14 DAY TRIAL // On Thursday, Redmon-based Microsoft announced the launch of Windows Phone Developer Tools CTP Refresh (WPDT CTP), an updated version of the WPDT CTP released last month during the MIX2010 conference. The main feature of the new solution is the support for the final release of Visual Studio 2010 (VS2010), which wasn't present in the previous version. Developers now have the possibility to build Windows Phone 7 apps using the final release of VS2010, and it also includes an updated Windows Phone 7 OS image for the Windows Phone Emulator.
Among the changes included in the release, we can count: - A few APIs in the frameworks have been added and or changed. - The documentation has been updated with new and expanded topics. - We’ve provided limited support for launchers and choosers. In cases where the underlying built-in experience is not present launchers and choosers are still not available (i.e. the email chooser asks you to select a contact, but there are no contacts in the emulator and no way to add one). - Pause/Resume events are now supported. - If the tools are installed as the admin user, non-admin users are now able to deploy to the emulator. - A problem with incremental deployment of projects has been fixed. - A problem resulting in the error "Connection failed because of invalid command-line arguments" being displayed during project creation has been fixed. - A problem where the Windows Phone node was not appearing in VS 2010 on non-system drives has been fixed. - Design time skin refresh issues have been addressed.
According to Microsoft, those interested in installing and using the new WPDT CTP so as to benefit from the support for the final release of VS2010 it includes, should first uninstall the previous CTP. Moreover, they should also uninstall the RC of VS2010 prior to installing the final release, yet Windows Phone Developer Tools CTP can be installed even if Visual Studio is not present on the computer. There are a series of ‘breaking changes’ included with the release, one of which being “a requirement that all WMAppManifest.xml files have a filled out <CAPABILITIES> section.”
The refresh is primarily intended to offer support for the RTM version of Visual Studio 2010, and should be followed by other releases of the tools, expected to become available through the launch of Windows Phone 7 in the fall, a recent post on the Windows Phone Developer Blog reads. Those interested in learning additional details on the solution should read these release notes. Documentation is available on MSDN here, while more info on the new APIs in the frameworks are available via this link.
Download Windows Phone Developer Tools CTP Refresh Download Visual Studio 2010