Developing Metro Style App using JavaScript and Visual Studio 2011

In a previous article, we explored Windows Runtime (WinRT) and saw how to develop Metro Style Apps in C#. In this article, we will see how Metro Style Applications can be developed using JavaScript, Visual Studio 2011 Developer Preview and Windows 8 Developer Preview.

Note: You have to install VS2011 developer preview on Windows 8 Developer Preview to get access to the template for Metro Style App.

What is a Metro Style App?

As Microsoft defines it “Metro style apps are full screen apps tailored to your users' needs, tailored to the device they run on, tailored for touch interaction, and tailored to the Windows user interface. Windows helps you interact with your users, and your users interact with your app”

Step 1: Open VS 2011, expand the JavaScript template and create a new Metro Style Grid application project, as shown below:

Step 2: The project structure will be as below:

In this structure, you will see CSS and JavaScript files in the  ‘CSS’ and ‘js’ folder. You can also add your designed Logo in the ‘images’ folder.

Step 3: Open default.html and add the following Html UI control as below. You can add any business logic, but I will keep things simple and display only a date.

Step 4: In the ‘package.appxmanifest’, I have set the AppLogo and some settings, as shown below:

Step 5: Run the application and the result will be shown in the Emulator as shown below:

Click on ‘Click Me’ and the result will be as shown below:

In the Windows 8 Developer Preview, the above Metro Style App will be deployed in tile form as shown below: (Red Marked)

Conclusion: Windows Runtime (WinRT), provides mechanism for developing Metro Style Apps for all types of developers with their C#, JavaScript and VC++ expertise.

The entire source code of this article can be downloaded over here

This article has been editorially reviewed by Suprotim Agarwal.

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Mahesh Sabnis is a DotNetCurry author and Microsoft MVP having over 17 years of experience in IT education and development. He is a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) since 2005 and has conducted various Corporate Training programs for .NET Technologies (all versions). Follow him on twitter @maheshdotnet