How do I build Windows Mobile applications?

To build applications for Windows Mobile 6 devices, you need Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition and above, and the free Windows Mobile 6 SDKs.


To build Windows Mobile 5.0 apps, you need Visual Studio 2005 and the Windows Mobile 5.0 SDK. Visual Studio 2005 has lots of new features that enable developers to be more productive, for example, a user interface editor that can rotate your form at design time. You can get both Visual Studio 2005 and the Windows Mobile 5.0 SDK on the Developer Evaluation Kit containing a trail version of Visual Studio 2005.






What tools are available to help me?

*Visual Studio of course - see WhichVersion and check out the Developer Evaluation Kit
*PocketPC/Smartphone SDK and Emulators
*Application Verifier
*WindowsMobilePowerToys
*Download ActiveSync4.1

See also Intro to Development Tools For WindowsMobile on MSDN

Can I install Visual Studio 2005 side by side with eMbedded Visual c++ 3.0, 4.0 and Visual Studio .NET 2003?

Visual Studio 2005 will work side by side with eMbedded Visual C++ 4.0 and Visual Studio.NET 2003. As a side note, Visual Studio 2005 will happily co-exist with Platform Builder. Check the readme files that accompany Visual Studio 2005 for the latest information.

On the mobile devices themselves, we also support side by side install on the .NET Compact Framework runtime (both 1.0 and 2.0) on Windows Mobile 5.0 devices. All Windows Mobile 5.0 devices come with .NET CF 1.0 SP3 in ROM but a developer can choose to also deploy .NET CF 2.0 on the same device and both runtimes will work side by side.

I've heard that Visual Studio 2005 is the only tool for building Windows Mobile 5.0 applications. Why did Microsoft abandon eMbedded Visual C++ which was free?

I should start by saying you can continue to use eMbedded Visual C++ 3.0 and 4.0 to build applications that will run on Windows Mobile 5.0 devices. However, you can only use new platform features and debug your application (on a 5.0 device) in Visual Studio 2005.

We're committed to providing the very best tool set for mobile developers. Microsoft already has a huge investment in terms of resource in the Visual Studio developer tools. It doesn't really make sense to build multiple sets of tools so we invested the resource from eMbedded Visual C++ into Visual Studio 2005 to ensure we created the absolutely best development experience including things like a true ARM emulator, new UI and data designers, improved debugging performance as well as things like Intellisense for C++ developers and Remote Tools for managed developers.

We've also moved the device development features into the lower priced Visual Studio SKU – Visual Studio Standard Edition meaning that the tools become much more affordable. For example, the Visual Studio .NET 2003 Professional SKU retails at $799 whereas standard comes in at $300 or less.

I used to use eMbedded Visual Basic. I saw on your runtime download site recently that you're not supporting eMbedded Visual Basic going forward. What does that mean?

Before we launched Pocket PC 2003 we did a lot of research with developers to understand their requirements for writing Visual Basic type applications. We received strong feedback that developers wanted a strongly typed, rich programming environment which was compiled versus interpreted and had great error handling.. the type of environment that it would be easy to write engaging, stable applications. When we evaluated this feedback, we took a strategic decision to invest in .NET technologies and tools to consolidate around a single set of tools and runtimes.

When we launched the Pocket PC 2003 product, we announced that we would eventually end support for eMbedded Visual Basic. Pocket PC 2003 devices did not include the eMbedded Visual Basic runtime in ROM with it only available as a download.

With the release of Windows Mobile 5.0 we officially end support for eMbedded Visual Basic. What does that mean? Effectively, we have made official that we aren’t going to provide and more product updates or fixes for the product. eMbedded Visual Basic hasn’t been tested on the latest Windows Mobile 5.0 devices although, of course, existing applications on existing devices will continue to work.

If you’re a developer with an eMbedded Visual Basic application, you can find more information about migrating to Visual Basic .NET at the bottom of the eMbedded Visual Basic download page (http://msdn.microsoft.com/mobility/windowsmobile/downloads/evb.aspx).

An alternative is to port your application to NS Basic/CE. It supports Windows Mobile 5 and Windows Mobile 2003, as well as many other versions of Windows CE. NS Basic/CE is highly compatible with eVB and continues to be supported and enhanced. For a comparison of eVB and NSB, see this comparison . For information on converting eVB to NS Basic/CE, see this Tech Note .