Getting started on mobile development (PocketPC)

Hello.

I have been assigned the task of building an application to run on
Windows CE. The device in question is a Compaq PocketPC (iPAQ) running
Windows CE Version 3.0.938 on an ARM SA1110 microprocessor. Since this
is my first contact with development for mobile devices, I feel a little
lost.

I tried downloading and installing Microsoft Embedded Visual C++ 4.0
development suite, but I have not been able to successfully build
applications. The first problem I had concerned the fact that the suite
would only launch when I was logged in with an administrator account;
trying with a normal user account would result in two error messages,
the first of which would complain about not being able to "connect to
the DROP-IN database" or something like that. I tried to solve that
problem, but after some failed attempts, I ended up using the
administrator account, anyway. It would be nice if there were a cleaner
solution.

The second problem was that the environment complained about the
unavailability of a suitable SDK. I then tried downloading the "Pocket
PC 2002 SDK" (I reckoned that was the right choice for the version of
Windows CE running on the device), but the development suite did not
seem to acknowledge its installation. After some more research, I found
out that that SDK was only meant for the version 3 of the EVC++ tool.

So, basically, I feel somewhat helpless at the moment. What should I do?
Upgrading the OS on the iPAQ is not an option (I do not own it nor do I
know whether that would work). Should I then try downgrading the
development environment? What would you recommend to a newbie trying to
get started? Please, feel free to provide me with any extra tips and to
correct any misconception which might have been revealed in my message.

Thank you very much,

--
Ney André de Mello Zunino

Chris
Wed Jun 22 08:55:15 CDT 2005

For development with a Pocket PC 2000 or 2002 you must use eVC 3.0 and the
proper SDK for the device. This is because the OS is CE 3.0. For Pocket PC
2003 (CE 4.2 based) you must use eVC 4.0 with the PPC 2003 SDK. You've got
your eVC/SDK pair mismatched.


--
Chris Tacke
Co-founder
OpenNETCF.org
Are you using the SDF? Let's do a case study.
Email us at d c s @ o p e n n e t c f . c o m
http://www.opennetcf.org/donate


"Ney André de Mello Zunino" <zunino@inf.ufsc.br> wrote in message
news:eFd854ydFHA.1456@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> Hello.
>
> I have been assigned the task of building an application to run on Windows
> CE. The device in question is a Compaq PocketPC (iPAQ) running Windows CE
> Version 3.0.938 on an ARM SA1110 microprocessor. Since this is my first
> contact with development for mobile devices, I feel a little lost.
>
> I tried downloading and installing Microsoft Embedded Visual C++ 4.0
> development suite, but I have not been able to successfully build
> applications. The first problem I had concerned the fact that the suite
> would only launch when I was logged in with an administrator account;
> trying with a normal user account would result in two error messages, the
> first of which would complain about not being able to "connect to the
> DROP-IN database" or something like that. I tried to solve that problem,
> but after some failed attempts, I ended up using the administrator
> account, anyway. It would be nice if there were a cleaner solution.
>
> The second problem was that the environment complained about the
> unavailability of a suitable SDK. I then tried downloading the "Pocket PC
> 2002 SDK" (I reckoned that was the right choice for the version of Windows
> CE running on the device), but the development suite did not seem to
> acknowledge its installation. After some more research, I found out that
> that SDK was only meant for the version 3 of the EVC++ tool.
>
> So, basically, I feel somewhat helpless at the moment. What should I do?
> Upgrading the OS on the iPAQ is not an option (I do not own it nor do I
> know whether that would work). Should I then try downgrading the
> development environment? What would you recommend to a newbie trying to
> get started? Please, feel free to provide me with any extra tips and to
> correct any misconception which might have been revealed in my message.
>
> Thank you very much,
>
> --
> Ney André de Mello Zunino

zunino
Wed Jun 22 10:03:43 CDT 2005

Chris Tacke, eMVP escreveu:

> For development with a Pocket PC 2000 or 2002 you must use eVC 3.0 and the
> proper SDK for the device. This is because the OS is CE 3.0. For Pocket PC
> 2003 (CE 4.2 based) you must use eVC 4.0 with the PPC 2003 SDK. You've got
> your eVC/SDK pair mismatched.

Thank you for your response. I have managed to install eVC++ 3.0 and the
PPC 2002 SDK and build a wizard-generated PPC application. It was nice
to see the application displayed on the emulator. Now for some new
questions... Two of my application requirements are: to communicate with
a server running on a PC and to process XML-based messages obtained from
that server.

For the networking part, I confess I am rather confused. There seems to
be so many options (raw WinSocks; MFC's CSocket, CAsyncSocket and
CCeSocket; WinInet; etc.) that one will have trouble picking one. IIRC,
I have read that CSocket and CAsyncSocket are not options for Windows
CE. As a matter of fact, many sources indicated that CSocket is good for
nothing and should best be avoided. Given that, what about using
CCeSocket? Is it reliable? What about resorting to raw WinSocks? What
would you recommend for a new application with relatively simple
networking needs (basically, the mobile application will need to
exchange XML-based messages with a PC-based server and also be able to
receive notifications from that same server)?

As for the XML part, I reckon one can use MSXML. Are there any caveats
of which I should be aware? Would you have any on-line resources to
recommend?

Thank you once again,

--
Ney André de Mello Zunino

Chris
Wed Jun 22 11:20:30 CDT 2005

Raw sockets and Expat would be my personal recommendations. Socets are
simple, and MSXML is terribly slow.

--
Chris Tacke
Co-founder
OpenNETCF.org
Are you using the SDF? Let's do a case study.
Email us at d c s @ o p e n n e t c f . c o m
http://www.opennetcf.org/donate


"Ney André de Mello Zunino" <zunino@inf.ufsc.br> wrote in message
news:eXbN1tzdFHA.3932@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> Chris Tacke, eMVP escreveu:
>
>> For development with a Pocket PC 2000 or 2002 you must use eVC 3.0 and
>> the proper SDK for the device. This is because the OS is CE 3.0. For
>> Pocket PC 2003 (CE 4.2 based) you must use eVC 4.0 with the PPC 2003 SDK.
>> You've got your eVC/SDK pair mismatched.
>
> Thank you for your response. I have managed to install eVC++ 3.0 and the
> PPC 2002 SDK and build a wizard-generated PPC application. It was nice to
> see the application displayed on the emulator. Now for some new
> questions... Two of my application requirements are: to communicate with a
> server running on a PC and to process XML-based messages obtained from
> that server.
>
> For the networking part, I confess I am rather confused. There seems to be
> so many options (raw WinSocks; MFC's CSocket, CAsyncSocket and CCeSocket;
> WinInet; etc.) that one will have trouble picking one. IIRC, I have read
> that CSocket and CAsyncSocket are not options for Windows CE. As a matter
> of fact, many sources indicated that CSocket is good for nothing and
> should best be avoided. Given that, what about using CCeSocket? Is it
> reliable? What about resorting to raw WinSocks? What would you recommend
> for a new application with relatively simple networking needs (basically,
> the mobile application will need to exchange XML-based messages with a
> PC-based server and also be able to receive notifications from that same
> server)?
>
> As for the XML part, I reckon one can use MSXML. Are there any caveats of
> which I should be aware? Would you have any on-line resources to
> recommend?
>
> Thank you once again,
>
> --
> Ney André de Mello Zunino

John
Wed Jun 22 14:32:32 CDT 2005

For using or not using MSXML, the perf implications depend on how much XML
you'll be dealing with. You can point the XML DOM to a URL directly (a la
xmldom.load(http://foo/foo.xml)). There is also XMLHTTP, which gives you a
little more control of the HTTP request (such as setting POST data). This
is much easier than accessing a server via raw sockets and if you're not
dealing with megs of data you may be OK with perf.

If you're talking to a web server and you do NOT use the built-in MSXML
components, then you should look at wininet. Wininet is a glorified socket
wrapper in some sense but it knows a lot about HTTP and hides all those
details from you.

--
John Spaith
Software Design Engineer, Windows CE
Microsoft Corporation

Check out the new CE Networking Team Blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/cenet/.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
You assume all risk for your use. © 2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights
reserved.

"Chris Tacke, eMVP" <ctacke@spamfree-opennetcf.org> wrote in message
news:eNWMQZ0dFHA.584@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
> Raw sockets and Expat would be my personal recommendations. Socets are
> simple, and MSXML is terribly slow.
>
> --
> Chris Tacke
> Co-founder
> OpenNETCF.org
> Are you using the SDF? Let's do a case study.
> Email us at d c s @ o p e n n e t c f . c o m
> http://www.opennetcf.org/donate
>
>
> "Ney André de Mello Zunino" <zunino@inf.ufsc.br> wrote in message
> news:eXbN1tzdFHA.3932@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
>> Chris Tacke, eMVP escreveu:
>>
>>> For development with a Pocket PC 2000 or 2002 you must use eVC 3.0 and
>>> the proper SDK for the device. This is because the OS is CE 3.0. For
>>> Pocket PC 2003 (CE 4.2 based) you must use eVC 4.0 with the PPC 2003
>>> SDK. You've got your eVC/SDK pair mismatched.
>>
>> Thank you for your response. I have managed to install eVC++ 3.0 and the
>> PPC 2002 SDK and build a wizard-generated PPC application. It was nice to
>> see the application displayed on the emulator. Now for some new
>> questions... Two of my application requirements are: to communicate with
>> a server running on a PC and to process XML-based messages obtained from
>> that server.
>>
>> For the networking part, I confess I am rather confused. There seems to
>> be so many options (raw WinSocks; MFC's CSocket, CAsyncSocket and
>> CCeSocket; WinInet; etc.) that one will have trouble picking one. IIRC, I
>> have read that CSocket and CAsyncSocket are not options for Windows CE.
>> As a matter of fact, many sources indicated that CSocket is good for
>> nothing and should best be avoided. Given that, what about using
>> CCeSocket? Is it reliable? What about resorting to raw WinSocks? What
>> would you recommend for a new application with relatively simple
>> networking needs (basically, the mobile application will need to exchange
>> XML-based messages with a PC-based server and also be able to receive
>> notifications from that same server)?
>>
>> As for the XML part, I reckon one can use MSXML. Are there any caveats of
>> which I should be aware? Would you have any on-line resources to
>> recommend?
>>
>> Thank you once again,
>>
>> --
>> Ney André de Mello Zunino
>
>