Windows App Development with Visual Studio
About Visual Studio
Microsoft made developers life easy with the release of visual studio 2013. Many loving features such as the ability to move code lines or blocks using keyboard shortcuts, in-line navigation, automatic completion of brackets, and the reference to the classes/method/properties are now above the definition of it. The whole set of new features can be found at below links
Background
Along with many new features, Visual studio 2013 introduces or we can say that Visual studio 2013 itself is a tool or collections of tools that can be used to create, code, debug, localize, package, and deploy a Windows Store app. In short, Visual Studio can help you do just about anything you need to do to develop a Windows Store app. For windows 8 apps, visual studio 2012 can still be used but for windows 8.1 apps you must have visual studio 2013 on a machine running windows 8.1 operating system. So we can summaries the above points as below
- For windows 8.1 apps you must have visual studio 2013 on a computer running Windows 8.1
- For windows 8 version of windows apps you must have visual studio 2012 on a computer running windows 8
- Windows 7 / Windows server 2012 can’t be used for Windows Store app development even if you install Visual Studio 2012/2013 on it. The components required for windows app development will not be installed on Windows 7/Windows Server 2012 along with the installation of the Visual Studio 2012/2013
- You can maintain the windows 8 version of the app by using visual studio 2013 and it can be migrated to windows 8.1 version
Note: You must have a developer license to develop and test Windows Store apps before the Windows Store can certify them.
Language Support
You can create windows apps using below languages
To make developers life easy visual studio 2012/2013 provides various templates for above specified languages. Below are the available templates:
Figure 3: Templates for C++ to create windows app
When you create a project for a Windows Store app, Visual Studio creates a solution, which is a way of managing the various source elements of your project (code files, images, style sheets, settings, and so on). A solution container can contain multiple projects, and a project container typically contains multiple items that represent the references, folders, and files that you need to create your app. In addition to source code files appropriate to the language, each project also includes the package.appxmanifest file, which describes the app package for Windows. Each project also includes several image files, like splashscreen.png for the splash screen image and storelogo.png, which is used for Windows Store. A project source certificate (.pfx) file that's required for signing the package is also included in each project.
Designing User Interface
You can design the Interface of your app either thru writing code by selecting the appropriate templates available in the visual studio or via visual designer provided with each available template .A visual designer provides a designer-oriented interface for app design that includes a drag-and-drop interface for building the UI.
Visual designer provided in Blend for Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 can also be used for designing the user interface of windows apps.
Writing Code
Visual studio provides rich source code editors for writing code in many languages. For writing code for your windows app you can use the full-featured editors for the languages such as JavaScript, HTML/XML/XAML, CSS, C#, Visual Basic, C++. The editors provide many language-specific features that you can customize to help create your apps.
Using rich features of the visual studio such as IntelliSense, which provides features such as statement completion and parameter Help as you type code, Code snippet insertion, available by right-clicking in a code file and clicking Insert Snippet, Navigation aids like Go To Definition, Bookmarks, and Navigate To, you can develop apps in a very short span of time.
Building and Running your App
You can build and run your windows app same as other projects you build and run in visual studio. There nothing new to this process. To build an app either you can right click on the solution and choose Build or Rebuild solution or press F7 to Build and Ctrl+Alt+F7 to rebuild the app.
To run your application either select Debug->Start Debugging from main menu or press F5. Using these commands, it will run on the host computer by default but you can run your app on simulator or on a remote device. More details about running app on remote device or simulator can be found at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?linkid=237304
Packaging and deployment
The package.appxmanifest XML file enables you to configure a deployment package for Windows Store. The Manifest Designer in Visual Studio provides a user interface for configuring the package. You can access the deployment options in the Manifest Designer by double-clicking the package.appxmanifest file in Solution Explorer and then selecting the Packaging tab of the Manifest Designer.
References
Feel free to post any query related to Windows app development here as a comment. I will try to resolve you all queries.Language Support
You can create windows apps using below languages
-
Java Script
For step by step guide to create windows app using java script you can follow the link http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/br211385.aspx
- C# (C Sharp) / Visual Basic
For step by step guide to create windows app using c#/visual basic you can follow the link http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh974581.aspx
- C++) with XAML
For step by step guide to create windows app using C++ with XAML you can follow the link http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=267208
- C++ with DirectX For step by step guide to create windows app using C++ with DirectX you can follow the link http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=267210
To make developers life easy visual studio 2012/2013 provides various templates for above specified languages. Below are the available templates:
- JavaScript project templates for Windows Store apps
- C#, VB, and C++ project templates for Windows Store apps
- JavaScript item templates for Windows Store apps
- C#, VB, and C++ item templates for Windows Store apps
Figure 1: Templates for Java Script to create windows app
Figure 2: Templates for C# to create windows app
When you create a project for a Windows Store app, Visual Studio creates a solution, which is a way of managing the various source elements of your project (code files, images, style sheets, settings, and so on). A solution container can contain multiple projects, and a project container typically contains multiple items that represent the references, folders, and files that you need to create your app. In addition to source code files appropriate to the language, each project also includes the package.appxmanifest file, which describes the app package for Windows. Each project also includes several image files, like splashscreen.png for the splash screen image and storelogo.png, which is used for Windows Store. A project source certificate (.pfx) file that's required for signing the package is also included in each project.
Designing User Interface
You can design the Interface of your app either thru writing code by selecting the appropriate templates available in the visual studio or via visual designer provided with each available template .A visual designer provides a designer-oriented interface for app design that includes a drag-and-drop interface for building the UI.
Visual designer provided in Blend for Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 can also be used for designing the user interface of windows apps.
Writing Code
Visual studio provides rich source code editors for writing code in many languages. For writing code for your windows app you can use the full-featured editors for the languages such as JavaScript, HTML/XML/XAML, CSS, C#, Visual Basic, C++. The editors provide many language-specific features that you can customize to help create your apps.
Using rich features of the visual studio such as IntelliSense, which provides features such as statement completion and parameter Help as you type code, Code snippet insertion, available by right-clicking in a code file and clicking Insert Snippet, Navigation aids like Go To Definition, Bookmarks, and Navigate To, you can develop apps in a very short span of time.
Figure 4: C# Code editor for windows apps
Building and Running your App
You can build and run your windows app same as other projects you build and run in visual studio. There nothing new to this process. To build an app either you can right click on the solution and choose Build or Rebuild solution or press F7 to Build and Ctrl+Alt+F7 to rebuild the app.
To run your application either select Debug->Start Debugging from main menu or press F5. Using these commands, it will run on the host computer by default but you can run your app on simulator or on a remote device. More details about running app on remote device or simulator can be found at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?linkid=237304
Packaging and deployment
The package.appxmanifest XML file enables you to configure a deployment package for Windows Store. The Manifest Designer in Visual Studio provides a user interface for configuring the package. You can access the deployment options in the Manifest Designer by double-clicking the package.appxmanifest file in Solution Explorer and then selecting the Packaging tab of the Manifest Designer.
References
- http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/eng/visual-studio-2013#story-2013
- http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/apps/jj680875
- http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/jj680877
- http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb385682(v=vs.120).aspx
- http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/windows/apps/bg125376
- http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/windows/apps/bg182410
You can download the above article as a pdf from below link
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