WP8 graphical IDE?

[GraemeT]

Hi all,

Firstly, let me hold my hand up and say that I'm not a WP8 developer, so I'm an imposter here, I admit. However, this seemed the best place to put this post, so I'll take a punt. Like a few folk here, it would seem, I have in the back of my mind dabbling in playing with developing WP8 apps, not for reward, just for fun on my own phone. Sideloading, I think I saw it called in an earlier thread. I'm not a programmer by trade, but I do have eight years automatic-test training and development experience in LabVIEW. I was wondering if there is a remotely similar IDE for WP8? Other than HP BASIC years ago, I have no text-based programming skills. That with the fact that I don't have a lot of free time would preclude me from learning C# or C++, I suspect.

Regards.

 

[Ron Gramann]

Hi Graeme,
Check out Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Phone | Microsoft Visual Studio

 

[PeytonCasp]

Sadly, a graphical IDE for Windows Phone does not exist that I know of.

Visual Studio happens to be semi Graphical in the sense that it lets you drag and drop the UI for the phone. However the code that lies behind the scenes still has to be typed. C# is a fairly comprehensive language to learn and would be a good skill to have. If you have used LabVIEW then chances are you understand the basic logic flow of programming so all that would be left would be adding the syntax to those skills.

 

[GraemeT]

Guys,

I appreciate your responses. Thank you. I'll check out Visual Studio. I've heard of it, but know nothing about it. From what you say it vaguely reminds me of MS Access that I used to do a lot of years ago. Drag and drop buttons, boxes and stuff, then write your code behind that object.

I always found the basics of programming not too bad, it was the syntax that I found to be the tricky bit. You know, a missed bracket or semicolon here or there. Maybe I'll find out again!

There is one (well another) fly in my ointment that I hope you may be able to advise me on. I don't own any hardware at the moment (still on XP) that I could develop on. I'm looking around to buy something suitable and understand that I need W8 64-bit. However, for the emulator to work (I don't want to trash my phone) it seems I need Pro and a CPU that supports SLAT. I've never heard of SLAT until googling this evening. What do I need to look for to find a machine that fully supports the WP8 SDK, hardware emulator and all?

Regards, GraemeT.

 

[1101x10]

Hyper-V: List of SLAT-Capable CPUs for Hosts - TechNet Articles - United States (English) - TechNet Wiki

I wouldn't worry too much about making syntax errors in your code. Visual Studio's intellisense is very good and will highlight them as you type. It's nothing like the old days where you would spend ages tracking down a bug because you typed a variable name in wrong. Just be prepared to spend a lot of time learning C# (or C++ if you really want a challenge) and the phone framework.
You won't trash your phone if you want to use it for development, you just run a program to unlock it so you can deploy the application to the phone rather than the emulator. But you need to pay for a dev account for that.

 

[Paul Diston]

Hi,

As a starting point I would recommend Rob Miles Yellow Book on C# and Blue Book on Windows Phone :-

C Sharp Programming Course

Hope this helps.

Paul Diston

 

[GraemeT]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the link. I've had a good look at Miles. Fantastic stuff. What a resource! His stuff is so clearly written. Obviously aimed at starters like me. I like his relaxed writing style and the layout he adopts. I know nothing about C# but even I could follow his simple adding calculator. I agree with you. I think this would be a good starting point for me. A question, if I may. Miles presently covers up to 7.5, as far as I can see. What are the implications for me in hoping to tinker with 8.0? Thank you again.

Regards, GraemeT.

 

[Paul Diston]

Hi,

Anything you learn with regard to 7.5 will transfer over to 8.0 so no time will be wasted. Another excellent resource is the Jump Start videos :-

Building Apps for Windows Phone 8 Jump Start: (01a) Introducing Windows Phone 8 Development Part 1 | Building Apps for Windows Phone 8 Jump Start | Channel 9

Last year these were presented by Rob Miles however for the WP8 version he couldn't make it but these are an excellent introduction to WP8.

You may also want to check out Windows Phone Development Tutorials, Articles, Windows Phone Dev News, Videos, Resources, Samples, windows phone app reviews, marketplace browser, which includes a number of different resources for Windows Phone development.

Hope this helps.

Paul Diston

 

[GraemeT]

Wow. Lots of resource. I've not checked any of it out yet but thanks for the direction. It's much appreciated.

GraemeT.

 

[www_FooBasic_com]

Re: WP8 graphical IDE? Yes, called Foo Basic (creates phone apps for IOS, Windows Phone, & Android.

Yes there is a Windows Phone App IDE called Foo Basic. You design your app once and it runs on Windows Phone 7, 8, and IOS and Android.

 

[msftguy]

check out bob tabor WP series