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The download size is 25 MBs, but the installation size on a device is only a few MBs. About 4-6 I would guess, it was about 3MB for .NET CF 1.0 on my PocketPC.

VS was never needed to program in C#.

Do you still need VS to program in C# for .NET CF?

No. The .NET Franework SDK

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=FE6F2099-B...

includes what is necessary for building .NET CF apps as well as desktop apps. You can use the regular C#/VB.NET compilers to target the CF.

How to: Compile at the Command Prompt
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms172492

CF on MSDN
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/f44bbwa1(en-US,VS.80).aspx

CF Team Blog
http://blogs.msdn.com/netcfteam/default.aspx

You don't need project files.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dn...

If you just want to use project files, you can build them yourself.

MSBuild Overview
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms171452

How To: Write a Simple MSBuild Project
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms171479(en-US,VS.80).aspx

Edited 2005-10-30 14:58

my experience of ASP.NET was that although it was said that you could create apps with a text editor (or the simple Web Matrix) in reality (not MS marketing world) it was not feasible.

we needed to interact with Active Directory and as it turned out using VS was the only way this could be carried out in reality.

(also, ASP.NET is not truly cross-platform. smart navigation which is pretty crucial to a web app which is larger then one page is IE only).

then after the client had bough VS i found out what a pile of bloated code is produced and how unweildy it is i was really disapointed.

then the client went bust - they had tried to change from unix to windows for telecoms servers which constantly let them down amongst other mistakes - so i didn't have to take it any further.

i know this may not apply but thought my experience might shed some light on the way MS does things.

I looked over the msdn site, am I right: RichText / RichInk still not supported?

As far as I can tell, you're right -- not supported.
Here's a list of CF controls:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hf2k718k

It looks like unless you are writing a database front end NetCF 2.0 is not very serious tool. And there is no Outlook Objects support either! Very disapointed...

" And there is no Outlook Objects support either"

There's Outlook support (POOM - Pocket Outlook Object Model) in the Windows Mobile 5.0 SDK. Of course, this only works for devices running Windows Mobile 5.0, but they're starting to hit the market, so at least you have an option.

I've done some work with it, and it's a nice package. The APIs are straightforward enough that you probably won't even need to read the documentation.

I couldn't get that hack to work (which might be my incometence but hey), and anyway the #D visual editor puts the menu bars at the top of the screen instead of the bottom, so good luck with that.

CE only AFAIK (well, technically it runs on regular desktop Windows as well). Palm has a Windows Mobile Treo that will run it but no, there are currently no builds for PalmOS, RIM, et al. You may want to check Mono/Portable.NET/etc. to see if they have any CLI ports.