Alex Yakhnin's Blog

In my previous post I described how to create a simple LINQ data provider for WP7 . Today I am going to show you how we can make use of this library as well as Push Notifications functionality that is available for WP7 to create a custom data sync sample...

If you have not done so, you should download the new version of the UI Design and Interaction Guide for Windows Phone 7 . It is a fascinating read that provides specifications on every aspect of the application development associated with UI and interaction...

When developing applications it is always a good idea not to hardcode database connections, urls, server locations, etc... In .NET there's the Configuration stack that allows us to use the app.config xml file. Unfortunately this functionality doesn't...

I created a few extension methods that deal with ObservableCollection that I've been using in the WP7 projects that I hope you will find useful as well. The first method is for sorting a collection. The second is to convert IEnumerable<T> to ObservableCollection<T>...

As you all should be aware by now, the first release SL for the WP7 is not going to contain any structured data storage (SQL CE) functionality or LINQ data providers. However this fact should not preclude us from rolling out our own version. After all...

Image slider control ported to run on WP7. Another implementation of the Panorama control . Audio recording functionality on WP7. Multitouch sample on WP7 OData sample that consumes Netflix data services

A few notable links and information related to WP7 development: Peter desribes how to deal with Orientation changes on the WP7 device. The product group has just made available some application bar icons for download . Changing on-screen keyboard...

The Deep Zoom (Seadragon) functionality has been available on Silverlight since version 2. It's a techonology that provides the ability to interactively view high-resolution images. The images need to be prepared using available tools like Deep Zoom Composer...

The current version of the WP7 tools doesn't allow you to use the WCF Data Services by just adding service a from the VS environment. This workthrough will show you how you can still use OData services from the WP7. (Disclaimer: Even though I work...

As you probably know the MIX10 is currently going on in Vegas and it's presentations are available online which have a lot of very useful information about WP7 development: http://live.visitmix.com/Videos Such as: Building Windows Phone Applications...

So, the Windows 7 Phone tools are out for everybody to start developing your apps. Here's the link to the developer portal: http://developer.windowsphone.com/ I would like to direct your attention to the following documents, before you start...

Recently I have received a few questions on a possibility of using the Mobile MVC framework with a "single form/multiple panels" technique when creating a mobile UI's. This technique of having a single form with multiple panels instead of multiple forms...

I would like to wish every reader of my blog a Happy New Year and a happy, healthy, prosperous 2010. It's also customary to overview the passed year and summarize on what have been achieved or missed. So here's the digest of the best posts of 2009 in...

There’s been an explosion of the web and cloud related development tools and services such as Web 2.0, RIA’s, Silverlight, multiple cloud services, AZURE etc… Big companies (including Microsoft) have been pushing to move away from fat clients to a thinner...

Last time I showed you on how to customize ListView control on WM 6.5 for .NET CF 3.5. Today I am going to show you a few more. They are all based on the same paradigm - changing an extended style of a ListView control. First one is to enable showing...

Would you like to have ListView control in your .NET CF application on Windows Mobile 6.5 to have this fancy gradient item selections (they are defined by the current theme on the device)? The secret is in the extended style LVS_EX_THEME that needs...

I have been invited to speak at the Teched conference ( Platforma 2010 ) in Russia. I will be speaking about a wide range of topics on development for Windows Mobile 6.5 plartform such as UI Framework, Gesture API's and Widgets. Marat is going to help...

Ron and I did a part 1 of the Webcast on the Gesture APIs in the Windows Mobile 6.5 and a managed wrapper that we created. In this Webcast we talked about GestureRecognizer class. You can catch a recording from here: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI...

An interesting article has been recently published on Msdn that describes the real-world experiences of porting the IPhone application to the Windows Mobile platform . When reading the article I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the developers...

Take a look at this great introduction into the world of touch screens and gestures by Marcus . He also starts describing the APIs that are available in Windows Mobile 6.5 for handling gestures.

There's a new company that has just released a few really nice controls for .NET Compact Framework and which you can use to develop attractive UIs in your Windows Mobile applications: http://www.beemobile4.net/ They where nice to let me know that...

The Windows Mobile 6.5 Developer Tool Kit is available for download . It includes the Emulator images as well as the documentation and the samples on Gesture APIs. Enjoy!

Very often when developing managed applications you need to target both VGA (480x640) and the older QVGA (240x320) type of devices. If the AutoScaleMode property of your form is set to Dpi, your controls such as textboxes. labels, buttons etc... will...

Sean Kelley who is the PM for the Sync Services for ADO.NET has recorded a webcast that walks through the new features of the next version of the SyncServices. The team has collected a lot of the feedback from the customers on the first version and tried...

My article on the UIFramework that I presented during my webcasts has been published on MSDN: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd630622.aspx