Managed DirectX, C# and Visual Studio 2008

[Fritz]

I downloaded DirectX SDK from November 2007 and intent to create a new
project using managed Direct3D with C#. Because I also would like to use new
features of LINQ, I wonder if managed DirectX from actual SDK works together
with Visual Studio 2008. On DirectX-Developer-Ressource-Pages I read somthing
like "upcomming DirectX-SDK in April 2008 will support Visual Studio 2008".

What problems do I have to expect if I M using current DirectX-SDK together
with Visual Studio 2008?

Thanks, Fritz

[Chuck Walbourn [MSFT]]

MDX 1.1 is a deprecated technology, and the samples are no longer shipped
with the current DirectX SDK. The SDK plans for March 2008 are to add native
projects for VS 2008.

MDX 1.1 assemblies do continue to work with the CLR 2.0 on VS 2003 .NET and
VS 2005. I assume they would continue to work on VS 2008, although I've not
tried testing it myself. The new 'Multi-target' feature of VS 2008 may allow
you to force it to .NET 2.0 to make it work if needed.

If you are using MDX 1.1 for games development, you should look at XNA Game
Studio. XNA Game Studio 2.0 Beta doesn't yet officially support VS 2008.

[legalize+ (Richard [Microsoft Direct3D MVP])]

[Please do not mail me a copy of your followup]

[...] The new 'Multi-target' feature of VS 2008 may allow
you to force it to .NET 2.0 to make it work if needed.

I haven't tried it yet, but it appears in the project properties as a
combobox where you select the version of the runtime you're targeting:
2.0, 3.0 or 3.5. (3.0 and 3.5 are really using 2.0 of the CLR with
additional classes in the framework.)

[Fritz]

As I understand MDX 1.1 is the latest Version and ships with SDK-Nov2007.
Is there any special documentation on it (SDK-docu seams to be only for apps
using unmanaged C++-code)?

What will be the major changed in upcomming MDX version, is there any
preliminary documentation?

I don't think XNA Game Studio is of interest for me as I develop a technical
app and just want to use Direct3D for grafical display.
Because we think of using LINQ-features we should also be sure that MDX
works together with .NET 3.5.

Thanks in advance, Fritz

Post by Chuck Walbourn [MSFT]
MDX 1.1 is a deprecated technology, and the samples are no longer shipped
with the current DirectX SDK. The SDK plans for March 2008 are to add native
projects for VS 2008.
MDX 1.1 assemblies do continue to work with the CLR 2.0 on VS 2003 .NET and
VS 2005. I assume they would continue to work on VS 2008, although I've not
tried testing it myself. The new 'Multi-target' feature of VS 2008 may allow
you to force it to .NET 2.0 to make it work if needed.
If you are using MDX 1.1 for games development, you should look at XNA Game
Studio. XNA Game Studio 2.0 Beta doesn't yet officially support VS 2008.
--
Chuck Walbourn
SDE, XNA Developer Connection
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

[legalize+ (Richard [Microsoft Direct3D MVP])]

[Please do not mail me a copy of your followup]

Post by Fritz
As I understand MDX 1.1 is the latest Version and ships with SDK-Nov2007.
Is there any special documentation on it (SDK-docu seams to be only for apps
using unmanaged C++-code)?

For SDKs that include the managed assemblies, they should install a
separate shortcut for the managed docs .CHM file.

Post by Fritz
What will be the major changed in upcomming MDX version, is there any
preliminary documentation?

There will be no new versions of Managed DirectX.

Post by Fritz
I don't think XNA Game Studio is of interest for me as I develop a technical
app and just want to use Direct3D for grafical display.

You can do this with XNA Game Studio, don't let the name fool you.

[Chuck Walbourn [MSFT]]

The DirectX SDK (August 2007) was the last release to contain the MDX 1.1
docs or samples, although the MDX 1.1 assemblies are still included in the
latest DXSetup / REDIST.

The last time the managed docs were actually updated was around August 2005,
and the last time the MDX 1.1 assemblies were updated was April 2006 to
support the April 2006 version of D3DX9. We stopped actively updating them
around then.

As noted, you can use XNA Game Studio managed assemblies for non-game usage,
it's just that the focus of that product is for games and not full parity of
MDX 1.1 or all of the DirectX technologies (DirectInput, DirectSound,
DirectPlay, DirectShow, etc. are not exposed by XNA GS assemblies).

[Fritz]

I had a look to XNA and would appreciate if You could answer some further
questions.

1) I was able to install "XNA 1.1 refresh" with Visual C# Express. But
installation of XNA 2.0 Beta failed. Could this be because I have both
versions of Visual Studio 2005 and 2008 installed?

2) As I just want to use XNA to dynamically create 3D-Models and display
them, I do not want to use XNA's class Game. Can You recommend any
documentation for this circumstance?

3) I assume if I'm just going to use classes from XNA Framework I could
start using this within Visual Studio 2008 for now, as long as I'm not
looking for support like startup-projects, and XNA-documentation integrated
into Visual Studio. Is that right?

Thank's a lot, Fritz