"Designed for Windows..." certification requirements ?

[Dale Shew]

One of the items in the "Designed for Windows for Pocket
PC Handbook for Software Applications" is "Required: Help
Systems Integrated with System TOC". Maybe I'm looking
for the wrong things or in the wrong places, but does
anyone know of a place that I can find information on
what the recommended method is to achieve conformance
with this requirement from the .NET Compact Framework
(C#)? Everything I've found so far refers to either
the .NET Framework on the desktop (but not included in
the Compact Framework) or refers to the eMbedded Visual
Tools. Any help or pointers would be greatly
appreciated. Thanks-
-Dale

PS. - Sorry about reposting this question, I just thought
this subject line was more descriptive and might solicit
more response.

 

[Peter Foot [MVP]]

Some of the requirements were relaxed to support .NETCF applications. One of
these is the requirement for a Help system which plugs into the Start > Help
menu. You can still use a Windows CE help file, and link your file to the
system's master contents list. This is achieved by placing a shortcut to
your help file in the \Windows\Help folder.

I looked at a few of the help options available to .NETCF programmers here:-
http://blog.opennetcf.org/pfoot/PermaLink.aspx/ffe0db6c-b354-4840-9af3-a71592475e5a

This article which pre-dates the Compact Framework is still relevant when
creating help files for .NETCF:-
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnppc2k2/html/WinCEHelp.asp

Peter

 

[Jon Pawley]

Dear Dale,

Maybe we are looking at different things, but I've got a copy of
"Designed for Windows Mobile (tm) Software Application Handbook for
Pocket PCs," dated August 2003. (This was handed to me by my boss, so
I don't know first hand exactly where it came from, but it must be on
MSDN somewhere...)

Anyway, in here (page 15 & 16) there is a list of exemptions for
applications built using .NET CF. And one of the exemptions is the
"Help Systems Integrated with System TOC."

So, as I read it, you don't need to integrate with the System TOC if
you are writing your app with .NETCF.

Problem solved?

Cheers,

Jon

 

[Dale Shew]

Thanks for your reply. So, if I'm understanding you correctly, you can
add a help file in such a way that it will be included in the system
help TOC, but in .NET CF, the only way to go directly to context
sensitive help is to add a link from the application itself. Which
would technically violate the requirements of the "Designed for..."
document. You said that the requirements have been relaxed for .NET CF.
Have these relaxed requirements been documented by Microsoft?

Frankly I'm stunned that what remains a requirement in the "Designed
for..." document dated August 2003, cannot be achieved from the .NET
Compact Framework.

If I'm misunderstanding either the requirements of the document or the
abilities of the .NET CF, please correct me.

Thanks-
-Dale

 

[Peter Foot [MVP]]

The Start > Help requirement has been relaxed for .NETCF v1.0 applications,
however this has not been officially documented to my knowledge. This is the
only missing piece of the puzzle as you can create the help file as before
and link it with the default TOC and call it from your software using the
CreateProcess API call which you will need to P/Invoke (or use a library
like OpenNETCF's WinAPI - www.opennetcf.org/winapi.asp). This will require a
certain amount of manual work preparing the help file and building a CAB
file with your application which deploys the help files to the appropriate
system folders - the same process as you would use for an eVC application.

Peter

 

[Dale Shew]

Jon, thanks, you're absolutely right. I misinterpreted that section of
the May 2003 document and when I didn't see those items in the "Summary
of Updates" section of the August 2003 document, I didn't bother to
re-read them in the new document. However, they had been changed, and
definitely are more clear that these rules do not apply to .NET CF.
Thanks.