Microsoft Windows SDK

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Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit

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Developer: Microsoft Corporation
Latest release: 1.0 / November, 2006
OS: Windows XP | Windows Server 2003 | Windows Vista
Use: API
License: Various
Website: [1]

Microsoft Windows SDK (Software Development Kit) is a software package available free of charge to users of validated copies of recent versions of Windows from Microsoft that contains header files, libraries, samples, documentation and tools that may be used to successfully develop applications targeted for use on Microsoft Windows and .NET Framework 3.0. The Windows SDK for Windows Vista includes support for .NET Framework 3.0 and can be used to write applications that target Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 as well as Windows Vista. The SDK replaces the Platform SDK, the WinFX SDK and the .NET Framework SDK. The package contains over 100 million words of documentation and nearly 1000 samples.

Contents

[edit] Getting the Windows SDK

The Windows Server 2003 R2 Platform SDK (SDK for Windows 2000/XP/Server 2003) is available in three formats


The Windows SDK is available in two diffferent formats:

DVDs will be available for purchase at a minimal cost early in 2007.

[edit] Targeting Windows Vista Development with the Windows SDK

Starting with Windows Vista, the Platform SDK has been renamed the Windows SDK to better reflect the content included, and to offer the documentation, samples, build environment and tools needed to develop Windows applications all in one place. Also, the SDK for .NET Framework 3.0 (previously known as WinFX) and .NET Framework 2.0 (which is also now a part of .NET Framework 3.0) is included in the Windows SDK. The Tablet PC SDK is also included. Thus, all the APIs which will ship with Windows Vista and the latest compilers are now integrated into the Windows SDK. However, the .NET Framework 1.1 SDK is not included since the .NET Framework 1.1 does not ship with Windows Vista. Also, the Windows Media Center SDK for Windows Vista ships separately.

The Windows SDK also allows the user to specify where the SDK will be installed and what components will be installed where with even more granularity. Also, it integrates better with Visual Studio, so multiple copies of tools are not installed. Information shown can be filtered by content such as only new Windows Vista content, only Win32 development content, only .NET Framework development content; or by language or a specific technology.

[edit] 64-bit Development

The Windows SDK contains compilers and development environments that target development on the AMD64 (x64) platform. It does not contain an Itanium 64 (IA64) compiler; that compiler will ship with upcoming releases that target the Windows "Longhorn" Server platform.

[edit] Documentation

The Windows SDK contains over 304,000 pages, including the following:

  • 198,000 pages documenting managed code development
  • 106,000 pages documenting Win32 development
  • Over 100 million words
  • Approximately 149,000 “New in Vista” topics
  • All SDK docs are posted to http://msdn2.microsoft.com/library/default.aspx

[edit] SDK samples

The SDK contains samples in the following topic areas:

  • 430 Windows Presentation Foundation samples
  • 140 Windows Communication Foundation samples
  • 60 Windows Workflow Foundation samples
  • 200 New to Vista (Win32/COM-based) samples
  • 23 Cross technology samples

[edit] Building the samples

All samples found in the SDK can easily be built, assuming that Microsoft Visual Studio or the free Visual C++ Toolkit 2003 is already installed:

  • Start a Visual Studio Command Prompt or a Visual C++ Toolkit 2003 Command Prompt console as administrator.
  • Run the Setenv.bat file in the SDK root directory to set up the correct build configuration. This will typically be Windows XP 32 DEBUG, or Windows XP 32 RETAIL.
  • Run the nmake command in the directory containing the samples you want to build

[edit] Tools, headers and libraries

The Windows SDK contains the following:

  • For Win32 development:
    • 1,700 Headers
    • 281 Libs
    • 110 Tools
  • For .NET (Managed Code) Development:
    • 14 Reference Assemblies supporting .NET, Tablet PC, Windows PowerShell, MMC, etc.
    • 33 Intellisense Files
    • 70 .NET 2.0 Tools + 10 .NET 3.0 Tools
  • For Visual Studio 2005 Integration
    • Utilities to enable Visual Studio 2005 to easily use Windows SDK headers and libs
    • Visual Studio 2005 Wizards for creating WMP applications

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../m/i/c/Microsoft_Windows_SDK_bd5a.html"
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