Mobile Application Development using Microsoft’s .NET Framework

(Master’s Seminar)

by

Ranjith Lingamaneni

Contents

Challenges .NET Mobile Architecture Microsoft Mobile Internet Toolkit How .NET Mobile Web Applications Work?? Stand-Alone Windows Applications Emulators Demo Conclusion Questions

Challenges

Varying Configurations Browser Languages Wireless Network Limitations Pagination & Session Management

Varying Configurations

Memory

- 2MB to 64MB Capabilities

- Sound , Color displays Display Area

- 128 x 160 to 320 x 480 pixels

Browser Languages

compact - HTML HTML Wireless Markup Language Handheld Devices Markup Languages VoiceXML

Wireless Network Limitations

Limited bandwidth

- 9.6 Kbps to 11Mbps

High latency

Intermittent connectivity

Additional Challenges

Pagination

- additional application logic at server side

- small pages Vs high latency network Session management

- no client side cookies support

- additional server side logic

.NET Mobile Architecture

Microsoft Mobile Internet Toolkit

Mobile Web Form Controls

- extended versions of web form controls

- specific controls Mobile Internet Designer

- extends Visual Studio . NET Device Capability Mechanism

- machine.config with device specific details

Advantages

support for variety of devices write-once web pages world-class tool support customizability extensibility

How .NET Mobile Applications Work??

How .NET Mobile Applications Work??

How .NET Mobile Applications Work??

How .NET Mobile Applications Work??

Stand Alone Mobile Applications

Miniature windows desktop applications

.NET Compact Framework- CLR implementation

Operating Systems that supports .NET CF- Pocket PC’s - Windows Mobile 2003- smartphone 2003

Comparison of .NET Compact Framework with .NET Framework

CLR for .NET CF is 12% of .NET framework

.NET CF supports only VB and C#

Data Providers like OleDb, ODBC not supported in .NET CF

SqlServerCe data provider for SQL Server 2000 Windows CE provided in .NET CF

Comparison of .NET Compact Framework with .NET Framework

.NET CF has additional form support with WindowsCE.Forms

COM Interop, Enterprise services, .NET Remoting are not supported in .NET CF

.NET CF includes Classes for Infrared Data Association and specific device components

Benefits of .NET Compact Framework

Offline Capabilities Rich User Interface Responsive User Interface Device Support XML and Web services support

Emulators

Mobile Web Applications

- Microsoft Mobile Explorer 3.0

- Ericsson WAP Toolkit 3.1

- Nokia WAP Toolkit 3.1 Stand Alone Mobile Applications

- Pocket PC 2002 Emulator

- Windows Mobile 2003 Emulator

Demo

Mobile Web pages with Mobile Explorer 3.0

Mobile windows text editor with Pocket PC 2002 Emulator

Conclusion

.NET provides excellent support for developing mobile web applications for diverse mobile devices

.NET Compact Framework supports development of stand alone windows based applications for high processing power devices

.NET abstracts some challenges faced in mobile application development from developer

References

Andy Wigley and Peter Roxburgh, “Building Microsoft ASP.NET Applications for Mobile Devices”, Microsoft Press, 2003

Mobile Application Toolkit 2004 Documentation (http://msdn.microsoft.com/mobility/thekit/)

Microsoft Mobile Internet Toolkit (MMIT) Documentation (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx)

Architecture of Mobile ASP.NET Web Applications (http://www.asp.net/mobile)

Donis Marshall, “.NET Security Programming”, Wiley Publishers, 2003

Acknowledgement

Dr. Mitchell Neilsen Dr. Gurdip Singh Dr. Masaaki Mizuno

Questions???