Essential XAML

New Windows 8 Store Apps Development with C# 6 days Course by Tomer Shamam

Recently, I've been working hard, developing a new Windows 8 Store Apps 6 days Course for C# developers. Today I was very proud to deliver it to one of John Bryce customers, at Hi-Tech College, Herzliya, and it was a great beginning. The course is very detailed and practical, just like I did with a previous 6 days WPF course I've developed. Different content, different college, but same mini-Me J . So if you've enjoyed previous sessions with me, I'm sure you'll enjoy this course...

Just in case Input Language in Windows 8 is driving you nuts... by Tomer Shamam

In case you’re working with more than one input language in Windows 8 (EN, HE…), and you’re wondering “Why the hell the input language is HE in vs2012 or EN in Word, or the opposite, and not switching back automatically…”? The answer for this question is: starting with Windows 8, the default for input language for any window is the last selected by the user (Users request from Microsoft…). This situation is great for users who are working with only one language. This feature is annoying for users...

Using C# types from C++/CX in Windows 8 Store Apps by Tomer Shamam

One of the best things happened to Windows 8 Store Apps (aka Metro apps) is the option to write apps and games with pure, native C++, with the help of CX extensions. Aside from performance gained by using C++, being able to develop with C++ in Windows 8 Apps addresses one of the most requested scenarios: Porting and Code Sharing. Lets say that you’re the creator of a famous Mobile Application, developed using C++ for Android and other platforms, and you may want to port this great app, or pieces...

Microsoft has just released Windows 8 and VS 2012 for MSDN subscribers by Tomer Shamam

Microsoft has just released Windows 8 and Visual Studio 2012 for MSDN subscribers! What are you waiting for? If you’ve MSDN subscription, go ahead, be first to download this long awaited release. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/downloads/hh442898.aspx Now with the release of both, Windows 8 and Visual Studio 2012 we can develop Windows 8 apps and upload them to the online store. Also don’t forget to check the Windows 8 Apps Development Microsoft’s Israeli forum I’m coordinating with...

Get screen resolution in Windows 8 Metro style application by Tomer Shamam

Today, someone asked an interesting question in the Israeli Metro forum I’m moderating. The question was: “How can I know what’s the screen resolution in a Metro style app?” This is a tricky answer, since: This capability has been removed from the RC. We can’t rely on current window Width and Height, since it may not be fully opened (snapping). Well, searching a bit over the API’s, I didn’t find anything that can help, but, we can always use DirectX. Creating a C++ Metro style application, here’s...

Windows Phone Summit – Live Blogging by Tomer Shamam

Windows Phone Summit is taking place right now, and I’m watching it Live over the the WEB at http://aka.ms/wpsummit Frankly, there’s nothing new I didn’t know, but now it’s official by Microsoft. There are about 9 new features in the future Windows Phone 8 Shared core between Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, includes Native Code apps! Support of Multi Core CPU’s Support for additional 2 screen resolution: 720p, WXGA Removable MicroSD support Internet Explorer 10, with HTML5 and better JS performance...

Migrating your Windows 8 Consumer Preview app to Windows 8 Release Preview by Tomer Shamam

Lately, Microsoft released Windows 8 Release Preview , and also Visual Studio 2012 RC . If you’re a Metro Style application developer, you might wonder what has changed from the last Beta. As one who have already developed Metro Style apps, I can say that there are braking changes! One of my favorite is in the Dispatcher ( CoreDispatcher class) which no longer contains BeginInvoke pre-historic operation style of the old version of asynchronous pattern. Instead it contains the modern ‘async’ convention...

Windows 8 Development Tutorial – Part 1 – First Steps by Tomer Shamam

Now that both Windows 8 Consumer Preview and Visual Studio 11 Beta have been released, it’s a fantastic time posting about Windows 8 programming, especially about the new Metro style based applications. For the sake of rapid-start, I’ll save the writing about what Metro Style application is, but I’ll give you a link in case that you’ve missed that: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh464920.aspx Installing Windows 8 Customer Preview Before we begin, I highly recommend you to install...

Windows 8 Consumer Preview (beta) is out! by Tomer Shamam

Windows 8 Beta build 8250 is out, and you can download it from here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/download The new beta is called Consumer Preview and it contains some installed apps and other 100 can be downloaded from the Windows Store. Here are some of the new features you can find: New bootscreen New branding New shortcut menu New way to close Immersive Apps New start button New Aero lite theme New Ribbon organization New splitted touch keyboard organisation

Windows 8 Dilemma – Could it run your Enterprise Applications? by Tomer Shamam

As it was cleared out by Microsoft about three months ago, Windows 8 based devices, running on top of ARM based CPU’s won’t be able to run existing x86 and x64 software. The only option will be running Windows 8 Metro Style applications (though the OS API’s are the same, meaning you can recompile the application and device drivers with few difficulties and have them running on top of ARM based CPU’s in desktop mode). Having this in mind, and that the Desktop mode should be considered for “legacy...

Programming Windows 8 Metro style apps using C# and XAML by Tomer Shamam

This Wednesday, 07-Dec-2011, I’m having a whole day tutorial, showing how to develop Windows 8 Metro Style applications using C# and XAML from scratch. In this day you’ll learn what is a Metro style app, and how to use the API’s provided with the first Windows 8 Preview to develop great Metro style apps. Here are the abstract & agenda: Abstract Windows 8, Microsoft's next generation OS designed to run on top of Desktop and Tablet machines, introduces the next step in the evolution of the...

My Windows 8 Contracts Keynote Session at SDP by Tomer Shamam

Thank you for participating my Windows 8 Contracts session at Sela’s SDP conference, it was a great pleasure and I hope you’ve enjoyed the conference. In this session I’ve talked about Windows 8 Contracts in general and demonstrated how to implement both share source and target contracts, in a Metro Style app to share data between Metro style applications. Here are the presentation and demo code: Note that in the presentation and demo code you can also find how to implement a Search Contract. Hope...

Windows 8 Keyboard Shortcuts by Tomer Shamam

Just though it would be a great idea to share Windows 8 Keyboard Shortcuts, in case you’re going to present Windows 8 Session, or just have fun with Windows 8 and you don’t have touch screen. Key Action WINKEY Switch between Start Screen and last Metro app WINKEY + L Log off WINKEY + P Change Monitors layout WINKEY + D Show desktop WINKEY + Y Temporarily look at the desktop WINKEY + Enter Launches Narrator WINKEY + F File Search WINKEY + I Settings WINKEY + K Connections WINKEY + H Share WINKEY ...