Peter Torr's Blog

Posts about Windows [Phone] application development. And other stuff.

Async & exceptions in C#

This quick post is motivated by a question on StackOverflow. Basically it is a simple console...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 12/10/2014

New "Missing Platform APIs" UserVoice site for Windows Store development

Hopefully you are familiar with the existing WPDev UserVoice site, where you can provide suggestions...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 05/25/2014

Updated LayoutRules Code

I updated the LayoutRules sample attached to the //build/ post I made the other day. This version is...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 04/06/2014

Optimum Emulator Sizes for Windows Phone 8.1

[4/4 changed typo: 1080p -> 720p]As I mentioned in my //Build talk, the emulator is not a good...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 04/03/2014

//Build talk "From 4 to 40 inches" (with sample LayoutRules code)

[Update 4/6/2014: I uploaded a newer and better sample; see the end of the post for a link] Thanks...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 04/03/2014

Opening a Windows Phone project after you have upgraded SQLite

If you are using the SQLite for Windows Phone package in Visual Studio, and you install one of the...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 12/18/2013

Trying something new: the Windows Phone Developer Blog

This year, the Windows Phone team is trying out something new for our blogging activity: instead of...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 01/04/2013

Revisiting an old post - Application.Terminate

Well, I already did that once today, but in doing so I realized I should address another old post...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 12/31/2012

Images for Threat Modelling Post

Recently I've had several folks ask me for the images for my Threat Modelling Post, which have...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 12/31/2012

Update on sample code

A lot of people are asking for access to the SQLite wrapper I demoed at //build. Rest assured we are...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 11/27/2012

Inside Windows Phone 41

Hello from //BUILD! As you probably know by now, we've released our SDK and have a bunch of content...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 10/30/2012

Back means back. Not forwards, not sideways, but back

Windows Phone Mango introduces a lot of great new features for developers: alarms & reminders,...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 10/06/2011

BUILD 2011 demos

[Update 9/21] Just got back from //BUILD in Anaheim, and it was a great conference to be at. I...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 09/17/2011

More Knowledge Chamber videos on Channel 9

In addition to the multitasking video I did the other week, several other Windows Phone folks have...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 08/22/2011

Multitasking video on The Knowledge Chamber

If you already follow my blog, you probably know everything you need to know about Mango's...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 08/04/2011

Background Agents - Part 2 of 3

In Part 1 we looked at a simple Windows Phone application that used a background agent to...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 07/12/2011

Background Agents - Part 1 of 3

This post has (errr, "These posts have") been a long time coming. They are based off the Mix 11 and...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 07/11/2011

Alarms and Notifications in Mango

Here's the first of several posts about the new multitasking features in Windows Phone Mango. Alarms...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 05/28/2011

Mango samples coming soon, no really!

Now that the consumer features of Mango have been announced and the beta developer tools have been...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 05/23/2011

"Mango" posts coming soon!

Just a quick note - the recorded sessions from Mix are available on Channel 9. I will be posting...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 04/21/2011

I was joking about the penny, but how about some tombstoning sample code?

Thanks to everyone who posted on the previous post about tombstoning in Windows Phone 7. It was...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 03/21/2011

A penny for your thoughts on Windows Phone 7 tombstoning

One piece of feedback we hear from Windows Phone developers is that "tombstoning is hard," but there...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 03/06/2011

This is not the exit you are looking for

[Update 12/31/2012: See also this post for a new Windows Phone 8 API to terminate apps][Update 7/27:...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 02/23/2011

How to correctly handle application deactivation and reactivation

Much has been written about tombstoning and how important it is that your application be able to...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 12/11/2010

That memory thing I promised you

Today Jeff Wilcox, David Anson, and I did a Channel 9 live session with Dan Fernandez at the PDC on...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 10/30/2010

Firstly, fellow WP7 PM Developer Dragos Manolescu is resurrecting his blog and posting about Windows...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 09/27/2010

Sample code from TechEd New Zealand talks

[Update September 9: Link to the recorded sessions] [Update September 2: Updated the ZIP file to...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 08/31/2010

Redirecting an initial navigation

One more post on the subject of keeping screens out of the backstack. A common scenario we see is a...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 08/28/2010

Virtualizing Data in Windows Phone 7 Silverlight Applications

One of the cool features of lists in Silverlight is that they can "virtualize" the UI objects needed...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 08/16/2010

Homeward Bound...

Well, well, well. There I was sitting in my office when I get an e-mail asking if I wanted to...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 08/16/2010

Updated Tilt Effect

Jeff has posted a version of the Windows Phone 7 “tilt” effect that is packaged as a...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 08/11/2010

Jeff’s improved ProgressBar template

Another quick post... Jeff Wilcox has posted an improved template for the Indeterminate ProgressBar...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 08/02/2010

I am not PTorr on twitter

Just a quick post... I saw someone linking me to the “ptorr” account on twitter but...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 08/02/2010

Exiting a Windows Phone Application

[Update 12/31/2012: See also this post for a new Windows Phone 8 API to terminate apps] [Update...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 08/01/2010

How to detect when a list is scrolling (or not)

One of the UI features of lists on Windows Phone 7 is that the "scroll bars" don't really act like...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 07/23/2010

Recreating the PhoneListBoxItemLayout (and why we cut it)

One of the controls that was shipped in the Mix CTPs of Windows Phone Developer Tools was the...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 07/21/2010

Uninstall issues with WPDT CTP before installing Beta

Quick link to...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 07/14/2010

The Beta Shipped! Plus a quick tip for keyboard input

Wow, I go on holiday for two weeks and the team ships the WP7 Tools Beta - great news! Maybe I...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 07/13/2010

Why can't I change the Background of my Button on a Click event?

I've been meaning to post this for a while, since the question comes up from time to time...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 06/18/2010

Why are the ApplicationBar objects not FrameworkElements?

Also phrased as "Why can't I databind to the AppBar" or "Why are my named AppBar objects always null...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 06/18/2010

Heading to TechEd next week

I'll be at TechEd next week (along with my cohort Shawn Oster and bunch of other Windows Phone...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 06/04/2010

Sorry about the messed-up source code

We have a new blog system setup on MSDN and for some reason I can't get the source code and XAML in...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 05/30/2010

A couple of Manipulation tips

One of the many cool features about Windows Phone 7 and Silverlight is the manipulation API, which...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 05/30/2010

Recent lack of posts

Just wanted to make a quick post to say I haven’t stopped blogging about Windows Phone, and to...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 05/30/2010

Visual Studio 2010 and Windows Phone Developer Tools

Congratulations to the Visual Studio team for releasing the RTM version of Visual Studio...

Author: Peter Torr - MSFT Date: 04/12/2010

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