Advanced Topics in Windows Phone Development

This unit provides you with advanced scenario-based hands-on labs demonstrating Mango's capabilities.

Hands-On Labs

  • Catapult Wars Lab

    This lab introduces you to game development on Windows® Phone 7 using Windows XNA® Game Studio, the Windows Phone Developer tools, and Microsoft Visual Studio® 2010. During the course of this lab, you will build a simple two-dimensional (2D) game using XNA Game Studio in order to become familiar with the key concepts of XNA Game Studio development. You will also learn how to use Visual Studio 2010 with the Windows Phone 7 Developer Tools to design and build your XNA Framework games for the Windows Phone 7 operating system.

  • Multi-touch Game Development With XNA

    This lab introduces you to multi-touch enabled game development on Windows Phone 7 using XNA Game Studio, the Windows Phone Developer tools and Visual Studio 2010.

  • 3D Game Development with XNA Framework

    This lab introduces you to 3D game development on Windows Phone 7®, as well as to the basics of game development using the XNA Game Studio. During the course of this lab, you will build a simple, yet complete, 3D game using XNA Game Studio, while getting familiar with the key concepts of XNA Game Studio 3D game development. You will also learn how to use Microsoft Visual 2010 Express with the Windows Phone 7® SDK to build and design your XNA games for phones based on Windows Phone 7®.

  • Using a local database in the "Tidy" application

    This hands-on-lab will show you how to use SQL Compact Edition (SQL CE) to build a task management application. You will first learn how to apply the right attributes to an existing object model so that the DataContext class can create a relational database with keys and constraints. Then, you will also learn how to query the database using LINQ-to-SQL.

  • Background Transfer Service in the "Tidy" application

    Windows Phone codenamed "Mango" introduces the new Background Transfer Service multitasking feature to transfer files even when your application is not running. This hands-on-lab will show you how to use this feature to transfer (upload and download) data between your Windows Phone application and a server on the Internet. It will also show you how to schedule transfers, query their progress, and manage your download queue.

  • Fast Application Switching in the "Tidy" application

    Fast Application Switching (FAS) allows applications to stay dormant (in memory) after deactivation. By detecting whether your application is being activated from a dormant state instead of a tombstoned state, you can optimize it to have quicker resume times. This lab will show you how to use the ActivatedEventArgs parameter in the application life-cycle events to the test whether or not your application instance was preserved using FAS.

  • Creating Notifications in the "Tidy" application

    Scheduling notifications that trigger even when your application is not in the foreground is a critical multi-tasking task for applications such as alarm clocks and calendars. This lab uses the new ScheduledActionService to create and manage reminders and alarms for a task management application. The application will also demonstrate how deep linking works when the user clicks on a reminder and that launches your application to an actionable page with context from the reminder.

  • Adding Multitasking to Your Application

    The Windows Phone codenamed "Mango" release introduces agents that let applications run tasks in the background periodically or when the phone is idle. Mango also introduces APIs to manipulate the tiles in the start menu locally without requiring push notifications. This hands-on-lab will show you how to add a Background Service Agent to your application and use this agent to update the secondary tiles for task management application where tiles display a count of overdue tasks.

  • XNA 3D Model Viewer

    The new Shared Graphics model in Windows Phone codenamed “Mango” allows an application to seamlessly integrate Silverlight and XNA graphics in a single application. This hands-on-lab will show you how to leverage the SharedGraphicsDeviceManager APIs to display 3D models in a Silverlight application. The lab will also use the new BackgroundTransferService APIs to download the models in the background.

  • Search Integration

    Windows Phone codenamed "Mango" lets you extend the device’s built-in search experience by adding "extras" that allow enhancing the default system search results. This lab shows how you can write an application that will extend your phone’s built-in search capabilities, by acting as a sort of plug-in for specific search results.

  • Background Audio Agents

    Windows Phone codenamed "Mango" makes it possible for applications to continue playing audio even while inactive. This lab will show you how to accomplish this by using the new Background Audio Player class in order to enhance the functionality of an existing music player application.

Videos

  • What’s Coming Next to the Windows Phone Application Platform

    Windows Phone 7 was only the beginning. Later this year we’ll release a new version of Windows Phone that will unlock new capabilities for developers. In this session, we’ll provide give you a preview of what’s coming, and how to prepare.

  • Windows Phone Architecture: Deep Dive

    Windows Phone is a different kind of phone, architected to put the focus on end users while enabling developers to build compelling, connected experiences that enhance the phone. Peer under the covers to see how the architecture evolved to deliver powerful functionality for users and developers: enabling rapid seamless transitions between applications; delivering continuous user experiences in the background; combined Silverlight/XNA in a unified UI; sharing data between phone and applications; sensor fusion for integration of the physical and virtual worlds; and many more. Along the way, we will demonstrate how we brought together these features to deliver experiences that are responsive and battery efficient.

  • What’s New for Windows Phone Development with Silverlight?

    The Silverlight team focused on building a runtime environment and set of class libraries that was specifically tailored for Windows Phone. In the next version of Windows Phone, they have taken the lessons of the past year, and substantially improved the framework and runtime from top to bottom. In this session we’ll give you the low down on what you’ll see later this year, and how to prepare for it now.

  • Get Ready for Fast Application Switching in Windows Phone

    One of the most exciting new features coming to the next version of Windows Phone is the ability for users to switch quickly between running third party applications. Learn how this is going to work, and how to get your application ready now for this new functionality. This will be a detailed, live coding session.

  • Multitasking in the Next Version of Windows Phone, Part I

    As announced at Mobile World Congress, Windows Phone will soon have support for the multitasking of third party applications. In this session we’ll provide a full overview of how this is going to work, and how you can prepare your applications today.

  • Multitasking in the Next Version of Windows Phone, Part II: Using Background Agents

    Later this year, Windows Phone will support the creation of third party applications that can continue to play audio in the background when the user switches away to do something else. In this session, we’ll dive into exactly how this is going to work. This will be a detailed, live coding session.

  • Sensor and Camera Access in the Next Version of Windows Phone

    Accessing the sensors of a device is one of the most compelling aspects of programming for a device. In the next version of Windows Phone, we’ll be expanding what you can access, to include the live camera feed, and we’ll be improving and simplifying sensor access across the device. In this session we’ll give you all the details on how this works.

  • New Data Access Features Coming to Windows Phone

    The next version of Windows Phone will provide third party developers built in ability to create, manage, and access local structured data. This session will provide a complete overview of these features, and how to use them.

  • Going Mobile with Your Site on Internet Explorer 9 and Windows Phone 7

    The mobile Web is here, it’s huge, and your business can’t afford to ignore it. Mobile users have come to expect their favorite Web sites to give them a great mobile experience – otherwise, they find new favorite sites that do. In this session, Joe Marini, Principal Program Manager for Internet Explorer on Windows Phone will take you through the design and experience principles you need to consider when creating your mobile Web presence, teach you about the exciting new HTML5 capabilities that Internet Explorer 9 on Windows Phone 7 will support, and show you how to give your sites the next-generation features you need to engage your users on their smartphones.

  • Inside Windows Phone Show

    Get the insiders' view into all things Windows Phone. Watch exclusive interviews with the designers, product managers and developers coding the Windows Phone OS and developer platform.