.NET Compact Framework Pocket Guide (Paperback)

by Wei-Meng Lee (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The rapid proliferation of mobile networks for both public use and private has made connectivity-on-the-go a desirable, if not absolutely essential, condition. Nor is this mobility limited to laptops: everywhere you look, people are downloading email and other information directly to their cell phones and PDAs. For developers, this means an increased demand to create applications for mobile devices. Microsoft's .NET Compact Frameworks provides a full suite of powerful tools to help them get the job done.

The .NET Compact Framework--a scaled down version of Microsoft's .NET Framework--offers a powerful programming environment for designing rich applications for the Pocket PC or Windows Mobile-based Smartphones. If you're familiar with the .NET Framework, you'll feel right at home in the .NET Compact Framework. You'll find the perfect way to jumpstart your productivity in our new .NET Compact Framework Pocket Guide. As with all of our popular Pocket Guides, this concise book delivers just the information you need without all the fluff.

The .Net Compact Framework Pocket Guide provides a brief introduction to the framework and includes several projects to get you up to speed quickly. In this book you'll learn:

The basics of programming for the .NET Compact Framework using Visual Studio .NET 2003; you'll be up and running with Hello, World in no time at all

User interface design considerations for the Pocket PC, Pocket PC Phone Edition, and Windows Mobile-based Smartphone

How to consume web services from .NET Compact Framework applications

How to cache on-line data for use when the mobile device is out of range of a network

How to write applications that use Bluetooth.

Whether you're new to mobile programming or new to Visual Studio .NET 2003, the .NET Compact Framework Pocket Guide will teach what you need to know to get started developing mobile applications.

About the Author
Wei-Meng Lee (Microsoft .NET MVP) is a technologist and co-founder of Active Developer, a technology company specializing in hands-on training on the latest technologies. He is an established developer and trainer specializing in .NET and wireless technologies. Wei-Meng speaks regularly at international conferences and has authored and co-authored numerous books on .NET, XML and wireless technologies, including .Net Mobile Web Developer's Guide, C#.Net Web Developer's Guide with CDROM, VB.NET Developer's Guide with CDROM, and Webmaster's Guide to the Wireless Internet (Syngress). He writes extensively for the O'Reilly Network on topics ranging from .NET to Mac OS X. He is also the author of Windows XP Unwired (O'Reilly & Associates) and is currently working on Programming the .NET Compact Framework, also from O'Reilly.

Product Details

• Paperback: 111 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.; illustrated edition edition (May 4, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596007574
• ISBN-13: 978-0596007577
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,155,816 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars PocketGuide to get you up and running with CF. Indeed it is!, July 18, 2004

By	Daniel Moth (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This A6/B6-sized book with only 100 pages certainly justifies the "Pocket Guide" in its title. One could write a whole book on what is missing from it in terms of covering the .NET CF, but that would be unfair, as the purpose of the book is just to get you up and running with programming against the CF. It would also be unfair for this review to be longer than the book, so I'll try and keep it short.

It starts with a quick intro to the CLR, devices and Visual Studio. At the end of these small 30 pages the reader has written the typical "Hello World" app and has had all the terminology put in context; impressively straightforward writing style and explanations. The second part of the book consists of 10 pages describing every single control (with a sentence or two) and includes a very good section on SmartPhone differences and considerations. The fourth part is the same size and discusses deployment hitting all the right points.

The third part is the largest and contains 3 end-to-end projects: Currency Converter, Book Ordering System and Bluetooth Chat. It is a good selection of sample code as it covers data, communications and web services amongst other things. If you are a complete novice these sample projects should prove valuable in getting you started. Note however that all the code is in VB.NET (whether you'll be glad or sad with that depends entirely on your upbringing).

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What were they thinking, April 28, 2005

By	Michael Simpson "Owner of KronosRobotics.com" (Leesburg VA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Ok what can I say? This book was recommended to me by a friend. It looked like the book was going to take me step by step creating a couple project, But........

The very first project was missing the appropriate code and instructions to properly place some of the commands. With no explanation on the namespace system I was at a loss. However with a little research and a couple other books I figured it out and got past the errors. However after hours of coding in the examples I kept running into other typos and inconsistencies. There was not source code available from the web so I just gave up and returned the book.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Deceptive title - try VB.NET for Compact Framework, September 25, 2007

By	D. Naughton "dann" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book was a fraud. It wasn't advertised as a VB.NET only book. There is no C# code in here at all. This one went right in the garbage. The information in their was not very useful. I'd recommend buying any other book on the Compact Framework than this one. If you're looking for something that tells you what classes you can and can't use, common workarounds, etc. - look somewhere else.