Exploring the toolkit’s helpers, services, and extensions

We have discussed many of the controls in the WCT, but the toolkit contains much more than UI controls. In this section, we will return to the WCT sample app to explore some of the other components available in the toolkit. We’ll start with some helper classes.

Helpers

Next to the controls in the toolkit, the Helpers section contains the largest number of components. As with the controls, the helpers are divided into categories in the sample app, as follows:

• Data: These helpers relate to loading and displaying data. Examples include ImageCache, ObservableGroup, and Incremental Loading Collection.
• Developer: These are helpers that are useful for developers and include DispatcherQueueHelper for updating the UI from a background thread.
• Notifications: These helpers provide customized ways of notifying users with Windows notifications and the Start menu. Included are LiveTile, Toast, and WeatherLiveTileAndToast...