Categories Programming

Continued from Introduction

The flexibility of Windows CE presents a challenge to the folks who write programming tools. Since Windows CE supports a variety of CPUs and can be configured in a multitude of ways, each with a different API, how can one development environment be expected to know the target platform? To deal with this, Microsoft has produced an array of development tools for Windows CE, some compatible with all platforms, some supported only on the hand-held PC and hand-held PC professional systems.

The tools are designed to run under Windows NT. Code development is performed in a Developer Studio environment using one of the supported languages indicated below. The code is executed on a Windows CE device attached to the development PC using either a serial link or a network link. The serial link is the standard connection used by Windows CE devices to synchronize data between the device and the PC. Network links provide much faster download speed but, unfortunately, some of the debugging tools don't run when the Windows CE device is attached via a network link.

Microsoft supports versions of Visual C++, Visual Basic, and Visual J++ for one or more of the Windows CE platforms. Visual Basic and Visual J++ for Windows CE are only supported for the hand-held PC and hand-held PC professional systems. At present, to write for the other platforms you must use Visual C++, which is supported across the board. With this in mind, we'll limit our discussion to Visual C++, although there are plenty of reasons you might want to use the other languages on an H/PC or H/PC Pro.

To write a Windows CE application in C or C++ you first install the standard PC version of Visual C++ (either VC++ 5.0 or 6.0) then the add-in product, Visual C++ for Windows CE. This product, available from Microsoft, provides compilers for all the target CPUs supported by Windows CE and it also includes a version of MFC and ATL supported on H/PCs. The add-in doesn't prevent you from writing PC-targeted applications, it simply extends the targets so that you can develop for Windows CE.

At this point, you still need the include and lib files necessary to compile a Windows CE application for a particular platform so, if you're writing for a standard horizontal platform, the next step is to install a platform SDK for that specific platform. These platform SDKs are free from Microsoft and are available on the Microsoft Web site (www.microsoft.com/windowsce /downloads/pccompanions/default.asp). When you buy Visual C++ for Windows CE, the platform SDK for the H/PC is usually included on the CD, but it's always a good idea to check the Web site to determine if a newer version is available.

If you're porting Windows CE to a new hardware platform, Microsoft offers another tool, the Windows CE Platform Builder, the successor to the Embedded Toolkit that was used with earlier versions of Windows CE. This tool provides the operating system in an object lib format so it can be componentized by the developer for a specific platform. The Platform Builder also includes the necessary tools for a developer to create a custom platform SDK for the componentized version of the operating system being developed.

Although there's no real need for a software developer who is writing applications for H/PC or other horizontal platforms to use the Platform Builder, it's definitely worth having if you're serious about Windows CE development. This is a complex set of tools, but the information about the architecture of Windows CE you'll gain by working with the Platform Builder is invaluable. We'll talk more about the Platform Builder later.

Next: The Basic Development Cycle

Published as PC Tech Feature in the 3/23/99 issue of PC Magazine.

Related Links
• Windows CE dvs. Mini-Notebooks -- PC Labs 2/9/99
• Software to Go: Palm/Windows CE Software -- PC Labs 2/9/99
• PalmPilot Software Awards -- Softwar Library
• Handheld PCs -- ZDProducts
• The Place to Select and Buy Portable PCs -- computershopper.com