Windows 8 Store Import

Question

Reading the following (and skimming other areas of the site):

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/windows/apps/br211361.aspx

It seems as though I have to re-write a program I've been writing in VC# 2010, to be able to put it on Windows Store. Is this true? Can I simply import my project into VC# 2013 and then put it out there? Is there a reason I shouldn't do that even if I could (i.e. it looks different than other Windows 8 apps and users will be off-put by it)?

If I can't import and release my project into Windows Store directly, and this is a little bit of a tangent, but, can I at least import it into Visual Studio 2013, and then begin rewriting/adding the parts I need to to be able to make it compatible with Windows Store? I've never used app stores before, so please be gentle.

Answer 1

In most cases, opening a VS2010 project in VS2013 is not a pain.

You can find 2 kind of apps in the Windows Store :

• Modern UI apps (aka Metro)
• Desktops Apps

If you want to create a Modern UI app you need to target the .Net 4.5 framework. To do so you need to upgrade to VS2013.

But most of your work will be to rewrite a huge part of your program as the modern UI is not compabible with WPF (and you will need to manage touch devices). Other assemblies also doesn't have all the features of the desktop ones, so you will probably have a little bit of work in that area too.

Here is a link that explain the process of publishing an app in the Windows Store : http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/jj657972.aspx

If you want to publish a desktop application it seems to me that you only need to provide an URL to download your package. Be careful it is not possible to submit that kind of app with a personal account, you need a company account to do so. You can find more information about that process on MSDN: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/desktop/dd535817