Ebook: Windows 8.1 Apps with XAML and C# Unleashed

Full color: Learn how to build great Windows Store apps! Figures and code appear as they do in Visual Studio.

Windows 8.1 enables you to build stunning applications that integrate with each other, Web services, and Windows itself. You can sell them in the Windows Store, with more options than ever before, for tablets such as Surface, laptops, and traditional desktop PCs! World-renowned Microsoft programming guru Adam Nathan shows you exactly how to write first-class apps for this significant update to Windows. Don’t let the minor name change fool you--Windows 8.1 contains an incredible amount of new developer opportunities compared to Windows 8.

Clear, accessible, and intensely practical, this guide teaches through concise code examples, in full color to match their appearance in Visual Studio--the same approach that made Nathan’s WPF Unleashed so popular. Writing with unprecedented depth and insight, Nathan guides you through creating advanced user interfaces with XAML and exploiting key Windows 8.1 features. Whether you’re already comfortable with Microsoft programming or relatively new to it, Windows 8.1 Apps with XAML and C# Unleashed will take you to the cutting edge of Windows 8.1 development.

Detailed information on how to...

• Use XAML to represent state-of-the-art user interfaces, even across multiple windows
• Handle touch, mouse, keyboard, and pen input, including handwriting recognition
• Use new Windows 8.1 controls for creating hubs, flyouts, better app bars, performing in-app searches, rendering PDFs, and much more
• Encode, decode, and transcode multimedia content and speech-enable your app
• Leverage rich XAML vector graphics and animation
• Interact with built-in functionality such as the Camera app, file picker, the lock screen, new contacts and appointments integration, and more
• Exploit the Windows 8.1 charms bar
• Integrate DirectX graphics seamlessly
• Work with the rich set of available sensors: accelerometer, compass, light sensor, location (with geofencing support), proximity, and more
• Control devices such as fingerprint readers, image and bar code scanners, magnetic stripe readers, and custom Bluetooth, USB, HID, or Wi-Fi Direct devices