01-29-2003, 10:00 AM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,177
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SYWARE Visual CE: Powerful & Flexible Application Building
Darren Humphries (Dazz) is a Senior Account Manager at Opensoft Inc and a frequent Pocket PC Thoughts visitor. Darren has written a review of SYWARE Visual CE 7.0, an application development tool which is very simple to use yet very powerful. Check it out!
If you are a wannabe-coder but don't know where to start or even if you are a code jockey you should take a look at Visual CE from SYWARE. For those that don't know, Visual CE has been around for quite a while and can pretty well be considered the grand-daddy of database and development environments for Windows CE. SYWARE, who has recently released version 7.0, has built on an already flexible and powerful RAD (Rapid Application Development) solution. I have had a chance to use with it and am impressed.
Visual CE Building Blocks
To build your app you start by building a table and then build a form based on that table. Building forms is a fairly simple drag-and-drop affair. The complexities of your application are at the form level and not table. There are a number of field types to add functionality to your app. The field types include:- Text - any combination of characters and numbers.
- Note - basically a large text field.
- Checkbox - ummm�checkbox.
- Drop down - tapping on field will show choices to select. User can add items or you can have the field select items from another table.
- Radio button - shows multiple item where you can only select one.
- Calculated - VERY powerful calculations (more later).
- Scribble - allows handwriting and drawings.
- Timestamp - will populate a date field when activated.
- Image - any image including bmp, gif, jpg
- Autonumber - assigns incremental value to numeric field.
Further, you can add functionality using:- Command buttons - almost all menu functions and used for Macro language
- Jump - open another form to view/add related records.
- Lookup - pull value of a record from another table.
- Grids - like a list of related records from another table (like a sub form).
Your forms can have any combination of colors, layout and font styles. Synchronization is either through the desktop application or Activesync connection. Sync can be one or two way and multiple users can sync to one desktop/server. The real power of Visual CE is in its relational capabilities (not available in the Lite version). If you have worked with database design you will know all about this. Relational databases allow you to "relate" tables by associating fields in between them.
My Music Collection Catalogue
You can create an application that will catalogue your complete music collection. You could create tables for CD's, Tracks and Artists. Then create a form for each. On the CD form you can create a "jump" button to the Artist form and can create a grid (sub form) that will list all of the tracks on that CD. On the Artist form you can create a grid that shows all of the CD's for that Artist. By linking all of these forms with grids and buttons you end up creating your very own application. This really just scratches the surface of what Visual CE can do though. You can customize your forms with images. A rather big feature for me is the ability to develop on both the desktop and Pocket PC. I take the train to work everyday and when I am not reading I am able to build and customize forms. With the Enterprise version you can access server databases wirelessly using SYWARE's mEnable.
The following images are screen shots from applications built using Visual CE!
Figure 1: Custom built Contacts application
Figure 2: It�s very easy to link forms together
Extensibility for Enterprise
Visual CE also allows interaction with other devices such as bar code scanners and GPS units. Using a bar code scanner and mEnable a company could equip warehouse employees with the ability to quickly take stock and compile orders. For you developer types who would like very much to snub your noses at Visual CE...you'd better take another look. Visual CE includes a Macro ability of sorts by daisy chaining command buttons together. If-then-else logic statements are possible as well and when combined with the Macro's ability to skip steps a fairly complex application and comprehensive solution is possible. I can't stress enough how powerful the calculation field is. You haveto see it to believe what is possible. The usual arithmetical functions are there of course but then you can use a huge variety of advanced calculation functions like sums, averages, high/lows, truncate, sin, cos, tangent, etc. Calculations can also be based on dates with some interesting goodies like showing the month name after a date calculation and a bunch of other things.
Did I mention that you can distribute your application royalty free? Yep, with the Professional version includes a license to distribute without any licensing fees to your users. Be careful if you want to build a fairly complex app, make sure you read the user manuals carefully. Also, I had a few problems in getting my databases to sync because of the field properties not being set properly in Microsoft Access. These are not the fault of Visual CE, rather an over-enthusiastic jumping-in on my part.
Gotchas
None - this is a solid and highly refined application.
Where To Buy
You can buy SYWARE's Visual CE in the following editions (affiliate links):While the prices might seem a little steep to some it isn't too bad. For most people the Lite version will handle most chores. The Personal version with all of the functionality of the Professional version has all you could need to develop complex applications for yourself and with the Professional version you can redistribute at no cost. The Enterprise version would also be considered fairly inexpensive for corporations, especially when compared with other development tools and per seat licensing agreements.
Conclusions
As mentioned, I have found Visual CE 7.0 to be very capable and comprehensive. If you're looking to build simple or complex applications, SYWARE Visual CE is an excellent choice.
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01-29-2003, 12:46 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 309
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How easy is to create a little DB aplication, (To organize my book collection) using this program? I�m not a programer at all, but i can do little things (like creating a DB viewer) on visual basic. And can that be done with the lite version? All i want is a little DB that i can sync with my desktop.
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01-29-2003, 03:02 PM
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Theorist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 287
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No problem mv. You can create a table and form fairly easily. The lite version will do the job quite nicely. Also, it's dead simple to do. No programming involved.
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01-29-2003, 03:04 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 18
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What's the performance like? Is it pretty snappy or a little sluggish?
I am using SprintDB, and while I really like the tools, the databases as a whole are pretty slow. Loading time is the biggest hurdle. Once the forms are loaded, it's not too bad, but it has almost deterred me from using it.
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ShaunMotorola Q w/*1gig mini sd
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01-29-2003, 03:14 PM
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Theorist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 287
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I hear ya paqguy. Performance can be a problem if your form loads a lot of info on launch.
Fortunately there are a lot of things you can do to speed up your forms. Fields that pull info from other tables or tally info from that table on each launch will slow things down. Make sure you don't have too many of these on each form.
Also, splitting your forms up will help. When you build forms they can be much larger than the actual screen size and you build navigation buttons to move around the form. It is much better to create separate forms with link buttons to each other. Will increase the speed.
If you design for app right speed does not end up being a big factor.
Also, the list view can get bogged down. With huge tables it can be slow. Simply limit the number of fields showing in the list.
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01-29-2003, 05:15 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 18
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Great, thanks for the detail! I guess I'll give it a test drive.
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ShaunMotorola Q w/*1gig mini sd
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01-29-2003, 11:38 PM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 566
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Syncing with Access
Though I hate to plug another site  , PocketNow did a pretty comprehensive review of db apps available at the time approx a yr ago. And Visual CE (I believe it was in v6 at the time) was included in the review.
As I recall, it pretty much would have been the hands down winner of that review except for one annoying 'feature'. Now, I'm trying to recall this 'feature' from my not always so trusty memory, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Visual CE was only capable of syncing with one Access db on the desktop pc. I.e., one could develop 5 different dbs on the PPC, but if we wanted to sync them with Access on the desktop, all 5 had to go into the same desktop db. I'm *reasonably* sure that was the limitation only because I questioned the reviewer about it at the time. Given all the nice features that existed in that version at the time, this one limitation really struck me as a showstopper.
*IF* I have recalled all the above correctly, can anyone tell me if this has changed?
Thanks!
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-= Sass =-
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01-30-2003, 12:07 AM
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Theorist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 287
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Nothing wrong with your memory SassKwatch. You are right in that you can only sync with one db. That might be a problem for developers and power users but for most users of apps built using Visual CE it won't be a problem. Remember that this has nothing to do with the Access DB's you sync through Activesync. It is ONLY for those you are using the built-in Visual CE syncing software. If you have multiple DB's just use Activesync.
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01-30-2003, 04:58 AM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 566
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Dazz
...Remember that this has nothing to do with the Access DB's you sync through Activesync. It is ONLY for those you are using the built-in Visual CE syncing software......
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Oh, that's a distinction I'd missed....and certainly changes my thinking about the app in a big way.
Now I need to go back and review the features available in each level of the product.
Thanks!
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-= Sass =-
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01-30-2003, 07:48 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 1,185
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Anyone know if there is a trial version of the Personal version that I can monkey around with before shelling out $130?
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Linear Mode
