Forest Soft

2007-10-16T08:37:00.000-07:00

In preparation for a class and sessions at Mobile Connections next month I've been working with a few of the things that I doin;t normally get the time to play, er ah work, with. One of those things is VS 2008 (Orcas), Mobile 6 and SQL Server 2005 CE.

The biggest problem that I've hit so far is that when you use the 3.5 NETCf namespace, your applicaiton expects a SQL CE 3.5 database. But the current SQL tools (Management Studio) create an 'older' versio of the database. Now, upgrading it in code is a simple thing to do but once you do, you can no longer use Management Studio 2005 to work with the database because now, it's a newer file format.

Now, this makes sense when you stop to think about it, but you might not think about it until it is too late.

2006-04-26T10:27:00.000-07:00

I'm teaching an Advance C# class here in Houston this week and I was talking to one of the students about books and magazines.

Well, I put a few book links up a day or so ago and I wanted to give magazines some equal time. I've written for Visual Studio Magazine for years (even back when it was VBPJ) and they still have some good things going. Another magazine, less well know but very good, is Code Magazine. The guys who produce this magazine are great people and real developers! You have probably heard of Markus Egger and he is one of the driving forces behind this magazine. A MUST subscription.

2006-04-25T08:57:00.000-07:00

I Love Books! I'm working my way through serveral technical books now that I thought others might like a link to.

CLR via C# (Jeffrey Richter) Excellent book, a must read!!

Programming Microsoft ASP.NET 2.0 (Dino Esposito) Does this man ever sleep? Another great book by Dino!

Applied .NET Attributes (Jason Bock, Tom Baranby) An oldie but a goodie. Attributes are always in vogue.

And for you baseball fanatics out there

Baseball Hacks (Joseph Adler) Statistcis, scoring and more!

2006-04-12T11:29:00.000-07:00

It's gets better all of the time!

Compact Framework 2.0 (March 2006 Redistributable)
This download includes a CAB installation workaround for Windows Mobile 5.0 devices with low memory.

CF2.0Redist

2006-04-12T09:41:00.000-07:00

Lions and Tigers and Bears....

I've always liked that line from 'The Wizard of Oz'. But today it goes something like...

SQL, SQL Express and SQL Everywhere...

SQL Everywhere is a rebranding, with a small change, to the SQL Mobile database that has been available for device applications for some time now. The difference is in the target systems that it can run on.

In the past, SQL Mobile was only for 'mobile' computers, PockerPCs, Tablets, and CE devices. SQL Everywhere opens that target audiance up to all operating systems. This is a great step for those of us who write applications on devices and want to 'share' that data with a desktop application.

For a FAQ and other information, check Steve Lasker's blog entry at http://blogs.msdn.com/stevelasker/archive/2006/04/10/SqlEverywhereInfo.aspx.

2006-04-11T08:26:00.000-07:00

Every day something comes across my screen that makes me think, I should let people know about this. And everyday I think I need to do something about it. So today, I am. This blog. bear with me as I get used to posting here on occurances at work including new technologies and updates and ideas for current stuff.

I like to specialize in Compact Framework (CF) applications, those targetd as application running on PocketPC and Smart Phones. While C# is my preferred languge these days I also work in Visual Basic .NET as needed. (Hey I spent years using and writing about VB6 so I cannot just forget about Visual Basic, can I?).

While CF is my favorite, I also do consulting and contracting writing Windows and ASP.NET applications.