Mad Props!

Rory once described the .NET Compact Framework as "a wrapper around System.NotImplementedException."

At the time I thought that was pretty funny. Now, after working with .NETCF for a few weeks, I realise how right he was. Even version 2 (I'm using Visual Studio.NET 2005 Beta 2) is painfully limited.

A trivial example: there's no Font.Bold property, so I can't have a bold label on my form.

A less trivial example, and one that has caused me to rethink my whole UI: The DataGrid has no support for DataRow.RowError. You don't get the little red icons next to rows that have errors after sending your changes up to the server.

Don't even get me started on the fact that the framework is totally touchscreen-oriented, and has very little keyboard support. Shortcut keys for menu items and buttons, for example, simply don't work. Our users are only really comfortable with old-fashioned keyboard entry - touch screens are only gonna scare 'em.

Oh, and you say you wanted a four-digit date to appear in your DateTimePicker? Uh-uh, sorry. And yeah, if the user types "98" for the year, I'm gonna assume he means "2098", not "1998". So there.

I guess finding ways around these limitations is part of the fun. I mean, if it wasn't this challenging I suppose any old yobbo could write programs for mobile devices. Doesn't mean I can't rant about it!