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Tools Required for Development

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In general, the .NET Framework SDK includes everything that is necessary to compile and test the samples that accompany this tutorial. In particular, the SDK comes with command-line compilers for each of the languages, the common language runtime and associated files, and detailed documentation.

If you intend to run the ASP.NET sample, you must install the .NET Framework SDK after installing IIS to recognize and properly handle .aspx files. (This might require reinstalling the SDK.)

All the files that are needed to use the accompanying samples and to start developing are installed with the SDK. The runtime files and the Visual C# and Visual Basic compilers are located in \WindowsDirectory\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.0.FinalBuildNumber. The C++ compiler is located in \Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET\VC7\Bin.

For the .NET Framework SDK, the important files are the following:

  • Mscorlib.dll
  • Vbc.exe
  • Cl.exe
  • Csc.exe

Because source and project files for all three languages are in plain text, any text editor — even Microsoft Notepad — is adequate for examining and modifying the accompanying sample files. However, if you want to make substantial changes — for example, by creating a new application that is based on a sample — you should install Visual Studio .NET.

The .NET Framework SDK includes a variety of tools and samples, several of which are particularly useful when working with namespaces. These are described in Appendix A: Tools for Exploring Namespaces.

Finally, to compile and run the samples that accompany both the SDK and this tutorial, you must have the path environment variable configured so that it includes the subdirectories where the compilers are located. If you use C++, you also need to have appropriate include and lib environment variables. On Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, Microsoft Windows 2000, and Microsoft Windows XP, all these should be configured by the setup process for the SDK. On Microsoft Windows 98 and Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me), the appropriate environment variables can be set by running Corvars.bat, which is located in the \Bin subdirectory of the SDK.

See Also

Common Concepts for Development | Hello World | Writing Simple .NET Components | Clients for the Simple Components | Summary of Development Tutorial | Appendix A: Tools for Exploring Namespaces