is there any support for developing Desktop applications in Metro style (similar to Microsoft Zune) in Visual Studio 2012?
No you can't (out of the box). What you can do is use WPF with a library that implements Metro style for desktop apps like :
MahApps.Metro
Elysium
APEX (screenshot from here)
Metro Toolkit
Or rolling your own by customizing the WPF controls (Templates).
Found another one
http://mui.codeplex.com
it comes with controls, and looks like it is being actively developed on :)
Related
Easy question: I'm new to Linux Desktop Application Development coming from a Microsoft Windows and Visual Studio Desktop Application Development background and am trying to make a basic GUI application in Monodevelop C# that has what's called a Tab Control in Visual Studio. I can't for the life of me though find an equivalent control in Monodevelop under either Containers or Widgets in the Toolbox and Google has been no help. Am I missing something obvious or is a Tab Control an outdated object, design wise, and has been replaced with something else? Thanks in advance!
We have a C++ desktop application with a old MFC GUI and now we want to have a more modern touch GUI. We would like to use the Windows Metro App style.Is there any Windows native C++ Metro GUI library for desktop application like the C# Mahapps library for WPF?
Qt c++ libs will be your need. Please check this http://www.qt.io/ide/
I am new to Xamarin. I have few confusion here.
Question:
How does Xamarin get the Native Look and Feel of the UI Components?.
Does Xamarin Provide their own Widgets [ like button, Layouts, ..].
Here is my understanding Correct me if I am wrong?.
1) Develop the UI [ button, layout...] by native SDK. For example iOS use Xcode. for Android ?.
2) Consider the button, when the button is pressed, the the code which is going to get executed
is common across the platform.
3) So, Since UI are directly from their respective SDK, we get the Native Look and Feel.
Kindly correct me where I misunderstood?.
I think you are way off.
Xamarin provides C# and the .Net (Mono) runtime on iOS and Android. At the same time they expose the native APIs on each platform to C#. So they built a way for C# to call into Objective-C and Java (and vice versa).
This means you develop native UIs on each platform, and can share backend business logic between platforms. A Xamarin app can share somewhere between 50-75% of its code across platforms. There is no general sharing of the UI across platforms, since this would abstract away the native APIs.
To break it down:
Android
Use Xamarin Studio or Visual Studio to develop your C# backend code
Use Xamarin's Android designer to layout native Android XML layouts
iOS
Use Xamarin Studio or Visual Studio* to develop your C# backend code
Use XCode on a Mac to layout storyboard or XIB files for native iOS UI layout
Both options you can create your UI from code as well, but the native APIs will be different on each platform.
*A mac is needed to compile for iOS
I'd like to know how to create a program interface like the one used in Visual Studio, Office 2013, GitHub for Windows, etc.
Looks like Cosmopolitan Theme for WPF is not the same theme used on those softwares.
To show you the difference between these programs interfaces and common others take a look at those printscreens:
Interfaces I wanna know how to build:
Visual Studio:
Office 2013 (Excel):
GitHub for Windows:
Common Interface:
The difference between these programs is its interfaces. I already downloaded the Visual Studio Express for Windows 8, Visual Studio Express for Windows Desktop and I also looked at Visual Studio Ultimate, but them doesn't have the option the build such kind of interfaces when you create a "New Project...".
Do I need to install a new Template on my VS to be able to build such kind of interface? I think it's some sort of theme for WPF. I'd like to see proves that those applications use this UI style you refer in your answer.
Thanks.
Please note that the look and feel of the application is based on the operating system theme by default.
Your Interfaces have been designed following the Metro UI style. Metro UI apps are Windows 8 only, as they require WinRT.
You can only simulate the Metro style in Windows 7 (and vista) with WPF : you have to use a third party controls (or develop your own), such as these examples :
Modern UI for WPF
MahApps.Metro
Cosmopolitan is just a theme for common controls. For example, there are no pivot or panorama control.
Visual Studio 2012 and GitHub for Windows are WPF applications. Office uses custom controls for the "Metro" look.
WPF and Silverlight provide an easy way to theme an entire application. GitHub is based on the Silverlight theme "Cosmopolitan".
Here are some links for more information.
Cosmopolitan Theme for WPF
Making your WPF app look like the Zune client
Silverlight 4 Application Themes
Mishra Reader (An active open source WPF client with a similar theme)
Office 2013 uses Metro Style and Ribbons. For this you can use Fluent Control Suite. This project also has a Metro Style where you can easily make it like Office 2013. Note that you maybe need the recent dll instead of e.g. the nuget package.
If you want some icons like Office 2013, here i found an icon pack that is close to the Office icons: Axialis Pure Flat 2013 (with costs).
For others without Ribbons, you can use for example MahApps Metro as Cybermaxs suggested and for the docks you can use AvalonDock from the WPF Toolkit. AvalonDock also has a Metro Style. And a Visual Studio 2010 Style. And you can dock your Windows like in Visual Studio, very useful ;)
Everything I see pertaining to Blend for Visual Studio 2012 talks about making Window's store apps. Am I correct in assuming it can be used for regular desktop applications too?
At the moment Blend for Visual Studio does not have support for building WPF or Silverlight applications enabled. But, it will with the next update. From that point on you will be able to design regular desktop apps using Blend again. Until than you could use Expression Blend 4 which is available to you if you have an MSDN subscription.
You can read more about the upcoming update for Visual studio here and download a preview.
There's an earlier preview of Blend available that supports WPF too. You can read more about this on the BlendInsiders blog. The only drawback with this preview is that it doesn't have a go-live license yet. It runs side by side with Blend for Visual Studio.
Although it should be possible to build an application entirely in Blend, I would recommend writing your code in Visual Studio and only work with you XAML in Blend.
Update:
With the release of Visual Studio 2012 update 2, support for WPF is added to Blend. More about that can be found over here.
Yes and no.
The "Windows Store" application templates can only be used for the "Windows Store model"-type applications, also known as Tifkam, Metro, or Immersive.
Blend does feature a designer for regular WPF and Silverlight applications and controls. However it isn't a tool for the end-to-end creation of applications, it is strictly a user-interface design tool. Note that Visual Studio shares the exact same WPF designer codebase. Use Blend if you're a non-programmer designer, or if you need a superior Tifkam HTML or "Jupiter" XAML (not-WPF) designer tool.