general architecture...

[Terry Mulvany]

greetings,

we are thinking of extending our winforms app to allow certain data to be
entered via a handheld.
i am assuming that the starting point is to write our front end app that
runs on the compact framework, the question is can i use visual studio.net
2003 to do this?

now we have to have the app retrieve/commit data to/from sql server via a
wireless connection. would web services the best way to do this, one that
gets and one that accepts a dataset, yes?
kind of out of scope of this board but we like dells [reseller] and see
their axim x3 but only see wireless lan access. is it as easy as getting a
peripheral wireless modem? if so, any recommendations? also with wireless
being so unreliable is it difficult to make sure that all data gets back to
sql server? probably something we would implement in the accepting web
service, no?

all input and suggested readings are greatly appreciated.

thanks everyone.

 

[Girish NS]

Hi,

you can create .NET CF on VS.NET 2003 with smart device extensions.

Regarding retrieve/commit data to and from sql server u can go for 3
approaches
1. Merge Replication feature offered by SQL Server CE (works only with
SQL Server as remote DB)
2. Remote Data Access feature offered by SQL Server CE (works only with
SQL Server as remote DB)
3. Web Services / XML RPC (you can make it work with any DB)

Here are some of links which might be useful to u in deciding which approach
best suits you.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnppcgen/html/devmobfaq.asp
(Developing applications for Windows Mobile FAQ)
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...en/html/connecteddotnetppcapps.asp?frame=true
(Developing connected .NET Pocket PC applications using Web services)
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...us/dnppcgen/html/arch_serv_res.asp?frame=true
(Architecting Server Resources for Efficient Smart Client Consumption)
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d.../use_thread_async_web_services.asp?frame=true
(Use Threading with Asynchronous Web Services in .NET Compact Framework to
Improve User Experience)

HTH,
Girish.