Windows 7 Development Resources
Get Windows 7 and the SDK
- Windows SDK
- Get the Windows API Code Pack
Tutorial
References
- Read the Windows 7 Developer Guide
Virtual Machine
- Less Virtual, More Machine – Windows 7 and the magic of Boot to VHD
- Step-By-Step: Turning a Windows 7 DVD or ISO into a Bootable VHD Virtual Machine
Blogs
Windows 7 API Code Pack for Microsoft® .NET Framework v1.0
The individual features supported in this version (v1.0) of the library are:
- Windows 7 Taskbar Jump Lists, Icon Overlay, Progress Bar, Tabbed Thumbnails, and Thumbnail Toolbars.
- Windows 7 Libraries, Known Folders, non-file system containers.
- Windows Shell Search API support, a hierarchy of Shell Namespace entities, and Drag and Drop functionality for Shell Objects.
- Explorer Browser Control.
- Shell property system.
- Windows Vista and Windows 7 Common File Dialogs, including custom controls.
- Windows Vista and Windows 7 Task Dialogs.
- Direct3D 11.0, Direct3D 10.1/10.0, DXGI 1.0/1.1, Direct2D 1.0, DirectWrite, Windows Imaging Component (WIC) APIs. (DirectWrite and WIC have partial support)
- Sensor Platform APIs
- Extended Linguistic Services APIs
- Power Management APIs
- Application Restart and Recovery APIs
- Network List Manager APIs
- Command Link control and System defined Shell icons.
Samples:
The Code Pack also contains sample applications built using this library. Each sample has a C# version and a VB.NET version and has its own solution file.
Documentation:
The Code Pack also includes API reference documentation. API documentation files can be found in two separate files WindowsAPICodePackHelp and DirectXCodePackHelp in the download section.
Videos:
Two minute videos demonstrating some of the features in this release are now available:
More Videos
- Part 1 demonstrates the Sensor and Location Library
- Part 2 demonstrates the Taskbar and Libraries Library
- Part 3 demonstrates the Multi-touch Gestures Library
Blogs
Via Windows 7 API Code Pack for Microsoft® .NET Framework – Home
.NET Library for Windows 7
Windows 7 Windows® API Code Pack for Microsoft® .NET Framework is making it easier for .NET developers to take advantage of new features in Windows 7.
The features included in this version (v0.85) of the library are:
- Support for Windows Shell namespace objects, including the new Windows 7 libraries, Known Folders and non file system containers.
- Windows Vista and Windows 7 Task Dialogs.
- Windows 7 Explorer Browser Control supporting both WPF and Windows Forms.
- Support for Shell property system.
- Helpers for Windows 7 Taskbar Jumplists, Icon Overlay and Progress bar.
- Support for Windows Vista and Windows 7 common file dialogs, including custom file dialog controls.
- Support for Direct3D 11.0 and DXGI 1.0/1.1 APIs.
- Sensor Platform APIs
- Extended Linguistic Services APIs
Part 1 demonstrates the Sensor and Location Library
Via Multi-touch .NET Library for Windows 7 | The Continuum Show | Channel 9
Also Videos:
Videos: PDC from 2008
PDC Content on Windows 7 including;
- Web Services in Native Code
- Extending Battery Life with Energy Efficient Applications
- Developing Multi-touch Applications
- DirectX for Mainstream Applications
- Introducing the Windows 7 Scenic Ribbon
- Windows 7 and XPS Documents
- Windows 7 Libraries and Explorer
- Introducing Direct2D and DirectWrite
- Designing Efficient Background Processes
- Design Principles for Windows 7
- Integrate with the Windows 7 Desktop
- Wecome to the Windows 7 Desktop
- The Sensor and Location Platform
- MSI and ClickOnce
- Sync Providers for Windows 7
- Instrumentation in Windows 7
- World-Ready Applications
- The New COM API for Accessibility and Automation in Windows 7
Videos: Channel 9
Channel 9 Content on Windows 7 including (my highlights);
- Windows 7 Taskbar in 10 Minutes — Part I- Progress Bar
- Windows 7 Taskbar in 10 Minutes — Part II- Icon Overlay
- Jump into the Windows 7 Taskbar Jump Lists
- Windows 7 Taskbar in 10 Minutes — Part III- Jumplists
- Windows 7 Taskbar- Advanced Features
- Windows 7 Location Platform Overview
- Inside Windows 7- Animation Manager Deep Dive and Tutorial
- Windows 7 Multi Touch Overview
- Programming Windows 7 Multi Touch – Part 1
- Programming Windows 7 Multi Touch – Part 2
- Windows 7 Graphics Architecture Overview – Part 1
- Windows 7 Graphics Architecture Overview – Part 2
- Windows 7 Graphics Architecture Overview – Part 3
- XP Mode for Windows 7 revealed
- Windows 7 Ribbon Deep Dive
- Windows 7 Ribbon Markup Overview
- Windows Web Services
- Windows 7- Find and Organize Part 2 – Building Federated Search applications
I
Windows 7 and the magic of boot to VHD
Instruction on how to Install Windows 7 to a new VHD and setting up your Windows Boot Menu to boot to this new VHD.
Via Scott Hanselman’s Computer Zen – Less Virtual, More Machine – Windows 7 and the magic of Boot to VHD
Windows 7 Tricks and Keyboard Shortcuts
Miscellaneous
- Win+P: Display the project options, which you can then use the arrow keys (or keep hitting Win+P) to switch to the different options.
- Win+X: Open the Windows Mobility Center.
- Win+G: Bring gadgets to the top of the Z-order. (Sets the focus to a gadget.)
A Developer’s Guide to Preparing for Windows 7
Taking Advantage of Windows 7
Assuming your application runs on Windows 7, the optional next step is to take advantage of one or more of the myriad new features in Windows 7 that can give your users a better experience, while of course still supporting Windows XP or Vista where appropriate. To call out a few specific examples:
- Multi-touch: enabling your application to take advantage of new devices like the HP TouchSmart desktop and notebook that support gestures to zoom, manipulate and control a user interface.
- Taskbar: adding support for new taskbar features in Windows 7 such as jump lists, progress bars, icon overlays and custom thumbnails.
- Libraries: taking advantage of the new common file dialogs in Windows 7 that support the library model of virtualized views over multiple physical folders.
- Sensors and Location: new APIs that enable suitably-equipped machines to report ambient light, user proximity, accelerometers and even geographic location.
- Direct2D, DirectWrite and Ribbon: replacement libraries for 2D and text rendering as well as the Windows 7 ribbon control that is an evolution of the ribbon in Office 2007.
There are two main kits you’ll want to download and install on your developer workstation to take advantage of Windows 7:
- The primary resource remains the Windows SDK (available both as an ISO image and for web-based installation) – this provides headers and libraries, tools, documentation and samples for building for Windows 7 (as well as older releases). We’ve recently updated this to support the RC; although we’ll ship an updated version for the final release of Windows 7, this release is more than suitable for use for production development. You’ll find API reference documentation for all the features listed above, along with some new tools (such as a ribbon XML markup compiler). Most developers have a subset of the Windows SDK already installed as part of Visual Studio, but you’ll need to install this later build if you want to target new APIs in Windows 7.
- If you’re a .NET managed code developer, then you might be a little nervous of using the new Win32 COM-based interfaces and rather low-level samples included in the SDK. We’ve made great strides in Windows 7 to ensure that these interfaces are easier to consume from managed code, but nevertheless this can be somewhat daunting if you’re not acquainted with the COM interop libraries in .NET. The good news is that we’ve invested in building some great interop assemblies and helper classes to provide a seamless experience for .NET developing against Windows 7, and you can find the first fruits of this project in the Windows API Code Pack for .NET, available today from the MSDN Code Gallery. The current version includes support for many of the features listed above, with more coming both in future releases of the code pack and in a forthcoming release of the .NET Framework.
Videos: Windows 7 Multi Touch
We have added multi-touch capabilities to Windows 7 that provide support for both Windows 7 and applications–even those applications that were not developed specifically to support multi-touch. As developers, we have the opportunity to opt into multi-touch in Windows 7 and provide additional functionality to our end users, enhancing their user experience.
Join Reed Townsend and Yochay Kiriaty as they explorer multi-touch in Windows 7. They will cover basic out of the box support for legacy applications, as well as for applications optimized for multi-touch, and explain the “Good, Better, and Best” programming model.
This is the first video in the Windows 7 Multi-Touch series, which includes:
Hyper-V Terminology Explained
- Microsoft Hyper-V Server
- Windows Server 2008 without Hyper-V
- Hyper-V on Windows Server 2008 / Windows Server 2008 with the Hyper-V role enabled
- Hyper-V
- Management Operating System
For details visit Virtual PC Guy’s WebLog : Hyper-V Terminology: Update
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Vincent Leung
More than 15 years experience in Windows software development using C# and .NET
Specialties:
C# 3.0, .NET 3.5, LINQ, ASP.NET 3.5, WCF, MVC, jQuery, Ajax, Silverlight
