.NET Compact Framework Development

1
.NET Compact Framework Development

• With VB.NET

Don Sorcinelli Microsoft MVP Mobile
Devices Editor-In-Chief Bostonpocketpc.com Club
Pocket PC - Boston
2
Agenda

• Introduction
• A Brief History of Windows Mobile Development
• Introduction to .NET Compact Framework
  Development
• .NET CF Tips, Tricks and Recommendations
• .NET CF Futures
• Q A

3
Introduction

• Windows Mobile Evangelist
• Consumer
• Enterprise
• Developer
• Developer
• Enterprise focus
• Multiple languages, platforms and technologies

4
A Brief History of Windows Mobile Development

• Embedded Tools for Visual Studio
• VS 6
• Tools for VB, C
• eMBedded Tools
• Standalone and free
• eVB
• eC
• .NET Compact Framework (First Pass)
• Visual Studio.NET
• Smart Device Extensions

5
Current State of the .NET Compact Framework

• Visual Studio.NET 2003
• Smart Device Projects
• .NET Compact Framework 1.1

6
Introduction to the .NET Compact Framework

• What is the .NET CF?
• What can I do with the .NET CF?
• What cant I do with the .NET CF?

7
What is the .NET CF?

• Essentially, the .NET CF is an extended subset
  of the .NET Framework
• Subset Some non-essential classes are not
  included
• Extended Functionality specific to the Windows
  Mobile platform
• High-level goal Extend the .NET developer
  platform to the Windows Mobile device platform

8
What can I do with the .NET CF?

• Simple answer
• Much of what you would do with regards to .NET
  client development
• Possibilities
• Rich client applications
• Web services
• Extending enterprise applications to Windows
  Mobile devices

9
What cant I do with the .NET CF?

• Simple answer Not much
• Limitations are mostly restricted to the classes
  not included in the .NET CF
• .NET Remoting
• Web server/ASP.NET
• Some of the limitations can be overcome by
  third-party supplements
• More on that later

10
DEMO VS.NET / .NET CF Development
11
.NET CF Tips, Tricks and Recommendations

• Fill In The Holes
• UI Design Considerations
• Extending Enterprise Applications

12
Fill In The Holes

• Notable gaps in the .NET CF
• Managed access to Pocket Outlook
• XML Serialization
• Managed access to platform APIs
• Third-Party Tools can fill the gap

13
OpenNETCF.org Smart Device Framework

• Open source .NET CF library
• Designed to fill the gaps in the .NET CF
• http//www.opennetcf.org

14
DEMO Smart Device Framework
15
Pocket Outlook In-The-Hand

• Managed access to Pocket Outlook
• Contacts
• Tasks
• Appointments

16
DEMO Pocket Outlook In-The-Hand
17
Pocket PC Magazine Best Software Awards

• Includes a Developer category
• Dozens of third-party tools for .NET CF
  development

18
UI Design Considerations

• UI Usability
• Performance

19
UI Usability

• Three device categories within the Windows Mobile
  platform
• Windows Mobile for Pocket PC
• Windows Mobile for Pocket PC Phone Edition
• Windows Mobile for Smartphone
• Smartphone does not support stylus entry
• T9 input and key navigation
• IMPACT Screen layouts for Smartphone should be
  carefully considered
• Tab Order

20
UI Usability

• Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition
• Supports
• Landscape and portrait orientations
• HiDPI resolution (VGA)
• IMPACT Applications should be orientation- and
  resolution-aware
• For more information
• MSDN Mobile and Embedded Developer Center
• http//msdn.microsoft.com/mobility
• ARTICLE Developing Orientation and dpi Aware
  Applications for the .NET Compact Framework
• http//msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url
  /library/en-us/dnwm2k3/html/dpi_awareness.asp

21
DEMO Orientation-Awareness
22
UI Usability

• Limited Screen Real Estate
• Pocket PC, Phone Edition
• VGA 480 x 640
• QVGA (Most Common) 240 x 320
• Smartphone (Smaller Screen)
• VGA 480 x 640
• QVGA (Most Common) 240 x 320
• IMPACT UIs should be designed and tested for
  usability
• Analogy Early days of GUI and web application
  development

23
Performance

• Windows Mobile Architecture Primer
• Performance Techniques

24
Windows Mobile Architecture

• CPUs
• Memory

25
Device CPUs

• Intel XScale
• Designed for battery life (ULV)
• Fastest production model 624 MHz
• TI OMAP
• Designed for use in Phone Edition and Smartphone
• Even more emphasis on battery life
• 200 MHz
• Samsung Mobile CPU
• Multiple clock speeds fastest 533 MHz

26
Device CPUs

• All are ARM Instruction Set compatible
• You do not have to worry about device CPU
  differences
• OVERALL IMPACTS
• CPUs are not as powerful as desktop computers
• Processor-intensive applications will run more
  slowly
• Consider offloading heavy lifting
• Web services/Server

27
Memory Model

• Non-volatile ROM
• System ROM
• FileStore
• Data will persist beyond a hard reset
• Volatile ROM
• Main Memory
• Data will not persist beyond a hard reset
• Smartphone OS
• Volatile ROM will not persist beyond a soft reset

28
Memory Management

• Volatile ROM is broken into two categories
• Storage Memory Application and data stored in
  the file system
• Program Memory Memory space for running
  applications
• Virtual RAM
• The more that is stored in Storage Memory, the
  less that is available for Program Memory
• IMPACT Memory can be constrained. Applications
  should be designed for maximum memory management.

29
Performance Tips

• UI Usability
• Memory Management/Performance

30
UI Usability

• Avoid graphics-intensive screens
• Real Estate
• Processing
• Consider tabs rather than multiple forms
• There is an initial performance hit
• Less need for opening multiple forms
• Preloading of forms
• There is an initial performance hit
• Showing rather than initializing saves time
  during execution

31
DEMO UI Usability
32
Memory Management

• When done with objects, dispose of them
• Do not rely solely on garbage collection
• When connecting via the network, connect only as
  long as you need to
• For enterprise and Internet applications Plan
  for an occasionally connected model of data
  management
• There is no perfect wireless technology
• Consider
• SQL Server CE
• XML

33
SQL Server CE

• Limited subset of SQL Server functionality
• Good for
• Persistent storage locally
• Persistent storage for occasionally-connected
  applications and large sets of data
• Merge Replication
• Currently, SQL Server CE requires an additional
  installation

34
XML

• Good for
• Persistent storage of smaller sets of data
• Local storage
• Occasionally-connected computing
• Not as secure as SQL Server CE

35
.NET CF Futures

• Whidbey Visual Studio.NET 2005
• .NET Compact Framework 2.0

36
Visual Studio.NET 2005

• New Packaging
• Express versions Will not include .NET CF
  development
• Professional version will provide .NET CF
  support
• Native Emulators
• Previously, an x86 emulator ran on the desktop
• Integrated support for landscape development
• Complete deployment support
• Installation wizard support for Windows Mobile

37
.NET Compact Framework 2.0

• Additional classes
• Serialization
• Event Notification API
• Publish/Subscribe methodology
• Applications can subscribe to a variety of system
  events
• Applications can publish events
• POSSIBLE USES
• SMS Interception
• Device-side real-time application integration

38
Q A