window CE5.0 application with C#

I amm new to window CE application development. I am familiar with C# language. I have experience with web application development and have 0 knowledge on smart device application development.

I have Visual Studio 2008 Professional installed, currently using MySql database. I need to develop an application on MC 70 Windows Mobile 5.0 platform, which allows to scan a QR code, display the information stored in the QR code and store those information to database via internet.

From my research, VS 2010 does not support window CE apps, so I downloaded VS2008 professional edition.

My question is: Besides VS 2008 Pro and MySql database, what are other compatible supporting software needed? There are many info on net such as virtual PC7, emulator 3.0/5.0.

My PC is a 64 bit system.

Actually, developing an application for a mobile device is not much different from developing an application on the desktop - only that the Compact Framework as less capabilities in areas that are not so important on a mobile device.

From my experience - I develop mobile applications for industrial devices with .NET on a daily basis - it is best not to work with the emulator, but debug on the device itself, which is easy with Visual Studio. The first step is to connect the device to your system and make sure that whenever you cradle the device, the Windows Mobile Device Center pops up and you can browse the device's file system.

To communicate with the database, I suggest that you develop two things: 1) the mobile software, which (for example via WCF or TCP/IP) communicates with 2) a service that does the database work.

Additional Note
There is an edition of Visual Studio 2010 ("Phone Edition"), but it is meant to develop software for the Windows Phone operating system. You are actually on the safe side when using Visual Studio 2008.

Of course you need to make sure to download and install the SDK provided by the manufacturer for the respective mobile device. For an MC 70 this is the so called EMDK, which can be downloaded for free from the Motorola web site.