Get current user in WinRT - windows-8

I'm a C# developer and I'm used to the good old Environment.CurrentUser. Now I need exaclty that in my Windows 8 Metro app (html & js).
So how do I get it?

Windows.System.UserProfile.UserInformation.
There's also an example that uses this class, the Account picture name sample
.

Related

Reposistioning Icons in Windows Store apps

I'm using a set of icons inside my Windows Store App for some functionality, I want to code for rearranging according to user wish like how we see in Windows 8 Start Screen. I want guidance and some resources for it, Do you have any suggestions?
Check out JQuery's GridView. Like Nate said. There are apps in the store that demonstrates the gridview. See CodeShow app. It's made from Javascript though.

Updating live tiles for windows phone 8 periodically

I need to update my application's tile periodically with the count the amount of inbox items. Anyone can give me a reference or relevant link to a example or tutorial? I get my data from a webservice. I went on google, and all the examples is on button click. I need one that does this automatically every few minutes/hours? This is for the windows phone 8 start screen of the phone.
thanks in advance!
This is probably the best tutorial I have seen for live tiles in wp8:
http://www.windowsphonegeek.com/articles/live-tiles-in-windows-phone-8-part-1-tile-templates
There are a couple of different ways you can do this. You can use Azure Mobile Services OR you can use a background process for your app to update the tile. You can find information here :
http://thesociablegeek.com/windows-8/livetiles/modifying-live-tiles-in-a-background-process/
Daniel

Implementing "Rate application" functionality on a Windows Store app

I am trying to implement rating functionality in a Windows Store application using HTML / Javascript.
I am showing a popup dialog similar to the one below within the application and when "Rate" is clicked I would like to redirect to the Marketplace where the user can then rate the application.
This is a task that can easily be done on Windows Phone 7 via the MarketplaceReviewTask.
Is there an API on Windows 8 that I could call to have this achieved?
The Rate and Review link in the Settings charm will automatically appear for users other than yourself (since you can't rate your own app).
If you want a custom link somewhere, you can use LaunchUriAsync like Jim says, using this URI:
"ms-windows-store:REVIEW?PFN=[my-pfm]"
where my-pfm is "Package Family Name" which you will find in your application manifest.
Here's a blog post I found that's helpful:
http://www.andybeaulieu.com/Default.aspx?tabid=67&EntryID=227
If you use protocol activation (LaunchUriAsync) with the URI format suggested here you'll get to your app's page on the Store; however, there's still an additional step for the user to click Write a Review. There may be a way to deep link to it and I'll update if I find out.

is there something like a hubtile (WP7) in win 8 metro style?

i want to port one of my windows phone 7 apps to the windows 8 metro style plattform.
the problem is, that i need a element like the hubtile which i use from the silverlight toolkit for windows phone.
is there something equal in the windows 8 metro style platform? maybe open source like the silverlight toolkit.
i dont want to add the livetile outside my app, this is easy. i want to have something like hubtile for WP7 for win8. This means a tile which is inside my application.
If I'm right I'm planning to do the same task. I didn't find any reference of a control which performs like a HubTile. Thus, I decided importing the one from the Silverlight Toolkit (for Windows Phone). Luckily it worked almost smoothly, you can see my sample at:
https://github.com/hmadrigal/playground-dotnet/tree/master/MsWinPhone.EmbedFont (tested on Windows 8 RP and Visual Studio 2012 RC)
Kind regards,
Herber
you can work with the live tiles of course and in several ways. You can use badge notifications, toast notifications, and so on.
I'll suggest you to take a look to this documentation.
And also take a look to those two samples: App tiles and badge sample and Push and periodic notifications client-side sample
By the way don't forget to enable the features you need in the package manifest.

How can i design menu and title in vb.net?

I Would like to create my menu groups in my desktop application as the one shown in sample image. I would like to know which control is used for it? What extra works we need to do on it?
A reference to similar one is also welcome...
Thanks
CollapsiblePanel or Accordian or TaskPane.
Check out .Net 2.0 SDK Samples, specifically Technologies\WinForms\TaskPane.