For the past month I have been looking at MVA – Microsoft Virtual Academy. I did check it out when it was first released, but it basically had IT Pro related courses. Though I prefer to wear a dev hat, I did play an IT Pro in the past. My IT Pro experiences were backContinue reading “MVA is not just for IT guys”
Category Archives: Windows Phone 8
WP Developer in a Guilded Cage.
I have been working on Windows Phone apps for several years and I am still having trouble getting traction on creating new apps. Creating a Hello World is not a problem, but creating something more sophisticated requires a lot of effort. There is information out there, but it does take some work sifting through theContinue reading “WP Developer in a Guilded Cage.”
Formatting Debug Writeline
For the past few months, I have been working on a Windows Phone app that uses several tables. Most of the time when I debug, I rely heavily on Debug.Writeline to help me keep track of what is going on as I test an app. If the app crashes, I can look at Output andContinue reading “Formatting Debug Writeline”
WP7 Thems Mighty Big Words Partner.
During one of the local user groups presentations, I had to send several notes to the presenter and to some of the organizers. At the time I wrote on a notepad (the old fashion type). Considering my terrible handwriting it was not a great success, so I decided to write a Windows Phone app for that.Continue reading “WP7 Thems Mighty Big Words Partner.”
WP7 Problem with Tiles – orphans
I have a new WP app – Banner http://visio.mvps.org/WP7Apps/default.html or http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/banner/696719a5-e1f7-4baa-b4c0-69108a8aae0e that displays a message in the largest possible font for a given orientation as a scrolling banner. Inverted landscape displays a secondary message. To allow the user quick access to a message, the original design included secondary tiles, but other than text, the tiles wereContinue reading “WP7 Problem with Tiles – orphans”
WP7 Can you translate that for me? VS Multilingual Toolkit
I have done a few apps that support several languages and the basic process was not bad but juggling the translations was far from easy. It required exporting to Excel, merging the English language with the new language. The hint column in the resource file was not bad, but it was easier just merging theContinue reading “WP7 Can you translate that for me? VS Multilingual Toolkit”
WP7 Can I get a hint?
The last app I submitted requires the user to enter strings of text, but for some reason, I was unable to figure out how to add hints. It is a common feature in most Windows Phone apps, but it is not easy to find the trick to get it to work. Thanks to a nudgeContinue reading “WP7 Can I get a hint?”
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??”
john Visio MVP 