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Using Pivot and Panorama Controls

Version: 1.2.0

Description

This lab walks you through the steps required to use the new controls for presenting information, the Pivot and Panorama controls. The lab will also help you learn about the new navigation model in Windows Phone 7.

Overview

Developing applications for Windows® Phone 7 presents new challenges.

How do we manage to navigate between different applications without losing precious battery power, but still maintain a consistent user experience with our application?

How do we manage to present large quantities of information to the user when screen size is significantly smaller than our regular PC displays?

All these issues are addressed and in this lab you will become familiar with the solutions.

The lab walks you through creating a fully featured Microsoft Silverlight® for Windows Phone application, named Wazup. The Wazup application will let you search stories using Digg, check out the tweets (Twitter messages) for the top 10 active trends on Twitter and read posts from the Windows Phone Developer Blog.

While developing the Wazup application, you will learn how to use the new controls for presenting information, Pivot and Panorama, and learn about the new navigation model in Windows Phone 7.

Audience: The lab assumes knowledge of XAML and familiarity with Silverlight 3.

Objectives

Upon completing the lab you will:

  • Be familiar with most of the common controls in a Windows Phone 7 application, including: TextBlock, TextBox, Button, HyperlinkButton, and ListBox
  • Be familiar with controls specific to a Windows Phone 7 application, including: ApplicationBar, ApplicationBarIconButton, PhoneApplicationFrame, and PhoneApplicationPage
  • Have a high level of understanding of the overall "Applications" navigation model, and specifically the page and frame navigation model within Windows Phone 7 applications.
  • Understand how to handle application state information in order to support navigating away from the application and back
  • Have learned about the new controls available for Windows Phone applications, including Pivot and Panorama
  • Understand what a Pivot control is, how to use it, and when
  • Understand what a Panorama control is, how to use it, and when
  • Have created a Windows Phone 7 Silverlight application that uses both Pivot and Panorama controls to present content to the user in various ways

Prerequisites

The following are required to complete this hands-on lab:

  • Microsoft Visual Studio® 2010 Express for Windows Phone or Microsoft Visual Studio 2010
  • Windows Phone Developer Tools
    Note:
    All of these Tools can be downloaded together in a single package from https://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9772716.

Exercises

This hands-on lab comprises of the following exercises:

  1. Introduction to Navigation in Windows Phone
  2. Introduction to Pivot Control
  3. Introduction to Panorama Control

Estimated time to complete this lab: 90 minutes.