Is it possible to program for Windows Phone 7 in standard C++ only?

Question

I know that the recommended language for Windows Phone 7 development is C#.

However, for various reasons, I very much prefer continuing to program in standar

Answer 1

No that is not possible. Microsoft has made a decision to only allow application developers to use managed code on the Windows Phone 7 devices.

Answer 2

This interview tells something about it: Writing the WP7 App Platform in C# and C++ I haven't watched it yet, so you might add respective comments :)

Answer 3

EDIT, finally: for WP7 it won't ever be, but for Windows Phone 8 - yes you can. Native apps, C/C++, iOS/Android portability and code sharing, DirectX. You'll need Visual Studio 2012 and Windows 8 for WP8 development, though. VS2010 is not getting the requisite SDK. To run the emulator, you'll need a 64-bit physical Windows 8 box with a SLAT-enabled CPU. You can still develop on a virtual machine, but you'd need a device to run apps, the emulator won't start.

The nongame UI, however, will still be XAML-based and managed. The entirety of Win32 API will not be supported. They're pushing a model with managed UI layer and a native middleware beneath it. Purely native development is still not an option; although one might try with WinMD classes as code-behind for XAML. The visual XAML designer will probably choke, and you'll need a dummy managed DLL anyway.

EDIT: even assembly, as long as it's targeting Thumb-2 and the mnemonics are UAL-style. For running on the simulator, you'd have to produce an alternative set of assembly files (or other sources) targeting Intel.

For the sake of posterity, here's the pre-06/20/2012 answer:

---

If you work for Microsoft or an OEM, then yes. Otherwise, no (for now).

There's hope though. Google did relent and issued their NDK after a while; Microsoft might, too. The native code capability is already there. Once they come up with a sensible sandboxing solution, why not.

Also, there's already some pressure from big-name software vendors to open up native development. Mozilla people stated outright that there will be no Firefox on WP7 unless it's native. Similar rumors about Flash.

EDIT: if you want a native SDK on WP7, like I do, please go sign the petition here and/or the one over there. Thank you!

EDIT2: see this. It's a leak and therefore not official, but still, I say there's some hope.

EDIT3: also this. Still not official, but this rumor moves the timeframe for native app support even closer - to the upcoming Tango release.

EDIT4: Microsoft seems to be pretty keen to promote WinRT, their new tablet-oriented XAML-based app platform, which allows for (among other things) unmanaged C++. Now, on every other major mobile OS the tablet and the phone app stacks are one and the same. Just sayin'.

EDIT5: there's been some proof-of-concept work along the lines of C++ => LLVM => MSIL and C++ => LLVM => C#, but nothing production-quality so far.

Answer 4

Windows Phone 7 supports Silverlight and XNA.

All programs for Windows Phone 7 are written in .NET managed code. It is also possible to write Windows Phone 7 applications in Visual Basic .NET. Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone includes XNA Game Studio 4.0 and an on-screen phone emulator, and also integrates with Visual Studio 2010. You can develop visuals and animations for Silverlight applications using Microsoft Expression Blend.

The Silverlight and XNA platforms for Windows Phone 7 share some libraries, and you can use some XNA libraries in a Silverlight program and vice versa. But you can’t create a program that mixes visuals from both platforms. Maybe that will be possible in the future, but not now.

EDIT: to be more clear..there is no native C++ support you'll have to use either Silverlight or XNA,both are based on .net framework.

Answer 5

According to Wikipedia Windows Phone 7.0 runs Windows CE 6.0 R3/7.0 hybrid as operating system.

In theory one could use C++ to build standard* C++ programs targeting Windows CE 6.0 R3 and 7.0 (supposed to come out on Q1 2011). I mean all the standard* dlls should be there (gdi32.dll, user32.dll) Internet Explorer and other C++ programs are still running on Windows Phone 7.

The how to get the application on the phone? and how to run the application on the phone? are the next questions which at the moment I don't know how to answer.

Answer 6

Phone manufacturers such as Samsung can deploy applications written in unmanaged code, but all other developers can not.