Constanze's Mobile Musings

Gesture API Documentation for Windows Mobile 6.5 is now available on MSDN

2009-07-10T17:01:13Z

Are you ready to start using the Gesture API for Windows Mobile 6.5? We have good news for you. We have just released a documentation set on how to use the Gesture API on Windows Mobile 5.4 on MSDN. This documentation set provides an overview on Touch Gestures, the Gesture API, an overview of the Physics Engine, which calculates the animation points in response to a touch gesture, as well as the Physics Engine Reference.

Check out the Gesture API documentation at: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee220920.aspx.

Please make sure to use the Send Feedback link on top of each page to provide feedback to us.

Join us for the July WE-DIG meeting and a cool talk on Robotics

2009-07-01T17:43:16Z

It’s time again for our monthly Windows Embedded Developer Interest Group (WE-DIG) meeting. On Wednesday, July 1st, at 6:30 PM, John DeCuir from Microsoft will be giving a cool talk on Robotics. John used to work on Sony’s Aibo Robot Dog and he will be sharing his lessons from working on this project with us. Please join us for this exciting session. It will be held at the Microsoft Campus at Studio F (formerly bldg 118), in the Mt Si Room. Pizza will be provided plus you will have the change to win some cool prizes.

Hope to see you guys there!

New UI Controls are available through Bee Mobile

2009-06-25T22:01:05Z

I just found out about some really cool UI controls for Windows Mobile devices that are available through a company called Bee Mobile, so I thought I’d share them with you.

This first control I’d like to share is a control with touch scrolling support, called iWheel. This control is similar to the wheel control seen in a number of iPhone applications. The iWheel control is not only limited to picking date or time, developers can set custom items in each cylinder. You can also customize the number of cylinders.

Bee Mobile also provides the following transparency-enabled controls, so you can implement a cool transparency effect in your application:

· TCheckBox

· TLabel

· TForm

· TImageButton

These controls take into account the alpha channel of images in order to give a transparent effect. The TCheckbox also allows the developer to specify a custom image for the checkbox itself.

You can also create a cool-looking glass button with the transparent image button control.

All the controls provide design-time support, so you can see the same result on your device as you see in your Visual Studio's designer.

Bee Mobile also provides a cool-looking ProgressBar control .You can either customize the color palette used to paint the ProgressBar or you can have it automatically adapt to the current color theme.

Bee Mobile also offers a user-friendly Open/Save dialog control and a ColorPicker set.

All these controls are available for Windows Mobile 5.0 and Windows Mobile 6. You can download them for free on a trial basis. For more information, visit Bee Mobile’s website at http://www.beemobile4.net.

Learn about Windows Mobile 6.5 Application Development at Mobile Developer Day

2009-06-23T00:12:53Z

My friend and Microsoft MVP Michele Locuratolo passed this info on to me, so I thought I would share it with the Windows Mobile Developer Community. Do you speak Italian and want to learn about Windows Mobile 6.5 Development? On July 7, 2009, Microsoft is hosting a one-day event in Milan, Italy that teaches you all the necessary skills you need for developing applications for Windows Mobile 6.5.

To register for this event and view the full agenda, click on this link: http://www.microsoft.com/italy/mobiledev09/.

Hope some of you guys can make it!

The Windows Mobile 6.5 Developer Toolkit is available for Download

2009-06-04T21:47:28Z

A lot of you guys have heard about the new features that will be available through Windows Mobile 6.5. Now you can start developing and testing for this version with the new Windows Mobile 6.5 Developer Toolkit, which is available for download now: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=20686a1d-97a8-4f80-bc6a-ae010e085a6e.

The Windows Mobile 6.5 Developer Toolkit includes the following:

Emulator images for the following SKUs:

Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional Square Emulator
Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional QVGA Emulator
Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional WQVGA Emulator
Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional VGA Emulator
Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional WVGA Emulator
Windows Mobile 6.5 Standard Square Emulator
Windows Mobile 6.5 Standard QVGA Emulator

Emulator images are available for the following locales:

0804 CHS Chinese Simplified
0409 USA English
0407 GER German
040c FRA French
0410 ITA Italian
0c0a ESN Spanish

A new native Gesture API which enables applications to handle touch gesture input (this API is available for Windows Mobile Classic and Professional SKUs only).
Samples
Documentation and header files

To use the Windows Mobile 6.5 Toolkit you will also need to install the Windows Mobile 6 SDK.

Get Ready to Write your First Windows Mobile Widget for Windows Mobile 6.5

2009-06-04T18:41:47Z

Quite a few folks have been asking about information on how to write widgets for Windows Mobile after attending Jorge Peraza’s Widget talk at TechEd 2009 and other events. Now, that the Windows Mobile 6.5 Developer Toolkit has been released, you are ready to get started with Widgets for Windows Mobile 6.5.

Jorge has posted a great article on the Windows Mobile Team Blog, which contains all the information you need to get started with writing widgets. Check it out: http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsmobile/archive/2009/06/04/getting-started-with-widgets-on-windows-mobile-6-5.aspx.

Join us for the June Windows Embedded Developer Interest Group Meeting this Week

2009-06-02T18:59:45Z

Please join us for the June Windows Embedded Developer Interest Group (we-dig) meeting this week. On Wednesday, June 3, at 6:30 PM PST, Aslan Kukunyants from BSQUARE will talk about System Configuration for Windows Embedded Standard. Aslan will show how to build custom WinPE images (WAIK) with custom Shell and how to drive the automated deployment process.

In his presentation, Aslan will also demo working with AMT Commander tools including automated deployment to target machine via Ethernet using Intel AMT technology. Aslan Kukunyants is the Lead XP Embedded developer at BSQUARE with over 100 XPE projects. He is also the primary trainer for XPE & Windows Embedded Standard.

The meeting will be held on the Redmond campus in Bldg 118/Mt Si room. Free pizza will be provided and you will have the chance to win some cool prizes.

New Forum for Windows Marketplace for Mobile has been Launched on MSDN

2009-05-18T17:35:30Z

With the launch of Windows Marketplace for Mobile, we have launched a new forum on MSDN. This forum is intended to answer any of your questions that are related to Windows Marketplace for Mobile and will be moderated by members of the Windows Marketplace for Mobile team. To visit the forum and get ready to post your question, please click on this link: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/mktplace/threads.

Windows Mobile Track for RampUp has been Launched

2009-05-15T17:08:00Z

Are you interested in learning about Windows Mobile Application Development from the ground up? We have good news for you. This morning, we have launched the MSDN RampUp track for Windows Mobile Application Development. You can access this track here. The Windows Mobile RampUp track consists of 7 modules, each of which takes you one step further to master Windows Mobile Application Development. Here is an overview of the 7 modules:

Level 1: Mobile Development Introduction
In this module, we will discuss how to install the development tools in the correct order. Then we’ll concentrate on the differences between developing desktop applications and developing Windows Mobile applications. Once you have all the tools installed, we’ll talk you through developing your first Windows Mobile application.

Level 2: Device Emulators
We’ll begin this module with an overview of different releases of Device Emulator. You will learn about specific features of Device Emulator 2.0 and Device Emulator 3.0. You will also get a guided tour around Cellular Emulator which allows to emulate cellular connectivity in conjunction with Device Emulator. As part of new features of Device Emulator 3.0 you will also learn about using Device Emulator Manager to control individual Device Emulators, either from inside Visual Studio 2008 or from within a desktop application through a COM object.

Level 3: Mobile Windows Forms Development
This module will start with an overview of basic Windows Forms Development, including information about different out of the box available User Interface Controls for both Windows Mobile 6 Professional and Windows Mobile 6 Standard devices. We will then move on to the challenges around developing a single application that can run on different devices with different form factors and how applications can adapt to different device capabilities by isolation of specific code and creating a factory model (define an interface for creating an object, but let subclasses decide which class to instantiate). Since your applications will always run on battery powered devices, you will also get a number of tips on how to be friendly to the battery to extend battery life as much as possible.

Level 4: Advanced Mobile Windows Forms Development
In this module, we’ll look at different possibilities for creating your own User Interface Controls, derived from existing controls or developed from Scratch. You will also learn how to re-use existing functionality that is available through Pocket Outlook (contact lists, appointments etc.) inside your own application. More and more Windows Mobile Devices ship with integrated GPS hardware. With Windows Mobile 5 and Windows Mobile 6 devices it is really easy to retrieve GPS location information and test location aware applications as you will see. Finally we’ll do an overview of a number of diagnostic tools that are available as a separate download: The .NET Compact Framework 3.5 Power Toys that will help you to find performance bottlenecks inside your applications.

Level 5: SQL Server CE Introduction
When working with data and mobile applications, SQL Server CE is a great way to quickly get productive. This module will begin with an overview of SQL CE. You will learn the basics around dealing with data on Windows Mobile Devices. Along with the introduction in SQL Server CE, and you will get information on how to access data programmatically inside your own managed applications.

Level 6: Security and Deployment
When developing Windows Mobile applications, there are different security policy considerations. This talk will cover some of the prominent security and deployment considerations for applications to run on Windows Mobile devices and how to make use of certificates to make applications trusted.

Level 7: Mobile Web Development
After a quick overview of mobile web development, we will discuss different options for developing mobile web apps, and different devices to support. We will also discuss advantages of these different technologies. From there, we’ll concentrate on web based applications, take a look at Visual Studio 2008 support and will focus in on ASP.NET 2.0. You will see how to identify on which device your application will run and what devices will support AJAX. You will also learn how to setup your device to get AJAX support working.

Thanks to everybody who contributed to this great content.

Make sure to sign up and check it out for yourself!

TechEd Online Video on Windows Mobile has been posted

2009-05-13T20:39:07Z

I wanted to thank everybody who participated on Monday’s panel discussion on “Windows Mobile Application Development” at TechEd Los Angeles. The video has already been posted, so please check it out:

http://www.msteched.com/online/view.aspx?tid=5f438fc9-4865-4f53-825b-30cf4519ce48

Thanks,

Constanze

MARK YOUR CALENDARS: MSDN Webcast on mfLY! for Visual Studio 2008 is coming up on 5/13

2009-05-11T19:52:00Z

It’s time for another MSDN Webcast. On Wednesday, May 2009, at 10 AM PST, Randy Starr, VP of Technology at BlueDot Solutions will talk about mfLY!® for Microsoft Visual Studio 2008. mFly® provides a model/view/controller Framework add-on to Visual Studio 2008 that significantly enhances the development experience, quality, and re-usability of managed Windows Mobile (and Microsoft Windows) applications through a unique set of designers, template and frameworks.

Watch Randy demonstrate the primary features of mfLY! and see how it can help you improve the quality and time to market of your mobile projects.

To register for this webcast, click on this link: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032415506&EventCategory=4&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US.

Join us this week at TechEd for the Windows Mobile track

2009-05-11T16:41:00Z

TechEd has officially started, so if you're here in LA, please join us for the Windows Mobile track. You can find a comprehensive list of all WM-related activities here. Even if you're not in LA, you will be able to view the TechTalk recordings online once TechEd has ended. Also, the pre-TechEd webcasts are already available for download now.

Also, if you're at TechEd, please join us this afternoon at 4 PM for a panel discussion on Windows Mobile Application Development.

Hope to see you there!

Constanze

New CodeCast Episode On Windows Mobile Dev Community has been Posted Online

2009-05-08T02:57:07Z

A couple of weeks ago, I had the great opportunity to meet with Ken Levy, President and cofounder of MashupX, LLC and former Community Program Manager for Visual Studio Extensibility at Microsoft. Ken and I had a chat about the Windows Mobile developer content and Community. This interview has been posted as part of a CodeCast episode, which is hosted by CoDe magazine.

In this episode of CodeCast, co-hosts Ken Levy, Markus Egger, and Gary Short also discuss event various tech and event news, and provide an in-depth chat about WPF and Silverlight.

To view the podcast, click on the following link:

http://www.code-magazine.com/codecast/index.aspx?messageid=12d54080-f607-45d6-88e6-654a6d0410ed

Track your Travels on your Windows Mobile Phone with OnTheRoad

2009-05-06T16:48:55Z

A friend of mine alerted me to this cool new application last week, so I decided to try it out and blog about it.

If you are an avid traveler and have a Windows Mobile Professional phone, such as an HTC Fuze, we have good news for you. OnTheRoad Inc. has just released a Beta version of their Travel Blog Service for Windows Mobile Professional devices. www.OnTheRoad.to is an online service for sharing travel experiences and staying in touch with your friends and families while on the road.

The Windows Mobile Client (Beta) let’s you do the following (depending on the device):

Publish articles while on the road, including photos and GPS coordinates.
Manage comments from the readers of your journal.
Manage your journal, which is posted on the OnTheRoad.to site.

Note that the client application requires that you install the .NET CF 3.5 on your Windows Mobile device.

OnTheRoad combines many useful features that you can use for sharing your travel experiences – Email, SMS or IM publishing, your friends can subscribe to your travel updates, you can design your trip on a map, and many more. One of the really cool features is the ability to record the weather conditions of a place that you have visited.

Also, if you visit the OnTheRoad homepage, you can see who is currently on the road in a cool Microsoft Silverlight application.

How does a travel blog look like? Check out Bethany’s Trip To Rome to get an idea.

I definitely plan to use this application for one of my upcoming trips. Stay tuned!

Here are some screenshots of the client application;

Please join us for the May WE-DIG meeting and a talk on the .NET Micro Framework

2009-05-05T22:49:13Z

Please join us for our monthly Windows Embedded Developer Interest Group (WE-DIG) user group meeting. On Wednesday, May 6, 2009, at 6:30 PM, Joe Broxson from Adeneo Embedded will be giving a talk about the .NET Micro Framework.

The meeting will be held at the Microsoft Campus, Building 118, Mt Si. Room. Pizza and beverages will be provided, plus you will have the chance to win some cool prizes.

For more information, please see http://www.we-dig.org.