Mobile Application Development with .NET Compact Framework

Microsoft .NET Compact Framework (.NET CF) is a version of .NET Framework which is developed for launching applications on Windows CE-based devices such as PDA, mobile phones, etc. .NET Compact Framework uses the libraries similar to the full version of .NET Framework, however it has special sets of libraries for mobile devices (for example, Windows CE InputPanel).

With the emergence of the .NET Compact Framework platform Microsoft Corporation made it possible to use all the advantages for mobile application development. Mobile application developers who are familiar with the development of Windows® Forms applications are able to make use of the tools for accelerating programming for mobile devices. At present Version 2.0 of Microsoft® .NET Compact Framework is available and with its help mobile application development became much simpler due to new tools (such as Device emulator manager) and the extension of the covered area. In particular, in Version 2.0 a greater number of classes and methods for working with graphics were added.

Mobile application developers use .NET Compact Framework for Windows Mobile® 5.0 development to create applications for two main types of devices: smartphones and Pocket PC devices. As a rule, Pocket PC devices are large devices of PDA class which can additionally possess the functions of a phone. On the other hand, smartphones are devices of a smaller size and first of all they are phones that have a possibility to be used as PDA. As a rule, Pocket PC devices are more powerful and are equipped with high resolution sensor displays, more memory and quicker processors.

Mobile application development with .NET Compact Framework can be performed in Visual Studio .NET 2003, in Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008, on C# or Visual Basic .NET. As a result, mobile app programmers can develop highly productive special applications for mobile devices.

The Compact Framework platform (Version 2.0) simplifies mobile application development.  And the mobile applications developed on its base are even more functional. Since software developers can use the same tools and classes for mobile application development which they use for the development of other applications with the control code, more of them will be able to master the development of powerful mobile applications.