Developing on Windows 8

Power point template by Colin Eberhardt

Agenda

WinRT Platform Basics

Best practices

Pickers

Contracts

Tiles

Notifications

Who am I

Einar Ingebrigtsen

einar@dolittle.com@einari

http://blog.dolittle.comhttp://www.ingebrigtsen.info

The target

One runtime to rule them all

Old school interop

Your Managed Code

Traditional Windows API

Manually Generated Interop Code

Windows RT style

Your Managed Code Windows 8 API

Windows Runtime

Architecture

Metro style appLanguage Support

(CLR, WinJS, CRT)

Language Projection

Windows Metadata & Namespace

Web Host (HTML, CSS, JavaScript)

Windows Core

Runtime Broker Windows Runtime Core

UI Pickers Controls Media

XAML Storage Network …

Bridging the gap

FileOpenPicker picker = new FileOpenPicker();picker.FileTypeFilter.Add("*")a;

StorageFile file = await picker.PickSingleFileAsync();

Windows.Storage.Streams.IInputStream inputStream = await file.OpenReadAsync();

System.IO.Stream stream = inputStream.AsStreamForRead();System.IO.StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(stream);

string contents = reader.ReadToEnd();

Missing things

Reflection API changedType details through GetTypeInfo() – extension methodEmit namespace practically empty - security

XAML

Originally developed for Windows Vista and exposed as WPF

Defines what you see

Layout is by default not flowing, as in HTML

Can observe changes (Active View)

Tools

Visual Studio 2012

Blend for VS2012

Binding

SourceDefaults to DataContextCan use StaticResource as source

ModeOneWay, TwoWay, OneTime – OneWay default

ValidationValidatesOnExceptionValidatesOnNotifyDataErrors

INotifyDataErrorInfo

Binding

StringFormatStringFormat = ‘MMM.dd.yyyy’

Null and Fallback valuesTargetNullValue=‘(None)’FallbackValue=‘(Data Context Not Set)’

IValueConverter

Element to Element

Can bind directly to other elements properties

Binds by name of element

Events

You still have events as before – buttons can be clicked and raise an event

RoutedEvents – bubbles through the UI

Async

var future = DownloadDataAsync(...); future.ContinueWith(data => ProcessData(data));

DownloadDataAsync

ProcessData

STOP

ProcessDataDownloadData

var data = DownloadData(...);ProcessData(data);

Async Models

Windows Runtime : IAsyncOperation<T>

.NET Framework : Task<T>

C# 5.0 – async / await

Async – C# style

Marked with “async” modifier

Must return void or Task<T>

Use “await” operator to cooperatively yield control – remember to mark with “async”

Feels just like good old synchronous code

Patterns & Practices

MVVMInspired by PresentationModel by Martin FowlerGood for decoupling – promotes testability

Compositioning

Commands

Actions / Triggers / Behaviors

MVVM

Model

ViewModel

View

Observes

Observable

Compositional UIs

HeaderN

avig

ati

on

Main Content

Footer

Event Aggregator

ViewModel 1 ViewModel 2

Aggregator

Tiles

Tap on tile to launch or switch to an app

Static default tile specified in app manifest

Two sizes:

Both sizes can have live updates

Live Tiles

Tiles updates using pre-defined templates

Templates provide rich rendering options

Text-only image-only or combination

JPEG or PNG only, max size 150 KB

Optional “peek” animation

Local or cloud updates

Notification Queuing

Opt-in to automatically cycle tile through last five notifications

By default only last notification shown

Secondary Tiles

Tiles created by “pinning” content from app

Pin initiated by app via simple runtime call

User confirms pin operation via system UI

Exposes a personalized surface for app

Same capabilities as app tiles

Launch leads to relevant content

Windows Notification Service

Enables delivery of tile and toast notification over the internet

Tile updates and notifications shown to the user even if your app is not running

WNS handles communication with your app

Scales to millions of users

WNS is a free service for your app to use

Push Notification Overview

Windows 8 Cloud Service

Windows Push Notification

Service

Metro Style App

Notification

Client Platform

2

3

1 3

1. Request Channel URI

2. Register with your Cloud Service

3. Authenticate & Push Notification

Toast Notifications

Toast notifications deliver transient messages outside the context of the app

Use toast notifications to get user’s attention immediately

User is in control and can permanently turn off toast notifications from your app

Allows quick navigation to a contextually relevant location in your app

Toast notifications are easy to invoke from your app or from the cloud

Toast Templates

Uses same template architecture as Live Tiles

Rich set of rendering options available

Contracts

Contracts enable integrating the Windows 8 experience into your app

Yields a consistent UI for all apps

Search

Enables your app to interact and respond to

SuggestionsSearch Query

Settings

Consistently given one place to get searchContext sensitive to the front facing app

Share

Your app can share anything (text, images, binaries)Automatically filters available applications to share to

Your app can be a share target – receive sharing from othersAdd sharing target as a capability and you can receive share requests

Play To

Ability to stream media to compatible devices

Summarized

Windows RT is a huge leap, both in faith but also technically

Consistent API that feels mature from day one

Well architected solutions putting the user first

Makes us as developers focus on adding the business value

Resources

The samples of todayhttp://github.com/einari/toodeloo

Yggdrasil – IoC Containerhttp://github.com/dolittlestudios/yggdrasil https://nuget.org/packages/Yggdrasil

INPC Weaverhttp://github.com/SimonCropp/NotifyPropertyWeaver

WinRT Toolkit http://jupitertoolkit.codeplex.com

Tiny IoC container - WinRT Compatiblehttp://microsliver.codeplex.com/

Resources

MVVM Lighthttp://mvvmlight.codeplex.com/

Setting up push notifications – registering your apphttps://manage.dev.live.com/build

WAT for Windows 8 + WnsRecipehttp://watwindows8.codeplex.com/releases/view/73334

Calisto – UI Framework for WinRThttps://github.com/timheuer/callisto

Get into the store – register as a deveveloperhttp://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/

Thanks for your attention