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New toolkit brings Microsoft Surface development tools to Windows

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If you’ve been itching to develop apps for Microsoft Surface but haven’t had the thousands in loose change necessary to buy a Surface, you’ll be happy to learn there’s a new toolkit that lets you build apps from a Windows Touch PC instead.

Updated: scratch that. the toolkit lets you use Microsoft Surface  development tools in Windows application development.  Basically just a new toolkit for Windows development, not Surface developments. Thanks again Cliff.

Per the Surface website:

Microsoft Surface Toolkit for Windows Touch Beta (NEW)
This beta package includes the advanced Microsoft Surface controls, templates, and samples to easily create applications that are optimized for multi-touch interaction and that run on Windows Touch PCs. With the .NET Framework 4.0, Windows Presentation Framework 4.0 (WPF), and this toolkit, Windows Touch developers can quickly and consistently create advanced multi-touch applications for Windows Touch PCs.  This toolkit also provides a jump-start for Surface application developers to prepare for the next version of Microsoft Surface.

BTW, I researched the input options this time and confirmed from the Microsoft Surface Blog: “The .NET 4.0 Framework and the Surface Toolkit support input devices such as mouse, stylus, and touch. With the Surface Toolkit, you can develop an application that supports various types of input.” So you should be able to get this working even without a certified touch device, though that probably hinders your testing ability considerably.

Thanks to our friend Cliff Brooks a.k.a. Feralboy for the tip, which he got from Channel 10.

4 Comments

4 Comments

  1. Feralboy

    04/22/2010 at 7:59 pm

    Hey Sumocat,

    Glad you posted this, but the headline / content seems misleading. I believe the point of the tool is not to develop surface apps on a multi-touch PC, but to develope multi-touch PC apps using controls that were designed for use on a surface. The controls are more touch friendly…for instance, there’s a listbox tool with a small slider bar that expands when you press your finger to it, making it easier to manipulate. And the slider control glows when you make contact and uses inertia so as you’re sliding it, a little flick will send it further down the track on its own.

    • Modnar

      04/24/2010 at 6:17 am

      As a developer who is using this toolkit you have summed it up in a nutshell.

      A few things in it are rather interesting and useful to use :)

      • Feralboy

        04/25/2010 at 8:15 pm

        Hey Modnar,

        Can you talk about what you’re working on? There are so few apps developed for the TPC or TPCMT (Tablet PC Multi-Touch) that any development piques my interest.

        Cliff

        • Modnar

          04/26/2010 at 5:50 am

          Its a combination for 3 things.

          Currently for the company I work for, and luckily for my final year of engineering project is to take an existing piece of software – a content creation revolving around flash, images and video, various and custom shapes, web pages, text and inking (think similar to OneNote) used on our interactive whiteboards (that are seen as a multi touch digitizer by windows 7 (or simple single touch for prev version of windows or as a fallback as an usb mouse) so big tablets XD ) – and starting over redoing it revolving specifically multi touch and multi user for the larger format. But natrually since I am a tablet user it will work on normal tablets too (as well as standard laptops).

          Another is a personal project of mine for a pen or touch based media player that I have been tweaking on and off for close to a 3/4 of a year now that I found a control or two on here that I liked that could fit into it. And yes when that media player is looking better I will be releasing that on here.

          Other is a secret ish project for my company ;)

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