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

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
	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
Chapter 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
Chapter 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
Chapter 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
Chapter 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
Chapter 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
Chapter 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
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
		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
Chapter 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
Chapter 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
Chapter 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
Chapter 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
Chapter 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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