Windows 8 Apps With XAML and C# Unleashed

Windows 8 enables you to build stunning applications that integrate with each other, services, and Windows itself like never before. And you can sell them in the Windows Store for tablets such as Surface, laptops, and traditional desktop PCs! Now, world-renowned Microsoft programming guru Adam Nathan shows you exactly how to write first-class apps for this radically new version of Windows.

Clear, accessible, and intensely practical, this guide teaches through concise code examples, fully color-coded to match their appearance in Visual Studio--the same approach that made Nathan’s WPF 4 Unleashed so popular. Writing with unprecedented depth and insight, Nathan guides you through creating advanced user interfaces with XAML and exploiting key Windows 8 features such as touch, sensors, charms, and live tiles. Whether you’re already comfortable with Microsoft programming or relatively new to it, Windows 8 Apps with XAML and C# Unleashed will take you to the cutting edge of Windows 8 development.

Detailed information on how to...

• Use XAML to represent state-of-the-art user interfaces
• Ensure app usability on multiple devices and form factors
• Handle touch, mouse, pen, and keyboard input
• Manage the high-performance, low-power Windows 8 app lifecycle
• Use Windows 8 controls for managing lists, rich text, images, multimedia, and more
• Encode, decode, and transcode multimedia content
• Leverage rich XAML vector graphics and animation
• Make the most of styles and templates
• Interact with built-in functionality such as the Camera app, file picker, contact picker, the lock screen, and more
• Exploit the Windows 8 charms bar with contracts and extensions
• Work with the rich set of available sensors: accelerometer, compass, light sensor, location, proximity, and more

Adam Nathan is a principal software architect for Microsoft, a best-selling technical author, and arguably the world’s most prolific developer for Windows Phone. He introduced XAML to countless developers through his books on a variety of Microsoft technologies. Currently a part of Microsoft’s Startup Business Group, Adam has previously worked on Visual Studio and the Common Language Runtime. He was the founding developer and architect of Popfly, Microsoft’s first Silverlight-based product, named by PCWorld as one of its year’s most innovative products. He is also the founder of PINVOKE.NET, the online resource for .NET developers who need to access Win32. His apps have been featured on Lifehacker, Gizmodo, ZDNet, ParentMap, and other enthusiast sites.

Adam’s books are considered required reading by many inside Microsoft and throughout the industry. Adam is the author of 101 Windows Phone 7 Apps (Sams, 2011), Silverlight 1.0 Unleashed (Sams, 2008), WPF Unleashed (Sams, 2006), WPF 4 Unleashed (Sams, 2010), and .NET and COM: The Complete Interoperability Guide (Sams, 2002); a coauthor of ASP.NET: Tips, Tutorials, and Code (Sams, 2001); and a contributor to books including .NET Framework Standard Library Annotated Reference , Volume 2 (Addison-Wesley, 2005) and Windows Developer Power Tools (O’Reilly, 2006). You can find Adam online at www.adamnathan.net, or @adamnathan on Twitter.