Aka PInvoke Native and Managed Code Native code is code written in C++ (or assembler) and compiled to produce a binary executable or .DLL. Native code applications are CPU specific and only require the executable and any other required native .DLLs. Native code applications and .DLLs do not produce MSIL code. Managed code applications are written in C# or VB.NET using the .NET Compact Framework (CF). Unlike desktop .NET, C++ cannot be used to code .NET CF (Smart Device) applications. CF provides a rich library of functionality and is not compiled in a processor specific manner. .Net CF is in the main, a subset of the desktop .NET Framework with some added features that make sense on a Windows CE/Windows Mobile device. It builds to the same MSIL code as the desktop .NET. As a simple test, build a simple CF windows form application and build it. Choose a non x86 platform such as Windows Mobile/Pocket PC. Build the application. Go to its build directory, on the development machine and run the application dir ...
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The Windows Phone Developer Tools CTP refresh is available. This is the CTP for Visual Studio 2010 RTM. Blog: http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/wpdev/archive/2010/04/29/windows-phone-developer-tools-ctp-refresh.aspx Download: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=cabcd5ed-7dfc-4731-9d7e-3220603cad14 Whilst there have have been some API changes/updates and a new phone emulator, tis version of the tools is meant for use with the release RTM version of of Visual Studio 2010. I had installed VS 2010 Ultimate so I downloaded and installed it. It install with a link to download the Express version of VS 2010, so if you want you can use this get started with VS 2010. The note indicate that the emulator can be used without VS. Application programming context is Silverlight. I created a simple HelloWorld app: Button Press gives date-time in textbox. See below. From my other blog (March 22), some notes about Windows Phone ...
HP is purchasing Palm. http://technologizer.com/2010/04/28/hp-buys-palm/ Apple wants ARM HP-Palm(-Compaq) There has been rumours for a while of suitors wanting to get their hands on Palm, including HTC. HTC evidently backed away from it and HP has won out. Palm took over from the Apple Newton in being a mobile personal organiser with some mobile phone network connectivity and PIM synchronisation but have lost market share to other phone companies. http://www.palm.com/au/ HP were big with Windows PDAs in the days before Windows Phones with the Compaq iPaq.. http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/au/en/sm/WF05a/215348-215348-64929-215384-215384-3544250.html?jumpid=reg_R1002_AUEN Actually Compaq were big with it until HP took them over/merged(??) and then it was sidelined. I have had a few of these, they were how I started in Windows CE. .. I also had a HP Jornada 820, a great device for its time and a forerunner to Netbook concept in terms of functionality by about 6 years .. b ...
Congratulations to the winner of the embedded Spark 2010 Challenge: Marco Bodoira. Well done Marco
The Grand Prize Winner of the embeddedSPARK 2010 Challenge is: The Guitar Foot Switch Effect by Marco Bodoira A.K.A. marco.bodoira
http://www.embeddedspark.com/forum.aspx?g=posts&t=267
The judges all agreed that the remaining 2 projects; Uber Tag by Wally Nehls A.K.A. Waldozer and Bowman's Assistant by George Mallard A.K.A. DuckPaddle were equally great, and so they decided that these both be Second Prize Winners
The cat is out of the bag… The Northern Summer (it will be Winter Downunder) embedded Spark Challenge has been announced: http://www.embeddedspark.com/howtoenter.aspx The theme is “Media Explosion” and the context in Windows Embedded Standard 7, the embedded version of Windows 7. Thos who progress to round two get a suitable hardware supplied. WES 7 has gone RTM but not yet available on MSDN (Subscribers). Key Dates April 27 embeddedSPARK 2010 SUMMER Challenge Opens June 8 R1 Closes June 15 R1 Winners Announced August 31 R2 Closes September 7 Winners/Finalists Announced September 21 Three Finalists Compete LIVE on Stage at ESC in Boston It seems that one of the focuses of WES 7 with OEM is for media devices with the Windows 7 “engine”. The question is how much can entries appear to just use the inbuilt WES 7 devices/macros yet offer something that is different. So ...
This is where native code meets .NET. Its very much a black art, lots of smoke and mirrors etc. etc… But a necessary evil with Windows CE. That is because it is the gateway from .NET applications to the hardware and to the operating system. This is the first of a series of blogs on this matter.
I must though give credit to others’ who shoulders I am standing on for this. Whilst I have had experience with PInvoke going back to the first version of .NET CF on Windows CE (I think it was about V4.2) I have referenced a number of sources in an attempt to provide a comprehensive coverage of this topic. I’ll provide a reading list and some links in a later blog.
As previous, I purchased an 8.4” LVDS display from ICOP, the kit manufacturer. In this article I cover getting the display working working. There were some issues for which I am got great support from ICOP in resolving. Display: LCD-AU084-U-SET with touch / LCD-AU084-SET without touch Target System: Vortex86DX- Spark Kit .. in enclosure. This has VDX-6326-256 single board computer The display was mounted on the top of the box using some plastic mounts. This required routing of the LVDS and the backlight signals through the lid. The backlight circuitry was mounted internally on the lid. The LVDS cable is provided with the kit. The connects to the top left of the display and to J31 on the board. The short backlight power cable is fixed to the bottom left of the board. This connects to the supplied backlight power supply. The backlight part number is QF38V6.4 The backlight requires a 12V supply that is not avail ...
This is a "how-to" on using a USB touch panel with an LVDS LCD panel. In paticular it covers using the touch panel available from ICOP for the 8.4" display as supplied by ICOP and used with the embedded Spark kit.
I wanted to attach an LCD touch screen to the top of the kit. The lid has a diagonal of about nine inches (22cm) so a 6, 7 or 8 inch screen will do. The LCD The options are: A portable LCD screen unit with a VGA interface such as: http://www.touchscreentech.com.au/products/Touchscreen%20Products http://www.xenarc.com/product/index-monitor.html An LVDS LCD display such as: (From ICOP) http://www.icop.com.tw/pdList.aspx?c=120&pid=2 A TFT Flat Panel Display such as: http://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?IndexArea=product_en&ssk=y&Type=BUY&SearchText=A080SN01+V0 The first type is simplest as it requires no internal changes to the box. These are priced at about $A400 upwards. The second type is more integrated into the system. The Vortex86DX-Spark Kit has an LVDS socket on the processor board. The third type is even more integrated into the ...
About Smartphones typically have an LCD graphical screen with touch input. Touch is used to take user input via windows controls such as menus and command buttons. A SIP (Software Input Panel) may also be used am on-screen keyboard. Alternatively, some phones use a small physical keyboard. Some use both. Most touchscreens are single input, that is only one point of contact can be deciphered. Multitouch is becoming a required feature. Multitouch allows not only simple zoom and rotation of images, it allows quite complexes gestures. Windows 7 supports Multitouch with suitable hardware. A touchscreen has two uses. One is as a pointing devices, that is as a mouse. The other is to action gestures such as click, double click etc, It can be used with a finger or stylus. Windows CE can support an LCD panel with a touchscreen; it has for many versions. Windows CE 6 R3 supports single finger gestures. My HTC phone (HTC HD2) support ...