Programming the WinJS App Bar–Part 1–The Basics

I’ve been doing a lot of Windows 8 HTML5 development lately and wanted to share some key learning's for what I would consider to be one of the most integral parts of every GREAT windows 8 application – The App Bar.  To that end, this is the first of a multi-part series on the topic of programming the Windows 8 App Bar – specifically via WinJS (HTML, JS, and CSS).

In Windows 8, the App Bar is really the new “Toolbar” and provides a consistent commanding surface for both local contextual commands and global app functionality across screens – all nicely tucked at the bottom (or top) of the screen to keep the surface area of your App Free & Clear.
Some examples uses of the App Bar may include operations such as:

• Pinning  a Secondary Live Tile
• Invoking a Camera interaction or working with other system elements
• Providing Actions on a Data Entry Screen such as (File/Save/New…)

I recently completed a 3-part “How Do I” short video series on programming the WinJS App Bar for Channel 9 – here’s the line-up:
#1 - How Do I: Implement App Bars in a Windows 8 Metro Style Application (Part1)?
#2 - How Do I: Implement App Bars in a Windows 8 Metro Style Application (Part2)?
#3 - How Do I: Implement App Bars in a Windows 8 Metro Style Application (Part3)?

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Windows 8 apps for the PhoneGap developer

PhoneGap is an interesting animal. While it’s most salient aspect is the cross platform nature of the applications you can build with it, it’s also interesting in that you use HTML and JavaScript to create the apps. Since this relies on the underlying mobile browser technology on each platform, there are (from time to time) a few little quirks. But overall, it really does provide a nice layer of abstraction. You can bring your web skills into play, and all you have to do is learn a few specifics of creating and publishing an app on a particular platform, design the UI with HTML and CSS, code it up with standard JavaScript, learn a few new APIs that PhoneGap offers, and you’re all set. In fact, to some teams, the cross platform nature is secondary. They embarked on PhoneGap development because it allowed their teams to reuse their web development skills, their favorite libraries, design tools, and more.

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Use Expression Design to create a Windows 8 ‘Ratings’ control

If you are not aware of Expression Design, you are missing a powerful tool in your toolbox. Expression Design allows designers and developers to create original vector assets or edit existing, including those created in other tools (like those from Adobe).

An update to Expression Design 4 was recently released. You can download the June 2012 preview here. (learn more) As the capabilities of Design continue to bloom, in this article we’ll use the basic functions to create a vector-based ratings solution that anyone can add to their Windows application.

Windows 8 Notifications: Scheduled Notifications

Hopefully, you’ve had a chance to review my previous post on Local Notifications as it sets the foundation nicely for taking the next step to scheduling notifications to occur at some point in the future – when the application itself may or may not be actually running.

Time-specific “local” notifications

Taking the step from a local notification to a scheduled one is pretty simple; a scheduled notification is more or less a local notification with a specific delivery time attached to it. Given that there is no guarantee that the application will be running when that time arrives, a scheduled notification can actually fire when the application itself isn’t running.

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Analytics & Insights for Windows 8 Developers

MarkedUp helps WinRT developers get analytics and actionable insights on how consumers are using their apps.

MarkedUp will be offering a free public beta soon.  
     

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Hello Netflix? This Windows 8, WinJS and HTML5. Can we talk?

Today's Metro (err... um... Windows 8 App) Wednesday project is another kind of common Hello World kind of example application, one that shows that given a public API developers can provide an experience beyond what the API provider might have ever imagined.

Oh and it shows other stuff too, like calling an OData service, use HTML5/WinJS, data binding, sharing and more. Now it's up to you to take this and add your imagination, inspiration and... oh, well, you get it..

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