To elaborate on the situation: We have two apps, lets call them A & B for simplicity. Both developed and running on Windows 7 and they can connect & communicate just fine using UDP/TCP. Now we want to convert App B to Windows 8 to take advantage of the Metro UI. Will we need to make extensive changes to the networking code in App A? Can it even continue to run on Windows 7 and yet communicate with App B running on Windows 8? From what I understand Win8 handles sockets a bit differently than the previous Windows, hence my doubt.
Asked
Active
Viewed 546 times
1
-
1I don't see any reason why this should not work. – Philipp Mar 16 '13 at 10:47
3 Answers
3
Just to come at this from a different angle, communication is technically possible but explicitly forbidden (assuming you want to publish your app in the Windows Store):
3 Windows Store apps behave predictably
3.1 You must use only the Windows Runtime APIs to implement the features of your Windows Store app
We describe these APIs in the Windows Store apps API reference. Your app may only depend on software listed in the Windows Store.
Windows Store apps must not communicate with local desktop applications or services via local mechanisms, including via files and registry keys.
If this is something that you'll be side-loading for enterprise use then disregard this answer.
-
We don't intend to publish to Windows Store, but thanks for the info anyway. – Alo Mar 18 '13 at 05:02
1
There is no reason why this should not work.
I already had Windows 8 metro apps which communicate with a server using sockets, and for testing purposes I also ran that server on the windows 8 machine while having the metro app connect to 127.0.0.1. It worked flawlessly.
Philipp
- 67,764
- 9
- 118
- 153
1
Will we need to make extensive changes to the networking code in App A?
No, you don't need to change anything in A.
Can it even continue to run on Windows 7 and yet communicate with App B running on Windows 8?
Of course.
From what I understand Win8 handles sockets a bit differently than the previous Windows.
There are some differences between Windows 7 and Windows 8 when it comes to IO completion ports but no, I don't think it would be a problem.
