Since the release (and in some cases prior to) the release of Windows Phone 8, several WP7 apps on the marketplace have had updates that simply state "Updated for Windows Phone 8."
What does this mean, exactly? Because the marketplace allows multiple XAP uploads, is it a new XAP for WP8 but the app only allows a single description (thus "updated for WP8")? If so, does the marketplace push an update for WP7 even if the WP7 XAP hasn't changed?
Or, are there changes to the 7.1.1 SDK that optimize for WP7 apps on WP8? If so, could you provide a link outlining this? (I did a search, but all I could find is the 7.1.1 update targets 256MB devices.)
Bottom line, although I know WP7 apps are compatible on WP8, is there something I should be doing with my WP7 apps for WP8 while still functional on WP7?
Take a look at this, seems to be an issue that is being worked on at the moment.
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/wpsubmit/thread/789b3017-d242-4151-9d0b-84c85c4b3c24
These tags of "Updated for Windows Phone 8" don't necessarily mean that the app has been upgraded to a Windows Phone 8 application. It could also mean that the developer has tested and fixed bugs that can break functionality for a Windows Phone 7 app in Windows Phone 8. For example, I found two bugs involving local storage in Windows phone 7 projects when running on Windows Phone 8. Therefore, I had to make some adjustments to get my project running 100% on Windows Phone 8 (but its still a WP7.1 project). For more information on bugs and "quirks" when running WP7.1 projects on Windows Phone 8 here is a link to Microsoft's information.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsphone/develop/jj206947(v=vs.105).aspx
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I'm developing a windows phone app. I'm using Windows 7 OS.
Which Visual Studio version should I use and also which Windows App version should I target?
Can it be WP7.1?
And also, I would need to use WebView. Is WebView available in 7.1? Or is there any other alternative of WebView in WP7.1?
I've gone through many articles but still unable to decide.
I highly recommend not to develop against the Windows Phone 7.1 API. It's outdated for more than three years now. You can generally install the Windows Phone 8.0 SDK on a Windows 7 system: How to Install Windows Phone 8 SDK on Windows 7
The results will satisfy you and your users more than a Windows Phone 7 app.
The mobile app market turns really fast. Much faster than the desktop application market. You should consider to do the free update to Windows 10 in order to be able to create Windows Phone 8.1 apps. Windows 10 Mobile is about to come this year. It supports the Universal Windows Platform so developers only need to develop an app onnce and run it on desktop PCs, phones and other Windows 10 devices. If I started a new app now I'd definitely create a UWP app.
Don't waste your time developing apps against an outdated API. Maybe you can still develop Windows Phone 7 apps now. But you'll probably don't get them into the stores in the future. It's just a matter of time when Microsoft stops developers to publish these old apps.
I have made an app that targets Windows 8.1, and on my phone i am running Windows 10 Mobile Insider Preview. Now while debugging with the emulator and the device i had no problems with the app, but i believe since the app is not showing up on Windows Store (App is in the store, published earlier today) while browsing with my phone it could have something to do with my version of Windows on the phone.
As the title says, can i make a project in VS2013 that targets both Windows 10 Mobile and Windows Phone 8.1 (or even 8?), and does Windows 10 Mobile find Windows 8.1 Apps in store?
You don't need to do anything special. An app targeting 8.1 would show up in the new store, and anyone would be able to download it.
It's possible that your app just hasn't been published yet. The publishing process takes quite a while, from hours to a day or two. Check out your store dashboard to verify your app's progress.
Windows Phone 8.1 Apps will show up in the Windows 10 Store automatically.
It takes 1-2 day to be searchable on store. If it doesn't, contact Windows Store support, through dev portal, and report the issue. https://dev.windows.com/en-us/community/windows-app-support
If you want to make use of the Universal Windows Platform which is new to Windows 10 (including Mobile), then that particular app wouldn't run on Windows Phone 8.1. If you're not dependent on Windows 10 specific APIs or functionalities, then you could consider targeting Windows Phone 8.1 as Universal App.
You can also create a solution with a shared project in Visual Studio 2015 (free in the community edition, in case you're up for switching over) - in that case you can have a Windows 10 (Mobile) specific binary as well as a Windows Phone 8.1 version that share some code - this would be the best of both worlds in term of target system optimisation, maintainability and avoiding code duplication.
There is a nice step-by-step guide: http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/UploadFile/7ca517/shared-project-an-impressive-features-of-visual-studio-201/
I have some apps developed with Windows Phone SDK 7.1 which undoubtedly run on Windows Phone 8 without any change.
My question is the other way. If I upgrade my app WP7 apps to WP8, meaning I make necessary namespace changes and compile them with WP8 SDK, will they still run on WP7? - I guess no.
What should be my strategy to have apps that run on both of the OS and still I should be able to use advanced functionality (if it runs on WP8) that WP8 offers (like Wallet, NFC, Nokia Imaging and more stuff like that)?
Is that I need to create 2 separate versions of each app? One will run on WP7 built with WP7 SDK and will not have advanced functionality like Wallet, NFC Sharing. The other app will have all of them and built with WP8. Will they be two separate apps in Windows Phone Marketplace?
Windows Phone 7 apps will run on Windows Phone 8, but the reverse is not possible. The former is called backwards compatibility.
If you want to support WP 7 OS, you need to maintain two different applications and submit them independently to the store.
I have some apps in the Windows Phone Store that support Windows Phone 7. I'd like to upgrade them to support windows Phone 8, but will that leave users with WP7 unable to buy/reinstall the app?
DevCenter supports multiple XAPs for the same app. So apps can have one XAP for WP7 and one or more XAPs for WP8. I've explained this issue fully here # How do I get my Windows Phone 7 app to show up in the Windows Phone 8 marketplace?
Here's a print screen demoing the DevCenter support for submitting multiple XAPs for the same app on different platform versions and different resolutions:
The DevCenter allows you to push two of your versions of your app: one for the WP8 users, and one for the legacy WP7 users. That way, your WP7 users can keep on using the app.
You should either create "last release" for WP7 and update your solution to WP8, submit version for WP8 and keep updating only this one, or create second WP8 project, add links to all files from the original solution and maintain WP7.5 and WP8 version at the same time.
Windows Phone Store allows you to submit one version for WP7.5 and one for WP8, so you can keep updating both versions.
In fact I have an app that is available as v1.3 for WP7, v1.5 for WP7.1 (Mango) and v1.6 for WP8.
This is not to say I couldn't have the same version for all the platforms, but I've been "mean" and requiring the latest OS version for the latest version of my app.
I must be doing something wrong when I'm doing my builds. I want my current update to be available for Windows Phone 7 and Windows Phone 8. I am using the WP8 SDK and targeting OS 8.
When I upload my XAP I get the AnyCPU.xap and now my app is only available on WP8. How can I make it available on WP7 as well?
DevCenter and the WP runtime works as following:
You can have one WP7 XAP and that could run on both WP7 and WP8.
-or- You can have one XAP for WP7 and one (or more) XAPs for WP8. The "or more" part comes in for multiple resolutions.
However, there's no way to take a WP8 project compiled in VS2012 and run it on WP7. You can't run WP8 XAPs on WP7. That's pretty obvious once we think about it since the assemblies being used in WP8 aren't available on WP7.
So, developers have to choose which code sharing model across WP7 and WP8 works for their app:
if your app only uses WP7 featuresets and looks OK on WP8 HD, use a WP7 XAP.
If your app only partially uses WP8 featuresets, create on WP7 XAP, and share the codebase to create WP8 XAP that lights-up with WP8 featursets.
And if your app must have WP8 featuresets (e.g. NFC or Bluetooth centric apps, etc) then you obviously can't target WP7 and can only submit WP8 XAPs.
Here's a print screen demoing the DevCenter support for submitting multiple XAPs for the same app on different platform versions and different resolutions:
For more information on how to target both WP7 and WP8 see this Nokia developer article. The article explains how to share code between WP7 and WP8 at runtime & compile time, what new features are WP8 exclusive and how to support multiple resolutions. I helped author that article so hopefully you'll find it useful. There's lots of helpful techniques that might not be obvious.
The Dev Center now allows you to have multiple xap files submitted for a single app.
So you can have one version submitted targeting 7.* and others for 8.*. E.g.
This allows you to target both platforms from one app.
You need to reupload the XAP file with Target Windows Phone OS Version in Visual Studio project properties set to Windows Phone OS 7.1