Developing a Windows Store Business App

  • Article

Microsoft patterns & practices recently announced the latest addition to the patterns & practices library of software architecture guidance: Developing a Windows Store Business App using C#, XAML, and Prism.

This guidance illustrates how to create a Windows Store business app using C#, XAML and the Prism library. The release includes documentation, and source code for the AdventureWorks Shopper reference implementation and the Prism for Windows Runtime library. The AdventureWorks Shopper reference implementation uses the Prism library to demonstrate modern development practices such as the Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM) pattern with navigation and app lifecycle management. Additionally the reference implementation demonstrates validation, application data management, accessibility, localizability, touch, search, tiles, tile notification, and multiple view states. It also provides guidance on testing your app and tuning its performance.

Similar to the Prism library for WPF and Silverlight or “Prism Classic,” Prism for Windows Runtime makes it easier to design and build flexible and easy-to-maintain Windows Store business apps using modern development practices. These apps are “built to last” and “built to change.” They use design patterns that embody important architectural design principles, such as separation of concerns and loose coupling.

What’s in the Box?

  • Reference Implementation (RI) – the AdventureWorks Shopper reference implementation demonstrates validation, application data management, accessibility, localizability, touch, search, tiles, and tile notification.
  • Quickstarts:
    • Hello World – demonstrates how to create a Hello World app for the Windows Store using the Prism library.
    • Event Aggregator – demonstrates how to send loosely coupled messages between components.
    • Validation – demonstrates how to validate data on forms in a Windows Store app.
  • Prism library
  • Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM) with app lifecycle management and navigation
  • Event Aggregator in a Portable Class Library
  • Validation
  • Delegate Command
  • Flyout, Search, and Settings

How to Get It?

The Prism library source code is available with the AdventureWorks Shopper reference implementation on the MSDN Code Gallery. The Prism binaries are available on NuGet. Search for prism.storeapps and prism.pubsubevents.

You can view the documentation here or download a PDF version here.