The presentation slideset is available here on our slideshare account.

With this post I’ll show you the “HOW TO…”

Let’s start with creating a simple Windows store app:

For this sample we will take the blank app template. I think for our small solution it’s the right one.

After creating the project we have to add a new folder named control.

In the Folder, we have to create a new usercontrol.

Connectionindicator is a good Name for our usercontrol, isn’t it?

Half work is done now  :)

Now we need two nice Icons, one if we are connected to the internet and one for “no connection”. For creating Icons I use free Version of Metro Studio 2. The Icons we’ll add to the Assets folder in your solution.

Now it’s time for coding. Open the code behind file of your custom user control (Connectionindicator.xaml.cs).

First we have to add following “usings”:

• using Windows.Networking.Connectivity;
• using Windows.UI.Xaml.Media.Imaging;
• using Windows.UI.Core;

Now we have to declare:

• Eventhandler if networkstatus changes
• variable to detect if connection profile is registered
• Image source for displaying the icons

Ok, now we have to register the eventhandler / networkStatusCallback.

What is missing? You’re right, we have to create “OnNetworkStatusChange”method.

Now we have only to check the connection status and display the right icon. We  can do this by checking if the ”Internet Connection Profile” is not null
and “Network connectivity Level” have to be “Internet” to be shure that we have internet connection. If connection exits we set Image source to “Online Status”
if not we set it to “Offline Status”.

Now press F5 and ……..

…. nothing happens, black screen.

Now we know, that we have no coding errors and we know that we have forgotten to put our custom control to the MainPage.

First we have to implement the reference on top:
xmlns:indicator=”using:SimpleConnectionControl.Control”

Second we have to add our custom control:
<indicator:ConnectionIndicator Grid.Column=”1″ HorizontalAlignment=”Right”/>

Now press F5 and ……

…. you have a working custom user control for your network status!

The code of this solution you can find here.

As I assumed earlier, 1080p is now the new standard for the smartphone display resolution. Almost every company in the (Android) field, except Samsung who will keep folks waiting for S4, has released a Full HD flagship phone here. What I didn’t see coming is the microscopes on the stands to prove it. Maybe they should include those to be sold together with the phones by default.

Nothing really fancy from Nokia, though, unfortunately. I also had some hands-on play with Firefox OS and Ubuntu phones, of which the former seems to take a pure HTML5 approach (meaning no way to do native development) targeting low-medium phone range, while with the latter the developer can choose between HTML5 and QML (which represents the native way of developing there). The Ubuntu phone OS seems to be targeted to medium-high range of phones.

El Clasico was also nice to see on site, with 95000 others. On the other hand, what I do not recommend is the 2-hour taxi queue experience after 6PM to get out of the venue..

To conclude, it’s a great experience and (too) much to see in MWC 2013!

Having followed the news and expectations, here are some of my remarks:

• Now it’s the time that the flagship phones are moving to 1080p displays. HTC took a head start in this race as the company released new HTC One already on Tuesday. We won’t probably see the new Samsung Galaxy S4 yet in Barcelona (we will probably see a new Note, though), but it’s likely that the challengers like Huawei and LG will release their 1080p devices there. One can of course question whether that sharp display makes any sense in or provides much added value compared to 720p screen, in a 5″ device. Or am I just getting old..
• We will see phones running new mobile operating systems that emphasize web technologies. These are of course Tizen, Firefox OS and Ubuntu. It will be interesting to see how this new thinking will manage under pressure from the existing huge separate ecosystems. Unfortunately “the fourth new OS”, Sailfish of the Finnish company Jolla, seems not to be getting a phone to run in just yet.

As a Finn, I’m of course very interested in what Nokia will bring into the table. At least more Lumias, it seems. There are rumours about a Windows RT tablet and a Windows Phone with PureView camera. Well, next week we will know better. I will be posting blog updates about my topics of interest during MWC. See you in Barcelona! What are your expectations?

I will try to give my view; it will probably be colored by my enterprise mobility connection and the Nordic market. It will be very interesting to see if this list will change during the Mobile World Congress 2013.

So what are the 3 challenges that mobile operators need to deal with to be successful?

Adapting to new behavior; it is a fact that the behavior of mobile users are changing. Those were the days when the phone where used for talking. Instead data traffic has overtaken voice and now stands for the major traffic volume. The new applications are putting new requirements and challenges on the networks when it comes to signaling and data traffic. Challenge #1; Mobile operators networks are they prepared for the rapid change of behavior?

Challenge #2; can the mobile operator create business models so they really get a share of new revenue streams. Flat rate fee for data services will be a real challenge for the operator. This is sort of a “fact” in Scandinavia and the mobile user is used to this payment model. The challenge for the operator will be how they can charge for new services to take part of new revenue streams. It is also interesting that in the U.S the overall messaging volume and revenue went down during Q3 2012. We can ask ourselves if that was due to the fact that messaging went down or if the mobile user used other services?

Challenge #3; Machine to machine, this is an area where the mobile operators are facing real big challenges. The number of machine devices will increase heavily during the next coming year, the market is really creating M2M integrated service and it will be interesting to see how much standard institutes as ETSI will influence this. M2M solutions will be price pressured and automation level must be high. The requirements and challenges in the M2M area will be:

• Activation and support services, what services can the operator provide for the M2M user
• Integration services
• Signaling demands and Up-link requirements for M2M devices

That is currently my thoughts; I will follow this topic and give you an update during MWC.

Example 1 – Discussion between my 2 youngest daughters 2 years ago

Daughter 6 yr: I really, really want a mobile phone of my own!
Daughter 10 yr: Why? You can´t even spell…

Finding: You think a phone will be used mostly for talking – think again…

Example 2 – Discussion between me and my oldest daughter

Me: I have created an email account for you.
Daughter 17 yr: Thanks dad, but why? Nobody uses that but old people.

Finding: You think e-mail is a killer function, wait a couple of years and see what’s left of it. I have never, ever sent an email to my kids – we communicate by SMS or Facebook, and occasionally talk on the phone (it is usually me that calls).

Example 3 – Discussion between my youngest daughters

Daughter 8yr: Can I borrow your mobile phone and play with?
Daughter 12yr: No, it is mine – but you can use the iPad.

Finding: Laptops and “big devices” are OK to share – but phones are personal. The phone is you!

Example 4 – Setting up a video conference 2.0

Me – going in to the 15 yr old daughters room, seeing her with a friend looking at the iPad: Hi girls what are you doing?
Daughter 15 yr: We are just hanging out with our friend in Peru… (via Skype)

Finding: Remote presence is quite a big and sometimes scary thing, still, for companies – this will change and mobility will increase and change this since we no longer will be needing expensive “Video-conference-rooms”.

Conclusion

Mobility and connectivity are changing our private spheres at home – how will this impact your company?

Step 1 – create the project:

Create a Windows Azure Mobile Service. The “how to…” you can find in my post: “ Windows 8 and Windows Azure Mobile Services Part I”. Don’t forget, for Windows Phone dev please download the “Windows Phone 8″ project.

All steps the same. After downloading the project, open it with Visual Studio and test it, if it works.

Ok, looks good – project works.

Step 2 – add picture to the todo table:

Now we have to add an “imagestring” field to the TodoItem class.

For uploading fotos, we’ll use the photoChooser task, don’t forget the declaration:

Then we have to add the photo-selection button:

Declare PhotoChooserTask:

On the Foto-Button Click event, show the photoChooser for selecting the foto:

In the ChooserTask completed method we convert the choosen photo to an stream. We also save the picture only with 50% quality into the stream for better performance for uploading to azure (with the SaveJpeg method). Maybe the better way is to resize the picture, this is also possible with the SaveJpeg method.

Now change the save event and save the picture as string to the table:

Now its time for testing – press F5:

Enter an Taskname, press the “Foto” Button, select a foto and press Save.

After saving the Task, your table should have one entry which looks like:

That’s all – picture is now saved on the database as a string.

In this post, I only want to show you how to save an image as string with help of  the sample code of azure mobile services. But don’t forget, saving foto as string needs more space than saving in a blob storage. And don’t forget, there are some changeings for displaying, updating …. that you have an fully working solution.

Maybe helpful, here is the method to get the image back from string:

If you need help for a complete solution, contact me here or on twitter @mobilewhatelse

This year I will follow what happens in the enterprise mobility area. Meet with our partners, and interesting companies, there’s a lot of great innovation currently in the Enterprise Mobility area.

MWC is not only about networking; it is also a great conference with a lot interesting speakers. This year I will follow the conference and continuously update my findings in this blog. This year I’m especially looking forward to two keynote sessions:

• The future of communication, which will address the market change in the operator segment. A lot of interesting speakers will participate, including Hans Vestberg from Ericsson.
• Mobile operator strategies, challenges and opportunities. It is very interesting to hear what the operators believe what will happen in the mobile industry. This will have a huge impact also on how we build mobile solutions for our enterprises.

I see the following technology trends that will be interesting for 2013;

• Mobility, moves from technology to really provide end user services based on the unique capabilities that the mobile channel provides. This is happening globally in all industry segments.
• Internet of things,  M2M has been on the agenda for telecom vendors and operators during a while and 2013 I believe M2M will really integrate with users and business systems. This will put new demands on both technology but also in changing the way of doing business. M2M needs to create real business value for the user.
• Cloud based services for managing mobile devices and applications moving into the IT departments’ daily work

I will follow these topics and blog about them during MWC2013.

Tomorrow my vacation ends, so I have some time today to blog some short informations about Windows 8 – Sideloading / App rollout.

Which requirements must the clients have?

Only for Windows RT, Windows 8 Enterprise, Windows 8 Pro and Windows Server 2012 (Windows/Office/SharePoint  APP Model) sideloading is possible.
For all other editions it’s not possible (maybe installation with script).

Enable sideloading on clientside!

Windows 8 Enterprise client (Enterprise feature of the product) must be domain joined and ”Allow all trusted applications to install” registry key or group policy must be set, see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us / library/hh852635.aspx.
For Windows 8 pro and Windows  RT (or in the rare case that a Windows 8 Enterprise is not domain joined) it’s possible to activate sideloading  by sideloading Key (MAK) .
This is to purchase by the End Customer e.g. about Open Licence agreement or Select (Plus) or, in some contracts with Windows Software Assurance included.

App

Apps must be signed, see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/library/hh446592(v=vs.85).aspx.
Every App developer can sign his App with the developer account.

Roll out.

 There are several ways to distribute the app:

1. with user script ( add-AppxPackage cmdlet with the Windows PowerShell)
2. with your software distribution or using Windows Intune, including the Company Hub App.

You can check out my blog about Windows Phone 8 / Windows RT – Line-of-business apps and Company Hubs.

See also under the title “Unified Enterprise Management Solution” an overview of management of Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows Phone, iOS and Android: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh452635.aspx

I hope there some useful informations for you, in my next blog I will tell you some informations about Managing Windows Phone 8 and WP8 Enterprise Device Management Protocol.
So stay tuned

Before we start developing (only a few lines of code) we need the WCF Data Services Tools for Windows Store Apps.
After the download and installation we can start.

Step 1 – exploring the OData service
The OData service is located on your SharePoint installation at /_vti_bin/ListData.svc,
so the URL looks like: http://yoursharepoint:yourport/yoursite/_vti_bin/ListData.svc .

So let’s take a look and type your URL into your InternetExplorer, it should look like this (with your lists):

If you see a output like this you are on the right way.

Step 2 – creating a simple app and adding the OData Service Reference

 I’ll create a simple Blank APP:

Now in the Solution Explorer go to “References”, right click and choose “Add Service Reference”.
A window opens for the reference, type your URL for the OData Listservice in the “Adress” field und press “GO”. Now (maybe you have to enter your credentials) you can see all your services for consuming your lists on SharePoint:

Great, half work is done!

Step 3 – creating DataServiceCollection and a ListView for displaying the results

 In our example we want to display all availiable Tasks. So we have to declare our DataServiceCollection.

For the declaration we have to add following referrences:

Now we add the Listview to the layout with databinding:

Step 4 – adding code for reading tasks

Now we have to implement the method for reading the “OData” Tasks

With Linq its possible to get the tasks you want (in our example we want all):

Don’t forget the Event(Handler):

Now only one Step is missing.

Step 5 – implement task reading in OnNavigatedTo Event and run the app

 OnNavigatedTo:

And run the app:

 I know, there some doings on the UI but this app works well