New API mapping tool: iPhone/iOS to Windows Phone
7
Launched today, the iPhone/iOS to Windows Phone 7 API mapping tool
helps developers find their way around when they discover the
Windows Phone platform. ; Think of the API mapping tool as
being like a translation dictionary. For example, let's say that
you're planning a vacation to France. Since you don't speak the
language, you'll bring a pocket travel dictionary. Having this tool
will surely help you to get some idea about what you are ordering
from a restaurant menu but you'll have no idea what the actual
recipe is -- nor will you be able to have a conversion in French
with the server! But that's a great learning tool to make the first
steps.
With this tool, iPhone developers can grab their apps, pick out
the iOS API calls, and quickly look up the equivalent classes,
methods and notification events in WP7. A developer can search a
given iOS API call and find the equivalent WP7 along with C# sample
codes and API documentations for both platforms.
;The code samples allow developers to quickly migrate short
blobs of iOS code to the equivalent C# code. All WP7 API
documentations are pulled in from the Silverlight, C# and XNA
sources on MSDN.
;
What sort of applications does the mapping tool
address? ;
Taking a step back, the iOS APIs can broadly be classified into
the following categories: Audio / Video, Data Management, Graphics
/ Animation, Network / Internet, Performance, Security and User
Interface
For current mapping, we started with 3 popular categories (Network
/ Internet, User Interface and Data Management) and mapped them to
Windows Phone 7 API. ; Don't expect a mapping for all of the
APIs, simply because the platforms are built upon different
architectures and user interfaces. For this first round we focused
on identifying the one-to-one mapping when it exists. In the
following versions we'll expand the scope and anytime the concepts
are similar enough, we'll do our best to provide the appropriate
guidance.
What's next?
Of course, this is a work in progress, coverage will expand and
more iOS APIs will be mapped soon. So, please consider using the
mapping tool in your porting efforts, and provide feedback on the
dedicated forum, where you can also suggest new mapping APIs to
include: http://wp7mapping.uservoice.com
