Can I build entire Win 8 app in Blend?

Question

Can I create an entire win 8 app in Blend, soup to nuts...or do I have to use Visual Studio as well? Also, where can I find full-on documentation for Blend (I have the version that comes with Visual Studio for Win 8 app development, downloaded from the generationapp.com site). All I can find so far are blogs and marketing type pages.

I'm a Flash Pro developer and it looks like Blend is an awesome tool but I'm having trouble getting started with it.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Short answer No. Blend is focused towards design tasks like Layout authoring, Styling , Animations etc. VS on the other hand is oriented towards coding. You would definitely need to use both products to build a complete Widows 8 App.

Before I point you towards the docs. What platform are you planning to use to build your App. HTML\JS or XAML\C#,C++,VB ?.

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Dev@Mic

Answer 2

Hello,

Thanks so much for replying :-)

I am developing a very simple storybook game for kids ages 2 to 5. I have most of my design working in Blend. When I build and run, the app performs great on Win 8. I'm using Blend, and some short bits of XAML\C# code that I type into the code-behind window that adding an event property spawns.

You can navigate thru 5 pages of content. Each page fires off an animation and a sound file upon loading. User can click on an image on stage to run an animation. It's doing everything I want, though if I could figure it out, I would love to

1) implement drag/drop instead of just button click.
2) have click/tap generate a sound (so far just have sound in media element on page that plays when page is entered)

I'm a Flash developer so am on steep learning curve doing things the Blend/Visual Studio way, via the VS Express I downloaded from generationapp.com.

So am I o.k. proceeding this way and then submitting via VS to store...or will I run into some important missing stuff that will bring my whole app crashing down ;-)

Answer 3

Hi,

As Harikrishna mentioned, VS and Blend plays different roles and they are both important for building an application.

And, application build in either tool will work fine. You can use VS any time you find any feature missing in Blend.

Best regards,

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Min Zhu
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us
Develop and promote your apps in Windows Store
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help.

Answer 4

Thanks to Harikrishna and Min,

My app is done and in the store! Now I see how Blend and VS work together. I really did everything in Blend, then tested, made screenshots and packaged app, and submitted it in VS. Lots of fun and thanks for great help from generationapp.com free tech support sessions and this forum.

Answer 5

how to use both products to build an app.
I mean how to join then.??