Power Toys for .NET Compact Framework

Posted by Jonathan Allen on Dec 24, 2007 06:09 AM

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.NET Compact Framework

The .NET Compact Framework is used for smaller devices such as smart phones and handheld computers as well as the XBox 360. The recently released 3.5 version now includes a host of debugging tools known collectively Power Toys for .NET Compact Framework 3.5.

The first tool is a CLR profiler for debugging memory issues. This is a must-have for anyone working within the constrained environment of mobile devices.

Another problem for many developers is the tendency for the Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) to silently drop messages when there is a configuration error. Logging is available for the full Framework, but unfortunately space constraints has prevented shipping it with the compact edition. The next power tool, the Remote Logging Configuration Tool, addresses this.

Speaking of WCF, a new tool for generating client proxies called NETCF ServiceModel Metadata Tool is also available. Dan Horbatt writes, "Like svcutil.exe, which is the desktop version of the utility, netcfsvcutil.exe is a command-line tool that generates service model code from metadata documents and generates metadata documents from service model code."

Also included is an app configuration tool for dealing with framework versioning issues, a remote performance monitor and heap viewer, and a network log viewer.

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