Accelerate mobile development with SQL Server Compact 3.5

March 15, 2008

Exciting news for developers looking to build SQL Server based applications that target mobile devices — the new Microsoft® Windows Mobile Line of Business Solution Accelerator 2008 has been released and is now available for download from here! This new accelerator consists of a working Supply Chain application, over 5,000 lines of well documented source code plus 100 pages of detailed documentation. Use this accelerator with Visual Studio 2008, the .NET Compact Framework and of course, SQL Server Compact 3.5 to help accelerate development of applications that target mobile devices. Highlights include:

Adapt your App – Create a single binary that runs unchanged on Windows Mobile Standard or Pro, Portrait or Landscape, Rectangle or Square. No more wasting time building separate executables to accommodate different screen sizes or input methods.
Sync Services for ADO.NET – Synchronize your data between SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server Compact 3.5 using the new Sync Framework. Keep all your occasionally-connected mobile workers on the same page. Note: To learn more about building Occasionally Connected applications here.
Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) Store and Forward – Reliably push messages to servers or other devices via Exchange Server 2007. Programmatically notify peer devices that they have new orders waiting for them and need to sync.
MapPoint – Guide delivery drivers to their customers via either the shortest or quickest route. Integrated mapping means you’ll never get lost again.
LINQ – Use the new Language Integrated Query to filter results from Generic Object Collections. Query both your objects and XML using a familiar, SQL-like syntax to boost developer productivity.
Custom Controls – Capture signatures and dazzle your end-users with 3D and Alpha-blended controls that alter their behavior depending on the platform they’re running on.
Managed Stored Procedures and Triggers – The pluggable data layer allows you to say goodbye to compiling Dynamic SQL inside your code and fires events to react to INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE operations.
Notifications and Online Help – Formerly only supported on Pro, say hello to Popup Notifications and Online Help on Standard. Popup Notifications, also known as “toast,” display an HTML message and then disappear after a pre-determined amount of time. Using Online Help on every screen reduces your application training costs.
Language Switching and Localization – Change Language/Regional Settings inside your app and watch text and Online Help speak a different language. Don’t wait until your application is finished to realize that it needs to be world-ready.
Time to Market – Stop reinventing the wheel and use this Accelerator as the foundation for your next Windows Mobile development effort. If you don’t want to use the whole thing, pick and choose the components that are the best fit for your project.

The first Windows Mobile Line of Business Solution Accelerator has been downloaded tens of thousands of times and has served as the foundation for some of the largest and most important Windows Mobile projects in the world. Visit http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsmobile to learn more.