.NET Compact Framework controls

.NET Compact Framework controls
Developer(s)	Microsoft
Initial release	2002 (2002)
Stable release	3.5.9198.0 / July 20, 2009 (2009-07-20)
Website	msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa497273

NET compact framework controls is a set of controls for .NET Compact Framework.

Overview

The Microsoft .NET Compact Framework is a sub-library of .NET framework. It simplifies the mobile application development of smart devices. These are to a large extent limited by the screen size, CPU performance or memory capacity. .NET compact framework takes some of the controls and libraries from .NET framework. Moreover it optimizes them to match the limited options of mobile devices in comparison with PCs. There are certain criteria of user interface that mobile users demand. While plenty of functions of standard PC or Mac applications add to the user experience, they might decrease the mobile user experience. Mobile screen is usually small. Therefore, the user may often miss click on mobile screen with many buttons. All of the .NET compact framework controls are hence optimized to overcome the possible limits of mobile devices. Since .NET CF controls only offer basic functions for mobile developers, they are often using also third party controls which help to speed up the development time.

Features

• faster UI development
• widely used controls
• source code availability
• possibility to develop applications in Microsoft Visual Studio

.NET CF controls description

Controls and Components	Windows Mobile	Windows Phone 7	Android	iOS	Libraries	Description
Button	Yes				.NET CF	Button that responds to the user's tap.
CheckBox	Yes				.NET CF	Checkbox option.
ComboBox	Yes				.NET CF	Drop-down list from which users can select a value.
ContextMenu	Yes				.NET CF	Pop-up menus displayed when touching the object or item
Control	Yes				.NET CF	Base for custom controls creation.
DataGrid	Yes				.NET CF	Display data from DataSet, DataView or DataTable.
DateTimePicker	Yes				.NET CF	Pick date and time.
DocumentList	Yes				.NET CF	Displays and manages documents.
DomainUpDown	Yes				.NET CF	Definition of the list of controls that the control displays.
HardwareButton	Yes				.NET CF	Controls for hardware buttons of pocket device.
Help	Yes				.NET CF	Help function.
HScrollBar	Yes				.NET CF	Horizontal scroll bar.
ImageList	Yes				.NET CF	Holds and provides images to the ListView, TreeView and ToolBar controls.
InputPanel	Yes				.NET CF	Controls Soft Input Panel.
LinkLabel	Yes				.NET CF	Simple hyperlink functionality.
Label	Yes				.NET CF	Displays text.
ListBox and ListControl	Yes				.NET CF	Lists of items from which users can select a value.
ListView	Yes				.NET CF	Displays a grid.
LogFont	Yes				.NET CF	Defines a logical font.
MainMenu	Yes				.NET CF	Adds menu to a form.
MessageBox	Yes				.NET CF	One or two buttons message boxes.
MessageWindow	Yes				.NET CF	Generate and receive Windows messages.
Notification	Yes				.NET CF	Displays and responds to user notifications.
MobileDevice	Yes				.NET CF	Releases cached resources.
NumericUpDown	Yes				.NET CF	Numeric input. Combination of a text box and a vertical scroll bar.
OpenFileDialog	Yes				.NET CF	Provides access to a standard open file dialog box.
PictureBox	Yes				.NET CF	Displays images.
ProgressBar	Yes				.NET CF	Visual indicator of a progress of a task.
RadioButton	Yes				.NET CF	Graphical button and a text descriptor.
SaveFileDialog	Yes				.NET CF	Opens a save file dialog.
ScreenOrientation	Yes				.NET CF	Allows you to change the screen orientation value to 90, 180, or 270.
StatusBar	Yes				.NET CF	Adds a status bar to a form.
TabControl	Yes				.NET CF	Tabbed interface for an application.
TextBox	Yes				.NET CF	Basic text input field.
Timer	Yes				.NET CF	Simple timer functionality.
TrackBar	Yes				.NET CF	Used to obtain a numeric input.
TreeView	Yes				.NET CF	Displays tree control.
VScrollBar	Yes				.NET CF	Implementation of a vertical scroll bar.

External links

• .NET CF 3.5 Download