# PhoneGap Documentation

# Windows 8 Platform Guide

This guide describes how to set up your Cordova development environment and run a sample application. Note that Cordova used to be called PhoneGap, so some of the sites still use the old PhoneGap name.

Microsoft deprecated the name Metro-style apps in Windows 8 and Windows RT. MSDN now refers to this type of app as a Windows Store app, and this guide follows that convention. Also, in this guide Windows 8 signifies both Windows 8 and Windows RT.

## 1. Requirements

- Windows 8

- Visual Studio 2012 Professional or better, or Visual Studio 2012 Express for Windows 8

Follow the instructions here to submit your apps Windows Store.

## 2. Install SDK + Cordova

- Set up your preferred variant of Visual Studio 2012. All of the product's paid versions (Professional, etc.) let you build Windows Store apps. You need Express for Windows 8 to build Windows Store apps using the Express editions.
- Download and extract the latest copy of [PhoneGap. You will be working in the `lib\windows-8` subfolder.

## 3. Set up New Project

You can already build Windows 8 apps using the HTML/JavaScript track available in Windows Store apps. Use Cordova in Windows Store apps to expose the same APIs as on other Cordova-supported platforms.

- Open Visual Studio 2012 and choose New Project.

- Select Installed → Template → Other Languages → JavaScript → Windows Store from the tree, and then Blank App from the projects list. Enter whatever project name you like, such as CordovaWin8Foo as in this example.

- Microsoft continues to use `default.html` as the default home page, but most web developers use `index.html`. (Plus it's likely that in the other platform variants of your project you are using `index.html` as the name of your default page.) To fix this, in Solution Explorer rename the `default.html` file to `index.html`. Then double-click the `package.appxmanifest` file and change the Start page value to `index.html`.

- To include `cordova.js` in your project, right-click on the js folder in Solution Explorer and select Add → New Item. Locate the `cordova.js` file in the lib\windows-8 folder noted above.

- Edit the code for `index.html`. Add a reference to `cordova.js`. You can do this manually, or by dragging the file from Solution Explorer.

### Adding the reference...

        <!-- WinJS references -->
        <link href="//Microsoft.WinJS.1.0/css/ui-dark.css" rel="stylesheet" />
        <script src="//Microsoft.WinJS.1.0/js/base.js"></script>
        <script src="//Microsoft.WinJS.1.0/js/ui.js"></script>

        <!-- Cordova -->
        <script src="/js/cordova.js"></script>

        <!-- CordovaWin8Foo references -->
        <link href="/css/default.css" rel="stylesheet" />
        <script src="/js/default.js"></script>

- Next, add some code that demonstrates Cordova is working.

### Adding a 'deviceready' handler...

    <body>
        <p>Content goes here</p>

        <script type="text/javascript">

            console.log("Subscribing...");
            document.addEventListener("deviceready", function () {

                navigator.notification.alert("The device is ready!");

            });

        </script>

    </body>

## 5. Test the Project

- Run the project from Visual Studio. You'll see the message box appear:

## Done!

That's it! You're now ready to build Windows Store apps with Cordova.