Any code changes needed to get WP8 app to run on Surface Tablet?

Question

So, our Windows Phone developer left recently, and I primarily do Android development. We had a question from a client about the possibility of installing our Windows Phone 8 app on a Surface Tablet. Namely, is it possible to do? As it stands, our WP8 app was not written with tablets in mind, so my question is:

Is there anything I need to do to the WP8 app to get it to install on a tablet, (should it work as-is (like Android apps do), is there some sort of flag I have to enable and then rebuild, etc.?)

Answer 1

Okay well first off yes, there will be a few things that change but nothing to serious.

HOPFULLY you have a good MVVM model. If this is the case then you should be able to just copy and paste 99.999% of your backend code right into your tablet app. There are a few things that are different but its just namespace stuff. Nothing too serious.

The Major change is going to be your UI layout and UI controls. Depending on what libs you are using you will probably have a lot of conflicts.

Your best bet is to just copy and paste your backend code in and then creating a new UI. I have tried to merge phone UIs in the paste into the tablet and its rediculous at times. I found it takes less time to just recreate it.

If you need any help you can hit me up at www.AnthonyRussell.info Maybe I can help with your transfer. Just make sure to leave your contact info.

Answer 2

As @AMR mentions, the biggest challenge will be the UI; however, depending on the device functionality being used, the "backend" may or may not be a challenge as well.

There is great guidance on the Windows Phone Dev Center about practices and techniques for building for both platforms, so depending on when the phone app was built and your former developer's awareness of the overlapping platforms, you could be in great shape or just so-so shape.

Additionally, the following resources may be of help in mapping from what you have already coded in Windows Phone 8 to what you'd do in Windows 8:

1. XAML controls comparison between Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 (much will be relevant to Windows Phone 7 too)

2. Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 platform comparison (shows common APIs, storage, networking, etc.)

3. Lastly, the Windows Phone Runtime API documentation gives a listing of APIs only on Phone 8 vs. APIs adopted from Windows 8.