New Year, New Dev: Developing your idea into a UWP app

In the last post, we introduced you to a video series from Bob Tabor that teaches the fundamentals of C#. In this post, you’ll learn how to put those new (or re-sharpened) C# skills to use as we explore UWP (Universal Windows Platform) development in the Windows 10 Development for Absolute Beginners course from Bob Tabor. With little or no prior experience with XAML (pronounced “Zammal”), you’ll learn how to use XAML and C# to create amazing Windows 10 UWP applications, get those apps ready for publishing and see them run on UWP devices ranging from Xbox One and PC, to mobile and even Raspberry Pi.

Even if you’re an experienced UWP developer, just like in the last post, you may find that there are areas you’d like to brush up on. You can jump to any of the course’s 80 videos and also explore the companion sample code on GitHub.

Exploring the Course

The Ultimate Beginner Series course has two conceptual parts. In the first half, Bob Tabor explains the concepts, patterns and features of a UWP application. In the second half, you will build out four fleshed-out demo applications. From “File > New” to submitting your app to the Windows Store, these samples will get you ready to build and publish your first (or next) app!

First Half

Let’s take a high-level look at just some of the topics you’ll see in the front half of the course (to see the full list visit the course site).

Videos 1 – 7: Introduction to both XAML and what UWP (Universal Windows Application) is
Videos 8 – 18: Learn how to use different XAML Layouts
Videos 19 – 24: App Navigation
Videos 28 – 36: XAML Styling
Videos 37 – 39: VisualStateManager and AdaptiveTriggers
Videos 40 – 42: DataBinding, ObservableCollections and DataTemplates

There’s a lot there and there is even more to see, including lesson cheat-sheets, challenges and other useful material for learning and future reference.

Second Half

Now, let’s take a look at the four big samples that you’ll build as you move into the second part of the course. These videos will bring you through all the aspects of building, testing and publishing a UWP app.

SoundBoard (videos 49 – 56)
- Page Layout, creating models and data binding
- Playing media with MediaElement
- Implementing drag and drop
- Working with app assets (iconography) and submitting to the Windows Store
Weather (videos 57 – 62)
- Working with a weather API
- Using GPS and location APIs
- Testing location in a Windows 10 Mobile emulator
- Updating live tiles
Album Cover Match Game (videos 63–70)
- Access and use the device’s folder and file system
- Layout, databinding and game setup/logic
- Handling user input and persisting progress
- Monetization with ads and In App Purchase
Hero Explorer (videos 71–79)
- Accessing a Web API
- Databinding the object graph from the Web API results
- Displaying that data in an adaptive layout

Make it through everything? Congrats, you are now ready to begin (or continue) your journey into the world of Windows 10 UWP development. This is not the end of great resources, there are many more available to you as you continue on your journey as a UWP developer (see resources section below). We look forward to seeing the wonderful UWP creations you bring to the Windows Store in 2017!

Resources

Official Microsoft GitHub UWP examples (currently 237 topic-specific demos)
UWP documentation
UWP app design documentation

Download Visual Studio to get started.

The Windows team would love to hear your feedback. Please keep the feedback coming using our Windows Developer UserVoice site. If you have a direct bug, please use the Windows Feedback tool built directly into Windows 10.

Source: New Year, New Dev: Developing your idea into a UWP app