Relationship between OS, SDK and .NET CF

[Guest]

Hi,
I have a very basic question:
What is a relationship between OS and SDK?
My understanding is that if I want to access the peripherals or ports I make
use of SDK which in turn may use OS.
But how this relationship changes in terms of .NET CF?
..NET framework sits on CLR which inturn is on OS? Now where does the SDK sits?

I have a device which is based on Pocket PC 2002 and has a vendor provided
SDK. Now since Pocket PC 2002 supports .NET CF I want to move to .NET CF. Can
use the current SDK or a new SDK supporting .NET CF would be required.

 

[Maarten Struys, eMVP]

In broad terms the SDK is a set of headers files, libraries and other files
that you use to write native applications for a specific version of the
operating system. Managed applications that make use of the .NET CF run
inside the CLR or Common Language Runtime. If you will, a "sandbox" that
sits on top of the OS.

If your device is a PocketPC 2002 it should be possible to install the .NET
CF on your device and you should be able to run managed applications. You
don't need a separate version of the SDK for that.

 

[Guest]

Earlier I was using eVT 3.0 and the OEM porvided SDK.
I have modem, bluetooth card , etc with my device which I used to access
using SDK. Now how would be done in .NET CF as earlier the interfaces to
peripherals where through OEM provided SDK.

 

[Peter Foot [MVP]]

Check first if the OEM has .NETCF APIs available for this hardware. If not
then you may be able to make use of this functionality by calling into these
libraries using Platform Invoke and the details provided in the header files
from the SDK.

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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[Paul G. Tobey [eMVP]]

How did that work? You did *what* to the modem via the SDK? You did what
to the bluetooth card via the SDK? Those are standard device types and the
standard Win32 API is used to access them normally.

If there was some non-standard hardware (data acquisition, barcode scanner,
text display, etc.), *then* you might need to access the API provided by the
vendor and you'd *like* to get a pre-written interface for VB.NET and/or C#
to do that, so you don't have to do it yourself.

You should check with the device OEM. They're sure to know more about what
they offer than we do, especially given that you've not told us anything
significant about the device, other than the fact that it's a PPC2002.

Paul T.

 

[Chris Tacke, eMVP]

Since it's a PPC2002 yet has it's own SDK, it points to me that it's likely
a Symbol device. If that's the case, well you know their penchant for
non-standard APIs for standard stuff....

-Chris

 

[Guest]

Hi,
The device has a barcode scanner. The SDK provides some scanner APIs.
Besides these SDK provides lot of communication related API. The OEM says
that it would not be providing SDK for .NET CF. Now please clarify :
1) To move .NET CF I can use Platform / Invoke methods
2) This there any other way it can be achieved?
3) What would be preferred language C# or VB.NET looking at current complexity
4) Since PPC 2002 does not have runtime on it , do I need to install runtime

 

[Paul G. Tobey [eMVP]]

1) Maybe. This is going to depend on how the APIs are provided on the
device right now. If they are in a DLL on the device, yes, you can probably
P/Invoke them. If they are simply in a library that was linked with the C
source code before, you'll have significantly more work to do, as you'll
have to build your own native DLL with eVC and then P/Invoke it.

2) Not that we can tell, without more detailed information on the device.

3) Either is fine. If you know C/C++ better, use that; if you know VB
better, use that.

4) If you search www.microsoft.com/downloads, you can find virtually
anything that MS has for downloading. .NET CF 1.0SP2 is among those things.
Of course, when you download your code to the device from VS.NET, it will
install the .NET CF, too.

Paul T.