New! .NET* SDK Quick Guide to Developing .NET Apps for the Intel® AppUpSM developer program

.NET AppUp developers, your day has come As a .NET developer for AppUp, I am very pleased that Intel has officially released the long awaited .NET AppUp SDK library. At last there is an elegant solution to allow us to submit our .NET offerings into the AppUp Center with ease. You are no longer required to create or purchase your own .NET wrapper for the C++ AppUp SDK. This offering removes the worry of whether or not your .NET title is implementing the AppUp authorization calls correctly. For those of you who are altogether too excited to read through this guide, please click the link below to download the .NET AppUp SDK.

Announcing .NET SDK & IDE Plug-in for Microsoft Visual Studio* The AppUp developer program launched support for .NET applications by releasing the .NET SDK, along with an IDE Plug-In for Visual Studio 2008. This plug-in reduces development time to integrate the AppUp SDKs and builds the MSI needed to submit your application for distribution and sales via the Intel® AppUpSM Center. The IDE Plug-in supports both the C/C++ and .NET SDK for Microsoft Windows* when using Visual Studio 2008.

The .NET AppUp SDK includes all of the C++ methods for authorization, instrumentation and crash reporting. There are also very descriptive exception types including UnauthorizedException, AdpRunTimeException and more to allow for a robust error handling implementation. What’s more is that the SDK assembly (AdpLibrary.dll) is only 52KB, that is a lot of functionality in a small package. It really is that easy The .NET AppUp SDK includes very thorough documentation which includes implementation details as well as code examples in C# and VB.NET. Code examples also differentiate between standard Winforms and WPF projects. Even a beginning .NET developer can be up and running within minutes.

I wanted to show you just how easy the .NET SDK is to implement by sharing a 24 line example comprising an entire .NET Console Project. *Note: This project while functional is far from complete. Please reference the .NET SDK Developer Guide for a complete reference. [FIGURE A]

Download the

AppUp .NET SDK & IDE Plugin

for Visual Studio

Intel® AppUpSM developer program

Provides developers with

everything they need to create and

sell their apps to users of millions of

Intel® Atom™ processor-based devices.

INTEl APPUP DEVEloPEr ProgrAM – gETTINg STArTED

In the Getting Started Guide you’ll find tools and tips to start developing your apps for the Intel AppUp Center.

• Developer guidelines

• Validation Process

• Submitting an Application

• Developer Challenge

• Porting to AppUp – Resources & Guides

Intel® AppUpSM developer programPart of the Intel® Software Network

1

Originally published as a blog by Brian Burrows at :http://appdeveloper.intel.com/en-us/blog/2010/10/12/net-appup-developers-your-day-has-come

That’s not all, introducing the AppUp Software Development Kit Visual Studio Plug-in Intel has also released an exciting Visual Studio 2008 plug-in. The AppUp Software Development Kit plug-in puts many of the Web Dashboard tasks we use at our fingertips inside the Visual Studio 2008 IDE. You can start a new application submission, check validation progress and more.

That’s not all; it also allows you to create a pre-made AppUp project using a simple wizard style interface. This provides and excellent starting point for new development as the result the required AppUp authorization calls. The AppUp Debugger is also easily accessed from the AppUp Software Development Kit toolbar, making local testing simple. [FIGURE B]

.NET and AppUp BenefitsThere are many reasons to be excited about this SDK release. By allowing .NET titles into AppUp, the door is opened to the various benefits that come with a managed runtime. You have the potential for quick time to market due to the nature of the .NET programming language, and a vast array of resources in established developer community with a wealth of experience. In my experience there is not another marketplace for .NET titles in the mobile lifestyle space that comes as complete and as easy to use as AppUp.

Applications of all types may be built using .NET from social media utilities that live in the tray to complete business suites. A good example of this is Twitter for Netbooks. This application needed to

look good, and make use of the Twitter* Web Services API. I was able to satisfy those requirements thanks to the familiarity of the C# language and WPF’s nack for making clean UI’s. This was done in far shorter time than it would have taken for a C++ equivalent.

If you have been in the market for developer talent, you will have noticed that there is no shortage of C# and VB.NET developers. This means that as your .NET AppUp project grows, you will have a large pool of individuals to choose from. The last estimate of the number of .NET developers in the world topped out at over 5 million..

What does this mean for porting projects?Say you have a .NET title that is already in production that you want to monetize quickly and easily. By integrating the .NET AppUp SDK you can leverage existing code and deliver your offering to a secure marketplace (i.e. AppUp). The initial integration of the AppUp authorization and error logging methods will in all likelihood take less time than lunch at your favorite restaurant. By following the examples outlined in the provided SDK documentation you will be well on your way to submitting your title.

The next step is to consider your title in relation to the netbook platform, after all it is much more than just another laptop. The netbook is a mobile lifestyle device and as such there are certain considerations to be made when porting. I encourage you to review this post for more on envisioning your title on the netbook:

appdeveloper.intel.com/en-us/article/conceptualizing-your-ported-...

Once you are satisfied that the user experience will be acceptable, you are on to the AppUp submission process. For additional resources please visit the porting section of the AppUp community.

appdeveloper.intel.com/en-us/porting

Intel® AppUpSM developer programPart of the Intel® Software Network

2

Existing .NET Wrappers Many developers in the AppUp community have developed their own .NET Wrappers in order to submit their applications prior to this release. Myself being one of them, I must share that the migration to the official .NET AppUp SDK is painless. I will further divulge that they have delivered more in this release in terms of features and reliability than any of the .NET wrappers I had the opportunity to test (including my own). None of the wrappers I tested made use of custom crash reporting, which is an amazing feature in itself. Migration is as simple as copy and paste, then test locally using the AppUp SDK Debugger.

WPF for UI design Now that we have .NET available to us in AppUp, we can leverage WPF. For those who are new to .NET, WPF stands for Windows Presentation Foundation; it offers rapid user interface development and many appealing features that the traditional Winforms project lack, such as re-usable styles and smooth animation. WPF is quickly becoming the project type of choice for many AppUp developers porting Android applications, as both use an easy to read XML markup for UI layout

It is also worth mentioning that WPF is hardware accelerated, and as such takes some of the load off of the ATOM CPU. I have seen a number of recess computing style games developed using WPF with great success. Titles in the educational category could also greatly benefit from a WPF implementation. Stick to .NET 3.5 While .NET 4.0 is being seen more often lately, we cannot count on the customer’s netbook having it installed. Therefore we must target .NET 3.5. The good news is that for most .NET developers, everything we really need (LINQ, Generics, etc.) are including in the 3.5 runtime.

Some of you may be wondering why we cannot just bundle the .NET 4.0 runtime with our MSI. Per the Validation Guide-lines, any dialogue box prompting the user to click on it will result in a validation failure. I would surmise that support for .NET 4.0 will be added in a future release of the .NET AppUp SDK.

More .NET SDK resources

• New AppUp Support for .NET

• Download the .NET SDK

• learn more about the .NET SDK

for AppUp

• Brian Burrows reviews the SDK

& new IDE Plug-in

• Download the Visual Studio Ap-

pUp IDE Plug-in (.MSI file)

• review the AppUp packaging

requirements

• Building an MSI for AppUp

(updated for .NET)

INTEl APPUPSM DEVEloPEr ProgrAM INCENTIVES ThAT MICroSoFT .NET DEVEloPErS CAN TAKE ADVANTAgE oF:

INTEl AToM DEVEloPEr MIllIoN DollAr FUND

Through this fund, we support software developers and companies creating new experiences through applications for Intel® Atom™ processor-based netbooks.

INTEl APPUP DEVEloPEr ChAllENgE

The contest is designed to encourage breakthrough applications that fundamentally change the user experience on a netbook featuring an Intel Atom processor. There are cash prizes and a 2011 Chevy* Volt* to be won.

lEgENDS

Want application visibility? The Legends program is a way to share the story behind the applications. Get your app in and submit your story. Become a Legend.

INTEl BlACK BElT DEVEloPEr SoFTWArE DEVEloPEr

Share your knowledge and earn recognition for your contributions.

3

Intel® AppUpSM developer programPart of the Intel® Software Network

About the Author

Brian Burrows

Brian has immersed himself in cutting edge application development for over a decade and enjoys the challenges of the mobile solutions environment. Experiences in the mobile applications world include enterprise data acquisition solutions for the Department of Defense, corporate productivity applications for Windows Mobile devices and many ports of legacy applications to more modern hardware. A proponent of agile architecture he believes in building in flexibility during the iterative development process. His varied resume has included locations from the U.S. to Australia using programming languages obscure and mainstream alike, diversity is often a common theme. Gravitating towards the next technological opportunity, the chance to get up to speed with the ATOM SDK caught his attention immediately as being both challenging and extremely rewarding. Languages: C, C++, C#, VB, Java, Fortran, Natural, ASM, Ruby, Power Builder ... plus a few others no one wants to talk about. :)

Brian is a recent contracted employee with Intel assisting in application engineering support and content for the Atom Developer Program.

Intel® AppUpSM developer programPart of the Intel® Software Network

Copyright © 2010 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.Intel® AppUpSM Developer Program | November 2010

*Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

Additional Notes and Known Restrictions: • As of October 2010, the submission section of the AppUp developer program site will not include a selection for .NET. You can instead select

Windows* as with C/C++ submissions and include your .MSI as normal. The submission portal will be updated with a .NET option later 2010. • As of October 2010, the .NET SDK works with version 3.5 of .NET applications. Using version 4.0 may have an issue with this SDK and could fail

validation. It is recommended that applications use version 3.5 to ensure application validation and a good consumer experience.