What to use for developing apps for XDA / MDA

[Johann Blake]

I'm rather confused on what developers are able to use for developing
applications running on mobile phones like the XDA or MDA where
Windows Mobile 2003 is the operating system.

Furthermore, what is the exact name of the operating system running on
these types of phones. I see people referring to it simply as "Windows
Mobile 2003" while others refer to it as "Windows Mobile 2003 Phone
Edition", and then I have even seen "Pocket PC 2003 Phone Edition".
Are these all referring to the same thing?

There is currently no documentation on Microsoft's website that
explicitly indicates what development tools are used for this
combination of operating system and type of phone. When I visit
Microsoft's website, they have an SDK for the SmartPhone. But from
reviewing documentation, an XDA or MDA is not considered a SmartPhone.
A SmartPhone has a keypad whereas the XDA and MDA use touch screens.
My logical guess was that this SDK is the development tool to use. But
after downloading and installing the SDK, the documentation states:

"User interaction with Smartphone is through the keypad; there is no
touch screen."

But that is exactly what these phones have. They only have touch
screens. So is that to imply that this is the wrong tool?

Can someone please clarify what tools are used to develop applications
for an XDA or MDA using Visual Studio.NET. I would like to develop
applications using C#.

Thank you for your help,
Johann Blake

 

[Peter Foot [MVP]]

The full name of the OS on the XDAII is Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PCs.
To develop using C# you will need Visual Studio .NET 2003 Professional (or a
higher edition). You can use this as-is and deploy applications to your
device. However you can also add the Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PCs SDK
which will give you some additional emulator images including a Phone
Edition emulator:-
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...14-0364-4623-9ede-0b5fbb133652&displaylang=en

Peter

--
Peter Foot
Windows Embedded MVP
www.inthehand.com | www.opennetcf.org

Do have an opinion on the effectiveness of Microsoft Windows Mobile and
Embedded newsgroups? Let us know!
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[Neville Richardson]

The XDA and MDA are PocketPCs, so hence should use the PocketPC 2003 SDKs.

I use:

EVC++ V3.0 (For some old apps)
EVC++ V4.2 (Is the newer version)

and for the latest development tools:

Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 (which has the Compact Framework which
covers all PocketPC, Smartphone and CE.NET devices).

I develop applications that run on Desktop, Smartphone and PocketPC with
some web shared code also. It's a pain under .net to share the code and
forms (dialogs) but it is possible.

Unfortunately it seems Microsoft have chosen to have the 2003 Studio not
allow C++.NET (the best language) to be used to develop for compact devices
so you need to use C# or VB.NET. C++ is still the real programmers language
and you may need to still develop some C++ under EVC as the compact
framework is missing lots of API calls.

Neville Richardson

 

[Chris Tacke, eMVP]

These are Windows Mobile 2003 Phone Edition, as opposed to Windows Mobile
2003 Pocket PC Edition - then there's the Second edition of that. Yes MS
marketing needs to be flushed and repopulated. Why they can't just call it
Pocket PC 2003 is way beyond me. The PPC Phone Edition is different, it's a
Pocket PC with a phone built in.

As for development tools, you can use eVC 4.0 for C/C++ or Studio 2003 Pro
for C# or VB.NET

-Chris

 

[Arne Hess [MS MVP]]

In addition to all the previous replies I would like to mention the Pocket
PC Developer Newsgroup as well you can find here:

microsoft.public.pocketpc.developer

Best Regards ~ Arne Hess

Publisher & Editor in Chief PPCW.Net
Where Mobility meets Wireless
Microsoft MVP - Mobile Devices

Pocket PC, Smartphone & GSM at http://www.ppcw.net
Technical Support at http://forum.ppcw.net
Get your long awaiting Smartphone and Phone Edition at http://shop.ppcw.net/

Before this E-Mail was sent, it was scanned with Norton 2003 AntiVirus
Professional Edition and should not contain any known Viruses or Worms!

 

[Johann Blake]

The PPC Phone Edition is different, it's a Pocket PC with a phone built
in.

That's funny but I thought it was a phone with a the Pocket PC built into
it. That is why I made the assumption that it was a "SmartPhone" and not a
Pocket PC with a phone.

 

[Peter Foot [MVP]]

The difference being that a Pocket PC Phone Edition is primarily a PDA with
phone functionality second. Whereas a Smartphone is primarily a phone device
with PDA functionality second.

Pocket PC Phone Edition is a superset of Pocket PC adding in functionality
for telephony, sms, etc. Smartphone is a different platform although it
shares many similar programming interfaces and applications.

Peter

--
Peter Foot
Windows Embedded MVP
www.inthehand.com | www.opennetcf.org

Do have an opinion on the effectiveness of Microsoft Windows Mobile and
Embedded newsgroups? Let us know!
https://www.windowsembeddedeval.com/community/newsgroups

 

[Neil Enns [MSFT]]

If you have the Beta 1 release of VS 2005 you can give this a try, too!

--
Neil Enns
Program Manager
Microsoft Visual Studio for Devices

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.