Windows Phone App Studio
If you want to understand how to create Windows Phone apps and you are not familiar with programming languages, I suggest you start by taking a look at Windows Phone App Studio. This is a free online service offered by Microsoft itself that allows you to create apps for Windows Phone using a very simple wizard and without writing a single line of code, all by acting directly from the Web browser. The service also makes it available to its users various preset templates from which you can start to create your own app.
To start creating Windows Phone apps using Windows Phone App Studio, the first step you need to take is to click here so that you can immediately connect to the service's web page. Then click the button Start now! located at the top right and then log in to the service using your Microsoft account data. Afterwards, you agree to link your account to the service by clicking on Yes.
On the page that will open at this point, choose whether to create an application for the Windows 10 platform or for Windows 8.1 by pressing on the relevant item located at the top and then indicate the model from which you intend to create the Windows Phone app. Depending on what your needs and preferences are, you can choose whether to create your app starting from a template or whether to create an "empty" application. Then indicate the name of the application you want to create and click on the button Start with this one! to continue developing your project.
At this point you will find yourself in front of an editor through which you can select the elements to add in the application. If you have previously chosen to create Windows Phone apps starting from a predefined template, you will already find several objects in the editor that you will have to customize by clicking on the respective buttons. For example, for the news pages you can choose the source address of the RSS feed from which the app should draw the news to be displayed. If, on the other hand, you have chosen to create Windows Phone apps from scratch, you will have to manually add sections, menus and objects by clicking on the button corresponding to the desired element attached to the section. Add sections of the displayed Web page and customizing its content and functions using the appropriate menu shown on the screen. In both cases, when the changes are complete, he presses the button Save located at the top right.
Going instead card Themes you can select the colors and other aesthetic details of the application to make it more appealing from a graphic point of view. Depending on your preferences and needs, you can choose from a whole series of ready-made graphic themes or you can change every single visual detail of the app using the special menus that are proposed to you. Once you have completed all the changes click on the button Save present at the top right. To make changes to the app tile, press the tab instead Tiles then use the various menus available on the screen to apply the desired customizations. Also in this case, when the changes are complete, click on the button Save.
Don't forget to click on the tab Settings to provide a brief description of the app and its functions, to load its icon, to set the language and to change further settings of your creation. Once you have completed the changes click on the button once again Save.
All changes made to the app are visible in real time through the appropriate preview located on the right. I recommend, therefore, from time to time take a look at the preview so that you can realize what changes to make to your creation and what will be the final appearance of your app for Windows Phone.
A final changes then presses the button Finish placed at the top right and then presses the button Generate to start creating the app installation package. Note that this will take a few minutes. In any case, an email notification will be sent to you at the end of the procedure.
You will then have the option to download your application and its source code to your computer. To install the app on your Windows Phone smartphone, you must first click here to download the platform SDK, install it on the computer, connect the phone to the PC and open Windows Phone Developer Registration to authorize your account. To publish your app on the Windows Store you will need to register a developer account by clicking here and following the instructions attached to the web page that is shown to you. The one-time registration fee to be paid for having such an account is 14,00 euros for individual users and 75,00 € for companies.
If any steps are not clear to you, I suggest you click here to consult the official guide of Windows Phone App Studio and click here to take a look at the video tutorials available on YouTube that show how to use this service.
Visual Studio
After losing a bit of familiarity with Windows Phone App Studio I suggest you try creating Windows Phone apps using Visual Studio. This is a software compatible with all the latest versions of Windows which is made available directly by Microsoft and which includes both an editor for developing applications and an internal simulator to test them.
To open the Visual Studio download page click here. Once the download is complete, I suggest you click here to take a look at the guide on the official Microsoft website that explains how Visual Studio works and click here to consult the step-by-step guides available on the HTML.com website.
Note that Windows Phone applications can be designed using various programming languages such as C #, Visual Basic, C ++ or Javascript.
The procedure for creating Windows Phone apps in the case of the new universal applications for Windows 10, which works on PCs, tablets and smartphones and other devices equipped with the latest version of the Microsoft operating system, deserves a separate discussion. To develop this type of app you need to upgrade to Windows 10 on your PC (if you remember I explained how to do it in my guide on how to install Windows 10) then you need to install the latest version of Visual Studio and you need to enable your computer for development using the appropriate functions included in the operating system. For more information on the entire procedure, I invite you to click here to consult the appropriate guide to create universal apps for Windows 10 attached to the Microsoft website and click here to consult the Web page with all the information necessary for configuring the PC.
Even in this case, after creating Windows Phone apps to be able to publish them on the Windows Store you will need to open a developer account by following the steps that I have already illustrated in the previous lines, when I explained how to use Windows Phone App Studio.
How to create Windows Phone apps
