Support for Windows Mobile

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JBravo
User
Posts: 3
Joined: 23-Feb-2011
# Posted on: 23-Feb-2011 21:09:14   

Hi,

Can the LLBLGen be used on windows mobile with SQLCE. I have downloaded the trail and built a small project to test but I am unable to find CE in the target platform.

Also where can I find code examples on the usage of LLBLGen?

Many thanks

Bravo.

daelmo avatar
daelmo
Support Team
Posts: 8245
Joined: 28-Nov-2005
# Posted on: 24-Feb-2011 06:15:22   

What LLBLGen version are you using? CF.Net target platform is no longer supported since v3.0.

David Elizondo | LLBLGen Support Team
JBravo
User
Posts: 3
Joined: 23-Feb-2011
# Posted on: 24-Feb-2011 12:31:38   

daelmo wrote:

What LLBLGen version are you using? CF.Net target platform is no longer supported since v3.0.

I have downloaded the latest version so as you say there is no longer support for Compact Framework.

Is it possible to buy an earlier version with CF support? or do you plan to bring in support for CF with a later version?

Removing support for CF will in effect stop our company from moving to LLBLGen as we develop heavily on the CE and CF platforms for integration with our back office solutions.

Otis avatar
Otis
LLBLGen Pro Team
Posts: 39908
Joined: 17-Aug-2003
# Posted on: 24-Feb-2011 14:01:44   

JBravo wrote:

daelmo wrote:

What LLBLGen version are you using? CF.Net target platform is no longer supported since v3.0.

I have downloaded the latest version so as you say there is no longer support for Compact Framework.

Is it possible to buy an earlier version with CF support? or do you plan to bring in support for CF with a later version?

Compact framework support was discontinued, because ... the compact framework is actually discontinued: windows mobile 7, Microsoft's new mobile platform, doesn't have a database api nor local database support (there are some .net only databases which work, but nothing like sql ce mobile). (it might be kept along for other OS's, but we never anticipated compact framework for windows ce, always for winmo6 + sql ce)

We discontinued support for compact framework because of this. Mobile goes more towards using a client on the device and communicate with a service where the database is located. That's why we added WCF RIA Services support for easy creation of the services api so you can write a silverlight client for usage on windows mobile 7.

If you purchase a v3 license you get a v2 license as well (which does support cf.net), but as said, compact framework support has been discontinued (for windows mobile) so I'm not sure whether you should invest in creating software for it: v3 won't get CF support back nor do we have plans to bring it back later.

Removing support for CF will in effect stop our company from moving to LLBLGen as we develop heavily on the CE and CF platforms for integration with our back office solutions.

Sorry to hear that, but I doubt CF.NET applications have a bright future: windows mobile 6 has been surpassed with windows mobile 7, which doesn't support compact framework at all, nor a native db like sql ce (the only db we supported on compact framework btw).

How do you see compact framework going forward, now windows mobile 7 doesn't support it (and things move towards silverlight on the client and a service for data-access e.g. through wcf ria services) ?

I see your company does logistics software development, which (if memory serves me correctly, it's been 15 years or so since I wrote software for logistics (RoadRunner) wink ) likely uses custom hardware + software inside trucks which might run on Windows CE, so in that area it might continue still, but I don't see how the compact framework is going forward on the mobile side, the area where we looked at for CF support (i.e. smartphones / pda's with winmo6 and cf.net + sql ce)

Frans Bouma | Lead developer LLBLGen Pro
JBravo
User
Posts: 3
Joined: 23-Feb-2011
# Posted on: 24-Feb-2011 15:25:38   

Otis wrote:

JBravo wrote:

daelmo wrote:

What LLBLGen version are you using? CF.Net target platform is no longer supported since v3.0.

I have downloaded the latest version so as you say there is no longer support for Compact Framework.

Is it possible to buy an earlier version with CF support? or do you plan to bring in support for CF with a later version?

Compact framework support was discontinued, because ... the compact framework is actually discontinued: windows mobile 7, Microsoft's new mobile platform, doesn't have a database api nor local database support (there are some .net only databases which work, but nothing like sql ce mobile). (it might be kept along for other OS's, but we never anticipated compact framework for windows ce, always for winmo6 + sql ce)

We discontinued support for compact framework because of this. Mobile goes more towards using a client on the device and communicate with a service where the database is located. That's why we added WCF RIA Services support for easy creation of the services api so you can write a silverlight client for usage on windows mobile 7.

If you purchase a v3 license you get a v2 license as well (which does support cf.net), but as said, compact framework support has been discontinued (for windows mobile) so I'm not sure whether you should invest in creating software for it: v3 won't get CF support back nor do we have plans to bring it back later.

Removing support for CF will in effect stop our company from moving to LLBLGen as we develop heavily on the CE and CF platforms for integration with our back office solutions.

Sorry to hear that, but I doubt CF.NET applications have a bright future: windows mobile 6 has been surpassed with windows mobile 7, which doesn't support compact framework at all, nor a native db like sql ce (the only db we supported on compact framework btw).

How do you see compact framework going forward, now windows mobile 7 doesn't support it (and things move towards silverlight on the client and a service for data-access e.g. through wcf ria services) ?

I see your company does logistics software development, which (if memory serves me correctly, it's been 15 years or so since I wrote software for logistics (RoadRunner) wink ) likely uses custom hardware + software inside trucks which might run on Windows CE, so in that area it might continue still, but I don't see how the compact framework is going forward on the mobile side, the area where we looked at for CF support (i.e. smartphones / pda's with winmo6 and cf.net + sql ce)

Thanks for your quick reply.

While I understand your reasons for discontinuing CF support and yes I agree that the compact framework has essentially died for the consumer market, there is still a massive need for it in the B2B environment with custom hardware and this is the market we operate in.

I don't see this changing in the near future especially in the logistics and field service sectors as the applications developed here are very specific as you will know having worked on RoadRunner.

We are looking to find an ORM tool that we can use across our back office, mobile (CF/CE) and web platforms.

As 2x supports CF/CE we will consider using this for the mobile apps as all of our updates to the back office systems are done over GPRS on a custom TCPIP implementation. we can then use the newer versions for the web and back office DL.

Is it possible to have a trial of the 2x version to evaluate? to be honest we are only looking for a tool to speed up the development of the pluming on the mobile devices.

We are looking at LLBLGen and EntitySpaces as there are the only tolls we can find with CF support.

Otis avatar
Otis
LLBLGen Pro Team
Posts: 39908
Joined: 17-Aug-2003
# Posted on: 25-Feb-2011 10:13:46   

If you're looking for communicating directly from the WinCE + CF.NET platform with the main service by sending xml serialized entities back/forth, it's not going to work: you can't consume v3 entities in v2.6 and vice versa. If you're looking for using a local DB on the WinCE platform, it could work (and sync the db for example afterwards).

I'll mail you a URL which you can use to download a v2.6 trial. It will be valid till this afternoon. Please do realize that CF.NET on v2.6 is effectively discontinued for us, so although we will help you if you run into a bug, new features are not going to be backported for you.

Frans Bouma | Lead developer LLBLGen Pro
Otis avatar
Otis
LLBLGen Pro Team
Posts: 39908
Joined: 17-Aug-2003
# Posted on: 25-Feb-2011 10:24:11   

Mail sent simple_smile

Frans Bouma | Lead developer LLBLGen Pro