It’s been quite a while Microsoft’s Visual Studio 2015 up and is used for Cross Platform Development. But cross platform development was also introduced in Visual Studio 2013 using Cordova tool CTP (Compulsory Third Party). We recommend you use Visual Studio 2015 RC to develop apps using Visual Studio tools for Apache Cordova. By using Visual Studio Tools for Apache Cordova you can build cross platform apps for iOS, Android, and Windows devices. If you are creating a hybrid app using Apache Cordova it will provide you a common code base for HTML, CSS and JavaScript or TypeScript. You can find a basic tutorial for you first Hello World app with Tools for Apache Cordova.
But it’s not only Apache Cordova that helps you in building cross platform application, let me introduce you to Xamarin. With Xamarin you can build hybrid apps too. Xamarin provides you with a common code base in C# for all platforms. To use Xamarin, you will have to subscribe to Xamarin. Xamarin gives you several options. Review them and decide which one is right for you. You can see Xamarin pricing here. After you are done with buying subscription now Install Xamarin to build apps for iOS and Android devices in Visual Studio. Download Xamarin Studio from here. When you are done with installation now you are good to go, you can build hybrid apps using Xamarin now. You may visit Xamarin developer website, it has many easy to follow tutorials to create apps for iOS and Android.
You can build apps using the tools for these devices and platforms:
- Android 2.3.3 and later (4.4 provides the best developer experience)
- iOS 6, 7, and 8
- Windows 8 and 8.1
- Windows Phone 8 and 8.1
Do let us know about your experience using Apache Cordova and Xamarin. Furthermore in the next tutorial we would be telling you about Visual Studio tools for Unity, how you can basically make a 2D/3D game using C# in Visual Studio 2015 and we would be sharing about C++ for Cross Platform Development. If you have any queries do let us know about it we would be glad to help you out.