Editing DirectX (section)

===.NET Framework===
In 2002, Microsoft released a version of DirectX compatible with the Microsoft [[.NET Framework]], thus allowing programmers to take advantage of DirectX functionality from within .NET applications using compatible languages such as managed C++ or the use of the [[C Sharp (programming language)|C#]] programming language. This API was known as "[[Managed DirectX]]" (or MDX for short), and claimed to operate at 98% of performance of the underlying native DirectX APIs. In December 2005, February 2006, April 2006, and August 2006, Microsoft released successive updates to this library, culminating in a beta version called Managed DirectX 2.0. While Managed DirectX 2.0 consolidated functionality that had previously been scattered over multiple assemblies into a single assembly, thus simplifying dependencies on it for software developers, development on this version has subsequently been discontinued, and it is no longer supported. The Managed DirectX 2.0 library expired on October 5, 2006.

During the [[Game Developers Conference|GDC]] 2006, Microsoft presented the [[Microsoft XNA|XNA Framework]], a new managed version of DirectX (similar but not identical to Managed DirectX) that is intended to assist development of games by making it easier to integrate DirectX, HLSL and other tools in one package. It also supports the execution of managed code on the Xbox 360. The [[Microsoft XNA#XNA Game Studio|XNA Game Studio Express RTM]] was made available on December 11, 2006, as a free download for Windows XP. Unlike the DirectX runtime, [[Managed DirectX]], [[Microsoft XNA|XNA Framework]] or the [[Xbox 360]] APIs (XInput, XACT etc.) have not shipped as part of Windows. Developers are expected to redistribute the runtime components along with their games or applications.

No Microsoft product including the latest XNA releases provides DirectX 10 support for the .NET Framework.

The other approach for DirectX in managed languages is to use third-party libraries like:

* SlimDX, an open source library for DirectX programming on the .NET Framework
* SharpDX,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sharpdx.org/|title=SharpDX - Managed DirectX|access-date=30 September 2014|archive-date=January 16, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230116185138/http://sharpdx.org/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://github.com/sharpdx/SharpDX|title=sharpdx/SharpDX|work=GitHub|access-date=30 September 2014}}</ref> which is an open source project delivering the full DirectX API for .NET on all Windows platforms, allowing the development of high performance game, 2D and 3D graphics rendering as well as real-time sound applications
* [http://sourceforge.net/projects/directshownet DirectShow.NET] for the DirectShow subset
* [http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/WindowsAPICodePack Windows API CodePack for .NET Framework] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110214011000/http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/WindowsAPICodePack |date=February 14, 2011 }}, which is an open source library from Microsoft.