Windows App Developer Links - 2012-07-31

posted on 31 Jul 2012 | App Developer Links

Metro App Development

  • Why Would you Want to Write Applications for Windows 8 Now? (Telerik Blogs)

    • "Last week, we had our first Windows 8 webinar titled, "Why build for Windows 8 and how RadControls for Metro can help." One question that we attempted to answer is, "Why build for Windows 8 now?" "Why not wait until a future date when the platform is more stable?" These questions are valid from a consumer and an enterprise point-of-view and I'll try to explain why we believe that you should start writing applications for Windows 8 today..."

  • Extending WinRT: how to avoid constrains and expose C# objects hierarchy from WinMD library (Andrei Marukovich)

    • "Windows 8 programming model allows extending WinRT by implementing WinRT components. These components can be created by using any supported language (JS, C#, VB, C++) and can be consumed by all these languages as well. Visual Studio provides WinRT library project template, thus creation of your first WinRT component is matter of seconds. Gradually, you will find that your code should follow some rules to stay compatible with WinRT. Most of these rules are not deal breaker, but sometimes they can make you scratch your head a bit..."

  • Attached Behaviors in WinRT (Michael Brown)

    • "Although you don't get the convenience of the Drag and Drop approach to using Blend Behaviors many have become used to, the Attached Behavior pattern still works with WinRT XAML applications. Even better, the underlying mechanism is unchanged..."

  • Replicating TargetNullValue in Windows8 (Aden Earnshaw)

    • "There are times in this world when using binding statements, that you want to specify a default value for a property if the result provided is null. In a post found here by Jesse Liberty, he details how developers can utilize the TargetNullValue option within the xaml binding statement to provide this option. Recently I've been porting my SaintsFC WP7 app over to Windows 8 metro app & I've found that this option is no longer available. It's been confirmed that this will likely not be in the RTM version of Windows 8 either so here's a workaround using a converter as a substitute. It's a little more convoluted than a simple property within the binding but it will also be able to provide you with a more extensive feature set as a result..."

  • Basic HTTP Authentication in WinRT (Marc LaFleur)

    • "I'm on vacation right now, getting some much needed time with the family and preparing for my wedding at the end of the week. So what does a geek do in the midst of 6 kids and the chaos of wedding planning? Why build a Metro style app of course. Duh! For my little application I'm working with a REST API that requires Basic HTTP Authentication. This is pretty commonplace and something I've done it many times in the past in web and Silverlight applications. WinRT was very similar but (as with everything in WinRT) has its own nuances..."

  • Example Metro app /WinRT: How to change default selected item colors when using Listview? (Iris Classon)

    • "I am not overly fond of the default selected item color which is a dark purple (noting wrong with the color, it is just hard to make it work with otehr colors as it is so ‘strong' and unusual). I wrote a blog post showing how to edit default templates Example WinRT/Metro App: How to edit default template in Visual Studio 2012 and Blend , but maybe you just want to edit the selected item color- and set the new color as default. You could remove the x:Key and then the massice template with few changes would override the default. I would like to show you how to ONLY change the selection color by defining the color of the four brushes involved..."

  • DirectX Tool Kit - native "XNA" for Windows 8 (Toni Petrina)

    • "For all those who miss XNA in Metro applications, DirectX Tool Kit is a handy set of classes that mimic popular XNA classes such as SpriteBatch, SpriteFont and BasicEffect. Let's see how easy it is to use it. For my first trick, I shall load a texture and render it on screen. Nothing fancy, but it will quickly establish the similarities between old and proven XNA code with new DX11 code..."

  • Asynchronous loading of text files in Metro/C++/DirectX applications (Toni Petrina)

    • "By just adding a simple modification to the existing ReadDataAsync function, we can load text files asynchronously..."

  • User Control Initialization in Windows 8 (Mahmoud Medhat Moussa)

    • "I've been working on Building a Custom Charting Controls for Windows 8 and today I'll talk about does InitializeComponents Work in Windows 8 User Controls. When you build a Custom control for Windows 8 by Default InitalizeComponents will not be available so you need to build the method on your own to load controls from it..."

  • New Screencast: Accessing the camera in a Windows 8 Metro Style App using HTML and JavaScript (David Isbitski)

    • "This is the third in a series of short screencasts that will teach you Windows 8 Metro Style App development in a fun and immersive way via casual gaming. This screencast covers accessing the Camera in your Windows 8 Metro Style App using HTML and JavaScript..."

Apps & Code to Look At

  • The First Release of PieChart Control (Mahmoud Medhat Moussa)

    • "So I'm glad to announce that the first release of of PieChart Control for WIndows 8 now Supports lots of interactive features like: Support Default and Hole Type PieChart, Legend and Tooltips, Pushout feature for on Click events, On Select and DeSelect Item from the PieChart..."

Windows Phone 8

  • DirectX 11, Metro and Windows Phone 8 (Toni Petrina)

    • "I couldn't resist it, I simply had to install WP8 SDK. The first thing I did was creating a new project to see what has been added and what removed. Sadly, if you add XNA project, you can target WP7, and not WP8. However, since XNA based applications will be compatible with WP8, it makes no sense to discard WP7 since it has millions of users and not all of them will make the jump. One app, two marketplaces..."

Office 2013

  • Office and SkyDrive for Windows (Office Next)

    • "In one of our initial posts we discussed our efforts to connect Office more naturally to the cloud. This week we'll elaborate on our services approach in the next Office, starting with today's post about Office and SkyDrive integration. Daniel Fiordalis, Program Manager, and Arnab Bose, Senior Program Manager Lead join Office Next to discuss this area in detail..."