Develop smart applications for Windows 7

Question

I'm looking to create a very -tiny- application(s) in Windows 7. I'm looking for a programming language like C# and a simple framework that

• Makes the application very light weight
• Doesn't require any libraries or modules (only the *.exe and works on a newly installed Win7)
• The IDE (Or the compiler) let me easily implement windows 7 features (like the menu, the graphics...)

The point: I want to create a small application (light weight so it can be easily transported), that focus mainly on Windows 7 graphic design and features.

I don't know if such IDE exists but also asking how will you solve it, mean if you have to create a tiny application (gadget like) how will you proceed?

Answer 1

Personally, I'd stick with Visual Studio. You might want to get a utility like NuGenUnify, which makes it easy to use ILMerge to combine any extra libraries into the main exe if you want to distribute as a single file.

Answer 2

• Lightweight and regarding dependencies: Well, since you want kind of C#, you have the .NET Framework. That's not exactly lightweight, unless you're sure that the target system has it available. Be sure to check which .NET version comes preinstalled with Seven. Addendum: Now that 7 is out, it seems it comes preinstalled with .NET 3.5 SP1 (full framework, not client profile). That's a good thing.
• Have a look at the Windows API Code Pack for Windows 7 for access to Windows 7 features. Like tvanfosson, I'd also stick with Visual Studio and .NET.

Answer 3

So far I haven't seen any other IDE that beats Visual Studio for windows app development. Especially soon after a Windows release. I'd be surprised if I am proved to be wrong.

Answer 4

Besides being small and light weight what's the application. Does it need to render images (e.g. jpeg, tiff, png), does it require network access, databases access. It really depends on what it is going to acomplish.