Alarm Clock Paid / Free updated #wpdev

I messed up migration of single alarm to multi-alarm. I didn’t set the description field which meant that users to null reference exception and a crash when they tried to edit the migrated alarm.

I have fixed above error. Additionally Free version had failed last update. I was required to localise DayOfWeeks. Took me a while to figure out but the solution couldn’t have been simpler.

Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture.DateTimeFormat.DayNames

this is a localised Day Of Week names which can be consumed easily. Apps now with Marketplace
1) Wordastic
2) CVC Wods
3) Slydr
4) Alarm Clock Free
5) Alarm Clock

I have started working on a new app but its been a slow progress. Once i finish 3rd app, i might go back to Cool Camera as that would do with some patches based on stack traces.

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Alarm Clock – Multi alarm supported added #WP #WindowsPhone

a few users asked me to provide my alarm clock app http://windowsphone.com/s?appid=f42310b4-6424-4823-85a3-6dccb1a968c3 While it was not difficult it was a slightly complicated exercise that involved issues with user display and consuming underlying apis. Now i am storing user created alarm data by itself and using that to create underlying sytem alarm notifications.

I only have to finish localisation of the app since i hardcoded all the strings i needed. Will try to finish it off today evening

Cool Camera #WP #WindowsPhone @CoolCameraWP

Cool Camera has been udpated to 1.9. I just finished uploading the new XAP to marketplace. So whats changed ?
Well not much 🙂 I have been busy with DIY at home so this is a bug fix / UX enhancement release

1) Portrait pictures with zoom were not correctly cropped. Fixed
2) Reduce album view so show only 8 but larger thumbnails
3) Metro UX enhancement in Media viewer based on Dave Crawford’s suggestions. Hide instead of disabling controls and ensure fonts are readable 🙂

I’ve also been testing my Alarm Clock app (supporting multiple alarms)

Windows Phone Dev in 2011

I think i got my HTC Mozart 7 some time in March 2011. After using it for a week or two, i registered myself as a Developer and started writing my first app Scribble in April. I think I spend 2 weeks writing it.

This was the first time i was coding Silverlight and its been fun.

Scribble: Initial effort – 2 weeks. It was my first try at Silverlight app and it was a simple drawing app – having used the word simple, it did a lot of things – use photochooser task, save to Photo Library etc. It even supported multi-touch – It was a great learning experience.

Alarm Clock: I spent a good 2 / 3 weeks writing this and yes i love this app – I use it as my Alarm clock – especially since Mango update as i can now have alarm without app running 🙂 –

LearnToWrite: 1 week – this was the simplest app i have written. Just features simple alphabets and numbers.

Sliding Keyboard: I wrote the above 3 apps trying not to write Sliding Keyboard. I just couldn’t get it out of my head and no matter how hard i thought, i wouldn’t figure out how i would achieve it. However I got it running in 2 weeks. And it went live in June 2011. Publishing v1.0 was a big mistake – it got slated on so many levels. Over the next couple of months, i cursed myself enough number of times. I have spend weeks and weeks since initial release – now it stands at version 3.2. It has taught me the most – it taught me humility – i am good at what i do and i realised that customer doesn’t care about how hard you are trying – they just want the product to work. I also learned that no one reads the description 🙂

The total downloads stand at 22,822 – Paid downloads are just over 1216. Here’s the download chart

I think it has been a very trying year – as a WP7 user I love the phone.

As a developer – I have mixed feelings – I love and hate the fact that API is restrictive. Microsoft have been fantastic in testing the apps – Everything has been as smooth – they test the apps better than i ever do. Thank you.

As of 2012, I am writing a couple of apps. Let’s see what this year holds.

AlarmClock 2.1 submitted for testing

I have modified AlarmClock app to allow day selection, added some more fonts and tones and uploaded it to microsoft. The biggest challenge was doing all the resource files. Even though i used my resource translator, it was a real pain. I guess i will modify resource tranlator to actually generate .resx files at some point.

I have also been spending a bit of time generating new tweaking Slydr keyboard layouts to support easy language toggle. Once i am done, i will allow users to select one or more languages and allow users to easily change language without having to go through settings jungle.

Map has unforunately taken a backseat for a week now. I guess now that AlarmClock work has finished, i will get started on Maps again.

Alarm Clock changes

I have noticed that the volume of ad generated revenue has dropped since i enabled background alarms. Of course that makes sense in the hindsight.

So i am making changes so that Free / Trial users have to run the app. the background alarm gets reset if they close the app (can’t be bothered to revert to old code :)).

Existing paid users shouldn’t see any change in that behaviour.

Apart from that i will add some more fonts and some more alarm tones. I am also changing it to select days. currently its a simple daily alarm. I will try to complete all the changes this week and push it to Microsoft for certification.