Are you ready for Windows 8? Here is Live Tiles for your Apps

One of the major differences you notice when you install Windows 8 is the Start Screen, also known as Live Tiles. Unlike previous versions of Windows, they are not just icons to start applications. Now you can also provide status from your application through Live Tiles even when your application is running in the background. The Live Tiles feature works not only for Metropolis UI application but also for any types of VCL / FireMonkey applications as long as these applications are running on Windows 8.

Designing Application using TLiveTile component

To provide updates to your Live Tile, you can simply provide the latest information from your application to the TLiveTile component, and then call “UpdateTile”.

procedure TForm1.UpdateWideTilelick(Sender: TObject);
var
  png: TPngImage;
begin
  LiveTile1.WideValue['Text Header 1'] := Edit1.Text;

  png := TPngImage.Create;
  png.Assign(Image1.Picture.Bitmap);
  png.SaveToFile(LiveTile1.ImagesFolder + 'wide.png');

  LiveTile1.UpdateTile;
end;

procedure TForm1.UpdateNarrowTileClick(Sender: TObject);
var
  png: TPngImage;
begin
  LiveTile1.NarrowValue['Text Header 1'] := Edit2.Text;

  png := TPngImage.Create;
  png.Assign(Image2.Picture.Bitmap);
  png.SaveToFile(LiveTile1.ImagesFolder + 'narrow.png');

  LiveTile1.UpdateTile;
end;

Your Live Tile listens for updates from your application, and then updates accordingly.

	Wide Tile	Narrow Tile
Text Style
Image

For more information, please review our documentation at:

• http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/XE3/en/Live_Tile_Support_for_Metropolis_UI_Applications

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