Developer: Microsoft Makes Coding From IOS To WP7 Easier

April 29, 2011 No Comments

I have heard developers say nothing but good things about how easy it is to develop apps for the Windows Phone. But there are still a lot of IOS developers out there that maybe do not want to go through the trouble of learning a new language and or platform. Well, Microsoft has made the process way easier for you.

Microsoft has just launched a NEW iPhone/iOS to Windows Phone 7 API mapping tool and a 90+ pages “Windows Phone 7 Guide for iPhone Application Developers’. This are not only very handy tools but they are very thorough. You can check out the details below and hit the links to get them.

New API mapping tool: iPhone/iOS to Windows Phone 7
Launched today, the iPhone/iOS to Windows Phone 7 API mapping tool helps developers find their way around when they discover the Windows Phone platform. Think of the API mapping tool as being like a translation dictionary. For example, let’s say that you’re planning a vacation to France. Since you don’t speak the language, you’ll bring a pocket travel dictionary. Having this tool will surely help you to get some idea about what you are ordering from a restaurant menu but you’ll have no idea what the actual recipe is — nor will you be able to have a conversion in French with the server! But that’s a great learning tool to make the first steps.
With this tool, iPhone developers can grab their apps, pick out the iOS API calls, and quickly look up the equivalent classes, methods and notification events in WP7. A developer can search a given iOS API call and find the equivalent WP7 along with C# sample codes and API documentations for both platforms.
The code samples allow developers to quickly migrate short blobs of iOS code to the equivalent C# code. All WP7 API documentations are pulled in from the Silverlight, C# and XNA sources on MSDN.

[smartads]

What sort of applications does the mapping tool address?
Taking a step back, the iOS APIs can broadly be classified into the following categories: Audio / Video, Data Management, Graphics / Animation, Network / Internet, Performance, Security and User Interface
For current mapping, we started with 3 popular categories (Network / Internet, User Interface and Data Management) and mapped them to Windows Phone 7 API. Don’t expect a mapping for all of the APIs, simply because the platforms are built upon different architectures and user interfaces. For this first round we focused on identifying the one-to-one mapping when it exists. In the following versions we’ll expand the scope and anytime the concepts are similar enough, we’ll do our best to provide the appropriate guidance.

You can find the API Tool here.

Windows Phone 7 Guide for iPhone Application Developers

If you have been developing iPhone applications and are interested in building your applications for Windows Phone 7, this guide is for you.
The guide will cover what you need to know to add Windows Phone 7 development to your skill set, while leveraging what you have already learned building iPhone applications.

Chapter 1: Windows Phone 7 Platform introduced to iPhone application developers
Chapter 2: User Interface Guidelines
Chapter 3: Developer and designer tools introduced to iPhone application developers
Chapter 4: C# programming introduced to Objective-C programmers
Chapter 5: Image Format Considerations in migration of iPhone applications to Windows Phone 7
Chapter 6:Application Lifecycle Differences Between Windows Phone 7 and the iPhone
Chapter 7: iPhone to Windows Phone 7 Application Preference Migration
Chapter 8: Introduction to Windows Phone 7 Notifications for iPhone Developers

You can find the guide here.

Source: Windows Phone Developer Blog