NETCF 3.9 Released?

Question

I tried to open one of my old projects with VS2008, and it has a class library designed for Windows Mobile 6 devices (.NET Compact Framework 3.5). Starting from the old old VS2008, there is no support for mobile devices in VS, AFAK. Now I can read everywhere that VS2012 supports CF3.9 and mobile devices again, and is backward compatible with CF 3.5. I think now they call it "Windows Embedded Compact" or something like that. But all this is just a BLOG.

Where can I find the SDK for the new Compact framework? Is there a release or release date for the CTP? Is there a way to compile the assembly for WM6 [.5] with VS2012?

I need to recompile the CF3.5 project.

Answer 1

I do not know where it is "everywhere" that you read, but it is wrong. Compact Framework 3.9 is not yet released. It will be released at the 2013 release of Windows Embedded Compact (Window CE), due in the first half of this year (2013).

Even when it is released, you still cannot use Visual Studio 2012 or Compact Framework 3.9 for an earlier version of Windows CE. The tools and the compiler will only be for 2013 (without saying, I agree with this or just like that, just reporting the facts).

If you are targeting WinMo 6.x, your only option today is CF 2.0 or CF 3.5 with Studio 2008, and I don’t suspect that this will change even if a new version of CF is released.

Answer 2

So, you can get CF 3.5 building in VS2012 with a few csproj settings. First install NETCFSetupv35.msi and NETCFv35PowerToys.msi. You may need to use the following reg hack to fix x64 bit.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NetCompactFramework\v3.5.0.0] "Language"="1033" "Version"="3.5.7283" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NetCompactFramework\v3.5.0.0\InstallRoot] @="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft.NET\\SDK\\CompactFramework\\v3.5\\" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NetCompactFramework\v3.5.0.0\PocketPC] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NetCompactFramework\v3.5.0.0\PocketPC\AsmmetaBinder] "TypeName"="Microsoft.CompactFramework.Build.PocketPC.BindingService, Microsoft.CompactFramework.Build.Tasks, Version=9.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a, Custom=null" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NetCompactFramework\v3.5.0.0\PocketPC\AsmmetaBinder\4118C335-430C-497f-BE48-11C3316B135E] "TypeName"="Microsoft.CompactFramework.Build.WM50PocketPC.BindingService, Microsoft.CompactFramework.Build.Tasks, Version=9.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a, Custom=null" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NetCompactFramework\v3.5.0.0\PocketPC\AssemblyFoldersEx] @="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft.NET\\SDK\\CompactFramework\\v3.5\\WindowsCE\\" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NetCompactFramework\v3.5.0.0\PowerToys] "Language"="1033" "Version"="3.5.7338" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NetCompactFramework\v3.5.0.0\PowerToys\InstallRoot] @="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft.NET\\SDK\\CompactFramework\\v3.5\\" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NetCompactFramework\v3.5.0.0\Smartphone] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NetCompactFramework\v3.5.0.0\Smartphone\AsmmetaBinder] "TypeName"="Microsoft.CompactFramework.Build.SmartPhone.BindingService, Microsoft.CompactFramework.Build.Tasks, Version=9.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a, Custom=null" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NetCompactFramework\v3.5.0.0\Smartphone\AsmmetaBinder\BD0CC567-F6FD-4ca3-99D2-063EFDFC0A39] "TypeName"="Microsoft.CompactFramework.Build.WM50SmartPhone.BindingService, Microsoft.CompactFramework.Build.Tasks, Version=9.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a, Custom=null" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NetCompactFramework\v3.5.0.0\Smartphone\AssemblyFoldersEx] @="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft.NET\\SDK\\CompactFramework\\v3.5\\WindowsCE\\" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NetCompactFramework\v3.5.0.0\WindowsCE] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NetCompactFramework\v3.5.0.0\WindowsCE\AsmmetaBinder] "TypeName"="Microsoft.CompactFramework.Build.WindowsCE.BindingService, Microsoft.CompactFramework.Build.Tasks, Version=9.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a, Custom=null" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NetCompactFramework\v3.5.0.0\WindowsCE\AssemblyFoldersEx] @="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft.NET\\SDK\\CompactFramework\\v3.5\\WindowsCE\\" 

Then you will need to create a new .target file similar to this.

 <Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003"> <PropertyGroup> <TargetFrameworkVersion>v3.5</TargetFrameworkVersion> </PropertyGroup> <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(BuildForWinCE)' == 'true'"> <MSBuildBinPathCF>C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5</MSBuildBinPathCF> <PlatformTarget>AnyCPU</PlatformTarget> <PlatformFamilyName>WindowsCE</PlatformFamilyName> <PlatformID>E2BECB1F-8C8C-41ba-B736-9BE7D946A398</PlatformID> <IntermediateOutputPath>obj\WinCE</IntermediateOutputPath> <OutputPath>bin\WinCE</OutputPath> <FrameworkRegistryBase>Software\Microsoft\.NETCompactFramework</FrameworkRegistryBase> <AssemblyFoldersSuffix>$(PlatformFamilyName)\AssemblyFoldersEx</AssemblyFoldersSuffix> <AssemblyFoldersExConditions>,OSVersion=$(OSVersion):Platform=$(PlatformID)</AssemblyFoldersExConditions> <TargetCompactFramework>true</TargetCompactFramework> <DefineConstants>$(DefineConstants);WindowsCE</DefineConstants> <NoStdLib>false</NoStdLib> </PropertyGroup> </Project> 

Then you can include in your csproj

new target file and conditional compact frames.

 <Import Project="Compact.targets" /> <Import Project="$(MSBuildToolsPath)\Microsoft.CSharp.targets" /> <Import Condition="'$(BuildForWinCE)' == 'true'" Project="$(MSBuildBinPathCF)\Microsoft.CompactFramework.Common.targets" /> 

If you want to build for WinCE, just set the following parameter.

 BuildForWinCE=true