Network Programming in .NET

Sometimes you just realize that an app won’t sell on an app store. If you’ve had no sales on an app in 30 days, then, give up, and try a different business model…

There is a Windows Phone app for this blog, but, since the blog is very readable on a mobile device, I guess nobody would be willing to pay 0.99, so I tried using Nokia’s Ad Exchange, to add adverts to the app, so I could release the app for free. Instead. Also, it’s part of the DVLUP Challenges – So worth a T-shirt anyway!

I signed up to Nokia’s NAX program, added the details of my app, then downloaded the Windows Phone 7 SDK from Inneractive. Unfortunately the one-liner setup code didn’t work in the 10 second video didn’t work… probably because they never show the XAML!, I then checked out their sample, downgrading it from 7.1 to 7 by modifying the csproj, and the WMAppManifest – then copied (and simplified) their code as follows:

C# Code (In MainPage_Loaded):

var optionalParams = new Dictionary<InneractiveAd.IaOptionalParams, string>();
InneractiveAd iaBanner = new InneractiveAd(“OpenMerchantAccount_NetworkProgramming_WP”,
InneractiveAd.IaAdType.IaAdType_Banner, 60, optionalParams);
// Add the banner to the grid
Grid0.Children.Add(iaBanner);

XAML (Within panorama control)

<controls:PanoramaItem Header=”Ads” VerticalAlignment=”Top”>
<Grid x:Name=”Grid0″ Grid.Row=”0″ />
</controls:PanoramaItem>

There’s more you can do with the ads, but I’m just learning…