Difference between Windows App SDK and WinUI 3 - windows

I develop many UWP apps to Windows 10, but to Windows 11 I have so many questions and sometimes the Microsoft Docs it's confusing. I want develop new apps to Windows 11 but I am totally lost!
What is the difference between Windows App SDK and WinUI 3? I dont understand :(
And what is the best way to develop Windows 11 apps? Still UWP? Or Windows App SDK? Or WinUI 3?
UWP dont have round corners thats correct? I create a new project in my computer with Windows 11 in visual Studio 2022 and only the window of my app have rounder corners, but another elements (for example buttons) dont have rounded corners!
And Mica is not only availabe in WinUI 3?

The Windows App SDK is the next evolution in the Windows app development platform.
WinUI is the UI part of the Windows App SDK. It provides UI features for the Windows App SDK apps. When you create a Windows app SDK app, you have to use WinUI3 to create the UI layout. The previous version of WinUI like WinUI 2.7 could be used in UWP apps.
Using UWP or Windows App SDK depends on your own requirements and scenario, both of them could work on Windows 11.

Related

Xamarin Forms for Windows Desktop app?

I have a need to create a desktop application that can run on Windows machines (Windows 7, 8, 10 and Windows Server). I understand I can use Classic WPF, but prefer to use Xamarin Forms.
Does XF support Windows Desktop apps? If so, are there any gotchas to be aware of?
The next release of Xamarin Forms, Xamarin Forms 3, is going to add full support for desktop apps on Windows, Mac OS and Linux. The MacOS support is in preview now, but the Windows support is still in development.
As I understand it, the plan is to use WPF for the Windows support, so your solution would include a WPF project in addition to each of the other platform specific projects. That will allow development of traditional desktop Windows apps, rather than UWP type apps.
The hope/assumption here is that, because these are WPF apps they should therefore be able to run on versions of Windows that don't support UWP apps - Windows 7 and Server 2008 for example.
There's more on what's coming in Xamarin Forms 3 on the Xamarin Blog here, and also in the Microsoft Build 2017 talk by David Ortinau.
I was at a talk by Xamarin TSP Michael Sivers last night and he mentioned that there are discussions ongoing about a XAML standard that could be adopted by both Xamarin and WPF which makes a lot of sense in the context of Xamarin forms apps on WPF.
on Windows, Xamarin Forms supports UWP apps only.

Windows Phone 8 Functionality Into Windows Phone 7

If I use visual studio 2012 RC write an application for windows phone 8. I want to know whether I can install and run the same application on windows phone 7?
No, there is no back-compatibility. You could do it the other way round, though, and write a WP7 app that would run on WP8
It is not possible to build for WP8 and deploy to both WP7 and WP8.
It is possible to build for WP7 and deploy to both WP7 and WP8.
The best solution is to code carefully, and clearly separate out your use of WP8-specific APIs.
You could then have two projects, one for WP7 that you build using WP7 tools, and one for WP8, that you build using WP8 tools. Linked files in visual studio would be a good way of achieving this.

What is the difference between "Windows Phone applications" and "Silverlight for Windows Phone applications"?

I was watching some video tutorial for developing Windows Phone 7 apps (& hoping to develop Windows 8 apps on that basis ;) The guy in the video tutorial was using Visual Studio 2010 and I have Visual Studio 2012. He created a new project using the option "New -> Project -> Silverlight for Windows Phone". Although I don't have such an option I do have an option called "New -> Project -> Windows Phone". This got me wondering whether there is a difference between those two. Could anybody explain the difference between them, if there is any?
Visual Studio 2010 can only make applications for Windows Phone 7. And Silverlight is the only API available to third-party developers on WP7 (even XNA is based on Silverlight).
With Windows Phone 8 (supported by Visual Studio 2012), new kind of applications were added: native (C++ based), HTML5... That's why calling the category "Silverlight for Windows Phone" didn't make sense anymore, and it was renamed simply "Windows Phone".
It's just a name, it makes no difference to you. When creating a new "Windows Phone app" project, Visual Studio will ask you which version you want to target. If you pick "Windows Phone 7.1", you'll get the exact same API that you had in Visual Studio 2010.
Microsoft only trying to reduce the terminology and popularize certain ways.
Windows phone app is the same as Silverlight for windows phone. the only difference is that Silverlight project in visual studio 2010 targets at the developer choice windows phone 7.0 or Mango (Mango is numbered by the SDK as Windows Phone OS 7.1, while users call it Windows Phone 7.5) or 7.8 according to updates installed. But if you use the windows phone project in visual studio you will target either Windows phone Mango or 7.8 or 8. please note that optional updates may be needed to target some platforms as Windows phone 7.8. windows phone 7.8 is basically a windows phone 7 with some feature backported to it from windows phone 8 as multi size live tiles and some features not backported to it as arabic support.
Silverlight and XNA were completely separate ways to make apps in Windows Phone 7.0. No code silverlight code could be used in a XNA project, nor XNA code could be shared in silverlight project in WP7.0 . Programmers of Windows Phone 7.0 had to know the meaning of each and when to use before choosing. The learn paths of silverlight and xna were too separate that you could learn one and totally ignore the other; in fact most programmers learnt only one of the two. You had to choose your path between the two before implementing a big app, as there is no way back :i.e, no way passing code between the two.
However, starting of Windows Phone Mango, Microsoft introduced Silverlight/XNA. Silverlight/XNA is a new application model for Windows phone Mango. It allows XNA inside Silvelight App. Migrating an XNA game to Silverlight/XNA is not an easy task, but would be rewardable.
Silverlight have UI controls as Textblock and Drop list and have layouts as Grid and stackpanel; so it is easy to make an app in silvelight that look like a form, while XNA is geared toward games , as it is a state based programming . it is very hard to implement a drop list in XNA for most developers.
Silverlight app was renamed to windows phone app to popularize it as a starting point, without having to do a deep thinking in a choice.
Silverlight is a stripped down version of Windows presentation foundation, removing the ability to define your own controls.And Silverlight for windows phone is an even more stripped down version , removing all controls that do not fit on mobile , and removing most of cryptography libraries.
This is the same way microsoft renamed metro-style apps to be windows 8 app, and windows apps to windows forms apps; and then windows forms and WPF were renamed later to Windows desktop apps.

Does windows phone8 sdk support winjs

I used C# develop a WP7 app. I'm wondering if the Windows Phone 8 SDK supports WinJS? If so, I will move to WinJS for WP and WinRT both.
No, you can develop an app with HTML5 running in a WebBrowser, but without WinJS. You can use C# on both platforms though. No reason to use WinJS.
To clarify, Windows Phone 8 only supports the Silverlight UI technologies. That is, .NET languages and XAML.
This question may be old, but things have changed as Microsoft is announcing at BUILD 2014 that WinJS is now included in the Windows Phone 8.1 SDK as well.
Build 2014 WinJS on Phone

SDK/Tools to Develop a New App on Windows Phone Platform for WP 7, WP 7.5 , WP 8 devices

I am new to Windows Phone Development Environment, looked around on SO but couldn't find a clear answer to the question I have.
With Windows Phone SDK 8 publicly available, and new Windows Phones getting good reviews, one of our Clients is looking to launch their app on Windows Phone Platform as well (they already have it on iPhone). The app is pretty simple. Obviously Client would like their app to be compatible and available to as many as possible users/devices - WP7, WP7.5 and WP8.
Question is - what SDK version should I use to develop this app? Currently I have Windows 8 with 64-Bit, VS 2012 Express and Windows Phone SDK 8.0 already installed and ready to go for development. So if develop app using above tools, will it run on all the devices with WP 7,WP 7.5 and WP 8 on them?
What is a good approach to develop a brand new Windows Phone App that would run on WP 7,WP 7.5 and WP 8 Devices.
The complete answer is on this MSDN page:
Windows Phone versions
Basically you can create application targeting the WP7.5 platform and it will run on all current Windows Phone devices, or you can target only Windows Phone 8, then it will run only on new WP8 devices, but when targeting this newer platform, you can use broader set of APIs and features.
When you create new project, you are asked to choose between Windows Phone 7 and 8.
WP7 app runs in old and newer phones, but WP8 app runs only in WP8.

Resources