Possible to target application to multiple frameworks?

[Joseph Geretz]

I am contracting a solution out to be developed in C#. Besides for the
application features themselves, we have two goals for the *distribution* of
this software.

1. It should be easily 'installable'. Simply dropping the software onto the
box should be all that is necessary. My impression is that .NET accommodates
this natively.

2. It should be able to run on as wide a range of platforms as possible.

With #2 in mind, I have asked the developer to write the solution to run on
as many version of the Framework as possible (1.0), 1.1 and 2.0. He is
telling me though, that it's not possible to target the solution to multiple
frameworks. Is this correct?

Thanks for your advice!

- Joe Geretz -

 

[Miha Markic [MVP C#]]

Hi Joseph,

I am contracting a solution out to be developed in C#. Besides for the
application features themselves, we have two goals for the *distribution*
of this software.

1. It should be easily 'installable'. Simply dropping the software onto
the box should be all that is necessary. My impression is that .NET
accommodates this natively.

Check out ClickOnce.

2. It should be able to run on as wide a range of platforms as possible.

With #2 in mind, I have asked the developer to write the solution to run
on as many version of the Framework as possible (1.0), 1.1 and 2.0. He is
telling me though, that it's not possible to target the solution to
multiple frameworks. Is this correct?

..net is supposed to be (mostly) backward compatible. So, if you write .net
1.0 app it should run on 1.1 and 2.0 frameworks, too, given you don't use
any breaking chnaged and you provide correct config file I think.
The same doesn't goes forward, so if you write .net 2.0 app it won't run on
1.x framework.
Anyway, I would suggest you to write a .net 2 app (as benefits are huge) and
require .net 2 framework (it can run side-by-side with 1.x)