There was I thinking that my exam didn’t go well but this morning I got notification that I had passed the exam!

This is the 1st time that I have been an MCP in any way. I am well chuffed!

More good times for app developers?

I think this is mainly down to the fact that it was an attempt to spread some good news for developer who develop .net applications using XAML and c# or VB.

As of now there are 20K+ applications for windows phone 7 and this list is growing at quite an impressive rate. This rate of growth is because of the ease at which these developers can write applications. People who work for large corporates developing enterprise applications using .NET can now become app publishers and can deviate from writing anonymous code that drives a cog of large enterprise systems.

These people I have met at our growing local user group. They are loving the application development platform that Microsoft have put together for them and have a hunger for more.

If you are a developer that has been developing code for Android or iPhone then you will have started with a single form factor in which your code runs on and found that that the available form factors has increased and you now not only develop for the phone but your apps can be made to run on the new and emerging tablet based devices.

Microsoft have made great strides with Windows 8 to ensure that it has the capabilities to run on a multitude of form factors. It is here that they are hedging their bets on windows running anywhere.

So where will we stand when it comes to Tablets and native development when can we start re-using our code from within those 20K+ applications so that we can start reaping the benefits of the next set of platforms.

Well from what Microsoft have disclosed in regards to the Windows 8 developer experience so far that just won’t be happening.

There has just been no message from Microsoft that states that don’t worry we still do native, and it will work within this snazzy new UI.

It’s all been HTML and JS as a brand new application development platform.

If this stays the case then once you are a Windows Phone developer you will be staying a Windows Phone developer and if you have a great app then you will have to port it.

Right now the message is that people will have to wait for the Build conference to actually find out what the developer story will be. And of course more and more FUD will enter the mind of us developers as time goes on.

One item that may enter peoples heads is that Microsoft are shifting their developer strategy and application platform to HTML and JS even on Windows Phone (ARM and SOC means that Win 8 can power a phone at some point – phones are mentioned in the Intel article).

If people start experiencing this kind of fear and uncertainty they are going to stop developing apps and the rate at which the marketplace is building will slow down if not stop.

We so need to know what’s happening and we need to know sooner rather than later.

One aspect of Mango that Microsoft have announced is the inclusion of two new market distribution models those being Beta and private distribution.

The private distribution model has been signalled as a let down for enterprises. This post details the perceived shortcomings: http://blog.wpfwonderland.com/2011/04/15/mango-adds-beta-and-private-marketplaces-to-windows-phone-7-and-neglects-enterprise/

As this post mentions the idea that you can’t restrict the use of the application to a set of users rules out the private model for enterprise distribution.

In my opinion the enterprise has been supported from day one all that you have to do is consider the mechanisms that you are going to use to stop anybody from making use of your enterprise application.

If you consider the fact that your code can gain access to the devices unique identifier then you will be able to identify the device that your code is running on.

Consider this scenario that uses a workflow similar to how SSL certificates are issued to servers:

• A phone user downloads the application.
• The user starts the application. The application asks the user for the Key that the company has provided via email (Thankfully we now have cut/paste to copy the key to the clipboard).
• At this point the user does not have access to the key as this is the applications 1st run, so the user is presented with another button that will generate the key request (this should always be present until the application has received a valid key)..
• The key is generated by code it will incorporate the devices unique identifier.  This code is hashed and can be decoded by the companies systems.
• Once the key has been generated the app launches a new email with the key included in the text. The email is addresses to the right email address.
• The company receives the email from the phone user and verifies the email address that the request has come from.
• A key that will unlock the application is generated and sent to the originating email address.
• Once the user has the key they can enter it into the application and away they go.

I know this isn’t perfect and you can probably pick a million holes in it (feel free to do so by posting a comment) but it does illustrate that rather than wait for the distribution channels to be created you can always work around them.

UPDATE:

Someone did point out that marketplace certification may be a sticker here . You would have to let the Microsoft testers know about the process via adding notes into the application submission.

This I see as a valuable opportunity for the developers as they get a change to see what people think face to face rather than waiting for feedback or even the emails to their support address.

There is also one other even more important opportunity that is that could be created by the application demonstration.

An example of this is the continuing story behind the TaxiRoute application. On March 17th 2011 (St Patricks Day) the application was promoted to be the featured application within the Marketplace.

The rest of the story behind the development of TaxiRoute is one of a dogged determination of the managing director Trevor Daniel to create a database that holds the local authority hackney carriage tariff data for the whole of GB (Northern Ireland not included).

Once this information was completed Trevor built a web site www.taxiroute.co.uk and offered it out to the public. The web site now records around £1M in value of enquiries each month.

Not only does the web site approximate  the charges of the taxy ride you want to take (the web site can not take into account waiting time for metred charges and therefore only provides a best case estimate) it will also provide a list of local firms, along with their telephone numbers.

As you can image when you are out and about you a web site isn’t the best way in which to get the information an obvious progression would be a phone application. Hence TaxiRoute GB was created.

Trevor decided to put his application forward to be demonstrated at the 1st Cardiff WPUG meeting on March 2nd where we were fortunate enough to get a date that had Paul Foster and Mike Ormond attend.

Paul was impressed by the story that led to the development of the application and also impressed by the concept, so he pushed the application at the guys in the UK windows phone marketing.

The upshot of this being that the application has been considered an App Hero and has featured in a couple of ways and also be pushed within the social space.

Although the WPUG meetings (in London and Cardiff) won’t always be attended by members of the Microsoft DPE team it’s the connections that we have with these guys that make attending worth while even if you haven’t yet got that killer app to demonstrate.

The insight and understanding that you will gain along with the possible opportunity’s like the one that TaxiRoute has been given are just not worth missing.

Here is the application Listing in Zune:

Along with the application listing the marketing guys at Microsoft also spread the word socially via Windows Phone UK:

In some cases the user is forced to press an area on the page that does not include a text control to take the focus away from the text box. Once the SIP is hidden then the user can click the control they want to enter text into.

This is mainly because the controls do not support the concept of tab order because the SIP does not include a tab control to move between controls.

One solution to this is to look for the enter key to be released and move the focus on to the next control:

private void txtUsername_KeyUp(object sender, System.Windows.Input.KeyEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.Key == System.Windows.Input.Key.Enter)
        txtPassword.Focus();
}

This could prove to be a pain for developers and forces additional code within the page code file that can be said to be quite untidy.

It is because of this that I have created my own solution using a behaviour that can be attached to a control. One advantage of this is that it will be possible to set the values using Blend therefore reducing the reliance on the developer.

The OnEnter Behaviour:

The XAML below gives an example on how the behaviour can be attached to a text box

The additional namespaces that I have added to the page are:

xmlns:i="clr-namespace:

System.Windows.Interactivity;assembly=System.Windows.Interactivity"
xmlns:mh="clr-namespace:

MikeHole.WindowsPhone.Behaviors;assembly=MikeHole.WindowsPhone.Behaviors"

You can download the project from here. (if you have any problems downloading this then please send me an email at: mike [at] mikehole [dot] com and I will send it on).

If you can think of any ways that the behaviour can be improved or know of any better solutions then feel free to leave a comment.

Cheers,

Mike

I am quite proud to say that this app went from being a simple ‘featured’ application to being a partner showcase application and was included on review devices that were handed out to journalist for review.

What’s next

Well that would be telling but there were a couple of features that didn’t make this version that we are aiming to get into the app in the next release (which will happen soon). These will all be aimed around make the app a lot more social.

Our plan is to create a community around this application where people who contribute a lot can find themselves being featured as a Pathfinder so therefore social is key.

Thanks (the main reason I wrote this).

I am afraid that the next bit is going to sound like a bit of an Oscar award speech but there are certain people that I would like to thank for providing help during the development process.

1st off is Howard Scott for bringing the client on board and providing the idea. Then there is the client Snow+Rock for trusting us.

After the initial idea comes the designer James Bearne who created that stunning look. All of which was done in Illustrator I had to carve the XAML myself. I hope I did your designs justice.

Although I was the only developer involved in putting this app together i did have some help from twitter, it’s a great medium for finding answers a special mention to @rschu, @gcaughey and @mrlacey for provide a few pointers.

There is one person who in the scheme of things in regards to the whole windows phone 7 launch that I have a great deal of gratitude to offer, that’s Paul Foster.

I don’t know where the guy gets his energy from or how he kept himself going but Paul has been through the mill from having to put together those 50 demo devices over night to having to put up with our demands during the day then ‘corps’ demands during the night.

So thanks everyone (and to anybody I have missed). I sure can’t wait until the next project comes along.

Orange

Posters in the windows and the shops have had stock yay! One shop was given one -  which they had sold – the other shop has 12 (they had a couple still left so I managed to have a play with the Mozart which remains my phone of choice).

O2

They knew about the pones, no promotional material in the shop but they did check to see if they had any in … which they didn’t.

T-Mobile

The guy in the store knew about the phones, didn’t expect any in soon (they are still waiting fro the HTC desire) and he said that if you like win mob then stick with it. But he wasn’t sure about it’s viability in regards to apps.

So I gave him a quick demo of my developer mule . I think I completely changed his mind on that one. Made his day to see one I think (he liked our app too).

In conclusion I would say that like AT&T in the states Microsoft have a great ally in Orange and thanks to them for jumping right on the launch bandwagon. seeing this this morning really made me smile.

Looking at the WMAppManifest.xml shows that the app doesn’t state that it will do this:

So it must be my code.

As you can image this may make the end user quite jumpy. As it happens our app doesn’t really need to use the phone’s identity it’s code that I used to check if the app was running on the emulator or not.

The code looks like this:

So I have now changed this with a handy preprocessor directive that will leave the code out for submission (as long as I remember to compile as release):

Hopefully when I submit again I won’t give false impressions.

And you have just read that the Pano Pivot and Bing maps controls are finally being released too.

And now your thinking ‘I can’t wait till then’. Well here is what to do.

Well for Pano and Pivot use this codeplex project: http://phone.codeplex.com/

For the Bing maps follow this post: http://www.silverlighthack.com/post/2010/03/21/Using-the-Silverlight-Bing-Maps-control-on-the-Windows-Phone-7.aspx

I can tell you with great confidence that these things work well with the tools beta as Sequence has compiled an app that is functionally rich and runs without glitch. So don’t skimp on functionality because you don’t have what we have been promised.

I am glad that we haven’t taken a different approach for our UI and am really looking forward to getting my hands on the final version.

Just make sure you allow yourself half a day to move your code into the official controls. I get a feeling that it’s not going to be hard to move but it may be fiddly.

On another note how cool is it that 300K copies of the tools have been downloaded. People really are going to have to make sure their App shines above the rest to make money. The game is on peeps lets make the new WP7 platform a big success.

Yesterday I attended the very 1^st UK windows phone user group in London. Thanks to the following people for arranging this: Matt Lacey (@wpug), EMC Consulting UK and of course Michelle Flynn.

If you are thinking of or are already writing applications for the windows mobile phone then events like this are well worth attending. For the following reasons:

1. You get to meet likeminded people and exchange ideas, problems and solutions.
2. The event is likely to be attended by a representative from the Microsoft DPE team (people with the best jobs ever). If you ask them something that they don’t know they will know someone who does know.
3. You are likely to get feedback from people on the application you are in the process of developing.

The event comprised of a talk on XNA development followed by group of 5 demos showing the efforts of us passionate people who obviously have bought into the windows phone platform and it’s developer tools  these demos were from @treeuk, @davehawes, @keyboardp, @hosainnet and me). – correction thanks to Matt’s comment I left out a demo sorry :-s.

There was even a prize (an Xbox) for the application that most deserved it. Howard Scott and I both demonstrated the path finder application that we are in the process of developing. Howard gave the visuals a run through and I showed the app (I should say mumbled about the app – note to self to work on your annunciation / demonstration technique).

Finally the Paul Foster from Microsoft gave a presentation on the platform and the market place – I am sure that there were more slides but he never really got that far a his presentation was hijacked by the QA element.

One thing that I defiantly learnt from the meeting was that you really should sign up for the market place as soon as you can. If you are feel that you may be due a developer phone and you haven’t got a market place membership if may be a few days before you can unlock the phone.

After the meeting I was asked by a couple of people how I managed to add a panoramic. And pivot controls to our application. I used the controls found here http://phone.codeplex.com/ By the way don’t think that if you use this control you are going to have to re work a lot of code after the event to use the official controls from Microsoft.

For the interactive mapping element within the application I used the Bing Maps Silverlight control. This isn’t really supported by Microsoft for the phone platform and won’t actually work with the multi touch gestures (and is therefore not possible to zoom out without using an application bar button).

Again I see no harm in developing with this control for the time being because fingers crossed Microsoft will be providing a phone based version of the control (well if it’s in Silverlight why not the phone too). To get the control running in your application follow what’s in this blog entry: http://www.silverlighthack.com/post/2010/03/21/Using-the-Silverlight-Bing-Maps-control-on-the-Windows-Phone-7.aspx.

Another element of phone application development that I didn’t really demonstrate was the cashing of remote images. This will be key to the Snow + Rock application as the application must be able to present content when a phone signal will be limited or non-existent. For this I have taken code from the following blog post: http://www.ben.geek.nz/2010/07/one-time-cached-images-in-windows-phone-7/. I have had to add code to ensure that URI’s are safe for file name use (in case you are using the asp.net development server where the inclusion of a port number will break the file name).

That’s all for now, there is more to come and I can’t obviously give away too much about our application in case people copy the thing outright.

By the way in the end we didn’t win the Xbox,  congratulations to the winner more deserved since his app was done in his own time.