I have seen this excellent post SO.
As most do, I began a new simple project that has no UI requirement. I noticed the Blank App ( Universal Windows ) option. What is the difference between that and a Console app?
I need an executable that will do some coverting of tiff to pdf type work on a every so often basis. ( every 30 minutes )
I also do not want a service, as in this case there is no need for it to constantly run
Universal Windows Blank app refers to Universal Windows Platform (UWP).
It uses a subset of .Net Framework, also has some parts that aren't in .Net Framework (thanks to #DavidJ comment) and has some other app behaviour limitations. It's used for apps running on wide range of devices like Windows PC, Windows phones, Xbox and other Microsoft products.
Look at particular quote:
Windows 10 makes it easier to develop apps for the UWP with just one API set, one app package, and one store to reach all Windows 10 devices – PC, tablet, phone, Xbox, HoloLens, Surface Hub and more.
So there's no need to use it just for Windows_PC_only console application.
More links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Windows_Platform
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/get-started/whats-a-uwp
Related
Here are two similar articles:
1) https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/design/shell/tiles-and-notifications/send-local-toast
2) https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/design/shell/tiles-and-notifications/send-local-toast-desktop
I can't get info one thing. First article provides tutorial for notifications for apps. Another article shows tutorial for Desktop C# app. What to choose and what are the differences? Thanks.
When they call them apps like what they mean that are the apps made with the new technology called UWP (Universal Windows Platform) which only work with Windows 10. You can see it here.
Prerequisites
To fully understand this topic, the following will be helpful...
A working knowledge of toast notification terms and concepts. For more information, see Toast and action center overview.
A familiarity with Windows 10 toast notification content. For more information, see toast content documentation.
A Windows 10 UWP app project
Then what they call Desktop C# app, are the "classic" ways to do windows applications. For example WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) in C# which runs in most Windows machines, like Windows 7 or Vista, also they meant the application made in c++.
The main difference is that what they call apps are the ones made with UWP, these ones work well on windows tables, windows phones, and so on.
And desktop c# app
is an app created with WPF which is a little older but works in older OS's.
A customer needs an application running on an industry handheld device with barcode scanner.
Unfortunately, Windows 8.1 Embedded Handheld devices are rare, and Windows 10 Embedded devices are non-existent. Almost all devices currently available use Windows CE 6 or Windows Mobile 6.5.
As far as I know, (.NET) applications for Windows Mobile 6.5 are exclusively based on Compact Framework and WinForms, whereas Windows 8.1 Embedded software is (exclusively?) based on WinRT and XAML.
Is that correct? Is there no way to write a (.NET) application which
runs on current (Windows Mobile 6.5) devices and
will run Windows 8.1/10 Embedded devices?
You are right, there is no way to do that. The UI is based on winforms for 6.5 and XAML for 8/10.
The only thing you can try to do is to try to keep UI and business logic cleanly separated to simplify the migration.
Consider also that some features you had on 6.5 (ex: sql compact) have been dropped in 8/10 and the "replacement" may not be code-compatible and may lack some features.
You may try to build and test your non-UI code already on 8/10, so you can check that you are not using features that may impact your migration.
If you don't have to write native .NET-code, you should be able to use Rho Elements. Possibly there are other cross platform solutions that work as well.
Possibly you can go with Windows.Forms on Windows Mobile 6.5 and Xamarin on Windows Phone. You need to use a compatibilty layer for the Form code of Compact Framework and the one supported by Xamarin.
But I would recommend to go with HTML5 (use ZetaKey browser on Windows Mobile). Even RhoElements is based on HTML5 but with properietary extensions.
Yes, it is possible. You will have to implement all GUI logic platform dependent. And can share code using MVVM pattern. You may also need to switch to a database, that is available on both platforms like SQLite.
We have existing Windows Store application which is developed using C# and XAML. We want to port the same to Windows 8 Mobile application. Is there any Guidelines available for this ?
Well at first I would start figuring out the differences
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsphone/develop/jj681690%28v=vs.105%29.aspx
http://blog.markedup.com/2013/07/winrt-windows-phone-8-code-sharing-pitfalls/
When I ported two of my (smaller) apps, I put as much in a PCL (portable class library) as I could. All the stuff that remained in the project itself needed to be rewritten. If you have well-maintainable code, there should be only UI (what you have to adapt anyway) and very few platform specific code (like accessing filesystem, camera or whatever) left. This is the part you must redevelop.
Dnt know how you have made these applications well If you have followed MVVM pattern then it is very easy to port windows and windows phone apps from one to other. You just need to take care of new XAML UIs every thing except some platform specific liberalizes will work. While making any of windows store and windows phone application you should use the liberaries that both platforms can consume. For example you can use LEX.db for the database.
here are very good explanations for it.
sharing code between windows phone and windows 8 app -1
sharing code between windows phone and windows 8 app -2
hope this will help
The answers given so far are quite good. One thing to note is that Windows Phone 8.1 is about to be released, which will share many of the WinRT libraries. This will mean that in a few months (as early as May), the shared libraries between the two platforms will greatly increase. You can download the leaked SDK to see what some of the changes will be.
Not that you should wait until then, and creating a PCL is definitely going to help you (especially if you want to later move to iOS, Android as well). It's just something to keep in mind.
Can I run RT apps on windows phone, or windows 8 phone apps on windows 8 RT or PRO?
If I need to develop an app to run on RT tablets and on windows 8 phones, what should I do?
EDIT
When Microsoft will provide a unified way to develop apps????
Am I requested to develop tons of apps to run on all of Microsoft platforms, I am not an Apple fan at all, but Microsoft should learn more and more from them, I spent and am spending all of my time chasing Microsoft techniques, it is very very annoying!!! :(
No,
But you can share code through the use of Portable Class Libraries or linked files.
I recently wrote two articles about how to achieve this:
The first one is about whether to choose PCL's or linked files:
http://www.kenneth-truyers.net/2013/03/27/portable-class-libraries-or-source-code-sharing/
The second one is about how to work around the limitations of PCL's:
http://www.kenneth-truyers.net/2013/02/24/patterns-for-sharing-code-in-windows-phone-and-windows-8-applications/
No. The two runtimes are not compatible.
If I need to develop an app to run on RT tablets and on windows 8 phones, what should I do?
You can use the portable class libraries to save logic, but not the presentation code.
You would then build your UI on each platform, using the appropriate tools for the platform.
You can't just run a xap on a tablet. You CAN however take almost all of the XAML and C# uncompiled code and recompile for the tablet. You just need to fix some of the idiosyncrasies in the syntax. Same goes for Windows 8 Pro.
I have create a Windows Store app which successfully updates its tile (live tile). The thing I hate about this now is that it seems there is no way for me to install this app anywhere except either through Windows Store or using another developer account (see this).
Since I am looking to support only desktop PC with this, can I work with live tiles from a generic NET 4.5 application?
Or to put it differently, is there a way to use / control live tiles from apps other than Windows Store apps?
This is still all too new to me... Finding answers on the web and SO revealed nothing.
Live Tiles are part of the Metro Framework, completely seperated from .NET. Your application is sandboxed when you develop for the Windows Store framework. no one can access your application and you can't access anyone else's application. The only way to update the live tile would be for the application to update it's own live tile. It would be a huge security flaw to allow anyone to update any tile.
If you do NOT intend to ever submit your app to the Windows Store for distribution - you can look at this thread, which talks about methods used to communicate between desktop apps and windows store apps.