Advanced Windows Store Apps Development – II  Explain the Windows Phone 8.1 Platform Features  Explain Universal Apps  Explain the process of Packaging an App  Explain the process of Deploying an App © Aptech Ltd Developing Universal Apps/Session Microsoft introduced universal Windows apps for PCs, phones, and tablets with Visual Studio 2013 Update This Update for Windows Phone 8.1 is named as ‘Cortana’ and they have targeted mainly for gamers For the non-gaming users, the device will be faster and accessible in seconds Gain access to conclude a Live Tile, or press the search button, this update will support most of the apps, calls, messages, searches, and music on the user phone Cortana interacts through the third-party apps, such as Facebook and Twitter to share the links or test through the post Building Windows Store App The user can develop the apps to target the mobile To develop the app, the user has to follow certain steps These steps will demonstrate to create a HelloWorld app © Aptech Ltd Developing Universal Apps/Session HelloWorld in Windows Phone Step 1: Open Microsoft Blend and Select New Project Select Windows Phone from the left side menu and select Windows Phone App from the right side menu as shown in the following figure © Aptech Ltd Developing Universal Apps/Session 4 Step 2: Design the app page as shown in the following figure Step 3: Once the page design is completed, connect the Windows mobile to the PC and run the application The app will be installed in Windows phone The user can view and access the app directly from the device © Aptech Ltd Developing Universal Apps/Session Following are the features of Windows phone 8.1 Geolocation Geolocation is upgraded by adding a new class called Geofencing This API is used to track the device up to a certain area and sends a notification whenever the device comes within network coverage area This API gives details about longitude and latitude Maps Windows Phone 8.1 maps is upgraded with a new feature by viewing the map offline tiles and improved routing Using Map API, the developer can create map-based apps and incorporate location and search features in the app Background transfers Background transfer is used to transfer data in the background by calling the Background Task features © Aptech Ltd Developing Universal Apps/Session Windows Push Notification Services (WNS) Windows Phone 8.1 includes Windows Push Notification Services (WNS) to send Toast, Tile, and Raw updates to the user device, which are received from a cloud service Controls Windows Phone 8.1 is developed using the XAML framework Similar to store apps, the XAML controls for Phone 8.1 includes the basic and essential controls such as Button, TextBlock, CheckBox, FlipView, GridView, ListView, Password, and Zoom controls Globalization Windows Phone 8.1 supports many international languages, which can be called through the Globalization namespace Using this feature it is possible to developed apps with support to various international languages © Aptech Ltd Developing Universal Apps/Session Calendar Calendar is declared in a different way in Windows Phone 8.1 and supports Appointment API This API is also available for developing Windows Store apps with calendar features Browser Internet Explorer 11 is enabled to allow Windows Phone 8.1 apps This is possible using WebView control provided in Windows Store apps WebView supports features of HTML5 apps which is used to display responsive layouts External display support Windows Phone enables the external display support by mirroring the phone display to PC through a USB cable The contents of phone can easily be displayed directly on the PC screen © Aptech Ltd Developing Universal Apps/Session Data and storage Windows.Storage API is associated to stream-based files It allows the users to store data locally This will ask the user where to store the downloaded file Roaming Windows Phone 8.1 supports roaming data Roaming data feature is available when the lock is enabled and the device is active Roaming data files are stored inside the Roaming data folder Share contact Windows Phone 8.1 introduces share contact that allows sharing files, images, and videos to any contact that is present in the current device The data is generally shared using an e-mail SD card In Windows Phone 8, only reading SD card was possible However, now in Windows Phone 8.1, reading and writing to and from SD card is possible © Aptech Ltd Developing Universal Apps/Session Microsoft has released Windows Phone 8.1 in the month of April 2014 which is named as Cortana This is enabled and available in Visual Studio 2013 with Update These new features allows the developers to build global apps, which works with phones, tablets, and PCs as well In order to develop universal app the user has to select Universal Apps from the New Project Menu as shown in the following figure © Aptech Ltd Developing Universal Apps/Session 10 Step 2: After selecting the menu, the Create App Packages will be displayed as shown in the following figure To test the app in the local machine the user recommends selecting No from the option as shown in figure © Aptech Ltd Developing Universal Apps/Session 13 Step 3: In this step, the developer has to provide the version and build number details This procedure is same as publishing the Windows applications After providing the version numbers click the Create button to create the app package as shown in figure © Aptech Ltd Developing Universal Apps/Session 14 Once the app is published, the user can view the published app in their project folder To deploy the user has to click the Package file as shown in the following figure and run with PowerShell © Aptech Ltd Developing Universal Apps/Session 15 Once the action menu is selected, the user can view the PowerShell window to confirm whether to install the app in the device The user has to type y and press Enter to start deploying as shown in figure © Aptech Ltd Developing Universal Apps/Session 16 The user can see the installation progress as shown in figure © Aptech Ltd Developing Universal Apps/Session 17 Once the app is deployed, the user can view the completion progress of the app as shown in figure © Aptech Ltd Developing Universal Apps/Session 18 Packaging and Deploying Your App Step 1: Create a blank new application File  New Project  Blank App Step 2: Write the following code as shown in Code Snippet for designing the frontend Code Snippet: © Aptech Ltd Developing Universal Apps/Session 19 Step 3: The UI is displayed as shown in figure © Aptech Ltd Developing Universal Apps/Session 20 Step 4: After developing the app, Navigate to Projects  Store  Create App Packages as shown earlier in figure Step 5: After selecting the menu, Create App Packages as shown earlier in figure To test the app in the local machine the user recommends selecting No from the given option, as shown earlier in figure Step 6: In this step, the developer has to provide the version and build number details This procedure is same as publishing the Windows application After providing the version numbers click the Create button to create the app package as shown earlier in figure Step 7: Once the app is published, the user can view the published file in the project folder as shown in the following figure © Aptech Ltd Developing Universal Apps/Session 21 Step 8: When the user views the published folder, the user can view the app package file, which can be opened through PowerShell as shown in figure © Aptech Ltd Developing Universal Apps/Session 22 Step 9: To deploy, the user has to click the Package file as shown in figure and run with PowerShell © Aptech Ltd Developing Universal Apps/Session 23 Step 10: Once the action menu selected, the user can view the PowerShell window to confirm whether to install the app in the device The user has to type y and press enter to start deploying as shown earlier in figure Step 11: The user can view the installation process like the package file as shown in figure © Aptech Ltd Developing Universal Apps/Session 24 Step 12: Once the app is deployed, the user can view the completion progress of the app as shown earlier in figure Step 13: The app will be displayed in the Windows tile as shown in figure © Aptech Ltd Developing Universal Apps/Session 25 Step 14: The user can open the file to access the app as shown in figure © Aptech Ltd Developing Universal Apps/Session 26  Microsoft introduced universal Windows apps for PCs, phones, and tablets with Visual Studio 2013 Update  Geolocations is upgraded by adding a new class called Geofencing  Windows Phone 8.1 supports roaming data Roaming data is enabled when the lock is enabled and the device is active  Microsoft has released Windows Phone 8.1 in the month of April 2014 that is named as Cortana  Windows 8.1 Update structures the UI enhancements for mouse and keyboard and other useful enrichments  Windows Phone has stepped ahead with adding new feature and releasing Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows 8.1 © Aptech Ltd Developing Universal Apps/Session 27 ... © Aptech Ltd Developing Universal Apps /Session 16 The user can see the installation progress as shown in figure © Aptech Ltd Developing Universal Apps /Session 17 Once the app is deployed, the... © Aptech Ltd Developing Universal Apps /Session 19 Step 3: The UI is displayed as shown in figure © Aptech Ltd Developing Universal Apps /Session 20 Step 4: After developing the app, Navigate... Developing Universal Apps /Session 22 Step 9: To deploy, the user has to click the Package file as shown in figure and run with PowerShell © Aptech Ltd Developing Universal Apps /Session 23 Step 10: