During TechEd 2012 Telerik announced their first control library set for Windows 8 Metro application. I blogged about it few days ago and if you didn’t read it yet, you can find it here “First Look to Telerik RadControls for Win8 Metro”.
Earlier this control library set was for few developers through invitation only as it was in Early Adopter Mode. Telerik now released the first beta set of this controls for public download. You can now use these controls to develop your Windows 8 Metro applications. As it is in beta stage, the library is available for free download and once they release the final binaries, we will come to know about the pricing. Till then, try out the controls and read the complete post to find out the downloadable link and other resources.
Telerik RadControls for Windows 8 Metro is the first commercial library for building Metro apps that run on tablets and large screens no matter if you are using the XAML or HTML/JavaScript technology. Both the libraries will offer the same controls, user experience, functionality and behavior. Drawing from the expertise in XAML, HTML and Windows Phone technologies, Telerik RadControls for Metro are being designed to offer functionality on top of the Windows 8 SDK that will make your apps shine.
The suite currently offers 11 controls and we hope many more are coming with the official release of RadControls for Metro expected to release to market version of the Windows 8 platform.
Choose either XAML or HTML controls to build Windows 8 Metro apps
- Chart - Telerik Chart for Metro control is built with performance in mind so that it provides the ultimate experience on any device and screen-size running Windows 8 Metro. The control supports various chart-series, among which are Bar, Line, Area, Pie and Scatter charts. Chart controls are available in both the HTML and XAML binaries.
- DatePicker - Bringing the expertise from Windows Phone Telerik designed a DatePicker control entirely consistent with the Metro guidelines. The control exposes three elements for selecting day, month and year allowing for choosing dates by simply scrolling the looping lists beneath those three elements. Currently this control is only available in XAML and we will see the HTML version in the next releases.
- AutoCompleteBox - AutoCompleteBox will provide suggestions as you type depending on the data it has been populated with. This feature comes really handy when you have to search among long lists of items, e.g. countries or cities. Currently this control is only available in HTML and we will see the XAML version of it soon.
- Gauge - A variety of gauges are available for all your app’s needs – when you need to display distance, speed, duration or any other dynamic data. For example you can gauge live data for changing weather or real-time call duration in a call center. You can choose among linear, radial or numeric gauge-types. This is available for both HTML and XAML version.
- TimePicker - Bringing the expertise from Windows Phone Telerik designed a TimePicker control entirely consistent with the Metro guidelines. The control exposes two elements for selecting time, hour and minute allowing for choosing time by simply scrolling the looping lists beneath those two elements. Like DatePicker, the control is now available only in XAML version but expecting to see the HTML version soon.
- DropDownList - When you need to limit the user’s selection to a single item from a predefined list you can use the DropDownList control. When the user has to choose the size of a single item and add it to the shopping cart, he might be choosing from a DropDownList. Currently available only in HTML set and will come soon in XAML set too.
- BulletGraph - BulletGraphs help you visualize progress over featured, comparative or projected values. Thus, you can easily compare projected and featured values and get an instant access to the overall progress of a certain process or task, i.e. year-to-date sales over projected target. This control is available in XAML control set and hope to see the HTML version included in this library soon.
- NumericBox - NumericBox allows you to precisely change numeric values in your app. If you need to allow your users to change price, quantity or other sensitive data that should be changed at small steps you can find the NumericBox control really handy. It provides increment/decrement buttons that allow the user to change the value with a predefined step. This is available in HTML version and the XAML version will be available in next releases.
- Slider - By sliding a thumb element via mouse or finger you can visually change a value, thus adjusting characteristics of an app or feature. For example, you can adjust brightness, volume or anything that requires immediate response from your app. The RangeSlider exposes two thumbs that can be used to more precisely adjust range of values. This is available in HTML control set and XAML control set will be available in future.
- ComboBox - Telerik ComboBox for Windows 8 provides suggestions as you type depending on the data it has been populated with. This feature comes in handy when you have to search among long lists of items, e.g. countries or cities. In addition the ComboBox will auto-complete the text while the user is typing with the most relevant results based on the typed text. This control is currently available for HTML but will be available for XAML too.
Do not hesitate to grab your copy of the BETA today and give it a try. Telerik would love to hear back from you about the suite and what your first impression is. As this is a fresh new product, Telerik would love to have your suggestions on future controls and improvements over existing ones – it is your feedback that will help them build a better set of components! Don’t forget to share your feedbacks about the controls below. If you have further queries, drop a line to me and I will try to get back to you as early as possible.
