Windows Phone presented an enormous amount of content at Build 2013 this week. All of this is now available online for you to view at your leisure on Channel 9.

Foundational

• Windows Phone: Introducing App Development, Sam George
• Windows Phone: Design for Developers, Corrina Black
• Windows Phone: App Foundation, Thomas Fennel
• Windows Phone: Building UI in XAML, Shawn Oster
• Windows Phone Game Development Basics, Joao Lucas Guberman Raza
• Windows Phone: Using Native (C++) Code in Your Apps, Tim Laverty

Key Developer Scenarios

• Windows Phone: Tiles, Lock, & Notifications, Thomas Fennel
• Windows Phone: Building a Camera App, Presented by Nokia, Berthier Lemieux, Nokia
• Windows Phone: Maximizing App Revenue, Bernardo Zamora
• Windows Phone: Networking, Peter Torr
• Windows Phone: App-to-App Communications, Sean McKenna
• Windows Phone: Building the Best Mapping Apps for Windows Phone Using the Here Platform, Mike O’Malley

Best Practices

• Windows Phone: Developer Best Practices & How to Maximize Performance, Stefan Wick
• Real Talk: Sharing Code Between the Windows & Windows Phone Platforms, Matt Hidinger
• The Story of Bringing Nokia Music from Windows Phone to Windows 8, Matthew Cooper, Craig Pugsley, Nokia
• Windows Phone: Learn from the Winners, Bryan Tomlinson, Winners
• Windows Phone: Low Mem & Hardware Constraints, Andrew Whitechappel
• Windows Phone: This App Is Brought to You by MVVM– Hulu Case Study, Matthias Shapiro, Zachary Pinter (Hulu)
• Quickly Add and Enhance Capabilities to Windows Phone Apps Thru Partner Offerings, Jean-Christophe Cimetiere

I hope find these resources to be helpful. And, if you do, please share these with your peers and colleagues so that they too can take advantage of these and benefit from them.

And do not forget that you have a chance to WIN a FREE trip to any place, Register Now:
https://bit.ly/Win_RamadanApp

Follow us "Microsoft Saudi Community" on Twitter and Facebook to know more about the upcoming events, activities and the latest news.

Thank you and have a wonderful day.

Source: Windows Phone Developer Blog by  Larry Lieberman.

يقدم مجتمع مايكروسوفت لمحترفي تكنولوجيا المعلومات والمطورين والرياديون في السعودية مبادرة إثراء المحتوى العربي الرقمي عبر تشجيع كتابة الدروس باللغة العربية في مجال تكنولوجيا المعلومات وتطوير البرامج والتطبيقات
أو إعادة نشر الدروس الحالية لتوسيع انتشارها في مكتبة MSDN. وتهدف هذا المبادرة إلى تحفيز وتشجيع إثراء المحتوى العربي التقني. والتمكين من إنتاج محتوى إلكتروني عربي ثري لخدمة محترفي تقنية المعلومات في العالم العربي. لذا يقدم المجتمع فرصة للمحررين بنشر دروسهم التقنية عن أحد منتجات مايكروسوفت في مدونة مايكروسوفت الرسمية او في مكتبة MSDN او TechNet.

إذا كان لديك الرغبة في المساهمة أرسل المعلومات التالية للبريد الإلكتروني التالي: saudicommunity@microsoft.com

الاسم:

البريد الإلكتروني:

رقم الاتصال:

هل قمت بكتابة اخبار ومقالات تقنيه سابقة؟ إذا نعم يرجى وضع روابطها

ماهي المواضيع التي تميل للكتابة عنها؟  (يمكنك تختار من الخيارات التالية أو أخرى)

 Visual Studio - ASP.NET - Silverlight -Windows Azure- Windows Server - Exchange Server - SQL Server - Biz Talk Server - Windows Store apps - Windows Phone apps -
Games Development - .NET Framework - Languages: visual basic, C++, C#.

اسرع فنحن في انتظارك

Windows Phone 8 offers a lot of new capabilities for developers to create even better, more immersive user experiences on the Windows Phone. This course will give you hands-on experience with important developer features in Windows Phone 8.

Take advantage of the new multi-tasking capabilities such as fast app switching, background agents, alerts and reminders Improve integration with the phone by using live tiles and the new calendar and contacts APIs

This event is tailored for developers looking to leverage C#/XAML to build cool apps and games for Windows Phone 8. This platform is another leap forward in Microsoft’s overall mobile strategy and the developer community has taken notice. Now is the time to embrace your opportunity and start building Windows Phone apps.

- Riyadh:
When: Sunday 24th March, 2013
Where: KACST - Building 36
(Female attendees are welcome)
Register here: https://bit.ly/Mobile_Dev_Riyadh

- Jeddah:
When: Monday 25th March, 2013
Where: Le Meridien
(Male attendees only)
Register here: https://bit.ly/Mobile_Dev_Jeddah

- Khobar:
When: Wednesday 27th March, 2013
Where: SciTech
(Female attendees are welcome)
Register here: https://bit.ly/Mobile_Dev_Khobar

For more information: https://bit.ly/Yiyxt3

This topic shows you how to use Windows Azure Mobile Services to leverage data in a Windows Store app. In this tutorial, you will download an app that stores data in memory, create a new mobile service, integrate the mobile service with the app, and then login to the Windows Azure Management Portal to view changes to data made when running the app. You can view a video version of this tutorial by clicking the clip to the right.

1. Download the Windows Store app project
2. Create the mobile service
3. Add a data table for storage
4. Update the app to use Mobile Services
5. Test the app against Mobile Services

This tutorial requires the Mobile Services SDK.

Download the GetStartedWithData project

This tutorial is built on the GetStartedWithData app, which is a Windows Store app. The UI for this app is identical to the app generated by the Mobile Services quickstart, except that added items are stored locally in memory.

1. Download the C# version of the GetStartedWithData sample app from the Developer Code Samples site.

   

2. In Visual Studio 2012 Express for Windows 8, open the downloaded project and examine the MainPage.xaml.cs file.

   Notice that added TodoItem objects are stored in an in-memory ObservableCollection<TodoItem>.

3. Press the F5 key to rebuild the project and start the app.

4. In the app, type some text in Insert a TodoItem, then click Save.

   

   Notice that the saved text is displayed in the second column under Query and update data.

Create a new mobile service in the Management Portal

Next, you will create a new mobile service to replace the in-memory list for data storage. Follow these steps to create a new mobile service.

1. Log into the Windows Azure Management Portal.

2. At the bottom of the navigation pane, click +NEW.

   

3. Expand Compute and Mobile Service, then click Create.

   

   This displays the New Mobile Service dialog.

4. In the Create a mobile service page, type a subdomain name for the new mobile service in the URL textbox and wait for name verification. Once name verification completes, click the right arrow button to go to the next page.

   

   This displays the Specify database settings page.

   Note

   As part of this tutorial, you create a new SQL Database instance and server. You can reuse this new database and administer it as you would any other SQL Database instance. If you already have a database in the same region as the new mobile service, you can instead chooseUse existing Databaseand then select that database. The use of a database in a different region is not recommended because of additional bandwidth costs and higher latencies.

5. In Name, type the name of the new database, then type Login name, which is the administrator login name for the new SQL Database server, type and confirm the password, and click the check button to complete the process.

   

   Note

   When the password that you supply does not meet the minimum requirements or when there is a mismatch, a warning is displayed.
   We recommend that you make a note of the administrator login name and password that you specify; you will need this information to reuse the SQL Database instance or the server in the future.

You have now created a new mobile service that can be used by your mobile apps. Next, you will add a new table in which to store app data. This table will be used by the app in place of the in-memory collection.

Add a new table to the mobile service

To be able to store app data in the new mobile service, you must first create a new table in the associated SQL Database instance.

1. In the Management Portal, click Mobile Services, and then click the mobile service that you just created.

2. Click the Data tab, then click +Create.

   

   This displays the Create new table dialog.

3. In Table name type TodoItem, then click the check button.

   

   This creates a new storage table TodoItem with the default permissions set, which means that any user of the app can access and change data in the table.

   Note

   The same table name is used in Mobile Services quickstart. However, each table is created in a schema that is specific to a given mobile service. This is to prevent data collisions when multiple mobile services use the same database.

4. Click the new TodoItem table and verify that there are no data rows.

5. Click the Columns tab and verify that there is only a single id column, which is automatically created for you.

   This is the minimum requirement for a table in Mobile Services.

   Note

   When dynamic schema is enabled on your mobile service, new columns are created automatically when JSON objects are sent to the mobile service by an insert or update operation.

You are now ready to use the new mobile service as data storage for the app.

Update the app to use the mobile service for data access

Now that your mobile service is ready, you can update the app to store items in Mobile Services instead of the local collection.

1. If you haven't already installed the Mobile Services SDK, install it now.

2. In the Project menu in Visual Studio, click Add Reference, then expand Windows, click Extensions, check Windows Azure Mobile Services Managed Client, and click OK.

   

   This adds a reference to the Mobile Services client to the project.

3. In both the MainPage.xaml.cs and App.xaml.cs project files, add the following using statement:

   usingMicrosoft.WindowsAzure.MobileServices;

4. In the Management Portal, click Mobile Services, and then click the mobile service you just created.

5. Click the Dashboard tab and make a note of the Site URL, then click Manage keys and make a note of the Application key.

   

   You will need these values when accessing the mobile service from your app code.

6. In Visual Studio, open the file App.xaml.cs, uncomment the code that defines the MobileService variable, and supply the URL and application key from the mobile service in the MobileServiceClient constructor, in that order.

   This creates a new instance of MobileServiceClient that is used to access your mobile service.

7. In the file MainPage.xaml.cs, comment the line that defines the existing items collection, and uncomment the following lines:

   privateMobileServiceCollectionView<TodoItem> items;privateIMobileServiceTable<TodoItem> todoTable =App.MobileService.GetTable<TodoItem>();

   This code creates a mobile services-aware binding collection (items) and a proxy class for the SQL Database table TodoItem (todoTable).

8. In the InsertTodoItem method, remove the line of code that sets the TodoItem.Id property, add the async modifier to the method, and uncomment the following line of code:

   await todoTable.InsertAsync(todoItem);

   This code inserts a new item into the table.

9. In the RefreshTodoItems method, uncomment the following line of code:

   items = todoTable.ToCollectionView();

   This sets the binding to the collection of items in the todoTable, which contains all TodoItem objects returned from the mobile service.

10. In the UpdateCheckedTodoItem method, add the async modifier to the method, and uncomment the following line of code:

    await todoTable.UpdateAsync(item);

    This sends an item update to the mobile service.

Now that the app has been updated to use Mobile Services for backend storage, it's time to test the app against Mobile Services.

Test the app against your new mobile service

1. In Visual Studio, press the F5 key to run the app.

2. As before, type text in Insert a TodoItem, and then click Save.

   This sends a new item as an insert to the mobile service.

3. In the Management Portal, click Mobile Services, and then click your mobile service.

4. Click the Data tab, then click Browse.

   

   Notice that the TodoItem table now contains data, with id values generated by Mobile Services, and that columns have been automatically added to the table to match the TodoItem class in the app.

5. In the app, check one of the items in the list, then go back to the Browse tab in the portal and click Refresh.

   Notice that the complete value has changed from false to true.

6. In the MainPage.xaml.cs project file, replace the existing RefreshTodoItems method with the following code that filters out completed items:

   privatevoidRefreshTodoItems(){// This query filters out completed TodoItems.  items = todoTable .Where(todoItem => todoItem.Complete==false).ToCollectionView();ListItems.ItemsSource= items;}

7. In the app, check another one of the items in the list and then click the Refresh button.

   Notice that the checked item now disappears from the list. Each refresh results in a round-trip to the mobile service, which now returns filtered data.

This concludes the Get started with data tutorial.

Next steps

This tutorial demonstrated the basics of enabling a Windows Store app to work with data in Mobile Services. Next, consider completing one of the following tutorials that is based on the GetStartedWithData app that you created in this tutorial:

• Validate and modify data with scripts
  Learn more about using server scripts in Mobile Services to validate and change data sent from your app.

• Refine queries with paging
  Learn how to use paging in queries to control the amount of data handled in a single request.

Once you have completed the data series, try one of these other tutorials:

• Get started with authentication
  Learn how to authenticate users of your app.

• Get started with push notifications
  Learn how to send a very basic push notification to your app.

• Watch Building Cross Platform Mobile Solutions Using Azure Mobile Solutions workshop https://bit.ly/16b6cZ2 or https://bit.ly/ZrM7ID

The Source: https://bit.ly/XvioRk

If you prefer to watch a video, the clip to the right follows the same steps as this tutorial. In the video, Scott Guthrie provides an introduction to Mobile Services and walks through creating your first mobile service and connecting to it from a Windows Store app.

In this tutorial, you will create both a new mobile service and a simple To do list app that stores app data in the new mobile service.

A screenshot from the completed app is below:

Completing this tutorial is a prerequisite for all other Mobile Services tutorials for Windows Store apps.

Create a new mobile service

Follow these steps to create a new mobile service.

1. Log into the Management Portal.

2. At the bottom of the navigation pane, click +NEW.

   

3. Expand Mobile Service, then click Create.

   

   This displays the New Mobile Service dialog.

4. In the Create a mobile service page, type a subdomain name for the new mobile service in the URL textbox and wait for name verification. Once name verification completes, click the right arrow button to go to the next page.

   

   This displays the Specify database settings page.

   Note

   As part of this tutorial, you create a new SQL Database instance and server. You can reuse this new database and administer it as you would any other SQL Database instance. If you already have a database in the same region as the new mobile service, you can instead choose Use existing Database and then select that database. The use of a database in a different region is not recommended because of additional bandwidth costs and higher latencies.

5. In Name, type the name of the new database, then type Login name, which is the administrator login name for the new SQL Database server, type and confirm the password, and click the check button to complete the process.

   

   Note

   When the password that you supply does not meet the minimum requirements or when there is a mismatch, a warning is displayed.
   We recommend that you make a note of the administrator login name and password that you specify; you will need this information to reuse the SQL Database instance or the server in the future.

You have now created a new mobile service that can be used by your mobile apps.

Create a new Windows Store app

Once you have created your mobile service, you can follow an easy quickstart in the Management Portal to either create a new app or modify an existing app to connect to your mobile service.

In this section you will create a new Windows Store app that is connected to your mobile service.

1. In the Management Portal, click Mobile Services, and then click the mobile service that you just created.

2. In the quickstart tab, click Windows under Choose platform and expand Create a new Windows Store app.

   

   This displays the three easy steps to create a Windows Store app connected to your mobile service.

   

3. If you haven't already done so, download and install Visual Studio 2012 Express for Windows 8 and the Mobile Services SDK on your local computer or virtual machine.

4. Click Create TodoItems table to create a table to store app data.

5. Under Download and run application, select a language for your app, then click Download.

   This downloads the project for the sample To do list application that is connected to your mobile service. Save the compressed project file to your local computer, and make a note of where you save it.

Run your Windows app

The final stage of this tutorial is to build and run your new app.

1. Browse to the location where you saved the compressed project files, expand the files on your computer, and open the solution file in Visual Studio 2012 Express for Windows 8.

   

2. Press the F5 key to rebuild the project and start the app.

3. In the app, type meaningful text, such as Complete the tutorial, in Insert a TodoItem, and then click Save.

   

   This sends a POST request to the new mobile service hosted in Windows Azure. Data from the request is inserted into the TodoItem table. Items stored in the table are returned by the mobile service, and the data is displayed in the second column in the app.

   Note

   You can review the code that accesses your mobile service to query and insert data, which is found in either the MainPage.xaml.cs file (C#/XAML project) or the default.js (JavaScript/HTML project) file.

4. Back in the Management Portal, click the Data tab and then click the TodoItems table.

   

   This lets you browse the data inserted by the app into the table.

   

Next Steps

Now that you have completed the quickstart, learn how to perform additional important tasks in Mobile Services:

• Get started with data ( C# / JavaScript )
  Learn more about storing and querying data using Mobile Services.

• Get started with authentication ( C# / JavaScript )
  Learn how to authenticate users of your app with an identity provider.

• Get started with push notifications ( C# / JavaScript )
  Learn how to send a very basic push notification to your app.

• Watch Building Cross Platform Mobile Solutions Using Azure Mobile Solutions workshop https://bit.ly/16b6cZ2 or https://bit.ly/ZrM7ID

The Source: https://bit.ly/14vtm8Y

Windows Phone 8 offers a lot of new capabilities for developers to create even better, more immersive user experiences on the Windows Phone. This course will give you hands-on experience with important developer features in Windows Phone 8.

Take advantage of the new multi-tasking capabilities such as fast app switching, background agents, alerts and reminders Improve integration with the phone by using live tiles and the new calendar and contacts APIs.

Check these videos from Windows Phone 8 Developer Workshop

Check the videos:https://bit.ly/YO1Kb6

I hope find these videos helpful. And, if you do, please share these with your peers and colleagues so that they too can take advantage of these and benefit from them.

Follow us "Microsoft Saudi Community" on Twitter and Facebook to know more about the upcoming events, activities and the latest news.

Now accelerate your mobile app development. Add structured storage, user authentication and push notifications to your Windows Store, Windows Phone 8, or iOS app in minutes. Focus on building a great user experience; let us worry about the backend infrastructure.

Watch Building Cross Platform Mobile Solutions Using Azure Mobile Solutions workshop

Check the videos: https://bit.ly/XXxuhZ

I hope find these videos helpful. And, if you do, please share these with your peers and colleagues so that they too can take advantage of these and benefit from them.

Follow us "Microsoft Saudi Community" on Twitter and Facebook to know more about the upcoming events, activities and the latest news.

1. Focus

Write a “best-at” statement that clearly outlines what makes your app great and unique from the rest. Use it as a mission statement that guides design and development. Think about how different types of users will employ your app and focus on the top three “user scenarios” that truly support your best-at statement. Make these user experiences truly stellar before adding more features.

For reference: Windows Phone Design Process - Concept

2. Plan

Create a navigation flowchart, showing how the pages in your app interrelate. It will give you a clearer picture of how users should get around in your app. Group like pages and then decide if each group should be in panorama, pivot or app bar style based on how users will interact. Even if you’re not artistically inclined, sketch simple wireframes for your pages and try different iterations. Sketches are always easier to modify than code. For reference: Windows Phone Design Process - Structure

3. Love the grid

Grid based design is nothing new, but did you know that Windows Phone has its own grid? Use it while sketching or creating design comps. There is even a handy overlay included in page template. (It’s hidden in the XAML comments.) Flip it on and see the grid in your own application. Snap to it! For reference: Sketch Templates

4. Theme it

One of the great things about Windows Phone is that users choose light or dark themes as well as personal accent colors. The entire phone takes on those themes. Don’t let your app get left behind, or worse, perform opposite the user’s intent. Theme and accent colors are available as resources you can use throughout your app. For reference: Themes for Windows Phone

5. It’s alive!

Users love apps that feel like they’re an organic part of their phone. Make a great live tile experience, even if that’s not the main feature of your app. Live tiles pull users back into your app, and give you an edge over the competition. Take a look at the templates and come up with some ideas. For reference: Tile Design Guidelines for Windows Phone

6. Let content breathe, never fear the scroll

It’s tempting to pack as much content as possible onto a screen, but remember that scrolling on Windows Phone only takes a flick of the finger. Good screen design is focused on legibility and “scannability.” Let your design breathe and avoid the “wall of words” effect. Use white space – the gaps between visual elements – to separate groups of elements and make your layout easier to understand at a glance. For reference: Windows Phone Design Principles: more with less

 7. Be inspired

Windows Phone’s design language is inspired by International Typographic Style. This style focuses on strong typography, simplicity and clarity. It uses simple illustration, sharp contrast and bold shapes to communicate ideas effectively. Check it out, then spice up your app design. For reference: Windows Phone Design Bootcamp 101: Windows Design Language

 8. Sell it

Consider how you populate your store entry. This is often the first experience a potential customer has with your app. Your app’s name and icon should be clear and memorable, its descriptions simple and effective. The screenshots you choose should demo key content and functionality that users want or need. Don’t let a great app fall to the wayside due to lackluster marketing. For reference: Windows Phone Store badge

We hope you’ll find these tips useful, and encourage you to share yours in the comments.
To further your design education, here’s a road map:

• Guidance from the Windows Phone design team: https://dev.windowsphone.com/design
• Video series “Windows Phone Design Boot Camps”: https://aka.ms/wp8designbootcamp
• Get personalized tips for your app/design concept, with the Lightning Design Reviews: https://aka.ms/lightdesign

And finally don’t forget about the Windows Phone “App to the Future” Design Challenge. Even if you can't design your way out of a paper bag, but have great development skills, you can apply to team up with an App to the Future designer to build out a Windows Phone 8 application. Check the challenge page (at the bottom) to see how.

The Source: https://bit.ly/X1BFtg

Microsoft is redefining how business solutions empower people for greater success, predict potential issues and opportunities, and enable organizations to expand the possibilities for competitive advantage.

Join us at the Microsoft Dynamics Launch Event to find out how to work forward and continue to grow into a well-connected, forward-looking organization that empowers its people to reach their full potential.

Meet Microsoft and Microsoft partners, learn about the latest Microsoft Dynamics solutions from industry experts, and find out how to deliver immediate results for your business.

Date: Sunday, 24th February, 2013
Venue: Intercontinental Hotel, Riyadh.
   

Register now: https://bit.ly/MS-Business-Solutions

See You There!

Are you ready to launch your Windows Store app at DEMO Mobile 2013?
If you have a Windows Store app idea, we want you to apply and compete for a chance to launch your app at DEMO Mobile on April 17th, 2013.

It’s easy to enter the challenge

1. Submit app prototype! This can be a video, a slideshare presentation, screenshots, whatever as long as it hits on the judging criteria
2. Get votes! Once your app prototype is approved, tweet the link using #windowschallenge and share it to collect votes (50% of your score will be based on public voting).

Prizes:

First Prize: Top team will receive a free trip to San Francisco to launch at DEMO Mobile on April 17^th, 2013.

Second Prize: Top five teams will receive a marketing package to promote and launch the app

Third Prize: All semi-finalists will receive free design and technical support from experts.

About the Challenge:
This is a joint effort between Microsoft, Startup Weekend and DEMO to accelerate apps from prototype to development to launch.

Entre Period:
The entry period ends on January 29, 2013. Please submit a prototype of your app here.

Questions:
For other related inquiries and questions, go to our support group on Facebook or
email us at WindowsChallenge@microsoft.com. More information including the Official Rules can be found here.