Development Tools for the Windows Media Center SDK

This topic summarizes the development environment that is recommended for developing Windows Media Center applications, as well as some useful tools.

Development Environment

The following is the recommended setup for developing, testing, and deploying Windows Media Center applications:

  • Windows 7
  • Microsoft Visual C# 2008 Express Edition
  • .NET Framework 2.0
  • Windows Media Center Software Development Kit (SDK)

It is possible to develop and compile a Windows Media Center application using only a text editor (such as Notepad) and a compiler installed by the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 (such as csc.exe). However, because these tools do not provide features such as IntelliSense, they are not recommended. You can also use third-party development tools, but keep in mind that support for these tools is provided only by the vendor.

You can also develop applications using the full version of Visual Studio, or using other programming languages such as Microsoft Visual Basic. However, the project templates and sample code provided in this SDK are written for C#.

Note When using Visual Studio to develop MCML documents, be aware that the IntelliSense feature does not provide all possible options in the completion list. Rather, it provides syntax options based on best practices and commonly-used scenarios. Therefore, you can use elements and attributes that are not listed and Visual Studio will display wavy underlines, but the MCML code may still be valid.

Development Tools

The Windows Media Center SDK installs development tools that you can use to develop applications and services for Windows Media Center. In a default installation, the tools are located in the folder at the following path: %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft SDKs\Windows Media Center\v6.0\Tools.

The following tools are included in this release:

See Also