I'd like to develop an application for the Windows Store using Visual Studio 2012 and C#. However when I create an empty project (XAML) having "Windows Store" selected I get a metro-app. I want an ordinary XAML-application because my application works only as a windowed application (the user wouldn't benefit from the Metro-interface at all).
So how can I create a default XAML-application without Metro but still be able to put it in the Windows Store?
You just build the desktop application like you normally would. Don't pick Windows Store app or you'll end up with a metro app build on WinRT.
You'll need to run the certification kit against your application and submit it to MS. You'll also still need a company account to submit to the store.
You can find more information here: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsstore/archive/2012/06/08/listing-your-desktop-app-in-the-store.aspx
You'll just have to provide your own Style Templates for the controls you wish to use. The same way you would have done for any WPF/SL projects if you didn't want to use the standard out-of-the-box themes. So say for instance you want to use a Button but you don't want it to look like one of the default Light/Dark theme Buttons. Plop one on your design area, right click and go to Edit Template -> Edit a Copy and use Blend to style it however you want it to look. Unfortunately, this means you'll have to Theme all your controls to create your Theme where everything works together.
Which is one cool thing about how these environments are setup, you can just about literally make anything look however your imagination wants it to look. There's plenty of tutorials on the web on how to use Blend to customize Control Style Templates. Hope this helps.
