Introduction

Welcome to the .NET Compact Framework, the fast, trimmed -down version of the Microsoft .NET Framework tailored especially for devices. The .NET Compact Framework is Microsoft's next -generation development framework for easily creating complex applications for the Pocket PC and Windows CE platforms. Using the .NET Compact Framework, developers can target Windows CE using C# or Visual Basic. For the first time, developers need not become experts in writing for Windows CE in C/C++, nor need they settle for the previous, watered-down Visual Basic dialect , Embedded Visual Basic.

This book will bring you up to speed on how to use Smart Device Extensions in Visual Studio 7.1 to write, deploy, and test applications that target the .NET Compact Framework.

If you have a Windows CE device and you wonder how to get the .NET Compact Framework running on it, this book can help. It details how to get around the most common obstacles developers face when trying to target Windows CE devices.

This book is aimed at developers already familiar with either C# or Visual Basic .NET. It does not spend any time introducing elements of language syntax or programming constructs. If you are an experienced .NET Framework developer, this book can help you understand what functionality is available to you on the .NET Compact Framework.

All of the topics covered in this book are treated with enough detail that a developer who knows nothing about the topic can master it by the end of the chapter. Each chapter is filled with code snippets and full sample applications to drive home the chapter's major points. All code snippets and sample applications are presented in both in C# and Visual Basic. Some sample listings include input data or special steps needed to use the code. Such information is always included after the C# and Visual Basic code listings.