Why not help this process a little by asking your users (after a couple of runs) if thy would like to rate your application?

Introducing LittleWife™

LittleWife is a very simple service with one very important method… Nag()

namespace MmaUnderground
{
    using System.IO.IsolatedStorage;
    using System.Windows;
    using Microsoft.Phone.Tasks;

    public class LittleWife
    {
        public static void Nag()
        {
            if (!IsolatedStorageSettings.ApplicationSettings.Contains("RunCount"))
            {
                IsolatedStorageSettings.ApplicationSettings["RunCount"] = 0;
            }

            int runCount = (int)IsolatedStorageSettings.ApplicationSettings["RunCount"];
            runCount++;

            if (runCount == 5)
            {
                if (MessageBox.Show("Do you enjoy using The UnderGround? Please take a quick minute to rate it...", "The UnderGround", MessageBoxButton.OKCancel) == MessageBoxResult.OK)
                {
                    MarketplaceReviewTask task = new MarketplaceReviewTask();
                    task.Show();
                }
            }
            IsolatedStorageSettings.ApplicationSettings["RunCount"] = runCount;
        }
    }
}

To use LittleWife, just add the following to the application life cycle events…

private void Application_Launching(object sender, LaunchingEventArgs e)
{
    LittleWife.Nag();
}

NOTE: Inspiration for the name is based on LittleWatson by Andy Pennell

One “trick” the OS uses is to make the menu non-opaque when expanded

Here is how to do this, set your applicationBar’s opacity and attach the StateChanged event handler

<phone:PhoneApplicationPage.ApplicationBar>
    <shell:ApplicationBar Opacity="0.9" Mode="Minimized" StateChanged="ApplicationBar_StateChanged">
        <shell:ApplicationBarIconButton IconUri="/Images/appbar.refresh.rest.png" Text="refresh" x:Name="refreshButton" Click="refreshButton_Click" />
        <shell:ApplicationBar.MenuItems>
            <shell:ApplicationBarMenuItem Text="about" x:Name="aboutButton" Click="aboutButton_Click" />
        </shell:ApplicationBar.MenuItems>
    </shell:ApplicationBar>
</phone:PhoneApplicationPage.ApplicationBar>

In this event handler, switch the opacity

private void ApplicationBar_StateChanged(object sender, Microsoft.Phone.Shell.ApplicationBarStateChangedEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.IsMenuVisible == true)
    {
        ApplicationBar.Opacity = 1.0;
    }
    else
    {
        ApplicationBar.Opacity = 0.9;
    }
}

Easy…

WPH203 | Mango MUST HAVE developer features

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 (09:15 - 10:15) | Breakout session | 200 - Intermediate | Windows Phone | Session A3

WUX304 | Effective Validation Techniques with MVVM in Silverlight

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 (13:15 - 14:15) | Whiteboard | 300 - Advanced | Web and User Experience | Session B2

WPH401 | Expert Lessons: Top Tips for Building a Successful Windows Phone Application

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 (17:15 - 18:15) | Breakout session | 400 - Expert | Windows Phone | Session B1

Hope to see you there!!!

BTW. A friend of mine wrote an excellent Tech-ed Africa Windows Phone Application so check it out here

I recently needed it and for some weird reason it fired twice for every key pressed, here is a simplified example of the problem. I added a simple TextBlock and TextBox

<phone:PhoneApplicationPage     
    x:Class="TextBoxTest.MainPage"    
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"    
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"    
    xmlns:phone="clr-namespace:Microsoft.Phone.Controls;assembly=Microsoft.Phone"    
    xmlns:shell="clr-namespace:Microsoft.Phone.Shell;assembly=Microsoft.Phone"    
    xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"    
    xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"    
    mc:Ignorable="d" d:DesignWidth="480" 
    d:DesignHeight="768"    
    FontFamily="{StaticResource PhoneFontFamilyNormal}"    
    FontSize="{StaticResource PhoneFontSizeNormal}"    
    Foreground="{StaticResource PhoneForegroundBrush}"    
    SupportedOrientations="Portrait" Orientation="Portrait"    
    shell:SystemTray.IsVisible="True">    
    <StackPanel>        
        <TextBlock Text="Count: 0" x:Name="counterTextBlock" />        
        <TextBox x:Name="textBox" TextChanged="textBox_TextChanged" />    
    </StackPanel>
</phone:PhoneApplicationPage>

And then attached the TextChanged event handler from XAML. The event handler just increments a counter and prints it on the screen

public partial class MainPage : PhoneApplicationPage 
{ 
    public MainPage() 
    { 
        InitializeComponent(); 
    } 
    
    int count = 0; 
    
    private void textBox_TextChanged(object sender, TextChangedEventArgs e) 
    { 
        count++; 
        counterTextBlock.Text = "Count: " + count; 
    } 
}

Running it, for every letter I type, it increments twice (Sounds weird, but try it)

After searching a bit, I found this post on Stackoverflow (By none other than the legend Jon Skeet) about exactly the same problem. It turns out that the problem is how the TextBox was styled to Metro-fy™ it… Here is a simplified version of the original template

<Style x:Key="SimplefiedTextBoxStyle" TargetType="TextBox">    
    <Setter Property="Template">        
        <Setter.Value>            
            <ControlTemplate TargetType="TextBox">                
                <Grid Background="Transparent">                    
                    <Border x:Name="EnabledBorder">                        
                        <ContentControl x:Name="ContentElement" />                    
                    </Border>                    
                    <Border x:Name="DisabledOrReadonlyBorder"
                            Visibility="Collapsed">                        
                        <TextBox x:Name="DisabledOrReadonlyContent" 
                            Text="{TemplateBinding Text}" />                    
                    </Border>                
                </Grid>            
            </ControlTemplate>        
        </Setter.Value>    
    </Setter>
</Style>

Notice the second TextBox, if you remove it… the event only fires once (But then you have no differentiation when disabled/read only)

BTW. the way I do it is the “recommended” way so I am not sure how to fix this… Any suggestions are very welcome!

NOTE: Have a look at how the Facebook application does it, thy got it right so it MUST be possible?

Let me show you the problem, here is my panorama, I used exactly the demo in the previous post… the only thing I changed is I made the header “1234567890”. You will see why now. Next, I keep it on the first panorama item and tombstone. After rehydration, this is the UI

Looks ok… Next, I move to the second panorama item, tombstone and rehydrate

What’s wrong with this picture?

Although the DefaultItem is now set to the second panorama item, the header still starts at 1?

I DO NOT HAVE A SOLUTION YET… but I thought it might be worth pointing out that this will happen if you use Panorama.DefaultItem on rehydration!

PS. After posting my article I also found this interesting post by Peter Torr and this codeplex project relating to tombstoning!

The launchers and choosers in Windows Phone OS makes it dead simple to do this! Here is the code to take your user to the marketplace page for your application

MarketplaceReviewTask task = new MarketplaceReviewTask();
task.Show();

I also allow my users to email me there feedback directly, here is the code

EmailComposeTask task = new EmailComposeTask();
task.Subject = "Homebrew feedback";
task.To = "rudi@bbd.co.za";
task.Show();

Simple, I know… But it could make the difference between a average 3 star rating by the odd user or a 4+ star rating by satisfied users!

“The procedure in which the operating system terminates an application’s process when the user navigates away from the application. The operating system maintains state information about the application. If the user navigates back to the application, the operating system restarts the application process and passes the state data back to the application.”

When your application gets tombstoned, you get a opportunity to save some state about your application… Common questions I get is what should I save, where should I save it and when? Let me try and address some of these questions:

What should I save

Panorama: Panorama.SelectedIndex

Pivot: Pivot.SelectedIndex

ListBox: ScrollViewer.VerticalOffset & ScrollViewer.HorizontalOffset

TextBox: TextBox.Text, TextBox.SelectionStart & TextBox.SelectionLength

CheckBox: CheckBox.IsChecked

RadioButton: RadioButton.IsChecked

Slider: Slider.Value

Where should I save it

Each page has a State dictionary and their is also a application-wide dictionary as part of the PhoneApplicationService. These state dictionaries get automatically persisted when tombstoned! The helper class will save each control that you give to it on the page specific dictionary and it will use the control ‘s name as the key!

When should I save it

The last question is when? You have two options here… Application lifecycle events (Application_Activated & Application_Deactivated) or on a page level you can override the OnNavigateTo & OnNavigateFrom!

Since the helper class really try and address page specific state, it makes sense that we will be using the OnNavigateTo/OnNavigateFrom!

Lets try it out…

The helpers are implemented as extension methods so all you have to do is

public partial class NormalPage : PhoneApplicationPage
{
    public NormalPage()
    {
        InitializeComponent();            
    }

    protected override void OnNavigatedFrom(NavigationEventArgs e)
    {
        base.OnNavigatedFrom(e);

        this.Save(textBox);
        this.Save(checkBox);
        this.Save(radioButton1);
        this.Save(radioButton2);
        this.Save(slider);
    }

    protected override void OnNavigatedTo(NavigationEventArgs e)
    {
        base.OnNavigatedTo(e);

        this.Load(textBox);
        this.Load(checkBox);
        this.Load(radioButton1);
        this.Load(radioButton2);
        this.Load(slider);
    }
}

Easy, isn’t it!

Here is the sample application

Read more about the Windows Phone execution model here:

Understanding the Windows Phone Application Execution Model, Tombstoning, Launcher and Choosers, and Few More Things That Are on the Way – Part 1

Understanding the Windows Phone Application Execution Model, Tombstoning, Launcher and Choosers, and Few More Things That Are on the Way – Part 2

Understanding the Windows Phone Application Execution Model, Tombstoning, Launcher and more… – Part 3

The application is simple called Gautrain, and will help you get all the information you need before traveling on the Gautrain!

The first “big” brand WP7 application I have noticed is news24… I am sure we will see more of these jumping aboard (super sport, dstv, etc)

Hopefully we will see loads more applications like this in the next couple of months! If you are currently working on a South Africa specific application, please let me know!!!

PS. One of my colleagues, Robert MacLean also wrote a SA specific application called AA Rate Calculator

Keep an eye helps you too monitor all your applications that you have released! It shows you each apps current positioning overall and in its category. You can also drill into a application which will take you to a detail view where you can then see each applications reviews.

Give it a try…

Before you can start creating your soundboard, you need to know what sounds you would like to play. Or more importantly, where to find these sounds? Here are a couple of great sites to start with

• The Freesound Project (freesound.org)


• Partners in Rhyme (partnersinrhyme.com)


• Soungle (soungle.com)


• Sounddogs (sounddogs.com)


• SoundLab, a pack of game-centric Sounds from Microsoft (create.msdn.com/en-US/education/catalog/utility/soundlab)

Once you have these great sounds, you need to play them… Luckily Silverlight/XNA makes this very simple! We are going to use the XNA SoundEffect class to play our media files, here is my little helper method to play a sound:

private void PlaySound(string filename)
{    
    Stream stream = TitleContainer.OpenStream(filename);    
    SoundEffect effect = SoundEffect.FromStream(stream);    
    FrameworkDispatcher.Update();    
    effect.Play();
}

Note: All my sound files must be .wav files and also added to my project with a build action set to Content!

The only part you have to do yourself now is create a ViewModel that stores all the filenames and their descriptions and list them or alternatively you need to create buttons on your UI and in the click handlers play different sounds!

The Duke Nukem Soundboard uses the ViewModel list approach and In A Sitcomuses the button approach!

One of the big lessons I learned while writing soundboards is that tactile feedback is VERY important! On a soundboard, if you click on a sound, you will typically stay on exactly the same page and the sound will start playing… If you do not give the user “some” feedback, thy might press the button multiple times… The Silverlight toolkit has an awesome attached behaviour called TiltEffect, that is very simple to use and give a user a subtle hint that thy have actually pressed a button! If you have an application where an action like clicking a button do not navigate you away, always try and give some indication that the button was pressed!

The final lesson I wanna share is that a soundboard also typically do not use your network, etc… Don’t forget to remove these capabilities from your manifest before submitting! If you include 3^rdpart libraries that might use networking features but you do not use them… The submission process checker will still think that you need network access! As a safety precaution, remove all the capabilities in you manifest! I normally have a little batch file for each of my projects that just checks what capabilities my application require using CapabilityDetection.exe (Part of the SDK)

And that is it!!!

Just before WP7 was launched some developers received pre-production devices, either Samsung Taylors or LG (something)… These devices were just developer devices and was never designed to receive updates, here is the official MS statement:

The Samsung Taylor was intended for pre-production use only.
They were updated to an RTM release at end of Beta to bridge the gap between end of Beta and general availability of production phones.

I know of no plans to release any further update for the Samsung Taylor devices

Well, with a little bit of ChevronWP7 magic, I managed to get Mango installed on my device, here is the steps I followed:

1. First, I used the “bad” ChevronWP7.Updater.exe to get my device from 7004 to NoDo (7390)

So who wants Windows Phone Updates, like right now-

2. Then I used the ChevronWP7 fix to get it back on the official release path

“Walshed” Phone Support Tool- official fix to get you back on track - Updated!

3. Now that the phone is on NoDo, I used a cool tool by one of the XDA geniuses to get the phone provision so I can receive the Mango update

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1149265

4. And then I updated my phone using Zune (Note that at this stage I still use the normal Zune and not the special 4.8 – although I think it will work with that version too)

That's it, my device is now running WP7 Mango!

DISCLAIMER: I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY IF YOU BRICK YOUR PHONE!

private void InitializePhoneApplication()
{    
    if (phoneApplicationInitialized)        
        return;    

    // Create the frame but don't set it as RootVisual yet; this allows the splash    
    // screen to remain active until the application is ready to render.    
    RootFrame = new PhoneApplicationFrameEx();    
    RootFrame.Navigated += CompleteInitializePhoneApplication;    
    
    // Handle navigation failures    
    RootFrame.NavigationFailed += RootFrame_NavigationFailed;    

    // Ensure we don't initialize again    
    phoneApplicationInitialized = true;
}

PS. this is in you App.xaml.cs

Next, a little setup

Grid headerLayout = new Grid();

ProgressBar pb = new ProgressBar 
    {     
        Height = 23,     
        VerticalAlignment = VerticalAlignment.Top,     
        Background = new SolidColorBrush() 
    };
headerLayout.Children.Add(pb);

RootFrame.HeaderContent = headerLayout;
Binding pbBinding = new Binding("IsLoading") 
    {         
        Source = DataManager.Current 
    };
pb.SetBinding(ProgressBar.IsIndeterminateProperty, pbBinding);

This code binds a progress bar to the IsLoading property on AgFx’s DataManager and adds it to the header of this new PhoneApplicationFrameEx

Now, you might wonder why this piece of code is cool? Every time you download data using AgFx (no mater on which page you are), a progress bar will be displayed on top of you page indicating to the user that data is being downloaded/parsed!

And you don’t have to do a thing… Cool, huh?

This tool allows me to take screen shots for marketplace (already resized to 800x480) or marketing shots with or without a skin on them! Have a look at the following screenshot as a example:

In this screenshot I used the HTC HD7 as the default skin…

For the latest version, go to Cory Smith’s website (AKA @smixx)

If you’re a huge Duke fan (like me) and just love the voice taunts, install the Duke Nukem Soundboard! Its packed with some of his best taunts…

Click here to download