Converting between compact and full framework projects (and vice versa)

[bob]

Hi

Using 2003 - targeting the compact framework (c#), but would like to do most
development using the full.net (manually leaving out stuff not in the
compact framework).

Q. Trying to find a way of converting a project to have builds for both
compact and full. Project properties doesn't seem to help

Thanks

Bob

 

[Tim Wilson]

You can build the project against the compact framework and the resulting
assembly will run on the desktop. In other words, assemblies compiled
against the compact framework are retargeted to the full framework when run
on the desktop. So limiting yourself to types and members that exist in both
frameworks and compiling against the compact framework is one way to go.
Another way is to create one full framework project and one compact
framework project and link to the same source files.

 

[bob]

Hi Tim

Thanks for your quick response

Your first suggestion is the one we are trying to do and does work.
Unfortunately can't persuade the IDE to co-operate (!).
Insists in trying to deploy to emulator or real portable device when
debugging. Do you know if there is a way to add .net as a target, the
Configuration manager seems not to offer any target option but the Pocket
PC (and vice versa for a full .net project) - had a look at manually
editing the project files - bit scary


Bob

 

[Tim Wilson]

AFAIK, you *can't* do this in VS .NET 2003. However, you can choose to
simply build (not run or deploy) the solution and then go to the output
directory and run the exe from there. You won't get the automatic debugging
support that VS provides, although I'm sure that you could attach the
debugger to the exe.

A feature to allow this was actually explored in the earlier stages of VS
2005. But it was cut.
http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/ProductFeedback/viewFeedback.aspx?feedbackId=FDBK19279

 

[bob]

Hi Tim

Thanks for the info - saved a lot of hours trying to do the impossible!
Pity it was dropped though, suspect it would have turned out to be one of
the most important features for easy and quick development of compact
framwork products.

Cheers

Bob

 

[Tim Wilson]

Yeah, it would have been a nice feature to have supported right out of the
box.