Ever wondered what the red and white colored numbers on the top right side of Windows Phone Emulator mean? Always wanted to make sense out of them or hide them? If yes, read on…

These numbers are frame rate counters to monitor your application performance. The figure below (source: MSDN) shows what they mean

You can turn them ON or OFF by modifying the App.xaml.cs file

// Show graphics profiling information while debugging.
           if (System.Diagnostics.Debugger.IsAttached)
           {
               // Display the current frame rate counters.
               Application.Current.Host.Settings.EnableFrameRateCounter = true;

To hide the counters, just change EnableFrameRateCounter value to false.

// Show graphics profiling information while debugging.
           if (System.Diagnostics.Debugger.IsAttached)
           {
               // Display the current frame rate counters.
               Application.Current.Host.Settings.EnableFrameRateCounter = false;

1. Lets get started by creating a new Windows Phone Application from the Visual Studio File Menu. We are using Visual C# - Silverlight for Windows Phone Template for this project.

2. Now drag two Image controls and three buttons from Windows Phone Control Toolbox on the page. Name the first image as myImage, second image as smallerImage, buttons as btnClick (set content property as Capture), btnRead (content as Retrieve), btnTile (content as Set Tile). Your page should look like the one shown below:

3. Add the following namespaces which we will be requiring in our code

using System.IO.IsolatedStorage;

using System.Windows.Media.Imaging;

using Microsoft.Phone.Shell;

4. Create an object for CameraCaptureTask and couple of other data members for working with the image

private byte[] _imageBytes;

CameraCaptureTask CCT = new CameraCaptureTask();

string imageFolder = @"\Shared\ShellContent";

string imageFileName = "DemoImage.jpg";

5. Add an eventHandler to the constructor so that it looks like this

public MainPage()

{

    InitializeComponent();            

    CCT.Completed += new EventHandler<PhotoResult>(capture_completed);

}

6. Now, we will add code for button Click event for the Capture button

private void btnClick_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)

{

    try

    {                

        CCT.Show();

    }

    catch (System.InvalidOperationException ex)

    {

        MessageBox.Show("An error occurred");

    }

}

7. And code to execute when CameraCapture task is complete. The code below displays the image in an image control and saves the captured image in Isolated storage

void capture_completed(object sender, PhotoResult e)

{

    if (e.TaskResult == TaskResult.OK)

    {

        //Display the photo in an image control named myImage and save the image with dimensions of 150x150 pixels

        WriteableBitmap WriteableBMP = new WriteableBitmap(150, 150);

        WriteableBMP.LoadJpeg(e.ChosenPhoto);

        System.Windows.Media.Imaging.BitmapImage bmp = new System.Windows.Media.Imaging.BitmapImage();

        bmp.SetSource(e.ChosenPhoto);

        myImage.Source = bmp;                

        //Using Isolated storage for storage

        using (var isoFile = IsolatedStorageFile.GetUserStoreForApplication())

        {

            if (!isoFile.DirectoryExists(imageFolder))

            {

                isoFile.CreateDirectory(imageFolder);

            }

            string filePath = System.IO.Path.Combine(imageFolder, imageFileName);

            using (var stream = isoFile.CreateFile(filePath))

            {

                WriteableBMP.SaveJpeg(stream, WriteableBMP.PixelWidth, WriteableBMP.PixelHeight, 0, 100);

            }

        }

    }

}

8. Next step is to Read the image back in the second image control (to prove we actually saved the image)

private void btnRead_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)

{

    //Reading the image back from storage

    BitmapImage imgFromStorage = new BitmapImage();

    using (var isoFile = IsolatedStorageFile.GetUserStoreForApplication())

    {

        string filePath = System.IO.Path.Combine(imageFolder, imageFileName);

        using (var imageStream = isoFile.OpenFile(

            filePath, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read))

        {

            imgFromStorage.SetSource(imageStream);

        }

    }

    smallerImage.Source = imgFromStorage;

}

9. Now that we have retrieved the image, lets set the Live Tile with this image as the tile image and some content

public void CreateApplicationTile()

{

    var appTile = ShellTile.ActiveTiles.First();

    //Retrieve the seconds part of current timestamp

    int Sec=System.DateTime.Now.Second;

    var store = IsolatedStorageFile.GetUserStoreForApplication();

    if (appTile != null)

    {

        var standardTile = new StandardTileData

        {

            Title = "Live Tile Demo",

            BackgroundImage = new Uri(@"isostore:/Shared/ShellContent/DemoImage.jpg", UriKind.Absolute),

            //Set the tile count to current seconds value

            Count=Sec,

            BackTitle = "Tile Back Title",

            BackBackgroundImage = new Uri(@"isostore:/Shared/ShellContent/DemoImage.jpg", UriKind.Absolute),

            BackContent = "Live Tile Demo Back Title"

        };

        appTile.Update(standardTile);

    }

}

private void btnTile_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)

{

    CreateApplicationTile();

}

And we are done. Go ahead and test the app on Emulator. You can see every time you capture and set tile, the current seconds value will be displayed on the top right end of tile.

Related Resources

Isolated Storage for Windows Phone

Choosers for Windows Phone

Tiles overview for Windows Phone

1. Lets get started by creating a new Windows Phone Application from the Visual Studio File Menu. We are using Visual C# - Silverlight for Windows Phone Template for this project.

2. Now drag the Map control from Windows Phone Control Toolbox on the page. Stretch and Scale the Map as per your requirements.

3. We want to have the ZoomBar visible on the map control, for which you need to add the following line of code to the Constructor. Here map1 is the name of the map control we are using.

public MainPage()

        {

            InitializeComponent();

            map1.ZoomBarVisibility = Visibility.Visible;

        }

If you run the app, you will see a map with the ZoomBar. Our next task is to locate the current co-ordinates on this map.

4. For using the GeoCoordinateWatcher class, you will need to include System.Device.Location namespace:

using System.Device.Location;

5. Initialize the object

private GeoCoordinateWatcher loc = null;

6. Now we will add a button, clicking which will take us to our current location on the map. Lets name this button btnMe and change the content to “Me”.

7. We will now add code for button click event:

private void btnMe_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)

        {

            loc = new GeoCoordinateWatcher(GeoPositionAccuracy.Default); 

            //EventHandler for location service status changes

            loc.StatusChanged += loc_StatusChanged; 

            //If the location service is disabled or not supported

            if (loc.Status == GeoPositionStatus.Disabled) 

            { 

                //Display a message

                MessageBox.Show("Location services must be enabled"); 

                return; 

            } 

            loc.Start();

        }

8. Move and zoom the map view to current location

void loc_StatusChanged(object sender, GeoPositionStatusChangedEventArgs e)

        {

           if (e.Status == GeoPositionStatus.Ready)

            {                

                map1.SetView(loc.Position.Location, 10.0);

                loc.Stop();

            }

        }

9. Now that we have the map showing our current location, lets add code to Email our coordinates. First of all we will add another button, name it btnEmail and change the content to “Email”. Your page should now look like the one shown below:

10. Add the namespace Microsoft.Phone.Tasks to use EmailCompose Task

using Microsoft.Phone.Tasks;

11. Add the following code to button Click event

 

private void btnEmail_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)

        {

            string Msg = "Lat=" + loc.Position.Location.Latitude.ToString();

            Msg=Msg + " Long=" + loc.Position.Location.Longitude.ToString();

            EmailComposeTask emailcomposer = new EmailComposeTask();

            emailcomposer.To = "someone@somedomain.com";

            emailcomposer.Subject = "My current location";

            emailcomposer.Body = Msg;

            //Show the Email application 

            emailcomposer.Show();

        }

Your application is now ready

Testing your application

You can test your app on the Emulator by pressing F5. Once your app is up on the Emulator, you can simulate your current location by using the additional tools on the emulator. Goto the Location tab and select a location to simulate.

Related Resources

Bing Map control for Windows Phone

Launchers for Windows Phone

<Update: 6 Feb 2012>

Code walkthrough for apps shown during my session on “Developing applications for Windows Phone”  during Windows Phone Camps Hyderabad are available at the posts below:

Windows Phone code sample : showing current location on map and sharing it using Email

Windows Phone code sample: Capturing image from camera and updating live tile

There were a couple of questions asked during the Q&A time, responses to which are given below:

Q. Is there a limit to Isolated storage which can be used by Windows Phone apps?

A. There is no such limit for Windows Phone apps. More details about Windows Phone Isolated storage can be found here

Q. What is maximum allowed size of XAP package file?

A. It is 225 MB. More details here

Q. Can we connect to web services from Windows Phone apps?

A. Yes. See this link for details on Networking and Web Services support.

General Information about WP7

https://www.windowsphone7.com

Free Developer tools download and developer resources

https://developer.windowsphone.com

Have some fun with the personalized demo

https://apps.facebook.com/meetnewwpdemo/

Some of the demos presented during the session

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff431744(v=VS.92).aspx

The message is self-explanatory and you can easily make the changes as suggested, but if you want to save some time by not manually making each of the entries as suggested, copy and paste the code segment given below in this post.

Open the WMAppManifest.xml file under properties node in your project

Look for the <Capabilities>    </Capabilities> node in the file and copy/paste the following elements inside the node:

<Capability Name="ID_CAP_NETWORKING"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_LOCATION"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_SENSORS"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_MICROPHONE"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_MEDIALIB"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_GAMERSERVICES"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_PHONEDIALER"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_PUSH_NOTIFICATION"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_WEBBROWSERCOMPONENT"/>

To make your migration experience easy, it is recommended to go through Jaime’s blog post here which will help you fix any build errors.

Watch it online : https://bit.ly/90Mq2i

Simply go to https://www.bing.com/maps/explore/ and click on maps app on the bottom left of the screen. Select Twitter Maps and then put in your search using the Search Filters then click the link to embed in your site.

Here is an example below, where I have filtered the maps for Tweets in Delhi area.

These webcasts will be held every other Wednesday at 2:30 EST from February 24^th until May 5^th. For the list of upcoming webcasts and more information, log onto https://tiny.cc/sws19