Develop Bugs

Background task completion in Windows Phone 7 (with video)

Guys, I wrote a multi-threaded app that is just a simple counter. When it reaches 30,000 the job is done. The counting thread which doesn't have to deal with the form, continues counting if I go back to start menu with the windows button. The app is surely there in the background cause I can see it in the task manager. There seem to be some complications though. Sometimes it's completely shut down after a while; this may be a problem with the emulator and of course I don't have a device to try it on.
Sorry if something like this was said before
a video I uploaded: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glzBui95tiY

Do a pastebin of the source code, if you want any serious input on this. Because I doubt it's running in the background (as it's not possible)

It looks like you're using an old emulator build. They've changed things more recently. Apps will no longer keep running.

It's not running in the foreground for sure
they're just two simple threads:
Code:
ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(o =>
{
counter = 0;
complete = false;
while (true)
{
Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(() =>
{
textBlock1.Text = counter.ToString();
if (complete)
{
textBlock2.Text = "Counting Completed!";
}
});
Thread.Sleep(0);
}
});
ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(o =>
{
while (true)
{
Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(() =>
{
if(!complete) counter++;
if (counter == 30000)
complete = true;
});
Thread.Sleep(0);
}
});

RustyGrom said:
It looks like you're using an old emulator build. They've changed things more recently. Apps will no longer keep running.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, I think it's the April version. So this doesn't work anymore?
edit: yep! tested on the newest version and it looks like they've now completely killed multitasking, lol

I think that technically internal thread pools should be allowed, but just be killed when the application is closed.

So interesting - how will I be able to make a screenshot of any app?
Like maps or whatever else?
I use this function very open.

Most likely with a button combination, no information about it yet.
The API supports it though WriteableBitmap, which is available in the current WP7 API. So it's definitively possible.

Windcape said:
Most likely with a button combination, no information about it yet.
The API supports it though WriteableBitmap, which is available in the current WP7 API. So it's definitively possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So it will be build into the system without any 3rd party app needed?

doministry said:
So it will be build into the system without any 3rd party app needed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Who knows, really hard to tell. I'm don't think this week's build have a dedicated screenshots functionality.
But it's definitively possible. As opposed to other functionality.

[Q] How to delete/add an item from a ListBox?

Hi there,
I have a ListBox bounded to a query (linq to xml)
Dim CASDAs XDocument = XDocument.Load("./Data/CASD.xml")
Dim CAS_Query As System.Collections.IEnumerable = From query In Cartridge_Doc.Descendants("Cartridges") Order By _
CStr(query.Element("AA")) Descending, CStr(query.Element("AA"))
Select New Cartridge_Data With {.AA1 = CStr(query.Element("AA")), _
.BB1= CStr(query.Element("BB")), _
.CC1 = CStr(query.Element("CC"))}
Me.ListBox_1.ItemsSource = CAS_Query
Now, what I need to do is to select an item and have the option to delete it.
So far, I always got a run-time exception when trying this
Me.ListBox_1.Items.Remove(Me.ListBox_1.SelectedItem)
System.InvalidOperationException was unhandled
Message=Operation not supported on read-only collection.
So far I have tried a lot of options without any luck.
Any help will be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance.

Stick your Linq result in an ObservableCollection, bind this to the Listbox and delete the item directly from the underlaying collection.

emigrating said:
Stick your Linq result in an ObservableCollection, bind this to the Listbox and delete the item directly from the underlaying collection.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please, can you poost a little code to do that? I'm fairly new to this collections world.
On the other hand, once the item got deleted, how the Listbox gets refreshed?
Thanks!

You have to set up an NotifyPropertyChanged class to keep the listbox updated with your collection. The default phone list application template that comes with Visual Studio shows you how to do this. I think its's in c# though and it looks like you're coding in VB. I'm sure there's examples in VB you can find on the web with a little searching.

Ren13B said:
You have to set up an NotifyPropertyChanged class to keep the listbox updated with your collection. The default phone list application template that comes with Visual Studio shows you how to do this. I think its's in c# though and it looks like you're coding in VB. I'm sure there's examples in VB you can find on the web with a little searching.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My ListBox takes its data from an XML file via query.
Which strategy do you think is the best?
To first delete the Xelement then refresh the ListBox?
Or deleting from the item from the ListBox, then update the XML file?
Sorry but I have all the samples from MS and didn't find any phone list one.
Any code will be greatly appreciated!

Oops. It's called "Windows Phone Databound Application". Attached is a screenshot of the project if it makes it easier for you to find it.
It's hard to post code because I don't know what your xaml looks like and bindings have to be set there for it to work. The best thing you can do is load the above project and play around with it.
You never have to refresh the items in the listbox. A bound listbox updates itself when an item in the collection changes. Change the collection and your listbox will reflect those changes. The NotifyPropertyChanged class is what triggers the listbox to update itself.

I do C#, not VB but the following should give you some idea.
Code:
public class Model : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
public string Title { get; set; }
public string Blurb { get; set; }
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropChanged;
public void NotifyPropertyChanged(String _propName)
{
if (null!=PropChanged)
{ PropChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(_propName)); }
}
}
The above is your model, create any properties you need there - i.e. one per item of data in your XML file.
Next, you need to create an ObservableCollection somewhere, for the sake of simplicity let's stick it in your MainPage.xaml.cs file for now, so;
Code:
public partial class MainPage : PhoneApplicationPage
{
public ObservableCollection<Model> Items { get; set; }
public MainPage()
{
InitializeComponent();
this.Items = new ObservableCollection<Model>();
MyListBox.ItemsSource = this.Items;
WebClient wc = new WebClient();
wc.OpenReadCompleted += wc_OpenReadCompleted;
wc.OpenReadAsync(new Uri("http://your.server.here/datafile.xml");
}
public void wc_OpenReadCompleted(object sender, OpenReadCompletedEventArgs e)
{
using (Stream s = e.Result)
{
XDocument xd = Xdocument.Load(s);
var XMLdata = (from q in doc.Descendants("Item") select new Model()
{
Title = (string)q.Element("Title"),
Blurb = (string)q.Element("Blurb")
}
foreach (Model m in XMLdata)
{
this.Items.Add(m);
}
}
}
public MyListBox_SelectionChanged(object sender, SelectionChangedEventArgs e)
{
ListBox lb = (ListBox)sender;
if (lb.SelectedIndex == -1)
return;
this.Items.Remove(lb.SelectedItem)
}
}
This will create a collection named Items as well as tell your ListBox (named MyListBox) to get it's data from said collection. Then it will read (asynchroniously) the XML file from the web and copy each item of data into your collection.
When you select an item in your ListBox it will be deleted from the ObservableCollection which in turn will remove it from the view (ListBox). At this stage you want to include code to also remove this from your actual XML file and so on of course. But the idea is that you work on your Collection only and your View will update based on what is changed - automagically.
Please note, the above code may or may not work out of the box. Written directly here on the forums so it hasn't gone thru VS2010's excellent IntelliSense. Also, the above code is in no way the most efficient way of doing certain things, but it gives you an idea as to what code you need to write to handle your scenario.
While I wrote this I see you've got an answer above which directs you to the VS template - use that and everything should become clear. All you have to remember is that perform operations on the Collection - not directly on the ListBox and you'll be fine.

Emigrating and Ren13B,
Thanks to both of you for the help. Very appreciated!
Will take both advices to see what comes up.
Thanks!

CheckBox state presrving/restoring

Hi there,
Does anyone out there how to preserve/restore the transient state of a CheckBox and/or Radio button?
So far, I'm using the following code, working for textbox
Code:
Public Sub PreserveState_TextBox(ByVal TB As TextBox)
Dim buffer As String = String.Empty
If True = PhoneApplicationService.Current.State.ContainsKey(TB.Name) Then
buffer = TryCast(PhoneApplicationService.Current.State(TB.Name), String)
If Not String.IsNullOrEmpty(buffer) Then
TB.Text = buffer
End If
End If
End Sub
Public Sub RestoreState_TextBox(ByVal TB As TextBox)
If True = PhoneApplicationService.Current.State.ContainsKey(TB.Name) Then
PhoneApplicationService.Current.State.Remove(TB.Name)
End If
PhoneApplicationService.Current.State.Add(TB.Name, TB.Text)
End Sub
it possible to modify the above code to work for Checkbox and/or Radiobutton?
If not, any ideas?
So far, I've been trying the sample "Tombstoning" sample code from Microsoft without any luck...
Thanks in advance!

Hi,
I'm not a VB developer, but storing the state of a checkbox is not much different from storing any other primitive type. What you could do is have a bool variable "isCbChecked" and store that bool state in your PhoneApplicationService.State.
Code:
PhoneApplicationService.Current.State.Add("isCbChecked", myCheckbox.IsChecked)
Then, when you're restoring your app, simply do
Code:
myCheckbox.IsChecked = (bool)PhoneApplicationService.Current.State.ContainsKey("isCbChecked");

keyboardP said:
Hi,
I'm not a VB developer, but storing the state of a checkbox is not much different from storing any other primitive type. What you could do is have a bool variable "isCbChecked" and store that bool state in your PhoneApplicationService.State.
Code:
PhoneApplicationService.Current.State.Add("isCbChecked", myCheckbox.IsChecked)
Then, when you're restoring your app, simply do
Code:
myCheckbox.IsChecked = (bool)PhoneApplicationService.Current.State.ContainsKey("isCbChecked");
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot for your fast reply.
Can I ask for additional help on how to make your statements into generic procedures, at least to take them to something similar to what I posted?
Don't care if it's in C#
Thanks in advance!

GFR_2009 said:
Thanks a lot for your fast reply.
Can I ask for additional help on how to make your statements into generic procedures, at least to take them to something similar to what I posted?
Don't care if it's in C#
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Off the top of my head, something like this should work (C# code).
Code:
public static T RestoreState<T>(string key)
{
if (PhoneApplicationService.Current.State.ContainsKey(key))
{
return (T)PhoneApplicationService.Current.State[key];
}
return null;
}
'T' is the type that will be used. In C# 'T' is a special character denoting the generic type, not something I just used
So in the code above, the return type is 'T' and when using RestoreState, it will be 'RestoreState<Textbox>("TB.Name");'. The value of 'TB.Name' will be searched within the dictionary and, if it's found, it will cast that object as 'T' (Textbox) and return it, otherwise it will return null.

Hi,
So far, I did the following and while no error is raised, nothing happens...
Code:
Public Function Backup(ByVal token As String, ByVal value As Object) As Boolean
If Nothing Is value Then
Return False
End If
Dim store = PhoneApplicationService.Current.State
If store.ContainsKey(token) Then
store(token) = value
Else
store.Add(token, value)
End If
Return True
End Function
Public Function Restore(Of T)(ByVal token As String) As T
Dim store = PhoneApplicationService.Current.State
If Not store.ContainsKey(token) Then
Return Nothing
End If
Return CType(store(token), T)
End Function
I call them as follows
Code:
Backup(Me.CheckBox_1.Name, Me.CheckBox_1)
Restore(Of CheckBox)(Me.CheckBox_1.Name)
Don't where is the error, maybe you could take a look and help me out.
Any help is much appreciated!

Where are you calling the Backup and Restore functions? Since your doing page specific things, you could do it in the OnNavigatedFrom and OnNavigatedTo methods, respectively.

keyboardP said:
Where are you calling the Backup and Restore functions? Since your doing page specific things, you could do it in the OnNavigatedFrom and OnNavigatedTo methods, respectively.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I'm calling them in the OnNavigatedTo and OnNavigatedFrom methods, as you pointed out
Unfortunately, nothing happens at all!
Thanks!

Hi,
As far as I can tell, there's nothing wrong with your saving/loading code. When you call
"Restore(Of CheckBox)(Me.CheckBox_1.Name)", is that returning a bool? You need to assign that bool to the checkbox:
Code:
myCheckbox.IsChecked = Restore(Of CheckBox)(Me.CheckBox_1.Name);
Also, all variables are reset when the page loads, so make sure you have set "myCheckbox.IsChecked" anywhere else on the page that could be called when the page loads.

Please, check the converted code of the above functions, to C#
Code:
public bool Backup(string token, object value)
{
if (null == value)
{
return false;
}
var store = PhoneApplicationService.Current.State;
if (store.ContainsKey(token))
{
store(token) = value;
}
else
{
store.Add(token, value);
}
return true;
}
public T Restore<T>(string token)
{
var store = PhoneApplicationService.Current.State;
if (! (store.ContainsKey(token)))
{
return default(T);
}
return (T)(store(token));
}
Do you think they are OK?
How should I call them ?
Clearly, the restore does not returns a boolean...
Honestly, I'm lost now!
Hope this helps to find the culprit.

It seems okay to me. You'll have to do some debugging. Set a breakpoint inside the Backup and Restore methods. Step through each line and make sure it's going to the line you expect it to and that the value being set is the correct one.
I haven't seen the tombstoning sample from MSDN, but can you get that to work? If so, is the generic method causing the problem? Or can you not get it to work at all?

Hi,
Sorry for the delay in getting back, but I was trying different codes and at least I found the cause.
Code:
Me.NavigationService.Navigate(New Uri("/PivotPage1.xaml?Name=" & "John", UriKind.Relative))
[B]Me.NavigationService.GoBack[/B]()
Me.NavigationService.Navigate(New Uri("/PivotPage1.xaml", UriKind.Relative))
Everything works fine, and the Checkbox state is saved/restored (in the Pivot Page) if I GO BACK using the GoBack hardware button or Me.NavigationService.GoBack
But, the state's dictionary entry is lost or ignored if I go back with the Navigate service (lines 1 and 3)...
Problem is that I need to get back with the query string...
The query string contains a value taken in the SelectedItem event of PAGE2's ListBox, and automatically once retrieved must go back.
I didn't know until know, that NavigationService.Navigate creates a new page instance or something like that in the backstack...
Any sugestions are welcomed!

Hi,
There are various methods you can use depending on the app's architecture. For example, you could have a 'shared' class that contains a shared field that holds the SelectedItem value. When the user selects the item, set the shared field's value and then when you go back, you can get the value from the shared field.

keyboardP said:
Hi,
There are various methods you can use depending on the app's architecture. For example, you could have a 'shared' class that contains a shared field that holds the SelectedItem value. When the user selects the item, set the shared field's value and then when you go back, you can get the value from the shared field.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, no other way to cope with the navigation service?
It's a strange behaviour for sure...
Will try your ideas.
Thanks a lot for your reply!

GFR_2009 said:
So, no other way to cope with the navigation service?
It's a strange behaviour for sure...
Will try your ideas.
Thanks a lot for your reply!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are other ways. For example, instead of using the PhoneApplicationService to store the tombstoning information, you could put it in a querystring for page 2. Then, in page 2, you could add the information from the previous page to a querystring AND the information of the selected item to the querystring. Navigate to page 1, with the querystring that contains information on what was there before and what the user selected. Tombstoning is there for when the user presses the hardware search button, home button, a phone call arrives etc.. It's not there for the navigation of the app. That's where querystrings, shared variables, binary serialization etc... come into play.
The concept of the navigation service is similar to a website. For example, when you submit something and then go back, it might still be there in the page state. However, if you submit something and then reload the previous page by typing it in the address bar, it becomes a completely new page as no state is stored.

keyboardP said:
There are other ways. For example, instead of using the PhoneApplicationService to store the tombstoning information, you could put it in a querystring for page 2. Then, in page 2, you could add the information from the previous page to a querystring AND the information of the selected item to the querystring. Navigate to page 1, with the querystring that contains information on what was there before and what the user selected. Tombstoning is there for when the user presses the hardware search button, home button, a phone call arrives etc.. It's not there for the navigation of the app. That's where querystrings, shared variables, binary serialization etc... come into play.
The concept of the navigation service is similar to a website. For example, when you submit something and then go back, it might still be there in the page state. However, if you submit something and then reload the previous page by typing it in the address bar, it becomes a completely new page as no state is stored.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
Will try your suggested approach, and thanks a lot for the last explanation on how the darn thing works.
Thanks again!

GFR_2009 said:
Hi,
Will try your suggested approach, and thanks a lot for the last explanation on how the darn thing works.
Thanks again!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're welcome . It's one of those things that take a bit of time to understand, but starts to make sense. You might be interested in a free WP7 development ebook by Charles Petzold.

keyboardP said:
You're welcome . It's one of those things that take a bit of time to understand, but starts to make sense. You might be interested in a free WP7 development ebook by Charles Petzold.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I already have the book, but will need a deeper reading
So far, I've been testing your idea of using global classes and works ok.
Thanks a lot for being so cooperative, it's much appreciated!

GFR_2009 said:
I already have the book, but will need a deeper reading
So far, I've been testing your idea of using global classes and works ok.
Thanks a lot for being so cooperative, it's much appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No worries! If programming was super easy everyone would be doing it

keyboardP said:
No worries! If programming was super easy everyone would be doing it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never said better!

[Q] Dynamic UI Creation XAML, C#

this is my first post. I am pretty desperate at the moment.
I would like to dynamically create the UI for the WP7 based on a CSV file in Isolated Storage. right now I would settle for just being able to write the UI in XAML from the code behind in C#.
steps that I would like to execute:
1. user clicks a muscle group button which passes a value to another page-done
2. users data is pulled from CSV file and placed in array for easy storage-done
3. for each data element create a XAML TextBlock with the data which is displayed in the UI <-- need some serious help
best I can do is show the XAML code with the <> tags as a string in the UI.
is what I am asking possible?
Thanks for helping.

Knudmt said:
this is my first post. I am pretty desperate at the moment.
I would like to dynamically create the UI for the WP7 based on a CSV file in Isolated Storage. right now I would settle for just being able to write the UI in XAML from the code behind in C#.
steps that I would like to execute:
1. user clicks a muscle group button which passes a value to another page-done
2. users data is pulled from CSV file and placed in array for easy storage-done
3. for each data element create a XAML TextBlock with the data which is displayed in the UI <-- need some serious help
best I can do is show the XAML code with the <> tags as a string in the UI.
is what I am asking possible?
Thanks for helping.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like what you really want to do is dynamically create controls in the code-behind. I would forget about generating "XAML".
Code:
private void AddTextboxesFromCSV(string[] CSVData) {
foreach(string str in CSVData) {
TextBlock tb = new TextBlock();
tb.Name = "txtUserSelectedValue" + CSVData.IndexOf(str);
tb.Text = str;
<YourObject>.Controls.Add(tb);
}
}
Where <YourObject> is the object you want to place the controls into, some sort of layout Panel.

Thanks for the response
I think that is the direction I will be going. Just out of curiosity do you know if what I wanted to do is even possible?

UN app for WP7 does something like this. Go to http://unitednations.codeplex.com/releases/view/57722 and grab the source. Open the source in Visual Studio and browse to the "Framework" folder and open up "BasePage.cs". At the bottom there's a method called AddNavigatingText() that does what I think you are looking to do.
Here's the method:
Code:
protected Grid AddNavigatingText()
{
var NavigatingText = (Grid) XamlReader.Load(
@" <Grid xmlns=""http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation""
xmlns:x=""http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"" Height=""30"" VerticalAlignment=""Top"" Background=""#CCFFFFFF"">
<TextBlock HorizontalAlignment=""Left"" TextWrapping=""Wrap"" Text=""Navigating..."" Width=""129"" FontSize=""{StaticResource PhoneFontSizeNormal}"" Margin=""24,0,0,0"" FontFamily=""{StaticResource PhoneFontFamilySemiBold}""/>
<ProgressBar Style=""{StaticResource PerformanceProgressBar}"" RenderTransformOrigin=""0.5,0.5"" Margin=""135,0,0,0"" UseLayoutRounding=""False"" Background=""White"" IsIndeterminate=""True"" LargeChange=""0"" />
</Grid>");
this.Content.As<Grid>().Children.Add(NavigatingText);
return NavigatingText;
}

Thanks for the reply. Looks pretty simple. I downloaded the source and signed up for codeplex. However I can not connect to the tfs.codeplex.com

It's not possible to use dynamically created XAML; code is the way to go and much easier IMHO.

When you open the project just hit cancel at the login screen and it will load.

sulphuricaciduk said:
It's not possible to use dynamically created XAML; code is the way to go and much easier IMHO.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed, doing it via code with a very basic XAML based page is likely to be faster, and will actually work. It's also a lot easier to fix things than trying to work out what went wrong in XAML you can't see...

I would agree with the statement that creating the controls dynamically would be faster. And def a great deal easier to read It just bugs me when I know this can be accomplished, yet I cant get it to work

Blade0rz said:
Sounds like what you really want to do is dynamically create controls in the code-behind. I would forget about generating "XAML".
Code:
private void AddTextboxesFromCSV(string[] CSVData) {
foreach(string str in CSVData) {
TextBlock tb = new TextBlock();
tb.Name = "txtUserSelectedValue" + CSVData.IndexOf(str);
tb.Text = str;
<YourObject>.Controls.Add(tb);
}
}
Where <YourObject> is the object you want to place the controls into, some sort of layout Panel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that worked very well, thanks! I am having a little formatting issue .. my textblocks show up right on top of each other. any ideas?
Thanks again

Knudmt said:
Well that worked very well, thanks! I am having a little formatting issue .. my textblocks show up right on top of each other. any ideas?
Thanks again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I solved this silly issue. just added a listbox control to the xaml front end and added my elements with an ugly cast
listbox1.items.add((TextBlock)myBlock);

Knudmt said:
I solved this silly issue. just added a listbox control to the xaml front end and added my elements with an ugly cast
listbox1.items.add((TextBlock)myBlock);
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you had a StackPanel as the parent control, you could have each new textblock stacked...

[Q] How to implement Transparent Labels and other controls [vb.net]

I've been banging my head against this one all morning and now i have a head ache so i decided to stick it out to you lot.
I want to make all my user controls (labels, checkbox's etc) transparent - well the text at least. I found this thread on MSDN but i'll be honest and say i'm not entirely sure what i'm supposed to do with it.
Thanks for your thoughts.

Works a treat. Lifted the code from the site and dropped it straight into the form class.
Code:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using Microsoft.WindowsCE.Forms;
namespace TestDevApp
{
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
forum.xda-developers.com/search.php?searchid=90851847
private void pictureBox1_Paint(object sender, PaintEventArgs e)
{
DrawLabel(label1,e.Graphics);
DrawLabel(label2, e.Graphics);
DrawLabel(label3, e.Graphics);
DrawLabel(label4, e.Graphics);
}
private void DrawLabel(Label label, Graphics gfx)
{
if (label.TextAlign == ContentAlignment.TopLeft)
{
gfx.DrawString(label.Text, label.Font, new SolidBrush(label.ForeColor), label.Bounds);
}
else if (label.TextAlign == ContentAlignment.TopCenter)
{
SizeF size = gfx.MeasureString(label.Text, label.Font);
float left = ((float)this.Width + label.Left) / 2 - size.Width / 2;
RectangleF rect = new RectangleF(left, (float)label.Top, size.Width, label.Height);
gfx.DrawString(label.Text, label.Font, new SolidBrush(label.ForeColor), rect);
}
else //is aligned at TopRight
{
SizeF size = gfx.MeasureString(label.Text, label.Font);
float left = (float)label.Width - size.Width + label.Left;
RectangleF rect = new RectangleF(left, (float)label.Top, size.Width, label.Height);
gfx.DrawString(label.Text, label.Font, new SolidBrush(label.ForeColor), rect);
}
}
}
}
Devtrans is the view in VS
Transparent is the actual running code.

Cool thanks.
I did try using DrawString but the drawn text doesn't scroll with the form when you... well.... scroll the form.
I'm gonna have the afternoon off but i will check it out properly later. Would this also work for check boxes? If so what are the changes that would need to be made?

Checkboxes might be a different matter. The above method does not work, it only deals with the text caption. There is is an article on The Code Project at
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/dotnet/TransparentControl.aspx
It appears like they have almost created a control from scratch. You may have to take control/override that much of the object, to get it to work, that you have almost created a new control.

stephj said:
Checkboxes might be a different matter. The above method does not work, it only deals with the text caption. There is is an article on The Code Project at
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/dotnet/TransparentControl.aspx
It appears like they have almost created a control from scratch. You may have to take control/override that much of the object, to get it to work, that you have almost created a new control.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did see that page but i couldn't figure out how the hell to use it

Ok, so now you have found one of the BIGGEST challenges to WM development.
I spent 4+ months trying to get the same thing you are looking for (well, what I assume you are looking for), that is: A transparent label that you can use your finger to scroll.
If that is what you are looking for, I can tell you right now that you need to either look into custom controls that already do this or decide how much time you are willing to invest into something as simple as that.
Here is the basic components that you will need to code to get DrawString to properly scroll with your finger:
You will need to code up some kind of container or panel that holds the current virtual x,y coordinates.
You will need to code up some kind of custom control that can be added to the previously made container
Create logic in the container to take the current virtual x,y coords and determine which custom controls are visible and should be drawn on the screen, pass them their offset coords, and draw the control
Override the OnMouse*ACTION* events on the container to manipulate the virtual x,y coords and then refresh the screen
You also will need to know about double buffering so you don't get any flickering.
It's a very very hard thing to do on WinMo, something that other platforms take for granted. This is one of the reasons that some custom WinMo programs have UIs that are either really terrible, or take tons of resources.
If you want to give it a go (and I would highly recommend doing it, I can't tell you how much I learned about software development by creating my own custom controls) I can help point you in the right directions. Feel free to take a look at the code I've written for my Facebook app (specifically the XFControls and SenseUI projects). I'm not on XDA as often as I'd like, but send me a PM with your questions and I'll respond when I log in.
Good Luck!