Windows Phone Navigation and Controls

This lab introduces you to the Windows Phone layout system, the phone's chrome, and some new controls. The lab explains the basics of navigating between different screens (pages) in a Windows Phone Silverlight application. During the lab you will build a navigation application that switches between various screens, with each screen exposing different phone functionality, such as playing an audio or video file.

Overview

This lab introduces you to the Windows Phone layout system and the Chrome operating system/browser, including the basics of navigating between different screens (pages) in a Windows Phone Silverlight application. During the lab you will build a navigation application that switches between various screens, with each screen displaying different phone functionality, such as playing an audio or video file. You will also add an Application Bar to the main navigation page in order to expose some functionality within the application. In the process, you will learn how to use Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone in order to build and design a Windows Phone application. The lab assumes prior knowledge of XAML and familiarity with Silverlight 3 on the desktop.

The Windows Phone Application Platform enables:

• Awesome applications and games. Use Silverlight and XNA frameworks to craft interactive, compelling, high-quality applications and games for the Windows Phone 7.
• Fast, high quality and feature-rich applications. The combination of Visual Studio 2010 and Expression Blend with standardized Windows Phone 7 hardware specifications means more time is available for you to make your vision real on every device.
• Bigger opportunities. Better partnerships. Build exciting applications and games with your current skills and tools for Windows Phone 7, and reach customers no matter what device they use. Windows Phone Marketplace takes care of sales and distribution so you don’t have to. Code and collect!

Objectives

At the end of the lab you will:

• Have a high level understanding of the overall Silverlight application navigation model, specifically the page and frame navigation model within a Windows Phone 7 application
  • PhoneApplicationFrame
  • PhoneApplicationPage
  • Using navigation services
  • Handling the back button
• Know how to control phone orientation
• Know how to add an application bar and system tray into your application’s pages
• Know about the available controls for Windows Phone applications, including:
  • ListBox
  • WebBrowser
  • Hyperlink buttons
  • Media

Prerequisites

The following is required to complete this hands-on lab:

• Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone or Microsoft Visual Studio 2010
• Windows Phone Developer Tools
  Note:

   All of these Tools can be downloaded together in a single package from https://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9772716

Exercises

This hands-on lab comprises of the following exercises:

1. Introduction to the Windows Phone Navigation Model
2. Introduction to the Controls Available for Windows Phone applications
3. Introduction to Windows Phone Services

Estimated time to complete this lab: 60 minutes.