Chapter 23. Developing Windows Store Applications

Windows 8 represented a significant departure from Windows releases of the past. For the first time in many, many years, the core development model, application design approach, and operating system fundamentals have all undergone a major shift. With touch-enabled devices abounding, Microsoft needed an operating system that could cater equally well to mainstream desktop, tablet and mobile form factors, and everything in between.

Therefore, Windows 8 ships with two distinct personalities: a desktop personality that looks and behaves somewhat similarly to Windows 7, and a new touch-focused and mobile device-targeted personality. This new personality (which has been variously referred to as Metro, Immersive, Modern UI, and most recently, simply “Windows applications”) is backed by a Windows Store: an app store that serves as the single install source for all such applications.

This chapter introduces you to the Visual Studio tools that enable you to write applications that can be published into that Windows Store—applications that leverage the technical capabilities of Windows 8 and beyond while conforming to the new look and feel and behavior expectations that users will have on the new UI platform. We examine the new Windows Runtime library, also known as WinRT, and we do a deep dive into the Windows Store project types and project item templates. Finally, we put these concepts into action by writing a Windows Store application.