Net60

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Create S60 applications with C# and Visual Basic

Net60, from Red Five Labs, is the de facto .NET framework for S60. Net60 enables mobile applications built with the .NET Compact Framework 2.0 for Windows Mobile to run on Symbian S60 3rd and 5th edition devices.

Red Five Labs has implemented the Common Language Infrastructure (commonly referred to as .NET) on the Symbian platform. The .NET runtime is analogous to the Java Virtual Machine. Instead of writing native Symbian C++ code for the underlying Symbian operating system, .NET developers write managed C# or Visual Basic code targeting this managed execution environment which is common to Symbian and Windows Mobile.

Net60 Capabilities

Net60 is provided in the form of a Software Development Kit (SDK) for Windows XP / Vista which once installed plugs into the Visual Studio suite of IDEs.

.NET CF 2.0 applications are installed to Symbian devices as first class citizen applications like any other Symbian C++ app. Developers create Symbian Installation Source (SIS) deployments using the Genesis plug-in for Visual Studio.

The Net60 SDK is compatible with:

Microsoft’s .NET Compact Framework 2.0
Symbian OS 9.1 +
S60 3rd & 5th edition devices (5th edition devices are supported in a preview beta)
Windows Mobile 5 (PocketPC and Smartphone)& Windows Mobile 6 ( Professional and Standard)
On device databases such as SQLite through a standard ADO.NET data provider
XML web services
Native S60 UI look and feel

The Red Five Labs Mobility Framework

Very often mobile application developers need to reach out beyond the API provided in the .NET CF to access underlying device APIs such as GPS, telephony etc. Red Five Labs extends the managed API provided by Net60 with the Mobility Framework which includes the following APIs:

Messaging (send and receive SMS and email)
Location (from GPS)
PIM (write/read contacts and calendar items)
Call functions (dial, answer and terminate a call)
OpenGL
Vibration

The Mobility Framework is a cross-platform development solution for .NET developers targeting both Windows Mobile and S60. The Mobility Framework publishes one API across both platforms so that device features and services can be accessed using one API removing the need for platform conditional invocation.

The C# Language

According to the ECMA standards C# was designed to be a simple, modern object-oriented programming language. C# alleviates many common coding errors by including strong type checking, array bounds checking and automatic memory management through a garbage collector. These design features all lead to greater software robustness and developer productivity.

Programmer portability was also very important in the design which means that C and C++ developers transition easily to the C# programming paradigm.

In addition to the CLR, the .NET framework includes a large set of prebuilt and tested functionality in class library assemblies which provide services such as network access, data-structure manipulation, XML parsing and the like.

This C# code example shows the classic “Hello, World” program.

using System;
 
class Hello
{
	static void Main() {
        Console.WriteLine("Hello, World");
	}
}

Enterprise Mobility Applications

Enterprises, system integrators and independent software developers commonly standardize on the use of .NET technologies. In these cases, the .NET Compact Framework is the primary manner in which such developers extend line-of-business (LOB) applications to the mobile platform.

Particularly the use of the XML web services and the .NET networking stack enhance developer productivity which makes commercial sense when project ROI is an important metric to manage.

The commonality of the .NET CF on Windows Mobile, and Net60 on Symbian, also creates an economy of scale as multiple platforms can be targeted with the same code base.

Versions

Net60 was released commercially on 1 April 2008. Since then the product has evolved according to the version table below.

Net60 Version	Year Released	.NET CF Compatibility	S60 Version	Highlights over previous version
1.0	Q1 2008	1.0	3rd edition	-
2.0	Q4 2008	2.0	3rd edition	Includes System.Collection.Generic, ADO.NET data provider for SQLite, Genesis Visual Studio Plug-in
2.1	Q1 2009	2.0	3rd & 5th edition	Partial support for 5th edition touch devices, Mobility Framework beta extension
2.2	Q2 2009 (planned)	2.0	3rd & 5th edition	Full support for 5th edition Mobility Framework V1.0 release

External Links

'.NET Development on S60' booklet by Symbian Press.
'Getting Started with Net60' Web Demo.
Net60 data sheet.
Net60 FAQ.
Red Five Labs' Net60 Quick Start guide.

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