Ink to Code

2018: Announcement

In January, 2018 the American company Microsoft submitted the software for transformation of hand-written sketches into the user interface, ready to use. The new product received   the name Ink to Code.

The application allows to distinguish the elements of the user interface drawn using a digital feather and to convert them into the working code. For example, the program support creation  a XML-marking for application development on the universal  Windows platform  and  Xamarin  for  Android.

Example of a program runtime of Ink to Code

In   Ink to Code   the Windows Ink tool is used  to recognition of sketches and their conversion to basic elements of the interface: text boxes, paragraphs, images and buttons. 

Thanks to the application it is possible to create the basic scheme of an application interface with a possibility of the subsequent export to   the Visual Studio  for further development of software.

The Smart Ink function in updating  of Windows 10    of Fall Creators Update uses artificial intelligence for obtaining the most exact results of recognition of the sketches drawn by hand.

As a rule, before application creation or the website designers draw several approximate sketches of the interface which then need to be described separately the code. As   different specialists usually are responsible for development of the interface and its imposition, on  their  interaction a lot of time is spent.

Microsoft is sure that    Ink to Code  helps to reduce time of development of an end product significantly. In certain cases economy can be measured several months.

By January 26, 2018 this program in the course of testing is also available only to users in the USA and Canada. Microsoft asks the developers using   Ink to Code to share actively detected shortcomings and suggestions for improvement of a product.^[1]

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