Chapter 3: Developing with Universal Windows Platform

Universal Windows Platform (UWP) is a common API layer that allows developers to create applications for various platforms, from desktop PCs to niche devices such as HoloLens. Compared to the Xamarin setup, UWP applications are a little more coupled with .NET Framework and runtime components. UWP makes use of two completely different sets of .NET Framework: .NET Native and .NET Core. Here, .NET Core acts as the BCL library, while .NET Native is part of the application model.

This chapter will discuss the components that allow UWP apps to be portable within the Windows 10 ecosystem and how they are associated with .NET. We will recreate the calculator example from the previous chapter for the Universal Windows Platform using Xamarin.Forms, and then try to identify the differences between Xamarin.Forms and UWP from a XAML perspective. We will also look at how .NET Native can be utilized for UWP.

The following sections will...