Windows App Developer Links - 2012-10-04

posted on 03 Oct 2012 | App Developer Links

Windows 8 App Development

  • Windows Store app development: Include that privacy policy (Pete Brown)

    • "Privacy is a huge concern to most customers. Part of the Windows Store app certification process includes checking for the presence of a privacy policy if your app declares any capabilities which could affect privacy. MSDN has a section (4.1.1) explaining what is expected from the privacy policy. I won't quote it here, but some important points jump out (emphasis mine). 'Declaring certain capabilities in your app manifest makes us think your app collects the corresponding private information.'..."

  • Microsoft DevRadio: (Part 1) Windows Azure Mobile Services - Overview (Channel 9)

    • "Jerry Nixon welcomes Josh Twist and Paul Batum from the Windows Azure team as they discuss Windows Azure Mobile Services. Tune in for part one of this series as they give a brief overview of what Azure Mobile Services is, why you should care as well as what features are available now that can help with your Windows 8 app development..."

  • Rotating Elements in XAML While Maintaining Proper Flow (Morten Nielsen)

    • "I recently had to lay out some text vertically stacked on top of each other in Windows 8, similar to how tabs in Visual Studio are laid out. The obvious way to do that would be to first place the texts in a stack panel, and then rotate them like so..."

  • Windows Store - Developer Registration Tips (Katrien De Graeve)

    • "In this post you'll find our top tips for going through Windows Store developer registration, based on the learning's we've had these past few months as we work with Belgian developers to get ready for Windows 8 launch..."

  • A WinRT behavior to start a storyboard on an event (Joost van Schaik)

    • "Sometimes I get a bit distracted. In this article I mention a behavior I wrote that starts an storyboard on an event, I even put in in the win8nl library - and then totally forget to blog about it, or even to announce it. So anyway, when Danny van Neyghem asked me about a problem that was almost solved by my behavior, I kinda remembered it, and that I totally forgot about it - and decided a) to improve it and b) to talk about it (well, write)..."

  • Simple AES (Symmetric Key) Encryption in WinRT (Can Bilgin)

    • "Symmetric key encryption, also called secret key encryption, requires that the key used for encryption also be used for decryption. You can use a SymmetricKeyAlgorithmProvider object to specify a symmetric algorithm and create or import a key. You can use static methods on the CryptographicEngine class to encrypt and decrypt data by using the algorithm and key..."

  • Don't forget your Store Logo (Nigel Sampson)

    • "If you've been browsing the new Windows 8 Store you may notice everyonce in a while an app with an icon that looks like the listing on the left. This isn't a bug but an indication that the developer hasn't included a Store Logo with their app. To be honest I'm surprised this doesn't trigger a Store submission error but for whatever reason some apps are getting through with the default Store Logo..."

Apps & Code to Look At

  • Who's on 8? Cool Tools (Jim O'Neil)

    • "Next to games, ‘tools and productivity' is the most popular category of mobile applications, as developer Matt Ruffell, founder of MDR Applications, knows from experience. His Cool Tools application on the Windows Phone marketplace has a four star rating and over 200,000 downloads (and climbing)! When I first contacted Matt about bringing some of his apps to Windows 8, he was definitely ready to take advantage of the "first mover" opportunity..."

Tools, Services, Frameworks, & Libraries

  • Announcing! Windows 8 Bing Maps SDK is Available! (Jerry Nixon)

    • "... So many of you developers with Windows 8 applications with maps were waiting with baited breath. Now you no longer have to wait! You can rebuild your app in RTM bits and submit to the store to be there for GA!..."

  • The HealthVault Windows 8 SDK is now available! (Jerry Nixon)

    • "What is HealthVault? HealthVault is the single repository of your entire medical life - across doctors, clinics, and years. HealthVault is a secure repository for you and your family's medical and fitness data. It can be, at your control, shared with health providers or anyone you trust - but only if you want to. It can be integrated into applications and technology..."

  • DirectXTK October 2012 release (Shawn Hargreaves)

    • "The DirectX Tool Kit has been updated with two new features: Added a ScreenGrab module for easily saving rendertarget contents into .dds or other image formats, Extended GeometricPrimitive.h with a new CreateGeoSphere method (thanks to my colleague Adrian Tsai for contributing this code!). There are also some minor tweaks and bugfixes..."