Get to Windows Phone Mango #2: Adding FAS to XNA

Code for this project

This is the second in a series of videos that will detail how to add Windows Phone Mango functionality to an existing Windows Phone application, step by step.

In our first sample, we modified an existing XNA game to leverage the new Silverlight / XNA integration available in Windows Phone Mango. This allows us to utilize the Silverlight paging model to very easily create a 'pause' screen, that users will get when they return to the application, (after they've navigated away).

Having to navigate away, of course, is a common occurrence on a phone; users receive phone calls, are have to pay attention to external events, (like the street light turning green, for example).

Getting the pause screen to 'work' of course requires more than just adding it in Silverlight. We need to implement tombstoning and FAS, (the whole point of this sample).

For more detail, see our video walkthrough on Channel 9 here. There is also detail in the included word document TRANSCRIPT.DOC.

Here are some other resources you might find helpful as you consider adding Fast Application Switching to your projects:

Official Documentation

• Execution Model Overview for Windows Phone, (Describes Fast Application Switching), (sample)
• Execution Model Best Practices for Windows Phone
• How to: Preserve and Restore Page State for Windows Phone
• How to: Preserve and Restore Application State for Windows Phone

Other Resources

• Adam Kinney Video on How Do I: Work with the Execution Model in Windows Phone Mango?
• Jesse Liberty, on Fast Application Switching Made Easy
• Jesse Liberty, on Fast Switching and Page State in Mango
• Fast Application Switching in To-do Application Hands on Lab in the Windows Phone Training Kit on MSDN
• Program Manager Adina Trufinescu discusses FAS in Depth at MIX 11

Other Videos in this Series

1. From XNA to SL XNA
2. Adding FAS to XNA <-- YOU ARE HERE
3. Adding FAS to a Typical Silverlight Application
4. Adding Secondary Tiles
5. Adding Background Agents
6. Using a Live Camera Feed
7. Using Push Notifications with Secondary Tiles and Deep Toast
8. Using a Local Database
9. Background Audio

Questions or comments? Contact me @larryalieberman