If you're a UWP Dev, this is something you'll want to get... now. As in now, now... Go!
Introducing the UWP Community Toolkit
Recently, we released the Windows Anniversary Update and a new Windows Software Developer Kit (SDK) for Windows 10 containing tools, app templates, platform controls, Windows Runtime APIs, emulators and much more, to help create innovative and compelling Universal Windows apps.
Today, we are introducing the open-source UWP Community Toolkit, a new project that enables the developer community to collaborate and contribute new capabilities on top of the SDK.
We designed the toolkit with these goals in mind:
1. Simplified app development: The toolkit includes new capabilities (helper functions, custom controls and app services) that simplify or demonstrate common developer tasks. Where possible, our goal is to allow app developers to get started with just one line of code.
2. Open-Source: The toolkit (source code, issues and roadmap) will be developed as an open-source project. We welcome contributions from the .NET developer community.
3. Alignment with SDK: The feedback from the community on this project will be reflected in future versions of the Windows SDK for Windows 10....
UWP Community Toolkit 1.0
The toolkit can be used by any new or existing UWP application written in C# or VB.NET. Our goal is to support the latest and previous stable release of the SDK and at this time, the toolkit is compatible with apps developed with Windows 10 SDK Build 10586 or above.
The toolkit can be used to build UWP apps for any Windows 10 device, including PC, Mobile, XBOX, IoT and HoloLens. You can also use the toolkit with an existing desktop app converted to UWP using the Desktop Bridge.
Here are just some of the features included in the first release of the toolkit.
image: https://winblogs.azureedge.net/win/2016/08/image1.png
We are also releasing the UWP Community Toolkit Sample App in the Windows Store that makes it easy to preview the toolkit capabilities even before installing the tools or downloading the SDK. The app will also allow you to easily copy & paste the code you will need to get started using the toolkit in your project.
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Getting Started
It’s easy to get started:
1. Download Visual Studio 2015 with Update 3 and the Windows 10 SDK
2. Create a new UWP project (or open an existing one)
3. Launch Visual Studio 2015
4. Create a new project using the Blank App template under Visual C# → Windows → Universal
5. Add the UWP Community Toolkit to your project
6. In Solution Explorer panel, right click on your project name and select “Manage NuGet Packages”
7. Search for “Microsoft.Toolkit.UWP”
8. Select desired packages and install them
9. Add a reference to the toolkit in your XAML pages or C#
10. You can copy & paste code snippets for each feature from the Sample App, or find more details in the documentation....
Roadmap
In the future, we plan to release stable updates through the Visual Studio NuGet package at a regular cadence.
The toolkit is completely open-sourced on GitHub, including the source code of the toolkit, source code of the sample app and even the documentation. The roadmap for the next release is available here.
- If you need to report a bug or share a feature request, please use this form.
- If you would like to contribute your code, please start from here.
We are excited about the contributions that several community members already submitted in this first release, including Morten Nielsen, Scott Lovegrove, Pedro Lamas, Oren Novotny, James Croft, Diederik Krols, Hermit Dave, Thomas Nigro, Laurent Bugnion, Samuel Blanchard and Rudy Hyun. We are looking forward to continuing to grow the toolkit with even more community contributions.
So please go browse the sample app and learn about the experiences, then grab the NuGet package yourself and play around. We want developers to give us feedback on the usability and helpfulness of the features that exist in the toolkit. There is much to do in an open source project: we can get some help to improve accessibility and localization, and ensure the current capabilities work for all apps.
... [Read the entire post]
To see it in action, check out the sample app.
UWP Community Toolkit Sample App
Docs? Docs!
UWP Community Toolkit
The UWP Community Toolkit is a collection of helper functions, custom controls, and app services. It simplifies and demonstrates common developer tasks building UWP apps for Windows 10.
The toolkit can be used to build UWP apps for any Windows 10 device, including PC, Mobile, XBOX, IoT and HoloLens. You can also use the toolkit with an existing desktop app converted to UWP using the Desktop Bridge.
The UWP Community Toolkit is available as a Visual Studio NuGet package for new or existing C# and VB.NET projects. Read the Getting Started page for all the details.
You can also preview the capabilities of the toolkit by downloading the UWP Community Toolkit Sample App in the Windows Store.
UWP Community Toolkit Features
Animations
Easy to add visual effects Animations allow you to implement specific XAML behaviors and apply visual composition to your application, such as Blur and Fade. You can also use code to chain animations together without using XAML.
Controls
Custom controls Additional to SDK Ready to use Controls were built to be fast and up to current UWP coding standard. They include HamburgerMenu, RadialGauge, SlideableListItem and more.
Code Helpers
Code helpers are classes that simplify common coding patterns like Color conversion, Internet connection detection, StorageFile helpers, and more.
Notifications
Notifications are a key UI component to help UWP applications with user engagement. Live Tiles and Toast samples help you get started using them fast.
Services
Modern applications need to connect to cloud services. The toolkit show you how to connect to Bing, Facebook, and Twitter services.
Open Source
Built as an open source project hosted on GitHub with support from the community
Source? Source!
Microsoft/UWPCommunityToolkit
The UWP Community Toolkit is a collection of helper functions, custom controls, and app services. It simplifies and demonstrates common developer tasks building UWP apps for Windows 10.
Nuget Packages
NuGet is a standard package manager for .NET applications that is built into Visual Studio. From your open solution choose the Tools menu, NuGet Package Manager, Manage NuGet packages for solution... to open the UI. Enter one of the package names below to search for it online.
Once you search you should see a list similar to the one below (versions may be different, but names should be the same).
NuGet Package Name
descriptionMicrosoft.Toolkit.Uwp
Main NuGet package includes code only helpers for Colors, Internet Connection detection, Storage file handling, and a Stream helper class.Microsoft.Toolkit.Uwp.Notifications
Notifications Package - Generate tile, toast, and badge notifications for Windows 10 via code. Includes IntelliSense support to avoid having to use the XML syntax.Microsoft.Toolkit.Uwp.Notifications.Javascript
Notification Packages for JavaScript.Microsoft.Toolkit.Uwp.Services
Services Package - This NuGet package includes the service helpers for Bing, Facebook, and Twitter.Microsoft.Toolkit.Uwp.UI
UI Packages - XAML converters, Visual tree extensions and helpers for your XAML UI.Microsoft.Toolkit.Uwp.UI.Animations
Animations and Composition behaviors such as Blur, Fade, Rotate, etc.Microsoft.Toolkit.Uwp.UI.Controls
XAML Controls such as RadialGauge, RangeSelector, etc.Features
Animations
Controls
- AdaptiveGridView
- HamburgerMenu
- HeaderedTextBlock
- ImageEx
- PullToRefreshListView
- RadialGauge
- RangeSelector
- RotatorTile
- SlideableListItem
Code Helpers
Services
Notifications
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