portability of windows 8 phone library to wp 8.1

Question

I have a windows phone class library built using the WP8...Is it possible to upgrade this library to support WP 8.1? If yes how can it be done using visual studio 2013?

Answer 1

I would strongly suggest to create a new Portable Class Library instead of a Class Library. Theese PCLs can then be used in Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows 8.1 Projects.

If the Library worked on Windows Phone 8, you should be able to simply copy over the code from the Class Library to the PCL.

Answer 2

Depends on if you want to use it with Windows Phone Silverlight 8.1 or Windows Phone 8.1 (XAML).

For Windows Phone Silverlight 8.1 you do not need to do anything, you can reference your WP8 lib from a Windows Phone Silverlight 8.1 without any problems. You can upgrade it to 8.1 in Visual Studio (right click on project and Retarget to Windows Phone 8.1).

You cannot use a WP8 lib with Windows Phone 8.1 (XAML) app and you cannot upgrade it to be used with Windows Phone 8.1 (XAML), you need to create a new one a copy and paste parts that work with Windows Phone 8.1 (XAML).