.NET Framework Class Library Documentation

Question

Developing in .NET 3.5. Recently my well-worn link to the .NET Framework 3.5 Class Library documentation (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms229335.aspx) started taking me to the .NET 4.0 docs. This is a bit of a nuisance, because I'm not interested in .NET 4.0 (yet)--the project I'm working on is in 3.5.

Previous versions of the .NET Class Library docs provided links to older versions; these don't appear to be present any more in 4.0 docs. And I can't seem to locate the 3.5 docs anywhere on MSDN. Does anyone know where these are located. Or (better) where I can download a static copy of the Class Library docs (something conveniently available with Java API javadocs) that Microsoft can't hide?

Many thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Add (v=VS.90) to the URL, just before .aspx.

For example:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.enum(v=VS.90).aspx

Your link would become

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms229335(v=VS.90).aspx

Alternatively, you can download all 2GB of .Net 3.5 content here.

Answer 2

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms229335(v=VS.90).aspx

I would expect this link to stay valid (at least until they overhaul the whole msdn site), since it specifies the visual studio version in the URL.

Answer 3

Try here.

Answer 4

The key is to decode how microsoft does their naming/redirection. If you put (v=VS.90) you will get the 3.5 because its using Visual Studio 9 look at the link below.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms229335(v=VS.90).aspx

I tested this with a few pages and it works fine.

Answer 5

I just followed the link you provided and at the top of the page, just under the main header is a dropdown title "Other Versions" which will take you to the .NET 3.5 or .NET 2.0 version of this document.

That being said, even though you aren't using .NET 4.0 yet the design guidelines still apply to .NET 3.5 code. As far as I know, even the online documentation hasn't been updated yet to actually discuss .NET 4.0 specific features.