Windows Phone 8 Introduction resources

I have been handed a new project.  Customer needs a website migrated to a windows app.
This should be fun and have found these resources very helpful as I try to get up to speed.

How to use the photo chooser task for Windows Phone

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/library/windowsphone/develop/hh394019(v=vs.105).aspx

How to create a base camera app for Windows Phone

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/library/windowsphone/develop/hh202956(v=vs.105).aspx

How to common tasks for Windows Phone

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/windowsphone/develop/ff402551(v=vs.105).aspx

Back on the MS certification mill

I was trying to find the prometric certification 5 pack.  I used this last time around.  I could not find it until I stumbled onto what they are doing now.  The 5 pack was available for any exam from Microsoft.  What they are doing now is selling the certs based on the certification paths that offered by MS.

1.)MCSD cert packs are offered for Windows Store Apps Using HTML5 Certification, Windows Store Apps Using C# Certification,Web Apps Certification, Application Lifecycle Management
http://bsf01.com/microsoft_vouchers/mcsd.aspx


Source:http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en-us/certification-exam-packs.aspx

Testing for windows phone development

A challenge for some IT devs is older systems still in use.
I was given an older laptop and told develop some windows phone
apps.  This requires testing for compatibility and located this
site which has a tool which will show if a system is capable.

https://www.grc.com/securable.htm

Windows Phone Emulator not running on my systems.

Started a new project today which requires upgrading a work laptop to support windows phone dev work. 

Here is what you need:

1.) 64 bit OS - Windows 8.1  (Minimum of Windows 8.1 Pro)
2.) Windows Phone SDK - https://dev.windowsphone.com/en-us/downloadsdk
Note: This will install Visual Studio Express if you do not have a copy of VS already installed.
This means you can run it without paying for VS, the express version is free.
3.) Enable HyperV support on your BIOS.  This is different for each manufacturer.
Intel has a nice tool (http://www.intel.com/support/processors/tools/piu/sb/CS-014921.htm)
which will tell you if HyperV is available for your system.  AMD's tool is a bit hard to find
this link is still good but from the 2008 timeframe.
http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/utilities/AMD-V_Hyper-V_Compatibility_Check_Utility.zip

That should do it.  The only real issue is do not forget to enable your BIOS the factory settings
most default to disabled.


Source:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsphone/develop/ff626524(v=vs.105).aspx
http://blogs.technet.com/b/mkorp/archive/2008/06/02/hyper-v-kompatibilit-t-bei-amd-systemen.aspx

Chart Web Part Series Hyperlink series properties

I was trying to use the settings on the Chart web part and went looking for a how to from Microsoft.  Problem is that this was part of the Dundas library originally.   Found this article http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/sharepoint/en-US/873fe5fc-91f0-429c-89d2-2c1fb7bff1ba/chart-web-part-series-hyperlink-links-incorrectly?forum=sharepointgeneralprevious
Which talked about how to build a drill down capability based on a guide from Dundas
 (http://support2.dundas.com/Default.aspx?article=1205)

Built-In Keywords for Series Properties

Dundas Chart comes with built-in keywords that you can use in any combination for data point tooltips, labels, hyperlinks and legend text. This lets you easily display all kinds of information about your points in different ways.
Here is a list of all available keywords:

Keyword	Replaced By	Data Comes From
#VALX	X value of the data point.	Data point
#VAL, #VALY, #VALY2, #VALY3, …	Y values of the data point.	Data point
#SERIESNAME	Series name.	Series
#LABEL	Data point label.	Data point
#AXISLABEL	Axis data point label.	Data point
#INDEX	Data point index.	Data point
#PERCENT	Percentage of the data point Y value.	Data point
#TOTAL	Total of all Y values in the series.	Series
#AVG	Average of all Y values in the series.	Series
#MIN	Minimum data point of all Y values in the series.	Series
#MAX	Maximum data point of all Y values in the series.	Series
#FIRST	First data point of all Y values in the series.	Series
#LAST	Last data point of all Y values in the series.	Series

You are free to use these keywords in any of the following series properties, available both from our wizards and our Advanced Properties:

• Label
• LegendText
• Href ("Hyperlink"), LabelHref ("Label Hyperlink"), and LegendHref ("Legend Hyperlink")
• ToolTip, LabelToolTip, and LegendToolTip
• MapAreaAttributes, LabelMapAreaAttributes, and LegendMapAreaAttributes

For example, here is how you can set a tooltip to display the X-value, Y-value, series name and percentage of the total series values:

X: #VALX  Y: #VALY  Series: #SERIESNAME  %: #PERCENT

To add the average and total to the series name in the Chart's legend, set the Series' LegendText property to:

#SERIESNAME - Total: #TOTAL - Avg: #AVG

You can format numeric and date/time values, too, by adding a Microsoft format string to the keyword. For example: "#VALY{N2}" formats the Y-value to have two numbers after the decimal place. For help formatting series properties, see this support site article. For more information on format strings, see "Numeric Format Strings" or "Date and Time Format Strings".


Source:
http://support2.dundas.com/Default.aspx?article=1132

Cascading dropdowns in newform.aspx

I decided to go ahead and do something that is pretty standard in most web forms.
That is to make dropdowns scope the number of options in the select clause.  This
is fairly straightforward in a custom web app.  When we want to do it inside the
Sharepoint model it is a bit more challenging.

First, thing I tried was to edit the newform.aspx in Sharepoint 2010.  I noticed
that the webpart where the item adding happens is not configurable. It just displays a
sample of what you'll get rendered in the page.

The reason for this is the default webpart used here is from the type ListFormWebPart, whose behavior is to automatically render the fields and controls needed according to the list definition. No customization here.
First step I needed to do was add a CEWP to the newform.aspx.  Modifying the form is challenge

1.)Add the CEWP using the UI.  Doing it in Designer 2010 is a real challenge.
Open a browser and navigate to the location of the list.  Append the name/value
 pairing (toolpaneview=2#)
 http://<yourserver>/Lists/MyCustomList/newform.aspx?toolpaneview=2

Source:
http://sharepoint.stackexchange.com/questions/20395/how-to-add-a-webpart-using-sharepoint-designer-2010

2.) Site Actions > Edit Page

newform.aspx?PageView=Shared&InitialTabId=Ribbon.WebPartPage&VisibilityContext=WSSWebPartPage#

3.) Add Web Part > Categories | Media and Content |  Content Editor

4.) Your web part will say “ Edit this web part to add content to your page”  Click on Content Editor Menu and go to Edit Web Part

5.) Now you can click on HTML under Format Text and click on Edit HTML Source

6.) In HTML Source Editor you can input your HTML source.  This is how you edit Content Editor Web Part to add html source in SharePoint 2010

7.) Force page reload to get the page to update

Source:
http://aryannava.com/2011/05/14/how-to-edit-source-in-content-editor-web-part-in-sharepoint-2010/

8.) Next I followed this example to create a working cascading dropdown.

http://www.sharepointboris.net/js/spcd/

http://blogs.interfacett.com/sharepoint-designer-2010-creating-a-custom-list-form-with-sharepoint-2010

Creating a Custom List Form with SharePoint Designer 2010

I am stuck doing this with SharePoint Designer 2010.  I wanted to customize the new item form for a list.  I found several sources which gave the directions for using InfoPath.  I did not need this.  Finally found this article which describes how to create the new item form.

1.)Open-SharePoint-Designer
2.)SITE ACTIONS > EDIT IN SHAREPOINT DESIGNER TO OPEN SHAREPOINT DESIGNER 2010.
3.)I SELECT LISTS AND LIBRARIES FROM THE NAVIGATION PANE AND THEN SELECT your list FROM THE DETAILS PANE.
4.)Choose-New-Form
5.)Fill-Out-Form-Wizard

Now you can edit the form in SP Designer to your needs.

Source:
http://blogs.interfacett.com/sharepoint-designer-2010-creating-a-custom-list-form-with-sharepoint-2010