Newbie: please clear this out for me!

[Jeff]

Hello all!

I'm new to mobile device development, so I have a few questions:

A)
On http://www.asp.net/mobile/testeddevices.aspx?tabindex=6 there's a phrase
saying this:
"The following devices and browsers have been tested with the Microsoft
Mobile Internet Toolkit v1.0 and ASP.NET mobile controls"

Here I assume that the tested devices, also mean that ASP.NET works without
any problem on this devices

Does this mean that I can develop programs for the listed devices on that
page using Visual Studio .NET 2003, without any extra library installed?



B)
The SonyEricsson P800 mobile phone is listed on that page. This phone uses
Symbian OS (version 7.0, I think). On
http://www.symbian.com/developer/development/vb.html (a page at the Symbian
site) says that for developing applications for a Symbian device using
Visual Studio .NET, the AppForge package also must be installed. Is this
true?


C)
On
http://msdn.microsoft.com/mobility/prodtechinfo/devtools/asp.netmc/default.aspx
there's a phrase saying this: "The ASP.NET mobile controls are formerly
known as the Microsoft Mobile Internet Toolkit (MMIT). They extend the power
of the Microsoft .NET Framework and Visual Studio .NET to build mobile Web
applications by enabling ASP.NET to deliver markup to a wide variety of
mobile devices."

Does this means that Visual Studio .NET only can develop application that
runs inside the internet browser on the mobile device ?

Answers will be appreciated

Warmest Regards


Jeff

 

[Jean-Luc David [MS-MVP]]

Hi Jeff,

Here is the difference between ASP.NET development and Mobile
application development using Visual Studio.NET:

1) With ASP.NET, think "web pages". The ASP.NET mobile controls
allow you you to create web-based content for mobile devices. The
content doesn't run right off the device - rather, it is downloaded from
a web server and displayed in your web browser. Just web pages.

One of the cool aspects of the Mobile Toolkit and Controls is that IIS
can detect what device the user has and "change" your web page content
to render correctly on the device. That link in your post indicates what
devices are supported.

You don't neccesarily need Visual Studio.NET to create ASP.NET web
based applications for mobile devices.You can use notepad or even the
Microsoft Web Matrix (http://www.asp.net/webmatrix/default.aspx)
to create web content.

2) By Mobile applications, I mean actual "programs" that run off the
devices. Such as cellphone games. No web browser or web access
is neccesarily required.

Using Visual Studio.NET, you can create applications for devices
running Windows Mobile or Windows CE. These include PocketPCs
and SmartPhones. To download free Software Developer Kits (SDK)
for these devices, visit the Microsoft website:
http://www.microsoft.com/mobile

Visual Studio.NET 2003 is required to write applications for devices
that support the .NET Compact Framework.

If you want to create programs for Nokia or Symbian cellphones
using Visual Studio.NET, then you must install the AppForge package
beforehand.

You don't neccesarily need Visual Studio to create applications for
Windows CE. You can create native Windows CE programs (using
C++ or Visual Basic) using a free tool called eMbedded Visual Tools:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=f663bf48-31ee-4cbe-aac5-0affd5fb27dd

I hope this information helps.

Thanks,
Jean-Luc David
Microsoft .NET MVP
(e-mail address removed)
http://www.stormpixel.com
http://www.mobilecoder.net

 

[me]

Does this mean that I can develop programs for the listed devices on that
page using Visual Studio .NET 2003, without any extra library installed?

Yes, ASP.NET Mobile Controls is part of ASP.NET 1.1.
You may wan't to look for "Device Updates" for support of newer
mobiles at microsofts website.

B)
The SonyEricsson P800 mobile phone is listed on that page. This phone uses
Symbian OS (version 7.0, I think). On
http://www.symbian.com/developer/development/vb.html (a page at the Symbian
site) says that for developing applications for a Symbian device using
Visual Studio .NET, the AppForge package also must be installed. Is this
true?

I have the P900 which is not recognised by ASP.NET Mobile. ASP.NET Mobile
uses WML because it thinks its an older Ericsson. I believe the P800 gets
the same treatment. The P900 is cabable of showing HTML3.2. I have a
remedy for this at http://bitzer.kabelnettet.net/p900. It contains a
config file that can easily be tweaked for use with the P800 too since
they have the same spec more or less.

Does this means that Visual Studio .NET only can develop application that
runs inside the internet browser on the mobile device ?

ASP.NET Mobile Controls can render to normal PC Browsers and Mobile
browser that support WML (WAP), cHTML or HTML. ASP.NET Mobile
is an abstraction layer so you dont have to know about the various
markup languages (in theory).