Posted: Jan. 20, 2003

Visual Studio .NET 2003 supports the .NET Compact Framework and allows developers to develop device applications using the same design tools they use for building desktop applications. The illustration above shows several features of Visual Studio .NET commonly used by developers.

On the left is the GUI designer, which developers use to build the user interface of an application. The large window in the middle is where the developer writes the code for the application, frequently using features such as statement completion which, in the example shown, has displayed a window listing all the possible functions that can be used at the current location in the code. In addition, a ToolTip window provides further information on the currently selected function.

All of these developer productivity features are available whether the developer is building a .NET Framework or Compact Framework-based application.