If you’re interested in creating a Windows Phone app, there are a few things you should know. In this article, we’ll cover the basics of Windows Phone 8.1 operating system and how to create your first app using Visual Studio 2013.
Windows Phone 7.0 was based on Silverlight, and subsequent versions (such as 7.5 and 8.0) continued to use Silverlight for app development. However, in Windows Phone 8.1, there are now different options for app development. You can still use Windows Phone 8.1 Silverlight XML, which is based on XML UI and allows you to write code in C# and VB. Alternatively, you can use Windows Phone 8.1 Win-RT, which allows for coding that can be migrated to Windows Store 8.1.
With Windows Phone 8.1 Win-RT, you can create a universal app that uses the same code and UI as your Windows Store app. This means that 80% of your code can be reused, making development quicker and easier.
Additionally, Windows Store apps support HTML 5, CSS, JQuery, and JavaScript for developers who prefer those languages. With all these options, you can choose the best development environment for your app.
In this article, we’ll focus on using XAML in Windows Phone app development with C#. However, we won’t cover the basics of XAML, so if you’re unfamiliar with it, we recommend checking out our WPF video series on Questpond first.
To create your first Windows Phone app, you’ll need to download and install Visual Studio 2013. Once you have that set up, you can create a new project and select “Windows Phone App” as the project type. From there, you can start building out your app using XAML and C#.
One common issue that developers face is how to deal with page orientations in Windows Phone apps. By default, the app will support both portrait and landscape orientations, but you may need to make adjustments to your UI to ensure that it looks good in both modes.
Overall, creating a Windows Phone app can be a fun and rewarding experience, especially if you’re already familiar with XAML and C#. With the various development options available, you can choose the best approach for your app and get started on bringing your ideas to life.