In The Hand Ltd

Latest Posts

  • App Crashes on Launch as Beta (Works Side-loaded)

    I came across this issue with a test app which had been working fine either when debugging or deploying the XAP file directly. Then I set up a beta and when installed the app just starts and immediately stops. Since… Continue reading

  • Charming Display

    The latest addition to the “Build Charming Apps for Windows Phone” libraries addresses a couple of properties required to support different screen sizes. I decided I wanted a simple way to retrieve the DPI and Scale factor (real not emulated)… Continue reading

  • What does Commerce Expansion Adjustment mean to me?

    Windows Phone developers have received an email about the upcoming changes to make mobile operator billing available in more countries. In particular markets from March 2014 this means that there will be an additional deduction from your revenue for these… Continue reading

  • Nokia DT-601 Review

    As part of the New Year tidy up I decided to add a wireless charging pad to my desk so that I can easily top up devices without too many trailing wires. I saw the new second generation DT-601 and… Continue reading

  • Tasks 1.81– Now with added programmability

    In the latest update to the Windows Phone Tasks app I’ve added in some API features for other apps to hook into. This is facilitated by Windows Phone 8’s support for custom Uri schemes – the app supports the tasks:… Continue reading

  • Linking to your other apps

    Using the Windows Phone SDK the only method to return a list of your other published apps (e.g. for your About page) is to use the MarketplaceSearchTask and specify your company name in the search criteria. The problem with this… Continue reading

  • Translating Windows Phone Features

    There are a number of steps when translating a Windows Phone app. Hopefully you are using the Microsoft Multilingual App Toolkit (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/bg127574) which supports the standard XLIFF format. Often you will start with your own language string resources and then add other… Continue reading

  • Launching System Features From Windows Store Apps

    In Windows Phone we have a number of Launchers and Choosers for interacting with system features. For the most part the approach used in Windows Store is to use special URI schemes to achieve the same end result and launch… Continue reading

  • Detect When Running on Windows Simulator

    The Windows Simulator is a deployment target for Visual Studio which allows you to run your Windows Store apps in a simulated device. This allows you to test touch interaction and different screen sizes and orientations on your development machine.… Continue reading

  • Charming Storage for Windows Phone

    A tweet by @martinsuchan earlier reminded me of an issue I faced porting some code from Windows Phone to Windows Store. Moving from the Isolated Storage API to the new Windows.Storage namespace there was nothing built-in to determine if a… Continue reading