Windows App Developer Links - 2012-08-29

posted on 28 Aug 2012 | App Developer Links

Windows 8 App Development

  • Lessons Learned Designing a Windows 8 App (Valentina Ferrari and Christina Seong)

    • "Christina and I are graduate students in Human Centered Design & Engineering at the University of Washington. In April we were hired as interns by Blink Interactive, a UX research and design agency in Seattle, to become their resident Windows 8 experts. ... we conceptualized a Windows 8 version of Rhapsody, an online music provider (and Blink client). Through trial, error, and multiple iterations, we learned how to reconcile the needs of Rhapsody's users, the scope of their application, and the rather-strict Metro guidelines..."

  • Contrasting Windows 8 Development in HTML5/JavaScript with Web Development (David Pallmann)

    • "One of the nice features of Windows 8 development is that WinRT, the Windows Runtime, permits apps to be developed in HTML5/CSS/JavaScript (the other two choices are .NET/XAML and C++/XAML). If you're involved in modern web development, the HTML5 approach may be attractive to you. There are however some differences between HTML5 web development and Windows 8 development you should be aware of..."

  • Building a Windows 8 app? Pick your favorite flavour! (Susan Ibach)

    • "... If you want to develop for Windows 8, you have no less than three options to choose from. If you are a web developer you can bring your HTML/CSS & JavaScript skills straight to Windows 8. If you are a hard core programmer you can build an app with C++. If you've already been building Windows Phone apps, or coded with Silverlight, or ASP.NET apps you can build an app with C # or VB .NET..."

  • Evolving the Reflection API (Brandon Bray)

    • "As many developers have noticed, the reflection APIs changed in the .NET API set for Windows Store apps. Much of .NET's ability to offer a consistent programming model to so many platforms over the last ten years has been the result of great architectural thinking. The changes to reflection are here to prepare for the challenges over the next decade, again with a focus on great architecture. Richard Lander and Mircea Trofin, program managers respectively from the Common Language Runtime and .NET Core Framework teams, wrote this post..."

  • Minimalistic MVVM for Windows Runtime XAML Platform Development with C# (Filip Skakun)

    • "I have been using MVVM for a few years now and always felt it needed a summary of the state of things as well as my own opinion about it. This is it today. My approach to MVVM has been changing from the time when I was an eager student, through a devoted disciple, till today when I see it as a small tool in the toolbox of a XAML developer..."

  • Implementing the Settings Contract (Jeremy Foster)

    • "I presented at a developer camp in Redmond recently on the subject of implementing Windows 8 contracts. You can find the video on Channel 9. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough time to cover the implementation of the Settings contract, so I want to cover that now in the attached screencast. The Settings contract is an important one, since almost every app known to mankind has some user preferences or options to store..."

  • Building a project skeleton, using CSS3 layout and styling WinJS controls (Adam Kinney)

    • "This past week was spent turning wireframes and workflows into a moving prototype using static data. Not only does this action of sketching out the project inform architecture, but it also allows us to create the placeholders once we get the visual design. As a bonus, a short screen cap of the prototype can be a valuable asset while the app concept is still forming in our heads..."

  • XNA and a Windows 8 Store game? MonoGame! (Greg Duncan)

    • "Today's Modern UI Monday post is a series by Bob Familiar that shows us how we CAN XNA in a Windows 8 Modern UI application, with a little help from MonoGame and SharpDX..."

  • Popularity of C# vs. JS vs. C++ for Windows 8 apps (Tim Greenfield)

    • "A few months ago I was speaking with a reporter and was asked which development model the industry was gravitating toward for Windows 8 apps. My impression was that Xaml + C# appeared to be strongest out of the gate but only time would tell if JavaScript+HTML would slowly close the gap..."

  • Creating a WinRT component using C++/CX Part 2: Adding a custom Direct2D effect to DeForm (David Catuhe)

    • "This article will show you how to use the Direct2D effect pipeline to create a custom Direct2D effect. This effect will try to apply some kind of Polaroïd effect by applying many filters in a row: Black&White, Sepia tone, Saturation, Brightness..."

  • Accessing the Accelerometer in a Windows Store App using HTML and JavaScript (David Isbitski)

    • "This is the fifth in a series of short screencasts that will teach you Windows Store App development in a fun and immersive way via casual gaming. This screencast covers accessing an Accelerometer Sensor in your Windows Store App using HTML and JavaScript..."

  • Building Windows 8 Apps with XAML: What .NET Developers Need to Know (Tim Heuer)

    • "If you are experienced with .NET or Silverlight and are familiar with XAML, this session will teach you everything you need to know to create an app for the Windows Store. This session will cover updates to familiar features and explore concepts that are new for Windows 8..."

Tools, Services, Frameworks, & Libraries

  • Announcing Windows Azure Mobile Services (Scott Guthrie)

    • "I'm excited to announce a new capability we are adding to Windows Azure today: Windows Azure Mobile Services. Windows Azure Mobile Services makes it incredibly easy to connect a scalable cloud backend to your client and mobile applications. It allows you to easily store structured data in the cloud that can span both devices and users, integrate it with user authentication, as well as send out updates to clients via push notifications. Today's release enables you to add these capabilities to any Windows 8 app in literally minutes, and provides a super productive way for you to quickly build out your app ideas. We'll also be adding support to enable these same scenarios for Windows Phone, iOS, and Android devices soon..."

  • #mvvmlight V4 update for Win8 RTM (Laurent Bugnion)

    • "With Windows 8 RTM out of the doors (at least for some of us), it was also time to create an update to MVVM Light. I selected the V4 RTM to do this (V4.0.23).This RTM version was released a few weeks ago with no much bells and whistles because I was just too busy to write much about it. Now after some vacation, I will resume blogging on all my favorite topics including of course MVVM Light..."