Forward Pass RAD Tool - Now Free

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.forwardpass.com/' target='_blank'>http://www.forwardpass.com/</a><br /><br /></div>Forward Pass is a scripting/development tool for Pocket PCs. You can design forms on the device itself, and can write out scripts using VBScript and JScript. <br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/parekh-20040213-ForwardPass.gif" /><br /><br />Last week, the company decided to stop selling the product, but instead of just shelving it like many companies do, they decided to give it to the community!<br /><br />"We regret to announce that we are discontinuing sales of Forward Pass for Pocket PC. For a number of reasons, and after much discussion, we have decided that is necessary for us to concentrate on other parts of our business. Effective immediately, the product will no longer be sold. Instead, we will make it available as freeware. We will continue to support existing users of the product through at least August of this year."<br /><br />It's sad to hear that it won't be an officially-supported channel for the developers that need it, but if you're a hobbyist looking to get your feet wet in a development solution, free can't hurt. 8)

[PPCRules]

This is a really good product. I bought it last year, and have been quite impressed by how developed it is, realizing the sales volume must be quite low. It had very little visibility (no mention on PPCT when I checked last year); I stumbled across it on Handango, and couldn't really find any user reports on it before buying.

At the new price, it's a must try for anyone who has wanted to dabble, or more, in application development on the PocketPC. Who knows, maybe them stopping development and support, and offering it free, could be a great thing for the PPC community (at least, maybe some price pressure for the other development options).

[Jason Dunn]

It had very little visibility (no mention on PPCT when I checked last year)

If developers or others don't submit it, we can't post on it - it's impossible to keep up with every single application that is released. :wink:

[PPCRules]

Sorry, Jason, I didn't mean it that way (maybe I shouldn't have done that underline). It's just that out of all the people who frequent the site, no one had made any mention of it. After using it myself, I was going to mention it to Andy, but I never got around to it.

[jasonc]

Whoohoo! I've been wanting to get my hands on this application for some time now. I downloaded the trial version and created several applications with it until my trial ended, but I could never bring myself to dish out the dough for it. Now I don't have to! It's just a shame that they're not going to support it.

It would be nice if they would allow someone else to continue to develop and support it.

Jason

[cyclwestks]

I had purchased this when it was $39 about a year ago, & when I seen they'd changed it to freeware, it sounded like a really good deal to do some hobby developing anyway. In the yahoo group many are hoping they'll turn it over to open source.

[Robb Bates]

Alright!

I've been looking for a quick and dirty programming package. Someone mentioned this to me in a previous thread and I almost bought it last week. But now I won't have to. :D

This is one thing that I think EVERY computer should have built in. Some kind of quick programming ability. That's why I always liked the old school 8 bit computers. C=64, Atari 800 and the TS1000. Ah, the good old days!

Robb

[Ripper014]

Ok.. now I have question is there a Reference Manual for this product other than the on-line one... I would like to have something I might be able to download and printout...

Something like a pdf or doc file...

[Robb Bates]

Perhaps we can beg them to support it for just a while longer until they can get it wrapped up nicely for the community.

Or maybe they would be kind enough to pass the source code on to someone.

Here's (http://www.forwardpass.com/manual/guide.htm) an HTML version that someone can pull off and package.

Robb

[Busdriver]

If you go to the ForwardPass Yahoo group page and click on ForwardPass files you can download the manual and install it on your PPC. But it will still be in HTML format.

[Ripper014]

Yes I found this but there is a lot to pull off... I was just wondering if it had been packaged already...

[yildi]

Hi,

I have converted the manual to PDF. It is now on the Yahoo group's file chest:

http://f4.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/8KxAQJIuigKwTt0MOqslmsYk8l2KRNzOa9VCCCHGR-kJbq4rLHQJR4k7T0CAdi2Nyf4jjhfRpqWk3jL0Wzbf_rAt-Q/ForwardPassHelpx1.pdf

This is really a marvelous product, very easy to learn if you have programmed in any modern language (C, Java,Php, JavaScript...) and quite simple to learn even if you have never programmed... It is quite amazing that it is free.... The commercial version was much cheaper than Visual CE, NBasic and other similar systems, it is difficult to understand why it has not ended by dominating this niche... It is a pity... Now that it is free, I do not hesitate du publicize it.... :boohoo:

Murat

[rocky_raher]

I have used Forward Pass for some time, and really love it!

Unfortunately, over the weekend I upgraded my Samsung SPH-i700 from 2002 to Windows Mobile 2003. Now when I try to open an application I wrote (or a few of Forward Pass's sample programs), I get "Error: 0x80040154 (Cannot open VBScript)."

Apparently WM2003 doesn't include VBSript. I searched Microsoft's website, hoping for a download which would install VBScript. I found some links for installing VBScript to a desktop, none for a PPC.

Forward Pass's website states that FP can use either VBScript or Javascript. Is there any way to convert an application from VBScript to Javascript?

I will keep searching for a solution, but if any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.

[rocky_raher]

I have a partial answer. I checked Forward Pass's FAQ: "With Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC, the VBSscript.dll was removed from ROM. In older Pocket PC devices, this dll was in ROM. If you load the vbscript.dll to the WM2003 device and register it -- it's a COM component -- then you will be able to use it as a language in Forward Pass."

I've located an ARM version of vbscript.dll (I have Windows CE tools installed on my desktop). [Hmmm...Because the i700 came with 2002 installed, this dll should be in ROM already. I can't find it using Windows Explorer. Is there some trick to looking at ROM files in Explorer?]

Next question: How do I register a COM component?? I know that, on a desktop, you run regsvr32 from the command line. What is the equivalent on a PPC?

TIA!

[rocky_raher]

Next question: How do I register a COM component?? I know that, on a desktop, you run regsvr32 from the command line. What is the equivalent on a PPC?

After a little more research, I found an item in these forums by PhMajerus, (Philippe Majerus, Microsoft MVP). He said that components are registered using regsvrce.exe. I found this program in Windows CE tools, and it registered vbscript.dll for me. Thank you, PhMajerus!!

Now I have a new problem. After registering vbscript, I tried to run my Forward Pass application. It complained that "ADOCE Resource DLL '\Windows\msdaerEN.dll' is not installed in this system." I found a copy in Windows CE Tools, copied it to the i700 and registered it. When I re-ran my application, I got this message:
"\Windows\msdaren.dll was loaded, but the DllRegisterServer entry point was not found.
DllRegisterServer may not be exported, or a corrupt version of \Windows\msdaeren.dll may be in memory.
Consider using PView to detect and remove it."

I'll try looking for other versions of msdaren.dll, but what is PView and where can I find it?

[rocky_raher]

The problem was that WM2003 does not include ADOCE, the old database API's.

After a little more search of the forums, I found a post by pivo, dated June 18, 2003, in the Software forum, topic "Dell and Pocket PC 2003," in which he gives the url on Microsoft's site for the download of eMbedded Visual Basic Runtime for 2003, which includes ADOCE. The url he gave was redirected to http://msdn.microsoft.com/mobility/...loads/evb.aspx. It provides a cab file with the needed drivers.

Thank you, pivo!!!

_________________

[ngr777]

Hola.

Necesito un manual de referencia para vbscript.
Tambien algunos ejemplos de aplicacones en vbscript realizadas en ForwardPass.
Donde puedo ver algo?

Gracias.

Saludos.

NGR

[Janak Parekh]

Necesito un manual de referencia para vbscript.
Tambien algunos ejemplos de aplicacones en vbscript realizadas en ForwardPass.
Lo siento (para mi mal Espanol -- no la practico para muchos anos -- y por el respuesto), pero no creo que hay manuales para VBScript con ejemplos de ForwardPass. Si usted va a el sitio web de ForwardPass ahora, no puede descargar el programa -- no existe mas. :(

Si usted necesita solo un manual de VBScript, puede comprar uno en Amazon.

Buena suerte!

--janak

[ngr777]

Hola, Janak Parekh.

Primero: gracias por la amable respuesta.
Segundo: su español muy bien. ¡Bravo!. Mi ingles es tan malo que no me atrevo a escribirlo aunque si puedo leerlo (sorry).

Tercero: por otra fuente me entero de que si se puede consultar todavia el manual de ForwardPass si se escribe "http://www.forwardpass.com/manual.htm", aunque solo on line.
Me gustaria poder tenerlo off line en la PDA.

Los manuales de vbscript que encuentro estan orientados a programar en entorno HTML pero no son buenos para programar directamente en una PDA.

Gracias de nuevo. Un cordial saludo.

ngr777

[Janak Parekh]

Segundo: su español muy bien.
:oops: Muchas gracias, pero no asi es. ;) Necesito un diccionario (http://www.spanishdict.com) mucho ahora, he olvidado casi todo. :P

Mi ingles es tan malo que no me atrevo a escribirlo aunque si puedo leerlo (sorry).
Usted sabe que existe un sitio web TodoPocketPC.com (www.todopocketpc.com) que es totalmente en Espanol, si? Nuestro sitio es solamente in Ingles, y los otros editores no saben Espanol ninguna. Yo conoce a algunos de los administradores de TodoPocketPC, y son muy comodo. Sugiero que usted lo visitaria.

Me gustaria poder tenerlo off line en la PDA.
Es buena pregunta, y desgraciadamente es muy dificil porque tiene "marcos''. Puede guardar los paginas uno por uno, pero esto necesita mucho tiempo. Es posible que puede usar un "programa" de replicas -- lo busca en Google?

Los manuales de vbscript que encuentro estan orientados a programar en entorno HTML pero no son buenos para programar directamente en una PDA.
Si, no son utiles. :(

Gracias de nuevo. Un cordial saludo.
Y buena suerte en copiarlo! (Otro idea: puede contactar a los disenadores de ForwardPass y preguntan si tendrian un manual en PDF?)

--janak

[ngr777]

Hello, people and Janak Parekh.

Gracias por las sugerencias. Muy acertadas.

Si conozco TodoPocketPc, es una de mis paginas habituales, alli conoci ForwardPass.

No pretendo que nadie se sienta obligado a responderme en español, ni mucho menos. Me encanta leer otros post en ingles de los que tambien aprendo cosas.

La pagina de ForwardPass ha cambiado profundamente. Creo que quieren dejar a un lado todo lo referente al lenguaje de programacion.

Saludos.

NGR777