Upgrade path for CF 1.1 design time capable custom controls to CF 2.0

Upgrade path for CF 1.1 design time capable custom controls to CF 2.0

• brad rbr

  Hi Chris and Alex,

  It would be great if you could elaborate on what should be the output of the automatic way of creating the xmta file. The xmta file is just an xml file adhering to the xmta.xsd. You can definitely create it using any XML/Text Editor and use it with the genasm.exe tool.

  Please let me know if you have any specific question related to this and I will try to help you out.

  Thanks and best regards,

  Jagadisk_MSFT

  
  

• Matthias Eck

  I agree with Chris about conversion tool. Also keep in mind that some things in the design time behaviour must be done differently comparing to the VS 2003 and they are not documented anywere. For example, I am trying to convert the desing-time for ListBoxEx from SDF, and I got stuck at the point trying to figure out were the following part should go in the VS 2005:

  public override ISite Site
    {
              get
              {
                  return base.Site;
              }
              set
              {
                  if (value == null)
                  {
                        ClearChangeNotifications();
                      return;
                  }

                  base.Site = value;
                  // Clear any component change event handlers.
                  ClearChangeNotifications();
                  RegisterChangeNotifications();
              }
   }

  Thx... Alex

   

  
  

• WebDunce

  You're right. There's no automatic way to do that.

  > It does seem a bit ridiculous that none of the work I put in to create my CF 1.1 design time capable custom control can be used in developing a CF 2.0 version of it.
  

  I agree it is kind of frustrating and dissapointing - I am going through these pains myself.

  
  

• Eric Weiss

  Hello Jagadisk,
  
  Many thanks for your interest. If there's anything you can do to help then I will be very grateful!
  
  Best regards,
  
  

• R. P. Poletti

  Hello Partho,
  
  Many thanks for your response on this one, however, I'm afraid I can't see how the code in your sample answers my original question as stated in the title of this thread. Could you please put your solution within the context of the original question please
  
  BTW, when I opened your solution file in VS Version 8.0.50727.42  (RTM.050727-4200) I get the following error:
  "The project could not be opened because it refers to a device platform that does not exist in your database"
  
  which means the DeviceControlsLibrary project is unavailable.
  
  Best regards,
  
  
  

• Kuang Zhang

  That's an interesting idea. Though there are no plans at the moment, we'll take a look at this suggestion
  
  

• Renato Sansevero

  Hi Jagadisk_MSFT,
  
  I certainly will elaborate, many thanks for your offer.
  
  I understand that I can manually create the xmta file, but what I'm looking to do is to upgrade an existing VS2003 CF project with a XXX.Design.dll to VS2005. At the moment I have a XXX.Design.dll which is 1.348KB in size; to manually create a xmta file from this amount of data, hundreds of classes many with class designers (what does a class designer look like in xmta format ) and all with dozens of properties each may take me several days if not weeks.
  
  What I would really like is a tool that works through my XXX.Design.dll by reflection, sucking out all the relevant design time attributes and creating a perfectly formed xmta for me. In fact, I was just about to start to think about creating such a tool for myself but it would be a real help if MS could create one for me and for everybody else that wants to upgrade VS2003 CF projects with XXX.Design.dlls to VS2005.
  
  What do you think
  
  Many thanks and best regards,
  
  

• lsamp

  Hi Jagadisk,
  
  Thank you again for your interest in this matter.
  
  I do already understand that as things stand there is no alternative but to create the xmta file manually, however, what I was hoping for was that the Microsoft CF team would be willing to help developers such as myself by making a tool available which could automatically create a xmta file from a VS2003 XXX.Design.dll. Can you please confirm, if you can, that the Microsoft CF team has no plans on this front
  
  Many thanks!
  
  
  

• Michael Giagnocavo

  Please refer to this sample… < xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

  It has a sample designer that obtains the IComponentChangeService

   

  1.         Opened the solution in VS 2005 RTM

  2.         Clean build the project and make sure you can see DeviceControlsLibrary\DeviceControlsLibrary\bin\Debug\DeviceControlsLibrary.PocketPC.asmmeta.dll

  3.         Added “DeviceDesigners” to probing path in devenv.exe.config.

  4.         Open another instance and add to toolbox the items from the assembly DeviceControlsLibrary\DeviceControlsLibrary\bin\Debug\DeviceControlsLibrary.dll

  (Please make sure that the asmmeta.dll is next to the assembly from which you are adding items to the toolbox)

  5.         Drag and drop DeadlyControl onto a new PPC2005 device application

  6.         On the design surface, right click on the DeadlyControl and you should be abloe to see see “Add CoolComponent” in the context menu

  7.         Now add an instance of CoolComponent to the design surface

  
  
  

• JessieLiu

  Hello Partho,
  
  I've had the time to have a look at your example and have managed to make it work successfully. I now understand that you were able to answer the part of my query which asked "what does a class designer look like in xmta format "; thank you very much for your help in that respect.
  
  However, my main issue, that of being able to create an *.xmta file outside of VS2005 from an existing VS2003 *.Design.dll assembly, still remains. Do you have any ideas on this front Is manually creating the necessary *.xmta file by hand really the only way to approach this Can you or Jagadisk confirm that there is no way to automatically create an *.xmta file outside of the VS2005 IDE
  
  Many thanks!
  
  
  

• R.Trifonov

  Hi Chris,

  Creating the xmta file manually is the only option and there is not way to automatically create this file looking at the VS2003 dll.

  Regards,

  Jagadisk

  
  

• webwiz52

  Hi Chris,

  Thank you for providing the details. I will see how best I can help you.

  Thanks and regards,

  Jagadisk

  
  
• Upgrade path for CF 1.1 design time capable custom controls to CF 2.0