Develop Bugs

[Q] Want to develop for Windows Phone 7

Let me give some background. I know the very basics of hacking. That's it, not much more. I know how to root Android phones, install homebrew on WebOS, and I have tweaked Blackberry software, installed new os', just basic stuff like that. I have never built an app but I want to learn how to develop applications for Windows Phone 7 as this will be my next phone. Any advice? I went to the site and they have the tools there, I was just looking for any pre-reading I should do, or any advice from those already doing it.
Thanks

Download the free developer tools and play. Expression Blend is pretty easy and made for more visually-oriented people vs. hardcore coders.

The catch is that you can't deploy your apps onto your phone without a developers account.
But fi you're a student you might be able to claim a Student account from Dreamspark.

Sir. Haxalot said:
The catch is that you can't deploy your apps onto your phone without a developers account.
But fi you're a student you might be able to claim a Student account from Dreamspark.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just watch the Dreamspark method as you don't seem to be able to register a device until you have your identity verified which, for students, doesn't happen until you submit an application for certification. I am still waiting to hear back from MS on that and if there is a way round it. It means you cannot test your application on a real device until after you have submitted it for certification which seems rather odd.
The tools themselves are very good it is very easy to produce a good looking functional application. There is quite a bit on http://create.msdn.com/ to get you started.

Omega Point said:
Just watch the Dreamspark method as you don't seem to be able to register a device until you have your identity verified which, for students, doesn't happen until you submit an application for certification. I am still waiting to hear back from MS on that and if there is a way round it. It means you cannot test your application on a real device until after you have submitted it for certification which seems rather odd.
The tools themselves are very good it is very easy to produce a good looking functional application. There is quite a bit on http://create.msdn.com/ to get you started.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the Dreamspark tip! I just got verified and DLd the software.
Hopefully this developer account will come in handy.

Might want to check out this site too: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/beginner/dd435692.aspx It'll help you get through the basics of programming that you'll need to know

why not
i can give you i got an account
pm me if you need

Free WP7 eBook
If you have some time to read the excellent Charles Petzold 's ebook...
Programming Windows Phone 7 which comes with Sample Code.

Dev Account = Unlock? ... Same as Chevron

Ok, this may sound a little stupid but please bear with me....
I'm a student, so I have a ".edu" email address which allowed me to sign up for a free dev account.
Although I'm on a Mac I'm downloading parallels desktop so I can get zune software.
From what I understood from reading these forums...I can use the dev tools and unlock my device with Zune?
Is this essentially the same as using Chevron unlocker?
I can't use Chevron Unlocker because I have a HTC Arrive that has the NoDo update already applied...but if I use the above methods, it would be the same...no?

Yes, as far as I am aware.
I am also a student in the uk with an .ac.uk email
I have signed up and my account is started being activated today, will let you know! I am on NoDo too

I also have a .edu account, so this means I can sign up as a developer and get the official unlock code? Would I actually have to do any developing for them to keep my account open?
I don't have NoDo yet but will want to unlock it once it's available (AT&T branded Focus).

This would be interesting because it say's I can have up to 3 registered devices under my Dev Account.
I personally just created it so I could unlock my NoDo Arrive, but I might actually try at creating some apps...I wonder if it's really that hard

its a little more complicated than what it first seems, but nothing too hard.
Sign up through dreamspark, that gets you your account.
To dev unlock the phone you use the windows phone tools that you get through dreamspark, but it wont let you unlock it untill you have activated your developer account through geotrust
To do this on a student account you have to submit and application to microsoft first. I just created a basic dice roller, there are guides on the internet for how to make this app, it only took me two hours to do using the guide, and 1 day after submitting the app to microsoft I got an email from geotrust asking me to validate my account.
To validate you need to fill in the form with a photocopy of your driver licence or passport and email/fax it to them, they then tell microsoft all is good, and your account is activated
But yeh, if your a student, then its definetly worth doing, because you will effectively be "jailbroken" but in a completely legit microsoft are happy way.

The major problem with an actual developer unlock, is there is a limit on the number of applications you can side-load at the same time - 3 for student accounts, 10 for individual/corporate accounts, if I remember correctly. Makes it difficult to use them for homebrew - I know I had more than 10 homebrew applications together.

loomx said:
its a little more complicated than what it first seems, but nothing too hard.
Sign up through dreamspark, that gets you your account.
To dev unlock the phone you use the windows phone tools that you get through dreamspark, but it wont let you unlock it untill you have activated your developer account through geotrust
To do this on a student account you have to submit and application to microsoft first. I just created a basic dice roller, there are guides on the internet for how to make this app, it only took me two hours to do using the guide, and 1 day after submitting the app to microsoft I got an email from geotrust asking me to validate my account.
To validate you need to fill in the form with a photocopy of your driver licence or passport and email/fax it to them, they then tell microsoft all is good, and your account is activated
But yeh, if your a student, then its definetly worth doing, because you will effectively be "jailbroken" but in a completely legit microsoft are happy way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So if we have a student developer account we have to create an app first? Exactly what guide did you use?
I have "ZERO" coding experience, even though I do dabble in web development...is it hard to do? I'm not asking someone to hold my hand, just point me in the general direction.

Isn't there a "hack" available on these forums that allows you to "sideload" more than the limits?
I mean essentially a person could use the free Dev Account to unlock their device, then use the registry hack (available on these forums) to allow more than the limit for sideloading....
...or am I missing something?

Yup there is a hack somewhere, I might give it ago, but TBH, im happy to install the reg editor do the edits and unistall it, then do the same for ringtones and unistall it and so on, and just keep 3 that I really need.
After a bit of googling, it seems it might be even simpler...
You still need to have the Dev tools download from dreamspark, but someone posted that all you need to do is this...
Create a new project.
Build the project.
Look in the bin directory that was created.
Find the .xap.
Then submit that

loomx said:
Yup there is a hack somewhere, I might give it ago, but TBH, im happy to install the reg editor do the edits and unistall it, then do the same for ringtones and unistall it and so on, and just keep 3 that I really need.
After a bit of googling, it seems it might be even simpler...
You still need to have the Dev tools download from dreamspark, but someone posted that all you need to do is this...
Create a new project.
Build the project.
Look in the bin directory that was created.
Find the .xap.
Then submit that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So even though it's a "shell" app (empty app) and it would get rejected by AppHub...all that really matters is that you submit something for GeoTrust to send you the verification email???

I'm interested in this aswell. I've just updated to nodo.
I'm currently studying computer science at uni and tempted to do a WP7 app for my final year or in my spare time.

Developer Unlock is the same thing as what Chevron does.
For students that are interested, Microsoft provides the Dreamspark program where they give students access to free software, development tools and WP7 developer registration

ducylowycz said:
So even though it's a "shell" app (empty app) and it would get rejected by AppHub...all that really matters is that you submit something for GeoTrust to send you the verification email???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly. That's all you need. Once you submit it you'll just get an email from "GeoTrust" (Hotmail marked it as spam), and then you'll be on your way.

If you like in a country were Marketplace isn't available yet it complicates things a bit.
Even if you get a student account tied to your swedish live-account(like I did) you can't access the Marketplace. But you can still submit apps and get them published with that account!
The only solution here is to get a UK/USA live-account and then jailbreak your phone.
So when NoDo gets released I have to choose between running my own apps or run apps from the Marketplace.

The live account on your phone, doesnt have to match the live account of your developer account as far as I am aware.
My phone is now Dev unlocked and on No-Do.
If you install advance config,it can make it so you can sideload as many apps as you want

Do you think there should be a tut for doing this?
I was thinking of creating one because, as of now, this is the only option to "unlock" our devices.

Ok...I have everything installed but when I "build" the app and submit it to Apphub, it just gives me an exception out of range error...
Any insight?

ducylowycz said:
Do you think there should be a tut for doing this?
I was thinking of creating one because, as of now, this is the only option to "unlock" our devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's pretty simple - register your student email with dreamspark
submit an app (doesn't even have to work) to get geotrust to start the identity process
when you verify your identity wait 2 business day
You now have the option to have 3 devices that can be unlocked
For the respective device, go and edit the registry to increase the app loading limit to unlimited (student has I think 3) and you're done
Legit chevron. unlocked device for sideloading. I'll be getting my brother to do it for his phone as well as his school too! Although I can see an impending rape of this...
It's also pretty profitable...

my country is not in the list box, singapore is the closest one, im from indonesia, any suggestion?

domineus said:
It's pretty simple - register your student email with dreamspark
submit an app (doesn't even have to work) to get geotrust to start the identity process
when you verify your identity wait 2 business day
You now have the option to have 3 devices that can be unlocked
For the respective device, go and edit the registry to increase the app loading limit to unlimited (student has I think 3) and you're done
Legit chevron. unlocked device for sideloading. I'll be getting my brother to do it for his phone as well as his school too! Although I can see an impending rape of this...
It's also pretty profitable...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just spent 2 hours to figure out the tools and built a quote of the day app. Just submitted it. Will wait for Geotrust to contact me.
Well although many might abuse it, it will expose students to the platform. MS has really good tools. I am not a computer major, but I managed to build an app in 2 hours. I am quite exited about my app..and I will definitely read more about the tools and try few more things.
PS: now I need to buy a windows phone device :-D

Image Sizes and Costs

I downloaded somewhere some image sizes - below are two. I am not too sure which one I downloaded these for / from. But can these icon information be used for Windows Mobile 7, Android, and iPad / iPhone?
From what I think I remember speaking with one developer helping him with testing his game, I think he said it was $99.00 a year for 100 applications. If I only wanted to submit one (free) application, would it be better to find someone that already has the feature to develop this application? The application is very small - mainly to read one specific RSS feed.

Hey
the developer account costs are not connected to the image license price. If you want to submit a WP7 app to the marketplace, you have to own a developer account, that costs $99/year. But this price does not grant the permission to use these pictures. You have to ask the creator whether you're allowed to use them.
Regards
Chris

Thanks - sorry I did not mean to imply I would use these images, I just did not know if it was these image (sizes / quality) that was needed.
If the developer has an account though and he develops the app that I need, can he use that account to upload the app?

Hey
For the licensing procedure and requirements you should visit this link:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh184843(v=VS.92).aspx
But I don't get your question. If you're asking wheter you could have another developer programming and submitting the application you need the answer is yes. Every developer that has an account can send apps in. You just have to find someone that wants to create your application. Another possibility would be to program your app yourself and send the compiled version to a developer, so that he can pass it to the WP marketplace...
Regards
Chris

If you need an app built for something easy like an RSS feed, check this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=941248
it discusses a build your own app website.
http://thirdlabs.com/
I have never used it and have no afiliation with the site, but it looks easy enough...
Anywho, once the app is made, you can
sideload it (if you're unlocked)
pay for a dev account and submit it ($99 a year)
try to get a free student account and submit it (see here )
find someone with a dev account that will submit it for you
good luck

Thanks for the links! I have run into the RSS feed link - but it was not that site.
Yes, Chris - that answers that question. I thought as much but wanted to make sure. (Sorry it is difficult for me to sometimes get my point across due to my health).

[SDK] Promocodes for your app

Hello!
I'm software developer from Russia, and made one very popular app in local market. Very soon I realized that I need an ability to give licensed version of app for my friends or reviewers or someone else.
Unfortunately AppHub doesn't provide such functionality(private distribution is pain in ass), so I created a webservice for myself.
After two days I realized that it may be useful for other developers, so here it is:
promo.g33k.ru (here I wanted to post url, but I can't due to low post count. You may find it in my profile->interests)
Now it has:
- JSON/SDK with RSA1024/SHA1 sign for additional security checks
- Binary SDK available
- Russian localization(if anyone cares ) (btw, if you can help translating to other language(s) or correct english misspellings - i will appreciate this).
Now this service works in beta mode.
So for developers I have two questions:
1) Is such service useful for you?
2) How to develop it further, in which way?

Not yet clear
I am sorry, but after reading your post and also checking your website I am still not sure what you offer. For me there is just not enough information to understand and then judge the usefulness of your service.
Maybe you could give a step-by-step scenario: Dev does this, then interested user does that, dev then this ...

Ok, I'll try to describe a little more details:
1) Developer wants to add capability of promo codes in his app(to give some specific users full licensed app).
The first problem is that developer need his own server for checking of promo code validity(hardcoding is not an option, of course).
2) So, Developer registers in my service, add his app's guid to his app list and create a promo code for specific app via web.
3) Developer adds support for promo codes in his app by:
a) adding an text box for user to enter promode
b) adding a web request to specific URL for promocode activation
c) adding to his license check web request for checking is current user activated a promo code.
Benefits for developer:
- Add support for promo codes without owning a server.
- Simple way to give full version of program to friends
Benefits for users:
- User may found promo code for specific app somewhere and use it to get full version of app in simple manner.
Benefits for reviewers/portals:
- Developers can easily give promo code for reviewing purpose or as giveaway for news post.

Clear now
Thanks for the additional info, now it's clear
Well yes, sounds useful. Properly implemented is probably really easier than Microsoft's "closed beta" mechanism, and of course can be used for other, non-beta apps as well.
The icing on the cake would be a "frame application" as sample code that basically does nothing more than asking for a promo code and then check against the list of valid codes on your server.

Sounds intresting but how do you ensure security?

chabun, I thought about security and situation is same as with default checking for trial - there is no security Man-in-the-Middle and direct cracking of xap will work, and there is no way out. I could use RSA signing for MitM, but still cracking of xap is very easy option today, so no one really interested will try to use MitM. When WP8 SDK will be out(I believe it will be in several weeks) - some developers may implement trial checks in native code - this will be much harder to crack.
As for server part there are following possible problems
- App's ID squatting(same as domain, someone else could reserve developer's app's guid). Don't know yet what to do with this, may be think about it later when this happens?
- Promocode's for App ID bruteforce - could be easily avoided via server throttling, if this ever happens - i'll add such checks
- Server DDoS - every webmaster's nightmare, I hope this never happens(or my Amazon AWS will pour my purse empty
rbrunner7, nice idea, I'll add a sample app as soon as possible on site.

This looks like an interesting concept
Sent from my SGH-i917 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App

Yop, you can never avoid direct cracking... However, RSA signing would be good I'd say as it will avoid MitM - with MitM you could create simple tools which can be used by every noob outhere. Cracking xaps requires some skill and it will need an unlocked WP7 as well.

I can see this working i have been thinking about something similar also. You can encrypt the data on device before sending it off to the cloud, you can than verify the encrypted data with a password and compare it to the codes registered on the server. Than link a code to a certain device id (once the code becomes 'registered') if a certain code is already coupled to a deice id and the device is not the same than the app will jump back into trial mode. Otherwise one can use the paid mode.
This can defenetly work and will prevent reselling th codes. Although it requires a server. And users can still hack/patch the app ofcourse but that will require an unlocked device so I should not worry to much about it.
Also to prevent spoofing you can frequently check with the server if this device is legitetmately registered.

Marvin_S said:
I can see this working i have been thinking about something similar also. You can encrypt the data on device before sending it off to the cloud, you can than verify the encrypted data with a password and compare it to the codes registered on the server. Than link a code to a certain device id (once the code becomes 'registered') if a certain code is already coupled to a deice id and the device is not the same than the app will jump back into trial mode. Otherwise one can use the paid mode.
This can defenetly work and will prevent reselling th codes. Although it requires a server. And users can still hack/patch the app ofcourse but that will require an unlocked device so I should not worry to much about it.
Also to prevent spoofing you can frequently check with the server if this device is legitetmately registered.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I thought of... private/public key

chabun, so, for example, how about following scenario:
for each developer server creates public/private key pair.
when checking license on server: if success server encodes userid with developer private key
when checking license in app: server response decoding via public key(hardcoded in app) and comparing to userId. if ok -> licensed.

You might want to ask @ngreader guys on twitter. They do have this concept implemented in their app.

diverofdark said:
chabun, so, for example, how about following scenario:
for each developer server creates public/private key pair.
when checking license on server: if success server encodes userid with developer private key
when checking license in app: server response decoding via public key(hardcoded in app) and comparing to userId. if ok -> licensed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure if it would be good to encode the request to the server as well but otherwise it sounds really cool now... I'll use this service when I need this (and tell my friends about it)

Here is one way to do it http://stackoverflow.com/questions/599837/how-to-generate-and-validate-a-software-license-key

wpxbox said:
Here is one way to do it http://stackoverflow.com/questions/599837/how-to-generate-and-validate-a-software-license-key
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, what they suggest is not as good as diverofdark's service which is a lot more secure and still easy to use for the customers...

Greetings everyone!
Today I updated promo.g33k.ru, now it has:
- more detailed about page,
- SDK now includes RSA1024/SHA1 sign for additional security checks
- Binary SDK available
- Russian localization(if anyone cares ) (btw, if you can help translating to other language(s) or correct english misspellings - i will appreciate this).
- Many minor bugfixes.
So, from now this service works in beta mode

diverofdark said:
Greetings everyone!
Today I updated promo.g33k.ru, now it has:
- more detailed about page,
- SDK now includes RSA1024/SHA1 sign for additional security checks
- Binary SDK available
- Russian localization(if anyone cares ) (btw, if you can help translating to other language(s) or correct english misspellings - i will appreciate this).
- Many minor bugfixes.
So, from now this service works in beta mode
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I will check this out

Hey diverofdark
It would be nice if you update the first post in the thread with all information. That's the way it's usually done in the forum.
A possible user (here dev ) can read it and without having to browse the whole thread, he can use your promocode service...

Thanks for mentioning it, I updated the first post.

Publishing desktop bridge apps (personal experience)

Hi guys,
probably it's not a proper forum, and my post is offtopic, but it's a most reliable forum on xda-dev for this post, other forums are simple dead
For the "rara avis", developers who still do something on Win10 platform, I'd like to share my personal experience to publish an app with restricted capabilities (desktop bridge) on Microsoft store. Might be, someone will find this useful (I hope so!).
So:
- on March, 29 I created a "desktop bridge" app from already existing app and started submission. Of course, package submission failed, and I issued a "desktop bridge permission request".
- next day, March 30, I received automated confirmation.
- on April, 10, I've got mail from Windows App Consult with request to fill some form(s) in Word document format, zip it with my app (.appx or .appxbundle) and share with Microsoft team.
- two weeks later, on April, 24, I've got another mail (quoting):
Hello, we have completed the testing of your desktop application. Congratulations, your application is compliant and, as such, your developer account has now been unlocked! Please allow 24-48 business hours for the permissions to propagate, then you’ll be able to start the submission process on the Dev Center’s website.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
- and, after two days (48 hours, not an hour or minute sooner ), my app was published and become available on the next day(s) or so
Here we go: the very first console app published in the Microsoft Store (if it's not please let me know). App is completely free and open source; I set $0.99 price just in case if someone wanna donate a bottle of good beer to me ($1 isn't enough of course but it's OK). App "trial" isn't different from paid; and of course you can download it directly from the github, or build by yourself.
The main purpose of this experiment was to check an ability to the regular, third party developer, to publish an app with restricted access via MS store, and, I can say, it works as promised...
P.S. Oh, I forgot to say: please download the app, use it (if you really need it) and rate up to five stars, please!