WinRT/XAML Colour Picker (using SharpDx)

I needed a colour picker for an app I’m building and it turns out no ones built a WinRT XAML one yet. So this is my very simple colour picker! I use bitmaps to represent the swatch (in my case i have 3 different types). I use SharpDx to get the “Pixel Buffer” of the selected swatch. Where ever the mouse or pointer is i get the pixel under that position via the pixel buffer and from that i get the colours (RGBA). This is what the colour picker looks like this.

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Creating a Direct2D game for WinRT

If you want to write a game for Windows 8 and was thinking of using XNA, think again. When creating games for Windows 8 you’ll have to go back to using DirectX. But don’t worry, with Visual Studio 2012 on Windows 8, you’ll get a lot of help doing so. Let’s have a look on how to create a Direct2D game for WinRT!

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Exporting an image from a DirectX 2D Image in Windows 8 C#/XAML Using SharpDX

I’m working on a Windows 8 app which has a drawing element to it. The original WP7 app in Silverlight was fine because a simple drawing rendered in XAML was captured using WritableBitmap.Render and written to a file stream. This feature is missing from the Windows 8 API, so it’s impossible to write a pure C#/XAML app which can export a user created image. To get round this it’s possible to use DirectX/XAML/C++ to create a XAML UI which can draw DirectX images.

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Creating a WinRT component using C++/CX Part 2: Adding a custom Direct2D effect to DeForm

The previous article introduced the DeForm Library: A WinRT component that used Direct2D to apply filters on a picture.

You can download DeForm from CodePlex

This article will show you how to use the Direct2D effect pipeline to create a custom Direct2D effect. This effect will try to apply some kind of Polaroïd effect by applying many filters in a row:

• Black&White
• Sepia tone
• Saturation
• Brightness

To do so, you have to create a COM component for Direct2D (handling reference counting and interfaces querying):

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The Unofficial Windows 8 Developer FAQ

Early this week I’ve been talking to a few current and former Microsoft staffers about all things Windows 8. In my discussions I’ve started to gather some gossip in around what happened to Silverlight and lastly the specifics around the DevDiv fall out between Steve Sinofsky and Soma.

It’s an entertaining read should I share the chat logs but what did struck me throughout the conversations was how much positivity Microsoft has been squandering due to petty internal squabbles or “dare not speak of that, for the overlord Sinofsky shall smite thee down for saying the nameless one outloud”.

Today, I’m going to attempt to dos something Microsoft staff should have done long ago or didn’t do correctly or simply were held back from doing so. I’m going to release the Unofficial FAQ on “What Just happened” in Microsoft for developer(s) worldwide.

Read full article here

Windows 8, XNA and MonoGame - Part 3, Code Migration and Windows 8 Feature Support

n Part 1 of this series I introduced you to MonoGame for Windows8, an implementation of the XNA namespace that allows you to get your XNA code running on Windows 8 as a Metro Style App.

In Part 2 I documented how to get your development environment configured using GitHub and Visual Studio 2012

In Part 3 I will cover migrating XNA code to Windows 8.and the Windows 8 features you will need to support in order to make your game Windows 8 Store worthy.

The Shooter Tutorial

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Building your own Windows Runtime components to deliver great Metro style appsFor Windows 8, we completely reimagined the platform, allowing you to choose the programming language and technologies you already know to build apps tailored to the device and form factor. With the Windows Runtime, you can even easily use multiple languages within a single app. You can build a great Metro style app with HTML and JavaScript that can interact with the Xbox 360 controller through building your own Windows Runtime component in C++. You can build reusable XAML controls exposed via Windows Runtime components that are instantly consumable by Metro style apps written in both C++ and C#. Essentially, we have let you build apps on the Windows 8 platform using the languages of your choice with no comprises. In this blog post, we talk about what you need to know to build your own Windows Runtime components.

For Windows 8, we completely reimagined the platform, allowing you to choose the programming language and technologies you already know to build apps tailored to the device and form factor. With the Windows Runtime, you can even easily use multiple languages within a single app. You can build a great Metro style app with HTML and JavaScript that can interact with the Xbox 360 controller through building your own Windows Runtime component in C++. You can build reusable XAML controls exposed via Windows Runtime components that are instantly consumable by Metro style apps written in both C++ and C#. Essentially, we have let you build apps on the Windows 8 platform using the languages of your choice with no comprises.

In this blog post, we talk about what you need to know to build your own Windows Runtime components.

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Windows 8, XNA and MonoGame - Part 2, Getting Started

In part 1 of this series I gave you an overview of MonoGame, an open source cross platform implementation of the XNA namespace and class model and how you could use that to port you existing XNA code to Windows 8. In this article, I will show you how to get your development environment setup to support your porting effort.

         

Note: special thanks for Dean Ellis (dellis1972 ) who posted a video on YouTube outlining this process. I highly recommend that you view Dean’s video before you follow the steps below

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Windows 8, XNA and MonoGame – Part 1, Overview

Games are likely some of the most popular apps on Windows 8 and you are in a great position to take advantage of this huge opportunity.  How huge?  The Windows Store Blog sums it up well:          With more than 630 million Windows 7 licenses sold to date, across 200+ countries and regions around the world, Windows has an unrivaled global reach. Combined with the flexibility of monetization options that the Store provides, Windows 8 represents the single biggest developer opportunity for any platform.

      

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Casual game developers have been using XNA since 2004 to easily create games for Windows, XBox and most recently Windows Phone. XNA is a .NET framework for game development providing a content pipeline and game asset load functionality, animation, math, sound and user input tracking via gamepad, mouse, keyboard and touch with game logic organized in a straightforward game loop architecture. Game development is not trivial and XNA was a level up for a great number of students and developers who wanted to learn how to create games. XNA along with Visual Studio made it as easy as File –> New –> XNA Game Studio Project and you were off and gunning.