Windows 8 Apps with XAML and C# Unleashed

Product Author Bios

Adam Nathan is a principal software architect for Microsoft, a best-selling technical author, and arguably the world’s most prolific developer for Windows Phone. He introduced XAML to countless developers through his books on a variety of Microsoft technologies. Currently a part of Microsoft’s Startup Business Group, Adam has previously worked on Visual Studio and the Common Language Runtime. He was the founding developer and architect of Popfly, Microsoft’s first Silverlight-based product, named by PCWorld as one of its year’s most innovative products. He is also the founder of PINVOKE.NET, the online resource for .NET developers who need to access Win32. His apps have been featured on Lifehacker, Gizmodo, ZDNet, ParentMap, and other enthusiast sites.

Adam’s books are considered required reading by many inside Microsoft and throughout the industry. Adam is the author of 101 Windows Phone 7 Apps (Sams, 2011), Silverlight 1.0 Unleashed (Sams, 2008), WPF Unleashed (Sams, 2006), WPF 4 Unleashed (Sams, 2010), and .NET and COM: The Complete Interoperability Guide (Sams, 2002); a coauthor of ASP.NET: Tips, Tutorials, and Code (Sams, 2001); and a contributor to books including .NET Framework Standard Library Annotated Reference, Volume 2 (Addison-Wesley, 2005) and Windows Developer Power Tools (O’Reilly, 2006). You can find Adam online at www.adamnathan.net, or @adamnathan on Twitter.

Windows 8 enables you to build stunning applications that integrate with each other, services, and Windows itself like never before. And you can sell them in the Windows Store for tablets such as Surface, laptops, and traditional desktop PCs! Now, world-renowned Microsoft programming guru Adam Nathan shows you exactly how to write first-class apps for this radically new version of Windows.

Clear, accessible, and intensely practical, this guide teaches through concise code examples, fully color-coded to match their appearance in Visual Studio--the same approach that made Nathan’s WPF 4 Unleashed so popular. Writing with unprecedented depth and insight, Nathan guides you through creating advanced user interfaces with XAML and exploiting key Windows 8 features such as touch, sensors, charms, and live tiles. Whether you’re already comfortable with Microsoft programming or relatively new to it, Windows 8 Apps with XAML and C# Unleashed will take you to the cutting edge of Windows 8 development.

Detailed information on how to...

• Use XAML to represent state-of-the-art user interfaces
• Ensure app usability on multiple devices and form factors
• Handle touch, mouse, pen, and keyboard input
• Manage the high-performance, low-power Windows 8 app lifecycle
• Use Windows 8 controls for managing lists, rich text, images, multimedia, and more
• Encode, decode, and transcode multimedia content
• Leverage rich XAML vector graphics and animation
• Make the most of styles and templates
• Interact with built-in functionality such as the Camera app, file picker, contact picker, the lock screen, and more
• Exploit the Windows 8 charms bar with contracts and extensions
• Work with the rich set of available sensors: accelerometer, compass, light sensor, location, proximity, and more

Downloads

Download free code files here

Online Sample Chapter

Mastering XAML

Table of Contents

Introduction     1
Who Should Read This Book?      3
Software Requirements     3
Code Examples     3
How This Book Is Organized     3
Conventions Used in This Book     5

Part I: Getting Started
Chapter 1: Anatomy of a Windows Store App     7
Launching a New App     8
The Package Manifest     9
The Main Page     19
The Application Definition     21
Summary     25
Chapter 2: Mastering XAML     27
Elements and Attributes     28
Namespaces     29
Property Elements     31
Type Converters     33
Markup Extensions     34
Children of Object Elements     36
Mixing XAML with Procedural Code     40
XAML Keywords     44
Summary     45

Part II: Building an App
Chapter 3: Sizing, Positioning, and Transforming Elements     47
Controlling Size     48
Controlling Position     52
Applying 2D Transforms     55
Applying 3D Transforms     62
Summary     64
Chapter 4: Layout     65
Discovering the Current Dimensions     66
Discovering the Current View State     67
Discovering the Current Orientation     70
Panels     71
Handling Content Overflow     87
Summary     99
Chapter 5: Interactivity     101
Dependency Properties     101
Routed Events     108
Commands     113
Summary     114
Chapter 6: Handling Input: Touch, Mouse, Pen, and Keyboard     115
Touch Input     116
Mouse Input     138
Pen Input     140
Keyboard Input     142
Summary     147
Chapter 7: App Model     149
Understanding the App Lifecycle     150
Programmatically Launching Apps     163
Interacting with the Windows Store     166
Leveraging Navigation     174
Summary     182

Part III: Understanding Controls
Chapter 8: Content Controls     185
Button     188
HyperlinkButton     189
RepeatButton     191
ToggleButton     191
CheckBox     192
RadioButton     192
ToolTip     194
AppBar     196
Summary     205
Chapter 9: Items Controls     207
Items in the Control     208
Items Panels     210
ComboBox     213
ListBox     214
ListView     216
GridView     219
FlipView     221
SemanticZoom     223
Summary     226
Chapter 10: Text     227
TextBlock     227
RichTextBlock     235
TextBox     240
RichEditBox     248
PasswordBox     251
Summary     252
Chapter 11: Images     253
The Image Element     253
Multiple Files for Multiple Environments     263
Decoding Images     267
Encoding Images     276
Summary     284
Chapter 12: Audio and Video     285
Playback     286
Capture     294
Transcoding     305
Summary     311
Chapter 13: Other Controls     313
Range Controls     313
Popup Controls     316
A Few More Controls     325
Summary     330

Part IV: Leveraging the Richness of XAML
Chapter 14: Vector Graphics     333
Shapes     334
Geometries     340
Brushes     348
Summary     363
Chapter 15: Animation     365
Theme Transitions     366
Theme Animations     376
Custom Animations     382
Custom Keyframe Animations     395
Easing Functions     400
Manual Animations     404
Summary     406
Chapter 16: Styles, Templates, and Visual States     409
Styles     410
Templates     418
Visual States     428
Summary     438

Part V: Exploiting Windows 8
Chapter 17: Data Binding     439
Introducing Binding     439
Controlling Rendering     447
Customizing the View of a Collection     455
Summary     459
Chapter 18: Data     461
App Data     461
User Data     466
Networking     469
Summary     474
Chapter 19: Charms     477
Search     477
Share     486
Devices     492
Settings     503
Summary     508
Chapter 20: Extensions     509
Account Picture Provider     509
AutoPlay Content and AutoPlay Device     512
Contact Picker     514
File Type Associations     516
Protocol     518
Background Tasks     519
Summary     527
Chapter 21: Sensors and Other Devices     529
Accelerometer     529
Gyrometer     532
Inclinometer     532
Compass     533
Light Sensor     533
Orientation     533
Location     534
Proximity     535
Summary     538

Part VI: Advanced Topics
Chapter 22: Thinking Outside the App: Live Tiles, Toast Notifications, and the Lock Screen     539
Live Tiles     539
Toast Notifications     552
The Lock Screen     556
Summary     557
Index     559

Sample Pages

Download the sample pages (includes Chapter 2 and Index)