I’m very pleased to be able to report that my Windows Phone 8 Book (the Blue Book that is a companion to the Yellow Book) is now available for free download from Microsoft Faculty Connection. There are around 250 pages of developer goodness spread over 15 chapters, along with a over 50 demos.

This is the button that you use to download the content. Click on the word Download. You don’t need to be a member of the Faculty Connection to get the content, it should just arrive as one large zip archive with the Blue Book document and all the demos.

Here’s a quick overview:

Getting Started with Windows Phone The Windows Phone Platform The Windows Phone Ecosystem Windows Phone Program Execution Windows Phone Application Development

Making a User Interface with XAML Program Design with XAML Understanding XAML Putting Program Code into an Application

Visual Studio Solution Management Getting Started with Projects and Solutions Debugging Programs Performance Tuning

Constructing a Program with XAML Improving the User Experience Working with XAML text Using the TextChanged Event Managing Application Page Layout

Advanced Application Development Data Binding Displaying Lists of Data Pages and Navigation Using ViewModel classes

Isolated Storage on Windows Phone Storing Data on Windows Phone Copying Files into Isolated Storage

Using Databases on Windows Phone An Overview of Database Storage Creating Data Relationships with LINQ

Networking with Windows Phone Windows Phone Network Support Networking Overview Addresses and Networks Creating a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) Connection Creating a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) Connection Reading a Web Page Using LINQ to Read from an XML Stream

XNA Game Development XNA in Context Making an XNA 4.0 Program Player Interaction in Games Adding Sound to a Game Managing Screen Dimensions and Orientation Using MonoGame Making a MonoGame XNA program

Using Speech in Applications Speech Synthesis Controlling Applications using Speech Simple speech input Using grammars

Maps and Location Determining the geoposition of the phone Using the Map component

Using Bluetooth and Near Field Communications Using Bluetooth The Intercom Program Using Near Field Communications

How Applications Run Background Processing Adding a Live Tile to an Application File Transfer Tasks Scheduled Notifications

Marketing Windows Phone Applications The Windows Phone Icons and Splash Screens Preparing an Application for Sale Windows Phone Store Making your Application Stand Out



Enjoy.