johnvisiomvp

A weekend of models and bondage?

I know it is Friday, but has taken five days to recover enough to talk about that weekend. Too bad it sounds more exciting than it was. I spent the weekend trying to understand data binding and data models. I have been working on my next Windows Phone app and ran into a problem. For some reason,Continue reading “A weekend of models and bondage?”

Understanding the Stack Trace

Coding is like riding a bike. At some point you are going to crash. So what happens if you do crash your WP7 app and get a Stack Trace? When you open the report in Excel, the results are in a bit of a mess, so the first hing to do is to apply aContinue reading “Understanding the Stack Trace”

I have published my phone app, now what??

So you have survived the development process and were able to get you phone app on the marketplace, what is the next step? Ignoring the market aspect, the main thing is to keep testing, enhancing and updating. Just because you were successful, it does not mean there are no bugs. I found out after myContinue reading “I have published my phone app, now what??”

WP7 – Raising the Bar

The Application Bar is more than four static buttons. It can be dynamic. Initially I tried to change the visibility of the buttons, but that was not an option. The best I could do within XAML was to disable a button. The methods I have seen seem to involve creating a button in XAML and then doContinue reading “WP7 – Raising the Bar”

WP7 The Trials of making money!

So far, not a lot of luck making money with apps. So the quest continues. One suggestion to make money was to create a Trial version. Of course, if you are not planning on making money, no Trial is needed. The process seems simple, but somehow I do not have a lot of confidence in howContinue reading “WP7 The Trials of making money!”

Survey Says… It is your turn to help out.

The IT Pro team at Microsoft Canada is focused on ensuring that they help set you up for success by providing the information and tools you need in order to be get the most out of Microsoft based solutions, at home and at work. Twice a year, Microsoft sends out the Global Relationship Study (GRSContinue reading “Survey Says… It is your turn to help out.”

The Wallenda Factor

Programming for the Windows phone is easy. Getting a simple app up and running is a simple task because of all the hidden power behind XAML. The problem is, trying to tap in to that power to bring your app to a new level. For some, creating a simple app is fine, but most of usContinue reading “The Wallenda Factor”

WP7/8 Mystery of the screen bounce?

I have been working on a new app that required more screen real estate than the phone provided. All my attempts to get a canvas inside a standard ScrollViewer ended in having the unusual effect that I could not scroll to the bottom or far right. As soon as I took my finger off the screen,Continue reading “WP7/8 Mystery of the screen bounce?”

Rule 1 of samples. – They should be helpful.

I was looking forward to working with the new WP8 development environment. So after the delays in releasing the WP8 SDK and taking care of the extra needs to run the WP8 emulators, I was glad to see how easy it was to upgrade my WP7 apps to WP8. There was a lot of workContinue reading “Rule 1 of samples. – They should be helpful.”

How not to dual boot a machine and survive

Last week Microsoft released the Windows Phone 8 SDK and I was all set to go, but there was a catch. The emulators for WP8 require virtualization running on Windows 8, and my only machine with virtualization was my production machine running Windows 7. Currently, upgrading that machine to Windows 8 is not an option.Continue reading “How not to dual boot a machine and survive”