Application Platform Overview for Windows Phone

F:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en
-
us/library/ff402531%28v=vs.92%29.aspx
-

appplat_overview_top
:

Application Platform Overview for Windows
Phone

23 out of 32 rated this helpful
Rate this topic


Windows Phone

December 15, 2011

The
Windows

Phone Application Platform enables developer
s to create engaging consumer
experiences running on a Windows®

Phone
. It is
built upon existing Microsoft® tools and
technologies such as



Visual Studio,



Expression Blend®,



Silverlight®, and



the XNA

Framework
.

Developers already familiar with those
technologies and their related tools will be able to create
new applications for Windows

Phone without a steep learning curve. This topic includes the
following sections:



Overview



Architecture

o

Runtimes

o

Tools

o

C
loud Services

o

Portal Services



The Application Development Lifecycle

Overview


The Windows

Phone Application Platform provides
two frameworks for developing
applications:

1.

The
Silverlight framework for event
-
driven, XAML
-
based
application development

that allows developers to develop creative markup
-
based user experiences and rich media
applications.

2.

The
XNA

Framework for loop
-
based games

that enables immersive and fun gaming
and entertainment experiences.

With
Windows

Phone

7.5
, you can now
combine Silverlight and the XNA Framework

into a
single application.

The Windows

Phone Application Platform helps developers to create applications by providing:



A familiar and inexpensive toolset.



A cohesive and well
-
designed managed API set
.



An
isolated sandbox for each application
.



Runtime services on devices that can be used
to access web services in the cloud
, such
as
Xbox LIVE®, Windows Azure
,
location
, and
notification services
.



Access to third
-
party Windows Communication Foundation (W
CF)

and
Representational State Transfer (REST) services

across the
web is also supported
.



The
Windows

Phone Marketplace

to
distribute their application
.

The
Windows

Phone Application Platform
, like most platforms, will continue to evolve over
time, but its

goal will always be to deliver:



Richer applications, developed for a highly standardized platform
.



Support for personal and connected consumer data

across multiple devices.



A
robust developer portal

and
application marketplace for complete end
-
to
-
end
lif
ecycle management.



Powerful

and
productive development tools.

The Windows

Phone Application Platform is designed to support the multi
-
screen world that
consumers live in.


Consumers today use a variety of screens and devices, all equally important and all tied together
by the cloud, which connects the relevant information together, providing users with the
information they need as they move from device to device. Common user

experiences make it
easy to move between devices, and a common development platform makes it easy to develop
applications for all the device types.

Back to Top


Architecture


The Windows

Phone Application Platform architecture is made up of four main components.


1.

Runtimes

–

Silverlight

and the
XNA

Framework
, along with Windows

Phone
–
specific
features, combine to
provide a mature environment

on which to
build secure,
graphically rich applications.

2.

Tools

–

Visual Studio and Expression Blend
, and their
related tools and
documentation, create a complete
developer experience

for quickly
creating,
debugging, deploying, and updating applications.

3.

Cloud Services

–

Windows Azure, Xbox LIVE Services, Notifications services, and
Location services
, along with a
variety of other web services
, allow
developers to
s
hare data across the cloud
and
benefits consumers by providing a seamless
experience

across whatever device they are using.
Connections to third
-
party web
services are also fully supported.

4.

Portal Services

–

The
Windows

Phone Marketplace

provide
robust ser
vices

that allow
developers
to register, certify
, and
market their applications
.

Back to Top


Runtimes

With Silverlight and the XNA

Framework, all development is done in managed code, in a
protected sandbox allowing for the rapid development of safe and secure applications.
Applications written for Silverlight

or the
XNA

Framework

today will run on
Windows

Phone with only a minor number of adjustments, such as for screen size or for
device
-
specific features
.

The
two frameworks, along with Windows

Phone
–
specific components and the Common Base
Class Library provide a substantial number of components for develo
pers to construct
applications on.




Silverlight

-

Silverlight is
the

ideal framework for creating Rich Internet
Application
-
style user interfaces
. A Windows

Phone Silverlight application exposes its
UI through a set of pages. Windows

Phone controls that m
atch the Windows

Phone
visual style can be used to enhance the look and feel of the UI.

Visual Studio

or
Expression Blend

can be used for
designing the XAML
-
based
interfaces.

Visual Studio can be used to
implement the application logic

by utilizing
the
media rich Silverlight libraries

or the base functionality provided by the Common
Base Library. For more information, see
The Silverlight and XNA Frameworks for
Windows Phon
e
.



XNA Framework

-

The XNA

Framework is c
omposed of software, services
, and
resources
focused on enabling game developers to be successful developing on
Microsoft gaming platforms
. Microsoft provides
technology

that allows professional
developers to
quickl
y enable games on platforms

like
Windows

Phone, Xbox

360,
Zune HD
, and
Windows

7
.

o

The XNA

Framework

provides a complete set of managed APIs for game
development. This includes
2D sprite
-
based APIs
that
support




rotation,



scaling,



stretching
, and



filtering

as well as

o

3D graphics APIs for 3D geometry
,



textures
, and



standard lighting

and



shading
.

With
Windows

Phone

7.5
, you can now combine
Silverlight

and the
XNA Framework

into a single application. For more information, see
The Silverlight and XNA
Frameworks for Windows Phone
.



Sensors

-

A variety of sensors will return data that can be consumed by developers. For
example,

o

multi
-
touch input,

o

accelerometer,

o

compa
ss,

o

gyroscope, and

o

microphone sensors



will all be accessible by APIs. For more information, see
Touch Input for Silverlight
,
Touch Input for XNA Framework
, or
Sensors Overview for Windows Phone
.



Media

–

Both
Silverlight
and the
XNA

Framework

provide developers with a
programming model for building

rich user experiences

that incorporate
graphics
,
animation
, and
media
. The managed APIs support a variety of media formats and allow
for discovery and enumeration of media on the device and for playback of that media. For
more information, see
Media for Windows Phone
.



Data

-

Isolated storage
allows an application to create

and
maintain data in a
sandboxed isolated virtual folder
.

o

All I/O operations

are
restricted

to
isolated storage

and
do not have direct

access to the underlying operating system file system
.

o

This
prevents unauthorized access

and
data corruption

by other applications.

Structured data can be
stored

in a
relational database

and can be
accessed by usin
g
LINQ to SQL.

For more information, see
Isolated Storage Overview for Windows Phone

or
Lo
cal
Database Overview for Windows Phone
.



Location

-

The
Microsoft Location Service for Windows

Phone

allows application
developers to
access the user’s physical location information

from a single
API
.
Developers can
query

for

o

the
current
location
,

o

subscribe to
Location Changed

events
,

o

set

the
desired
accuracy

of the data
,

o

get access

to the
device heading

and
speed
, and

o

calculate the
distance

between points
.



The Location APIs on the phone will work in conjunction with the Location Cloud
Services.

For more information, see
Location for Windows Phone
.

Back to
Top


Tools

Developers can
download

and
install a package

that includes all the tools that they need to start
developing applications for Windows

Phone.

If Visual Studio is not already installed, Visual Studio

2010 Express for Windows

Phone will be
installe
d.

If Visual Studio is installed, an add
-
in to Visual Studio will be installed.

For more information about downloading and installing the Windows

Phone

SDK, see
Installing
the Windows Phone SDK



Visual Studio 2010

-

Visual Studio is the IDE for building Windows

Phone applications.
Within the Visual Studio IDE, developers can create Silverlight or XNA

Framework
programs that run on Windows

Phone. Visual Studio includes a designer, debugger,
project system, packager,

and manifest generation. For more information, see
Visual
Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone
.




Expression Blend

-

In the same way that designers use
Expression Blend to
design
Rich Internet Applications for the desktop browser
, they can also
design creative
and unique Silverlight
-
based applications on a Windows

Phone
. Expression

Blend for
Windows

Phone allows designers to
create XAML
-
based interfaces for
Windows

Phone
applications
, whose behaviors can then be implemented by developers
in Visual Studio. For more information, see
Expression Blend
.




Windows Phone Emulator

-

Win
dows Phone Emulator is integrated i
nto Visual
Studio and Expression Blend to make the testing and debugging of applications
easier and more efficient
. The
emulator fully supports application deployment,
debugging, and application execution
. It includes support for GPU emulation and
orientat
ion change. For more information, see
Windows Phone Emulator
.




XNA Game Studio

-

The
XNA

Game

Studio is an integrated design environment
that developers can use to build fun

and exciting games for Microsoft Windows®,
the Microsoft Xbox

360® video game and entertainment system, Microsoft Zune®,
and Windows

Phone
. XNA Game Studio extends the Visual Studio tools to support the
XNA

Framework. The XNA

Framework is a managed
-
code c
lass library that contains
functionality targeted specifically at game development tasks. In addition,
XNA

Game

Studio includes tools for incorporating graphical and audio content into your
game. For more information, see
XNA Game Studio
.




Samples, Documentation, Guides and Community

-

Documentation, How
-
to Guides,
sample code, and sample applications are provided to aid developers ramping up on
Windows

Phone development
.

o

Forums, blogs
, and
websites

are available for developers to ask questions and
share information with the greater Windows

Phone community. The new Visual
Studio Help system will allow developers to continuously update their
documentation sets. For more information, see
App Hub
,
Windows Phone Blogs
,
or
Windows Phone 7 Forums
.

Back to Top


Cloud Services

The
Windows

Phone Application Platform

provides many features for
building compelling
web
-
integrated applications
. While a Windows

Phone is
powerful

and
rich
, the cloud makes it
even more powerful. The Cloud Services are always on, are more scalable, can contain more
functionality, and are not dependent on battery life.
Services built on Azure

or
third
-
party web
serv
ices

can be
accessed to bring data to the phone
. The
Windows

Phone Marketplace

provides a
means for developers

to certify and
distribute their applications

to consumers.



Notifications

-

To enable efficient, dynamic, and up
-
to
-
date information and
communica
tion channels, Windows

Phone Application Platform provides an API to
enable services to notify the user when relevant events have occurred
. This
eliminates the need for polling and reduces battery consumption. For more information,
see
Push Notifications for Windows Phone
.




Location Cloud Services

-

The Location Cloud Services will work together with the
Location APIs on the phone
, making its presence transparent to the devel
oper. The
service will use Wi
-
Fi, cellular, and GPS

data to provide a single source for providing
position lookup. Assisted GPS (AGPS) is available to improve the fix for GPS. For more
information, see
Location for Windows Phone
.




Identity, Feeds, Social, and Maps Services

-

The extensive variety of web services in
the
cloud allow consumers to identify themselves
,
interact with social communities
,
receive data feeds
, and
use
maps for navigation
. Developers can enrich this experience
by providing new applications that use these services. For more information, see
Networking and Web Services Overv
iew for Windows Phone
.




Windows Azure

-

Visual Studio 2010 provides the
development environment for
creating applications using the Windows Azure™ Platform
, an
Internet
-
scale cloud
computing
and

services platform hosted in Microsoft data center
s. The Windows
Azure Platform provides a range of functionality to
build applications that span from
consumer web to enterprise scenarios

and includes a
cloud operating system

and a set
of
developer services
.

o

Fully interoperable through the support of
ind
ustry standards

and
web protocols
such as
Representational State Transfer (REST)

and
Simple Object Access
Protocol (SOAP),

you can use the
Azure services individually or together,
either to build new applications or to extend existing

ones. For more
inform
ation, see
Windows Azure
.

o




Microsoft Advertising SDK for Windows Phone

-

Monetize your Windows

Phone
applications and games by including ads from Microsoft Advertising
. The Microsoft
Advertising

SDK for Windows

Phone

enables you to create applications that can do the
following:

o

Easily
integrate text

and
banner ads

into your applications and games.

o

Provide a
monetization solution that maximizes in
-
app advertising revenues

by unlocking the
power of

multiple sales channels competing in real time to
purchase your ad inventory.

o

Provide various ad
targeting capabilities to deliver the most relevant ads to
your users.

o

Seamlessly handle impression reporting.

Back to Top


Portal Services

The Windows

Phone Marketplace provides a centralized location for developers to submit and
certify their applications. Consumers have a centralized location from whi
ch to buy or update
their applications.



Registration and Validation

-

Developers can get started on
App Hub by signing up
with their Live ID
. After registration is complete, developers can
get all the needed tools
in a single download.




Certification,
Publishing, and Update Management

-

A set of tools will help the
developer to
submit and certify their applications for the Windows

Phone
Marketplace
. Applications are submitted in an
.xap

file format, which is essentially one
compressed file
that contains

all the files

that are needed by the application.

o

Developers

can
track their submission status and then receive a notification
once the certification is complete
. After an
application is certified
, it can then
be
submitted for publishing on the Windows

P
hone Marketplace
.

o

Developers can
set pricing

and
select the markets

in which they want to
publish
the application.

If developers fix bugs
, add
new functionality
, or
provide a whole new version of the
application
, they must
go through the certification

and
publishing process again
.




Windows

Phone Marketplace and Billing

-

The Windows

Phone Marketplace provides
the one
place where developers can make their applications available for purchase
by consumers
. Both
Mobile Operator

and
credit card billing

are supported, making it
as easy as possible for consumers to pay for the application.




Business Intelligence

-

Business intelligence tools will
provide developers with
information reporting

about their application.

Back to Top


The Application Development Lifecycle


This section describes how developers can use the Windows

Phone Application
Platform from
the beginning to the end of the development cycle.


Getting Started With
App Hub


App Hub will be the starting point for developers.
Developers can begin by signing up for a
Windows Live ID. Next, they can sign up to obtain the Windows

Phone

SDK

and associated
licensing materials for developing applications using Visual Studio and Expression Blend
.
This will be a
single download

that contains
everything the developer requires for building
an application for Windows

Phone.

Developers can also
register one or more phones for use as
test hardware in validating the applications that they are building. Any retail Windows

Phone can
be registered as a test device.

App Hub

contains
samples, documentation,

and
active developer communities

that help mak
e
Windows

Phone developers successful.

Designing an Application and Producing an Application Package


Once developers have signed up to be a Windows

Phone developer and have installed the
developer tools, they can begin developing their applications.

Games

and
graphics
-
intensive applications

are created in Visual Studio using the
2D and 3D
libraries of the XNA

Framework.

The visual design for
XAML
-
based applications for Silverlight

is created in
Visual Studio
and/or Expression Blend
. The resulting XAML

document containing markup is then interpreted
by the Silverlight presentation engine and other components of the Windows

Phone Application
Platform.

With Windows

Phone

7.5, you can now combine Silverlight and the XNA Framework into a
single application.
For more information, see
The Silverlight and XNA Frameworks for
Windows Phone
.

The Visual Studio IDE is used to write managed code defining the visual behavior of all
Windo
ws

Phone applications. When the application is completed, a package is created that
includes everything the application needs.

Debugging an Application


While creating a Windows

Phone application, a developer can debug the program on a phone or
in
Windows

Phone emulator
. Debugging the application involves creating a package targeted
to the debugging platform and then using Visual Studio to deploy the package. Call stack
walking, expression evaluation, source code stepping, and variable watch windows are all

supported.

Publishing an Application


After an application has been completed, a developer can make the program available to other
users on the Windows

Phone Marketplace. To publish to the Windows

Phone Marketplace,
developers submit a .xap file. The
.xap

file is a compressed file containing all the information
needed by the application
. This includes an application icon, a start tile, metadata, and licensing
terms that determine how their program can be used.

Next, the developer signs into App Hub and su
bmits the application package for certification.
This is the only way to make an application available to consumers. The certification process
will verify that the application is well
-
behaved, works for the languages and markets indicated,
and does not adv
ersely affect the overall health of the phone.

Once the package has satisfied the Windows

Phone Marketplace certification requirements, the
developer is notified and can publish the application to the Windows

Phone Marketplace through
App Hub. Applications

are then made available for consumers to download in the
Windows

Phone Marketplace. Credit card and mobile
-
operator billing operations are supported.

Managing Published Applications


After a Windows

Phone application is published to the Windows

Phone Marketplace, the
developer uses App Hub to manage the versions of the application that are available for
purchase.

Back to Top