Windows 10 for developers is getting better and better. While the Windows Store app gap problem is still a huge issue for Microsoft and Windows 10, it may take some time for before Windows fans see the apps they want in the Windows Store. At the moment, there are plenty of helpful apps to get developers of any experience level started on creating Windows 10 apps.
Here’s a look at 5 Windows 10 developer apps that are available in the Windows Store.
UWP Community Toolkit Sample App
One of the highest-rated and most popular Windows 10 developer apps, UWP (Universal Windows Platform) Community Toolkit Sample App is a sample of what developers can do with Windows 10. According to the GitHub description, UWP Community Toolkit Sample App is an open-source “collection of helper functions, custom controls, and app services. It simplifies and demonstrates common developer tasks building UWP apps for Windows 10.”
For the most part, the purpose of this developer app is to show developers what’s possible with an app on the UWP Most of the Windows Store app reviews are overwhelmingly positive. UWP Community Toolkit Sample App is a perfect app for developers to see samples of the toolkit and its capabilities before getting started with the UWP Community Toolkit.
Desktop App Converter
Desktop App Converter is the newest Windows 10 UWP developer app in the Windows Store. While the Desktop App Converter was only just recently released, the app aims to make it easier for developers to convert their desktop apps into Windows 10 UWP apps.
Here is the list of features available in Desktop App Converter:
- Support for auto-signing the converted apps produced by the Desktop App Converter.
- Added support for auto-detecting app dependencies on VC++ libraries and then converting them into AppX manifest dependencies.
- Updated the manifest schema to align with the Windows 10 Anniversary Update release (10.0.14393.0).
- Added warnings if any of the COM registrations in the virtual registry hive are not supported within the packaged AppX.
- Integrated the latest .NET computer virtualization NuGet package.
- Added newly introduced dependencies on common.dll.
Besides Desktop App Converter (Desktop Bridge), Microsoft also offers other ways for developers to bring their apps to Windows 10 with Hosted Web Apps, Silverlight Bridge, and Windows Bridge for iOS.
Notifications Visualizer
Notifications Visualizer is an app for developers to see how notifications for their app appear in the Notification Center in Windows 10. Notifications Visualizer shows developers a visual preview or the design and layout of their app’s live tile and toast notifications for Windows 10.
According to the app description, Notifications Visualizer is a Windows 10 developer app for configuring app live tiles and toast notifications. Here is a look at the features available:
- Instant visual previews of payloads
- Checks payloads for validity
- Pin the tile to actual Start, pop an actual toast
- See how the tile looks on Desktop, Tablet, and Mobile
Certainly, Notifications Visualizer is a helpful developer app to have when you want to customize your app’s live tile and toast notifications in Windows 10.
Dev Center
The Dev Center app is one of the most important developer apps for Windows 10. Without it, Windows 10 developers would not be able to get insight on how well their app is working in the Windows Store. Registered Windows 10 developers can access a number of different insights on the performance of their Windows 10 app in the Windows Store, including:
- Track the performance of your apps and IAPs, and learn about your customers with details about acquisitions over time by market, customer demographics, and OS version.
- Use crash data to help identify and correct issues in your apps. View crashes over time by type, device, app version, and the exception type to help pinpoint issues in your code.
- Drill into ratings and reviews to see what your customers are saying about your apps.
- Runs on any Windows 10 device, with responsive design to tailor the experience for your phone, tablet, PC, or any Windows 10 device.
Microsoft wants to provide the best app experience possible for developers, and Dev Center brings a large amount of app analytical information as an app on Windows 10.
Windows App Studio UWP Samples
Windows App Studio UWP Samples is a Windows 10 developer app that shows samples of what is available in the open-source Windows App Studio Libraries. The Windows App Studio UWP Samples app allows you look around and tweak the many different Windows App Studio Controls and Data Sources libraries.
The Windows App Studio UWP Samples app also allows you to copy the XAML, C#, and JSON code in the Windows App Studio Libraries for your own use.
For more details how you can more information and get started creating your own Windows 10 UWP apps, visit Microsoft’s Windows 10 developer website.
