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Windows Phone Developer Tools January 2011 Update is now available for download

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As announced earlier today in this post on the Windows Phone Developer Blog and in this news item on the App Hub site, the Windows Phone Developer Tools January 2011 Update is now available for download.

How to install the update?

The Windows Phone Developer Tools January 2011 Update consists of 2 patches that install on top of the original Windows Phone Developer Tools RTW release, so you must install all of the following items in order to fully install the update:

You do not need to uninstall the Windows Phone Developer Tools October 2010 Update if you previously installed it.  The January 2011 Update will install over the top of it and will replace it.

Note – in some cases, installing the patches can cause the default deployment target to change from the Windows Phone 7 Emulator to the Windows Phone 7 Device.  If that happens on your computer, you can use the steps listed in this blog post to reset the default deployment target.

What is included in the update?

The Windows Phone Developer Tools January 2011 Update includes an updated version of the Windows Phone 7 Emulator.  The updated emulator adds support for copy and paste functionality so that developers can test this functionality in their applications.  It also includes several bug fixes and performance enhancements.  Note that this functionality will not be available to Windows Phone 7 devices until a future update is released.

In addition, because it is a cumulative update, this update also includes the following components that originally shipped in the Windows Phone Developer Tools October 2010 Update:

  • The Windows Phone Connect tool – this tool allows the Windows Phone Developer Tools to connect to a Windows Phone device without requiring the Zune software to be running; this allows developers to debug media playback scenarios on a device
  • The Windows Phone capability detection tool – this tool analyzes your Windows Phone game or application project and detects the capabilities that are required; this allows developers to update their WMAppManifest.xml file so they can test their game or application with the same set of capabilities that will be provided by the ingestion process
  • An updated version of the Bing Maps control

Who should install this update?

I encourage all developers creating applications or games for Windows Phone 7 to install this update.  It makes the process of developing, testing and submitting to the Windows Phone Marketplace more smooth, and provides emulator support for upcoming Windows Phone 7 OS functionality so you can start testing your applications and games with these changes before the OS update is released.

In nearly all cases, applications and games that have already been released will not need to be recompiled or resubmitted to the Windows Phone Marketplace as a result of this update.  There is a specific scenario where a recompile and resubmit is encouraged – if you have pivot or panorama controls that contain text boxes, users can unintentionally change panes when trying to use the new copy and paste feature to copy text into the text box. To prevent this problem, you can install the Windows Phone Developer Tools January 2011 Update, open your application, recompile it, and then resubmit it to the Windows Phone Marketplace.

Getting started links

Here are some download links to help you get started with the Windows Phone Developer Tools January 2011 Update:

Here are some documentation links to help you get started with new features: