Help! Need to print a report from a mobile device!

[Callon Campbell]

Hello,

My name is Callon Campbell. I'm designing/developing an
application that will use the .NET Framework and the .NET
Compact Framework. I haven't had any experience using the
Compact Framework, Remoting or Web Services.

Here is the situation. We're developing a .NET application
which is going to be running in a production environment.
We're going to have WinCE .NET devices along the
production line communicating to PLC machines, Pocket PC
2003 handhelds in our shipping department scanning
barcoded units and assigning them to shipments. We'll also
have have desktop PC's for reporting, maintenance, etc.

I've come across a problem in which I need to signal a
report (shipping manifest) to print after a shipper closes
a shipment. This needs to be done from a Pocket PC device.

As far as I know I can't generate the report on the
handheld so I'm thinking of having the report (Avtive
Reports for .NET by Data Dynamics) reside on a local mill
server. When the shipper closes the shipment via a button
for example on the handheld, I want the report to print to
a local (pre-determined printer) without any user
interaction.

I thought about using .NET Remoting but I quickly found
out that this isn't available on the .NET Compact
Framework, however Web Services are.

So I'm wondering if Web services will do the trick or
another solution.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
Callon

 

[Gabriele G. Ponti]

Hi,

My 2 cents: if you are building a load from the Pocket PC, and you save this
data somewhere (hopefully a SQL Server), then you can design the application
that runs in the office to check this queue for any new data and print
accordingly. If this office application is also to be used for other
purposes, create a low-priority thread to monitor the queue in background.

Another alternative would be running a Terminal Service session on the
Pocket PC?

Regards,

Gabriele

 

[Gabriele G. Ponti]

Hi,

My 2 cents: if you are building a load from the Pocket PC, and you save this
data somewhere (hopefully a SQL Server), then you can design the application
that runs in the office to check this queue for any new data and print
accordingly. If this office application is also to be used for other
purposes, create a low-priority thread to monitor the queue in background.

Another alternative would be running a Terminal Service session on the
Pocket PC?

Regards,

Gabriele