Talking to a Windows Developer About the App Market

We are talking with Sergio Pedri, the creator of "OneLocker," about his observations on the Windows Store app market, and his success recipe and expectations.

Telerik: Can you tell us more about "OneLocker"?

Sergio: OneLocker is a password manager app developed for Windows Phone 8.1. I had the idea from Password Safe Pro, a password manager that’s available for Android and Windows: I contacted the dev who gave me the database specifications, and I created this app for WinRT, which is 100-percent compatible with the original applications. OneLocker stores its data in a SQLite database, encrypted using the AES algorithm with 256-bit keys, and it enables the user cto reate folders and save passwords, email addresses, websites, images, notifications and more. The app can also back up and sync its data, both on OneDrive and Dropbox. It features a tool to generate random passwords and one to check the strength of existing passwords, and it has a lot of other functions, as well, such as the ability to cut/copy/duplicate items, view detailed statistics and more.

Telerik: What got you into developing Windows Store apps?

Sergio: I bought my first Windows Phone device when Windows Phone 7 came out five years ago, and I kept using Windows Phone since then as I really liked its UI and the way the whole OS worked. I saw that Microsoft was putting a lot of effort into it and that it was getting better and better over time. When I started my Computer Engineering course at university two years ago, I was able to study object-oriented programming, and I finally managed to start coding on the platform, at first using Silverlight on WP8.0 and then on WinRT when WP8.1 came out.

Telerik: In what way was Telerik UI for Windows Universal useful while developing the app? In what way did the product improve your development process?

Sergio: The new Telerik Universal UI really has a lot of great controls. By using them, I was able to implement specific features in my app without having to code them from the ground up. The DataBoundListBox for example is the control I used the most: I could focus on creating my own app UI and on the code in my ViewModels, as the control was already fully functional without effort on my end. It has really saved me a lot of time, because there are a few unique features (such as custom animations or the reorder mode) that would have been quite complicated to implement from scratch.
The same goes for other useful controls such as the charts, the AutoCompleteBox or the BusyIndicator: I only had to set up the ViewModel and the bindings to the UI, and the controls did all the rest of the work for me.

Telerik: Do you plan to offer the app on the other two native mobile platforms, such as  iOS and Android? If yes, do you plan to create a native app for each platform or take advantage of a cross-platform tool such as NativeScript or Xamarin?

Sergio: My priority now is to keep supporting the WP8.1 app with constant updates and to make it a Universal app using the W10 SDK, once Windows 10 comes in both the Desktop and Mobile versions. Once the Universal app is finished, I’d like to port the app to iOS (as it’s already available for Android), and I’d like to use the Xamarin framework in order to be able to port all my C# libraries and my classes without having to rewrite all the Model and ViewModel layers. Also, I really love coding in C#, and I’d like to keep using it on other platforms as well.

Telerik: What is your overall experience with the developers providing support for Telerik UI for Windows Universal?

Sergio: I had quite a fantastic experience with them. I came across a couple of problems during development, and they really helped me with them. I was able to describe my issues and I sent them a copy of my current Visual Studio project whenever they needed, for further investigation. For every single support ticket I opened, they have been able to identify the cause of the problem, and either suggested some workarounds or updated the Telerik UI library with some fixes. They were also so fast with their answers that I honestly couldn’t be more satisfied with the whole support team.

Telerik: Thank you for this interview.

OneLocker is built with UI for Windows Universal. If you haven’t tried them yet, you can download a free trial here.