http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_phone/b/wpdev/archive/2010/03/17/videos-of-mix10-windows-phone-sessions.aspx
Silverlight and Windows Phone 7 Performance Tips (SilverlightTV) – http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/SilverlightTV/SIlverlight-TV-47-Silverlight-and-Windows-Phone-7-Performance-Tips
PDC10 – http://player.microsoftpdc.com/
Silverlight Video Resources – http://www.silverlight.net/learn/videos/windows-phone/
Silverlight Toolkit (WP7) – http://silverlight.codeplex.com/releases/view/55034
Json.NET – http://json.codeplex.com/
High performance ProgressBar – http://www.jeff.wilcox.name/2010/08/performanceprogressbar/
Sterling Isolated Storage Database – http://sterling.codeplex.com/
LowProfileImageLoader – http://blogs.msdn.com/b/delay/archive/2010/09/02/keep-a-low-profile-lowprofileimageloader-helps-the-windows-phone-7-ui-thread-stay-responsive-by-loading-images-in-the-background.aspx
DeferredLoadListBox – http://blogs.msdn.com/b/delay/archive/2010/09/08/never-do-today-what-you-can-put-off-till-tomorrow-deferredloadlistbox-and-stackpanel-help-windows-phone-7-lists-scroll-smoothly-and-consistently.aspx
Windows Phone 7 Design Templates – http://wp7designtemplates.codeplex.com/
Turnstile control – http://turnstile.codeplex.com/
MVVM Light Toolkit – http://mvvmlight.codeplex.com/
Caliburn Micro – http://caliburnmicro.codeplex.com/
Telerik RadControls for Windows Phone – http://www.telerik.com/products/windows-phone.aspx
Perst database – http://www.mcobject.com/june30/2010
Programming Windows Phone 7 (Charles Petzold) – http://www.charlespetzold.com/phone/
101 Windows Phone 7 Apps, Volume I: Developing Apps 1-50 (Adam Nathan) – pre-order
November 12, 2010 in Silverlight
Learn what the future holds for Silverlight at this online event.
Register today: http://www.silverlight.net/news/events/firestarter/
November 12, 2010 in Silverlight, Windows Phone 7
At PDC10 as part of the keynote, Scott Guthrie showed off the soon-to-be-released Silverlight Performance Analysis tool that would allow developers to profile their Windows Phone 7 applications and identify bottlenecks in frame rate and CPU and relate that back to specific storyboards and even Visual Tree elements.
The below screenshots were taken from the keynote video and you can see the timings at the bottom if you want to watch the video:
In addition to debugging on the device, you can profile the app by selecting Silverlight Performance Analysis:
The device will then be prepared for profiling:
After running the application, a graphical summary will be created with execution time on the x-axis. It shows color-coded frame rates (green is good, red is bad) and relates that to CPU-usage and specific Storyboards:
In the above example, it appears that the first Storyboard might be leading to increased CPU usage and a degraded frame rate. You can highlight and drill down to see details for a specific time frame (from approx 4.5 to 7.5 seconds into the profiling session):
The next screen shows CPU and GPU metrics as well as a list of warnings. The first entry warns about 35 instances of ColorAnimation:
Scrolling down, you will see an Element Summary:
Followed by a Frames section with a CPU usage graph:
And finally the ability to drill down the Visual Tree and see problems highlighted:
This tool would be very helpful in analyzing app performance on the device. ScottGu did not give a specific release date for this or any additional tools that might be coming.
Today I saw that there is a Silverlight Firestarter event scheduled for December 2, 2010 and wonder if the tool will be ready to release then.
It would make a great time to announce it.
November 4, 2010 in Windows Phone 7
Soon many will be experiencing the Windows Phone 7 marketplace as they download apps for their new phones. Here is a list of 7 complaints about the marketplace:
When I submitted the Cousin Calculator app to the marketplace, I was able to enter keywords that would make finding the application easier:
But when I search for the app using one of the keywords, the application doesn’t show in the results:
Currently it is going to be more difficult to find some apps.
Multiple genres in the marketplace have subgenres, but it is not always easy to remember which subgenre goes with each genre. If I explore the SHOPPING subgenre under LIFESTYLE, there are currently 27 apps. If I do a search for “shopping” I only see 6 apps:
Compared to iTunes, the marketplace is missing some categories such as:
So if I am looking for flash cards, the periodic table, or other educational tools and games where in the marketplace should I currently look?
Browsing the apps in the marketplace, currently I see applications for languages that I don’t read. The name of the app is in a foreign language and so are the description and screen shots:
I should be able to specify the languages of apps that I want to see in my results.
You can sort applications by Top selling and Release date and you can see the number of stars for their rating, but you can’t sort by Top rated.
When browsing the marketplace, if you sort by Release date, the only way to see the release date is to click to see the app details. It would be nice if the results showed the apps grouped by date.
When “window shopping” in the marketplace, it would be nice to see the number of apps in each genre and subgenre.
I am hopeful that we will soon see some of these changes coming to the marketplace.
What issues do you see with the marketplace?
What things do you really like about it?
August 12, 2010 in Windows Phone 7
Developers are starting to create games and applications in preparation for the Windows Phone 7 launch at the end of the year. Some applications that I am creating would appear in an Education category if Marketplace had such a category. The App Store has an Education category. So I thought I would do a quick comparison of the categories available in each location.
| Marketplace | App Store |
| Games | Games |
| Entertainment | Entertainment |
| News & Weather: News | News |
| News & Weather: Weather | Weather |
| News & Weather: Sports | Sports |
| Productivity: Time Management
Productivity: Money Management Productivity: Task Management |
Productivity
Finance |
| Social Networks | Social Networking |
| Lifestyle: Health &Fitness
Lifestyle: Recreation Lifestyle: Photography Lifestyle: Shopping Lifestyle: More |
Lifestyle
Healthcare & Fitness Photography |
| Maps & Search: Maps
Maps & Search: Local Search |
Navigation |
| Travel | Travel |
| Business Center: Inventory
Business Center: Dashboards Business Center: Services Business Center: CRM Business Center: Documents Business Center: Data Collection Business Center: Field Service Business Center: Finance Business Center: Health Care Business Center: Manufacturing Business Center: More Business Center: Real Estate Business Center: Time & Expense Business Center: Unified Comms |
Business |
| Reference | Reference |
| Books | Books |
| Tools: Utilities
Tools: Developer Tools |
Utilities |
| Communication | |
| Education | |
| Medical |
At first it appeared that Marketplace was missing four more categories than it was because of its use of nested categories. It turns out that Marketplace is more fine-grained when it comes to Business and it has a Communication category that App Store doesn’t. But Marketplace is missing categories for Education and Medical. I think it is a huge oversight to not have a top-level Education category in Marketplace.
Now let’s compare the Games categories between the two stores:
| Marketplace | App Store |
| Action | Action |
| Classic | |
| Board | Board |
| Card & Casino | Card
Casino |
| Education | Educational |
| Family & Kids | Family
Kids |
| Music | Music |
| Driving | Racing |
| Strategy | Strategy |
| Simulation | Simulation |
| Sports | Sports |
| Word & Puzzle | Puzzle
Word |
| Adventure | |
| Arcade | |
| Dice | |
| Role Playing | |
| Trivia |
It is surprising to see that App Store has 5 more categories than Marketplace with Classic being the only category that Marketplace has that App Store doesn’t.
I suspect that as more applications are developed for (or ported to) the Windows Phone 7 that developers will be asking Microsoft to add categories to Marketplace.