Building Windows 8 Apps with C# and XAML, Rough Cuts

Description

This is the Rough Cut version of the printed book.

“Jeremy builds real apps for real customers. That’s why I can heartily recommend this book. Go out and write some great apps…and keep this book handy.”
—From the Foreword by Jeff Prosise

Build Exceptionally Immersive and Responsive Touch-Based Windows Store Apps for Windows 8 with C# and XAML

This is the first practical guide to building breakthrough applications for Windows 8 from project templates through publication to the new Windows Store. Microsoft “MVP of the Year” Jeremy Likness helps you combine your existing developer skills with new Visual Studio 2012 tools and best practices to create apps that are intuitive and innovative. His guidance and insight will help you dive into Windows 8 development—and gain a powerful competitive advantage for years to come.

Likness illuminates the entire apps lifecycle, from planning and Model-View-View Model (MVVM) based design through coding, testing, packaging, and deployment. He covers both business and consumer apps, showing how Windows 8/WinRT development builds upon and contrasts with older WPF and Silverlight approaches.

Using carefully crafted downloadable code examples and sample projects, Likness shows how to make the most of new platform features, including integrated social networking, search, contracts, charms, and tiles. Throughout, he addresses crucial development challenges that have only been discussed on MSDN, blog posts, and Twitter feeds—and never with this depth and clarity before.

Coverage includes
• Mastering real-world Windows 8 development for all devices and form factors • Understanding the new WinRT framework and the unique characteristics of Windows 8 apps
• Designing apps that are faster, more responsive, do more with less, and maximize battery life
• Creating exceptionally fluid interfaces with VS 2012 templates, built-in animations, and XAML
• Building apps that respond consistently to multiple forms of input, including complex touch manipulations
• Using contracts and charms to expose services or enable users to do so
• Providing information to users through Live Tiles even when your app isn’t running
• Connecting your app seamlessly to multiple data sources, including social networks and cloud storage
• Syndicating rich, network-based content
• Using Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM)
• Securing Windows 8 apps through authentication and authorization
• Efficiently testing, debugging, packaging, and deploying apps

Sample Content

Table of Contents

  Foreword     xv
   Preface     xix
Chapter 1  The New Windows Runtime     1
Looking Back: Win32 and .NET     2
Looking Forward: Rise of the NUI     8
Introducing the Windows Store Application     12
   Windows 8 Design     14
   Fast and Fluid     15
   Snap and Scale     15
   Use of Right Contracts     16
   Great Tiles     17
   Connected and Alive     19
   Embrace Windows 8 Design Principles     19
Windows 8 Tools of the Trade     19
   Blend for Visual Studio     20
   HTML5 and JavaScript     21
   C++ and XAML     23
   VB/C# and XAML     24
Behind the Scenes of WinRT     25
WPF, Silverlight, and the Blue Stack     26
Summary     28
Chapter 2  Getting Started     29
Setting Up Your Environment     30
   Windows 8     30
   Visual Studio 2012     35
   Blend     36
Hello, Windows 8     37
   Creating Your First Windows 8 Application     37
   Templates     37
The ImageHelper Application     42
   Under the Covers     53
Summary     60
Chapter 3  Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML)     61
Declaring the UI     62
   The Visual Tree     64
   Dependency Properties     67
   Attached Properties     70
Data-Binding     73
   Value Converters     78
Storyboards     80
Styles and Resources     85
Layout     88
   Canvas     88
   Grid     89
   StackPanel     91
   VirtualizingPanel and VirtualizingStackPanel     93
   WrapGrid     94
   VariableSizedWrapGrid     96
   ContentControl     97
   ItemsControl     99
   ScrollViewer     99
   ViewBox     100
   GridView     102
   ListView     105
   FlipView     106
   ListBox     106
Common Controls     107
Summary     109
Chapter 4  Windows 8 Applications     111
Layouts and Views     111
   The Simulator     112
   The Visual State Manager     115
   Semantic Zoom     119
Handling User Input     122
   Pointer Events     124
   Manipulation Events     126
   Mouse Support     128
   Keyboard Support     129
 &

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