Mastering Windows 8 C++ App Development

304 Pages·2013·5.66 MB·English

www.it-ebooks.info
Mastering Windows 8
C++ App Development
A practical guide to developing Windows Store
apps with C++ and XAML
Pavel Yosifovich
BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI
www.it-ebooks.info
Mastering Windows 8 C++ App Development
Copyright © 2013 Packt Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written
permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in
critical articles or reviews.
Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy
of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is
sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt
Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages
caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.
Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the
companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals.
However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.
First published: April 2013
Production Reference: 1080413
Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.
Livery Place
35 Livery Street
Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.
ISBN 978-1-84969-502-2
www.packtpub.com
Cover Image by Neha Rajappan ([email protected])
www.it-ebooks.info
Credits
Author Project Coordinator
Pavel Yosifovich Anurag Banerjee
Reviewers Proofreader
Daniel Biesiada Linda Morris
Eric van Feggelen
Alon Fliess Indexer
Hemangini Bari
James P. McNellis
Yusak Setiawan
Graphics
Aditi Gajjar
Acquisition Editor
Erol Staveley
Production Coordinator
Prachali Bhiwandkar
Lead Technical Editor
Sweny Sukumaran
Cover Work
Prachali Bhiwandkar
Technical Editors
Prasad Dalvi
Worrell Lewis
www.it-ebooks.info
About the Author
Pavel Yosifovich is the CTO of CodeValue (http://www.codevalue.net), a
software development, consulting, and training company, based in Israel. He is also
the author of Windows Presentation Foundation 4.5 Cookbook, Packt Publishing, 2012. He
writes, develops, consults, and trains developers on various software development
topics, from Windows internals, to .NET enterprise systems, and almost everything
in between. He's a Microsoft MVP and a frequent speaker at national events.
In the past, he co-founded the startup company Quiksee that was acquired by
Google in September 2010.
Writing a book takes tremendous effort, and would not have been
possible without the support and encouragement of my family—my
wife Idit and my kids Daniel, Amit, and Yoav. I know it was hard
watching me sit at my computer and write for hours at a time. Thank
you for your patience!
www.it-ebooks.info
About the Reviewers
Daniel Biesiada is a software professional with 13 years of experience as a
developer, consultant, and most recently as a technology evangelist at Microsoft in
Poland. In 2012, he left corporate ranks to pursue individual challenges related to
cloud and mobile opportunities as a consultant and architect of the software solutions.
He speaks on local events in Poland, as well as internationally and works actively with
communities to develop new generations of smart and future-oriented developers.
With his startup uShine – IT Consulting he realized several Windows 8 projects for
customers in media and education industries including iOS to Windows 8 ports and
creating unique intellectual properties for Windows 8 and the modern Web.
He was helping local software leaders at Microsoft for 5 years with executive
advisory related to Microsoft software development technologies. In the last two
years of work at Microsoft, he helped launch cloud products in local markets
(Windows Azure) and to fill Windows Store with high-quality applications
targeting Windows 8.
He is the co-author of the book Windows Azure Platforma Cloud Computing dla
programistów, APN Promise that introduced Windows Azure to Polish developers in the
local (Polish) market. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].
Eric van Feggelen is a passionate and experienced software consultant who
delivers high-quality solutions using the latest technology available. He has about
15 years of experience as a developer and has been widely interested in information
technology his entire life. In the past few years he worked for major corporations
such as Microsoft and Avanade and continues to serve the Microsoft Enterprise
space as a private contractor for his own company.
For more information on Eric check out his personal website http://appbyfex.com/.
www.it-ebooks.info
Alon Fliess is the Chief Architect and founder of CodeValue. CodeValue is the
home of software experts. CodeValue builds software tools, foundations, and
products for the software industry. CodeValue offers mentoring, consulting, and
project development services.
Alon got his BSc degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from The Technion,
Israel Institute of Technology. He is an expert in many Microsoft technologies,
including Windows client and server programming using C#/C++/.NET, Windows
Azure Cloud Computing, ALM with TFS, and Windows internals. Microsoft has
recognized his expertise and community activities and granted him two awards:
Microsoft Regional Director (MRD) and a VC++ MVP.
He has deep knowledge and understanding of Windows and Windows internals,
he is the co-author of Windows 7 Microsoft Training Program, Microsoft Press as well
as the co-author of Introducing Windows 7 for Developers, Microsoft Press.
He delivers courses and lectures in many seminars and conferences around the
world such as TechEd Europe, TechEd USA, NDC, and in Israel. He is a senior
Software Architect, who deals with vast and complex projects.
Many thanks to Pavel and Anurag Banerjee for giving me the
opportunity to take part in the creation of this book.
Yusak Setiawan (@yoesak) works at Tigabelas Technology, the company that he
founded 3 years ago. He has 10 years' experience of coding in different languages,
especially in C/C++, C#, Objective C, and also JavaScript. His company, and he, now
focus on making Windows 8 apps, and also support Microsoft Indonesia by training,
and mentoring, young developers and corporates in Indonesia in making good
Windows 8 apps. He also worked with some Redmond guys before Visual Studio
2012 was released. You can find his work in Windows 8 Store (AndaTube, Alkitab,
and MathBoard).
I would like to thank Sweny Sukumaran and Anurag Banerjee,
for giving me the challenge of reviewing this book, also my wife
Nidya Chatelya and my newborn baby Edmond Grant; they both
are my inspiration.
www.it-ebooks.info
www.PacktPub.com
Support files, eBooks, discount offers and more
You might want to visit www.PacktPub.com for support files and downloads related
to your book.
Did you know that Packt offers eBook versions of every book published, with PDF
and ePub files available? You can upgrade to the eBook version at www.PacktPub.
com and as a print book customer, you are entitled to a discount on the eBook copy.
Get in touch with us at [email protected] for more details.
At www.PacktPub.com, you can also read a collection of free technical articles,
sign up for a range of free newsletters and receive exclusive discounts and offers
on Packt books and eBooks.
http://PacktLib.PacktPub.com
Do you need instant solutions to your IT questions? PacktLib is Packt's online
digital book library. Here, you can access, read and search across Packt's entire
library of books.
Why Subscribe?
• Fully searchable across every book published by Packt
• Copy and paste, print and bookmark content
• On demand and accessible via web browser
Free Access for Packt account holders
If you have an account with Packt at www.PacktPub.com, you can use this to access
PacktLib today and view nine entirely free books. Simply use your login credentials
for immediate access.
www.it-ebooks.info
www.it-ebooks.info
Table of Contents
Preface 1
Chapter 1: Introduction to Windows 8 Apps 7
Introducing Windows 8 7
Touch everywhere 8
The Start (Home) screen 8
The AppBar 9
The Charms bar 10
Desktop apps versus Store apps 11
The Windows Runtime 12
Language projections 14
Building the user interface 15
Creating your first Store application 15
Closing an application 19
Application deployment 20
Where did int.ToString come from? 21
Project structure 22
Summary 25
Chapter 2: COM and C++ for Windows 8 Store Apps 27
Welcome to C++11 28
New features in C++11 28
nullptr 28
auto 29
Lambdas 30
Smart pointers 33
Conclusion 36
COM and WinRT 37
The IUnknown interface 41
IInspectable interface 42
Creating a WinRT object 43
www.it-ebooks.info