101 Windows Phone 7 Apps, Volume II


Book Description

The best way to master Windows Phone 7 development is to watch an expert do it, from start to finish. Adam Nathan's first volume, 101 Windows Phone 7 Apps, Volume I, proved that, teaching WP7 development by walking through the construction of 50 realistic, complete apps - all packed with code that's easy to borrow and extend. Now, in 101 Windows Phone 7 Apps, Volume II, Nathan returns with another 51 great Windows Phone 7 apps that take developers even further towards success. Like its predecessor, this 100% practical book doesn't focus on unnecessary theory. Instead, Nathan shows developers exactly what it takes to build the kind of apps people will actually want to buy. He brings insider's insight to these and many other Windows Phone 7 features and development tasks: choosers, launchers, hub integration, HTML-based apps, location-aware apps, networking, RSS, password protection, push and toast notifications, badges, scoreboards, custom rotation, Xbox LIVE Avatar support, Silverlight, and game physics. Readers will build apps ranging from email search to mapping, Twitter and Foursquare integration to Dodgeball and MineSweeper. As they do, they'll learn all the skills - and get all the code - they need to build their own winning mobile apps, right now!




101 Windows Phone 7 Apps, Volume I


Book Description

Full Color INCLUDES COMPLETE CODE AND ASSETS FOR EACH APP IN THIS VOLUME! Got a great idea for an app? There’s a chapter for that! Calling all developers: Windows Phone 7 is starting to gain traction, and the opportunity is yours to sell the next killer app! 101 Windows Phone 7 Apps is a book series like no other–best-selling author and Microsoft developer Adam Nathan walks you through the process of building 101 real, robust, diverse, and marketplace-certified Silverlight applications. You not only get online access to the full source code and related assets, but the book is chock full of tips, warnings, and advice that can only come from Adam’s experience of writing so many complete applications and selling them in the Windows Phone Marketplace. Imagine how long it would take you to develop and test 50 apps and how much you would learn from the experience. Rather than spending all that time starting from scratch, use this book to hit the ground running! Whether you simply make cosmetic changes to apps in this book (for example, creating kid-themed versions), repurpose apps (such as building a mortgage calculator based on Chapter 10’s tip calculator), or build something completely unique, this book can greatly accelerate your development time and help you create high-quality apps. Sell your apps in the Windows Phone Marketplace and make this book pay for itself! Volume I contains the first 50 apps and covers the following: Everything you need to know about Silverlight Fully exploiting phone features such as the application bar, hardware/software keyboards, multi-touch, accelerometer, microphone, and more Using rich controls such as pivots, panoramas, and controls in free toolkits, such as date/time pickers, toggle switches, charts, and graphs Building your own custom controls, including popular ones missing from the platform, such as a checkable list box, multi-select picker box, and color picker Broadly applicable pages, such as a photo-cropping page and accelerometer-calibration page How to make your app look and feel like a first-party app Practical tips on a wide range of topics, even acquiring and creating sound effects, using custom fonts, and creating icons




Windows 8.1 Apps with XAML and C# Unleashed


Book Description

Full color: Learn how to build great Windows Store apps! Figures and code appear as they do in Visual Studio. Windows 8.1 enables you to build stunning applications that integrate with each other, Web services, and Windows itself. You can sell them in the Windows Store, with more options than ever before, for tablets such as Surface, laptops, and traditional desktop PCs! World-renowned Microsoft programming guru Adam Nathan shows you exactly how to write first-class apps for this significant update to Windows. Don’t let the minor name change fool you--Windows 8.1 contains an incredible amount of new developer opportunities compared to Windows 8. Clear, accessible, and intensely practical, this guide teaches through concise code examples, in full color to match their appearance in Visual Studio--the same approach that made Nathan’s WPF Unleashed so popular. Writing with unprecedented depth and insight, Nathan guides you through creating advanced user interfaces with XAML and exploiting key Windows 8.1 features. Whether you’re already comfortable with Microsoft programming or relatively new to it, Windows 8.1 Apps with XAML and C# Unleashed will take you to the cutting edge of Windows 8.1 development. Detailed information on how to... Use XAML to represent state-of-the-art user interfaces, even across multiple windows Handle touch, mouse, keyboard, and pen input, including handwriting recognition Use new Windows 8.1 controls for creating hubs, flyouts, better app bars, performing in-app searches, rendering PDFs, and much more Encode, decode, and transcode multimedia content and speech-enable your app Leverage rich XAML vector graphics and animation Interact with built-in functionality such as the Camera app, file picker, the lock screen, new contacts and appointments integration, and more Exploit the Windows 8.1 charms bar Integrate DirectX graphics seamlessly Work with the rich set of available sensors: accelerometer, compass, light sensor, location (with geofencing support), proximity, and more Control devices such as fingerprint readers, image and bar code scanners, magnetic stripe readers, and custom Bluetooth, USB, HID, or Wi-Fi Direct devices




Windows 8 Apps with XAML and C# Unleashed


Book Description

Windows 8 enables you to build stunning applications that integrate with each other, services, and Windows itself like never before. And you can sell them in the Windows Store for tablets such as Surface, laptops, and traditional desktop PCs! Now, world-renowned Microsoft programming guru Adam Nathan shows you exactly how to write first-class apps for this radically new version of Windows. Clear, accessible, and intensely practical, this guide teaches through concise code examples, fully color-coded to match their appearance in Visual Studio--the same approach that made Nathan’s WPF 4 Unleashed so popular. Writing with unprecedented depth and insight, Nathan guides you through creating advanced user interfaces with XAML and exploiting key Windows 8 features such as touch, sensors, charms, and live tiles. Whether you’re already comfortable with Microsoft programming or relatively new to it, Windows 8 Apps with XAML and C# Unleashed will take you to the cutting edge of Windows 8 development. Detailed information on how to... Use XAML to represent state-of-the-art user interfaces Ensure app usability on multiple devices and form factors Handle touch, mouse, pen, and keyboard input Manage the high-performance, low-power Windows 8 app lifecycle Use Windows 8 controls for managing lists, rich text, images, multimedia, and more Encode, decode, and transcode multimedia content Leverage rich XAML vector graphics and animation Make the most of styles and templates Interact with built-in functionality such as the Camera app, file picker, contact picker, the lock screen, and more Exploit the Windows 8 charms bar with contracts and extensions Work with the rich set of available sensors: accelerometer, compass, light sensor, location, proximity, and more




Windows 8.1 Apps with XAML and C# Sams Teach Yourself in 24 Hours


Book Description

Learn how to build great Windows Store apps! Figures and code appear as they do in Visual Studio. In just 24 sessions of one hour or less, Sams Teach Yourself Windows 8.1 Apps with XAML and C# in 24 Hours will help you build compelling apps for Windows 8.1 devices of all kinds. Using this book’s straightforward approach, you’ll learn to design and build apps, create flexible user interfaces, handle inputs, integrate controls, and more. Step by step, you’ll discover how to leverage XAML’s visual richness and the immense power of Windows 8.1. Every lesson builds on what you’ve already learned, giving you a rock-solid foundation for real-world success! Step-by-step instructions carefully walk you through today’s most common XAML and C# development tasks. Quizzes at the end of each chapter help you test your knowledge. Notes present interesting information related to the discussion. Tips offer advice or show you easier ways to perform tasks. Cautions alert you to possible problems and give you advice on how to avoid them. Learn how to... Create user interfaces that adapt to any device, from tablets to high-def TVs Handle input from touch, mouse, pen, and keyboard Manage the entire Windows 8.1 app lifecycle and all execution states Master powerful XAML controls for text, images, audio, video, and more Integrate vector graphics that scale perfectly to any size Apply rich animations Work with styles, templates, and visual states Exploit the Windows charms within your apps Take full advantage of data binding and contracts Read data from sensors and control external devices Provide dynamic updates via live tiles, notifications, and the lock screen Discover the many ways to monetize your Windows Store apps




Usability Matters


Book Description

Summary Usability Matters: Mobile-first UX for developers and other accidental designers gives you practical advice and guidance on how to create attractive, elegant, and useful user interfaces for native and web-based mobile apps. Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications. About the Technology Just because a mobile app works doesn't mean real people are going to like it. Usability matters! Most mobile developers wind up being part-time designers, and mastering a few core principles of mobile UI can make the difference between app and crap. About the Book Usability Matters is a guide for developers wrestling with the subtle art of mobile design. With each expertly presented example, app developer and designer Matt Lacey provides easy-to-implement techniques that instantly boost your design IQ. Skipping highbrow design theory, he addresses topics like gracefully handling network dropouts and creating intuitive data inputs. Read this book and your apps will look better, your users will be happier, and you might even get some high-fives at the next design review. What's Inside Understanding your users Optimizing input and output Creating fast, responsive experiences Coping with poor network conditions Managing power and resources About the Reader This book is for mobile developers working on native or web-based apps. About the Author Matt Lacey is an independent mobile developer and consultant and a Microsoft MVP. He's built, advised on, and contributed to apps for social networks, film and TV broadcasters, travel companies, banks and financial institutions, sports companies, news organizations, music-streaming services, device manufacturers, and electronics retailers. These apps have an installed base of more than 500,000,000 users and are used every day around the world. Matt previously worked at a broad range of companies, doing many types of development. He has worked at startups, small ISVs, national enterprises, and global consultancies, and written software for servers, desktops, devices, and industrial hardware in more languages than he can remember. He lives in the UK with his wife and two children. Table of Contents Introduction Part 1 - Context Who's using the app? Where and when is the app used? What device is the app running on? Part 2- Input How people interact with the app User-entered data Data not from a user Part 3 - Output Displaying items in the app Non-visible output Part 4 - Responsiveness Understanding the perception of time Making your app start fast Making your app run fast Part 5 - Connectivity Coping with varying network conditions Managing power and resources




WPF 4.5 Unleashed


Book Description

The #1 WPF Book--Now Updated for WPF 4.5! Thorough, authoritative coverage, practical examples, clear writing, and full-color presentation make this one of the most widely acclaimed programming books of the last decade. Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) is the recommended technology for creating modern Windows desktop apps. Whether you want to develop traditional user interfaces or integrate 3D graphics, audio/video, animation, dynamic skinning, touch, rich document support, speech recognition, or more, WPF enables you to do so in a seamless, resolution-independent manner that scales from small tablets to large TVs. WPF 4.5 Unleashed is the authoritative book that covers it all, in a practical and approachable fashion, authored by WPF guru and Microsoft architect Adam Nathan. Covers everything you need to know about Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML) Examines the WPF feature areas in incredible depth: controls, layout, resources, data binding, styling, graphics, animation, and more Delves into topics that aren’t covered by most books: 3D, speech, audio/video, documents, effects Shows how to create popular UI elements and leverage built-in controls such as the new Office-style Ribbon Demonstrates how to create sophisticated UI mechanisms, such as Visual Studio-like collapsible/dockable panes Explains how to create first-class custom controls for WPF Demonstrates how to create hybrid WPF software that leverages Windows Forms, DirectX, ActiveX, or other non-WPF technologies Explains how to exploit desktop features, such as Jump Lists and taskbar customizations, and the same toast notifications used by Windows Store apps




Windows Phone 7.5 Unleashed


Book Description

Full Color: Figures and code appear as they do in Visual Studio Windows Phone 7.5 Unleashed is the first comprehensive, start-to-finish developer’s guide to Microsoft’s brand-new Windows Phone 7.5. Written by Microsoft MVP and leading WPF/Silverlight innovator Daniel Vaughan, this full-color guide covers everything developers need to rapidly build highly competitive Windows Phone 7.5 mobile apps. Vaughan teaches through complete sample apps that illuminate each key concept with fully explained code and real-world context. He presents real-world best practices for building highly functional and attractive Metro interfaces; integrating touch, rich media, and data; testing; profiling; and more. Throughout, he shares expert insights available in no other book, drawing on his exceptional access to the Windows Phone development team through the elite Microsoft Silverlight and WPF Insiders group. Along the way, he presents exceptionally practical and thorough coverage of many powerful new Windows Phone 7.5 platform enhancements--including full chapters on sensors, the camera, XNA graphics, local databases, scheduled actions, and background file transfers. Detailed information on how to... Get started fast with Silverlight Windows Phone development in Visual Studio Master the Capabilities Model, threading, and the Execution Model Create attractive Metro interfaces using Windows Phone’s rich set of controls, including the Silverlight for Windows Phone Toolkit Make the most of the application bar and other interface elements Enhance user experience with advanced support for touch, gesture, and sensors Build location-aware apps that use Bing Maps and location services Quickly internationalize apps for global markets Leverage Windows Phone 7.5’s improved camera support Connect apps to online services via SOAP, REST, and ODATA Validate user input on the client side or via Web services Use Windows Phone 7.5’s powerful new local database support Implement background actions, file transfers, and audio playback Incorporate game-style XNA graphics Unit test to find defects earlier, saving time and money




Windows Phone 7 for IPhone Developers


Book Description

Bring Your iPhone Apps and Skills to Windows Phone 7-or Build Apps for Both Mobile Platforms at Once If you've been developing for the competitive iPhone marketplace, this book will help you leverage your iOS skills on a fast-growing new platform: Windows Phone 7 (WP7). If you're a .NET programmer, it will help you build advanced WP7 mobile solutions that reflect valuable lessons learned by iOS developers. If you're a mobile development manager, it offers indispensable insights for planning cross-platform projects. Kevin Hoffman guides you through the entire WP7 Software Development Kit (SDK), showing how it resembles Apple's iOS SDK, where it differs, and how to build production-quality WP7 apps that sell. Step by step, you'll master each technology you'll need, including C#, Silverlight, and XAML. Every new concept is introduced along with all the tools and background needed to apply it. Hoffman's practical insights extend into every facet of WP7 development: building user interfaces; hardware and device services; WP7's unique Application Tiles; Push Notifications; the Phone Execution Model, local storage, smart clients, Model-View-View Model (MVVM) design, security, social gaming, testing, debugging, deployment, and more. A pleasure to read and packed with realistic examples, this is the most useful WP7 development book you can find. · Compare Apple's Objective-C and Microsoft's C#: "second cousins twice removed" · Build rich, compelling user interfaces based on Silverlight, XAML, and events · Move from Apple's Xcode to Visual Studio 2010 and from Interface Builder to Expression Blend · Leverage hardware and device services, including the accelerometer, GPS, photos, contacts, e-mail, and SMS · Create dynamic application Tiles to appear on the Start screen · "Push" raw data notifications to running apps · Understand and use the WP7 phone execution model · Efficiently store and retrieve data on WP7 phones · Build "smart clients" that sync locally stored data with web services · Manage growing app complexity through "separation of concerns" and MVVM · Successfully deploy apps to the Marketplace




Universal Windows Apps with XAML and C# Unleashed


Book Description

With Microsoft new Universal Windows Apps tools, it's easy to share code between Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 XAML apps. Now, developers can deliver beautiful end user experiences on all new Windows devices, with radically less cost and development effort. This means they can painlessly extend their conventional PC development work to fast-growing tablet and smartphone markets. In Universal Windows Apps with XAML and C# Unleashed, the world's #1 XAML expert shows Windows developers how to do all this, and more. Just as he did in previous best-sellers like Windows Presentation Foundation Unleashed and Windows 8 Apps with XAML and C# Unleashed, Adam Nathan delivers comprehensive coverage, accessible explanations, and plenty of outstanding full-color code samples. Drawing on his unsurpassed experience with modern Windows mobile development, Nathan shows how to build the apps you want to build -- not just the apps Microsoft's SDK makes easy. You'll learn how to unify your Visual Studio code bases for assets ranging from user controls to styles, graphics, and animation. You'll even learn how to unify your monetization, delivering apps and in-app purchases on both Windows and Windows Phone through a single purchase.