How to make an application for Windows Phone in 10 minutes?

What is appmakr?

appmakr is an online service for creating mobile applications for various platforms, including Windows Phone. The peculiarity of the service is that to create an application, you do not need to program anything - it is sharpened for special data consumption scenarios that allow you to generate applications based on the parameters you specify (for example, a news source in the form of an RSS feed).

How it works?

First of all, you will need to register. After that you can get to the control panel (dashboard). Next, select the creation of a new application:


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To make an application under Windows Phone, select the appropriate option:


On the next screen, specify the source for your data (the site on which there is an RSS / Atom or immediately a link to the corresponding feed) - I will create an application for our
student blog :



Next, you need to make the basic settings: specify the name of the application, select the icon and the download screen from among the suggested images (you can refine the search), by reference or from the disk:



On the right, you can immediately see how your application will look in the phone emulator:



Then you can go to the content settings (Tabs tab). Here you can adjust and add sources for content (I will add RSS for posts and comments, as well as RSS of our twitter Imagine Cup):



The next item is application customization. Here you can change the application header, as well as change colors:



It remains to add a description and in the Publish tab generate the application:



After that, the application is queued for generation - you just have to wait a while until the application is assembled and place it in the Marketplace for everyone!

The finished file generated by appmakr is a regular zip archive that needs to be renamed to a xap file.



With a great desire, the application can be further customized using CSS and JavaScript.

Marketplace Publishing

Now that you have a ready xap file in your hands, it's time to publish the application in the Marketplace . Some of the graphic elements you probably already prepared in the process of working on the application (for example, icons and loading screen), and some still need to be done for publication in the store.
Let me remind you that students (and graduate students) can register in the Marketplace for free through the DreamSpark program . Also, until October 20, Softkey has a special promotion for hosting free applications.



The full set of graphic objects (not all of them are mandatory) looks like this: square icons 99, 173 and 200px wide, 1000x800px background image, as well as a set of application screenshots. Screenshots are conveniently done using the built-in emulator tool for taking screenshots.

It now remains to fill in all the required description fields, set a price (for example, make the application free), select markets (note that if the application contains only data in Russian, then it should be published on the Russian market, otherwise there may be difficulties with certification) and send the application for review.

In a few days, your app will be available in the app store .

Total

If you want to quickly and inexpensively make an application for Windows Phone,
appmakr - will make for you the solution of this problem very simple! All you need is a browser, data sources, and perhaps a few pictures.

Of course, appmakr does not solve all problems and is not able to cover a large number of scenarios. But, at a minimum, in order to quickly make an application for yourself or friends, aggregating several data sources, or to check on yourself how the whole process of downloading the application and further certification works, appmakr fits perfectly!

Bonus

Finally, a small bonus. My colleague, Stas Pavlov, will conduct a webinar on “Development Basics for the Windows Phone 7 Platform” , which will tell you how to start developing and making money on the Windows Phone 7 platform.

Participation is free. Registration is required.