A Developer's View of Windows 8

A Developer's View of Windows 8

Andrei Marukovich

[email protected]

@taggedfrog

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Agenda

• Developing for Classic Desktop

• Introduction to Metro UI

• Building Metro applications

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Is .NET dead?

vs

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Windows 8 platform

Windows Kernel Services

Internet Explorer Win32

CLR

Metro-style APIs

C# / VBHTML /

JSor

SL

C / C++

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.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)

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Asynchronous development

• New data structures

• New async APIs

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

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DemoAsync and Await

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If it runs on a Windows 7,

it'll run on Windows 8 PC

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DemoMetro UI

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App suspension

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

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App lifecycle states

Not started Running

Suspended

Suspending

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DemoApp lifecycle

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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++

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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)

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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++

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.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

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XAML for Metro

• New variation of XAML, close to Silverlight

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

• New controls• ProgressRing• FlipView• GridView• ListView

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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

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DemoDeveloping Windows 8 apps

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App packaging

• .appx file format (zip)

• Compiled app and resources

• App Manifest

• BlockMap

• Digital signature

AppXManifest.xml

BlockMap

Signature

Files / Assets

.appx package

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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

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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

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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/

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Q & A

lunarfrog.com/blog

@taggedfrog

Thank you!

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