Mark Arteaga

I’ve been getting a few emails/questions on ‘Leveraging Existing .NET Code’ section of my Platform In Your Pocket session for TechDays so just wanted to share what I’ve been sharing with those emails.

First all credits go to Daniel Moth for his Sharing Assets between Windows Mobile and Windows Desktop he did back in 2006.  Daniel now works for the Parallel Computing Platform so be sure to check out his blog for tips and check out his PDC session here.

I only spent about 15mins on leveraging existing code and is only a small fraction of what Daniel covered in his session.  I always reference his blog posts when responding to emails so I’ll do the same here. His most recent post is on Sharing Assets Between the .NET Compact Framework and the .NET Framework has all relevant links.  There is an article in MSDN Magazine article which also goes through the concepts.

If you are a .NET developer looking at writing a Windows Mobile application make sure you leverage your existing code so you can get your product to your customers faster.

Good Luck and if you have more questions feel free to contact me!

Two weeks ago in Vancouver marked the last city in a six city cross Canada developer tour.  I had the pleasure of travelling with the Canadian MSDN team across Canada since October delivering my sessions on developing for Windows Mobile under the Windows Forms track.

Overall I think it was pretty successful and after the sessions got some great feedback from attendees such as:

• “I wish I saw your session before I developed for Windows Mobile”
• “I’ve developed an application and you have really helped fill in some of the gaps that I was missing”
• “I never developed for Windows Mobile but you inspired me to try it out once I get home!”

There is also a nice write up on TechVibes.com by Warren Frey on my Platform in Your Pocket:Windows Mobile for Windows Developers. 

I have a few draft follow up posts on the sessions coming soon but if you need to get in contact with me email me at info [@] markarteaga.com 

Thanks to everyone coming out to the sessions and if you have any feedback on TechDays or have ideas for next time (like an entire track dedicated to Windows Mobile development :) ) make sure to let me or John Bristow (Windows Forms track lead) know!

During my Windows Mobile developer session in Calgary for TechDays Canada surprisingly a few people wanted to know more about the memory architecture of a .NET Compact Framework application.  I didn't cover anything on that but the best reference for this if you want to learn more about it is the follow:

1. MSDN Webcast: Microsoft .NET Compact Framework Memory Management by Chris Tacke (2006*)
2. .NET Compact Framework Advanced Memory Management by Mike Zintel  (2004*)

These things go into a lot of the internals of the .NET Compact Framework CLR and the Windows CE memory architecture (Windows Mobile is based on Windows CE) but in my opinion are required readings if you are building Windows Mobile applications.

*Don't worry about the years they where done as it's still relevant when developing on Windows Mobile today.

So far I've delivered 3 sessions for TechDays Canada and at every session I get asked the question "what books are available so I can learn more?". 

Although books are good I do recommend regularly checking the Windows Mobile Developer Center where you will get the latest webcasts, blog posts and "How Do I?" Videos.   You can also check out the Windows Mobile Developer Center Community Section which lists community bloggers (including me :)) and Windows Mobile Team blogs, links to the Windows Mobile Forums, Codeplex and Windows Mobile Code Gallery Samples. 

If you have questions you can ask them at MSDN Developer forums and Newsgroups.

If you really want a book I would recommend

1. Microsoft Mobile Development Handbook - authored by fellow MVPs Andy Wigley, Peter Foot and Daniel Moth (former MVP now Microsoft Employee).
2. Windows Mobile Data Synchronization - authored by Rob Tiffany

These two books will give you some good fundamentals to get you started on building some great Windows Mobile applications.

Previously I posted about TechDays Canada 2008 and the Windows Mobile developer sessions I'll be doing across Canada.

Here are the sessions I will be doing:

Developing Windows Mobile-Based Applications using Visual Studio
Are you looking to dive into development on Windows Mobile using Visual Studio? Do you want to know how to use Visual Studio to develop Windows Mobile-based applications? Do you want a jump start in developing Windows Mobile-based applications? During this session we will see what is available to developers wanting to develop software for Windows Mobile using Visual Studio 2008. We will take a look at all the tools available, new features available in .NET Compact Framework 3.5 such as WCF and Compact LINQ. We will also take a look at what’s available in the Windows Mobile 6 SDKs and some APIs available for mobile developers.

A Platform in Your Pocket: Windows Mobile for Developers of Windows
Are you a desktop developer looking to extend an application to Windows Mobile? Have you already written an application for Windows Mobile and want to leverage some existing desktop code? Whether you have never written a Windows Mobile-based application or have already done so, this session will teach you about what devices you can develop for, what are the major differences from the .NET Compact Framework and the full .NET Framework and how to share your code assets between the two platforms.

The Toronto date for TechDays Canada 2008 is fast approaching so make sure you register!