Migrating .NET applications to Windows CE

22. March 2012 12:05 by Mrojas in VB6 Migration, Windows CE, Windows Mobile  //  Tags: , , , ,   //   Comments (0)

If you have a .NET application and then find that you need to move your application or
part of it to a Handheld or mobile device based in Windows CE don't worry.

The .NET has what is called the .NET Compact Framework which is in general
.NET for mobile devices. However review some info before you start your development
because it is not necessary the same. 

 

Differences between .NET Framework and Compact Framework

The CF is great but... it is not the .NET Framework. There

are differences take a look at: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/2weec7k5.aspx

 

Controls

For a list of .NET Compact Framework Controls

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.NET_Compact_Framework_controls

 

Some nice Third Party .NET Framework Controls are:

  • http://beemobile4.net/products/ipack/controls
  • http://www.resco.net/developer/mobileformstoolkit/overview.aspx

Some useful links:

Need remoting in .NET well you should know that CF does not provide Remoting but there

is company that implements it:

http://gotcf.net/

 

You can also use DCOM

http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/13819/Bringing-DCOM-remoting-functionality-to-Windows-CE

 

And for BlueTooth

There are several aproaches for developing BlueTooth with .NET.

1)  Bluetooth programming with Windows Sockers. 

See: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa362928(VS.85).aspx

2)   Windows Embedded Source Tools for Bluetooth.  

See: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsembedded/en-us/develop/windows-embedded-ce-6-bluetooth-technology-source-tools.aspx

3)    3rd party solution, A nice library is:

See: http://inthehand.com/content/32feet.aspx

Windows Services in CE

See this post: http://bansky.net/blog/2008/04/services-for-windows-mobile-in-managed-code/ 

and the library is available here:

http://managedserviceswm.codeplex.com/