Microsoft improves app development for Windows 10
Microsoft is going to streamline its application development tools for Windows 10. The existing development tools Win32 and Universal Windows Platform (UWP) will soon be merged under the name Project Reunion. Ultimately this should deliver universal applications that run independently of the operating system on multiple Windows 10 devices.
By streamlining the application development tools Microsoft wants to bring more order into the development of applications for Windows 10 and to enable joint development. At the moment application development around the operating system is still divided between the long-standing Win32 and the UWP platform which has existed since Windows 8.
In Project Reunion Microsoft wants to unify access to existing Win32 and UWP APIs and “disconnect” the operating system. This includes using tools such as the .NET manager NuGet.
Common platform
To unify access creates a new common platform for developing applications. In addition existing applications can be provided with updates for functionality more easily in this way. It does not matter according to Microsoft in which code these applications are written; whether it is C ++, .NET (including WPF, Windows Forms or UWP) or React Native.
Two Components
Project Reunion consists of two components. The first part is WinUI3 Preview 1. This is the last preview of the UI framework for Windows. This UI can automatically adapt to devices and scale for them. It does not matter whether a new app is built or whether an existing app is modernized according to plan.
The second part of Project Reunion is a new preview of WebView2. With this tool it is now possible, among other things, to integrate a Chromiun-based WebView into Windows Forms, WPF and UWP / WinUI2 applications. In addition, WebView2 is now disconnected from the operating system and “should bring the complete experience of the Internet to all Windows applications.”
Work on Project Reunion will be done a lot in public through GitHub. This is to be able to share more about the project and to involve the community.
Other Windows announcements
Besides Project Reunion Microsoft has announced more developments around Windows. Windows Terminal 1.0, which allows developers to quickly run some executables whether from a Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) distribution or the Azure Cloud Shell, is now also available in an enterprise version.
The Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) also gets built-in support for Linux GUI apps. Developers can use a graphical interface instead of a command line, according to the tech giant.
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