Developers, get ready. Windows 7 RTM Code Pack released!

Now that Microsoft has officially signed off on the Windows 7 RTM build and has released it to MSDN/TechNet subscribers, it’s time for some API code so developers can start developing applications for Windows 7.

Microsoft has released the Windows 7 RTM Code Pack 1.0, available to the general public.

Microsoft’s Charlie Calvert, Community Program Manager for the C# group said, “The Windows® API Code Pack for Microsoft® .NET Framework provides support for various features of Windows 7 and previous releases of that operating system. The Code Pack has reached version 1.0 and has been published on Code Gallery.”

Developers familiar with the Code Pack will glad to hear that Shell Search API support has been added, Drag and Drop functionality for Shell objects has been added, support for Typography and Font enumeration DirectWrite APIs have been created, as well as support for Direct3D and Direct2D interoperability.

Microsoft also noted that the following individual features are support in this release:

• Windows 7 Taskbar Jump Lists, Icon Overlay, Progress Bar, Tabbed Thumbnails, and Thumbnail Toolbars.
• Windows 7 Libraries, Known Folders, non-file system containers.
• Windows Shell Search API support, a hierarchy of Shell Namespace entities, and Drag and Drop functionality for Shell Objects.
• Explorer Browser Control.
• Shell property system.
• Windows Vista and Windows 7 Common File Dialogs, including custom controls.
  Windows Vista and Windows 7 Task Dialogs.
• Direct3D 11.0, Direct3D 10.1/10.0, DXGI 1.0/1.1, Direct2D 1.0, DirectWrite, Windows Imaging Component (WIC) APIs. (DirectWrite and WIC have partial support)
• Sensor Platform APIs
• Extended Linguistic Services APIs
• Power Management APIs
• Application Restart and Recovery APIs
• Network List Manager APIs
• Command Link control and System defined Shell icons.

You can download the API, requirements, help files, and more here.