Learn WinUI 3: Leverage WinUI and the Windows App SDK to create modern Windows applications with C# and XAML

Learn WinUI 3
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About the author
About the reviewer
Preface
   Who this book is for
   What this book covers
   To get the most out of this book
   Download the example code files
   Conventions used
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Part 1:Introduction to WinUI and Windows Applications
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
2
Configuring the Development Environment and Creating the Project
   Technical requirements
   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
   Summary
   Questions
3
MVVM for Maintainability and Testability
   Technical requirements
   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
   Summary
   Questions
4
Advanced MVVM Concepts
   Technical requirements
   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
   Summary
   Questions
5
Exploring WinUI Controls
   Technical requirements
   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
   Summary
   Questions
6
Leveraging Data and Services
   Technical requirements
   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
   Summary
   Questions
Part 2:Extending WinUI and Modernizing Applications
7
Fluent Design System for Windows Applications
   Technical requirements
   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
   Summary
   Questions
8
Adding Windows Notifications to WinUI Applications
   Technical requirements
   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
   Summary
   Questions
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
      Controls
   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
   Summary
   Questions
10
Accelerating App Development with Template Studio
   Technical requirements
   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
   Summary
   Questions
Part 3:Build and Deploy on Windows and Beyond
11
Debugging WinUI Applications with Visual Studio
   Technical requirements
   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
   Summary
   Questions
12
Hosting a Blazor Application in WinUI
   Technical requirements
   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
   Summary
   Questions
13
Take Your App Cross-Platform with Uno Platform
   Technical requirements
   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
   Summary
   Questions
14
Packaging and Deploying WinUI Applications
   Technical requirements
   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
   Summary
   Questions
Index
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