Windows App SDK 1.2 release: developers can create and test third-party Win11 widgets
CTOnews.com news on November 17, Windows 11 is one step closer to providing third-party widgets. Microsoft has released version 1.2 of Windows App SDK, the first version to support the creation of application widgets for Widgets panels on Windows 11.
Third-party widgets are the features Microsoft promised at 11:00 when it launched Windows last year, but it took a long time. Currently, in order to test these widgets, you need to run Windows 11 internal beta version 25217 or later. Although developers can now create these widgets, they can only be tested locally on Insider devices, and applications with components cannot be posted to the Microsoft Store for others to try. Microsoft specifically mentioned that developers can create widgets for "packaged Win32 applications", so at least not every application can support widgets for now.
This is not the whole new content of this release of Windows App SDK. Microsoft has also added support for devices with dynamic refresh rate displays, which means that applications can now use dynamically adjusted refresh rates on devices such as Surface Laptop Studio or Surface Pro 9, meaning that users' applications can now use higher refresh rates when needed and switch back to lower refresh rates when they are not needed to save power. By default, as long as the user runs the 22H2 version of Windows 11, no changes are required to the application.
CTOnews.com learned that other improvements to Windows App SDK 1.2 include new media playback controls, the latest design of Windows 11, and the ability to use Azure communication services to make voice and video calls in applications. There is also support for HDR and automatic color management through the new DisplayInformation class, notification of a new AppNotificationBuilder for testing applications, and trimming support for .NET applications.
Developers can start using Windows App SDK now, with Visual Studio 2019 or 2022, where you can download the required components.
