Need information for developping on pocket pc

Hi,


One of my customer uses a simple VB.NET application running on WinXP using an MS Access database.
It is mostly a form on which the user only has to check or uncheck things and few times type in some short information. The he saves that and it is inserted in an MS Access database table.

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The person using my application asked me if it was possible to reproduce the same application but to run on a Pocket PC.

All I know (all I think I know) is that on a Pocket PC it is running WinCE. I don't know if there is an embedded version of .NET or I have to do it in VB6. I know there is a Pocket Access database which I could use.

My main questions are ... what software do I have to buy to develop that for Pocket PC?

emBedded Visual Basic ? Versions?
Pocket Access ?

Anyone can give me some advice for what development tools to use?

Thanks.

I read a little during the last few hours.

It seems using .NET ( Smart Device Application ) project is what I need to make a VB.NET application for Pocket PC.


But I have VB.NET Standard at the moment and it does not include that kind of project. Anyone have a workaround for this? Is it possible to buy a package that would add this to my .NET product.

The Compact Framework.Net/Smat Device Application is only available with Visual Studio Pro.

Embedded Visual Basic is tools are free to download, eVB was the precdessor of CF.Net. However MS are saying the eVB will no longer be supported on WinCE 5.0 upwards. Also MS no longer provide support for eVB, so if your aiming at programming for an older device stick with eVB as its free

Pocket Access is used with eVB but in CF.Net you now have free licence to SQL Server CE so you can use that instead as you will need get 3rd party tools to read from pocket access in CF.Net

Im sure you could upgrade to Visual Studio Pro for not too much extra.

Upgrading is the way to go. eVB, including all the faults Strider mentioned, is not truly VB6. Instead, it is VBScript, which has relatively little to recommend it in my opinion.

Once you go to .NET CF, you will be able to use most of .NET with which you are familiar. Some controls, and some features, are not available for the CF, but few of them will be critical.

SQL Server CE is a much nicer way to deal with database issues than Pocket Access was, and it even has it's own namespace, so performance should be slightly optimized (over using the OleDB namespace as you would for Access).

However, once you start into developing for a PDA, you will find that you need to pretty much re-think and re-write the program. The problem is that on a PDA you need to avoid EVER typing if you possibly can. You also have so little screen area that dividing things up into multiple smaller bites is far better than cramming loads of controls onto an interface. This re-design will change the look and feel of the program completely.

Lastly, you will find that multiple forms have issues: They take noticeable time to load. There are two ways to get around this that I am aware of. One is to load them all on startup so that they are always there. The other, and the one that I prefer, is to have multiple panels on a single form. Put controls in the panels, and swap the panels in and out of the view area as needed (most of the form will be off the edge of the screen). This is both fast, and pretty easy to maintain.

Shaggy u maybe able to answer this for me.

How far backwards compatible is .Net CF? I've developed eVB for PPC2002, and i've moved to developing for WIN CE 4.0 upwards.

I think that .Net will work on the 2002 if you install some extra cabs on the device, but not fully sure on this. Is it the same for PPC2000?

Thanks for your inputs guys.

I guess I will have to upgrade to VS.NET Pro then to have to develop a Smart Device Application Project.

Last thing.

Should I wait & go with VS.NET 2005 PRO or VB.NET 2003 PRO is still the version to buy at this time.

Thanks again.

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Originally Posted by Strider

Shaggy u maybe able to answer this for me.

How far backwards compatible is .Net CF? I've developed eVB for PPC2002, and i've moved to developing for WIN CE 4.0 upwards.

I think that .Net will work on the 2002 if you install some extra cabs on the device, but not fully sure on this. Is it the same for PPC2000?

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I can't help with that. I got into it too recently to have any experience with older OS versions.

If you can afford to wait for 2005, I'd say that you should. 2003 is really quite nice, but 2005 will be a significant change. The release date is supposed to be in November, and I expect it will be met. Therefore, it is only a couple of months off. You can still get the Beta2 version if you want.

The reason I would go with 2005 is that there will be real changes from 2003 to 2005. If you do much with 2003, you will probably want to convert at some future point, and the conversion may be more painful than waiting for two months.

is there really gonna be that much of a diff between 2003 and 2005.
have you got any good links to articles on it.

do you think there will really be that much code changes to get it to work for 2005

I fear that there will be. There are plenty of folks in the .NET forum that have been working with both. 2005 has some nifty features. Supposedly, you can make simple edits without re-starting the debugger (as you could do in VB6). That alone would be nice.

However, I have not gotten a clear answer as to how much change the code will make between the two. Some people have said that converting code does not work very well. This suggests to me that the changes will be significant.

I guess I'll know in about two months.