Authoring a book on mobile development with a title that starts with "Pro" is a daunting task. Put in too much introductory material and you lose the knowledgeable developer looking to take his application to the next level. Breeze through key concepts and the cross-platform professional mobile developer may struggle learning how to work with targeting a relatively new platform in Windows Phone 7.
Another challenge is culling down what to cover between Silverlight and the XNA Framework. Both are fabulous and interesting technologies so I strived to cover both in a single text, though this book is more geared toward Silverlight developers who are interesting in learning about the XNA Framework as well.
This book provides a comprehensive overview of XAML and Silverlight since it is a critical aspect of WP7 development. It also focuses on many of the more challenging topics such as correctly architecting Silverlight for Windows Phone 7 applications using the Model-View-ViewModel architecture as well as working with services, encryption, and gestures.
There are many tidbits throughout this book extracted from many long hours of working with top media brands to bring their content and applications to Windows Phone 7. I hope that sharing this knowledge on memory and CPU optimization gleaned from these experiences helps to bring your applications to the top of the rankings in the Windows Phone 7 marketplace.
If you are an existing Silverlight developer, this book will provide details on how to leverage your Silverlight skills for Windows Phone 7. If you are a mobile developer looking to port an existing application to Windows Phone 7, then this book will give you the information you need, covering the core concepts and techniques fundamental for Silverlight for Windows Phone 7 development.
Having an understanding of the .NET Framework will help, but if you are an experienced developer new to the .NET Framework, you will still be able to learn Windows Phone 7 development using this book because much of the development is in the XAML markup language as well as in code.
Note
You still may want to grab a programming in C# text such as Adam Freeman's Introducing Visual C# 2010 (Apress, 2010) if you are not confident with C#.
The example code in this book is written in C#. However, much of the development is in the XAML, not in C#, so if you are a VB.NET developer, the markup is almost exactly the same. For the examples that do include C# code in the code-behind, the code translates pretty easily, as the .NET Framework for Silverlight for Windows Phone is language agnostic.
This book consists of chapters that focus on individual topic areas of Windows Phone 7 and is intended to be read in the order in which it is written; however, I strive to point to related sections in other chapters so if you need to skip ahead to a specific topic feel free to do so.
I spend a bit more time on Silverlight than the XNA Framework, but both are covered throughout the book. Chapter 1 starts with an introduction to the Windows Phone Platform, the AppHub marketplace, Silverlight, and concludes with a detailed introductory sample on the XNA Framework. Chapter 2 focuses exclusively on Silverlight UX development. Chapter 3 covers input, leveraging examples both for Silverlight and the XNA Framework. With the fundamentals for professional development on Windows Phone 7 out of the way, Chapter 4 dives into the programming model with Silverlight as well as how to integrate into the Windows Phone 7 platform via tasks and choosers. Chapter 4 also covers the Bing Maps control and the WebBrowser control, including how to communicate between Silverlight and JavaScript.
Chapter 5 covers Advanced Silverlight UI development starting with a detailed investigation of the Model-View-ViewModel pattern. While this may seem odd in a chapter focused on UI, good architecture focuses on separation of concerns, which leads to better user experience and cleaner XAML. Chapter 6 covers advanced programming model concepts, including Advanced Data Binding, the Silverlight toolkit for WP7, working with the Media Library, creating a Photos Extra and Music plus Video hub application, as well as other integration scenarios.
Chapter 7 dives in deep on XNA Framework development for 2D applications, building on the introductory sample from Chapter 1. It includes coverage on how to leverage the Game Management sample from AppHub to create a professional looking application. Chapter 8 starts off with adding polish to the Chapter 7 2D game development sample, covering saving and load as well supporting tombstoning in XNA. A simple particle system is added to the 2D game to add explosions. Chapter 8 then delves into the world of 3D game development, covering working with primitives and models in 3D.
You will need a version of Visual Studio 2010, with Service Pack 1 of Visual Studio 2010 applied. You will also need to install Windows Phone Developer Tools available here:
http://create.msdn.com/en-us/home/getting_started
You will want to download the Silverlight Toolkit for WP7 available here:
http://silverlight.codplex.com
I also highly recommend that you review the Design Resources for Windows Phone 7 available here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff637515(VS.92).aspx
The code is available in zip file format in the Source Code/Download section of the Apress web site. Please review the readme.txt for setup instructions.