[RESOLVED] [2008] How to use oldest .Net Framwork possible?

[perito]

I have Visual Studio 2008, im using .Net Frameworks 3.5... but no one has them!
so someone told me I can change something in the settings and use an older .Net Framworks.

How? What .Net Frameworks should I use? What .Net Frameworks are already installed in WinXP?
thx

[jmcilhinney]

Windows XP has no versions of the Framework installed by default. Vista has everything up to 2.0 at least and I think it might have 3.0 as well, although I'm not 100% sure.

Just as happened on XP with .NET 1.0, 1.1 and 2.0, as more and more people start to use applications written for .NET 3.5, more and more people will have .NET 3.5 installed. Just create an installer for your app and it will download and install .NET 3.5 automatically.

If you're using a full version of VS then you have the option of targeting .NET 2.0, 3.0 or 3.5. If you're using VB Express then I don't think you have the option and can target .NET 3.5 only. I'm not 100% sure about that though.

If this is really a problem for you then just don't use VB 2008. You can still download VB Express 2005 and use that if you want to. That said, if everyone thought that way then no-one would be using VB 2005 yet either.

[RobDog888]

Vista doesnt come with all Framework versions as the 1.0/1.1 versions we previously read at ms, for whatever reasons, are not installed. Vista comes with the 1.0/1.1 "v1.0.3705" and "v1.1.4322" folders in the "C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework" directory but there are only a few config files in there which isnt the full working set of each version of the FW. This is probably what mislead alot of people.

So to target the widest audience its recommended to target 2.0 which alot of people on XP will have and ALL Vista users will have 2.0 & 3.0 by default.

2008 would be better to develop with as you can target 2.0 as John mentioned and if your starting this as a new project then your project files wont need converting like they would if you write this in 2006 and later want to upgrade it to 2008.


Edit: 50,000 POSTS!!!

[masfenix]

i agree with jm.
as developers we should be advising the audience to use .net 3.5 and "force" installations.

[RobDog888]

Its never a good idea to "force" th upgrading or installation of something extra when its not really necessary with 2008. Just target 2.0 and reach a wider audience and get more happy users that dont have to strain their systems with installing another framework version. Of course that is if you are not utilizing freatures in 3.5 only.

Remember that the original poster is asking for was to lessen the requirement of installing a newer framework version.

[bmahler]

The only issue is that even when targeting 2.0 you can't guarantee that the user has the framework installed so you have to account for that in your installer. Since none of the frameworks are guaranteed to be on all of your client's machines then you might as well pick one and install it with your application. Personally I would target 3.5 even if you are not using it's features at the moment. You may decide to later utilize some of the new features and to update your application you would have to install the new framework. If the user had neither 2.0, 3.0 or 3.5 on their machine and you had installed 2.0 initially then you have now installed 2 versions of the framework on their machine.

Personally I think if you are using 2008, you should always install the 3.5 framework so that once you learn the new features (which are pretty damn cool) you can easily deploy updates using them without having to install another version of the framework in the update.

[perito]

If the user doesnt have any framework, then I would make him install .Net Framework 3.5
But I'm talking if the user already had .Net Framework 2.0
How can I make my project compile with this framework not 3.5 .Net framework?

thx

PS: Im using VS 2008 Professional Edition

[jmcilhinney]

If you're using VS then you would have been asked what version of the Framework you wanted to target when you created the project. If you wanted .NET 2.0 you should have specified .NET 2.0 then. I guess there may well be a way to edit your project to target .NET 2.0 now but I don't know what it is. It would involve editing one or more files by hand. At least the VBPROJ file I would think, and perhaps others. The easiest way would probably be to create a new project and just copy the code files across, removing any .NET 3.5-only code by hand.

As I've said before, I don't think you have the option of targeting .NET 2.0 with VB Express.

That said, you say that if the user didn't have any Framework installed you'd have them install version 3.5, but you can't decide what version you want at install time. What about someone who has version 3.5 but not version 2.0? You're going to be forcing them to install another version. I really can't believe that we're up to the fourth version of VS.NET and the fifth version of the .NET Framework and this is still an issue.

[perito]

why cant microsoft just include all the framwrok in the windows installation? this is just stupid...

[jmcilhinney]

why cant microsoft just include all the framwrok in the windows installation? this is just stupid...

Yes, you're right. And the Model T Ford should have had an automatic transmission.

When Vista was released .NET 3.0 didn't exist, never mind .NET 3.5. When XP was released .NET 2.0 didn't exist. Are you really trying to say that Microsoft are stupid for not including something in Windows that didn't exist when that version of Windows was released? What exactly is your definition of stupid?

[perito]

:P oh right
so they would include .Net Framework 3.5 in the Vista update now... right?

[jmcilhinney]

Yes and no. The .NET Framework has ALWAYS been available via Windows Update. It's not a critical update though, so it's not installed via Automatic Updates. It makes perfect sense that it's not a critical update because it's not critical. There's no point meed to install all five Frameworks if you don't use all five. People have the choice to install all or none. Every Windows user should be visiting Microsoft Update regularly so they should be aware of this, but of course many Windows users simply don't bother with any system maintenance.

[sytto]

"What .Net Frameworks should I use?"

Easy answer: 2.0

Vista. I recently installed Vista and to me it seemed it came with all the frameworks up to 3.0. Now were they there when i freshly installed Vista? i'm not sure. I let windows run all the updates immediately so they could have come in with that. But they are there now and i didn’t consciously download them so one could say they do come with all frameworks up to 3.0.

It doesn't come with 3.5 for sure as i put vb2008 on that machine and wow, what a big download 3.5 was and with a reboot to boot.

[perito]

thanks everyone for replying
this thread is resolved.

[RobDog888]

@sytto, see my post #3.

[jmcilhinney]

"What .Net Frameworks should I use?"

Easy answer: 2.0

Vista. I recently installed Vista and to me it seemed it came with all the frameworks up to 3.0. Now were they there when i freshly installed Vista? i'm not sure. I let windows run all the updates immediately so they could have come in with that. But they are there now and i didn’t consciously download them so one could say they do come with all frameworks up to 3.0.

It doesn't come with 3.5 for sure as i put vb2008 on that machine and wow, what a big download 3.5 was and with a reboot to boot.

Obviously every developer should target version 2.0. That way no-one will ever have to install version 3.5. I look forward to the day when we're up to .NET 10.0 but we still recommend targeting version 2.0 because no-one has 10.0 installed yet. Far more people are still using XP than Vista and it didn't have any Frameworks installed, so maybe we shouldn't use .NET at all. If you were happy to have XP users install version 2.0, or even version 1.0 or 1.1 for that matter, why is a Vista user installing version 3.5 any different?

[RobDog888]

In theory yes everyone should target the newest framework and force users to download it but as the question was asked, using 2005 or 2008 with targetting of 2.0 would answer his question.

You have to know your target audience. If they will be giving alot of issues needing to download 3.5 or if 3.5 isnt supported on their systems (98, ME, 200) then you have no choice but to target the framework that they can use as you cant force a user to buy a new system or updagrde their windows just to run your program.

[jmcilhinney]

Well, the original questions were:

1. How to change the Framework being targeted?
2. What Framework should be targeted?
3. What Frameworks are installed on XP by default?

The answers to those questions are:

1. Via the Advanced options on the Compile property page, which I recently learned from another thread.
2. 3.5, unless you have a specific reason for doing otherwise.
3. None.

[RobDog888]

You missed one, the thread title

[jmcilhinney]

You missed one, the thread title

Get a copy of VS.NET 2002 I guess.

[RobDog888]

I have a Beta copy of VS 2002. Cant remember which beta version it is but probably cant get an older copy of VB.NET then that.