Hacking and development - Windows Phone 7 Development and Hacking

I've been out of the loop a long time as far as programming goes. Whats the best place to start because when I get my Win7 phone later this year i want to be able to build and modify programs for it. As well as modify the OS as well.
Thanks.

For developing apps: http://developer.windowsphone.com/windows-phone-7/
As for hacking, we'll most likely have to wait for proper devices first...

What programming language is Win7 Mobile being built in?

slight22 said:
What programming language is Win7 Mobile being built in?
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There's silverlight and XNA. Silverlight is being recommended for applications and 2d games while XNA is being recommended for heavier 3d games.
Silverlight isn't bad. It's just c# and xaml. The free tools provided are great. You can get VS2010, XNA Game Studio, and Blend. The advantage to Blend is that it lets you design your silverlight interfaces and animations in a simple GUI instead of having to code it.

Related

App idea, need help starting. :)

Since there isn't a SAPI that's accessible for windows mobile developers, I was disappointed. I just got a Samsung Omnia and I'm quite enthralled by it. I want to write an application that does speech recognition and text to speech.
eSpeak is a program easily ported. It's been done and comes with a how-to guide for compiling for windows mobile 6.x. As far as text to speech goes, then, I'm not too worried (it will be fun developing a voice.)
I got pocketsphinx to compile. The project settings says it was compiled for an x86 machine. Do I have to compile it for the ARM architecture, or do I just need to compile the final application for the ARM architecture, with the pocketsphinx dll somehow baked into the end result?
Also, I was wondering if anyone could point me to a beginner level tutorial for developing applications on windows mobile. I'm brand spanking new to developing on mobile devices, and while the language specific stuff is old hat, there's lots of transitional stuff I need to learn. Any links are appreciated. I'd like to not brick my Omnia by doing something silly, so I'll be developing strictly on my desktop until I'm satisfied with the safety of whatever it is I'm developing.
Thanks, awesome community here!
Hey there JR. As far as WinMo development, here's a list of the basic tools you need:
1. Visual Studio 2008 Professional SP1 + patches (or VS 2010 which is in beta now)
2. Windows Mobile 6 Professional and Standard Software Development Kits Refresh (device and cellular emulators, some samples, download from msdn.microsoft.com)
3. Windows Mobile 6.5 Developer Tool Kit (6.5 emulator images, gestures API etc - also at msdn.microsoft.com)
Assuming you will be writing managed code, the most widely used language is C#.
As far as books, unfortunately WInMo is not getting much love these days (hopefully this will change with WinMo 7) so there's little new but the best book out there IMO is "Microsoft Mobile Development Handbook" by Andy Wigley (2007).
The good news is that there's a plethora of on-line material, easily accessible from the aggregate Search screen in Visual Studio. Sites like codeguru.com, social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsmobiledev, www.c-sharpcorner.com, www.codeproject.com, 4guysfromrolla.com etc are your best friends!
I hope this gets you started! Best of luck with the project.
JRowe47 said:
Since there isn't a SAPI that's accessible for windows mobile developers, I was disappointed. I just got a Samsung Omnia and I'm quite enthralled by it. I want to write an application that does speech recognition and text to speech.
eSpeak is a program easily ported. It's been done and comes with a how-to guide for compiling for windows mobile 6.x. As far as text to speech goes, then, I'm not too worried (it will be fun developing a voice.)
I got pocketsphinx to compile. The project settings says it was compiled for an x86 machine. Do I have to compile it for the ARM architecture, or do I just need to compile the final application for the ARM architecture, with the pocketsphinx dll somehow baked into the end result?
Also, I was wondering if anyone could point me to a beginner level tutorial for developing applications on windows mobile. I'm brand spanking new to developing on mobile devices, and while the language specific stuff is old hat, there's lots of transitional stuff I need to learn. Any links are appreciated. I'd like to not brick my Omnia by doing something silly, so I'll be developing strictly on my desktop until I'm satisfied with the safety of whatever it is I'm developing.
Thanks, awesome community here!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Writing in C#.NET Compact -- you have no worries for 'safety', unless you literally do a File.Delete("/Windows/blah");, you should be okay ;P
But yes, It is based off of the big .NET Framework. So if you can do .NET, you can do .NETCF.
acidhax said:
if you can do .NET, you can do .NETCF.
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I don't agree. In .NET you usually do not need to worry about performance, you usually get away just fine by using a simple approach at the cost of a small bit of performance. On .NET CF you certainly need all the performance you can get. Also, the .NET Compact Framework is heavily stripped down and for a lot of tasks you need to find an alternative, innovative solution.

Silverlight 4 Likely as Dev Platform

Given Andy Lees quote about WP7: "It's a very sort of advanced platform that really works across PC, phone, and console," it seems likely he's talking about Silverlight 4, especially given the boost in features that it's getting for version 4. I find this to be a very suitable platform for what they're trying to do. You can't beat multi-platform & RIA support - dev once, run on all. What do you think?
Still very propretiary
chribruu said:
Still very propretiary
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So what? All current phones only support native applications that are created with a proprietary SDK. The big exception is Java which is executed in a VM, but these applications cannot use the full potential of each platform, because they must aim for the lowest common denominator. So without modifications, no native application will run on all platforms.
chribruu said:
Still very propretiary
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Click to collapse
It's not any different than the current situation really. How many people write WM code in anything other than Visual Studio?
Basically a different set of GUI libraries on .Net 3.5.
Hope they'll make SL4 available on WM6.5, too. That way it would be a much better platform choice.
You're all right. I replied without really thinking my post trough. :/
The only thing bad with SL (and flash) is if/when they become web "standards".
Just disregard that post
Sorry for the OT.
from the little i have read/seen. it seems like this will prob be the case..
Silverlight will be one of the dev platforms, along with C++ with a XAML UI.
in this video
"Behind the Design of Windows phone 7" on youtube (i could not post the link)
1:25 - 1:29
you can see the ide for wp7.
it looks like blend. that would definitely mean xaml for ui.
pensoffsky said:
in this video
"Behind the Design of Windows phone 7" on youtube (i could not post the link)
1:25 - 1:29
you can see the ide for wp7.
it looks like blend. that would definitely mean xaml for ui.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And as I said, C++ with a XAML UI...
XNA C#, no dubt for the games.
It's available for the Zune HD, I guess it will follow on to WP7
But maby not for the UI?? any thoughts?
From XNA.com :
XNA Game Studio 3.1 Zune Extensions, to support Zune HD, adds the following functionality to the product:
The ability to target and develop for the Zune HD media player.
The addition of new Touch APIs to the XNA Framework for use on the Zune HD.
The addition of new Accelerometer APIs to the XNA Framework for use on the Zune HD.
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Click to collapse
I don't really believe, that they'll be using an unmanaged language for the application developement itself (other than drivers of course).
I think it would be most likely to be using C#, perhaps more in the way of how most android apps use java, e.g. it's precompiled on deployment.
What I really hope for is that, there is no longer the limitation of 32 mb per process.

Silverlight the platform for creation Windows Phone 7 apps

Looks like Silverlight is the platform for creating Windows Phone 7 apps, finally.
http://www.crn.com/software/222900433;jsessionid=ZSTDUKCIARR4FQE1GHPCKHWATMY32JVN
I hope so, SIlverlight rocks, so much better on my PC than Flash but yet it isnt widely adopted, hopefully if WP7S has Silverlight this will boost its use
Finally!
It is indeed a very logical step.
I was trying to make a "fancy" UI on WinMo 6x and it's damn hard (that will work blazing fast). And search for a Silverlight for WinMo... and it was there... and it was showed on the TechEd 08... but never released... and I was like:
-Oh ... come on... how long does it take to port it??!
This is almost like a "duh" story but it's good to have a "source" saying it.
Silverlight will be for lightweight stuff and XNA 3 (4?) will be for Games, etc.
Imagine being able to write one app and have it work on multiple platforms with little or even no code changes. Silverlight supports multi-touch on Windows 7 too.
XNA and Silverlight. No native apps - see attach.
Can you already create SL applications for the WinMo?
DMAND said:
I hope so, SIlverlight rocks, so much better on my PC than Flash but yet it isnt widely adopted, hopefully if WP7S has Silverlight this will boost its use
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Click to collapse
Yes silverlight rocks and i am learning it right now.
afma_afma said:
Yes silverlight rocks and i am learning it right now.
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Click to collapse
Know any application? Link?
Developing .NET CF on WM6 is a -pain-. Even if you want to do something as simple as draw a transparent image you have to delve into P/Invoke which feels like hacking. If they get .NET development under WP7 working simply and effectively, then I think it will be a great step forward. I've used WPF extensively and it is a great platform to work on. I've no reason to think Silverlight is any different.
My only concern is how they'll restrict the distribution and installation of applications. The openness of the Windows Mobile platform has always been a big draw, and if they do an Apple and try to restrict how I publish and obtain apps then not many people will see a reason to switch from such an established and successful platform.

[Q] VS2008 beginners problems

Hi,
I have started to learn C++ and have created some programs (MinGW + Code::Blocks) for the command line and I would like to add a GUI and run it on my hopefully soon-to-have WM6.5 phone.
So I installed VS2008, Windows Mobile 6 Professional SDK Refresh and Windows Mobile 6.5.3 Professional DTK.
But when I start a new C++ project for a Mobile Device, I don't get a form where I can add buttons, etc. (sadly I have no idea about GUI programming to do it by hand). Also, the items in the Toolbox are greyed out (which makes sense considering that there is no form to add items to).
The video on MSDN ("Creating your first Windows Mobile 6 Application with Visual Studio 2008") made it look so easy - but that was under C#. I can recreate those steps, so under C# I can add stuff from the Toolbox to the form which looks like a WM device, but not under C++.
Am I missing something?
Thanks in advance!
Yep, that's about right. VB and C#, are both .NET CF languages, and as such are more or less identical. C++ is usually used for MFC, ATL or good old Win32 programming models, where the code creates the windows controls, etc and draws them on the client area.
With a bit of C++ knowledge you should be able to create the same thing in C# without too much trouble, but there are a few pitfalls to fall into along the way. C++ can also be used as a .NET language but the casts required make it hideous to read and understand. Go straight to C#.
The C++ programming models take a bit of mastering, but the code runs like a bat out of hell.
Thank you very much for your reply!
stephj said:
Yep, that's about right. VB and C#, are both .NET CF languages, and as such are more or less identical. C++ is usually used for MFC, ATL or good old Win32 programming models, where the code creates the windows controls, etc and draws them on the client area.
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Click to collapse
So you are saying that in C++, I pretty much HAVE to program everything by hand? (just to make sure I got you right)
With a bit of C++ knowledge you should be able to create the same thing in C# without too much trouble, but there are a few pitfalls to fall into along the way. C++ can also be used as a .NET language but the casts required make it hideous to read and understand. Go straight to C#.
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Click to collapse
K. I do know that C++ and C# should be pretty similar concerning the syntax. But still... any literature recommendations?
The C++ programming models take a bit of mastering, but the code runs like a bat out of hell.
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Click to collapse
That's why I want to stick to C++. My university prefers Java, but don't really like it and find C++ much more "elegant". However, my ideas [dreams?] about programs that I want to write eventually do involve quite some GUI. I had hoped that VS2008 would allow me to quickly get that GUI-stuff out of the way for now, since I thought I use QT for my Windows (and maybe eventually Unix) programs. But as I said, I'm still at the beginning of my learning process, where it is mostly about command line apps to learn the ropes.
Anyways, thanks again!
To be honest I only program WinMo in either Win32 C++ or C#. Although C++ and C# are quite close as far as languages are concerned, the IDE environments are completely different. Under Win32 you respond to the stream of WM_XXXXXX messages fired at your app by the operating system, one for every time something happens. If it is something your app isn't bothered about ignore it. Screen taps get converted to WM_LEFTBUTTONDOWN etc. A button is a child window of the main window, you will have to create it.
In C#, drag an object off the toolbox and drop it on the form, the IDE will maintain any events you wish to trap and use. The machine I have here only has VS 2003 on it, the 2008 machine is at work. I'll have a look at the other C++ models on it next week.
C# and Java are not too far apart, exept that C# uses the .NET framework objects.
As far as books go, I can't really recommend much as I have mastered it from the sharp end as it were, using the online help and examples for day to day, and internet trawls to tackle particular problems. Maybe others can chip in with a few ideas.
I haven't heard of QT running on Windows Mobile, but I could be wrong.
There is also MONO, which is an open source project to run .NET under Linux.
stephj said:
To be honest I only program WinMo in either Win32 C++ or C#. Although C++ and C# are quite close as far as languages are concerned, the IDE environments are completely different. Under Win32 you respond to the stream of WM_XXXXXX messages fired at your app by the operating system, one for every time something happens. If it is something your app isn't bothered about ignore it. Screen taps get converted to WM_LEFTBUTTONDOWN etc. A button is a child window of the main window, you will have to create it.
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Click to collapse
That sounds interesting, but sadly beyond my capabilities at the moment.
In C#, drag an object off the toolbox and drop it on the form, the IDE will maintain any events you wish to trap and use. The machine I have here only has VS 2003 on it, the 2008 machine is at work. I'll have a look at the other C++ models on it next week.
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Click to collapse
Yeah, this sounds much more reasonable for what I'm trying to accomplish, but also means I have to learn 2 languages instead of one (I don't want to give up C++). I guess my Windows Mobile app has to wait for a while.
C# and Java are not too far apart, exept that C# uses the .NET framework objects.
As far as books go, I can't really recommend much as I have mastered it from the sharp end as it were, using the online help and examples for day to day, and internet trawls to tackle particular problems. Maybe others can chip in with a few ideas.
I haven't heard of QT running on Windows Mobile, but I could be wrong.
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Click to collapse
Yeah, QT is more for Symbian. But since I want C++ for both Windows and eventually Unix, I thought QT was a good choice. At that point I did not even consider creating an app for WinMo.
There is also MONO, which is an open source project to run .NET under Linux.
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Click to collapse
Yeah, I've heard of it. Maybe I'll give it a try when I feel comfortable enough with the basics.
Thanks again for your reply, I'll tackle this when I feel more comfortable with C++! Very much appreciated!

[Q][C#][C++] How to create a game with XNA

Hi, i would like to develope a 2D game for Windows 8/RT and i'm directed to use C# with XNA. How can i do this? What apps and/or frameworks i have to download?
i already have VSExpress12, but there's not the option for XNA game...
I basically know also C++. What Language is better to create a 2D Game?
(i'm a newbie. i know )
Try MonoGame
francesco.piccia said:
Hi, i would like to develope a 2D game for Windows 8/RT and i'm directed to use C# with XNA. How can i do this? What apps and/or frameworks i have to download?
i already have VSExpress12, but there's not the option for XNA game...
I basically know also C++. What Language is better to create a 2D Game?
(i'm a newbie. i know )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi,
XNA Studio is not released for VS2012 and i looks like it will necer be because the reasontly stopped supporting XNA at Microsoft.
So if you wan't to develop on RT .. xna is not an option.
save_jeff said:
hi,
XNA Studio is not released for VS2012 and i looks like it will necer be because the reasontly stopped supporting XNA at Microsoft.
So if you wan't to develop on RT .. xna is not an option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not true. You can develop XNA games for WinRT with MonoGame.
Ok, i can use XNA through MonoGame, but what features does Microsoft give to developers to create a 2D game for Windows rt?

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