Chapter 1, Getting Started , presents setting up a suitable IDE, creating a project, adding pages to the application, designing a user interface, and handling navigation. You will learn how to run the application in an emulator and on a real device as well as how to debug it and measure performance.

Chapter 2, Designing a User Interface , shows how to design pages using various controls, such as textboxes and buttons, as well as how to arrange them in various variants, either vertically, horizontally, or in a grid. You will also get to know how to prepare user controls, apply styles, localize the project, and prepare dedicated versions of pages for various device families.

Chapter 3, MVVM and Data Binding , covers the application of the MVVM design pattern, which divides the project into three parts, namely, model, view, and view model. The topic of the data binding mechanism, together with commands, is also taken into account. You will see how to display a collection of items and how to use value converters.

Chapter 4, Data Storage , deals with managing directories and files along with writing and reading a few types of files, such as with plain text, XML, and JSON-formatted content, as well as binary files with content in the user-defined format. You will also learn how to use a SQLite database in your application.

Chapter 5, Animations and Graphics , explains how to improve the user interface by introducing animations. They can be applied to display a control as well as change its size, position, or even rotation. This chapter also shows how to handle a few touch events and introduces the topic of rendering 3D graphics using DirectX, XAML, and C++ language.

Chapter 6, Multimedia , describes how to support multimedia content in an application, such as by playing a movie clip, listening to an audio file, and presenting a collection of photos. The subject of modifying images in a programmatic way is also taken into account. You will see how to take an image or record a movie using a camera, scan QR codes, and synthesize and recognize speech.

Chapter 7, Built-in Sensors , presents how to use various sensors to obtain a set of data, such as G-force values using an accelerometer, a heading of magnetic north using a compass, a current value of ambient light using a light sensor, as well as a current orientation of a device. To add to this, you will learn how to control vibrations of a phone and how to obtain the current GPS location.

Chapter 8, Internet-based Scenarios , covers various scenarios related to the Internet, such as opening a website, composing an e-mail message, as well as opening a map in the external tool and directly in your application. You will also see how to get and send some data to an API, as well as how to download files from the Internet.

Chapter 9, Testing and Submission , introduces unit testing and the process of configuring and submitting the project to the Windows Store. You will get to know how to adjust the configuration, prepare the necessary files, submit and update the application, as well as browse reviews and ratings regarding the published application.

This book presents development of UWP applications for various devices running on the Windows 10 operating system. Thus, you need a set of tools that allow designing the user interface, writing supporting code, as well as running the application and testing it. Fortunately, all of these features are available in the Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2015, which you can use while reading this book. The process of its installation and configuration is presented in detail in Chapter 1, Getting Started .

To step through all recipes presented in this book, especially to publish an application in the Windows Store, it is necessary to have a developer account. What is more, it is recommended to have a real smartphone or tablet with the Windows 10 operating system to test the developed applications on a real device. If you do not have one, you can use the built-in emulators, but not all recipes can be checked in practice.

The book is dedicated to programmers with various experience in developing applications for Windows-based smartphones, tablets, and desktops. Thus, even beginners can find suitable content to learn how to develop their first application!

However, it is recommended to have some basic knowledge of the C# language and object-oriented programming to understand code snippets presented in the book. Prior experience in developing mobile and desktop applications and using the XAML language is not necessary.

This book is organized in the form of solution-based recipes to present various features that could be interesting for developers. To make it even more useful, the code is attached to each chapter. Thus, you can easily download the code and run the application without the need of typing the code on your own.

It is worth mentioning that some code has been simplified. For this reason, it could differ from the best practices and may have significantly limited, or even removed, security checks and functionalities. Before publishing your application, it should be thoroughly tested to ensure that is works correctly in various circumstances.

In this book, you will find several headings that appear frequently (Getting ready, How to do it..., How it works..., There's more..., and See also).

To give clear instructions on how to complete a recipe, we use these sections as follows:

In this book, you will find a number of text styles that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles and an explanation of their meaning.

Code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles are shown as follows: "The files regarding the default page, both .xaml and .xaml.cs, are automatically added to the main directory."

A block of code is set as follows:

    private void button_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) 
    { 
        Frame.Navigate(typeof(ProductsPage), 0); 
    }

When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block, the relevant lines or items are set in bold:

    private void button_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) 
    { 
        if (Frame.CanGoBack) 
        { 
            Frame.GoBack(); 
        } 
    }

New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, for example, in menus or dialog boxes, appear in the text like this: "Verify a list within the Selected features group and click on Install."

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