How to make UWP apps compatible with windows 8.1

Question

I have installed Visual studio 2017 and Visual studio 2015.

Using visual studio 2015 I am able to create Xamarin.winphone projects and I am able to run this app on windows 8,8.1,10

Using visual studio 2017 I am able to create Xamarin.uwp projects and while Creating it I would like to support windows 8 as well .. but in minimum version I am not able to find it

Answer 1

UWP is Windows 10 only, so the lowest target is the first Windows 10 Build 10240

The Universal Windows Platform (UWP) is the app platform for Windows 10. You can develop apps for UWP with just one API set, one app package, and one store to reach all Windows 10 devices – PC, tablet, phone, Xbox, HoloLens, Surface Hub and more.

Answer 2

Using visual studio 2017 I am able to create Xamarin.uwp projects and while Creating it I would like to support windows 8 as well .. but in minimum version I am not able to find it

The solution with windows 8 client project has no longer been supported by Xamarin template. But you could add windows 8 client project manually. Please follow Adding a Windows Phone App.

It is xamarin native PCL project in your screenshot. The PCL project is a protable library referenced by each native platforms. You could also add a new windowsphone native project that reference PCL project. Please refer to the following steps.

1. Create a cross platform app.

2. Add a new WindowsPhone native project that reference PCL project.

Please notice that you could not use Xamrin.Forms control in your native project. For example you could not use Entry in "myproject.IOS" , it is suitable to use UITextField.

public ViewController(IntPtr handle) : base(handle)
{
     UITextField textInPut = new UITextField();
     textInPut.Frame = new CGRect(0, 0, 120, 44);
     textInPut.Text = "Xamarin IOS Native ";
     View.AddSubview(textInPut);
}

The code sample has uploaded to github. Please check.