WP7 beta testing with ads - windows-phone-7

I know this question isn't strictly programming related, however I have been unable to find an answer elsewhere and I'm sure the answer would benefit others.
I'm releasing a beta version of my WP7 game soon and in order to test all the functionality, I'd like to enable my pubcenter ads. Is this allowed and could you back this up with a link please?

Don't see why not, after all, you should test the app fully, with the ads!
The Windows Phone Beta Marketplace rules don't state anything about not being able to enable the pubcenter ads, so I guess it is allowed!
The real question should be if the beta marketplace place allows for pubcenter ads, but if pubcenter ads can be used in beta versions of apps...

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NativeScript roadmap: Desktop support no longer on the cards?

I notice that desktop support isn't mentioned in NativeScript's future roadmap any more.
Has this been dropped for good, or is it still on the cards?
If it is still on the cards, for when is it planned?
NativeScript under Progress ownership
While NativeScript was owned by Progress, desktop support was never a priority; developer surveys did not show strong enough demand for it, and the NativeScript Core team were stretched too thinly to tackle it as a curiosity.
Of interest, before the death of Windows Phone, NativeScript did get very far on implementing a Universal Windows Platform runtime for NativeScript: https://github.com/NativeScript/windows-runtime
The NativeScript iOS runtime (https://github.com/NativeScript/ios-runtime for JSC, https://github.com/NativeScript/ns-v8ios-runtime for V8) is also close to delivering Catalyst support, although it's essentially undocumented for now.
I spoke with the NativeScript iOS runtime team and they said it would be pretty trivial to generate JS bindings to macOS (AppKit/Cocoa), too – though one would still have to implement all the UI components as AppKit ones, so it would only be the start of the journey.
Unofficial support
Kamen Bundev (on the Progress/Telerik NativeScript team) has been building a Qt-based desktop implementation of NativeScript as a hobby project for a long time:
https://github.com/bundyo/nativescript-platform-desktop
It has access to Node.js's APIs rather than, say, the Obj-C runtime on macOS, however.
NativeScript under nStudio ownership
NativeScript was recently handed over to nStudio, who may have a different stance. This question did in fact receive an official answer recently on Twitter:
They have also expressed love for the idea of creating Windows 10 apps with it (the tweet links to this issue, https://github.com/NativeScript/NativeScript/issues/8643):
My personal speculation
Note that I do not work for nStudio, and the dust is still settling after the NativeScript handover, so everything from here is just speculation:
So I think there's no question that the passion is there – the real question is whether they have the resources to back it. I personally think that there won't be any movement on it anytime soon, as nStudio need at least a few months just to get used to driving the NativeScript ecosystem and sorting out the long-standing open-source frictions. I think that they'd absolutely welcome a community-driven effort on this, of course. I imagine that by 2021 they'll feel more ready to take on projects of that scale.

Xamarin Sample Apps for iPad and iPhone?

I wonder why none of the Xamarin Prebuilt Apps at https://www.xamarin.com/prebuilt support both iPad and iPhone? They all have the same design on each resolution. Especially Apps like 'Acquaint' would be perfect on iPad to have the contact list on the left and the details on the right. But instead it just has the same design like the iPhone Version.....
Are there any reasons why Xamarin does not offer samples with different designs depending on the client resolution? Are there somewhere else some examples?
Many thanks!
You might want to take a look at our Creating Mobile Apps with Xamarin.Forms Book First Edition by Charles Petzold.
I work on the same team as Charles and I know it's a topic he's covered in detail. The full book should be available soon too.
BTW, we are looking into creating some detailed, annotated cross-platform app samples that do all the goodies that a typical modern app would be expected to have.
I do not know of any of the stock Xamarin examples that use OnIdiom, but it just a matter of time to code them...hahahah, always just a matter of time and code. (I'm sure the Xamarin guys can chime in on this one):
Xamarin.Forms.OnIdiom Class
<OnIdiom.Phone>Vertical</OnIdiom.Phone>
<OnIdiom.Tablet>Horizontal</OnIdiom.Tablet>
In terms of finding examples that use the Xamarin.Forms XAML OnIdiom I would search Github for OnIdiom, there a few OSS examples of phone/tablet switching floating around there as I used at least one as a template to do a quick phone/tablet prototype for a client.

Chrome ARC, Android -- ways to make paid apps?

I've recently posted my Android app to Chrome Web Store using ARC Welder, and wondering about how I can make it a paid app.
Currently, for Android, I have a free version and an "unlocker" as a separate app on Google Play. The user installs the free version first, and then if he/she decides to "go pro", he/she purchases and installs the "unlocker" which talks to the free versions and activates it into "pro" mode.
So my questions:
When packaging an Android app with ARC, it runs on its own, so there is no way to have a second app ("unlocker") running in the same Android "sandbox", correct?
Is it possible for an Android / ARC app to access "purchased" state via Google Play APIs, say for checking if the user purchased the "unlocker" app on Android?
I assume that the answer is "no", at least for now:
https://developer.chrome.com/apps/getstarted_arc
Since ARC is in Beta, it doesn't support all of Google Play Services yet.
However, here are some available APIs:
Auth (OAuth2)
GCM
Google+ sign-in
Maps
Location
Ads
I don't see licensing APIs here.
I found these links on monetizing Chrome apps:
https://developer.chrome.com/webstore/money
https://developer.chrome.com/webstore/payments-iap
Even if this also applies to Chrome OS (not sure), it seems to require JavaScript coding to talk Chrome Webstore APIs. Is it possible to access those from inside the Android ARC sandbox?
Are there better options that I'm missing?
None? Should I just wait until Android ARC is fleshed out more and hope that it includes support for paid apps?
The direct answers are:
1) You can bundle up two APKs so they both run in the same sandbox. But only one of them is launched as "your app". It is free to then launch or otherwise use the second APK as it sees fit.
2) But as you noticed, there is no way to easily check for a purchase/license right now.
Your best bet may be to wait for the Google Play Services license APIs to be implemented.

AdMob freezing my Windows Phone application

I'm trying AdMob control for Windows Phone 7.
When my application starts, everything freezes until AdMob gets an ad.
Of course this is super annoying and a blocker bug for me. It seems it is doing a synchronous call using the UI thread. Is that the case?
Is there a way to avoid this?
UPDATE: Many months later and still the same problem. The funny thing is that if you try to complain in admob forum, your post is automatically deleted.
Shame on you, Google...
Kindly try http://wp7adrotator.codeplex.com/ if you want to go for ads from admob. Cause Admob provides a bad fill rate in Windows Phones and you might want to use other accounts too i.e. Microsoft Advertising SDK. Plus this solves all unresolved admob control issues too.
If you want to dig in more you might want to look at this blog post:
http://briankassay.com/blog/?p=169
You can also look for Nokia Ad Exchange too.
I hope this would help you. I used Adroator on my The Bro Code App on Windows Phone store from NerdCats
Why don't you use the native Microsoft Advertising SDK control? It works perfectly on Windows Phones.

Corporate apps for Windows Phone 7?

Apple has a corporate developer program with an elevated licensing cost, does Microsoft provide such a service for Windows Phone 7 developers?
This was asked at a recent MS event. You can assign (I think 5) phones to developer unlock them, then load application directly/bypass the marketplace.
Also, there were talks that they are hoping to soon allow beta/redemption codes to allow limited deployment of your application to non-unlocked phones, bypassing testing/marketplace acceptance.... But I do not know the status of this.
The best thing you can do at the moment is develop your application as normal and have a password/login screen at startup. This is a horrible approach, but it does work.
At the moment, the phone is very much targeted towards consumers.
I'm not sure what is provided in the Apple Enterprise version, but so far Microsoft only has the one registration process and no private app distribution: you can distribute apps on the market to everyone, or by giving your xap file to people with dev-unlocked phones, nothing in between.
The official line is NO, not yet.
Windows Phone 7 was created, first and foremost, for consumers, not enterprise customers.
That being said, LOTS of people are asking for this and Microsoft have said they will address this in the future. No timescales or details have yet been announced yet.
This will likely be related to the way that beta testing and home brew distribution are implemented. (Just my assumption.)
I don't know why I can't just comment on another answer in this thread, so my apologies for placing these remarks in an answer.
I think MS needs to really make this happen since it could be the saving grace for WP7. While I personally feel that my experience with WP7 and my Samsung Focus have been just as good or better than that with the second-gen iPod Touch that I have, there are a lot of people who aren't convinced. For better or worse, it really is the ecosystem that matters and MS has that within the corporate world.

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