An Introduction to Universal Windows Apps
•Download as PPTX, PDF•
2 likes•964 views
At Build 2014 the world was introduced to the idea of creating Universal Windows apps. This technology will allow developers to extend platform commonality across multiple Windows devices from one shared project. In this session I will demonstrate what you will need to know to get going quickly on building one application for both Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows 8.1 OS. We will also see how to extend your project to include other new features. This talk was given at ConFoo 2015.
Recommended
Recommended
More Related Content
What's hot
What's hot (20)
Similar to An Introduction to Universal Windows Apps
Similar to An Introduction to Universal Windows Apps (20)
More from Ken Cenerelli
More from Ken Cenerelli (14)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
An Introduction to Universal Windows Apps
- 1. An Introduction to Universal Windows Apps Ken Cenerelli @KenCenerelli
- 2. What is it? Build one app that targets Windows and Windows Phone Provides a common experience, shared app identity, single app purchase, shared in-app purchases and shared data/profile It is not: A single binary A non-Windows application (i.e. Supporting Android & iOS) A non-native HTML/JavaScript application (i.e. Apache Cordova)
- 3. Overview Announced in April 2014 Develop once for all Windows devices using a unified Windows runtime and set of tools Project structure comes from Linked Files, a technology since the early days of .NET 2005
- 4. Platform Convergence Windows Phone 8.1, Windows 8 RT and Window 8.1 flavours of Windows share a common runtime Existing Windows 8 apps can be migrated to shared projects Share code while just making tweaks to the UI Silverlight Phone 8.0 apps work on 8.1 without upgrade The Windows Runtime API & Microsoft SDKs are around 90% converged and closing
- 5. Why should you care? Windows 10 is coming with a free upgrade for Windows 8 so exponentially more adoption within the enterprise Source: OS Platform Statistics, http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_os.asp Flip side though is Windows Phone market share is 2.9% compared to ~84% for Android and ~12% for iOS Source: Smartphone OS Market Share, Q3 2014, http://www.idc.com/prodserv/smartphone-os-market-share.jsp
- 6. Things to know Multiple languages supported (C# or C++ with XAML, C++ with DirectX, and JavaScript with HTML/CSS) The IDE is free Must be Visual Studio 2013 with Update 2 or later Works with the Express versions and the new Community Edition Physical device nice to have but not essential Requires a developer license for your computer Needs a Microsoft account (i.e. Windows Live account) Requires a developer account to publish ($20 CAD)
- 7. Demo Our first Universal Windows App
- 8. How to share code? Before UA there were: Linked Files Portable Class Libraries We now have: Shared Projects (Conditional Compilation) Partial Classes (Split the code across multiple files) Portable Class Libraries Base Classes User Controls Visibility
- 9. Things to share Reusable business logic (C# code) Resources & Assets (images) Views similar to both projects: Login Page Privacy Page
- 10. Demo Sharing code and views: Shared Projects Conditional Compilation Partial Classes XAML UI code
- 11. Rules of Thumb Conditional Compilation Can make code difficult to read Solves small, quick-hit platform problems Only supported when using the Shared project Partial classes Makes it easy to isolate platform code Difficult to see the entirety of your code Don’t expect to save time writing XAML Do expect to save time writing implementation code
- 12. Tips for design Think through the design for both platforms before you start coding If you keep the Microsoft design, it means that the user knows how to move around the app intuitively Device variability: Default for tablet Is landscape and default for phone is portrait It’s okay if each version doesn’t look the same and doesn’t have the same features There is no silver bullet solution There are just small choices you will make as you develop a pattern of practice
- 13. Tips for development Develop apps in sync to solve problems in parallel Target lowest supported device for phone development ~50% of Windows Phone users use a low-end device Startup both projects in the emulator at the same time Use the Navigation Bar to segment your code per project Optimize the user experience for the device they are on
- 14. Testing Unit Tests Create separate unit test projects for each platform Coded UI Need Visual Studio Premium and Ultimate Windows App Certification Kit (WACK) Available as separate download Windows Store app test cases
- 15. Publishing Reserve a name in the store for your app Valid for 12 months Must match the Display Name in your app manifest If the app connects to internet, must have a Privacy Policy Publish first app and then associate the second to it Approval takes anywhere from 0.5 days to a week
- 16. Resources Get started with Universal Windows Apps: http://bit.ly/1L45n62 http://bit.ly/1MrKx3Q http://bit.ly/1u033XM
- 17. Summary Please fill out your surveys! Title: An Introduction to Universal Windows Apps https://joind.in/talk/view/13288 Contact Details: @KenCenerelli Ken_Cenerelli@Outlook.com kencenerelli.wordpress.com/contact
Editor's Notes
- - 100% will probably never happen; different devices and different expectations; e.g. Phone calls but not on tablet
- Windows 10 is in Technical Preview now and scheduled for mid-2015
- Can create a Mixed app to move existing code towards a universal model Add a Windows app 8.1 Add a Class Library (Portable for Universal Apps) Right click PCL | Properties | Change to change targets
- Linked Files: Linked Files and Shared Projects are pretty much the same Universal Apps use Linked Files in the background but provides us with better tooling and makes it easier to get started developing Conditional Compilation: Means compiling the bits we need for that project; they compile to two different projects Visibility: Can add visible in the various elements to only show for that Collapsed means it does not take up screen real estate or render time for that project
- - Resource files can be used in XAML and code
- - Shared project + conditional compilation is the most used
- Platform differences is natural and expected on both the user and developer sides; targeting different devices and different user expectations You can have responsive design to trap the switch from landscape to portrait Can use Blend to design your UI There are 191 Markets and 54 languages
- WACK test for certification Microsoft uses this tool before they manually test Even use for side loading apps Get a full report on pass/fail
- You can reserve your app name well before you submit (or even build) your app This value must be no more than 256 characters Make sure that you use your reserved app name as the DisplayName in your app's manifest