Multi-Device Development

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032266503&amp;Culture=en-US">http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032266503&amp;Culture=en-US</a><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/hansberry/webcast.gif" /><i>"Software designers have been urged to break applications into multiple tiers as in three-tier (UI, application logic and data) or n-tier development in order to reduce the coupling between major application sub-systems. Many application designers assume there will always be a single UI tier. Is this an outdated assumption since applications like Microsoft Outlook run on multiple devices such as desktops, Microsoft Windows Mobile-based PocketPCs, SmartPhones and Web browsers? What are the implications for designing multi-device applications? Can code be reused across devices? Martin Schray will share his experiences developing two applications that run on the desktop, PocketPC and SmartPhone using Web services."</i><br /><br />It is on January 5 at 11am Pacific time (-8GMT) and lasts one hour. You need to register so don't wait until the last minute. I think it also requires a small software download.

[Foo Fighter]

"We’re sorry, due to the popularity of this event, registration is currently closed. Please search for another event."

:grumble:

[Kirkaiya]

:cry:

That sux - I guess this is a hotter topic for developers that I thought. Mobile app and multi-platform dev is definitely a "buzz" topic right now, especially since the .NET framework is available in it's various forms on Windows desktop OS, Server OS, Pocket PC, and SmartPhone, and even the "embedded" version (which will supported by that .netCPU chipset module).

I really need to upgrade from my iPaq 1915 to something with either BT, WiFi, or both (I want to start playing with writing network-aware apps...)

*sigh*

[Jimmy Dodd]

Many application designers assume there will always be a single UI tier. Is this an outdated assumption...

I'd say it is more of an incorrect assumption, rather than an outdated one.

One of the chief benefits of using a tiered design has been to allow for replacing a single tier without affecting the other tiers. This is nohing new, as developers have been doing this all along. Personally, I have been doing this for ten+ years, first with code targeting various unix boxes (using X and curses libs), then with Win32 and X, and now with Windows and CE.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. :wink:

[Kirkaiya]

I've done a fair amount of software development, though mostly in the Windows world, and prior to the advent of the web, there really was generally only a single UI tier for most Win32 developers (that is, for a typical 3-tier app, the developer assumed that the UI was going to be windows forms, if you were targeting windows).

There were definitely exceptions (like game designers targeting different consoles), and I haven't done any desktop or enterprise software dev on Unix.

In any case, I think the main reason for n-tier designs isn't to swap out different UIs completely, but to decouple the tiers so that different teams could work on different parts of the app without driving over each other, and to isolate business logic so changes in one tier (say, replacing a smaller file database with Oracle, or updating the UI) wouldn't break the other tiers.

Anyway - I do agree that most developers are at least familiar with having to re-work some application to support a web-UI; a lot of content-management systems, and other enterprise apps (including SAP) added a web-based UI.

Somedays I think that eventually all apps will be running on servers, and we'll all have thin clients with tons of bandwith and the UI tier will spit out whatever UI is needed (ASP.NET does this already for desktop vs. mobile browsers).

[Phillip Dyson]

One of the chief benefits of using a tiered design has been to allow for replacing a single tier without affecting the other tiers. This is nohing new, as developers have been doing this all along. Personally, I have been doing this for ten+ years, first with code targeting various unix boxes (using X and curses libs), then with Win32 and X, and now with Windows and CE.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. :wink:

I complete agree. The 3-tier mantra (eventually replaced by n-Tier) has been going on for the 10 years that I've been doing software development. I guess that since the Mobile platform has brought with it a new set of developers, it seems new to many of them. Much to the delight of consulting companies who charge for their "cutting edge" consulting. :roll:

[kennyg]

Actually it if were just the form factor, you could try to target mutliple devices with a single application, it is really FAR from that simple. I've done device development for over 10 years (remember when laptops were "devices"?).

The problems that are more interesting are in application usage/form factor and in data connectivity.

Form factor often dictates a very different application usage pattern. Can you imagine (in the general case) using an application the same way on a PC and a smartphone? Or even on a smartphone versus a Pocket PC? Input methods and screen sizes often dictate what UI implementations are practical. Portable devices, more often than not, are used for data collection, transmission and display and the type of data collected can also dictate which devices are even usable. PCs are still delagated to analysis and data receiving tasks and server connectivity (when the device is not capable of it).

The data side can also completely change the design of an N-Tier solution. Almost NO N-Tier designs I've seen would work in a disconnected (or how about semi-connected) environment and in general they shouldn't, since MOST corparate applications have no need to be completely disconnected. That's changing a little bit, but largely it still isn't all that interesting to have a single application across multiple device types. When devices are part of a solution, they generally have pieces that are defined just for that roll, as opposed to having mutiple device types having the same job.

Kenny.

[Ed Hansberry]

It seems they opened more slots. Register away!