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FYP Final Report v1.0.0
Copyright and All Rights Reserved To: Pee-Lo Team @2003/04
104
Appendix E
Limitation of the Microsoft .NET Compact Framework
Due to that .NET Compact Framework is a subset of the desktop .NET Framework, developers can easily reuse existing
programming skills and existing code throughout the device, desktop, and server environments. However, there are some serious
trimming had to be made to the .NET Framework so that it could fit into the operating constraints of Windows CE. In addition, there
are only two development languages supported by .NET Compact Framework, C# .NET and Visual Basic .NET.
The following are some of the most notable .NET Framework features that did not make it into the .NET Compact Framework.
1.
Method Overloads
Overloading a method provides alternative ways to call that method. It also increases the size of the Framework.
Because of this, the .NET Compact Framework trimmed the overloads from almost all methods. Meaning this is two-fold.
First, there is a good chance that a particular method overload we used with a desktop application will not be available
when developing .NET Compact Framework-based applications. Second, when we read the documentation, we must pay
close attention to whether or not a method is supported by the .NET Compact Framework.
2.
Missing Controls
A number of .NET Framework controls are not supported in .NET Compact Framework. Hence, third-party controls (e.g.
DateTimePicker control) are already becoming available to fill in for the controls that were left out of .NET Compact
Framework.
3.
Database Support
The .NET Compact Framework offers a robust set of data-related tools. Local database support is provided for SQL
Server CE. On the server side, the .NET Compact Framework provides support for SQL Server. It is noted that there is a
third party who provides a .NET Compact Framework component for working with Pocket Access databases.
4.
Security
The .NET Compact Framework does not secure access to unmanaged code. Any application can call any system of non-
system API. There is currently no role-based security with the .NET Compact Framework. The principal object has no
understanding of known identity or known role.
5.
XML Web Services
The most notable exclusion from the .NET Compact Framework XML Web service capabilities is the ability to use
cookies. Cookies are widely used to maintain state on the server between calls from a client. While the use of cookies in
Web services is not as prevalent as their use on Web sites, they are still in use. The .NET Compact Framework offers
limited cryptographic abilities with respect to Web services.
6.
Printing
The .NET Compact Framework provides no support for printing. There is no easy way to interact with either network
printers or external printers via IR. The workaround for accessing network printers is to build a server-based application,
which accepts and prints jobs submitted by our mobile application. We can send output through the IR port directly to IT-
enabled printers. We can use the System.Net.IrDA namespace to access the IR port of our device.
7.
GDI+
Windows CE does not natively support GDI+, so related functionality was removes from .NET Compact Framework.
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