Mobilize.Net Silverlight Bridge is Released for General Availability
by DeeDee Walsh, on Thu, Dec, 03, 2015 @ 10:12 AM
The Silverlight bridge that helps accelerate bringing Windows Phone 8.1 apps to the Universal Windows Platform on Windows 10, is now released for general availability and can be downloaded at http://www.mobilize.net/download-silverlight-bridge.
Mobilize.Net, in partnership with Microsoft, today announced that the Silverlight bridge that helps accelerate bringing Windows Phone 8.1 apps to the Universal Windows Platform on Windows 10, is now released for general availability. Developers can download the free Visual Studio add-in at http://www.mobilize.net/download-silverlight-bridge. The Silverlight bridge jumpstarts application development and allows developers to parse and analyze current source code, automatically converting references to the Windows 10 API. The bridge currently has 2300 mappings and additional helpers to assist with this migration.Developers using the tool reflect its usefulness during the migration process. Here are a few quotes:
“I was able to migrate 95% of the code for my application using the technical preview. Other than having to tweak a couple of references to the new Windows Storage model, the tool worked flawlessly.”
“Using a new build of the tool, I had 18 errors on my solution. Fixing those 18 errors only took a few minutes rather than hours if I had to do the full port by hand.”
“I was able to convert 3 projects with minimum manual changes, related to image resolutions that are needed for Windows 10. We are ready to continue migrating our full portfolio of Windows Phone Silverlight apps.”
Mobilize.Net has created a wiki at https://github.com/MobilizeNet/UWPConversionMappings/wiki/Automatic- Conversion-Considerations where developers can learn more about best migration practices, common scenarios where semantic translation is required, as well as known solutions and workarounds based on community feedback.
Since the developer preview release in mid-September, Mobilize.Net and the community have been active, adding new conversion mappings, features and improvements based on real world scenarios. Feedback from across the world drove new features and improvements. Highlights include conversion of embedded SQL to SQLite and Windows Storage libraries, optimization of the error notification process based on common scenarios and improvements for the conversion of Async methods that require additional logic. The GitHub repository which has the conversion mappings, including over 800 mappings and semantic translation helpers, which can be fully customized and improved by the development community. In addition to the mappings, helpers have been added / enhanced in the following areas: Networking, UI Navigation and Elements, Contacts and Tasks, Device properties, Phone Storage, GPS functionality.
Download the Mobilize.Net Silverlight bridge for free at http://www.mobilize.net/download-silverlight-bridge.
