New to mobile programming, please help.

[SKM]

Hello,

Up to now I have only written programs using VB6 for use on desktop PC's and laptops. I have now been asked to convert my program so it will work on a PDA.

How do I go about this, can PDA programs be written in Visual Basic 6 ?
What else do I need to know ?

I'm new to PDA's so any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Steve.

[Shaggy Hiker]

The only thing that comes close to VB6 for a PDA is eVB, but don't get too excited about this. eVB uses VBScript rather than true VB, which is considerably worse. For one thing, you can call things longs, strings, integers, whatever, but they are ALL variants, no matter what you call them. Of course, you can live with this, but you lose all type safety. You also have many less options for controls and behavior.

It was largely because of these limitations that I moved from VB6 to .NET for PDA programming. After doing a few programs in the Compact Framework for PDAs, I decided I liked .NET so much that I switched entirely and have no desire to ever return to VB6. So beware, the move to .NET could begin here.

Unlike VB6 which has the horrid eVB for PDA programming, .NET has a stripped down, full-fledged version called the CF for PDA programming. If you know .NET, then the CF is simply a reduced set of the same thing, and the transition is relatively simple. If you are willing to go this way, it is MUCH advised.

As for moving a desktop program to a PDA, there is one difference which looms over all the rest: That screen is TINY!!!! I've done a couple PDA versions of desktop programs, and it is not simple to do it even moderately well. The difficulty is ENTIRELY due to the small screen. Figuring out how to get the functionality you want with the limitted screen area can be quite tricky. In general, I was making data entry programs, and I ended up with something like a wizard solution, where there was a Next and Back button, with the various items lumped to gether however they fit best, and several screens to enter what could be entered with only one screen before.

The other thing you get to deal with, though it really isn't all that bad, is the slow speed of loading forms. To get around this, put all your controls on panels, and change the Top property of the panels so that only the one you want is visible, while the others are off the screen. Swapping panels into the view pane is nearly instantaneous, while loading forms takes measurable time.

Well, that's a start. If you are willing to go to .NET, there are other items, whereas if you are sticking with eVB.....good luck.

[si_the_geek]

I'd go even further, and say don't even give eVB serious thought - I've used it and it was very poor (even the 15 minutes or so I played with .Net CF showed huge improvements), and of course there is the big problem of it being unusable on newer devices (only supported on OS's up to 2002).

For extra info about both options (and useful downloads), see this article from our FAQs.

[easymoney]

Seems I am starting about where you are at...

From what i can tell so far from the last week of tryingt to learning mobile apps, you will need a few things. You can check around, but seems pretty common for the follow items, among others.

1. Visual Studio 2005 (ide)
2. Compact Framework
3. SQLServerCE (db)
4. Windows Mobile Developer Resource Kit (windows mobile emulators, etc)
   

... and more

Here is one of my threads, just exploring so don't laugh

http://vbforums.com/showthread.php?t=458165

[SKM]

Thanks to all who replied to my post.

Looks like I need to change to .Net, hope its not too expensive as I only do this as a hobby, also hope its not to difficult to learn as I'm getting on a bit and my brain isn't what it used to be.

Thanks again and I hope you will be able to help in the future as I'm sure I will need it.

Thanks,
Steve

[easymoney]

You can download the 90 day Trial version of Visual Studio 2005 from Microsoft. Most of the other software is free, although.

That way you can get your feet wet first...

[Strider]

hello there i created a thread for newcommers to the Compact Framework.... check it out below http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.php?t=409850

[easymoney]

hello there i created a thread for newcommers to the Compact Framework.... check it out below http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.php?t=409850

Thanks Strider... lots of good info...

[szlamany]

Looks like I'm about to join this club myself - I've been given a HP iPAQ and the task of downloading data from MS SQL into some form of DB on the iPAQ and then a little VB app to display that data.

From what I am hearing here using VS2005 is good for the app - right?

This thing seems so foreign to me I'm not sure where to even start!

[szlamany]

hello there i created a thread for newcommers to the Compact Framework.... check it out below http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.php?t=409850

Great thread - I'm going to start digesting all this info first!

Why is this in the FORUM TEST AREA??

Si - shouldn't that be moved before it's deleted!

[si_the_geek]

It wont be deleted - we don't delete any "real" threads there.

I can move it if wanted tho, the only alternative I can think of is this forum - but unfortunately not as a sticky, as it contains too many non-Internet.com links.

[Strider]

It wont be deleted - we don't delete any "real" threads there.

I can move it if wanted tho, the only alternative I can think of is this forum - but unfortunately not as a sticky, as it contains too many non-Internet.com links.

haha si... but whats a non-junpiter media link?

yeah si sure move it into this forum...

[si_the_geek]

I've moved it.

Internet.com is the company that owns this site, and lots of other computing based ones, including several that compete with the sites you linked to. A list can be found on our 404 page (notably the "Personal Technology" section).

We are quite restricted about what can be allowed in sticky threads, typically the only non-JM sites allowed are for official documentation (eg: an API definition at Microsoft.com).