Pizza Ordering Made Easy with Telerik RadControls for Metro - HTML

We all love pizza. I know that I do and several have speculated how it will be ordered in the future. Don’t take my word for it, check out the video above.

While it may seem strange that in the year 2015 people are using Windows 98 to order pizza, it may be more realistic to say they will be using Windows 8 instead. So, let’s build a Windows 8 HTML app using several new controls that are part of Telerik’s Windows 8 UI Controls that we have not seen yet. They include: RadDropDownList, RadSlider and RadGauge.

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Windows Runtime Components in a .NET World

The new type of program known as a Windows Store app—optimized to run on Windows 8 devices—has a default view with a full-screen window and no distracting chrome, so the content is the focal point. Windows Store apps support fluid layouts that adapt and scale to a variety of screen sizes and resolutions. They provide a touch-first experience while providing full support for the traditional keyboard and mouse.

Windows Store apps run on a new set of APIs called the Windows Runtime (WinRT). The Windows Runtime exposes components that are built as part of the Windows 8 OS along with third-party components you can develop yourself. Although some core Windows Runtime Components are accessible from desktop apps, third-party Windows Runtime Components are only available from within the Windows 8 environment. WinRT types are described using WinRT metadata files that have the .winmd extension. These files are encoded using the same standard the Microsoft .NET Framework uses for providing metadata definitions and semantics for classes, ECMA-335 (see bit.ly/sLILI).

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TypeScript for Windows 8 Store Apps

What is TypeScript?
See http://www.typescriptlang.org

TypeScript was recently released and has become the new hot topic.  One of the questions I have asked and heard is can we use this for developing Windows Store Applications with Javascript and have the cool features that have been shown in the videos and examples.

One of the great features was the split window feature where you can code in TypeScript on the left and upon hitting save, it compiles to Javascript on the left. So I fired up a new Javascript Windows Store project in Visual Studio to give it a shot to see if it all works.  Before we get started make sure that you have the following:

• Windows 8 & VS2012
• Download the plugin: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=266563
• VS 2012 Web Essentials: http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/07d54d12-7133-4e15-becb-6f451ea3bea6

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Bing Maps SDKs for Windows Store Apps Now Available

Today we are announcing the availability of the Bing Maps SDKs for Windows Store apps. These SDKs will allow you to bring the power of Bing Maps to your Windows Store apps with support for C#, C++, Visual Basic and JavaScript based applications.

Please be aware that this release is the only version (1.1.20120927.0) of Bing Maps which will be supported for apps submitted to the Windows Store. If you are running any prior version (or BETA) you must upgrade and rebuild your app with this build to pass the Windows app Certification Kit (WACK) process. This process is required to submit all apps to the store and checks for the latest version of all dependencies to be approved. In most cases this should be as easy as downloading the latest version of the Bing Maps for Windows Store Apps API and recompiling your app.

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The HealthVault Windows 8 SDK is now available

HealthVault is the single repository of your entire medical life – across doctors, clinics, and years. HealthVault is a secure repository for you and your family’s medical and fitness data. It can be, at your control, shared with health providers or anyone you trust – but only if you want to. It can be integrated into applications and technology.

The library is for both JavaScript and C# applications.

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How to check if a file exists in Windows 8

Sometimes things are simple, sometimes they aren't when you think they should be. One such thing in Windows 8 development is checking if a file exists...

In a Windows 8 app (be it C# or JavaScript) you work with the StorageFolder. Since we are sandboxed and don't really have file-system access we don't have the System.IO namespace as we're use to meaning we have an entirely new set of APIs for reading a writing files (although it's nice that they are built around being asynchronous). The fun thing about StorageFolder is it has no method like FileExistsAsync. Yep, there's no API which will allow you to work out whether a file exists or not.

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Building a project skeleton, using CSS3 layout and styling WinJS controls #Win8Dev

This past week was spent turning wireframes and workflows into a moving prototype using static data. Not only does this action of sketching out the project inform architecture, but it also allows us to create the placeholders once we get the visual design.

As a bonus, a short screen cap of the prototype can be a valuable asset while the app concept is still forming in our heads.

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Ways You Can Use the Search Contract in Your Windows Game

The Search contract is a way you can integrate the Windows 8 search experience into your game. Windows 8 provides a Search feature that is enabled via the Charm bar (shown at right). The Charm bar is activated by a user swiping from the right edge of the screen with a finger, or by either a mouse or keyboard action (mouse to the upper right corner of the screen or Windows+C ). From the Charm bar, the user can select the Search charm and enter the default Search experience.

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Data Presentation In HTML5/WinJS Metro App

Inevitably, you’re going to have to make a choice about what control underlies this presentation of data, and eventually you’re going to have to implement it.

In this post, I’d like to do a little bit of a study into what control to choose when and why. As usual, I’ll be coming from an HTML/JS perspective, so if you’re wondering what your options are in XAML, Bing is your friend.

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Telerik Windows 8 UI Controls Release Candidate – Build Windows Store-Ready Apps at No Cost

Today we are pleased to announce the Release Candidate of Telerik UI Controls for Windows 8 development. One of the highlights of the release is the addition of two new controls, Pagination  and HubTile, for both HTML and XAML environments. In addition, the suite gets improvements such as Design-time support for XAML and numerous performance enhancements.

With this version of the suite (as well as with the previous Beta) you can build Windows store-ready apps at no cost. Hurry up, get your app to the store first; being first has huge advantages! There are already a number of certified apps on the Windows Store using the Telerik Windows 8 controls.

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Building Data and Services for Windows 8 Apps

In this post, I'm going to kick off a series in which I'll walk through the creation of a back-end service for a Windows 8 app. This first post will provide an overview of the series, and introduce a couple of potential technologies you can use to build your back-end services.

The Challenge
As an example of a scenario that might merit a nicely abstracted back-end service, I'm going to create a simple leaderboard service that can store and retrieve high scores and win/loss/tie stats for a variety of games. Since it's where I've spent the majority of my time lately, I'm going to focus on games built with HTML and Javascript, but the platform choices I'm going to describe will work just as well for games and apps build with C# or VB and XAML..

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Integrating your cloud service with the file picker contracts

In the past, users organized, shared, and maintained their documents, photos, videos, and music on the local PC. But the cloud is quickly providing users with much richer ways to access, experience, and manage the files they care about. Windows 8 embraces these new scenarios by allowing you to deeply integrate cloud services directly into your apps to create completely new experiences that were not possible before.

You can see many of these scenarios highlighted in the SkyDrive app which uses the file picker contracts. The file picker contracts are designed to make user’s documents, photos, videos, & music stored in your app available to all other Windows 8 apps. In this post, we use the SkyDrive app (which implements all three of the file picker contracts as introduced in Connecting your apps, files, PCs and devices to the cloud with SkyDrive and Windows 8) to show you:

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Code Snippets for Windows Store Apps

In partnership with the Visual Studio team, we are launching Code Snippets for Windows Store apps, a collection of around 60 IntelliSense Code Snippets for common Windows Store app programming tasks. The snippets are available for Visual Basic, C#, C++, and JavaScript developers.

For example, if you don’t know how to copy a file in JavaScript or C++, just right-click, select Insert Snippet, select the code snippet, and it will automatically add the code to your Windows app as shown in the screenshots below.

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5 points developers should know about WinRT/Windows 8

Most of us already started developing for WinRT, so it make sense to have a better understanding of the run time. I am listing down few points with respect to WinRT, mainly from a developer’s perspective.

Read those 5 points here

Using WinJS & WinRT to build a fun HTML5 Camera Application for Windows 8 (2/4)

Using WinJS & WinRT to build a fun HTML5 Camera Application for Windows 8 (1/4)

In this second tutorial, we’re going to add support for video recording. The first step will then to work on the UI to let the user choosing between photo & video mode. Then we will add the JavaScript code that will let you recording some videos. Finally, we will add a cool slide effect with CSS3 animations to provide a visual feedback to the user while taking some photos/videos. As a reminder, this tutorial is part of this series:

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Windows 8 Apps With HTML5 Published in Visual Studio Magazine (September 2012)

I have a new cover story article published in print and online in Visual Studio Magazine today called, “Windows 8 Apps With HTML5”. If you're an experienced Web developer, you'll love the new Windows Store options to use HTML5/JavaScript/CSS3 to build an application that works in the Windows 8 UI. Here's a step-by-step guide to getting started.

See below for more information and a link to the online article in case you don’t get a print copy.

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Embracing UI on demand with the app bar

Creating a great app requires honing in on what makes your app best in its category and making that shine. Windows 8 provides tools like charms and app bars to make it easy to really focus on what makes your app best in class and minimize anything that distracts from it. Learn to use those tools and your app and your users will be able to really enjoy what makes your app great.

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Using WinJS & WinRT to build a fun HTML5 Camera Application for Windows 8 (1/4)

Using HTML5, JavaScript & CSS3, we’re going to build a fun HTML5 camera application for Windows 8 and its Modern UI. You will learn how to use WinRT to access to the camera and the file system to take some pictures & videos. We will then work a bit on the layout with CSS3 grid & flexbox and provide some visual feedback to the user via CSS3 animations. I will also show you how to use WinJS and its FlipView control via a templating rendering JS function to embed the whole experience. At last, we will see how to manipulate the images taken with the camera to apply some filters effects via the canvas element or directly thanks to a C++ WinRT component.

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Windows 8 Apps With HTML5

If you're an experienced Web developer, you'll love the HTML5/JavaScript/CSS3 options provided by Visual Studio 2012. Here's a step-by-step guide to getting started.

We now know that Windows 8 is coming on Oct. 26. That presents developers with a decision to make for building new Metro-style applications: HTML5 with JavaScript and CSS3, or XAML with C#, or Visual Basic with C++?

Many Web developers will choose HTML5/JavaScript/CSS3 because they already have experience with it. Once that decision's made, the next step is to understand Windows Runtime (WinRT) and how its new APIs interact with Windows 8. [As this issue went to press, Microsoft was considering changing the name "Metro" to something else, but hadn't yet decided on the new name. We're leaving it as "Metro" until a new name is officially chosen. -- Ed.]

This article takes you through the process of building your first HTML5/JavaScript/CSS3 Metro application. Let's get started.

Read More @ Visual Studio Magazine

MSDN Webcast Series - Building Windows 8 Metro Style Apps

Catch this on-demand MSDN webcast series to learn about the new platform for building Windows 8 Metro style applications. Get an understanding of the platform design tenets, the programming language choices, and the integration points with the operating system and across Metro style apps.

• Designing apps with Metro style principles and the Windows personality
• Building Metro style apps with XAML: What .NET developers need to know
• What HTML developers need to know about coding Windows 8 Metro style apps
• Win as One: How Contracts in Windows 8 Help You Build a Killer Metro App
• Bring Your Windows 8 Metro Style Apps to Life with Tiles and Notifications
• Introduction to the Windows 8 platform and the Windows store
• Building Windows 8 Metro style casual games using HTML 5

Read More @ channel9