是否可以编写在Windows Mobile 6.5和Windows Embedded 8.1 / 10 Handheld上运行的应用程序？

Question

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?

Answer 1

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.

Answer 2

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.

Answer 3

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.

Answer 4

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.