Learn WinUI 3 : Leverage WinUI and the Windows App SDK to Create Modern Windows Applications with C# and XAML / Alvin Ashcraft.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ashcraft, Alvin, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Application software--Development.

Application software.

C# (Computer program language).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (386 pages)

Edition:

Second edition.

Place of Publication:

Birmingham, England : Packt Publishing Ltd., [2023]

Summary:

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.

Contents:

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Contributors

Table of Contents

Preface

Part 1: Introduction to WinUI and Windows Applications

Chapter 1: Introduction to WinUI

Technical requirements

Before UWP - Windows 8 XAML applications

Windows application UI design

Windows Runtime (WinRT)

User backlash and the path forward to Windows 10

Windows 10 and UWP application development

Language choice with UWP development

Lifting app restrictions

UWP backward compatibility

What is XAML?

Creating an adaptive UI for any device

Powerful data binding

Styling your UI with XAML

Separating presentation from business logic

What is WinUI?

The first WinUI release

The road to WinUI 3

What's new in WinUI 3?

Goodbye UWP?

New features for WinUI 3 and the Windows App SDK

The Windows App SDK and WinUI

WinUI 3 compared to other Windows development frameworks

WinUI versus UWP

WinUI versus WPF

WinUI versus Windows Forms (WinForms)

Summary

Questions

Chapter 2: Configuring the Development Environment and Creating the Project

Installing Visual Studio and Windows desktop development workloads

Introducing the application idea

Reviewing the application features

WinUI in Desktop projects

Creating your first WinUI project

Anatomy of a WinUI in Desktop project

Reviewing App.xaml

Reviewing App.xaml.cs

Reviewing MainWindow.xaml

Reviewing MainWindow.xaml.cs

Reviewing the project references

Reviewing the project properties

XAML basics

Building the model

Creating sample data

Building the initial UI

Completing the data-binding initialization

Creating the DataTemplate and binding the UI

Understanding WinUI and Windows App SDK

Understanding the .NET app model.

Working with WinUI controls, properties, and events

Adding a ListView header

Creating the ComboBox filter

Adding a new item button

Chapter 3: MVVM for Maintainability and Testability

Understanding MVVM

MVVM - the big picture

MVVM libraries for WinUI

The MVVM Toolkit

The Prism Library

MVVMCross

Choosing a framework for WinUI applications

Understanding data binding in WinUI

What are markup extensions?

Binding markup extension

x:Bind markup extension

Updating View data with INotifyPropertyChanged

Updating collection data with INotifyCollectionChanged

Implementing MVVM in WinUI applications

Working with events and commands

Implementing ICommand

Using commands in the View Model

Updating the View

Leveraging the MVVM Toolkit

Chapter 4: Advanced MVVM Concepts

Understanding the basics of DI

Using DI with ViewModel classes

Leveraging x:Bind with events

Page navigation with MVVM and DI

Migrating MainWindow to MainPage

Adding ItemDetailsPage

Adding new interfaces and services

Creating a navigation service

Creating a data service

Increasing maintainability by consuming services

Handling parameters in ItemDetailsPage

Creating the ItemDetailsViewModel class

Chapter 5: Exploring WinUI Controls

Understanding what WinUI offers developers

Animated visual player (Lottie)

Navigation View

Parallax view

Rating control

Exploring the WinUI 3 Gallery app for Windows

Learning about the ScrollViewer control

Reviewing what's new in WinUI 3 and the Windows App SDK

Backward compatibility

Fluent UI and modern look and feel

Visual Studio tooling

The WebView2 control.

What's new in the Windows App SDK

Adding some new controls to the project

Using the SplitButton control

Adding a TeachingTip control to the Save button

Chapter 6: Leveraging Data and Services

Managing application state with app lifecycle events

Exploring Windows application lifecycle events

Lifecycle events of WinUI applications

Additional lifecycle events with FrameworkElement objects

Creating a SQLite data store

What is SQLite?

Adding SQLite as a data service

Leveraging a Micro ORM to simplify data access

Adding Dapper to the project

Updating the data service's initialization

Retrieving data via services

Part 2: Extending WinUI and Modernizing Applications

Chapter 7: Fluent Design System for Windows Applications

What is the Fluent Design System?

Exploring Fluent Design for Windows

Controls

Patterns

Layout

Input

Style

Incorporating Fluent Design in WinUI applications

Updating the title bar

Changing the style of MainPage

Changing the style of ItemDetailsPage

Using the Fluent XAML Theme Editor

Colors

Shapes

Acrylic material and the Fluent Design System

Use Mica in WinUI applications

Incorporate Mica into My Media Collection

Design resources and toolkits for Fluent Design

Chapter 8: Adding Windows Notifications to WinUI Applications

Overview of push notifications in the Windows App SDK

Raw push notifications

Cloud-based app notifications

Local app notifications

Using raw push notifications in WinUI applications

Adding Windows app notifications with the Windows App SDK

Chapter 9: Enhancing Applications with Community Toolkits

Technical requirements.

Introducing the WCT

Origins of the WCT

Reviewing recent toolkit releases

Exploring the WCT Gallery app

Installing and launching the app

Using controls from the toolkit

Creating the WinUI project

Referencing WCT packages

Adding data to the DataGrid control

Adding controls to the MainWindow control

Exploring the toolkit's helpers, services, and extensions

Helpers

Extensions

.NET Community Toolkit features

Chapter 10: Accelerating App Development with Template Studio

Overview of Template Studio for WinUI

Starting a new WinUI project with Template Studio

Exploring the code generated by Template Studio

Exploring the Core project

Exploring the main project

Exploring the MSTest project

Template Studio extensions for other UI frameworks

Template Studio for WPF

Template Studio for Uno Platform

Part 3: Build and Deploy on Windows and Beyond

Chapter 11: Debugging WinUI Applications with Visual Studio

Debugging in Visual Studio

Debugging local applications

Debugging remote applications

Common XAML layout mistakes

Improving your XAML with static code analysis

Pinpointing data binding failures

Common mistakes in data binding

Using the XAML Binding Failures window

Debugging live data with Live Visual Tree and Live Property Explorer

Coding with XAML Hot Reload

Debugging with Live Visual Tree and Live Property Explorer

Chapter 12: Hosting a Blazor Application in WinUI

Getting started with ASP.NET Core and Blazor

A brief history of ASP.NET and ASP.NET Core

What is Blazor?

WebAssembly and client-side .NET development

Creating a Blazor Wasm application.

Building a simple application for tracking tasks

Exploring Blazor Wasm deployment options

Deployment options for Blazor Wasm projects

Publishing Blazor to Azure Static Web Apps hosting

Pushing the project to GitHub

Creating an Azure Static Web Apps resource

Publishing an application with GitHub Actions

Hosting your Blazor application in the WinUI WebView2

Chapter 13: Take Your App Cross-Platform with Uno Platform

An overview of Uno Platform

Creating your first Uno Platform project

Migrating WinUI XAML markup and code to Uno Platform

Migrating the WinUI project code

Migrating the WinUI XAML views

Running on Android with WSA

Running in the browser with WebAssembly

Chapter 14: Packaging and Deploying WinUI Applications

Discovering application packaging and MSIX basics

MSIX

Reviewing MSIX tools and resources

Packaged applications and application identity

Getting started with application packaging in Visual Studio

Deploying applications with Windows Package Manager

Adding a package to the community repository

Using WinGet for package management

Distributing applications with the Microsoft Store

Preparing a free application for the Microsoft Store

Uploading a package to the Store

Sideloading WinUI applications with MSIX

Creating an MSIX package for sideloading

Sideloading an MSIX package

Index

About Packt

Other Books You May Enjoy.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781805129707

1805129708

OCLC:

1407633198