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I have a fairly large windows mobile app (written in NETCF 3.5). Those in power at my company are wanting to convert this app to run on Android.

What similarities are there between Android development and Windows Mobile (not Windows Phone) development? Specifically:

  • Window Forms (ie the UI)
  • P-invokes (my app has a lot of these)
  • WCF/SOAP web services support
  • C# and Visual Studio Development tools

Also, if you feel inclined, I would like a general statement on how a conversion would be from someone who has done it. (Keep in mind that I have never made an Android app.)

Background:
Someone (a non-programmer) here did a Google search and found a "tool" that converts Windows Mobile apps to Android for you (push of the button kind of thing). That person now has everyone believing that this conversion will take no time at all.

As a developer that has worked on several platforms, I just find that really hard to believe (though I would be happy to be wrong).

Vaccano
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  • He did a Google search but didn't try the tool ? Do you have that Tools name? – H H Jun 13 '11 at 17:08
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    I think the P/Invokes are going to be a lot of fun... – H H Jun 13 '11 at 17:08
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    @Henk Holterman - I doubt he even knows the name of the tool. He is not a programmer and does not have access to the source. He just saw that there was a tool and decided that the conversion would be easy (really confusing behavior from him as he is usually very level headed) – Vaccano Jun 13 '11 at 17:09
  • IMO the easiest for you will be porting your business/data layer (assuming you wrote them correctly). I recently did iOS -> Android (I wrote a lexer to convert the languages), but I had to make NO modifications to the code once the conversion was complete. The business logic worked exactly the same. So, if you used proper MVC architecture, you are in luck... – Smith3 Jun 13 '11 at 17:53

3 Answers3

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check out Will Google Android ever support .NET? as it might be what you're looking for. Not sure how well it works, but if the non-programmer is willing to front the money, I say give it a try

Update: Looks like mono switched companies: http://xamarin.com/monoforandroid

Community
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Rasman
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    You are referring to Mono for Android right? Normally I would be interested in giving that a go, but since Novel got bought by Attachemate and the subsequent laying off of the whole Mono Development team, I am kinda leery of any Mono product right now. – Vaccano Jun 14 '11 at 16:21
  • while I agree with "there is no such thing as a finished product", given android is usually backwards compatible (with the odd depreciated methods) and the fact you are using a rather old platform, most of what you need should be implemented. I cringe when I say should (it's not my money, it's not my money...), but the point is there. you can test the trial version in the emulator for free – Rasman Jun 14 '11 at 16:39
  • +1 for the " ... if the non-programmer is willing to front the money" comment. Love it! – BonanzaDriver Jun 15 '11 at 01:53
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The short answer in NONE. Android is running Linux that is restricted to Java applications. If you want to port an application from .net to Android, you are looking at a total rewrite.

Sam

Sam
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There is the monodroid project, which takes .NET applications and makes them run on Android's OS, but it's still very experimental and in no way ready for production applications. Otherwise, to mirror "Sam's" comment above, there are no similarities really. I've been building mobile apps for 11 years (delivered over 60 on various Windows flavors) and the Android model is very different than what you might have done in the past on Windows CE 5 or Windows Mobile 6 type systems.

BonanzaDriver
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