Porting windows form application to Windows Phone 7.5 Mango

Question

We have an application written in C# (.Net 2.0). MS-Access as database and crystal report for reporting. I have to port it to Windows Phone 7 (Target mobile is LUMIA 800).

My concerns are:

1. Does Crystal report work on windows phone 7?
2. Can I connect app to MS-Access in same way that I am connecting it on computer?

Answer 1

bad news, you have to start from scratch as WP7 only support SilverLight apps (XNA too, but it's for games). Moreover, you won't be able to connects to access directly.

A classic Data application on WP7 will use some Web Services hosted on a server that will provides all data access, whichever is behind. Then the WP7 will query the WS to get/put data.

I'd suggest you to take a look at WCF RIA Services , but you have to understand it's a high learning curve starting from Windows Forms skills.

Answer 2

1. Does Crystal report work on windows phone 7 ?

No, Crystal Reports are not supported on Windows Phone. Nor are they suitable for presentation on a mobile device.

1. Can I connect app to MS-Access in same way as I am connecting it on computer?

Microsoft Access isn't supported on Windows Phone. You can connect to remote databases, as described by Steve, but for local data storage, you would have to convert your data.

Also, the UI and the entire User Experience (UX) for a mobile application is vastly different than for a desktop application, and as such you would want to start from scratch regardless.