Microsoft® .NET Compact Framework (Core Reference)

Summary

The .NET Compact Framework, as we have seen, allows managed code to call unmanaged legacy code as long as that legacy code is packaged in a DLL or a COM component. The P/Invoke facility is a useful subset of the P/Invoke facilities of the full .NET framework, although it lacks some of the more complex parameter marshaling features. The MessageWindow component can be used to intercept low-level Windows messages and provides support for simple callbacks from unmanaged to managed code. Support for COM components requires support from custom unmanaged DLLs.

A developer who needs to integrate an unmanaged code base into a .NET application or library must be familiar with the C and C++ languages and must be prepared to write helper functions ...