For the past month we have been busy putting together some Windows 8 templates to help developers build apps for Windows 8 faster. With the help of Barranger, I have built out two Windows 8 templates with each having a companion backend server.
If you are a regular reader of my blog, your will know that almost everything I do is .NET C#/XAML development. For these templates, I decided to go the HTML5/CSS/JavaScript route and use WinJS for Windows 8 client apps. On the backend decided to use NodeJS on Windows Azure with a MongoDB data store on MongoLab.
So what templates are being released?
Finder App Template
The Windows 8 Finder App Template is a template developed to allow developers to quickly and easily create a location based type application for the Windows 8 store. It allows a developer to easily pull existing point of interest data into the app to display on a map.
In the template, we have included some pre-defined point of interest feeds. If those are not exactly what you are looking for, you have the option to use the optional backend NodeJS server which allows the importing of data which can then be used to feed the Windows 8 application.
Both the Windows 8 Finder Template source code and NodeJS Finder App Server source code can be found on GitHub.
Hero App Template
The Windows 8 Hero App Template is a template developed to allow developers to quickly and easily create an application to collect certain information while out in the field on a Windows 8 device. For example, if a developer wanted to create an app to allow people to submit information on roads needing pothole repairs, the Hero App Template is a good starting point. The Hero App Template is a derivative of the Windows 8 Finder App Template described above.
The Hero App Server is a required component and essentially provides a server to collect submitted data and feed the data back to users. It is a branch from the Finder App Server so is similar but adds more functionality.
Both the Windows 8 Hero App Template and NodeJS Hero App Server source code can be found on GitHub.
What’s Next?
So feel free to download and start playing with them and share any feedback. I’ll be following up next with quick start guides on both templates and how to get up and running.
