From Soup to Surface… Another Soup to Nuts, Busy Dev Guy’s Guide, from Michael Crump, this time for the Surface v2 SDK

Michael Crump - From Soup to Nuts with the Surface 2.0 SDK

Continuing my “From Soup to Nuts” series or sometimes referred to as “The Busy Developers Guide” series, I will take a look at the Surface 2.0 SDK recently released by Microsoft.

Before you read ahead, here are the other articles in this series:

The Busy Developers Guide to the Kinect SDK Beta.
The Busy Developers Guide to Mango.

What is it?

With the Microsoft® Surface® 2.0 SDK, you can easily create applications to take advantage of the next generation Surface computing device or any Windows touch-enables devices. (defined by Microsoft)

Links worth checking out: (thanks to Luis Cabrera)

• Microsoft® Surface® 2.0 SDK and Runtime
• Microsoft® Surface® 2 Development Whitepaper
• Microsoft® Surface® 2 Design and Interaction Guide
• Microsoft® Surface® 2 Hands-on Labs
• Microsoft® Surface® Migration Power Toy
• MSDN Documentation
• MSDN Forums

Getting the SDK installed:

After downloading the Surface 2 SDK, double click the installer on the SDK to get the ball rolling.

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Congratulations! You just created your first Surface 2.0 application while actually writing no code. While you are probably testing it on your laptop or desktop this application would actually run on a Surface 2 Unit! Very cool stuff indeed.

Conclusion:

The Surface is very cool technology and I am planning on investing a lot of time into it and other things such as Kinect. Microsoft really got it right with the Surface 2.0 SDK. I think that this is possibly the best SDK release Microsoft has ever been a part of. The documentation is excellent, the samples are a plenty and it’s just plain easy to build your first application. Now if only I had an actual Surface 2 table in my house to play with then I would be really happy.”

Don’t think this is important to you since you don’t have a Surface? Do you have Windows 7 with a Touchscreen? Then you have a Surface! This SDK is for Surface AND Windows 7 Multi-touch development.

Here’s the a snip from the SDK download, Microsoft® Surface® 2.0 SDK and Runtime

With the Microsoft® Surface® 2.0 SDK, you can easily create applications to take advantage of the next generation Surface computing device. The applications you create can be adapted for other Windows 7 touch-enabled devices as well. [GD: Emphasis added]

Development platform that delivers familiarity and innovation opportunity:

• Build upon Windows 7, NET 4.0 and WPF 4.0 and integrates with Visual Studio 2010
• Benefit from consistency in experience across Windows 7 devices with the Surface multi-touch controls.
• Develop multi-user, multi-touch and object interaction unique to Surface 2.0 - innovative experiences that excite users and customers.

Easy to use tools and resources you need:

• The Surface 2.0 SDK includes controls, API, samples, and documentation to create applications that take advantage of PixelSense™. You can also use it to create touch applications for other Windows 7 touch devices. [GD: Emphasis added]

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