Windows Phone Toolkit August 2011: Overview and Getting Started

published on: 8/18/2011 | Views: N/A | Tags: WP7Toolkit

by WindowsPhoneGeek

In this post I am going to talk about the new Windows Phone Toolkit - August 2011 (7.1 SDK) Mango update that has just been released.

Straight from Microsoft, Silverlight for Windows Phone Toolkit provides the developer community with new FREE components, functionality, and an efficient way to help shape product development. Toolkit releases include open source code, samples & docs, plus design-time support for the Windows Phone platform as well as the Silverlight browser plugin.

NOTE: Previously we covered all controls from the Nov 2011 version of the Windows Phone Toolkit in our 21 WP7 Toolkit in Depth articles covering all controls. We will continue our "in depth" series and will cover all controls from the Aug 2011 Toolkit as well. Stay tuned!

Getting Started

To get started, you also need:

• The Windows Phone Developer Tools
• Optional: Visual Basic / VB tools download

Next, just go to http://silverlight.codeplex.com/ and select one of the Download options:

• Silverlight for Windows Phone Toolkit - Aug 2011.msi
• Silverlight for Windows Phone Toolkit Source & Sample - Aug 2011.zip
• Silverlight for Windows Phone Toolkit Sample Application - Aug 2011.xap

Windows Phone Toolkit - August 2011 is also available via NuGet:

Overview

Silverlight for Windows Phone Toolkit August 2011 offers the following 21 Components:

All Aug 2011 Components	New Components	Key Fixes
AutoCompleteBox ContextMenu DatePicker DateTimeConverters DatePicker ExpanderView GestureService/GestureListener HeaderedItemsControl HubTile ListPicker LocalizedResources LockablePivot LongListSelector MultiselectList Page Transitions PerformanceProgressBar PhoneTextBox RecurringDaysPicker (enables a day of the week selection) TiltEffect TimePicker ToggleSwitch WrapPanel	DateTimeConverters HeaderedItemsControl HubTile LocalizedResources LockablePivot MultiselectList PhoneTextBox	Smooth new LongListSelector designed for Windows Phone 7.1 OS Improved Transitions performance Improved ContextMenu performance ListPicker supports multiselect Various bug fixes AutoCompleteBox focuses correctly after hitting return in the control. ListPicker fixed to correctly bind BorderBrush. ListPicker no longer opens on a "swipe" gesture. ListPicker allows for retrieval of ActualFullModeItemTemplate. LongListSelector smoothed for improved UI performance. The out transition from a page immediately begins, yielding improved perception of performance. Transition values have been slightly tweaked. Hitting the back button during a transition no longer causes a crash.

DateTimeConverters

Converts a DateTime object into a string that represents the elapsed time relatively to the present.

ExpanderView

Allows expanding and collapsing items.

HubTile

The HubTile control represents an animated tile that supports an image and a title. On the back, it can display either a message or a notification.

LockablePivot

Extends the Pivot with a new state where only one item is shown at a time.

MultiselectList

This is an extender List control that enables multiple selection and has different states:

PhoneTextBox

Advances TextBox control that offers action icon support, watermarking and more.

More posts related to Windows Phone Toolkit - August 2011 that you may find helpful:

• Windows Phone Toolkit for 'Mango'
• The Silverlight for Windows Phone Toolkit is now available for 'Mango' application development

That was a short overview of the new Windows Phone Toolkit - August 2011 . In the next posts I will describe each one of the components in depth. Stay tuned!

You can also follow us on Twitter @winphonegeek

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