Live near the Geneva area of Switzerland? Feel like meeting up with other developers to discuss Microsoft software development, in particular Windows Phone, XAML, WinRT, Silverlight , WPF and ASP.NET? Come join us at the Microsoft building in Geneva on the 7th of February 2012. Please let us know if you’ll attend by adding your name to this poll. The location of the meeting is: Microsoft Sarl MBC 12 ave. des Morgines 1213 Petit-Lancy, Geneva...

Recently I took part in an interview with CodeProject. It includes some info about my background, projects, interests.

Update: Since first posting this article, a later version of the WP FCL the ProgressIndicator gained binding support. You can bind it in a page like so: <shell:SystemTray.ProgressIndicator> <shell:ProgressIndicator IsIndeterminate="{Binding Busy}" IsVisible="{Binding Busy}" Text="{Binding Message}" /> </shell:SystemTray.ProgressIndicator> The Mango beta of the Windows Phone 7 SDK sees the inclusion of a new way to display progress of asynchronous operations within the phone’s system tray. This is done using the new ProgressIndicator class, which is a...

In a post from late last year, I looked at using a .bat file to detect the platform and launch the WPConnect tool using the path appropriate to the OS (32bit or 64 bit). I’ve since updated the batch file, which now closes the Zune software, waits a few seconds, and then attempts to use the WPConnect tool. It’s not rocket science, but it eases the burden a little when debugging on a Window Phone...

Most phone users are concerned about network usage. Network traffic comes at a premium, and a user’s perception of the quality of your app depends a lot on its responsiveness. When it comes to fetching data from a network service, it should be done in the most efficient manner possible. Making the user wait while your app downloads giant reams of data doesn’t cut it. It should, instead, be done in bite-sized chunks. To make...