In several of my C# tutorials, I’ve received questions that have been answered by having the reader change their application’s Target Framework from .NET Framework 4.0 Client Profile to simply .NET Framework 4.0. However, I don’t think I’ve ever explained what the differences are between these 2. So, I’m going to take a quick minute to do that now. The explaination given below is taken directly from the Microsoft MSDN site http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc656912.aspx.
“The .NET Framework 4 Client Profile is a subset of the .NET Framework 4 that is optimized for client applications. It provides functionality for most client applications, including Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Windows Forms, Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), and ClickOnce features. This enables faster deployment and a smaller install package for applications that target the .NET Framework 4 Client Profile.”
“If you are targeting the .NET Framework 4 Client Profile, you cannot reference an assembly that is not in the .NET Framework 4 Client Profile. Instead you must target the .NET Framework 4.”
“Applications that target the .NET Framework 4 Client Profile typically improve the deployment experience by having smaller download sizes and quicker install times. An application that targets the .NET Framework 4 Client Profile has a smaller redistribution package that installs the minimum set of client assemblies on the user’s computer, without requiring the full version of the .NET Framework 4 to be present.”
“If you attempt to reference an assembly in your project that is not included in the .NET Framework Client Profile, Visual Studio will display an error message.”
“If your application targets the .NET Framework 4 Client Profile, you can add a reference to a class library that targets the .NET Framework 4 as long as that library does not reference any assemblies not included in the .NET Framework 4 Client Profile. If the library does include references to assemblies not in the .NET Framework 4 Client Profile, then Visual Studio will display an error message.”
“When you deploy an application that targets the .NET Framework 4 Client Profile, you only need to deploy the .NET Framework 4 Client Profile. If you are deploying using ClickOnce, you can select the .NET Framework 4 Client Profile as the .NET Framework Launch Condition.”
“If you deploy the .NET Framework 4 Client Profile and your application targets the .NET Framework 4, the user will be prompted to install the .NET Framework 4 when he or she tries to run your application.”
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