Microsoft .NET Compact Framework (Core Reference)

Features

• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 600 pages
• Published by: Microsoft Press
• Edition: 1st Edition January 22, 2003
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0735617252
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0735617254
• Book Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 1.7 inches
• Weighs: 3.2 pounds

Book Description
This comprehensive reference provides developers with the information they need to develop new applications or move existing applications to handheld devices and other resource-constrained hardware. It offers specific techniques for writing mobile applications, including developing GUI elements using Web Forms, transferring data using XML Web services, working with local and remote data sources, and developing applications that can operate in a disconnected state from the wireless network. The book illustrates each technique with working code samples in Visual Basic .NET and Visual C# .NET. It also includes a quick reference appendix showing the differences between the .NET Compact Framework and the full .NET Framework.

Reader Reviews
I've been reading this book for a couple of weeks now and this is a good book for those who are beginning .NET programming with mobile devices using the .NET Compact Framework. Here are the different parts of the book: 1. .NET Compact Framework Architecture This section mainly goes through the history of PDAs, starting with the first portable computer, the Osborne-1. It then compares the different development tools with .NET, such as eMbedded Visual Basic. It does a great job explaining the .NET framework fundamentals (CLR, MSIL...), as well as what the .NET compact framework is all about. For those who aren't familiar with .NET, this is a great beginning to your .NET journey. If you are already familiar with .NET, just skim through it since you probably already know most of what this section contains. 2. Developing Applications with the .NET Compact Framework This section goes through building the GUI and windows forms, testing and debugging your application, and completing and distributing your applications. This section is very well written and has been helpful. It goes through building different controls and what problems you may have to think about because of the limited form size on PDAs. It also talks about all the debugging functionality .NET has built into it, such as breakpoints, exception handling, and watching variables. Probably the mort important part is completing and distributing your application and it does a satisfactory job, although the book didn't actually go through a full example. 3. Common Programming Tasks This section talks about different collection classes, such as arrays, arraylists, and stacks. It also discusses date and string manipulation. XML, File I/O, networking, and security each have a chapter dedicated to each subject. I spent most of my time with XML and security in this section. 4. Connecting With Data This section goes through ADO.NET. It does a fantastic job of describing each .NET data object and has plenty of code to show how to use each. I got a bit confused some of the time due to the number of ADO.NET objects out there. Also, it talks about connecting your data with SQL Server, XML web services, and SQL Server CE. Plan on spending a lot of your time in each of these chapters, although I kind of skimmed through the SQL Server section since I plan on storing data locally in SQL Server CE and using RDA/XML web services to connect the data to enterprise systems. For those of you who are new to .NET, this part of the book is well worth the money. 5. Advanced Mobile Application Development This section goes through custom controls, globalization/localization, multithreading, graphics programming, interoperating with native code, and cross-framework development, i.e. migrating eMbedded Visual applications. I didn't spend much time in this part because by the time I was done with ADO.NET, I was ready to rock. Overall, I'm very pleased with this book. If you want to do PDA development, definitely get this book (I think at this time, it's the only resource book out there anyways). Whether you are seasoned .NET programmer, or someone new, this book is a definite must have in your library. Comment | | (Report this)