.NET Compact Framework

The Microsoft .NET Compact Framework (.NET CF) is a version of the .NET Framework that is designed to run on resource constrained mobile/embedded devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, factory controllers, set-top boxes, etc. The .NET Compact Framework uses some of the same class libraries as the full .NET Framework and also a few libraries designed specifically for mobile devices such as .NET Compact Framework controls. However, the libraries are not exact copies of the .NET Framework; they are scaled down to use less space.

.NET Compact Framework
(.NET CF)
Original author(s)Microsoft
Developer(s)Microsoft
Initial release2002 (2002)
Stable release
3.9.15155.0 / June 2013 (2013-06)
Operating systemWindows CE 4.1, Pocket PC, Pocket PC 2002, Windows Mobile 2003, and Symbian^3
TypeSoftware framework
LicenseProprietary commercial software
Websitemsdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/f44bbwa1.aspx

Development

It is possible to develop applications that use the .NET Compact Framework in Visual Studio .NET 2003, in Visual Studio 2005 and in Visual Studio 2008, in C# or Visual Basic .NET. Applications developed with Basic4ppc are also eventually compiled for the .NET CF. The resulting applications are designed to run on a special, mobile-device, high performance JIT compiler.

The Microsoft .NET Compact Framework 3.5 Redistributable contains the common language runtime and class libraries built for the .NET Compact Framework. In addition to version 3.5 support, it also supports applications developed for version 1.0 and 2.0. The .NET Compact Framework 3.5 provides new features such as Windows Communication Foundation, LINQ, SoundPlayer, new runtime tool support, and many other features.

The UI development is based on Windows Forms which is also available on the desktop version of the .NET Framework. User interfaces can easily be created with Visual Studio by placing .NET Compact Framework controls like buttons, text boxes, etc. on the forms. Also features like data binding are available for the .NET CF. A major disadvantage of the UI development is that modern looking applications with support for finger-based touch screen interaction are not that easy to implement. This is mainly due to the desktop-oriented user interface concept on which Windows Forms is based, although some third party libraries with custom controls for this purpose are available.

Deployment

To be able to run applications powered by the .NET Compact Framework, the platform must support the Microsoft .NET Compact Framework runtime. Some operating systems which do include .NET CF are Windows CE 4.1, Microsoft Pocket PC, Microsoft Pocket PC 2002, Smartphone 2003, and Symbian v3. .NET Compact Framework applications can be run on desktop computers with the full .NET Framework as long as they only access the shared parts of both frameworks, though their user interface cannot be upgraded to look like that of an application developed for desktop PCs.

A version of the .NET Compact Framework is also available for the Xbox 360 console. While it features the same runtime as the regular .NET CF, only a subset of the class library is available.[1] This version is used by XNA Framework to run managed games on the console. There are other limitations as well, such as the number of threads being limited to 256.[2] Unlike other versions of .NET CF, the Xbox 360 version allows setting processor affinity to threads created.[3] The threads are scheduled among four concurrent threads running on the multiple processor cores of the system.[2]

Release history
Version nameVersion numberRelease date
1.0 RTM1.0.2268.02002 late[4]
1.0 SP11.0.3111.02003
1.0 SP21.0.3316.0unknown
1.0 SP31.0.4292.02005 January[5]
2.0 RTM2.0.5238.02005 October[6]
2.0 SP12.0.6129.02006 June[7]
2.0 SP22.0.7045.02007 March[8]
3.5 Beta 13.5.7066.02007 May[9]
3.5 Beta 23.5.7121.0unknown
3.5 RTM3.5.7283.02007 November 19
3.53.5.7283.02008 January 25[10]
3.53.5.9040.02009 February 8[11][12]
3.53.5.9198.02009 July 20[13]
3.53.5.10181.02010 June 29[14] (with WinCE QFE, June 2010)
3.53.5.11125.02011 June 15[15] (with WinCE QFE, May 2011)
3.73.7.0.08 June 2009 18:38
3.73.7.8345.02009
3.93.9.15155.0June 2013[16][17]

See also

References
  1. ".NET Compact Framework for Xbox 360". TechNet. Archived from the original on 9 June 2007. Retrieved 21 June 2007.
  2. "Thread Pools in the .NET Compact Framework for Xbox 360". TechNet. Archived from the original on 16 April 2008. Retrieved 21 June 2007.
  3. "Additions to the .NET Compact Framework for Xbox 360". TechNet. Archived from the original on 24 April 2008. Retrieved 21 June 2007.
  4. ".NET Compact Framework Nears Release". Archived from the original on 16 November 2009. Retrieved 6 December 2007.
  5. ".NET Compact Framework releases 1.0 SP3". Archived from the original on 9 December 2007. Retrieved 6 December 2007.
  6. "Microsoft releases .NET CF 2.0 redistributable". Archived from the original on 20 October 2008. Retrieved 6 December 2007.
  7. ".NET Compact Framework v2.0 SP1 is done and is being released". Archived from the original on 17 December 2007. Retrieved 6 December 2007.
  8. ".NET Compact Framework 2.0 SP2 Released". Archived from the original on 19 December 2007. Retrieved 6 December 2007.
  9. ".NET Compact Framework 3.5 Beta1 Redistributable". Microsoft. Archived from the original on 13 December 2007. Retrieved 6 December 2007.
  10. ".NET Compact Framework 3.5 Redistributable". Microsoft. Archived from the original on 17 November 2010. Retrieved 5 May 2008.
  11. "FIX: A System.Net.WebException occurs when you run an application to send HTTPS Web requests to a server in an embedded device". Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  12. "Why .NET Compact Framework fails to call some HTTPS web servers". Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  13. "FIX: You cannot scroll through a Web page or visit a link by using a .NET Compact Framework 3.5-based application that hosts a WebBrowser control in Windows Mobile 6.1.4 or in Windows Mobile 6.5". Archived from the original on 17 January 2010. Retrieved 30 January 2010.
  14. "PROBLEM: An application may crash when you try to open the View GC Heap window in the Remote Performance Monitor on a device that is running the .NET Compact Framework 3.5". Archived from the original on 17 November 2010. Retrieved 29 June 2010.
  15. "FIX: Performance issues may occur when the ClassDesc classFlags member is accessed in a function in the .NET Compact Framework 3.5 in Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3". Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  16. Microsoft announces general availability of Windows Embedded Compact 2013
  17. "Introducing NETCF 3.9 in Windows Embedded Compact 2013 – a faster, leaner and multi-core runtime!". Retrieved 30 November 2012.
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