A Developer's View of Windows 8

A Developer's View of Windows 8

Andrei Marukovich

andrei.marukovich@lunarfrog.com

@taggedfrog

2

Agenda

• Developing for Classic Desktop

• Introduction to Metro UI

• Building Metro applications

3

Is .NET dead?

vs

4

Windows 8 platform

Windows Kernel Services

Internet Explorer Win32

CLR

Metro-style APIs

C# / VBHTML /

JSor

SL

C / C++

5

.NET 4.5 Framework

• Pre-installed in Windows 8

• Windows XP is not supported

• Use 4.0 runtime (same as 3.5 use 2.0 RT)

6

Asynchronous development

• New data structures

• New async APIs

• New keywords in C# and VB• async• await

7

DemoAsync and Await

8

If it runs on a Windows 7,

it'll run on Windows 8 PC

9

DemoMetro UI

10

App suspension

• Inactive apps are suspended by the OS:• Apps remain in memory• No CPU, Disk or Network consumed• All threads are suspended

11

App lifecycle states

Not started Running

Suspended

Suspending

12

DemoApp lifecycle

13

Windows 8 platform

Windows Kernel Services

Internet Explorer Win32

CLR

WinRT APIs

Application Model

Communication Graphics/Media Devices

LanguagesC# / VB

HTML / JSor

SL

C / C++

14

WinRT

• Object-oriented Win32 replacement

• Native, written in C++

• Based on COM

• .NET-like metadata

• Any language can be used to extend it

• Async everywhere (50ms rule)

15

Windows 8 platform

Windows Kernel Services

Internet Explorer Win32

CLR

WinRT APIs

Application Model

Communication Graphics/Media Devices

IE 10 EngineC / C++

CLR

JavaScript C# / VB

HTML / CSS DirectX XAMLC# / VB

HTML / JSor

SL

C / C++

16

.NET Metro profile

• Subset of Client Profile• No Remoting• No System.Data• No System.Web• No private reflection, no Emit• Some APIs replaced with async versions• Some .NET classes moved to WinRT

17

XAML for Metro

• New variation of XAML, close to Silverlight

• Standard controls• Button, TextBox, ComboBox, CheckBox, etc.

• New controls• ProgressRing• FlipView• GridView• ListView

18

Demo

• Image Browser• Scans Pictures library and shows all the

keywords• Allows to select a keyword• Shows all the images for the keyword

• Snapping

• Search integration

• FilePicker integration

19

DemoDeveloping Windows 8 apps

20

App packaging

• .appx file format (zip)

• Compiled app and resources

• App Manifest

• BlockMap

• Digital signature

AppXManifest.xml

BlockMap

Signature

Files / Assets

.appx package

21

Installation

• Declarative approach

• Everything installed in one folder

• Installation is on per-user basis• Installation for first user• Registration for the next

• No custom actions

• Automatic updates

22

How to start

• Main start point: http://dev.windows.com/• Samples• Metro style app reference and APIs• Forums• Windows 8 Developer Preview with developer

tools (x64)

• Installation on a VM• VirtualBox 4.1.2+• VMware Workstation 8.0+• Hyper-V

23

Links

• BUILD conference videos

• http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/BUILD/BUILD2011

• 8 Traits of Great Metro Style Apps (Jensen Harris)

• Building Windows 8 blog • http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/

24

Q & A

lunarfrog.com/blog

@taggedfrog

Thank you!

25