Upgrade a Windows UAP app from Windows 8.1 Silverlight Phone - windows-phone-8.1

I have a Windows 10 app that is intended to replace and older Windows Windows Phone 8.1 Silverlight app. So if the previous app is already installed and is updated from the store, the new Win 10 uap app will replace it. However, I want to keep some of the Application Settings properties from the Silverlight app and transfer them over to the Windows 10.
My idea was that, when starting the Win 10 app for the first time, I would check for the application settings file that was from the previous 8.1 silverlight and read the desired properties.
I changed my AppxManifest file in the Win 10 app to use same Publisher Id, PhoneProductId and PhonePublisher id as the Silverlight. However, when I run the Win 10 app I get a prompt that my previous silverlight app will be uninstalled first (and hence I would lose the application settings file). Is there a proper way to upgrade from Silverlight 8.1 to Win 10 universal without losing the file?

Update the Silverlight App to migrate user settings from Local to Roaming. Even when the Silverlight App gets deleted the user settings will persist in the cloud for a month or so. Because the UWP will use the same App ID these settings will be available for the UWP app.

Related

Windows Phone 8.1 - This app is not available for your device although I can manually deploy it into the device

I have recently finished working on an App for Windows Phone 8.1 and 10 - I have successfully been able to deploy it on both type of phone by using Windows Phone Application Deployment 8.1 tool.
I am now trying to load the app into the store and create a flight package so my develop phone should be able to see, download and install the app from the Microsoft Store on the device.
I am having 2 'problems' right now:
+ the App is not showing on the Store
+ using the app URL from the store, I am able to find the app but it is only available for downloading on the Windows 10 phone and it comes back unavailable on the Windows Phone 8.1
Here is some screenshots which should give an idea of my set ups:
Apart from the above, I would like to mention that I have added my Microsoft account to the devices so ideally I should be able to see the App!
Let me know guys if it makes sense and if you need further details to help me
Thanks

Deploying Windows Phone 8.1 app to Windows 10 Mobile

I've been developing a Windows Phone 8.1 app using C#/XAML. My configuration is up-to-date Windows 8.1 PC + Visual Studio 2013.
I can test my app on WP 8.1 emulator that comes with VS2013, and also no problem deploying it on physical Windows 8.1 device.
However the app also runs on Windows 10 Mobile because the platform currently allows it that way. Which is good except, my app doesn't work as intended since the device got Windows 10 Mobile Anniversary Update.
I don't know if the problem is in Windows or in my app but that's not important here.
I need to create a hotfix for the issue. And here comes the question. Is there a way to deploy WP 8.1 app to Windows 10 Mobile without submitting it to the store first, without upgrading to Windows 10, and preferably without upgrading to VS2015?
UPDATE The reason I want to deploy WP 8.1 app to Windows 10 Mobile is to test if my patch fixes the issue manifests with Windows 10 Mobile. At the moment I don't understand where is the problem and keep submitting the fix attempts to the store is not ideal.
Thanks.
Is there a way to deploy WP 8.1 app to Windows 10 Mobile without submitting it to the store first, without upgrading to Windows 10, and preferably without upgrading to VS2015?
Yes, it is possible to deploy WP8.1 app to the Windows 10 Mobile without submitting it to store and without upgrading to Windows 10 and without upgrading to VS2015. But you need to make sure you have the Windows 10 Mobile device for you to test.
If the Windows 10 Mobile device is in your side, you can unlock the Windows 10 Mobile device and deploy your app to the Windows 10 Mobile device by using the USB with the same method that you deploy it to the Windows Phone 8.1 Mobile device.
Or you can try to sideload your app on the Windows 10 Mobile device without submitting it to the store by using the Application Deployment tool. For more information, please try to refer to this article:How to deploy Windows Phone 8.1 apps with the Application Deployment tool.

Test windows phone 8.1 app update, after app is published once in store

I have build a windows phone 8.1 app, and i have published it in Windows Store.
Now i want to do an update, but before i want to test it in several devices. I created a package flight but it is only for windows os 10. How can i test in devices that have windows 8.1 os version?
When you publish application in Windows Store you can have a package for Windows 8.1 and for Windows 10. Even more - you can have multiple packages depend of build version.
When you fill the submission in Pricing and availability you can find option:
This way you can make it available for specific people

Is it possible to set up assigned access for a Win 8.1 store app on Windows 10?

I can successfully run a windows 8.1 store app without any issues however I cannot get it to work with assigned access on Windows 10. Is it even supported? or do I have to migrate the app to a UWP app?
On one of my windows installation it doesn't even appear in the list of available apps. On another installation it appears as an app but just immediately exits when the application starts.
Try to set assigned access for windows 10 application (not for Windows 8.1 app). Yes, it is supported on Pro, Enterprise and Education versions.
You can set it by different ways like it described in this topic:
Set up a kiosk on Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, or Education

How can I port a Windows Phone 8 app to Windows Phone 8.1?

I've been working on a Windows Phone 8 app, which I now want to change to be Windows Phone 8.1. How can I do this?
Should I create a new Windows Phone 8.1 app and copy all my existing files into it? Or is there an automated way for me to upgrade the existing solution to 8.1?
There are two ways to do that:
like in comment - right click on oyour project and you should see Retarget to Windows Phone 8.1
or you can open Properties window of your project and the in dropdown box Target Windows Phone OS version you can choose Windows Phone 8.1
In every case the VS should ask if you are sure to do that - it's one-way operation, so it's worth to make a backup of your solution. As WP8.1 has backward compability, in most cases there shouldn't be any problems.
Some clarification for the followers:
As WP8.0 apps are Silverlight, after retargetting it will still be a Silverlight app but WP8.1 (some new features and enhancemens).
Thought, if you want to retarget to WP8.1 Runtime, it's a totally different thing - it's a different type of an app, different API and more. You will have to port it manually. Note that not all features from WP8.0 are yet available in WP8.1 Runtime - here is a good article about that.