Can VS 2005 build an app that works with .NET Framework 1.1?

[Guest]

I know the official answer is that framework 2.0 is required. But I have a
simple C# app that is used in a testing environment on systems that don't
have 2.0. I want to be able to just put the app on a USB key, put it in a
system, and run it, without having to go through an installation process.

Is there a way to coerce the app to run with framework 1.1? Or to build a C#
app that is truly standalone, like I can with C++?

 

[Patrice]

You could perhaps try to compile the source code with 1.1 (the compiler is
part of the framework). Of course it may fails depending if you are using
2.0 constructs or librairies...

 

[Mattias Sjögren]

Robert,

I know the official answer is that framework 2.0 is required.

Right, at least out of the box. They are working on adding support for
compiling for v1.1 too. Google "MSBee" for more details.

Is there a way to coerce the app to run with framework 1.1?

Can't you simply compile it with the v1.1 compiler?

Or to build a C# app that is truly standalone, like I can with C++?

No.


Mattias

 

[Shell]

VS2005 can be used to target framework 1.1 See
http://blogs.msdn.com/jomo_fisher/archive/2005/04/22/410903.aspx

 

[Richard Grimes]

I know the official answer is that framework 2.0 is required. But I
have a simple C# app that is used in a testing environment on systems
that don't have 2.0. I want to be able to just put the app on a USB
key, put it in a system, and run it, without having to go through an
installation process.

The problem, of course, is that 2.0 has lots of new classes and new
members to existing classes, so if you could just tell 1.1 to run the
app it is likely that the app would as for a class or a member that
simply does not exist in 1.1. Hence the recommendation that you should
install 2.0. If the app does not use 2.0 features it could be compiled
to 1.1 or 1.0, use ILDASM of 2.0 (/text /out) to get the IL, and then
ilasm of the correct version to compile it.

Is there a way to coerce the app to run with framework 1.1? Or to
build a C# app that is truly standalone, like I can with C++?

This is not the case with C++ either. If you use MFC you are constained
to the version with your compiler, and even if you use Win32 you are
constained to the version of the DLL that the import libraries (lib)
were created from. The Common Controls library is the classic case -
there were so many versions that I suspect that it was the source of the
name DLL Hell.

(Try building a C++ process which has no dependencies on Windows DLLs!)

Richard