Using WPF dll's in UWP app

Question

I'm writing a UWP app, and for some reason I'm unable to reference PresentationFramework.dll. It contains some WPF controls I want to use (specifically, System.Windows.Controls.DataGrid, but they aren't available under Universal Windows >> Extensions in the reference manager. Why is this, and how can I fix it?

Answer 1

TL;DR: You can't use WPF controls in UWP.

WPF and UWP are two totally different APIs with a different .NET framework. While WPF has access to the full .NET Framework, UWP has a much more limited API. If you want to read more on the different platforms and compilers, this msdn blog post is a good entry point.

You are thus unable to add any standard dlls as a reference to an UWP app. If you want to share code between WPF and UWP, you'll have to use a Portable Class Library, in which you target the platforms you need.

And as the XAML namespaces for WPF and UWP are different as well, you won't find many portable controls. So for UWP development you'll need to use UWP controls (equivalent to their WPF counterparts). Bonus tip: if you're looking for 3rd party controls, you can also look for 'winrt' controls as winrt was used for Windows 8/8.1, but it's the same technology.