Essential Windows Phone 7.5

Essential Windows Phone 7.5 is the definitive guide to creating powerful, visually compelling mobile applications that take full advantage of Microsoft's Windows Phone 7.5 platform. Nine-time Microsoft MVP Shawn Wildermuth draws on his extensive experience teaching Silverlight and Windows Phone development, helping you to get started fast and master techniques that lead to truly outstanding apps. After introducing the latest version of Windows Phone, Shawn Wildermuth dives directly into the essentials, emphasizing best-practice examples and illustrating with code.
You'll build a complete application from start to finish, then build on your skills with increasingly sophisticated techniques. From planning and design through application delivery, Shawn Wildermuth guides you through the entire mobile development lifecycle, showing how to make the most of Windows Phone 7.5's most important new capabilities. Whether you're a .NET or Silverlight developer going mobile, or an experienced mobile developer moving to Windows Phone, Essential Windows Phone 7.5 delivers all the skills you'll need.

Coverage includes - Leveraging Microsoft's breakthrough Metro design language - Using phone features such as email, calling, search, Web browsing, and the camera - Designing the look and feel of your user interface with XAML - Interacting with users via Panorama, Pivot, and other controls - Mastering the new Silverlight Toolkit for Windows Phone 7.5 - Choosing the right application paradigm and functionality for your specific app - Incorporating touch, vibration, motion, and sound into your interfaces - Working with Windows Phone 7.5's unique hubs and tiles - Building location-based services that work with the phone's GPS - Storing data in Isolated Storage or Windows Phone 7.5's database support - Multitasking reliably, without compromising performance - Integrating external data via REST, conventional Web services, and push notifications - Preparing your application for the Windows Phone Marketplace

Figures xvii Tables xxv Foreword xxvii Preface xxix Acknowledgments xxxi About the Author xxxiii Chapter 1: Introducing Windows Phone 1 A Different Kind of Phone 1 Integrated Experiences 6 Phone Specifications 7 Input Patterns 9 Application Lifecycle 14 Driving Your Development with Services 15 Live Tiles 16 The Marketplace 18 Where Are We? 24 Chapter 2: Writing Your First Phone Application 25 Preparing Your Machine 25 Creating a New Project 27 Designing with Blend 36 Adding Code 43 Working with the Phone 55 Where Are We? 59 Chapter 3: XAML Overview 61 What Is XAML? 61 Visual Containers 66 Visual Grammar 70 Images 75 Transformations and Animations 77 XAML Styling 82 Where Are We? 87 Chapter 4: Controls 89 Controls in Silverlight 89 Phone-Specific Controls 99 Data Binding 105 Silverlight for Windows Phone Toolkit 119 Where Are We? 138 Chapter 5: Designing for the Phone 139 The Third Screen 139 Deciding on an Application Paradigm 144 Microsoft Expression Blend 150 Blend Basics 159 Phone-Specific Design 176 Previewing Applications 185 Where Are We? 185 Chapter 6: Developing for the Phone 187 Application Lifecycle 187 The Phone Experience 200 Where Are We? 218 Chapter 7: Phone Integration 219 Using Vibration 219 Using Motion 220 Using Sound 226 Contacts and Appointments 233 Alarms and Reminders 240 Using Tasks 246 Media and Picture Hubs 266 Working with the Camera 280 The Clipboard API 287 Live Tiles 288 Location APIs 293 Where Are We? 303 Chapter 8: Databases and Storage 305 Storing Data 305 Isolated Storage 306 Local Databases 314 Where Are We? 335 Chapter 9: Multitasking 337 Multitasking 337 Background Agents 338 Background Transfer Service 360 Where Are We? 368 Chapter 10: Services 369 The Network Stack 370 Consuming JSON 376 Web Services 383 Consuming OData 387 Using Push Notifications 403 Where Are We? 429 Chapter 11: The Marketplace 431 What Is the Marketplace? 431 Submitting Your App 439 Modifying Your Application 453 Dealing with Failed Submissions 454 Using Ads in Your Apps 457 Where Are We? 458 Index 459