Showing posts with label Metro. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Metro. Show all posts

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Reuse of legacy software by WinRT and Metro (Windows 8) (Portable Libraries part 2)

 

This is a follow up to my previous post Create a Metro App in F# (NOT).

Things become quit complex if you want to reuse your windows legacy software. In this case legacy has a positive connotation. Legacy software is an asset of you and/or your company.

Suppose one want to reuse it and make it available for a Metro app on Windows 8 what are your options? After watching some of the build presentations:

 

I came up with the following flow chart:

 

LegacyWinRT_4

So:

  • You can reuse html, css and JavaScript.
  • I am not an expert on C++, COM, etc. so I do not know.
  • If you have only a dll you cannot use it.
  • If you have source code that references a language dll (like F#) or have no options today. This will change when the final product becomes available.
  • If you want to create a Metro Style project in C++ or JavaScript you can reuse your components code by fixing issues and recompile it to a WinMD file (WinRT component). Some issues can be exposing:
    • non WinRT types
    • non sealed classes
    • non system provided generic types
  • If you want to create a Metro Style project and this is one of the .NET languages you can reuse your components code by fixing issues and recompile it to a dll. Some issues can be:
    • Streams

 

Disclaimer: This is my current understanding, based on the presentations I viewed. If you have other information available please leave a note in the comments.

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