Start developing for Windows 7 in managed code today!
There is a lot of positive "noise" about Microsoft Windows 7 OS so I would like to help all of you trying to prepare your applications so you can be prepared when you customer demand that they run on it!
There are (almost) no breaking changes in Windows 7 for "regular" applications that are running correctly on Windows Vista, but there are advanced possibilities to use, like:
- New Windows Taskbar
- there is no Quick Lunch area, it is recommended not to use Notification area but instead use overlaying icons, progress, thumbnails, etc.
- Support for native UI like Multi-touch, Ink, Speech
- very nice, but you need to have HW that support it - it will be fun to play with Gestures, Touch, Inertia and Manipulation API's
- Libraries & Federated Search
- organizing and searching content from multiple locations, without writing single line of _client_code :-)
- Ribbon
- even there is native WIN32 API in Win7, I would prefer WPF Ribbon that is also available and requires .NET Fx 3.5 SP1
- Sensor & Location
- again, nice toy, but there is very interesting example with Light Sensor (that most of better notebook have): adapting UI based on light Conditions: http://tinyurl.com/od7sy7
- Power, Background Processes & Services, Instrumentation & Performance
- even you are not thinking “Green”, your customer may ask you to prolong their laptops battery life, make apps faster, etc.
So, where to start?
1. Download appropriate SDK (for Windows 7 RC 7100: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=6db1f17f-5f1e-4e54-a331-c32285cdde0c&displaylang=en)
2. Get Windows Vista Bridge (wrapper around Win32 API, provided but not supported by MS): http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/VistaBridge
3. Windows 7 Developers Blog: http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/developers/default.aspx
4. Windows 7 Taskbar Wrapper: http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/Windows7Taskbar
5. Windows 7 Sensor Interop: http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/SensorsAndLocation/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=2359
6. Office UI: http://msdn.microsoft.com/hr-hr/office/aa973809(en-us).aspx
- login with Live ID, fill the form, Finish and download
7. WPF Ribbon Preview: http://www.codeplex.com/wpf/Wiki/View.aspx?title=WPF%20Ribbon%20Preview
Happy coding!