Windows Developer Power Tools

18.3 Improving Smart Device Development with the Smart Device Framework

.NET Compact Framework (CF) developers often must write pieces of functionality that developers working in the “full” .NET Framework take for granted. The .NET CF has very limited space—after all, it has to fit on mobile and other devices with extremely limited resources—so its functionality has been pared down extensively.

.NET CF 2.0 saw a number of improvements over .NET CF 1.0; however, there are still a number of areas where developers are on their own for providing functionality. Examples of remaining gaps in .NET CF 2.0 include configuration file support, application blocks (see 18.1 Reusing Professional Infrastructure with Enterprise Library), restrictions on I/O, a lack of support for reflection, and differences in how DataSets and ADO.NET in general are dealt with.

Enter OpenNETCF’s Smart Device Framework (SDF). OpenNETCF.org was started several years ago as an independent source for .NET CF development, working in the spirit of the open source movement. OpenNETCF.org’s advisory board and corporate partners are largely made up of Microsoft MVPs across the Windows Embedded, Device Application Development, and Windows Mobile designations.

The culmination of their efforts is the Smart Device Framework, an application framework that extends the .NET Compact Framework. The SDF contains a number of new class libraries and controls.

OpenNETCF Smart Device Framework at a Glance
Tool	OpenNETCF Smart Device Framework ...