WinCE 4.1 emulator integration with VS.NET

[MickeyBob]

I would like to launch the WinCE 4.1 emulator from within
VS.NET with a resolution other than 640x480. I have found
where I can supposedly specify the resolution (Tools,
Options, Device Tools, Devices and clicking Configure
button next to the Startup server combobox). However the
emulator always starts up with 640x480 resolution. I
suspect that VS.NET launches the emulator with a skin
that overrides any resolution I specify. I can run the
emulator from a command window using the /Video option
and get different resolutions so I tried starting the
emulator explicitly and attempted to deploy my
application from VS.NET to the already instantiated
emulator. However, VS.NET just opened a new instance of
the emulator with 640x480 resolution. Is there a way to
specify the command used by VS.NET to launch the emulator
or another work around? Any suggestions will be greatly
appreciated.

Tx,
MickeyBob

 

[Andrew Jenner [MS]]

Hi MickeyBob,

Is there a way to
specify the command used by VS.NET to launch the emulator
or another work around? Any suggestions will be greatly
appreciated.

You can turn off the skin by editing your C:\Documents and Settings\<user
name>\Local Settings\Application
Data\Microsoft\VisualStudio\devices\7.1\conman_ds_platform.xsl file,
locating the <xsl:element name="DEVICE"> node corresponding to the emulator
you want to change, and deleting the lines which look something like this:
<PROPERTY Name="Skin" ReadOnly="false" Protected="true">
</PROPERTY>
<PROPERTY Name="SkinEngine" UseRelativePath="true"
ReadOnly="true"
Protected="true">CompactFrameworkSDK\ConnectionManager\Bin\skin.dll</PROPERT
Y>

Then the emulator will launch without the skin, and the settings on the
Tools->Options page will work properly. Sorry this is rather un-user
friendly but skinning was added to Everett fairly late in the game. We're
working on better UI for this in the next version.

Hope that helps,

Andrew

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