Windows Phone 7 Silverlight Cookbook

Table of Contents

Windows Phone 7 Silverlight Cookbook

Credits

Foreword

About the Authors

About the Reviewers

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Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Downloading the example code

Errata

Piracy

Questions

1. Layout and Design

Introduction

Downloading the tools

Understanding the tools

Visual Studio 2010 Express

Expression Blend for Windows Phone

Windows Phone Emulator

Also included in the download

Creating simple navigation

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Using Positioning controls

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works

Discovering the various input controls

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works

There's more...

ViewStateManager introduction

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Understanding the panorama control

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Using the pivot control

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

2. Creating Animation

Introduction

Using ViewStateManager to create simple animations

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

The basics of timelines

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Using timelines for feedback to users

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

3. Behaviors and Events

Introduction

Understanding events

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Understanding basic behaviors

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

ControlStoryBoardAction

GoToStateAction

PlaySoundAction

Custom behavior

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Physics engine behavior

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

4. DataBinding 101/MVVM

Introduction

A case for MVVM

Separation of Concerns

Testability

Reusability

Creating a simple model

Getting ready

How to do it...

There's more...

Creating a ViewModel

Getting ready

How to do it...

There's more...

Creating a view

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Element-to-element binding

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

5. Services, Data, and RSS

Introduction

Creating a WCF service to access a SQL database

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Using a WCF service in a Windows Phone application

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Building a simple RSS reader

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

6. Location Services

Introduction

Tracking latitude and longitude

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Tracking altitude, speed, and course

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more…

See also

Saving battery by using a location wisely

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Using location services with the emulator

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more…

See also

Mapping your location

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

7. Push Notifications to the Phone

Introduction

Updating the tile background without push

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Creating a service to send notifications

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Registering for push notifications

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Creating a notifications helper

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Creating toast notifications

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Authenticated Push Notifications

8. Launchers and Choosers

Introduction

Automating e-mails

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Handling common About Us tasks

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Scanning barcodes

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Debugging tips

Trigger happy Chooser

Enabling photo extras

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Tombstoning

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Methods of persisting state

Not all Launchers and Choosers are the same

Tombstone events

9. Sensing with Sensors

Introduction

Orienting your app

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

PortraitDown orientation

That mic is hot

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Accelerating your apps

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Developing the touch

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Shaking it up

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Pinching with ease

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more…

10. Preparing Apps for the Marketplace

Introduction

Configuring capabilities

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Automated capabilities detection

Maintaining responsiveness

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Adding trial support

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Creating iconography

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Submitting an app

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Free app submissions

Getting paid

Download reports

Localization

Index

Windows Phone 7 Silverlight Cookbook

Windows Phone 7 Silverlight Cookbook

Copyright © 2011 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the authors, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: August 2011

Production Reference: 1180811

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

Livery Place

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Birmingham B3 2PB, UK

ISBN 978-1-849691-16-1

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Cover Image by Asher Wishkerman (<wishkerman@hotmail.com>)

Credits

Authors

Jonathan Marbutt

Robb Schiefer Jr.

Reviewers

Cory Smith

Kelum Peiris

Tom McLeod

Acquisition Editors

David Barnes

Steven Wilding

Development Editor

Hithesh Uchil

Technical Editor

Pallavi Kachare

Copy Editor

Leonard D'Silva

Project Coordinator

Zainab Bagasrawala

Proofreader

Aaron Nash

Indexer

Monica Ajmera

Graphics

Geetanjali Sawant

Production Coordinator

Alwin Roy

Cover Work

Alwin Roy

Foreword

I am delighted that Jonathan and Robb undertook the task of writing this book. Both Jonathan and Robb have been involved in the .NET community for a number of years and developed a passion for the Windows Phone. With this book, they have decided to share their knowledge and experience with their readers to help developers dive into doing more with Windows Phone.

When we began rebuilding the Phone, the goal was to do this over multiple releases and keep iterating on feedback rapidly to take the platform forward. In doing so, the platform evolved with the developers consuming it and aligned to their needs. The premise of using platforms like Silverlight and XNA as the basis was founded by the need to make it simple and familiar, and also enable rapid development of a large volume of high quality applications. We also attempted to stitch together the end-to-end story Microsoft had to offer between the tools, the platforms, the phone operating system, and the various services in the company.

When I was approached to write this foreword by Scott Guthrie and Jonathan, I was personally skeptical given the risk of capturing so much in so little. By reading the book, I have personally had a refresher of the various constructs we have enabled over the year and feel that the authors have done a good job telling the end-to-end story.

The book embodies the basic construct of Windows Phone development, namely, to simplify and enable. Jonathan and Robb have taken the essence of what is required to get started and develop applications rapidly which is a key to mobile development. The market continues to evolve rapidly and hence the need for efficient development strategies including quick learning.

I hope the readers of this book learn and are able to develop high quality and attractive applications to help differentiate themselves in the highly competitive market.

Akhil Kaza

Development Manager Silverlight for Windows Phone

About the Authors

Jonathan Marbutt at the early age of ten, began to learn building simple games to amuse his friends and family. Twenty years later, he still has the passion for technology and development. Jonathan loves to share his passion with other developers by writing for his blog and various books as well as speaking at many user groups and technology conferences. Throughout the past three years, Jonathan's focus has primarily been on working with Silverlight and its most recent version for Windows Phone 7. Through this newest version for Windows Phone 7, Jonathan has been able to work on many high profile applications that are rated as some of the most downloaded applications.

Jonathan is also currently the Vice President and Co-founder of WayCool Software, Inc. based in Birmingham, AL which provides solutions for non-profit organizations. Jonathan has also been providing consulting services through his latest venture JM TechWare, Inc. where he helps provide both User Experience and architectural guidance on Silverlight, Windows Phone 7, and WPF applications. In addition to development, Jonathan has co-authored Visual Basic 2010 and .Net 4, published by Wrox Press.

Thank you to my beautiful wife Jennifer for being by my side while writing this book and putting up with the late nights that I worked to get it done. Thank you for supporting me and always being there for me. You are truly the love of my life.

Thank you to my precious little girl, Kathryn, for always brightening my day and making me enjoy the little things in life. Thank you for always making me laugh and always having a smile no matter what is going on. I love you so much and and love getting to be there to watch you grow up.

Thank you to my parents for encouraging me at an early age to pursue my passion and providing me the means to do so. I wouldn't be the person I am today without your help.

Robb Schiefer Jr. is a follower of Christ, husband to the perfect wife, and father of two beautiful girls. Coincidentally, he is also a successful .NET software developer which is a better qualification for writing a programming book.

His development career started while working part-time during college where he learned graphic design basics and built simple data-driven PHP websites. After college, he worked for a small startup on a VB6 application for educators and learned .NET by jumping head first into building a complimentary ASP.NET site. Since then, he has worked as a .NET developer for a market leading, privately held corporation with a global presence. This enterprise environment has provided many unique challenges and learning opportunities. He currently leads a development team in the company's latest development efforts, mentors many developers, and plays a leading role in planning the company's .NET architecture.

Prior to the announcement of Windows Phone 7, he had little experience with Silverlight, but always wanted to learn it. WP7 provided the perfect opportunity to learn Silverlight in a defined space and on a smaller scale. He currently has several apps in the marketplace and has plans for many more (if he ever gets this book done).

I would first like to thank my wonderful wife for her continual support and love (especially while writing the book). Also for her work at home with our two precious girls and in the future, number three. And four? I couldn't ask for a better wife, thank you and I love you. Second I would like to thank Jonathan for his friendship and for asking me to write the book with him. Lastly, thanks to the .NET/Silverlight/Windows Phone development community, Microsoft for finally having a decent smartphone OS which is a joy to work with and the followers of my blog.

About the Reviewers

Tom McLeod started writing software for fun 16 years ago and has been enjoying it ever since. He has written software for HP48 series calculators and a rainbow of UNIX flavors. Since earning a degree in trombone performance, he has worked on a variety of .NET projects. When he's not developing software, he enjoys producing episodes of The Deucecast podcast and being a father and photographer to his two young daughters. He can be contacted through leftylabs.com.

Kelum Peiris is a Mobile Software Developer with Polar Mobile, a company that provides an industry-leading platform to enable top-tier media publishers to easily and quickly launch mobile apps for every major Smartphone. At Polar Mobile, Kelum is primarily involved in developing the Windows Phone platform which will be used to deploy more than 500 apps in year 2011. He is a recent graduate from the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada where he specialized in Mobile Development and Real-Time Operating Systems. Kelum has a keen interest in advance concepts in Object Oriented Programming and Design Patterns and he is a clean code addict.

Colin Smith is an experienced mobile developer, musician, and startup guy currently working with a wide range of technologies. He is a co-founder and Mobile Lead of Cardinal, a startup focused on social music sharing, discovery, and analytics. He is currently the Technical Lead / Lead Developer of iOS applications at Shaw Communications as well. You may know him as Smixx, creator of the Developers rap song.

I'd like to thank my lovely wife Chelsea for putting up with the long hours and sleepless nights that went into reviewing this book while getting a startup off the ground and holding down a fulltime job as well, couldn't have done it without you!

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I would like to dedicate this book to someone who didn't know anything about software development and often called me a nerd. For 23 years she lived life to the fullest and laughed louder than anyone in the world. To my sister Bebe, who went to be with the Lord. I love you.

Robb Schiefer Jr.

Preface

In this book, you will discover the latest development technology from Microsoft for the Windows Phone 7. We will cover all that you need to get a variety of applications developed. Throughout this book you will find many simple examples that stand by themselves to help provide quick reference to many of the common needs for a Windows Phone developer.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Layout and Design, covers the most common ways to lay out your Windows Phone application that will provide you with the basics for designing applications. We will cover the basics of Expression Blend and its important role in Windows Phone Application development.

Chapter 2, Creating Animation, explains that understanding the basics of animations is no longer a tool just for designers, but it can play an important role in your application to give it the polish to make your application stand out from the crowd. Through this chapter, we will cover the basics of creating simple animations with both Storyboards and Visual State Manager.

Chapter 3, Behaviors and Events, explains now that you have the design aspects down for your application, it is time to give the user a way to interact with the application. In Windows Phone development, much of the initial interaction can be fired by both behaviors and events. We will show you some built in behaviors as well as developing custom behaviors.

Chapter 4, DataBinding 101/MVVM, covers the basic understandings of databinding in Silverlight as well as the MVVM design pattern as most apps have some data to populate and display. With MVVM, you can architect your application for much easier maintenance as well as easier testing and design time support for data.

Chapter 5, Services, Data, and RSS, explains that once you have a great understanding of how to structure an application to show data as well as the basics of databinding, it is now time to dig into pulling data from services. In this chapter, we will cover the basics of using WCF services as well as building a simple RSS reader.

Chapter 6, Location Services: Are you lost? Start using GPS coordinates and other location information from the phone in your apps with this chapter. We cover how to efficiently use location services, utilize the emulator for debugging your app, and using the built-in mapping control.

Chapter 7, Push Notifications to the Phone, shows how poling for data every 10 minutes is