"The Ersoy Experiment" in Windows Phone 7 Development using XNA

Ibrahim Ersoy
Sep 23, 2012

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THE ERSOY EXPERIMENT - AN INTRODUCTION

******************

This experiment has been successful!
Now with the upcoming WP8 SDK, you can use C#,VB and VC++ to build awesome Windows Phone applications.
Thank you Microsoft!

******************

We all like to build WP7 applications, don't we? Even though I haven't been able to publish it to the ZUNE Marketplace (because of supported countries issue), I like to develop Windows Phone 7 games and applications.

Have you ever felt "limited" while using XNA or Silverlight? I have! That's why I've gone on a deep trip into the development of Windows Phone 7's inner sanctuary. There are so many wonders waiting for us there. Even looking at what I've done until this time, I feel like I don't even know the development on Windows Phone 7 very well. There are some mysterious things going on inside this architecture. And people are telling us very few of these mysteries. Then we'll have to discover them for ourselves. Oh Well!

What are our options while building an application? XNA and Silverlight. Yes they are. And you can use 2 programming languages with them: C# (primary) and VB.NET (added later).

You can build either XNA or Silverlight applications using C#. With the release of Visual Basic for Windows Phone 7 RTW, now you are now able to build Silverlight applications. You can't build XNA applications using VB.NET for Windows Phone 7, though. It's not supported. Really! Believe me when I say that.

I have already tested an XNA game using VB.NET and ported it to Windows Phone 7. I was nearly successful for 2-3 seconds. :)

Before debugging and thinking it would actually run my XNA game built with VB.NET, I had told myself that somehow VB.NET would be a nice choice for the second officially supported language by Microsoft for the XNA Platform. Then it quit the application.

What a mess it was! It supports VB for Silverlight in Windows Phone 7 but no support of VB for XNA. That was something I didn't like so I worked on this experiment to make it work for XNA too. But I failed in that.

I don't like proving things but I shall do my best - because I'm a god damn stubborn developer - that VB.NET isn't supported in Windows Phone 7 XNA game projects. :) Why? I will tell you in the end of the article!

But before all of these coding rituals started, I will tell you something: It's funny. And it's a good one. Since XNA 1.0, we're waiting for VB.NET support for XNA officially. And we're still. None of Microsoft employees or MVPs told us that, though; we actually wait for it. How many years have passed while we were waiting for it. Even I got a piece of white in my hair. I'm getting rather old.

Enough with the humour! Let's return to the real world, shall we?

To increase the popularity of the C# language, VB.NET was left to die on a forsaken island just like Robinson Crusoe - Truth hurts, ouchh!

I don't have any problem with C# language nor Microsoft Strategies; I use C# frequently. But VB.NET must absolutely be supported for XNA platform. Alongside Visual C++ .NET, too. :)

Do I want too much?

Let me tell you why they must be supported, too:

You can't imagine how easy to use these programming languages are, that aren't supported officially for XNA, except in Windows Game Projects. You can use them without XNA GS.

The first experiment of mine was about testing a Visual C++ .NET application using the XNA platform. It failed just like the later VB.NET experiment. But it failed much faster when running my application.

So I figured this out: Generally there is no C++/CLI support for Windows Phone 7.

It would be nice to see running Visual C++ .NET applications in Windows Phone 7. Besides it was the closest thing to a Native Code; much closer than C#, that's for sure.

And it would help C++ developers to migrate their applications in Visual C++ .NET which would help Microsoft to get more developers on it's side and additionally there would be many more applications built for Windows Phone 7.

Even developers from Android, Bada and iPhone would use this platform and move their applications to Windows Phone 7.

But it didn't happen. Instead Microsoft supported only 1 programming language C# for XNA and Silverlight.

And instead, the Marketplace has less than 10,000 applications.

Is it a success? For the short term, Yes.

But do you think Microsoft can have more than 250,000 applications in their marketplace, in a long period of time (lets say a year or two)? Honestly, I don't think they could catch this count of total applications. At least not with C#.

Well I'm a developer. I tell you what I see. Sorry for making some people furious. :) Besides that's not so important for me. I like C# and XNA. :)

And now lets get back to our topic. Before I got assassinated. :p (joke)

The latest mystery I have found about Windows Phone 7 Development using XNA was that: XNA Projects built for Windows Phone 7 are nothing more than Windows Games built as a Class Library Project.

They're the same! Well not everything is the same like Windows-based objects can again not be used in Windows Phone 7. Rather shocking, yes.

THE ERSOY EXPERIMENT

This Experiment has 3 Theories:

A C#-based Class Library using XNA namespaces can work in WP7
A C++/CLI-based Class Library using XNA namespaces can work in WP7
A VB.NET-based Class Library using XNA namespaces can work in WP7

This experiment will try to prove these theories.

So then, lets get started!

THE RELATIONSHIP OF XAP and DLL

Want to know what I'm talking about? Let me give you an example:

Sometimes I work with the Reflector application to get source codes from my applications that I don't have. Today I got an idea, and tried to dive deep inside XAP files.

For a simple XNA application, XAP file consists of 5 files:

1. AppManifest.xaml
2. Background.png
3. GameThumbnail.png
4. WMAppManifest.xml
5. [YourProjectName].dll

I have opened .dll file with Reflector and saw the exact source codes from my application. I had expected much more like code specific to Windows Phone 7 implemented after constructing the XAP file. But I was wrong. So from that moment, I've considered Windows Phone 7 XNA games as Windows Games built as Class Libraries. Well not everything is the same! Still, you can't use Windows-specific things such as Windows Forms in Windows Phone.

So as an experiment I have built an XNA Windows Game project but then debugged it as a Class Library. So now we'll be starting to prove our theories.

THEORY #1 : A C#-based Class Library using XNA namespaces can work (Proven)

Let me build it again to prove it:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using Microsoft.Xna.Framework;
using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Audio;
using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Content;
using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.GamerServices;
using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Graphics;
using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Input;
using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Media;

namespace WGame
{
public class Game1 : Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game
{

GraphicsDeviceManager graphics;
SpriteBatch spriteBatch;

        public Game1()
        {
            graphics = new GraphicsDeviceManager(this);
            Content.RootDirectory = "Content";
        }

        protected override void Initialize()
        {
            base.Initialize();
        }

        protected override void LoadContent()
        {
            spriteBatch = new SpriteBatch(GraphicsDevice);
        }

protected override void UnloadContent()
{

}

        protected override void Update(GameTime gameTime)
        {
            base.Update(gameTime);
        }

        protected override void Draw(GameTime gameTime)
        {
            GraphicsDevice.Clear(Color.CornflowerBlue);
            base.Draw(gameTime);
        }
    }
}

This is just a demo showing you a CornFlowerBlue screen. Now get to the Project Properties and choose the Application tab. There select Class Library as an Output Type:

Then save it and debug. It will create a .dll file in the Debug folder.

Exactly!

Now copy this WGame.dll file to a place where you can access it easily.

Let's continue. We shall create a Windows Phone 7 Application, debug it and then copy the xap file to a location where we can access it easily.

I have built the same application. With the same codes.

namespace WP7Game
{
    public class Game1 : Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game
    {
        GraphicsDeviceManager graphics;
        SpriteBatch spriteBatch;

        public Game1()
        {
            graphics = new GraphicsDeviceManager(this);
            Content.RootDirectory = "Content";
            TargetElapsedTime = TimeSpan.FromTicks(333333);
        }

        protected override void Initialize()
        {
            base.Initialize();
        }

        protected override void LoadContent()
        {
            spriteBatch = new SpriteBatch(GraphicsDevice);
        }

protected override void UnloadContent()
{

}

        protected override void Update(GameTime gameTime)
        {
            base.Update(gameTime);
        }

        protected override void Draw(GameTime gameTime)
        {
            GraphicsDevice.Clear(Color.CornflowerBlue);
            base.Draw(gameTime);
        }
    }
}

Now Debug this application and then get to the XAP location.

Since XAP files are archives, they can be opened via Winrar or another zip application. Ok. After we've opened this archive file, we'll be displaying 5 files again:

Now we'll have to edit AppManifest.xaml and WMAppManifest.xml file according to the previously built Class Library application. It would be better if you extract these 2 files.

First open AppManifest.xaml and change this line:

<Deployment.Parts>

</Deployment.Parts>

</Deployment>

To:

<Deployment.Parts>

</Deployment.Parts>

</Deployment>

And now open WMAppManifest.xml and change these lines:

And this line:

<BackgroundImageURI IsRelative="true" IsResource="false">Background.png</BackgroundImageURI>

</TemplateType5>

</PrimaryToken>

To:

And:

<BackgroundImageURI IsRelative="true" IsResource="false">Background.png</BackgroundImageURI>

<Title>WGame</Title>

</TemplateType5>

</PrimaryToken>

Now re-add these files in the archive alongside with the WGame.dll file that we first created.

Don't forget to delete the WP7Game.dll file. It's not needed.

The new archive should look like this one:

And now start the "Application Deployment" utility, to deploy this package to a WP7 emulator.

Click Deploy and it will ultimately succeed. :)

Run WGame application. And you shall see CornFlowerBlue screen.

Now that we know Class Libraries and WP7 applications can be the same, it's time to dive even deeper.

Since discovering this method, I have come up with a few ideas.

Why not use Visual C++.NET?
Why not use VB.NET?

You know how it will end; just like in the Star Wars series. :) But I would like to show it anyway. It's exciting for me to share my experiments with you. Even the failures!

THEORY #2 : A C++/CLI-based Class Library using XNA namespaces can work in WP7(Unproven)

So let's start with the first one: Visual C++.Net!

First of all we'll be creating a CLR-Class Library project while working with Visual C++.NET. Why? Because when you create a Windows Forms Application and then convert it to a Class Library, you'll be facing some parameter problems about /clr. So it would be wise to develop a class library to save time. Let's create a CLR-Class Library Project:

I named it VCPPDemo.

Our VCPPDemo.h file will look like this:

#pragma once

using namespace System;

namespace VCPPDemo {

public ref class Class1

{

};

}

Change class name into Game1:

#pragma once

using namespace System;

namespace VCPPDemo {

public ref class Game1

{

};

}

Then add a reference to XNA dlls. First right click to your project and choose References.

Then find XNA dlls by clicking Add New Reference.

Find these dlls:

Microsoft.XNA.Framework(4.0)
Microsoft.XNA.Framework.Avatar(4.0)
Microsoft.XNA.Framework.Content.Pipeline(4.0)
Microsoft.XNA.Framework.Game(4.0)
Microsoft.XNA.Framework.GamerServices(4.0)
Microsoft.XNA.Framework.Graphics(4.0)
Microsoft.XNA.Framework.Input.Touch(4.0)
Microsoft.XNA.Framework.Net(4.0)
Microsoft.XNA.Framework.Storage(4.0)
Microsoft.XNA.Framework.Video(4.0)
Microsoft.XNA.Framework.XACT(4.0)

As seen above.

Click OK-> OK then we will be finishing adding our references.

Now it's time to introduce these namespaces to our application.

I have bad news for you. Intellisense is not supported for C++/CLI any longer. It was supported back in VS 2008. But for VS 2010 they wanted to eliminate this feature.

Here is a very detailed blog post from Visual C++ Team why it was removed: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vcblog/archive/2009/05/27/rebuilding-intellisense.aspx

Now lets add the namespaces to our project:

using namespace System;

using namespace System::Collections;

using namespace Microsoft::Xna::Framework;

using namespace Microsoft::Xna::Framework::Audio;

using namespace Microsoft::Xna::Framework::Content;

using namespace Microsoft::Xna::Framework::GamerServices;

using namespace Microsoft::Xna::Framework::Graphics;

using namespace Microsoft::Xna::Framework::Input;

using namespace Microsoft::Xna::Framework::Input::Touch;

using namespace Microsoft::Xna::Framework::Media;

By default the System namespace has already been added. These namespaces are taken from the previously built C# Class library project as both of them use the same namespaces and it was wise that we've added them too.

Now we need to inherit Game object in Game1.

To do that change your class:

namespace VCPPDemo {

public ref class Game1

{

};

}

As this one:

namespace VCPPDemo {

public ref class Game1 : public Microsoft::Xna::Framework::Game

{

};

}

Now let's add two variables (GraphicsDeviceManager and SpriteBatch) which will be needed for our project:

GraphicsDeviceManager ^graphics;

SpriteBatch ^spriteBatch;

Let's create our constructor now and set some start values:

public:

Game1(void)

{

graphics=gcnew GraphicsDeviceManager(this);

Content->RootDirectory="Content";

TimeSpan TargetElapsedTime=TimeSpan::FromTicks(333333);

}

If you are familiar with XNA you're also familiar with functions used for generating game projects. What are those functions?

Let's list:

Initialize
LoadContent
UnloadContent
Update(GameTime ^gameTime)
Draw(GameTime ^gameTime)

Now we shall create them.

Remember one thing. These functions are protected with overridable so we will code it according to this information.

protected:

virtual void Initialize() override

{

__super::Initialize();

}

virtual void LoadContent() override

{

spriteBatch=gcnew SpriteBatch(GraphicsDevice);

}

virtual void UnloadContent() override

{

}

virtual void Update(GameTime ^gameTime) override

{

__super::Update(gameTime);

}

virtual void Draw(GameTime ^gameTime) override

{

GraphicsDevice->Clear(Color::Black);

__super::Draw(gameTime);

}

You wonder what "__super" does?

"__super" key allows you to explicitly state that you are calling a base-class implementation for a function that you are overriding.

It's the equilavent of "base" in C# and "MyBase" in VB.NET.

Here we are. Now it's time to edit VCPPDemo.cpp

Did you remember what were we doing in Program.cs in C# - XNA projects?

Let me remind you: We were creating an instance of the Game object and let it running by using Run() function. In VCPPDemo.cpp,we'll do the same.

By default when you first open this cpp source file, you shall see some codes like that:

// This is the main DLL file.

#include "stdafx.h"

#include "VCPPDemo.h"

That's all. It says "This is the main DLL file" so what we are going to do is to create a main function that create instance of Game1 object which we have created in VCPPDemo.h, and then let it run.

Add these codes:

namespace VCPPDemo

{

[STAThreadAttribute]

    int main(array<System::String ^> ^args)
    {
       Game1 ^gm=gcnew Game1();
       gm->Run();

return 0;

}

"gcnew" key is the C++/CLI equivalent of "new" key. As you can see we have created a STAThreadAttribute main function that takes string args as parameters and returns it. As I have told before we have created an instance of Game1 object and then run it!

Game1 ^gm=gcnew Game1();

gm->Run();

Now Debug this application and we will be finalizing our development on C++/CLI.

In the Debug folder it created the VCPPDemo.dll file:

Copy this file to a place where we can access easily.

Now we will be using the same XAP file we have created earlier.

Apply the same steps we have done before.

The WMAppManifest.xml file must updated like this

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<IconPath IsRelative="true" IsResource="false">GameThumbnail.png</IconPath>

</Capabilities>

<Tasks>

</Tasks>

<BackgroundImageURI IsRelative="true" IsResource="false">Background.png</BackgroundImageURI>

<Title>VCPPDemo</Title>

</TemplateType5>

</PrimaryToken>

</Tokens>

</App>

</Deployment>

And AppManifest.xaml should be updated like this:

<Deployment.Parts>

</Deployment.Parts>

</Deployment>

Now copy all these three files inside the XAP and run Application Deployment.

It will not run. That's because C++/CLI is not supported in WP7. I hope one day it is supported in this great architecture. So that by using the method I have done here, we would actually work with Visual C++.NET too.

This experiment's result is failure. I also wanted to show this experiment to those people who are frequently asking if there is any C++/CLI support in WP7. As you can see, there is no support.

THEORY #3 : A VB.NET-based Class Library using XNA namespaces can work (UnProven)

So let's go on explaining the other experiment: VB.NET

You'll think a couple of seconds-minutes about it. Why is the result like that. Why is it different even so VB.NET is also not supported? Let's start by creating our application:

All right. We have created our application. Change Form1 into Game1. Now it's time to add references to our application. Add the same references we have added before:

Microsoft.XNA.Framework(4.0)
Microsoft.XNA.Framework.Avatar(4.0)
Microsoft.XNA.Framework.Content.Pipeline(4.0)
Microsoft.XNA.Framework.Game(4.0)
Microsoft.XNA.Framework.GamerServices(4.0)
Microsoft.XNA.Framework.Graphics(4.0)
Microsoft.XNA.Framework.Input.Touch(4.0)
Microsoft.XNA.Framework.Net(4.0)
Microsoft.XNA.Framework.Storage(4.0)
Microsoft.XNA.Framework.Video(4.0)
Microsoft.XNA.Framework.XACT(4.0)

Now it's time to add these namespaces to our application:

Imports System

Imports System.Collections.Generic

Imports System.Linq

Imports Microsoft.Xna.Framework

Imports Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Audio

Imports Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Content

Imports Microsoft.Xna.Framework.GamerServices

Imports Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Graphics

Imports Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Input

Imports Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Input.Touch

Imports Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Media

To inherit from Microsoft.XNA.Framework.Game object you'll need to use Inherits keyword.

Public Class Game1

Inherits Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game

End Class

Now create GraphicsDeviceManager and SpriteBatch objects.

Dim graphics As GraphicsDeviceManager

Dim sb As SpriteBatch

Create New() function:

Public Sub New()

graphics = New GraphicsDeviceManager(Me)

Content.RootDirectory = "Content"

TargetElapsedTime = TimeSpan.FromTicks(333333)

End Sub

And then add these codes for Initialize, LoadContent, UnLoadContent, Draw and Update:

Protected Overrides Sub Initialize()

MyBase.Initialize()

End Sub

Protected Overrides Sub LoadContent()

MyBase.LoadContent()

End Sub

Protected Overrides Sub UnloadContent()

MyBase.UnloadContent()

End Sub

Protected Overrides Sub Draw(ByVal gameTime As Microsoft.Xna.Framework.GameTime)

GraphicsDevice.Clear(Color.CornflowerBlue)

MyBase.Draw(gameTime)

End Sub

Protected Overrides Sub Update(ByVal gameTime As Microsoft.Xna.Framework.GameTime)

MyBase.Update(gameTime)

End Sub

Now our work with Game1.vb has finished. Now open up Game1.Designer.vb. To do that, click Show All Files:

Update this designer page as below:

<Global.Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices.DesignerGenerated()> _
Partial Class Game1
End Class

Actually we don't need any functionality in Designer page.

Now what we are going to do is adding a Module item in the project. This Module item will deal with creating Game1 object instance and then running it using Run() function. Let's add a Module:

Here in this Module create a Sub:

Sub Main(ByVal args() As String)

Dim gm As New Game1

gm.Run()

End Sub

Now run the project. You might receive an error about Application.Designer.vb.

Update this file as:

Option Strict On

Option Explicit On

Delete the rest of them. Designer functionality isn't needed nor Application Designer. Now you will need to change Project Properties:

Change the Application Type into "Class Library" then debug it.

It will create a dll file in the Debug folder. Copy it to a place where you can access it easily. We'll be using this dll for our xap package.

Now do the same thing with the XAP package.

Update WMAppManifest.xml and AppManifest.xaml

WMApplicationManifest.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<IconPath IsRelative="true" IsResource="false">GameThumbnail.png</IconPath>

</Capabilities>

<Tasks>

</Tasks>

<BackgroundImageURI IsRelative="true" IsResource="false">Background.png</BackgroundImageURI>

<Title>VBGame</Title>

</TemplateType5>

</PrimaryToken>

</Tokens>

</App>

</Deployment>

AppManifest.xaml:

<Deployment.Parts>

</Deployment.Parts>

</Deployment>

You can also add:
<AssemblyPart x:Name="Microsoft.VisualBasic" Source="VisualBasic.dll" />

here.but it won't matter.Same result.

Now alongside with VBGame.dll file copy all of them inside XAP package and try it with Application Deployment tool. And try it. I have recorded it and uploaded it to YouTube for you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14m5N7EeO44

This VB.NET version of my experiments waited a couple of seconds then exited. This raised some thoughts in my mind: Actually everything was going right but something interrupted it and exited.

I couldn't find the reason yet. My experiments are continuing. Is it because only C# is supported for XNA or something else? But something was different according to Visual C++ .NET.

CONCLUSION

Now let's come to our conclusion: Why I have written this article?

This experiment has 1 success and 2 failures because they weren't included in the Runtime.

I actually wrote this article for the hopes of VB.NET and Visual C++.NET might actually be supported for XNA and run in WP7 one day according to my method I have proposed above for lots of pages.

I do hope the teams at Microsoft (below) might look at my "Ersoy Experiment" here and share their thoughts? Or even tell me "You're dreaming! Wake up!" :)

Wouldn't it be nice for them, too if XNA is supported not only for C# but also for VB.NET and Visual C++ .NET. It would be a nice experiment for all the developers in this world.

I do hope;

Windows Phone 7 Development & Product Teams
Visual C++ Development & Product Teams
Visual Basic Development & Product Teams
XNA Development & Product Teams

Might work together well about implementing VB.NET and Visual C++.NET support for XNA games in WP7.

I actually would love to see this experiment succeeded for WP7. Now it's Microsoft's turn. Let's wait and see if there will ever be support for both of languages.

I hope this experiment could be any help for improving Windows Phone 7 & XNA products.

Thank you for reading my experiment. Hope you liked it :)

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