Book for eMbedded Visual C++

[Kati Compton]

I want to write programs for Pocket PC, and I want to use eVC, not eVB (which is what most new books seem to be about... :( )

I only want to buy one book, as I suspect that a new compiler environment will be available in less than 6 months.

Is there a particular book anyone here recommends? I would want it to discuss POOM (Outlook-interface) programming in addition to general how-to.

Also, if any of you know about a book that is *scheduled* for release any time soon, that would be nice. Everything I've found is from 2001 or earlier, so I don't know how much it covers things that might be new for Pocket PC 2002.

Thanks!

[Mike Temporale]

Sorry, I don't know of any books. I have seen some posted over at devbuzz.com (I know you said eVC, but they had a link to all books PPC a while back..)

The Compact Framework is set to be released in April of 2003. It will be included in the next version of Visual Studio .NET. Personally, I would wait for that, or download the beta from MS.

[Kati Compton]

Sorry, I don't know of any books. I have seen some posted over at devbuzz.com (I know you said eVC, but they had a link to all books PPC a while back..)

The Compact Framework is set to be released in April of 2003. It will be included in the next version of Visual Studio .NET. Personally, I would wait for that, or download the beta from MS.

I thought I read that the beta wasn't compatible with programming for the PocketPC...

[Mike Temporale]

According to the Microsoft Rep (read marketing guru) I talked to, they are planning to release a patch or update that will unlock your applications that where built using the beta. Of course, I imagine this means you must BUY Visual Studio .NET first.

[Kati Compton]

According to the Microsoft Rep (read marketing guru) I talked to, they are planning to release a patch or update that will unlock your applications that where built using the beta. Of course, I imagine this means you must BUY Visual Studio .NET first.

Ah.... Not on a grad student salary. I have my free (legit student) copy of Visual Studio 6, and the free download of the eVC to work with. I'm not likely to be paying for development tools just to write myself some utilities. :)

[ThomasC22]

Well, a few here...

This is the one that worked for me:

The Windows CE Technology Tutorial: Windows Powered Solutions for the Developer (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0201616424/ref=ase_jasondunn-20/002-7365350-4811255)

But it's old and it was a real pain, but had a LOT of info in it. I've heard good things about this book:

PocketPC Developer's Guide (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0072131500/ref=pd_sxp_elt_l1/002-7365350-4811255)

But I haven't tried it.

The last isn't an embedded VC++ book but depending on what type of app you want to develop it might be better for you. I've just finished reading it myself and found it very informative:

Flash Enabled (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0735711771/qid%3D1038334839/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/002-7365350-4811255)

Again, Flash might not be your cup of tea but for what it does it appears to do it alot easier than EVC++

Anyway, hope it helps!

[Kati Compton]

PocketPC Developer's Guide (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0072131500/ref=pd_sxp_elt_l1/002-7365350-4811255)

But I haven't tried it.



This is one of the closest I've seen to what I need. But it's still lacking in a number of topics, such as interfacing with Outlook (POOM) and such. Ideally I'd even like examples on how to get encryption working, as even the example in the Help file for eVC didn't work on the Pocket PC emulator (I'll try it on the real thing when it arrives just in case that's the problem).

Basically I've been fooling around with trying to program stuff, and each time I come up with something I want to do, there's a problem that I can't seem to find a good online resource for.

My "beginner" program ideas have been the following:

Simple theme-changer that just has (what I think would be) a better file selector than the built-in one. Problem: Can't find info on how to change the theme.

Simple password database that's encrypted and accessed with a single user password. Problem: Encryption example doesn't work on the Pocket PC emulator

So now I'll probably try a very basic shopping list program that lets you define potential items, add items from an item database to a list, clear the list, check off items. I should be able to do this one if the CE database stuff is reasonable. Otherwise I could just use a plain-text file. Improving this program will be a challenge in that in the long run I should learn the document/view structure which I know nothing about. (I'm NOT a Windows programmer - apart from fooling around a bit, all my programs have been console-based or on Unix).

I've found that the Code Project (http://www.thecodeproject.com/) site has been very helpful for interface issues when combined with the eVC help to let me know what of the CodeProject examples/source does and does not apply to CE.

But it's the things *beneath* the UI that are most of an issue for me at the moment... The internals of what one can actually do on a Pocket PC.

[ThomasC22]

Have you tried the MSDN site?

MSDN (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/)

It's helped me out a few times (not as useful as I'd like but still), but I do remember it listing API calls to Outlook and Theme changing (encryption your probably on your own)

[Kati Compton]

Have you tried the MSDN site?

MSDN (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/)

It's helped me out a few times (not as useful as I'd like but still), but I do remember it listing API calls to Outlook and Theme changing (encryption your probably on your own)

There is some help for Outlook, yes. For theme changing they say "there is no API for theme changing" and point you to their theme generator software. Big help. :P

The MSDN site seems to contain the same information that's in the Help menu....

[ThomasC22]

There is some help for Outlook, yes. For theme changing they say "there is no API for theme changing" and point you to their theme generator software. Big help. :P


Actually, on that I think you might be over complicating things a little. Themes are simply a file (I use Dashboard which is a little different but I'm pretty sure PPC Themes are .tsk files)...so, look at your current theme (or the zip files you got it out of more accurately) then use a Registry editor like Kilmist Registry Editor (http://www.ppc4you.com/show.cgi?softid=1838) to find those values. Then simply change those keys in the registry through your program and Presto!

[Kati Compton]

There is some help for Outlook, yes. For theme changing they say "there is no API for theme changing" and point you to their theme generator software. Big help. :P


Actually, on that I think you might be over complicating things a little. Themes are simply a file (I use Dashboard which is a little different but I'm pretty sure PPC Themes are .tsk files)...so, look at your current theme (or the zip files you got it out of more accurately) then use a Registry editor like Kilmist Registry Editor (http://www.ppc4you.com/show.cgi?softid=1838) to find those values. Then simply change those keys in the registry through your program and Presto!

Did that actually work for you? When I did that via the emulator (I wrote a program that let you select a theme and then it changed the registry entry to point to that theme), but nothing happened. Could be the emulator being buggy. But that was one of the first things I tried.

Maybe I'm just being stupid trying to code for a device that won't be shipped until Dec. 13th...

What DID work to change the picture (but not the pens/colors) was to copy over the .gif files in the Windows directory or whatever with those from a different .tsk (which is a renamed .cab file as far as I can tell), and then send a refresh-type signal from within a program (can't remember the name of it at the moment).

[ThomasC22]

Well, I use Dashboard and changing the themes on it is pretty easy but...if the .tsk files is just a cab file, have you tried decompressing the files and looking for those files names in the Registry?

[Kati Compton]

Well, I use Dashboard and changing the themes on it is pretty easy but...if the .tsk files is just a cab file, have you tried decompressing the files and looking for those files names in the Registry?

Hmmm.... I'd replied to this, but maybe I hit "preview" instead of "submit".

The files in the cab are always of the same name, and are the two .gif's in the Windows directory, one of them is something like tdywater.gif.