With the release of the DevExpress WinRT Live Tile Manager for .NET, WinForms developers can finally provide distinctive updates to Windows Live Tiles from any desktop application and deliver on the promise of Windows 8 and its interactive Live Tile experience without re-writing their existing applications.
Windows 8 Live Tiles offer an entirely new way for applications to interact with end-users on the Start Screen. The ability to update Tiles allows running apps to deliver relevant information to the user along with a consolidated entry point into the app itself. Until the release of the DevExpress WinRT Live Tile Manager, legacy Windows applications could not easily communicate with Live Tiles and deliver on next-generation experiences that lie at the heart of Windows 8. WinForms developers were left with very little choice but to use tiles as simple shortcuts to launch legacy apps.
“The idea behind the Devexpress WinRT Live Tile Manager is simple,” said Julian Bucknall, CTO at DevExpress. “Breathe new life into all WinForms desktop apps and allow developers to create, display and update Live Tiles on the Windows 8 Start Screen without abandoning existing code investments.”
In order to bridge the gap between traditional Windows desktop apps and the Windows 8 Start Screen, DevExpress ships a fully-compliant Windows Store App – the Live Tile Manager. The Live Tile Manager automatically analyzes the running WinForms desktop app to determine if it supports the Live Tile Manager interface. For each application, it collects one or more tiles exposed by the app and pins that app to the Start Screen and updates its contents based on preferences set by the developer. It responds to clicks or touch gestures on these tiles and routes the appropriate event to the relevant app on the desktop.
To view the WinRT Live Tile Manager in action and see how a legacy app can communicate with the Start Menu and update its contents automatically, visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3Kk7BM8ZQA
To learn more about the DevExpress WinRT Live Tile Manager, visit: http://www.devexpress.com/Products/NET/Controls/WinForms/Live-Tile-Manager/
