Windows Store App Development: C# and XAML

Chapter 21. Keyboards, mice, touch, accelerometers, and gamepads

This chapter covers

• Keyboard input
• Touch, mouse, and pen input
• Using the accelerometer
• Integrating C++ to use an Xbox 360 controller

Prior to Windows 8, many tablets supported keyboard input only as an afterthought and mouse or pen input as an anomaly. Similarly, most desktop computers weren’t designed with touch input in mind. Each device had its preferred means of input and essentially ignored the others. The apps on those platforms also reflected these input choices.

The WinRT and Windows Store side of Windows 8 has been built from the ground up with the understanding that users will have multiple ways of interacting with the system. We didn’t want to restrict tablets ...