Appendix B
An Introduction to Microsoft Expression Blend for Windows Phone
One of the key advantages Microsoft has over its competitors is the feature-rich development tools it provides. The sample applications in this book are mainly developed using Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone, which is an IDE environment that many software developers are familiar with. In this appendix, you’re exposed to a different development environment: Microsoft Expression Blend 4 for Windows Phone. The purpose of this appendix is to walk you through the basics of Microsoft Expression Blend 4 and explain how you can unleash the power of this tool to deliver solid WP7 applications with stunning user experiences.
Microsoft Expression Blend 4 is a visual tool for designing and prototyping desktop, web, and mobile applications. The full version of this software isn’t free. However, Microsoft Expression Blend for Windows Phone is offered to developers at no cost; it’s included in the free full Windows Phone developer package. If for any reason you cannot find this tool on your computer, you can always visit the Microsoft App Hub to download it and install it (http://create.msdn.com/en-us/home/getting_started).
In the lineup of Microsoft development tools, Microsoft has positioned Expression Blend in an interesting spot. It’s like Expression Design in the sense that you can easily create graphic designs. It’s also like Visual Studio because you can edit Extensible Application Markup ...
