In one of my earlier posts, I mentioned that MCTS Exam – ( 70-599 ) – Pro: Designing and Developing Windows Phone 7 Applications is in the process, It looks like the approximate date when the exam will be published is mentioned in Microsoft Learning portal.
The MCTS 70-599 is designed to test the candidate’s knowledge and skills on designing and developing Applications for Windows Phone 7 Platform .
The Candidates for Exam 70-599 are typically “ISV’s” or developers who work in an organization designing and developing consumer applications for Windows Phone 7 .
The MCTS 70-599 counts as a credit for the following exam Microsoft Certified Professional Developer: Windows Phone 7, Developer .
This exam measures your ability to accomplish the technical tasks listed below. The percentages indicate the relative weight of each major topic area on the exam.
Designing Data Access Strategies (19%)
- Send and receive data.
This objective may include but is not limited to: design connection mechanisms for communicating with external web services; plan how to consume and parse data from web services (for example, WCF and WS*); ensure a trusted transfer of data to and from a phone - Design a data storage strategy.
This objective may include but is not limited to: differentiate between persistent and transient data; determine when to use isolated storage; plan for size limitations of isolated storage; design cloud-based storage - Plan for bandwidth limitations and implement network connectivity detection.
This objective may include but is not limited to: plan for disconnected scenarios; plan for low network bandwidth
Designing and Implementing Notification Strategies (17%)
- Plan for and implement push notifications in the application.
This objective may include but is not limited to: choose method for notifying user of application’s state/status (tile, toast, RAW); respond to notifications; registration for notifications - Plan for and implement push notifications on the server.
This objective may include but is not limited to: when to use toast, tile, and raw; plan for receiving the unique device URL - Create and update live tiles.
This objective may include but is not limited to: update background image, numbers, and text
Working with Platform APIs, Tasks, and Choosers (21%)
- Design and implement sensor interaction.
This objective may include but is not limited to: choose which sensors are appropriate for your application; design location awareness (when to use different levels of GeopositionAccuracy); location awareness system setting - Plan for and implement the use of Tasks and Choosers.
- Plan for and implement multitouch and gestures.
- This objective may include but is not limited to: manipulation events (ManipulationStarted, ManipulationCompleted, ManipulationDelta)
- Design and implement application navigation.
- This objective may include but is not limited to: pass parameters (NavigationContext API), manipulate the navigation stack (NavigationService API), use of the Back button, PhoneApplicationPage class and PhoneApplicationFrame class and the difference between these two classes
Designing the Application Architecture (21%)
- Design for threading.
This objective may include but is not limited to: use of the composition thread - Monitor and tune performance.
- This objective may include but is not limited to: frame rate counter; cache visualization; redraw regions; bitmap caching; memory usage limitations; plan for power consumption; tune bandwidth consumption; performance counters
- Manage the application life cycle.
This objective may include but is not limited to: tombstoning; response to PhoneApplicationService events (Launching, Activated, Deactivated, Closing) - Prepare the application to meet Windows Phone 7 marketplace requirements.
- This objective may include but is not limited to: Windows Phone 7 Application Certification Requirements; design for localization and globalization; plan for trial versions; work with WMAppManifest.xml; design for icon requirements for marketplace
Designing the User Interface and User Experience (23%)
- Design for separation of concerns.
This objective may include but is not limited to: presentation patterns that use view models, MVVM - Design Windows Phone 7 control usage.
- This objective may include but is not limited to: design control usage as described in UI Design and Interaction Guide for Windows Phone 7; design proper use of PanoramaControl and PivotControl; choose when to use the Panorama Control and PivotControl; recommend when to use ApplicationBar
- Recommend keyboard layout for a given situation.
This objective may include but is not limited to: InputScope property - Design for system themes, accent color, and screen orientation.
This objective may include but is not limited to: built-in styles that use system themes and accent colors, ApplicationBar icons (size, transparency), landscape, portrait
Also note that there currently no training , Microsoft Press books like Self training kit or practice tests but these should be made available when the exam is published .
I did get an Beta Invite for the above exam sometime back , but sadly there was a region restriction . I reside in India and hence could not take up the Beta Exam .
Know more about this Exam from Microsoft Learning Site
