Exam 70-355 Universal Windows Platform – App Data, Services, and Coding Patterns (beta)

Exam 70-355
Universal Windows Platform – App Data, Services, and Coding Patterns (beta)

Skills measured
This exam measures your ability to accomplish the technical tasks listed below. View video tutorials about the variety of question types on Microsoft exams.

Please note that the questions may test on, but will not be limited to, the topics described in the bulleted text.

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Recognize and apply a specified design pattern
Describe the relationship between architecture, design pattern, and framework
Recognize common architectures and when they should be used, recognize common design patterns and when a pattern can be applied to make programming tasks faster and easier

Describe traditional Microsoft .NET design patterns
Describe the Gang of Four design patterns, including creational patterns, structural patterns, and behavioral patterns; describe 3-tier/N-tier patterns; describe enterprise patterns; describe cloud design patterns; describe head first patterns; describe repository patterns; describe unit of work patterns

Apply the Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM) Prism pattern
Separate concerns, develop the views for the MVVM app, develop the view-models for the MVVM app, develop the models for the MVVM app, develop class interactions and data binding for the MVVM app

Develop app and business logic, code that interfaces with other line-of-business (LOB) apps, and LOB Server Services (AD, SP)

Develop code for app-specific processes and computations
Create an asynchronous method or process, managing the return value from an asynchronous method, debugging and error handling for an asynchronous method, develop storyboards and custom animations for an object, represent 3-D models as code objects, manage 2-D projections of 3-D objects, use Task, ThreadPool, and background transfers

Implement background tasks
Create a background task, register a background task, set and respond to triggers, debug a background task, implement a lock screen app, share data/events between an app and its background tasks; directly calling a background task

Manage app lifecycle events
Prepare for suspension, resume from suspension or termination, implement an extended splash screen, extend execution and monitor suspension errors

Implement interactions with other apps
Integrate a share contract to share content with another app, integrate contact and appointment functionality, implement mapping and navigation (geolocation, geofencing, and Bing Maps), exchange data/file between apps, including launch for result; use drag and drop

Implement notifications and Windows Push Notification Services (WNS)
Implement and manage notifications; support Live Tile updates, including toasts and badges, support Action Center and secondary tiles

Implement interactions with devices
Develop code for camera and microphone, including photo, video, and audio; implement screen capture; implement printing and Play To; integrate HoloLens sensors and services; support

wireless communication
Develop class libraries (code libraries, DLLs)
Naming assemblies, namespaces, types, and members in class libraries; using static and abstract classes, interfaces, enumerations, structures, and other types; designing and using properties, methods, constructors, fields, events, operators, and parameters; implementing extensibility mechanisms such as subclassing, using events, virtual members, and callbacks; designing, throwing, and catching exceptions

Develop code for implementing secure cloud data services and storage

Design and implement data roaming
Roaming user settings and preferences, roaming app session info
Design and implement a RESTful data solution (oData, JSON)
Using the ASP.NET Web API, implementing JSON serialization, adding a service reference to the project, using Windows.Web.Http.HttpClient objects
Design and implement Azure and cloud data sources
Implement offline data sync, implement caching, support OneDrive integration, implement file access and management (including File Picker and file access APIs), upload images to Azure Storage

Integrate Azure data services
Call a custom Cloud Service API from a client, schedule backend jobs in Mobile Services
Design and implement removable and embedded local data sources
Support SD card storage, implement SQLite on mobile devices

Develop code to implement authentication and business security requirements
Implement code to manage authentication and identity
Web authentication broker; Azure authentication; implement code to manage identity; implement biometric identity verification, including Windows Hello; implement Credential Locker, implement single sign-on
Implement code to manage authorization and access to resources
Implement authentication requests; authorize users and apps; manage authorization IDs; restrict access to resources, including data, files, folders, and devices
Implement cryptography within an app
Create cryptographic keys, hash and sign content, create message authentication codes, encrypt and decrypt data
Support enterprise security considerations
Implement security transparency, implement code access security, implement role-based security

Integrate cloud services and Azure App Service services
Build native and cross-platform apps using services
Integrate Azure App Service mobile app functionality within an existing mobile app, use a .NET client with Mobile Services, call a custom API from a client
Connect to your enterprise systems using services
Build a service that uses an existing SQL database, connect to an on-premises SQL Server from an Azure mobile service using hybrid connections, scale mobile services backed by Azure SQL database, authenticate your app with Active Directory Authentication Library single sign-on, add role-based access control to mobile services with Azure Active Directory, access Microsoft SharePoint on behalf of the user, schedule backend jobs in mobile services, troubleshoot a mobile services .NET backend
Connect to SaaS APIs using services
Implement single sign-on using credentials from third-party identity providers, build a service that uses MongoDB as a data store
Build offline-ready apps with sync using services
Allow employees to work offline when connectivity is not available, synchronize with your enterprise backend systems when devices comes back online, recover in the event of a disaster
Push notifications to users using services
Add push notifications to your app, send push notifications to authenticated users

Develop code that is maintainable and that supports app versioning, compatibility, and coexistence
Develop code using version control (TFVC or Git)
Develop code using a standardized coding convention, implement best practices for assembly versioning
Implement best practices for assemblies and side-by-side execution
Use strong-named assemblies, including version, culture, and publisher; use the GAC to provide version-aware storage; create an app that runs in isolation
Implement best practices for assembly placement and the GAC
Using an app configuration file, using codebases, providing a binding context

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10 key moments in the history of Apple and Microsoft

Apple and Microsoft recently renewed their alliance with the goal of tackling the enterprise market, but the latest partnership is just the most recent turning point in the two companies' intertwined histories. Here are the defining moments that led up to the new pact.

Apple and Microsoft's history of highs and lows
Apple and Microsoft share a common history and bond in the evolution of personal computing. Relations between the two technology pioneers were generally cordial when they were founded in the 1970s, but that sense of mutual respect quickly turned to discord. The founders of both companies were at loggerheads often in the past. Today their new leaders appear determined to bury the hatchet and partner for greater opportunities in the enterprise.

Youthful innocence of the early '80s
Microsoft was a critical Apple ally during the first Macintosh's development. At an Apple event in 1983, Microsoft CEO Bill Gates told attendees Microsoft expected to earn half of its revenues selling Macintosh software the following year. He called the Macintosh, "something that's really new and really captures people's attention."

Jobs ousted from Apple, forms NeXT
In 1985, Apple CEO Steve Jobs was ousted from the company he cofounded nine years earlier. He immediately sold all but one share in Apple to fund the launch of NeXT, where he would spend the next 12 years building computer workstations for higher education and business.

Jobs says Microsoft has 'no taste'
"The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste," Jobs said in the 1996 "Triumph of the Nerds" TV documentary. "They have absolutely no taste. And I don't mean that in a small way, I mean that in a big way, in the sense that they don't think of original ideas, and they don't bring much culture into their products."

Jobs returns to Apple, partners with Microsoft
When Apple acquired NeXT in 1997 and brought Steve Jobs back into the fold, the company was in disarray amid growing uncertainty about the future of Microsoft Office for Mac. During his keynote address at the Macworld Expo that year, Jobs extolled the virtues of partnering with industry leaders and spoke of the need to improve Apple's partner relations.

Gates addresses the Apple faithful in 1997
"Microsoft is going to be part of the game with us as we restore this company back to health," Jobs said at Macworld, before asking Gates to address the crowd via satellite.

"We think Apple makes a huge contribution to the computer industry," Gates said. "We think it's going to be a lot of fun helping out."

Gates and Jobs take the stage together in 2007
A seminal moment occurred between the leaders of both companies when Gates and Jobs jointly took the stage for an interview at the D5 conference. Both men praised each other in their own ways. Jobs commended Gates for building the first software company in the world, but Gates was more flattering. "What Steve's done is quite phenomenal," he said.

'Memories longer than the road ahead'
When Jobs was asked to describe the greatest misunderstanding of his relationship with Gates, he said: "I think of most things in life as either a Bob Dylan or a Beatles song, but there's that one line in that one Beatles song — 'You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead' — and that's clearly very true here."

Apple invites Microsoft exec on stage for iPad demo
A new era of partnership buoyed by opportunities in the enterprise began to blossom in the early-2010s. At Apple's September 2015 new product event in San Francisco, the company invited Kirk Koenigsbauer, vice president of Microsoft Office, on stage to demonstrate Office 365 apps working in split-screen mode on an iPad Pro.

Microsoft CEO uses iPhone at Dreamforce
At Salesforce's 2015 Dreamforce conference, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella demoed the company's iOS apps on an iPhone. When Nadella did the once unthinkable, using an iPhone on stage, he acknowledged it as such but also made clear that it wasn't his phone. "It is a pretty unique iPhone," he said. "I like to call it the iPhone Pro because it has all the Microsoft software and applications on it … It's pretty amazing."

Apple CEO Tim Cook doesn't hold a grudge
During a keynote at cloud-storage company Box's BoxWorks conference in September 2015, when asked about the company's renewed relationship with Microsoft, Apple CEO Tim Cook said he doesn't believe in holding grudges. "If you think back in time, Apple and IBM were foes. Apple and Microsoft were foes," Cook said. "Apple and Microsoft still compete today, but frankly Apple and Microsoft can partner on more things than we could compete on, and that's what the customer wants."

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5 ways to shore up security in your BYOD strategy

You’d think after all this time that organizations would have finally gotten BYOD programs pretty much down pat. Don’t bet on it.

A recent study by tyntec reveals that a vast majority of organizations still have inadequate bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies. That’s not very encouraging, considering that 49 percent of workers now use a personal mobile device for work-related tasks and spend a great deal of time on personal devices for their job.

Further, the typical U.S. worker now expects to have nothing less than total access – anywhere, anytime, from any device – to their employer’s networks, finds another study from Dell and Intel. But despite all this demand on the user side, many organizations still wrestle with security, privacy and support issues around BYOD. That is holding many employers back when it comes to giving BYOD an enthusiastic ‘thumbs up’.

So what does it take to get BYOD right in 2015? CSO put that question to a few IT leaders, whose collective responses reflect the still wide divide on how BYOD is supported at the IT executive level, possibly depending on the industry in which they work.

An undeniable force
The higher education sector has embraced BYOD probably as much as any. No surprise here, really. College and university culture is all about openness – of ideas, of expression, and of access to resources. So it is only natural that today’s campus environment is awash with personal devices.

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is a prime example. According to Thomas Hoover, associate vice chancellor and CIO, and Susan Lazenby, manager of strategic planning and communication, BYOD has taken the campus by storm.

The two shared the school’s experiences with BYOD by stressing the impact it has had on the school’s IT organization, including staff and budget. But they confirmed that BYOD was a trend not to be denied, and the university had no choice but to adopt it. They also noted that a robust BYOD program is not just demanded by students, but also by faculty and employees.

To illustrate how rapidly BYOD caught on at UT, the two noted that five years ago the school’s network was supporting 809 devices. That number rose to 14,906 in 2014. This year it jumped to approximately 48,000.
It’s a similar tale hundreds of miles away at Worcester State University in Massachusetts.
“Like any other institute in higher education, Worcester State doesn’t have any choice but to support BYOD,” notes Anthony (Tony) Adade, CIO at the university. “The students come from diverse backgrounds. They come with all kinds of devices. For several years we’ve been seeing an influx of games on our campus – all kinds of games. Besides the normal devices that we have to deal with, we didn’t have any choice but to support them.”

Like at the University of Tennessee, wide-scale BYOD has been a fairly new phenomenon at Worcester State, but demand quickly made up for lost time.

“Initially it was limited. The network itself was at capacity and was not able to handle the devices coming on campus,” Adade explains. “We had to tell some students that they can’t bring devices on campus or if they did they were on their own. However, later on we realized it would be in our strategic interest to have a plan and to address the issue. Now we can safely accommodate almost every device. “

Colleges and universities aren’t the only organizations that have felt compelled to adopt BYOD programs, of course. Countless companies and nonprofits are also supporting programs, and have learned some important lessons in how to do it right.

“It is important to have technology in-house to support BYOD strategy,” notes Christine Vanderpool, CIO at Molson Coors, one of the nation’s leading brewers. “Companies should invest in tools like MDM, DLP and application monitoring (tools that inform the user of malicious applications on their devices). You need staff to support these tools. You need a strong set of policies, procedures and end user education.”

“It is good to focus on the ‘what’s in it for them’ in most cases,” Vanderpool stresses. “If you deploy MD or application controls, you have to explain how this is protecting them in their daily life and not just in their work life.”

What are the most important elements of an effective BYOD program in terms of both providing employee flexibility and productivity and also ensuring company data and network security? Molson Coors CIO Christine Vanderpool offers the following tips on what should be considered: Identified risks include:

“Give real life examples like how some malicious apps can take control/read all the user’s SMS text messages, see password information entered into a bank app, etc. People care most when they can understand it and can potentially impact their lives beyond just their job,” Vanderpool says.

Not everyone’s a believer
But many CIOs remain skeptics when it comes to supporting BYOD, fearing that the probable risks still outweigh the possible benefits. One of them is Jim Motes, vice president and CIO at Rockwell Automation.

“I'm not really a fan of BYOD phones,” Motes says. “I believe the privacy constraints will be at odds with protecting and controlling corporate intellectual property.”

“The smartphone is not just communication technology, it's a social lifeline, diary, and entertainment system,” Motes continues. “People have too much personal information stored on these systems and should be very careful about how much access they want to give their employers. Employers should avoid them completely to limit their liability should that personal information be breached and exposed.”

So how does an organization resolve these two competing forces: security and privacy concerns on one hand, versus user demand for convenience on the other?

Our sources offered the following combined tips on how to get BYOD right:

Have a thoughtful strategy
As noted, security remains a top concern for IT leaders when it comes to BYOD. It is therefore important to involve the IT security team in establishing a program from the outset. But the approach should be for the CSO to help find a solution, not reasons to not support it. The focus should be on how to best secure the data first and foremost, then the devices.

Take stock of the situation
Once you’ve set your strategy, begin with assessments of the network capacity and the security status. Issues to consider include how much vulnerability does the network have? Who is connecting to it? What devices and applications are they using?

Have a clear set of policies and expectations
You need a set policy of guidelines on what is allowed and what is not and to guide behavior of employees and users. Policies should be simple and easy to understand. Toward that end, have your employees help draft the policies to get their understanding and support up-front.

Some devices are a ‘go’ and some are a ‘no’
Third, identify the devices you wouldn’t be able to support. The program probably can’t be all things to all employees. Create an approved list of devices that IT will support, providing the employee has a valid business reason for using it. Purchase the devices at a reduced cost for employees, and put necessary safeguards on those devices. Let employees know up front to what degree you will support a particular device purchase.

Proper training is critical
Educate employees on how to connect their devices to the network and also the dos and don’ts of their usage. Lunchtime training sessions are a smart idea. Stress what it is that employees are agreeing to, including what happens if a device is lost or stolen – the wiping of the device. Most employees will say yes, and for those that don’t, they can’t participate in the program.

Finally, “BYOD risks and considerations will continue to grow and change just as rapidly as the technologies change,” stresses Vanderpool. “It is vital that all aspects of the BYOD model be continuously reviewed, updated, re-communicated and employees re-educated. The model deployed and the supporting guidelines, policies and procedures implemented to support it must be agile and allow the company to be able to quickly adapt or change them when necessary.”

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