I’m a few weeks into my latest p&p project. We’re exploring how to build Windows 8 applications with HTML and JavaScript. I’ll refer to these apps as “WinJS apps”.
This post is a very brief overview and introduction to some terminology related to WinJS. It’s my personal take and it’s certainly not official. All of the official documentation can be found at the Dev Center.
What is a WinJS app?
In my recent expereince there is often some confusion about Windows 8 apps in general, so let’s begin there.
Windows 8 apps are similar to what you would find on Windows Phone, iOS, or Android, in that they are sandboxed and they have to declare to user when they use more advanced APIs (like location awareness for example). The only way for users to get Windows 8 apps is through the store.
Windows 8 apps can be built with C++ and XAML, C#/VB.NET and XAML, and JavaScript and HTML. All three choices have access to the Windows Runtime. It’s the consolidated API was interacting with the OS.
When using JavaScript, the Windows Runtime is available as the global object Windows.
In addition to the Windows Runtime (which I sometimes personally call WinRT), there is the Windows Library for JavaScript or WinJS. This is different from WinRT. It’s pure JavaScript and only availabe to JavaScript apps. It’s automatically referenced when you create a new project. It is available as the global object WinJS.
WinJS includes lots of helpful bits:
- an implementation of CommonJS Promises/A.
- some advanced UI controls
- DOM utilities
- navigation and xhr helpers
- and more
Technically, you don’t have to use WinJS. If you wanted to, you could ignore it. In practice though, it can be pretty useful.
Finally, you can develop with standards-based HTML, CSS, and JavaScript without worrying about cross-browser issues. For example, I haven’t felt the need for jQuery because I can just use document.querySelector without fear.
Likewise, don’t go looking through WinJS for standard controls; just use the native HTML controls that you already know and love.