Windows 8 integrates your cloud services with file picker contracts

In the past, users were organizing, sharing, and maintaining their documents, photos, videos and music on their local PCs. But the advent of the cloud quickly provides users with a richer way to access, use, and manage their important files. Http://www.aliyun.com/zixun/aggregation/13390.html ">windows 8 takes these new scenarios into account, allowing you to directly integrate cloud services directly into your application, Thus creating an unprecedented new experience to achieve a new possibility.

As you can see, many of these scenarios are highlighted in SkyDrive applications that use file picker contracts. The file picker contract is designed to allow users to store documents, photos, videos, and music in your application for access by all other Windows 8 applications. In this blog post, we use the SkyDrive application that has implemented all three file picker contracts in accordance with instructions for connecting your applications, files, PCs, and devices to the cloud with the help of SkyDrive and Windows 8 to show you:

What are file picker contracts and how you can leverage them to create a whole new set of experiences for your application how to select the applicable file picker contract for your application tips and tricks for implementing a file picker contract

File Open Picker support in SkyDrive application

File Picker Contract Overview

As the name suggests, the file picker contract is an extension of the file picker, allowing Windows 8 applications to provide files, save locations, and even file updates to all other Windows 8 applications. For example, as you can see in the screenshot just now, all of my files on SkyDrive are accessible within the file picker.

The file picker contract contains three separate contracts: the File Open picker, the file Save picker, and the cached file update. You only need to implement a contract that applies to your application. When considering which contracts to implement, the following can be used as a guide:

File Open Picker: This contract can be used if your application provides a unique and/or important view of the file and is not easily accessible in other ways. For example, after the SkyDrive application implements this contract, all Windows 8 applications can be provided access to files stored in their services. File Save Picker: If your application supports file Open picker contracts, you can use this contract when users also want to be able to save your application as a location. For example, after the SkyDrive application implements this contract, users can easily save from any Windows 8 application to their services. For some applications, you need to decide whether to implement the file save picker or share the target, or both to move the data to your application. Sharing and exchanging data topic articles can give you some advice. Cache file Updates: Use this contract when your application also needs to automatically track and update files to keep up with the application's central storage. By implementing this contract, the SkyDrive application ensures that any files that are selected/saved to the SkyDrive application can be easily updated or refreshed, eliminating the hassle of the user from performing the operation through the file picker. For example, I can use my favorite photo application to open SkyDrive photos, and any changes I make to the photos are automatically sent back to SkyDrive (without the need for a file picker).

It is best to view these contracts as progressive. For example, we recommend that a Windows 8 application first implement a file open picker contract before deciding whether it is appropriate to implement a file-save picker contract, and so on.

Progressive relationship of document selector contract

Now that you have a general idea of the contract, let's take a detailed look at how to implement each contract. To illustrate the concept, we will still take the SkyDrive application as an example.