Right on the heels of our launch of Microsoft Sync Framework v1, we have just posted our first CTP for Microsoft Sync Framework for Devices. As of right now, you can download this CTP for Windows Mobile from the Microsoft Download Center.  As we have shown in previous webcasts and conference demos, this is great for enabling synchronization from devices to data stores such as SQL Server Data Services or even corporate web services.  Perhaps even to write an offline SmugMug application for synchronizing your device photos with your SmugMug account.

Not to be confused with the previous CTP release of Sync Services for ADO.NET for Devices (a component of the Sync Framework) that is specifically meant for synchronizing an ADO.NET enabled server database with a SQL Server Compact device database, this CTP release of Sync Framework for Devices includes the Core Sync Framework runtime that gives the ability to exchange information with any data store or file system on the device, and not just SQL Server Compact databases.

This release contains only the core sync engine you would find in “synchronization.msi” in the PC release. Other features such as the metadata store and file sync provider are not included: some of the omitted features don’t necessarily make sense on devices, others will appear in a future CTP. We are looking for feedback on which are which. In particular, we want to know: what are your scenarios for using the different aspects of the Sync Framework on a device?

We also decided to produce the CTP for a limited platform set: Windows Mobile 5 and 6 for ARM processors. Supporting this subset allows us to give a CTP usable by a very large percentage of mobile developers while still limiting the test matrix for this first CTP. We expect to expand the supported devices and platforms for RTM and we are considering the scope of that as we go forward.

So what exactly is in this release?

Microsoft Sync Framework core runtime

• Managed (.NET Compact Framework) and unmanaged/native (ARM)
• Supported platforms are Windows Mobile 5 and 6 (ARM processors only in CTP1)

Installer with Visual Studio integration

• Support for adding a reference to the Sync Framework in a mobile project using Visual Studio 2008

As always, we look forward to your feedback on the Sync Framework Forum.

Liam