Windows Phone 8.0 Direct3d apps don’t have access to Launch Parameters

Recently, someone asked me that if a pure C++/Direct3d application on Windows Phone 8.0 was invoked via LaunchUriAsync, how would one go about getting the Launch Parameters? The MSDN documentation seems to say that  you can use the “ProtocolActivatedEventArgs” parameter in the OnActivated event handler and retrieve the data. After consulting with the appropriate engineering […]

Fall Fury Game as a Universal Windows and Windows Phone app

During Build 2014, I ported over the Fall Fury game, that was originally written for Windows Store using DirectX. Porting it over to a  Universal app was quite an experience. The game would compile and work on Windows just fine but as soon as I put Windows Phone 8.1 in the mix, things started going […]

C++/Cx: Getting around the very limited DateTime object

You know, I have been writing a LOT of C++/Cx recently and I have hit a bunch of issues. This particular one is about the DateTime object in C++/Cx. If you look at the C# version of the DateTime object, it contains a ton of niceties. There are properties that will give you the Day, […]

WinRT in C++/Cx and registering and unregistering event handlers

Having to work in C++/Cx, every day I have new appreciation for C#. Things that I take for granted in C#, well, they are not straightforward C++. Take the example of event handlers. In C#, the usual way of registering and unregistering event handlers is pretty straight forward: e.g. Click += Button_click_handler and Click -= […]