To those who said I was certifiable...

...  you were right!

It seems that a few other people on Twitter are reporting that they haven't received their results from taking the beta exam yet. As I received mine yesterday (I tend not to check email at the weekend) I'm guessing that results are being sent out slowly.

Creating a horizontally scrolling list #wp7dev

I recently needed to show someone how to make a ListBox scroll horizontally rather than vertically. Here's what I did:

The key part is: '<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" />'
It's this that controls the direction. of item display.

The next two parts give us the correct scrolling behaviour that we want.
Setting 'ScrollViewer.HorizontalScrollBarVisibility="Auto"' enables horizontal scrolling.
Setting 'ScrollViewer.VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Disabled"' prevents vertical scrolling.

The thing to note is that setting XxxxScrollBarVisibility doesn't just control the visibility if the scrollbar it also controls whether scrolling in that direction is possible.

Must have game: Sonic 4 Episode 1 (for WP7)

Disclaimer: This review is part of a shameless attempt to win fabulous prizes.

If I think back, it's with a slight sense of regret that I probably spent more time playing computer games than doing homework while I was at school. The vast majority of the time I wasted away was spent playing 4 games (or groups of games): Mario, Zelda, Tetris & Sonic.
I don't expect to ever see Mario or Zelda games on a Windows Phone (or XBox) and I've already got the 200 gamers points for Tetris on WP7. Fortunately now I can relive my mis-spent youth by spending far too much time playing Sonic.

It's games like this that make me stop and appreciate how far we've come with technology and just how powerful the phone in my pocket really is. I remember when graphics like this on a console were cutting edge and impressive.
While still looking good even now, the graphics aren't what this game is about though. Sonic is from the golden age of computer games when gameplay was everything! No gimmicks or throwing of animals. This is all about running (really fast) jumping on weird animal creatures and collecting rings. As computer games go, it doesn't get much better than this.

I'm not sure how this is the 4th part in the series as it seems like a rehash of levels from earlier versions of the app. That doesn't matter though it's a great way to relive my childhood and swap sleep for time spent with a speedy blue hedgehog.

Maybe in episode 2 Tails (that was the name of the fox-wasn't it?) will be back?

Get it from the marketplace now (trial available).

Do you want a .app domain for your app?

This is cross posted on the WPUG blog.

In 2012 ICANN will make the gTLD of .app available. As you can imagine, there is likely to be a lot of interest in controlling this due to the potential demand for such domains.

The .app project is a community funded and executed project to obtain rights to the .app gTLD:

"We’re looking to gain support from the community together the funds necessary to build and operate the .app gTLD in perpetuity. Our aim is to keep the .app gTLD open and accessible such that it becomes an entity that properly support the mobile application software development community, particularly in areas of intellectual property protection."

The project is currently looking to gain support and raise the necessary funds to run the gTLD.

So why should you care?

Well, if you ever think you might want a .app domain and don't want to have to pay huge amounts for it then you may benefit from offering your support now.

What can you do?

Head on over to the website and register you interest then follow them on twitter at @dotappapp.