Book Description

The Windows Phone 7 platform, now recently updated, provides a remarkable opportunity for Windows developers to create state-of-the-art mobile applications using their existing skills and a familiar toolset. Pro Windows Phone 7 Development, Second Edition helps you unlock the potential of this platform and create dazzling, visually rich, and highly functional applications for the Windows Phone Marketplace—including using new features like copy-and-paste and API improvements in the NoDo and Mango update waves.

For developers new to the Windows Phone platform—whether .NET, iPhone, or Android developers—this book starts by introducing the features and specifications of the Windows Phone series, and then leads you through the complete application development process. You’ll learn how to use Microsoft technologies like Silverlight, .NET, the XNA Framework, Visual Studio, and Expression Blend effectively, how to take advantage of the device’s sensors with the location service, accelerometer, and touch, how to make your apps location-aware using GPS data, how to utilize the rich media capabilities of the Windows Phone series, and much more. Finally, you’ll receive a full tutorial on how to publish and sell your application through the Windows Phone Marketplace. And in this second edition, learn quickly and easily how to take advantage of new API capabilities and HTML5 support right in your browser.

What you’ll learn

• The specifications and capabilities of the Windows Phone series and how to harness that power in your applications Download Now »

Book Description

Windows Phone 7.5 (code-named Mango) marks a significant upgrade to Microsoft’s smartphone products. Packed with sophisticated new features and functionality, the device is a .NET developer’s dream, easily programmable using Silverlight, XNA and C#.

Windows Phone Recipes utilizes a proven problem-solution approach, providing a concise guide to all the phone’s features in recipe book format. First, the problem you’re facing is identified. Then, a clear explanation of the solution is given, supported by a fully-worked code sample that demonstrates the feature in action.

All aspects of development, configuration, testing, and distribution are covered. You’ll find recipes that unlock advanced user interface features, deal with data storage, integrate with cloud services, add media and location services, and much more. It’s everything you’ll need to put a professional polish on your Windows Phone 7.5 applications!

What you’ll learn

• Understand how to design, develop, test and distribute your Windows Phone 7.5 applications
• Create compelling user interfaces using all the phone’s features, including the camera, GPS and accelerometer
• Learn how to debug your applications and package them for distribution Download Now »

Book Description

The Azure Services Platform is a cloud-computing technology from Microsoft. It is composed of four core components—Windows Azure, .NET Services, SQL Services, and Live Services—each with a unique role in the functioning of your cloud service. It is the goal of this book to show you how to use these components, both separately and together, to build flawless cloud services.

At its heart, Windows Azure Platform is a down-to-earth, code-centric book. This book aims to show you precisely how the components are employed and to demonstrate the techniques and best practices you need to know to use them to best effect. That said, author Tejaswi Redkar regularly takes time out to provide a thorough overview of the architectural concepts that underpin Windows Azure. Without this understanding, you will find it hard to use the platform to its full potential.

By the time you’ve read this book, you will be comfortable building high-quality end-to-end Azure services of your own.

What you’ll learn

• Know everything you need to about the Azure Services components—from Access Control to SQL Services, from the Service Bus to Workflow Services
• Understand both the architectural thinking behind Azure and the nuts-and-bolts code that binds your service together
• Design, build, and deploy an Azure service with the assistance Download Now »

Book Description

WebMatrix is the latest addition to the hugely popular Microsoft ASP.NET web platform. This exciting new technology aims to simplify the process of developing websites by combining the new and powerful Razor syntax with a fully extensible set of data and HTML helpers for performing common web tasks.

The WebMatrix installation includes all the tools the developer requires to quickly create fully-functional, data-driven, dynamic sites using ASP.NET web pages. The lightweight custom development tool works alongside SQL Server Compact Edition and Internet Information Services (IIS) Express to provide a seamless and easy-to-use environment which enables the web developer to concentrate on the rapid development of feature-rich websites, without the need to learn the complex concepts and highly structured programming models which many other frameworks require.

What you’ll learn

• How to combine HTML and server-side C# Razor code with the powerful .NET framework to easily develop websites using Microsoft WebMatrix
• How to create layouts which can be applied across multiple pages
• How to interact with SQL Server and other databases, using proven techniques and best practices
• How to add social networking features to your web site using WebMatrix Helpers
• How to create your own custom functions and helpers to provide reusable code and content
• How to secure your website using a role-based membership model
• How to deploy your website to a hosting provider Download Now »

Book Description

Expert SharePoint 2010 Practices is a valuable compendium of best practices, tips, and secrets straight from the most knowledgeable SharePoint gurus in the industry.

Learn from the experts as you dive into topics like multitenancy, solution deployment, business intelligence, and administration. Our team of carefully chosen contributors, most with Microsoft’s Most Valuable Professional (MVP) designation bestowed upon them, shares with you the secrets and practices that have brought them success in a wide variety of SharePoint scenarios.

Each contributor is passionate about the power of SharePoint and wants to help you leverage the capabilities of the platform in your business—but in the proper way. Go beyond procedures and manuals, and benefit from hundreds of years of combined experience, which the authors of Expert SharePoint 2010 Practices provide in these pages.

Learn from the masters and take control of SharePoint 2010 like you never have before with Expert SharePoint 2010 Practices!

What you’ll learn

• How to design and architect public-facing SharePoint sites
• Best practices for building business applications with SharePoint Foundation 2010
• How to bridge the Office-SharePoint gap that exists in many organizations
• Best practices around solution deployment in SharePoint 2010 Download Now »

Book Description

If you want to learn the fundamentals of programming, don’t get bogged down with pages of technical jargon that most books on the market offer! No previous Visual Studio experience required for Clearly Visual Basic: Programming with Microsoft Visual Basic 2010, 2nd Edition by the best-selling author, Diane Zak. This innovative text is designed for a first course in programming teaching the basics through visualization and application. Using the most recent version of the software, Visual Basic 2010, beginners will learn solid programming principles and knowledge that is easily transferable to other languages.

• Mini-quizzes encourage readers to master fundamental topics before progressing into more advanced topics, and the answers are provided to give immediate feedback and more opportunity for learning.
• Each chapter contains a wide variety of exercises, offering several different types of exercises at various levels of difficulty, so every kind of learner has an opportunity to practice his or her skills.
• Each chapter has one or more videos that demonstrate and explain the concepts covered in the chapter. The videos, which include self-review quizzes, are available online under Student Downloads.
• Each chapter is accompanied by Want More Info? files that contain additional examples and further explanations of a concept. The files are in PDF format.
• SAM Test bank available. Download Now »