Today at the Microsoft BUILD 2013 conference, the WinRT team quoted there are "over 5,000 new APIs in Windows 8.1″ available to developers that enable more powerful Windows Store and Windows desktop apps. Finally.
There's no exact listing of the entire 5,000 new APIs, but I found a document that provides an overview of the major new additions and changes. Here's a quick rundown.
App packaging
- Apps can use a "resource package" for regionalised text and image assets. The appropriate one is downloaded for the user.
- A new "appxbundle" can be used to sideload a Windows Store app using a single file (replacing a folder).
Asynchronous programming
- WinJS adds a Scheduler, a universal priority-based schduler that allows better asynchronous apps
- New controls: AppBarCommand, BackButton, Hub, ItemContainer, NavBar, Repeater, WebView
- Updated controls: ListView drag-drop, ListView reorder, ListView layout CellSpanningLayout, performance improvements to ListLayout & GridLayout
Read more: I Start Something
QR: 