Database Users

The simplest question of all...

OK, here's one that you should all be able to help me with.
I am a programer, but have not yet begun to create programs for my XDA 2i. I REALLY don't know where to start... I bought MS C++ .NET with the possibly misguided impression that it was supposed to be rather like the Java virtual machine, and that I could simply whip up an exe on my PC then move it to the PPC and it would just work...
But now I'm SO confused. What's all this about SDKs and having different ones for different versions of Windows mobile? And then there's the compact .NET framework, and then there's ASP, but I'm fairly comfortable that that's a different issue entirely.
SO MY QUESTION IS THIS:
What is the simplest way for me to begin writing C/C++ programs to run on my XDA 2i? I'm not interested for the moment in phone or other connection aspects - let's say I'm trying to write a visual calculator. So simple logical operations and a simple GUI.
I have experience with MS visual studio C++, and I can use libraries when told which ones to use, but am otherwise uninterested in them.
I gather the absolute simplest solution might be to write some JScript, but I want to use .NET C++ since I forked out for it.
The trouble is, there's so much info out there. Please help, then maybe one day I can start contributing useful info to this site too.
Thanks everyone!
Phil Drew

questions and answers much like yours
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=21786
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=21649

download Visual Studio 2005 Beta 2 from Microsoft.. if you are a member of MSDN

newbie: creating appl. for xda pocket pc 2002

hello,
glad that i found this forum
new user of an xda Wallaby, i got a few questions,i would be happy if someone could help me. so sorry again for my boring questions.
is the pocket pc software separated from the phone software ? possible to get into the phone software?
i have little experience with basic and c. which development kit is okay , i saw Visual C++ for CE but thats a big cake for me, i would shot me in this, but only if this is the right thing. i look for a language with a phone software library, (and sorry for my bad english)
Thank You
edlin

Welcome to the forum.
First of, please don't worry about language here. This is a global forum and we have people from all over the world here.
Second, do you have any experience in programing for desktop windows?
Programing for Windows Mobile (it is actually a bit different from clean Windows CE) is basically Win32 programing so you need to familiarise yourself with that.
Now, the thing is that Pocket PC 2002 i a bit of an outdated system. Forunately, it is still supported.
What you need is a collection of free tools from Microsoft which you can download here. You also need Pocket PC 2002 SDK.
This collection includes 2 compilers eMbedded Visual basic and eMbedded Visual C++. I recommend using C++ as it is more powerful and doesn't need that pesky run time support VB uses. If you have any experience with Visual Studio 6 you will find the tools easy to get used to.
As for the 'phone software' it is part of windows, but using it involves more advance programing. First of you need to know how to use Win32 API. You can find documentation on TAPI (Telephony API) and RIL (Radio Layer Interface) in MSDN.
Good luck!

hello levenum,
thank you for your "Welcome"and Your helpful posting.
i first thought that it would perhaps be easier to go with an earlier version like CE 3, but then i have more troubles with cpu specific code?
i only tasted borland c 2.0 for dos and boland c++ 5.i saw a developers interface from a friend, Visual C++5, with Extension for Writing CE Applications,
I followed Your Download-Links, could not download Pocket PC 2002 SDK cause WGA Plugin failed i surf with a mac. i will find a solution )
so i will think on your words "First of you need to know how to use Win32 API" and step into Visual C++ first, thats a live step.
Thanks for Your Helpful Hints.
Greetings,
edlin

Beginner's pointers?

Hi chaps,
I've just got myself an O2 XDA Orbit - great device, and now I'm looking for developing for it - just simple things at first, like a Blackjack game, or a simple Today feature with the sun and moon times on it; this sort of thing.
I've got Visual Studio .NET 2003, but I see that in order to program the latest devices, you need VS 2005 (?). So, I've downloaded Embedded Visual Studio C++ v4 with all the SDK's and I'm hoping to develop for an earlier version of Windows Mobile, and hope that it works.
So while I've got all that, I'm now stuck as to where to start! Can anyone point me to a good book, or something online which will help me through a simple CE application? How you do get the Today screen working, for example? I realise that this might be asking a lot, but a couple of pointers would be great - if you could!
Many thanks,
MrP.

I'm just starting out myself with windows mobile programming. You can find a lot of info from msdn. Here is an example Hello app.
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms912017.aspx
You can find a lot of good stuff at the code project site also.
http://www.codeproject.com/ce/
eVC has wizards that will get you going. One thing I found out about using eVC is that you won't be able to debug your programs on a WM5/6 device since the SDK's are not compatible with them. It can be a bit of a challenge to fix bugs without a debugger. I can't get the debugger to work with the emulator either for some reason.
A question for other eVC developers out there. Is it possible to use the emulator to debug programs or do you all have an old PPC2003 device that you use to do your debugging? Or have you all moved on to VS2005?

I've bought visual studio 2005 standard and it is great - it fully supports WM5/6 (with sdk) and runtime debugging - for .exe it works well but I have problems with .dll - I can't debug dll files - does anyone know how to make it?

Pleas look up threads started by vijay555.
He wrote a comprehensive article on the tools and possibilities to begin developing for these devices.
Just as a quick side note:
There is no need what so ever to pay M$ money for VS 2005 if you want to develop in C / C++.
Apps written in eVC++ 4 will work perfectly with WM 5 and 6 and if you need any missing API (not many of those) you have 2 choices:
1) Manually unpack the SDK and link to it.
2) Use implicit linking (that LoadLibrary and GetProcAdress).

levenum said:
Pleas look up threads started by vijay555.
He wrote a comprehensive article on the tools and possibilities to begin developing for these devices.
Just as a quick side note:
There is no need what so ever to pay M$ money for VS 2005 if you want to develop in C / C++.
Apps written in eVC++ 4 will work perfectly with WM 5 and 6 and if you need any missing API (not many of those) you have 2 choices:
1) Manually unpack the SDK and link to it.
2) Use implicit linking (that LoadLibrary and GetProcAdress).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry about the delay in replying...
Many thanks for the pointers.. Just a matter of starting now!

Windows Mobile Development Tools?

Hi all!
So, I've decided to finally take the plunge and start developing for Windows Mobile proper. Flash can finally get the flick
But, what do I need? Visual Studio 2005? Because I don't have/can't afford that, and it seems as though the Express editions aren't supported.
I like C# as a language, and would like to further learn it.
So: What do I need?
Mods: Wasn't sure if this was the right place, move it if you want
Girvo

Girvo said:
Hi all!
So, I've decided to finally take the plunge and start developing for Windows Mobile proper. Flash can finally get the flick
But, what do I need? Visual Studio 2005? Because I don't have/can't afford that, and it seems as though the Express editions aren't supported.
I like C# as a language, and would like to further learn it.
So: What do I need?
Mods: Wasn't sure if this was the right place, move it if you want
Girvo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
in vs 05/08 (at least pro version), select create project>VB or C# >> smart device.... and ya... u need wm emulator that can be dl from ms web site....

you could try Basic4PPC (search for it on the web). I'm using it and I am very pleased with it. It has a good price and nice support and an excellent forum.
BTW: the applications you write will need the NET.framework installed on the PPC.
Rgds,
/tilleke

There is also
- PellesC (it's c) but it's a very good ide with some tools very usefull.
- SharpDevelop (v2.2) an open source ide for C# (and VBNet). In the "new solution" dialog select "Compact Framework")
Hope this help you

I suggest some free developing tools:
1. CeGCC: Free and open source developoing tools, gcc. Can be used in Linux and Windows(Cygwin)
2. Mamaich's Pocket GCC: Free and open source. gcc, used in Pocket PC.
3. EVC++ 4.0, Free but closed source. Download free M$.

SharpDevelop is what I seem to want. It's a nice IDE! Wrote a twitter client for my PC with it in about 20 minutes last night
BUT:
I can't install the WinMo 6 SDK without Visual Studio. Do I need the SDK?

There's a good documentation on installing the emulators:
http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/09/17/447033.aspx

I'm writting an application for work in c# compact framework. It's really a PITA. So much isn't in the compact framework. Go check out opennetcf. It has some very useful libraries. Also it's a bummer but all the cool stuff needs to be done in native language.

helloworld1 said:
I suggest some free developing tools:
1. CeGCC: Free and open source developoing tools, gcc. Can be used in Linux and Windows(Cygwin)
2. Mamaich's Pocket GCC: Free and open source. gcc, used in Pocket PC.
3. EVC++ 4.0, Free but closed source. Download free M$.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pocket c# is also a free choice.

Pascal via Lazarus is another free alternative.
http://snapshots.lazarus.shikami.org/lazarus/ has the wince package
and there is a discussion forum at http://www.lazarus.freepascal.org/i...rum&f=17&sid=afea0e515f0090fef3aaee9c84fe72cf
Takes some time setting it up properly. But once done, it's a great environment, and the programming is very similar to c#. The programs seem to run faster on my phone, than the c# programs I've made.

Some good posts in here guys, keep it up
Still haven't found a solution to the SDK installation problem
Also: What should I be using to develop Today Screen plugins?

Creating a today plugin

Hello everybody. I am a programmer experienced in various languages. I want to create a very simple today-plugin, a launcher. It should be touch-responsive, to gestures to be more accurate. Target platform is Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro. I don't want to use wrappers and user-made frameworks and stuff for this, I want to write a professional app. .NET Framework is okay but I don't want to use technologies that are not made by Microsoft. Period. Okay now what I need to know is how do I do this? First I need to know which apps to get. I suppose I will need Visual Studio? Which Version? I'm downloading "Windows Mobile 6 SDK Refresh Kit" at this time. How do I proceed? Is there any sample code? I'm not looking for a huge file. I would like a quick success. Maybe I'll go into some more detail: Basically I want a fully transparent plugin, 480 x 480 px. Users should be able to move their finger from the center in 8 directions and the plugin will then launch the program associated with that direction. That's it. I hope you can help me with this. By the way, I have used the search function and I have found some threads and followed most links I encountered but it's not up to date or not what I want, so frogive me for posting another thread.

hi,
First of all, you can't use .NET Compact Framework for Today Plugin development. It has to be C++ native code AFAIK because it's a .dll - you can't have managed code DLLs.
You need Visual Studio with Smart Device Project support. I'm using VS 2008 Professional, because that's the only version that has it. Standard, Express etc doesn't have that.
You'll need that WM 6 SDK you're already downloading.
Visual Studio has a very nice Device Emulator if you don't have a device to use, but you need to download device emulator images with windows mobile 6. It's somewhere on MSDN in separate package.
I don't have any experience in today plugin development, but I'm sure you'll find a lot of resources and articles about it on:
- http://msdn.microsoft.com
- http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/smartdevicedevelopment
- http://codeproject.com

You could start off by reading the sticky!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=445396

ather90 said:
You could start off by reading the sticky!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=445396
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I DID see this thread, but I don't want to search download install and configure 20 apps out of which I only need 2 for my purpose. Thanks to grzegorzaksamit for the information. I will organize VS 2008 then. Any other help regarding the actual development is highly appreciated!

Firefall! said:
I DID see this thread, but I don't want to search download install and configure 20 apps out of which I only need 2 for my purpose. Thanks to grzegorzaksamit for the information. I will organize VS 2008 then. Any other help regarding the actual development is highly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is an example in either the WM5 or WM6 SDK.