Stuart Celarier, Fern Creek
.NET/XML Consultant, course author, trainer
Please email comments and corrections to faq@ferncrk.com.
Updated January 24, 2005, 6:24 PM Pacific Standard Time
.NET Compact Framework FAQ Pages
.NET Compact Framework (General) | .NET Compact Framework 1.0 | .NET Compact Framework 2.0
Contents of this Page
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Controls
Data
COM Interoperability
Emulators
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Key to Finding Answers in the .NET Compact Framework FAQ
Topics in this FAQ are organized into a series of pages. This key is your guide to the organization of topics into pages and the relations between them.
.NET Compact Framework (General)
.NET Compact Framework (General)covers general topics in developing managed applications for mobile devices, including how to get started, information about devices and native operating systems, as well as debugging and deploying software.
Related sections. See .NET Compact Framework 1.0 for developing with the .NET Compact Framework (CF) 1.0 and Visual Studio .NET.
See .NET Compact Framework 2.0 for developing with pre-release versions of the .NET Compact Framework 2.0 and Visual Studio 2005 (formerly codenamed "Whidbey").
.NET Compact Framework 1.0
.NET Compact Framework 1.0 covers development topics on the .NET Compact Framework (CF) 1.0, as well as Visual Studio .NET 2002/2003 and other tools. There is also information about releases and service packs for CF 1.0.
Related sections. See .NET Compact Framework (General) for general information about developing for mobile devices that is not specific to a version of the .NET Compact Framework.
.NET Compact Framework 2.0
.NET Compact Framework 2.0 covers development topics on the pre-release versions of .NET Compact Framework (CF) 2.0, and using Visual Studio 2005 (formerly codenamed "Whidbey") and other tool. There is also information about different pre-release versions, as well as which features are available in current versions.
Related sections. See .NET Compact Framework 1.0 for information that may be identical in .NET Compact Framework 2.0.
See .NET Compact Framework (General) for general information about developing for mobile devices that not specific to a version of the .NET Compact Framework.
.NET Compact Framework 2.0 Releases
Where can I get a Beta or Community Technology Preview (CTP) of the .NET Compact Framework 2.0?
Betas and CTP releases are available to MSDN subscribers in the Subscriber Downloads.
Daniel Moth, 8 December 2004#
No product version has been specified for this FAQ item. Please report status updates here.
What devices currently include the .NET Compact Framework 2.0?
None at this point: since the .NET Framework 2.0 (include .NET Compact Framework 2.0) is in Beta testing, it cannot possibly be included into any shipping device ROM.
Alex Feinman, 12 December 2004#
No product version has been specified for this FAQ item. Please report status updates here.
Can existing devices download the .NET Compact Framework 2.0?
Yes, those based on Windows Mobile 2003 and newer.
Alex Feinman, 12 December 2004#
No product version has been specified for this FAQ item. Please report status updates here.
What versions of Visual Studio support developing for the .NET Compact Framework 2.0?
Only Visual Studio 2005 supports .NET Compact Framework 2.0 development.
Alex Feinman, 12 December 2004#
No product version has been specified for this FAQ item. Please report status updates here.
What is the expected release date for .NET Compact Framework 2.0?
The .NET CF 2.0 will likely RTM with Visual Studio 2005 in the first half of 2005. However, the .NET CF 1.0 had a "go live" license that enabled developers to redistribute a prerelease build prior to RTM. It's possible this may happen again.
It's also possible that .NET CF 2.0 will ship in ROMs on Windows Mobile 2003 devices after it becomes available. It all depends on whether Microsoft provides an adaptation kit for the OEMs and whether the OEMs will opt to use it.
Also you might anticipate a free SDK for .NET CF 2.0. I don't think anything has been announced, but I know that Microsoft has taken the feedback about not having one for .NET CF 1.0 very seriously.
Ed Kaim, 13 December 2004#
No product version has been specified for this FAQ item. Please report status updates here.
How do I get support for the .NET Compact Framework 2.0 and Visual Studio 2005?
Search or post a question in the the .NET Compact Framework Forum.
Stuart Celarier, Fern Creek, 1 January 2005#
No product version has been specified for this FAQ item. Please report status updates here.
Spotlight: In the News
Deploying CF applications is broken in Visual Studio 2005 November CTP. Is there a fix?
Symptoms. Using the Visual Studio 2005 November Community Technology Preview (CTP), if you try to deploy your .NET Compact Framework application using F5 or Ctrl+F5 it will fail to deploy.
Solution:A patch has been made available, on an as-is basis, that fixes this problem. You are strongly encouraged to read the instructions on the Visual Studio for Devices blog before downloading and installing the patch.
This issue has not been fixed in the December CTP, as reported here. In fact the Device bits in the December CTP are older than those in the November CTP, as explained here.
Stuart Celarier, Fern Creek, 8 January 2005#
This FAQ item is current to the Visual Studio 2005 November CTP release. Please report status updates here.
Is ClickOnce in .NET Compact Framework 2.0?
Unfortunately, Visual Studio 2005 will not support ClickOnce for Smart Device projects.
Ori Amiga, Visual Studio for Devices, Microsoft, 6 August 2004#
No product version has been specified for this FAQ item. Please report status updates here.
When will generics be available in the .NET Compact Framework 2.0?
We are actively working on support for generics in the .NET Compact Framework. We currently anticipate generics to be part of Visual Studio 2005 Beta 2 which I would expect to release in Q1 CY05.
Ori Amiga, Visual Studio for Devices, Microsoft, 6 August 2004#
No product version has been specified for this FAQ item. Please report status updates here.
What new controls are in .NET Compact Framework 2.0?
.NET Compact Framework (CF) 2.0 has both DateTimePicker and MonthCalendar controls. UserControl is supported in CF 2.0 which should make building controls with designer functionality easier. I'm not sure how much is implemented in the current build.
Peter Foot, MVP, Windows Embedded, 16 July 2004
Additional new controls include DocumentList, Notification, and DataConnector. UserControl and CustomControl are both supported current CF 2.0 release, you can create a UserControl as you do in desktop projects, having a UserControl designer and allow you to add controls to it. You can either add a UserControl to the project or adding a Windows Control Library project to your solution.
Keep in mind that Smartphone platform does not support UserControl so you would need to use CustomControl instead on that plaform.
David So, 16 July 2004#
No product version has been specified for this FAQ item. Please report status updates here.
What is the new Smart Device CAB Project in Visual Studio 2005?
There's a new project type for creating richer CAB files for device projects: it can be found under Other Project Types | Setup and Deployment | Smart Device CAB Project. It now allows you to visually create CABs by dragging-and-dropping registry and file entries, etc.
Ori Amiga, Visual Studio for Devices, Microsoft, 6 August 2004#
No product version has been specified for this FAQ item. Please report status updates here.
What kinds of mobile applications are supported by Visual Studio 2005?
Visual Studio 2005 (Whidbey) Beta 1 includes Smart Device development. However the Visual Basic and C# Express packages do not.
Only PocketPC 2003, Smartphone 2003, CE 5 and above, and future Windows Mobile and Smartphone versions will be supported by Visual Studio 2005. If you need to develop for any earlier version of PocketPC, then you need Visual Studio .NET 2003 Pro or above.
Peter Foot, MVP, Windows Embedded; and Ginny Caughey, MVP, 30 August 2004#
No product version has been specified for this FAQ item. Please report status updates here.
Can I deploy a .NET Compact Framework 2.0 application to a Pocket PC 2002?
No, .NET Compact Framework (CF) 2.0 supports Pocket PC 2003 and upwards only. For previous versions you should continue to develop with CF 1.0 and Visual Studio 2003.
For understanding which tools support which platforms and configurations, the Windows Mobile Development Tool Support Matrix on the Windows Mobile Team Blog should make things a little clearer.
Peter Foot, MVP, Windows Embedded, 30 September 2004#
No product version has been specified for this FAQ item. Please report status updates here.
.NET Compact Framework 2.0 Development (General)
When should I use GC.Collect?
Scott Holden of the .NET .NET Compact Framework Team has an extensive post on his blog titled The perils of GC.Collect (or when to use GC.Collect), including links to some other team members' articles, and notes on improvements to garbage collection in .NET Compact Framework 2.0.
Stuart Celarier, Fern Creek, 8 January 2005#
No product version has been specified for this FAQ item. Please report status updates here.
Can I use MSMQ on a Pocket PC and in the emulator as well?
I have a MSMQ sample application that was originally developed on Windows 2000/2003 and then ported to Pocket PC 2003. I was able so successfully build it and load it into the Pocket PC 2003 Emulator. But as soon as it tries to enumerate the queues I get an exception.
How can I set up MSMQ on the Pocket PC Emulator? Or how can I make the Pocket PC Emulator see my local machine and the MSMQ on my local machine?
Klaus Salchner, 29 August 2004
To use System.Messaging on emulator or real device, native MSMQ needs to be installed and configured first. Native MSMQ is not included in Visual Studio and needs to be installed separately. It comes with PPC 2003 SDK and located in \Support\msmq folder.
You have to copy MSMQ files to \windows folder on emulator or device, and configure MSMQ as described in Application Installation of MSMQ (Platform Builder for Microsoft Windows CE 5.0) in the MSDN Library. At that point you can use System.Messaging.
Ilya Tumanov, Microsoft, 30 August 2004
MSMQ does work on the .NET Compact Framework 2.0. I have a series of blog posts that will help you, System.Messaging (MSMQ) in CF 2.0, Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4. I got this tested and working on a pre-Beta 1 build using the emulator.
Also note that to get more detail exception messages you will need to install the resource assembly. Please see What is the "Could not find resource assembly" error message? for more info on this.
Mark Ihimoyan, Microsoft, 7 September 2004#
No product version has been specified for this FAQ item. Please report status updates here.
Does the .NET Compact Framework 2.0 support asynchronous delegates?
I'm puzzled by the Beta 1 documentation statement that the .NET Compact Framework (CF) doesn't support asynchronous delegates. This can't still be true with CF 2.0, can it?
Peter Bernhardt, SharpSense Software LLC, 11 August 2004
At this time we do not plan on supporting general purpose asynchronous delegates in .NET CF 2.0. I believe only Windows Forms callbacks, BeginUpdate and EndUpdate, will be supported in this release.
Ori Amiga, Visual Studio for Devices, Microsoft, 11 August 2004#
No product version has been specified for this FAQ item. Please report status updates here.
Is there cryptography support in .NET Compact Framework 2.0? Where can I find some examples?
Yes cryptography is supported in .NET Compact Framework (CF) 2.0. The object model follows that of the full .NET Framework, so you should find plenty of examples.
Also Casey Chesnut has been working with cryptography on .NET CF for a long time and produced his own library for .NET CF 1.0 which has an object model that matches the System.Security.Cryptography namespace. Checkout Casey's articles for examples you can put to use with NET CF v2.0, see .NET Compact Framework and Rijndael / AES by Casey at DevBuzz.com.
Peter Foot, Windows Embedded MVP, 7 October 2004#
No product version has been specified for this FAQ item. Please report status updates here.
Is there BinaryFormatter support in .NET Compact Framework 2.0?
The documentation for the BinaryFormatter class in the Visual Studio 2005 Beta Library lists the .NET Compact Framework as a Supported Platform. Is that correct?
The prerelease documentation you're referring to is incorrect, there's no BinaryFormatter class in the .NET Compact Framework.
Ilya Tumanov, Microsoft, 29 October 2004#
No product version has been specified for this FAQ item. Please report status updates here.
Controls
Data
Emulators
Debugging
Deployment
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