New Release: Windows Mobile Line of Business Solution Accelerator 2008

Rafik — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 22:42:00 GMT

Rob Tiffany, the mobile accelerator guy, just announced the new release of Windows Mobile Line of Business Solution Accelerator 2008. It a collection of windows mobile centric samples that showcase different new technologies and help developers greatly accelerate building their applications, thus the name “Accelerator”. Rob also has a great blog that I read regularly. Here is a quick overview of what this new release contains:

Adapt your App
Create a single binary that runs unchanged on Windows Mobile Standard or Pro, Portrait or Landscape, Rectangle or Square. No more wasting time building separate executables to accommodate different screen sizes or input methods.
Sync Services for ADO.NET
Synchronize your data between SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server Compact 3.5 using the new Sync Framework. Keep all your occasionally-connected mobile workers on the same page.
Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) Store and Forward
Reliably push messages to servers or other devices via Exchange Server 2007. Programmatically notify peer devices that they have new orders waiting for them and need to sync.
MapPoint
Guide delivery drivers to their customers via either the shortest or quickest route. Integrated mapping means you’ll never get lost again.
LINQ
Use the new Language Integrated Query to filter results from Generic Object Collections. Query both your objects and XML using a familiar, SQL-like syntax to boost developer productivity.
Custom Controls
Capture signatures and dazzle your end-users with 3D and Alpha-blended controls that alter their behavior depending on the platform they’re running on.
Managed Stored Procedures and Triggers
The pluggable data layer allows you to say goodbye to compiling Dynamic SQL inside your code and fires events to react to INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE operations.
Notifications and Online Help
Formerly only supported on Pro, say hello to Popup Notifications and Online Help on Standard. Popup Notifications, also known as “toast,” display an HTML message and then disappear after a pre-determined amount of time. Using Online Help on every screen reduces your application training costs.
Language Switching and Localization
Change Language/Regional Settings inside your app and watch text and Online Help speak a different language. Don’t wait until your application is finished to realize that it needs to be world-ready.
Time to Market
Stop reinventing the wheel and use this Accelerator as the foundation for your next Windows Mobile development effort. If you don’t want to use the whole thing, pick and choose the components that are the best fit for your project.

I am playing with it right now.. pretty cool stuff. Download Now

Update: Just to let you know, I left Microsoft to start a new company, Raveable Hotel Reviews. See examples: Top 10 Hotels in Myrtle Beach, Best Hotels in NYC, Romantic Hotels in Seattle, Kid Friendly Hotels in Orlando and Top 10 Hotels in San Diego. Your feedback is welcome on twitter.com/raveable, raveable blog.

I am not actively blogging about Sync Technologies. Please see Sync Team Blog for more updated content.

When It Comes to Data, SQL Server CE is A Life Saver!

Rafik — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 08:38:00 GMT

In not so distant past there used to be a product called SQL Mobile. As the name implies, or intended to covey at least, that the database product was for mobile devices only. Apparently, mobile applications have a need to store data in a relational store that is designed specially for them with the requirements that the engine must be very lightweight, runs in process, the database should be stored in a single file, can be encrypted, password protected … to mention a few.

So what about desktop applications? Well, the answer back then was that SQL Express is the desktop database of choice; it is free, feature-rich RDMS. The only thing through is that it runs as a service and thus your application setup needs to create the database, adjust roles .. etc. In the process, the setup needs some admin privileges.

What I just portrayed to you is the picture of the state of affairs few months back prior to changing the course of SQL Mobile to become SQL for Mobile & Desktop and give it a new name SQL Server Compact Edition or SQLCE. This transition is remarkable in many ways. It signals a mindset change inside SQL team by recognizing that desktop applications have the same needs and desires of those of mobile applications thus making SQL CE a perfect fit for both. For developers, this is great news since many applications can now target both mobile and desktop platforms using the same database. Moreover, SQLCE present an attractive alternative for developers wishing to use relational store in their applications but don’t need a full-blown SQL Express, avoiding setup complexity …etc

Apart from all that, SQL CE is yet another venue for Microsoft products to take advantage of and build new API layers just like what we did with Sync Services. I personally predict future handful of libraries to follow the same suite! Wait and see…

If you are not familiar with SQLCE, I encourage you to give it a serious look. Recently, I ran into a very interesting article about SQLCE titled: “Data Storage Architecture with SQL Server 2005 Compact Edition”. Looks like a good starting point to me, check it out.

Update: Just to let you know, I left Microsoft to start a new company, Raveable Hotel Reviews. See Examples: Romantic Hotels in Myrtle Beach, Top 10 Hotels in Seattle,Kid Friendly Hotels in Miami, Best Hotels in San Francisco, Hotels with in-room jacuzzi and Best Hotels in Chicago. Your feedback is welcome on twitter.com/raveable,raveable blog.

The Synchronizer : SQLCE

New Release: Windows Mobile Line of Business Solution Accelerator 2008

When It Comes to Data, SQL Server CE is A Life Saver!