Operating with image files in a Windows Phone 7 application

Images Add to the Experience

Adding images to something that you are working on in the Windows 7 phone can be a great way to appeal to people in a more full way. This is to say that many users of your programs and services will expect to see images contained within. 

Humans are a visual species, and it is always nice when the tools that we use provide us with the images that we have come to expect from the services that we use. 

Real email accounts inside the Windows Phone emulator

You can now get email accounts with the Windows Phone Emulator. With this Mail app, you can have all your email accounts in one place. You don’t have to access your emails to different websites or apps.

While you couldn't do this easily in the past, you can use the Windows Phone Emulate to do this. Windows Phone Emulator is a tool that comes with various features for development. For instance, documentation, emulator images, tools for Visual Studio, and obtaining a sample code.

Using application settings in Windows Phone 7 apps

Many applications have user input that should be somehow preserved in order to be restored when the application starts again. This includes preferences, URLs, general information, and whatnot. As in any other .NET application, a Windows Phone 7 application supports application settings.

Although the concept is similar, the way it is implemented is a bit different compared to regular console applications, for example. The way you are used to access them is through Properties.Settings.Default or through the Application Properties dialog. Both of these options are not available in a Windows Phone 7 application.

Instead, you should use IsolatedStorageSettings.ApplicationSettings, which is a member of the System.IO.IsolatedStorage namespace. The application settings are stored in a local application-scoped file that can, in fact, be created via IsolatedStorageFile.GetUserStoreForApplication().CreateFile(path)