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Using the TabControl on Windows Phone 7

By default, the Windows Phone 7 SDK doesn't have a TabControl. It is a quite useful component already available in Silverlight and although it doesn't quite follow the Metro style, it can have its use. For example, some Android applications have a similar UI:

Adding Relevant Features

It is so very important to remember that relevant features sometimes need to be added to a phone to make it as fully operational as we would all like for it to be. Sadly, there are some people who don’t realize that they need to put this kind of time and effort in, and they may end up using a phone that doesn’t have all of the functionality that they deserve it. 

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Using the LongListSelector control on Windows Phone 7

Yesterday I looked into the Silverlight Toolkit for Windows Phone and I covered some of the controls that are included in the current build. One of the controls that might be a bit unusual to configure and get working is LongListSelector, which allows you to group items inside a list. With a regular ListBox, you can display data but there is no way to jump directly to an item set, and there is no way to group items.

Clumping Items Together

One of the best features of any phone is the ability to clump together large lists of items so that they become easier to sort through. Not every phone has this ability though, and it can be very frustrating for some phone owners who are just trying to go through their lists in the easiest ways possible. 

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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. 

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5-minute Observable.FromAsyncPattern sample for Windows Phone 7

If you are looking to create code that models the observable.fromAsyncPattern, you can get started with some basic key types. You’ll need to be able to develop your own implementations from IObserver or IObservable.

Here you can develop the sequences you want with the data that you want. Learn the basic elements of observable sequences, how to get values into them, and how to select the values you want from them. 

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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). 

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How to run multiple instances of the Windows Phone 7 emulator

It’s not that difficult to run multiple instances of a Windows Phone 7 emulator, or any other mobile emulator for that matter, when you’re doing testing, development, or having some DIY fun! 

You can run multiple instances of the Windows Phone 7 emulator by generating unique GUIDs for each instance that you need to run. You’ll also need to pass a VMID in order to get these multiple instances working. You can also run multiple instances of later versions of Windows phones like Windows Mobile 10.