JAPF

A coworker and I are currently working on a simple Silverlight game for the Windows Phone 7 platform. In order to give some feedback to our end-user, we decided to add sound effects. Here is a very short post about how we did that.

The first thing is to reference the Microsoft.Xna.Framework assembly in your project. This assembly is needed to access the low-level sound component of XNA right from your Silverlight application. You also need to have your sound effect in a WAVE format file.

Then we created a simple action (from the Blend Behavior toolkit) which is a TargetedTriggerAction:

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public class SoundEffectAction : TargetedTriggerAction<FrameworkElement>
{
    public string Source
    {
        get { return (string)GetValue(SourceProperty); }
        set { SetValue(SourceProperty, value); }
    }
 
    public static readonly DependencyProperty SourceProperty = DependencyProperty.Register(
        "Source", 
        typeof(string), 
        typeof(SoundEffectAction), 
        new PropertyMetadata(string.Empty));
 
    protected override void Invoke(object parameter)
    {
        if(!string.IsNullOrEmpty(this.Source)
        {
            var stream = TitleContainer.OpenStream(this.Source);
            if (stream != null)
            {
                var effect = SoundEffect.FromStream(stream);
                FrameworkDispatcher.Update();
                effect.Play();
            }
        }
    }
}

Using this action, we’re able to wire sound effect right in Blend which produces the following XAML code:

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<Grid Margin="2">
    <i:Interaction.Triggers>
        <i:EventTrigger EventName="MouseLeftButtonUp">
            <Actions:SoundEffectAction Source="Resources/Sounds/Click.wav" />
        </i:EventTrigger>
    </i:Interaction.Triggers>
    <!-- rest of the xaml... -->
</Grid>

Simple, isn’t it ?

I guess many Windows Phone 7 developers have been waiting for this news since many weeks. It’s finally official: the Beta build of the Windows Phone 7 tools is out. If you want to download the new version here is the link.

This new version has been released during WPC (Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference). For more information, please check-out:

• the post on the Windows Phone Developer Tools blog.
• this post by Jaime Rodriguez about all breaking change between the April CTP Refresh and the Beta build
• this post by the Blend team about the new features available in Blend
• the release note

Here are a summary of the changes in this new version:

• Despite HW acceleration effects have been removed from the platform (DropShadow and Blur effects are now no-op). This feature might come back later.
• Compatibility with Blend 4 RTM
• API near final
• Various fixes

Note that panorama and pivot controls are coming in the next weeks… Grab you copy now and enjoy Windows Phone 7 development

A couple of months ago, the french programming website www.developpez.com organized an event to discover Windows Azure programming (I wrote a blog post about it here).

A similar event has just been launched for Windows Phone 7 development at challenge-windowsphone7.developpez.com

(tr: “Let’s go !” “World cup ?” “No… Windows Phone 7 challenge by developpez.com !”)

The challenge is made of 6 steps:

1. Tools : download and install the required tools
2. Quizz : first basic quizz
3. Silverlight development
4. Silverlight and push notifications
5. XNA
6. Quizz : advanced quizz

Each winner will have the following gifts:

This kind of challenge is really helpful to discover a new technology the funny way ! I hope I’ll get my “I Love Windows Phone” tee-shirt to wear it this summer

The last couple of days, I’m playing with my favourite tools in order to build a simple WP7 demo application. I just encountered a weird problem which I wanted to share here… I’ll update this article as soon as I’ll get some feedback from Microsoft about this issue.

Note: this problem did not occur if you’re using the first CTP of the WP7 tools

To reproduce the bug:

• Create a new Windows Phone 7 application in VS2010
• Add a new page (use the default name: Page1)
• In the MainPage, add the following XAML code:

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<ListBox>
  <Button MouseLeftButtonDown="Handler"/>
</ListBox>

• In the code-behind, add the following handler:

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private void Handler(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs mouseButtonEventArgs)
{
    this.NavigationService.Navigate(new Uri("/Page1.xaml", UriKind.Relative));
}

• Run the application and click on the TextBlock
• You’ll get an ArgumentException with the following StackTrace:

at MS.Internal.XcpImports.MethodEx(IntPtr ptr, String name, CValue[] cvData)
at MS.Internal.XcpImports.MethodPack(IntPtr objectPtr, String methodName, Object[] rawData)
at MS.Internal.XcpImports.UIElement_TransformToVisual(UIElement element, UIElement visual)
at System.Windows.UIElement.TransformToVisual(UIElement visual)
at System.Windows.Controls.ScrollViewer.OnManipulationStarted(ManipulationStartedEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Controls.Control.OnManipulationStarted(Control ctrl, EventArgs e)
at MS.Internal.JoltHelper.FireEvent(IntPtr unmanagedObj, IntPtr unmanagedObjArgs, Int32 argsTypeIndex, String eventName)

Analysis:

It took me some time to reproduce this problem in a very simple application. At the very beginning, I though it has something do to with the EventToCommand behavior I was using (from the famous MVVM-Light framework of Laurent Bugnion) but after talking with Laurent it was clear it wasn’t the case.

The StackTrace seems to indicate a problem with the ScrollViewer of the ListBox…

Workaround:

Several possibilities seems to be working:

1. Change the ListBox to an ItemsControl
2. Or, change the event to ManipulationCompleted

I didn’t find the correct location in order to log this issue on Microsoft Connect. Pleas let me know if you have the URL

Next monday, Mix10 will start in Las Vegas. Even though it’s a little bit far from my place here in France I’ll try to give feedback after the keynotes and as soon as first videos will be available. I’m sure you’re aware that major announcements this years at Mix will be about the Windows Phone 7 series.

To make the long story short :

• Windows Mobile 7 was presented during last WMC (Word Mobile Congress) under the name “Windows Phone 7 series”
• Microsoft demonstrated the new UI experience coming with this new version
• Microsoft confirmed that Silverlight and XNA will be the technologies available to develop on the Windows Phone
• Microsoft shows off single game running on Windows, Windows Phone and Xbox

I’m sure you realize that we are going to a very capable and powerful mobile platform here:

• all existing .Net and Silverlight developers are going to be able to write apps for the Windows Phone (this is HUGE)
• we are going to finally have the 3 screens version of Microsoft: develop once and then run on your mobile, your PC and your TV (XBox)

Mix10 website now contains the name and the description of the sessions which are dedicated to the Windows Phone 7 series:

• Designing and Developing for the Rich Mobile Web
• Building a High Performance 3D Game for Windows Phone
• Building Windows Phone Games
• Changing our Game – an Introduction to Windows Phone 7 Series
• An Introduction to Developing Applications for Microsoft Silverlight
• Windows Phone UI and Design Language
• Overview of the Windows Phone 7 Series Application Platform
• Building Windows Phone Applications with Silverlight, Part 1
• Building Windows Phone Applications with Silverlight, Part 2
• Unit Testing Silverlight and Windows Phone 7 Applications
• Silverlight Performance on Windows Phone
• Distributing and Monetizing Windows Phone Applications and Games
• Development and Debugging Tools for Building XNA Games for Windows Phone
• Windows Phone Application Platform Architecture

If you’re using Twitter, make sure to watch the #wp7 hashtag. It make not any doubt the next week is going to be very informative about Windows Phone 7 series.So stay tuned !