Windows Phone 8 in Action

Book excerpt: 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 A new phone, a new operating system Creating your first Windows Phone application PART 2 CORE WINDOWS PHONE Fast application switching and resume Scheduled actions Launching tasks and choosers Contacts and calendars Storing data Working with the camera Integrating with the Photos and Music + Videos Hubs Using sensors Network communication with push notifications Using the Speech API PART 3 XAML FOR WINDOWS PHONE ApplicationBar and context menus Panorama and pivot controls Building a media player Using Maps Building HTML applications Releasing and monetizing apps