Player Framework: an open source component of the Microsoft Media Platform For Windows 8 Apps

The Microsoft Media Platform team has released the beta version of a Player Framework for Windows 8 Metro Style Applications. If you are building media applications for Windows 8 this is for you.

What is the Player Framework? The Player Framework is an open source video player available for Silverlight, HTML5, Windows Phone, Xbox, and now, Windows 8 Metro-style applications.


This framework allows you to add advanced video playback features to your Metro style application using either the HTML/JavaScript or XAML/C# app models.
The beta release focuses on core playback scenarios and baseline functionality. In our next release we will add more advanced features including SMPTE-TT/TTML/WebVTT closed captioning support, Advertising support via MAST, VAST, VPAID, and Microsoft's Universal Ad Client, and a number of other advanced features.

Download Player Framework for Windows 8 Metro (BETA)
Download Smooth Streaming Client SDK Beta

Documentation: Getting started with an HTML/JS Player / XAML Player

TwitterRt - Tweet from C#/XAML Windows Metro Apps

My goal is to make tweeting from a C# Metro application as easy as possible. To that end, I created a library called TwitterRt.

Other posts in this series:

• Problems with Metro's WebAuthentication Sample
• Posting to Twitter from Metro in C#
• Adding Twitter to the AppBar
• Adding a Twitter Authorization Charm
• TwitterRT – The Design

Install TwitterRt from NuGet.org and add to your existing Metro application:

1. Install the NuGet Package Manager if you have not already.
2. Open your Metro application in Visual Studio.
3. Select Manage NuGet Packages from the Project menu.
4. Click Online. Search for TwitterRt. Click Install.

Latest TwitterRt source resides here

TwitterRt - Tweet from Windows Metro Apps - MSDN Sample

Connecting Windows 8 applications with services: Part 1: Using services to get data in our Windows 8 applications

Windows 8’s biggest novelty is without a doubt “Apps”. Microsoft is entering the world of apps and is for the first time introducing a “real marketplace”, named the Windows 8 Store where developers can publish, market and sell their applications. This new (for Microsoft developers at least) way of working requires in many views a change of mindset. We as developers are facing many new things, including a new application lifetime management, a new API (WinRT), a different type of communication between apps (Contracts), a new Start experience (Tiles) and many more.

Since apps are going to be distributed through the means of a store, topics such as accessing data also requires some thought. In many views, accessing data through services is similar to accessing data in Silverlight applications. Although the principles are similar, the implementation tends to differ in many places.

Read full article here
Download source code form here

Adding Rate and Review to your Windows 8 App

App Reviews can impact a user's decision to download or buy your app, and provide valuable feedback for enhancements and issues for v.next. It's important to make it apparent and easy for users to add a review for your app so you are sure to gather as many of these reports as possible.

Read full article here