Windows Store App Development Tutorial - Part 1 : Overview and Requirements of Windows Store App Development

Welcome to the Learn Windows Store Application Development in 31 days series. In this series we are going to start looking into what is a Windows Store App is all about and understand the latest and much awaited Modern UI design to develop your first Windows store application and upload to the Windows Store in this 31 days tutorial. This tutorial is targeted to the Level 100 to Level 300 audience which is going to explain about start developing the app from the scratch and explains the components and tools that will be used to develop a Unique application which will be packaged and uploaded to the Market place.

What is Windows Store Application?

Before we dig into what and why a Windows Store Application is all about, we will first take a look on what Windows 8 is all about  as Windows 8 will be the base Operating system which the Windows Store is targeted upon. So for those who are not familiar with Windows 8 here is a small idea on the same, “ Windows 8 is the new operating system announced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablets, and home theater PCs. Windows 8 introduces significant changes to the operating system's graphical user interface and platform, such as a new interface design incorporating a new design language used by other Microsoft products, a new Start screen to replace the Start menu used by previous versions of Windows, a new online store that can be used to obtain new applications, along with a new platform for apps that can provide what Microsoft described as a "fast and fluid" experience with emphasis on touchscreen input.”

So as quoted in the above sentence, Microsoft has a new Online Store which is targeted to Application development on a set of pre acceptable guidelines which is basically a new Modern UI (Metro UI later) which is not called “Windows Store Application” Here is a small idea on how the new Windows 8 operating system will be.

Windows 8 is fast and speedy that when we use the application or play games, as Windows 8 starts quickly and uses less memory for the application and games. Also Windows 8 is cloud connected, so we can have direct access to the data over the cloud to the Windows 8 PC or the tablet on the go. Like Windows Phone Marketplace here in Windows 8 as well we have a market place where have option to download the latest applications and games and share along with your friends over the social networking media.

So What are the requirements of Windows Store App Development?

Windows store application can be developed with Visual Studio 2012 which has launched a month before, so basically we need to have a Windows 8 Operating System which is already available running on a development machine along with Visual Studio 2012 IDE. For downloading these software's visit to http://msdn.microsoft.com and install on the development machine. 

Once you downloaded and installed the Windows 8 and Visual Studio 2012 IDE we can see some of the base templates that are available to be used to develop the Windows store application as shown in the screen below.

 We will look into these templates in detail in our upcoming articles, meanwhile once we can see the Windows Store template available we need to register and activate the license of the Windows Store application development using Visual Studio 2012. 

What are the Software and Hardware Requirements to Build Windows Store Application?

Below are some of the requirements which needs to be taken into consideration while setting up the development environment for developing Windows Store Applications. 

Hardware Requirements: (For Installing Windows 8)

•  Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster
• RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit)
• Hard disk space: 16 GB (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
• Graphics card: Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM driver

Software Requirements:

•  Visual Studio 2012 Express or RTM  
• Windows 8 SDK 
• Windows App Certification Kit For Windows RT 

How a Windows Store Application look like? 

Windows Store applications are going to be next gen apps which will target the user experience more closely compared to the other aspects. With Windows Store application users will be really having some exciting options to navigate and play around with the application and games that can be developed. The application will be opened in Full Screen with navigation options available all through the sliding lookups at the right side as well with the new Start screen that is easily available.

The below screen is a sample on how a Windows Store Application looks like, this application is developed using XAML with C# for Windows Store application development. This app is called Gift Ideas which gives gift ideas for particular occasions.

So in our next tutorial we will see the different templates available and how to start developing our first Windows Store Application using Visual Studio 2012 IDE. To follow this series I would suggest every one to start installing the required software’s on to there deveopment machines and be ready to develop your unique Windows Store app to publish to Windows Store.