Windows Phone 8 in Action

Summary

Windows Phone 8 in Action is a comprehensive guide to developing apps for the WP8 platform. It covers the Windows Phone Runtime and .NET APIs used to work with a phone’s sensors and hardware, including the accelerometer, camera, gyroscope, GPS, and microphone. You will learn to write code to dial the phone, write emails, send text messages, and recognize speech. The book also teaches you to build applications that use location and push notification.

About this Book

With 10 million (and climbing) active handsets, Windows Phone 8 has become a real alternative to Android and iOS. WP users are hungry for great apps, so it’s time for you to start creating them!

Windows Phone 8 in Action teaches you how to design, build, and sell WP8 apps. In it, you’ll learn to use the WP Runtime and .NET APIs to control key features like the accelerometer, camera, GPS, and microphone. This example-driven book also shows you how to write applications that use location and push notification, enhanced navigation services, and WP8’s deep multimedia capabilities.

You’ll need a working knowledge of C#. No experience with Windows Phone or XAML is required.

Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications.

What’s Inside

• Build your first phone app
• Master the Windows Phone 8 interface
• How to sell on the Windows Phone Store
• Use features like voice recognition and media

About the Authors

Tim Binkley-Jones has worked with XAML since the first releases of WPF and Silverlight. Adam Benoit is an independent developer with more than a dozen apps in the Windows Phone Store. Massimo Perga is an engineer at Microsoft. Michael Sync is a web and WP architect.

Table of Contents

Part 1: Introducing Windows Phone
Chapter 1. A new phone, a new operating system
Chapter 2. Creating your first Windows Phone application

Part 2: Core Windows Phone
Chapter 3. Fast application switching and resume
Chapter 4. Scheduled actions
Chapter 5. Launching tasks and choosers
Chapter 6. Contacts and calendars
Chapter 7. Storing data
Chapter 8. Working with the camera
Chapter 9. Integrating with the Photos and Music + Videos Hubs
Chapter 10. Using sensors
Chapter 11. Network communication with push notifications
Chapter 12. Using the Speech API

Part 3: XAML for Windows Phone
Chapter 13. ApplicationBar and context menus
Chapter 14. Panorama and pivot controls
Chapter 15. Building a media player
Chapter 16. Using Maps
Chapter 17. Building HTML applications
Chapter 18. Releasing and monetizing apps

Appendix A: XAML, the Extensible Application Markup Language
Appendix B: Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM)