Database Users

Coders new to WM5 "help" (advice)

Hi,
I have a fair background in various coding languages, and there are a couple of programs I want to try and build.
However, while I can usually pick up and understand a language quite easily the problem I usually find is a lack of knowledge of the objects available to make life easier and the functions which are available.
So far, I've sat around and got a setup which I think should allow me to write and compile WM5 applications and today plugins, but I have suddenly found I am missing that "thing" that made writing in other languages easier - effectively a "Cheat Sheet".
What I would appreciate from the other coders with experience in writing software for WM5 is a list of what windows or books you have open for reference when coding. Is it just MSDN, is there a specific page that you have bookmarked or do you just google for it every time?
Any further advice (like good compilers I might have missed) will also be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

I'd like to hear from others too about this..
So far, My buddies for development help have been:
1. Search in MSDN
2. Search in Google
3. Ask on xda-developers
4. Search in MSDN forums and usenet groups for pocket pc developers
5. A book (that i dont refer to too often) whose name goes smthing like "Programming for Microsoft Windows CE .net" by Douglas Boling (Its not for .net development, it covers native development mostly. Windows CE .Net refers to a version of CE)
6. I also have another book that i have not even opened till now. It is solely for .net development (which is not my forte). Its by Wrox Publishers. If I remember the name correctly, it goes smthing like "Professional Microsoft Smartphone Programming"

There is an exellent documentation on .NET & Native Code on MSDN.
Then there are samples as well, again on MSDN.
For a today plugin, there is a very good sample by levenum which u can easily find in this section of the forum.
For me its always been google & this forum, no boooooks !!!

or
www.codeguru.com
in most cases programming for pocketpc's is like programming for pc's

Thanks for the replies guys. I see what you mean, MSDN is rather good. I was beginning to think it was just WM6, but I eventually found the section on WM5 (which I am planning on coding for given my phone is WM5). Their Wiki also had some good info on it too. Don't know whether these will be my coding buddies yet though....
shantzg001 said:
I'd like to hear from others too about this..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm glad someone else is interested. TBH I am surprised there is not a sticky at the top of the forum with this information in or a link to the Wiki for further details, but I could only find details of Development Tools on the wiki.
shaileshashar said:
For a today plugin, there is a very good sample by levenum which u can easily find in this section of the forum.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this pointer. I found two (here and here) which look promising. Don't know if there are any I missed....

Just a small tip when searching in MSDN... add ce in the search pharse. For e.g., "ce WM_TIMER" will give you the CE related sessions at the top.

I like www.pocketpcdn.com - articles and code examples for Pocket PC and Smartphones arranged by categories.
Also www.codeproject.com has been helpfull at times.

Where is the Best Place to Find a list of APPS

Where are the places people are going to find lists of Free Apps.
I am new to the Pocket PC world, I have seen a few posts with people showing new apps, but I would like to be able to browse around and find some that are suited for what I use my phone for.
Looking for Time Wasters. (games)
Media Players (for Divx, and Compressed Videos)
Anything Automotive Related
Skins for changing appearance of the phone

pm me man ill help you!!!

there should really be a sticky in this forum with links to good download sites for games / apps.
Maybe we should start a thread and post links and ask a mod to sticky it. Anyone up for the job ?

RTFW
There is a big list of software in the WiKi

On A Silver Platter
It doesn't get any better than this :
1) This site is 8525 specific FREEWARE
2) These are links from bypaul.com:
A. GAMES
B. THEMES & SKINS
C. UTILITIES
3) Another FREEWARE site
4) More FREEWARE
5) This page has all the FREE applications iliumsoft offers (7 Pocket PC, 1 Desktop)
6) Yet another FREEWARE site
7) This is the Pocket PC section of this site, but you can navigate to other platform specific applications by clicking on the "Freeware" link at the top of the page. The entire site is strictly FREEWARE
8) This is a mobile/WAP SITE. It is completely formatted for a handheld web browser (small text, aligned left)
9) This is the last direct LINK to a freeware site i have mustered. I've just come across it for the first time and the server seems to be acting up so i can't speak for its reliability. It did work though
10) THIS is a search result from handango. All i did was select the 8525 as my device and "Sort by: Price:Low-High". The first 15 pages of this result gives you full applications with a $0.00 price tag. You may have to navigate a bit through the pages to find anything useful, but there are some pretty good apps in there. I would suggest going through the whole 15 pages so you don't miss anything.
11) This page is pocketpcmag.com's "BEST SITES" for WM PPCs. Scroll down to the "Downloads" section and you will find 46 links, many of them links to freeware sites. Even some of the links that don't say "(freeware)" have links to other Freeware sites on thier pages so you might wanna check them out too
12) Another LIST of PPC related sites with relevant Freeware site links
I've used just about all of these sites before with the exception of the above mentioned. If not, links to and from these sites. I've downloaded well into the hundreds of applications from these sites. In my experience, none of them offer fake freeware or neverending links to the download page (lmao). IMHO, they're all legit.

Still Alive?
Wow, when I posted my first reply I did not realize the date this was created. I posted my reply about a week ago however...maybe beggining of September. Why the hell does the date of my reply state that it was posted 4-9-07? Anyway, I was wondering if anyone has visited recently, if the thread is still alive, and now I'm wondering what date this was "Actually" created?!?!

g0dZpr1z0n3r said:
Why the hell does the date of my reply state that it was posted 4-9-07?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
4 September 2007. Not all countries use the US date convention of putting the month first.

Try www.pxdxa.com for free cracked software!
You just have to register an thats it! Enjoy

@ Viktorx, Thanks for the link, however I believe the mods on here frown on posting warez links.
@g0dZpr1z0n3r WOW, That list is amazing, thank you. I wish there was a way for members to rate other members on this board you would get a huge "+" from me for that. (I am on another board where there is a member rating system and members can give a member a plus if they help them, or a negative if they see someone being nasty for no reason)
@ Everyone else. Thank you for all the other links, I am spending lots of time browsing the places. This site is a wonderful resource.
Now some specific apps I am looking for.
Net Stumbler, its a program to scan for wireless access points.
A better dialer and call log app. I find the one that is built into the phone with Black Satin to be way to clumsy to use. I hate the fact that if I call the same number 4 times in a row, it shows that same number 4 times in the call log rather than just keeping the same number once at the top of the list. I would prefer it kept say the last 10 or 20 numbers I called in a row without repeating some of them.

Capt Fiero said:
Now some specific apps I am looking for.
Net Stumbler, its a program to scan for wireless access points.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thx 4 the ups Capt.! I appreciate it! Umm...NetStumbler has its own SITE (click on the download tab). I'm not sure if you were looking for NetStumbler or MiniStumbler NetStumbler is for PCs and MiniStumbler is for SOME PPCs. Breathe eazy though homie, the program "works on most (but not all) Hermes...chipsets" . Good luck w/ that. Let us know how it works out.
Follow THIS site for all ur dialer needs. I'm not sure it will help ur "call log" issues though. Can't help you there fam. Good Luck!
1

Use WiFiFoFum instead of NetStumbler.

Ya the first program I tried was Ministumbler and it won't work on my Hermes (HTC Tytn) So I installed the WiFiFoFum and it worked perfect right out of the box. Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

MiniStumbler is a Negative
Tried MiniStumbler on my ATT branded 8525 (factory ROM) and it does not work. Connected to Wi-Fi and nothing shows up in the App.
@Capt: Find anything useful at zombienexus?

g0dZpr1z0n3r said:
Tried MiniStumbler on my ATT branded 8525 (factory ROM) and it does not work. Connected to Wi-Fi and nothing shows up in the App.
@Capt: Find anything useful at zombienexus?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be honest I have not had time to really read through the page, I did a quick browse around and at first glance there does not seem to be exactly what I am looking for, however I need to read through the site to really see what is there.

Capt Fiero said:
To be honest I have not had time to really read through the page, I did a quick browse around and at first glance there does not seem to be exactly what I am looking for, however I need to read through the site to really see what is there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't really think there's an app that exists for the type of setup you want. I personally like that the call log lists every time that you called each #. If I'm not mistaken, WM6 approaches this situation quite differently. I'm not sure which ROM you're running, but you might wanna check that out. I didn't run WM6 long enough to remember exactly, but i found this on modernnomads pertaining to that feature:
"A major improvement is that the history belonging to a number can be retrieved. By pressing the number in the call-log you can get an overview of all calls to that number. THis is a great way to identify when you called a certain person. This information is also partially included in the contact: you will see when you last called a certain person. Unfortunatly there is no way of finding all calls to a specific contact, so you do have to remember which number you used to contact a specific person."
The article is HERE. It's a quite detailed article outlining the key features of WM6

Actually you only have to remember the number if its not saved in your contact list. All call history is saved to the contact. If I go into contacts and select a specific person I can see all the calls to that person time, date, and duration. I think WM6 is great what made you decide to remove it?

why i removed wm6
i had to remove my wm6 rom because im running vista home premium w/ mobile device center and only the black rom allowed me to sync and it wasnt my favorite. other wm6 roms wouldnt sync w/ my laptop. i would either have to sacrifice a not so favorite rom and be able to sync or use my favorite wm6 rom and not be able to sync. i decided to go back to wm5 until the official at&t wm6 rom was released. supposed to be out oct.5. dont get me wrong tho...i love wm6. each rom i flashed had pros and cons, but the pros of wm6 outweigh the cons. cant wait to get it back!

any sim games out there

AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) on WM5

I've spent hours searching for the supposedly hacked version of AIM 2.0 for Windows CE 2003 that allows people on Windows Mobile 5 to use it. The problem with the standard AIM 2.0 available from AOL in the USA is that it has a menu on the bottom of the screen, and this causes havok in WM5 and WM6. I knew I had this "hacked" UK version of AIM 2.0 CE in the past, and had gotten it from this forum, but no google searching or forum searching could turn it up. After lots of manual post reading I've found the relevant post that contains it, so I'm making this post to save the rest of the world some time (should any strange individuals like myself seek to use the official AIM client on WM5+). I know a policy of this forum is to post links to prior threads rather than starting new threads but I feel there is no thread that concerns this topic. There is a thread about keeping GPRS connected in WM5, and one user of that thread suggests using Pocket AIM for this purpose and provides an attached copy of the "hacked" version of it (which seems to astonish people posting in that thread because AIM isn't supposed to work on WM5). So, here it is and please do not remove this post, since it will enable google surfers and forum searchers to find this rare file without wasting their time (not that browsing this forum all day is ever a waste of time).
Originally found in the third post of this thread
Post
File
If this was or is an official version, I'd like someone to add it to the WM5 compatibility list. Maybe I'll post a link in there as well.
Note: I've tried imov messenger and tons of others, but I choose this client for AIM because of unexplainable personal preference, so please don't post a million replies about how silly I am not to use whatever client you prefer.
UPDATE: After buying a new phone and lots of time going by, I went to this post to get AIM and the download link wasn't functional. A different link to the same file can be found in this post: http://pdaphonehome.com/forums/588878-post36.html on a different forum. Maybe I'll post it in here when I get around to it. Any mirrors are welcomed.

very very nice post, I've sent this to about 20 people.

New GSlidePOOM!

GSlide Pocket Outlook provider 0.0.1
Hi Yall
Just posted a new cool provider for GSlide (or any app that can read JSON...). Its called GSlidePOOM. This little app exports all your appointments and tasks to JSON. Hmm i wonder what i can do with that....
Its a simple exe which takes 2 mandatory arguments and 1 third which is optional.
1. Type of objects to be fetched ("tasks","appointments")
2. Location AND file name of the resulting JSON file ("/Whatever folder/whatever_name.js").
3. Optional app/script to be called straight after export.
Download at www.gslide.mobi/gpoom.rar
PS. Look in the Actions/Resources/Applications folder of GSlide (should you download it). Theres a small Alpha app called GImage.exe which scales bitmaps using command line args. Handy Its early apha so it will get better
Keep checking the site for more GApps.
Well?!... Now go code something interesting!
Ciao,
Lars

Any way this can work with Contacts?

But of course
Already did it. I will implement the same api pattern as GSlide with read/write xml-rpc.
More important i think is to mirror out the email, sms etc messages. What the phones seriously need is a new email client!
This is the original intent with this provider.
I wish i could get some more comments on GSlide (www.gslide.mobi) which is a really nice framework with so much potential... I wonder if the docs and examples are to unclear?
Any suggestions?
Ciao
Lars

New 0.1.5 version
Hi again
Now also exports Contacts...
Download at http://www.gslide.mobi/GPOOM_0_1_5.zip
This is as you understand still just a lab, even though it works... I will keep updating it. Keep checking the site.
Ciao,
Lars

How to "run" Linux apps on WM6?

I have two Linux apps, Tuxcards & Kontacts, for which I am urgently looking for data compatible WM6 apps.
Any suggestions?

bump...bump....bump...

you can import and export .vcf-style vCards.

harddisk_wp said:
you can import and export .vcf-style vCards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I realized that about Kontacts myself by now.
But what about the XML file format of Tuxcards?

pharao said:
I have two Linux apps, Tuxcards & Kontacts, for which I am urgently looking for data compatible WM6 apps.
Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure what exactly you trying to do ... but I am a long time Linux desktop user. Synchronising my HD2 with Kontact (the contacts and appointments) over SynCE and OpenSync without problems.

Syncing is of no interest for me, as I never use that unreliable process anyway.
Never sure what gets overwritten where.
I have TONS of tech notes stored in my Tuxcards archive which I need for my work. So I'm desperately looking for an XML viewer for my SmartPhone that can handle/display the TuxCards archive.
I've read a TuxCards look-a-like tool called BasketNotes, but it also only exports in HTML format.
And that makes the entire Collapsible Tree functionality of Tuxcards go away.
Its a real pain in the rear trying to browse through hundreds of static web pages on a smart phone.
Anyone know of a way to easily import Tuxcard XML archives e.g. into Phatnotes?

bump...bump...bump

Sorry, but I'm still looking desperately for an XML Reader for WM6.
Anyone got any ideas here?

pharao said:
Sorry, but I'm still looking desperately for an XML Reader for WM6.
Anyone got any ideas here?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://tinyurl.com/ycd2ye3
Edit:
I just tested the 1st one in the results, and it works fine. It's ugly, but it works. Spend some time with the rest of the results if you're not happy with the 1st one.

johncmolyneux said:
http://tinyurl.com/ycd2ye3
Edit:
I just tested the 1st one in the results, and it works fine. It's ugly, but it works. Spend some time with the rest of the results if you're not happy with the 1st one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hhhmm, I had googled my eyes out for an XML WM6 reader and couldn't find *anything* other than Porn Sites & Crack Torrents....
I'll try the Haali Reader for starters.
Thankz a lot...

I tried all of those your Google list came up with and none works.
The best I get is some notepad like prog which reads XML like a flat text file.
Not one of them even cares to interpret the inner structure of the XML data, so no chance of a snowball in hell to get a hierarchical notebook like layout of it :-(
Specially that Haali app was a big disappointment here.
And even apps like phatnotes only support plain text file imports and TuxCards doesn't export to plain text....(only to HTML)

pharao said:
I tried all of those your Google list came up with and none works.
The best I get is some notepad like prog which reads XML like a flat text file.
Not one of them even cares to interpret the inner structure of the XML data, so no chance of a snowball in hell to get a hierarchical notebook like layout of it :-(
Specially that Haali app was a big disappointment here.
And even apps like phatnotes only support plain text file imports and TuxCards doesn't export to plain text....(only to HTML)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stupid question for you then - Why not export to HTML and use Opera?
Edit: Sorry, just realised I missed one of your earlier posts...

sub69 said:
Stupid question for you then - Why not export to HTML and use Opera?
Edit: Sorry, just realised I missed one of your earlier posts...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The question wouldn't be that stupid if not for the ABYSMALLY LOUSY quality of that HTML export
While TuxCards itself offers dynamic tree navigation, the exported HTML file is one big static dump, w/o proper font sizing and minimal (if any) graphic support.
In essence, its a pain in the rear to review, specially on a PocketPC device.
I think they just put it in there to have something listed under "Export" (just like the PhatNotes folks with their lousy Text Only import "feature").