.NET Compact Framework Version Compatibility

Steven Pratschner just wrote two posts on versioning in the .NET Compact Framework. There are a couple of things to note for device developers. The first is that we do support the notion of side by side for v1 and v2, but the reality is there isn’t enough storage on many devices. And the second thing is that we have strived for great compatibility between v1 and v2. Applications built for v1 should just run on .NET Compact Framework v2.

Of course 100% backwards compatibility is very difficult; especially when you consider that different exceptions being thrown from a method or different ordering of events for Windows.Forms has a chance of causing an application to break.

To read about our efforts in detail, versioning architecture, how to promote a v1 application to run on v2, and how to force v1 behavior in a v2 application, please make sure that you check out Steven’s articles.

Application Compatibility with .Net Compact Framework Whidbey

.Net Compact Framework: Versioning, Strong Names and the Global Assembly Cache – Part 2

And finally I have a call to action. Although we do a lot of testing, including testing many of the shipping applications, we need your help to ensure that our backwards compatibility is super high. You know your applications the best and can properly verify correct operation. When .NET Compact Framework v2 Beta 2 is available, please run your v1 application (without recompile) against it and report any issues that you find through the MSDN Feedback Center, .NET Compact Framework newsgroup or this blog.

Scott

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