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C#, VB, and C++ item templates for Windows Store apps

In this article

Template descriptions
Adding required files
Related topics

[This documentation is preliminary and is subject to change.]

Item templates are app files that contain commonly used code that can be added to a project template to reduce development time.

Important The information in this topic has been updated for Windows 8.1 Preview. For information on migrating to the new templates, see Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 Preview for XAML developers.

The item templates contain the appropriate references and script tags to support Windows Store apps. Some of the item templates implement a contract, which is like an agreement that one or more apps can use specific APIs. When you add a contract template (File Open Picker Contract, Share Target Contract), the app manifest is updated with the appropriate declarations to notify Windows that your app supports this contract. You can see the settings for these declarations on the Declarations tab of the Manifest Designer.

You can add an item template to a project by right-clicking the project in Solution Explorer and then clicking Add > New Item.

Template descriptions

This table summarizes the types of item templates available in Visual C#, Visual Basic, or Visual C++ for Windows Store apps.

Template	Description	Requires common files
Pages
Basic Page	A minimal page, containing a title and a back button, that uses NavigationHelper.	Yes
Blank Page	A blank page.	No
Group Detail Page	A page that displays details for a single group and previews each item in the group.	Yes
Grouped Items Page	A page that displays item previews arranged in groups.	Yes
Hub Page	A page that displays item previews arranged in sections and that uses a varied presentation for each section.	Yes
Item Detail Page	A page that displays one item in detail along with navigation to adjacent items in the same group.	Yes
Items Page	A page that displays a collection of items.	Yes
Search Results Page	A page that supports displaying search results.	Yes
Split Page	A page that displays a list of items and the details for a selected item.	Yes
Contracts
File Open Picker Contract	An app contract that enables supplying files to other apps. This item template enables an app to expose its data as files to other apps. For example, you can use this template to create a photo picker dialog box from which the user can pick a photo from Facebook, even if the photo isn't stored on the local hard drive. For more info, see Integrating with file picker contracts.	Yes
Share Target Contract	An app contract that supports receiving items shared by other apps. This item template enables an app to coordinate data sharing among other apps. For example, you can use this template to enable users to post a photo from Flickr on Facebook. This template includes code that enables the app to receive shared content. The app that contains this item template is started when the app is selected in the share UI. For more information, see QuickStart: receiving shared content.	Yes
Other
Class	An empty class definition.	No
Resource Dictionary	An empty, keyed collection of XAML resources.	No
Resources File (.resw)	A file for storing string and conditional resources for your application. To help localize a Windows Store app, you can add one or more Resources File item templates to your project. For more info, see Globalizing your app.	No
Settings Flyout	A blank Settings Flyout page.	No
Templated Control	A blank custom control with the appropriate default styling.	No
Unit Test	An empty unit test.	No
User Control	A blank user control.	No

Adding required files

Some of the Windows Store item templates defined above are complex pages and have dependencies on NavigationHelper, SuspensionManager, and other common files included in the project templates. These files are located in the Common folder that's automatically added when you create an app using the Hub App, Grid App, or Split App project templates. If any of the required references can't be found, you'll be prompted to add the required files.

Note The required files vary depending on the specific item template you are adding. The complete list of common files includes: NavigationHelper, SuspensionManager, RelayCommand, BooleanNegationConverter, and BooleanToVisibilityConverter. For more info on these files, see C#/VB/C++ project templates for Windows Store apps.

The following table provides info on how to proceed when prompted to add required files.

Action	Why choose this?	What happens?
Yes	You created your app from the Blank App project template. None of the common items are added by default, and this is the only way to add them automatically. You removed a few of the files in the Common folder because you weren't using them. But the newly added item might require the removed files and you want to add them again.	The required dependencies are added to the Common folder. If the folder already exists, all missing items are added. No existing files are modified. If the folder doesn't exist, it's created and all items are added to it.
No	The required files already exist but you have renamed the files or classes. You reorganized your project and moved the files from the Common folder to another location, such as different folders or a linked class library.	The new item is added. No other files are added or modified.
Cancel	You decide that you no longer want the item to be added.	The project isn't changed, and the item isn't added.

C#, VB, and C++ item templates for Windows Store apps

Template descriptions

Adding required files

Related topics