Just another post

angryBirdsIt’s been a while since my last post so I thought I’ll write a filler. Forgive me but I’m going to start off with some rant. My windows mobile marketplace account hasn’t been accessible for a couple of weeks now. Every time I try logging in I get this annoying error which says,

WE’RE SORRY. AN ERROR HAS OCCURRED.

We encountered an issue connecting your App Hub account with your Xbox Live Profile.
Please visit
Xbox.com and update your contact information.
After you have updated your contact information, please return to the App Hub (
https://users.create.msdn.com/Register) to continue.
View App Hub FAQ
A09/S3D4

The error code at the end keeps changing all the time, heck, I don’t even know if it’s an error code. As suggested, I updated my contact information on xbox.com, made sure that all the information at billing.microsoft.com was alright but still no luck. A little bit of searching on the help forums revealed that many other people were facing the same problem. And I thought Microsoft screwed up big time while migrating the mobile marketplace to the new and “improved” App Hub. What’s worse is that I can’t even see my existing app on the marketplace and I have no idea about the download figures, not that I am making thousands off it but still. And then yesterday I got the Windows Phone Newsletter for October, and it was reassuring in some ways. It said,

On October 11, we told you about App Hub, the single destination for both Windows Phone and Xbox Live indie developers. Although App Hub is now open for all developers to explore, only a small number of developers are currently able to submit Windows Phone 7 apps or games. On November 3, Windows Phone 7 app submission will be open to all registered Windows Phone Marketplace developers.” (emphasis mine)

Early October I had got a mail from Microsoft for early access to the App Hub. But I screwed it up by forgetting to attach the app screenshots (how difficult can mail attachments be!). Anyways, come November 3rd I hope all issues are resolved and access to marketplace is restored so that I can view the existing app and submit the new app I’ve been working on.

Update
Well, November 3rd has come and gone and nothing has changed. Still can’t access the Windows Phone 7 dashboard at AppHub. I have contributed to an existing thread showing my concern, here’s the link,
http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/p/62093/397994.aspx#397994

Update 2
More forum threads here and here.

 

visualStudio In other news, the windows phone developer tools got an update, this October update includes,

  • A new Bing Maps Control that improves map performance during user gestures.
  • The Capability Detection Tool, which scans your application and reports on detected phone capabilities that will be applied during ingestion to marketplace.
  • The WP Connect Tool, with which you can create a connection between the Windows Phone and your PC without requiring Zune to be running, so you can debug media APIs.

You can download the update from here. Details about the Capability Detection Tool and the WP Connect Tool can be found here and here. I haven’t installed this update as I don’t see the need yet.

 

ProgWinPhone7 And finally, “Programming Windows Phone 7that Charles Petzold has been working on is now available for download and it’s free! You can download the pdf along with the sample code from here.

This is one book which I plan to read from start to end thoroughly. I have read the first two preview versions and highly recommend this to anyone serious about developing for Windows Phone 7. On being asked, Charles said that a print-on-demand soft cover version will be available soon which, of course, I plan to buy.