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Blog: Windows 8

Adding Toast Launch Parameters

Excerpt by Ken Getz

When users click or tap your toast notification, Windows loads yourapplication, and users expect your application to have information about the context of the notification and display the appropriate information.

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Scheduling Toast Notifications

Excerpt by Ken Getz

You can schedule a toast to appear any time in the future-you supply a timeat which you want the toast notification to appear, and it shows up on demand.

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Investigating Toast Notifications

Excerpt by Ken Getz

Toast notifications are simple notifications that appear in the upper-right corner of the screen (upper-left corner for right-to-left languages).

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Working with Image Resources

Excerpt by Ken Getz

Although you cannot store images in resource files, they too represent resources in your application.

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Reacting to a Language Change

Excerpt by Ken Getz

Although it won't happen every day, your application may need to react to the situation in which a user changes the currently active language in Windows.

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Working with String Resources

Excerpt by Ken Getz

Although lots of developers do it, it's never a good idea to embed string resources directly into your application's source code.

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Creating a Group Style

Excerpt by Ken Getz

An ItemsControl can work with grouped data in two ways.

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Windows 8 Using XAML: ItemsControl Styles

Excerpt by Ken Getz

As with every other control you use in Windows 8 applications, both the ListView and GridView controls (that is, both ItemsControls) are based on control templates that determine the manner in which these controls appear.

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Windows 8: Adding Items from a File System

Excerpt by Ken Getz

In order to take full advantage of an ItemsControl, you must be able to bind it to an existing collection of data.

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Windows 8 Using XAML: Choosing a ListView or GridView Control

Excerpt by Ken Getz

Windows 8 ListView and GridView controls both allow you to display data, but they display their collections of data differently. The following article takes a look at both controls and how they are used.

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Creating Placeholder Images

Excerpt by Ken Getz

As a courseware writer, I often need free images to work with, and I know website developers need them as placeholders when building sites.

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Windows 8 using XAML: BeginTime Animation Property

By Ken Getz

If your storyboard contains more than one simultaneous animation, you may need to delay the start of one or more of the animations.

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Windows 8 Using XAML: Using the PointAnimation Class

By Ken Getz

Much like the animation class we discussed in a previous article, the PointAnimation class allows you to animate a property that represents a point.

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Windows 8 using XAML: Animation Class and Enabling Animation

By Ken Getz

In Windows 8, animations are an integral part of the user experience. As you work with various Windows Store applications (or the built in user interface), you'll find animations at every turn.

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Adding Reflection Effects with XAML

By Ken Getz

Besides the obvious transformation effects, you can use transforms to create rich and varied effects in your applications-it's all about figuring out which transforms provide the effects you want.

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XAML Transforms: Avoiding Absolute Coordinates

By Ken Getz

You can solve many drawing issues using a transform-that is, a class that alters the way the shape is drawn using mathematical manipulations.

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XAML LinearGradientBrush: Rotating the Gradient

By Ken Getz

In a previous article we started discussing brushes, specifically the SolidColorBrush. This article switches focus to the LinearGradientBrush and rotating gradients.

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Using Element.Property Syntax for the SolidColorBrush Class

By Ken Getz

>Even once you've learned about shapes and geometries, and creating your own drawings, youneed to learn brushes in order to create the kind of content you'll need in rich, XAML-based applications.

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Geometry Mini-Language

By Ken Getz

Imagine a scenario in which you have a large amount of data, and a correspondingly large amount of markup.

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Using the GeometryGroup Element with XAML

By Martin Schaeferle

In previous articles we have discussed how to use almost all the classes that inherit from the Shape class, and you'll find that you can accomplish many of your drawing goals using these shapes.

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Using Line Joins with XAML

By Ken Getz

In a recent article we discussed line caps, which alter the way you can draw lines. XAML provides one more alteration- line joins.

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Adding Line Caps with XAML

By Ken Getz

When drawing Line shapes (and also Polyline shapes) you have the option of controlling how the starting and ending edges of the lines appear.

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XAML Shapes: Round Those Corners

By Ken Getz

Once you've created a rectangle with XAML, you can also round the corners!

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The 'Shapes' of XAML - Rectangles & Ellipses

By Ken Getz

Although you may not agree at first, you have many reasons to need to learn about XAML shapes, paths, and geometries.

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Windows 8 Using XAML: Binding Colors

By Ken Getz

As you write applications, you often need to update the value of one element with information from another element. Often, you need to display information coming from a collection of objects in a list, or combo box.

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Using Standard Templates for ListView and GridView

By Ken Getz

When creating XAML applications using ListView and GridView controls for Windows 8, you probably want your applications to look like "standard" applications.

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Windows 8 Progress Controls

By Ken Getz

XAML provides two controls specifically meant to indicate active progress, as some activity is running, to the user.

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Creating State Handling Markup with XAML

By Ken Getz

When you create an application, your goal (besides ensuring that the application does what it needs to do) is to make sure that it looks good, and works well.

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XAML Hierarchy of Resources

By Ken Getz

In XAML, every element maintains its own resources collection, and also has access to the resources collection of its parent elements.

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Placing XAML Controls Onto the Grid

By Ken Getz

One of XAML's most important features is its ability to create hierarchies of controls; that is, the ability to nest controls inside other controls.

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Creating Dynamic Properties in XAML

By Ken Getz

Usually, the standard XAML property syntax provides the functionality you need.

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Windows 8: The App Lifecycle

Excerpt by Ken Getz

You may have noticed that none of the built-in Windows 8 applications provide any means of shutting down.

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Distributing Windows 8 Applications: Getting Started

By Martin Schaeferle

Although a complete discussion of distributing Windows 8 apps is beyond the scope of this introductory content, it's important to understand that for most apps, you'll use the Microsoft Store as your distribution channel.

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When is your PC not your PC?

By Martin Schaeferle

Since growing up in Seattle I have always been a big proponent of Microsoft. One of the key characteristics of Microsoft's software that kept me loyal was that they always gave me enough rope to hang myself with.

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Leave Well Enough Alone: The iOS6 Maps App

By Ken Getz

One "change for change's sake" popped up this morning: I installed iOS 6 on my iPad and iPhone, and tried out the new Maps app.

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XAML vs. HTML ain't like VB vs. C#

By Ken Getz

Before Windows 8 apps came along, I spent a lot of time writing courseware for both VB and C#, and converting between the two was relatively easy--I got it down to a science.

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Just When "Metro" Started Making Sense...

By Martin Schaeferle

Microsoft has always had a knack of constantly branding, and then rebranding; shifting focus, and then rolling it back.

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Windows 8 Metro style application - Where's my Back button?

By Martin Schaeferle

Windows 8 Metro style applications offer a new world when it comes to navigation. After all, Metro style apps hinge on the functionality of touch, meaning that applications running in this environment are intended to be used and navigated via touch.

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