Want to learn!

[cyber_alex]

Hi everyone!

I'm a VB programmer who wants to start building mobile applications.

I don't know very much about it...I haven't built a mobile application before and I don't have ant tools for it yet...I know I'm a n00b...

Plz help me get started! I'll reputate all of you who gives me a helping hand!

//Alex

[Shaggy Hiker]

Hopefully, when you sat VB, you mean .NET. If you are using VB6, your only option is eVB, which is a pretty poor alternative in my opinion (may not work on newer systems, too).

If you are using .NET, then working with the CF will be pretty familiar....and just a little bit frustrating. The CF is the full-blown .NET framework with a bunch of things chopped out to make it MUCH smaller. Generally, you can get around those obstacles, but they can really surprise you at times. The MSDN help will generally list features supported by the Compact Framework. Once you start noticing that, you will also start noticing how often that phrase is NOT there.

A couple general tips:

1) In VB, everything is forms. When you program for the CF, you will probably find that forms take an unreasonably long time to load (okay, only seconds, but that FEELS really long). If you search around on this forum, you will find two techniques to get around this. The one that I have posted a few times is to put all of your controls on a panel which is sized to the size of your screen. A program built this way has ONE form, which has a bunch of panels. Change the top of the panel to below the screen, and instead of showing a new form, just move the panel into the visible area. All the controls on the panel move with it, and moving a panel into the view area is VERY fast. It will appear instantaneous, whereas loading a form will not. There are other posts on this topic in this forum (many better written).

2) Come up with a project. Frankly, PDAs are cool, but they are never going to replace a desktop system. Input is awkward (try to NEVER require the user to type text, as that is particularly painful), and there is very little screen real estate, but if you can find something worth doing on a PDA, then they're great.

3) Better to use an actual device than an emulator, but if you don't have a device, then you're stuck with the emulator.

4) Dive on in.

[cyber_alex]

Tnx a lot.

Unfortunatly...I'm a VB6 programmer ...but I'm interessted in learning .NET if it's so much better for mobile applications.

How do I get started? What software do I need?

Are these eVB and CF that your talking about development platforms?

[Shaggy Hiker]

eVB can probably be obtained from MS still as a free download, but it is a weird thing, and it may not work on newer platforms. Look around here to see more about it. The advantage to it is that it will look and feel just like VB6....then you find out that it isn't.

There are many issues with eVB. One of the biggest is that everything is a variant. You can say that a variable is a string, or an integer, or whatever. The language won't complain about those designations, but it will simply ignore them. Go ahead and subtract two strings, there won't be any complaints. Assign the word "Blue" to an integer, then concatenate that integer onto a double with the value 5.3. The result will be "5.3Blue", and you can put that back in the integer, or a double, or wherever. Debugging can be fun!

When I first got into PDA programming a couple years ago, I started with eVB (it's free, and it's VB6 syntax, so I knew it). Eventually, the limitations started to drive me crazy. Therefore, I switched to the .NET CF (VB.NET 2003 at the time). I didn't know .NET, so I had no real difficultly with the limitations of the CF (I didn't know what I was missing, so I didn't miss it). .NET is different. The syntax is similar to VB6, but it isn't the same. There's that whole namespace thing, for one. However, I was working on a PDA, so the platform was totally new to me anyways, which made a new language feel a little more reasonable.

Once I got the hang of the .NET CF, I started into the full .NET, and now I have a hard time with VB6. I loved that language, and wrote hundreds of thousands of lines in it. Now I don't even want to maintain any of the existing programs, because I find VB6 so awkward to work in. Frankly, I find this amazing, but there are a few others on this forum that have related similar experiences. For me, it all began with my distaste for eVB driving me to pick up the .NET just because of the CF, so that I could program a PDA. Now look what it's done to me. I haven't even visited the Classic VB forum since I moved to .NET. I still remember VB6, I just don't care to deal with it.

There is a free version of VB.NET 2005, but it may not come with the CF or the emulator. Not having the emulator is no big deal if you have a hardware platform to target. The emulator is ok, but it is definitely inferior to using hardware for testing. If 2005 Express doesn't have the CF or the means to build mobile apps, then you will have to get a higher level version of the program.

However, that is all a secondary step. The first thing you need is an idea. What would you like to write? If you can answer that, you have taken the biggest step, in my opinion.

[AIS4U]

cyber alex:

The easiest way to build mobile apps that I have found is to use the
Mobile Internet Toolkit from Microsoft and C# in Visual Studio.

I have attached a Word doc that tells a little about the process.

I hope this information helps a little.

Good Luck

[cyber_alex]

okey, tnx...I'll read it

[cyber_alex]

I think I've decided to go on learning C#!
It's a powerful language. Think it can be really fun!
But which version of VS should I use? 2005?

[AIS4U]

cyber alex:

As a general rule it is usually best to use the latest version, so I would suggest 2005.

I use Visual Studio 2003 Enterprise Edition, but that is just because I don't want to spend the money to move up to 2005.

It really won't matter much because there isn't a lot of difference between the two. Just a few bugs removed and some minor changes.

The advantage to using 2003 might be that you could find someone selling their old 2003 on eBay or somewhere like that and save some money. If money isn't a consideration then I would go with 2005.

I think you will enjoy C#. And, once you learn C# you can easily learn the other dotNet languages. They are all very similar.

Good Luck

[Shaggy Hiker]

Since you have a background in VB, you might find VB.NET easier than C#. There is plenty of debate (mostly in the general languages forum) about which is better, but in most cases, they are about the same.

I've used 2003 exclusively, and it has worked well. 2005 probably has some advantages, but I can only assume that there will be a service pack out for it soon enough, because it sounds like there are plenty of items to fix. However, you don't hear all that much about bugs in 2005, so it's probably good enough. In either case, make sure you get a level high enough that it actually allows for mobile development.