14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has made available for download a new version of the resources designed to permit managed code developers to take advantage of the unique features brought to the table by Windows 7. On November 18th, 2009, version 1.0.1 of the Windows API Code Pack was released, and is currently up for grabs via MSDN. According to the Redmond company, devs already leveraging the old version of the Windows application programming interface Code Pack for the latest iteration of the Windows client will not see a major upgrade. Instead, the API Code Pack has been updated with bug fixes, performance, and enhancements. In addition, there are new demonstrations available, new wrappers and new features updates, noted Yochay Kiriaty, Windows 7 technical evangelist on the Client Platform Evangelist Group.
“The Windows API Code Pack is a free, managed Source Code Library provided by Microsoft as is. You should consider this library as if you wrote it yourself, as if it is your own code. It is a great starting point and provides a really good and solid solution for managed code developers,” Kiriaty added. “It covers a lot of the new Windows 7 features as well as some more fundamental core features from the Windows Vista timeframe. You may think of the Windows API Code Pack as the closest thing to an “official” managed API for Windows. But you need to remember that it’s not a product with 24x7 technical support available from Microsoft Customer Service and Support. We believe it is a great solution, and that the codebase is very solid and high quality.”
There are a range of features marking the evolution from Windows Vista to Windows 7, including the new Taskbar (Superbar), but also Libraries, and the Sensor and Location platform. In order to tailor a certain app to Windows 7, developers need to embrace the new features that define the operating system. Microsoft indicated that devs looking to adapt their code to the latest version of the Windows client needed only tap the Win32 native API. However, this is not valid for managed code application, as no “Windows 7” namespace exists in the .NET Framework. This is where the Windows API Code Pack for the .NET Framework comes in.
“Our goal with the code pack is to enable managed code developers to take advantage of Windows APIs that are not part of the .NET Framework. We feel that as a shared source that is separate from the .NET runtime libraries, the Windows API Code Pack provides an optimal compromise between the Microsoft Win32 managed wrapper, short time-to-market -we released the Windows API Code Pack just a month after the Win7 RTM, and we ship full source code of the library,” Kiriaty explained.