Windows Phone 8 Get Started and in-depth topics - TechEd NA 2013

Hi everyone,

If you haven't attended TechEd North America 2013 and you are a windows phone developer, This blog post is for you.

I was looking to see all windows phone 8 sessions so i can check them on my own time, I found this blog post that has all videos for windows phone 8 in TechEd 2013.

Take a look and enjoy.


http://blogs.windows.com/windows_phone/b/wpdev/archive/2013/06/06/teched-north-america-2013-summary.aspx

-ME

Generic Failure in WP8 Emulator and Error when opening Hyper-V Switch Manager!

Hi,

I was developing a windows phone 8 application using VS 2012, and after i did some changes in the network adapter by disabling the hyper-v virtualization protocol "vEthernet" and all its components, the emulator stops working!.

The reason i did this because i wasn't able to give a static IP to my machine so i can access it from my second machine, installing TCP/IP 4 to set the static IP and unchecked Hyper-V protocol screw my virtual Ethernet adapter and emulator components that are using it.


I was looking and searching what caused this problem, the only thing i was sure about it it is something related to the network adapter settings! since the network adapter doesn't have the required settings for the Hyper-V neither The emulator nor the Hyper-V switch manager is working and throwing errors.

The emulator was throwing an error: Generic Failure in VS 2012.

The Hyper-V Switch manager is throwing this error message: An error occurred while trying to retrieve a list of virtual switches.

To cleanup your machine and get back developing on the emulator, do the following:

1) Open Hyper-V Manager, you will find a VM created for your emulator, Delete this VM.

2) From Control Panel, Open Add or Remove windows Features -> Un check Hyper-V. This will un install all Hyper-V configuration. Reboot your machine.

3) From Control Panel, Add back Hyper-V to your windows, this will install Hyper-V manager and install all required vEthernet and other components that are required to run the emulator.

4) Open Hyper-V Manager, Click on "Add Virtual Switch Manager" and then add a virtual switch of type Internal.
Notice: you won't get the error message we had earlier!

5) Open your visual studio, and run your WP8 application, this will configure the emulator VM and all its components.
Notice: The first will take a longer time to run, since the windows will install all required drivers and create the VM used by the emulator and setup the network adapters between the PC and the VM.

6) If you check the Hyper-V manager after the first run for your application, VS 2012 has created a new VM and used the new Virtual Switch we created earlier.

Hope this helps!

Drop me a line if you have this problem and have other solutions or workarounds to it.

Thanks.

Getting Started Windows 8 Store Apps Resources

Hi Folks,

I'm writing this post to share the resources that every software engineer or developer needs to get started with Windows 8 Store App development.

First, Before heading out and install Development resources (SDK) to start playing and exploring with windows 8 store app tools looks like. here is some sites you need to read to have a basic understanding about windows 8 store apps principles, design and concepts:

1) Windows Store Apps development center:
This site is the main site that contains all materials you want to get or read about Windows Store Apps design and development.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps

2) First document i suggest to read, Windows 8 Product Guide for Developers, find it here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/apps/hh852650

3) Spend some time understanding the API reference for Win Store apps using JavaScript, C#,C++ or VB.NET:
This source shows how to use,understand & explore Windows 8 API using different programming languages. Using C# or JavaScript to build HTML Store Apps is different than using Traditional JavaScript in some manner.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/windows/apps/br211369

4) Get some basic understanding of Metro Style Store apps guidelines and principles:
Even if you are not a designer, it is crucial to have basic understanding of designing Views and pages.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/windows/apps/hh779072

After the previous four steps, you should be able to build your development box with Windows 8,VS 2012 Express, Blend and SQL 2012 Express, so you proceed to the following resources.
Downloads link:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/apps/br229516

5) Getting started with development tutorials:
Get some samples, tutorials to get dirty hands working with VS 2012, Blend and All windows Store necessary tools to get up to speed in development.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/windows/apps/br211386

Since I'm a C# guy, here is the Get Started Development resources for C# Developers:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh974581.aspx

Once you reach this step, you should be able to build your first windows store app. now the time for deployment/licensing and selling your application.

6) Selling you application:
Get to know the available markets, languages and how to get paid.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/windows/apps/hh694064

I will keep updating this post as i find good resources to read  for early adopters!

Hope this helps,

Regards,
Mostafa E.