How to Use iFrames in WinRT Apps

Did you know you could use iframes in WinRT apps developed using JavaScript?  Is this suppose to be exciting?  Why would you care?  For the answers, follow along as I take a journey of discovery attempting to add live Twitter feeds to my app.

To set the stage for what I want to do, you must first understand what a Twitter Widget is.  The folks at Twitter have made it real easy for web developers to create a custom, dynamic section of a web site to display tweets based on a user, a search, favorites, or a list.  Once I know my tweet criteria, I can customize the appearance, dimensions, and other relevant options.  When I am done with all my customizations, I can grab the code that will make the magic happen on my web site.  Um… but I want this in my WinRT app.  Will it work?  Lets find out.

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Using Shared WinRT C++ Physics Engines in Your WinJS game

Currently there are no Physics Engines that will drop into WinRT and work, but bear in mind that WInRT is used when you need language projection.  That is: You write the code in C++/CX and consume in JavaScript or C# or VB or even C++.  Or C# and consume in the other languages, VB is the same, but JavaScript can only consume.

With respect to existing game libraries like UDK or Autodesk ScaleForm, these C++ libraries can be used with a little more work then I wanted to do, consumed through WinRT and then projected into JavaScript.

Now, it is likely once I post this blog, there will suddenly be 10 or 15 Physics Engines modified to work with WinRT, but for now, there aren’t any that have easily discovered documentation.

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Transhipment - A WinRT library for structured data sharing

WinRT library for structured data sharing (via Share Contract) using Schema.org data formats.

How To Install Via NuGet

PM> Install-Package Transhipment

Usage In C#


void DataRequested(DataTransferManager sender, DataRequestedEventArgs args)
{
    var request = args.Request;

    var geo = SchemaFactory.Create(Schema.GeoCoordinates) as IGeoCoordinates;
    geo.Name = "Polar Bear Provincial Park";
    geo.Latitude = "54.596931";
    geo.Longitude = "-83.283978";

    request.Data.Properties.Title = "Sample data";
    request.Data.Properties.Description = "data for " + geo.Type;
    request.Data.SetStructuredData(geo);
}

Check it in GitHub