Book Image

Learn WinUI 3 - Second Edition

By : Alvin Ashcraft
5 (2)
Book Image

Learn WinUI 3 - Second Edition

5 (2)
By: Alvin Ashcraft

Overview of this book

WinUI 3 takes a whole new approach to delivering Windows UI components and controls and has the ability to deliver the same features across multiple versions of Windows. Learn WinUI 3 is a comprehensive introduction to WinUI and Windows apps for anyone who is new to WinUI and XAML applications. This updated second edition begins by helping you get to grips with the latest features in WinUI and shows you how XAML is used in UI development. The next set of chapters will help you set up a new Visual Studio environment, develop a new desktop project, incorporate the Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM) pattern in a WinUI project, and develop unit tests for ViewModel commands. Next, you’ll cover the basics of data access from WinUI projects with a step-by-step approach. As you advance, you’ll discover how to leverage the Fluent Design System to design beautiful WinUI applications. You’ll also explore the contents and capabilities of the Windows Community Toolkit and learn how to create cross-platform apps with markup and code from your project using Uno Platform. The concluding chapters will teach you how to build, debug, and deploy apps to the Microsoft Store. By the end of this book, you’ll have learned how to build WinUI applications from scratch and how to modernize existing desktop apps using WinUI 3 and the Windows App SDK.
Table of Contents (20 chapters)
Free Chapter
1
Part 1:Introduction to WinUI and Windows Applications
8
Part 2:Extending WinUI and Modernizing Applications
13
Part 3:Build and Deploy on Windows and Beyond

Exploring the toolkit’s helpers, services, and extensions

We have discussed many of the controls in the WCT, but the toolkit contains much more than UI controls. In this section, we will return to the WCT sample app to explore some of the other components available in the toolkit. We’ll start with some helper classes.

Helpers

Next to the controls in the toolkit, the Helpers section contains the largest number of components. As with the controls, the helpers are divided into categories in the sample app, as follows:

  • Data: These helpers relate to loading and displaying data. Examples include ImageCache, ObservableGroup, and Incremental Loading Collection.
  • Developer: These are helpers that are useful for developers and include DispatcherQueueHelper for updating the UI from a background thread.
  • Notifications: These helpers provide customized ways of notifying users with Windows notifications and the Start menu. Included are LiveTile, Toast, and WeatherLiveTileAndToast...