The brief synopsis is that I would like to have my Windows 8 application be able to start up and run something without the user having to initiate it. Is this even possible?
A little more detail: I’m just getting started in Windows 8 development (C# with WPF\ASP.NET is my current background), and one of the requirements of the application I would like to write, is to automatically perform tasks on behalf of the user at pre-scheduled intervals, whether the user has the application open or not. That they occur at the specific time isn’t really that important, such that if their device is off it can occur whenever it is turned back on. When the event occurs, I would like it to provide some kind of notification to the user that the event has occurred, and was further curious what my options were in that regard.
Yes, you can schedule background tasks in Windows Store apps. They do have some limitations, so be sure to read up on it. For example, Windows 8 will limit the amount of processing time your app has, as well as the amount of networking your app can do.
See more here: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsappdev/archive/2012/05/24/being-productive-in-the-background-background-tasks.aspx