Create your first Windows Runtime app using C++

[ This article is for Windows 8.x and Windows Phone 8.x developers writing Windows Runtime apps. If you’re developing for Windows 10, see the latest documentation ]

Learn how to use C++ and XAML to create Windows Runtime apps.

In this section

Topic Description

Part 1: Create a "Hello, world" app (Windows Runtime apps using C++)

In Visual Studio 2013 with Update 2, you can use C++ to develop an app that runs on Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1, and has a UI that's defined in Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML).

Part 2: Manage life cycle and state (Windows Runtime apps using C++)

In this part of the C++ tutorial series, you update your "Hello, world" app to respond to life-cycle events, and save user and session data.

Part 3: Add navigation and views (Windows Runtime apps using C++)

This part of the C++ tutorial series teaches how to add pages and navigation, arrange controls and content on a page, and adapt the page layout to different orientations and views. We're going to use the design tools in Visual Studio, but you can also create and modify a UI by typing XAML directly into the code editor.

Part 4: Enable file pickers (Windows Runtime apps using C++)

This final part of the C++ tutorial series shows how to add a FileOpenPicker so that a user can get a file, bind UI controls to data, and implement a MostRecentlyUsedList so that the user can access a previously opened file.

Roadmap for Windows Runtime apps using C++

Here are key resources to help you get started with using C++ (including Visual C++ component extensions (C++/CX)) to develop Windows Runtime apps.