In The Hand Ltd

Blog

  • Emulating Bluetooth

    Alex Yakhnin pointed out this interesting article over on CodeProject showing how to use Bluetooth from within the Windows Mobile emulator:-

    http://blogs.msdn.com/priozersk/archive/2009/04/09/bluetooth-on-the-emulator.aspx

    Unfortunately it does require you to replace the stack on your host machine with FreeBT which is currently in Alpha so have a look through the Troubleshooting section for known issues first. I know lots of people have requested this for when they don’t have access to a real device so it may be useful for demonstrating applications or debugging even…

  • .NETCF 3.5 Breaking Changes

    I came across this useful list of breaking changes in the .NETCF 3.5 runtime and thought I’d blog it here before I lose the URL:-

    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/bb986636.aspx

  • Samsung Release Windows Mobile SDK

    Samsung’s Mobile Innovator program has released an SDK for Samsung specific APIs on their Windows Mobile devices. Although this is a native code SDK all the functions I looked at were very P/Invoke friendly. For example once you’ve installed the device-side cab you can query the luminance sensor using:-

     

    [

    DllImport(“SamsungMobileSDK_1.dll”)]

     

     

    private static extern int SmiLightSensorGetIlluminance(out uint illuminance);

    The exact features available vary depending on the device model but the SDK contains functionality for LEDs, Camera Flash, Light Sensor, Scroll Wheel, Accelerometer etc

    You can download the SDK, and some Emulator skins for Samsung devices from here:-

    http://innovator.samsungmobile.com/down/cnts/category.main.list.do?platformId=2&cateId=147&cateAll=all

  • Microsoft Tag

    Microsoft have released a new beta product for Windows Mobile (and also iPhone) called Microsoft Tag
    This allows scanning of 2d barcodes with the device camera which can open specific URLs etc. The client software varies slightly depending on the capabilities of your device, on my Samsung Blackjack it offers realtime scanning – you just have to position the code roughly in a rectangular frame on the screen. On a HTC Touch device it invokes the camera capture dialog which is a lot more clunky.
    Go to http://gettag.mobi on your device to download the client. You can sign in to the tag.microsoft.com website using a Passport and create new tags yourself. Apparently this will support other 2d barcode types in the future for now it uses HCCB an arrangement of coloured triangles.
    The attached PDF contains a generated tag to get you started.
     
    Have fun!

  • Interesting email from HTC support

    I was quite surprised at an email I got from HTC Support today in regards to a specific device update:-

    “Hello,

    There will be no Windows Mobile 6.1 upgrade for any HTC Touch device.

    Please do not reply to this email as this email address is not monitored for replies.

    Best regards,

    Carolin

    HTC Europe”

  • Live Mesh for Windows Mobile

    The Windows Mobile client for Live Mesh is now available. You can download it from your device from http://m.mesh.com

    I’ve just installed it onto my phone and have been taking a look. On the desktop the Mesh client is quite tightly integrated into the explorer shell – it adds an extra pane alongside your folder windows showing the status of your synchronised folders. On devices the same level of integration is not possible (nor is there the screen real-estate). Therefore the mobile Mesh client runs as a separate application allowing you to manage which folders are synchronised. If you select a folder it opens separately in File Explorer to show the contents, you don’t get any fancy icons to show the synchronisation status. The main menu in the Mesh client provides access to the members and news of that folder – the content you would normally see in the Mesh pane. This opens in an Internet Explorer window and is actually a mobile formatted version of the mesh web application. Also from the menu you can force a manual synchronisation and change the settings for automatic synchronisation.

    In summary it is quite a simple client and does a good job of extending your Mesh files onto your mobile device. One of the key features is synchronisation of photos and it will automatically setup the My DocumentsMy Pictures folder to synchronise with a “Mobile Pictures” folder in your Mesh. Unfortunately this wasn’t immediately useful to me as I save photos to the storage card, but it’s simple enough to setup Synchronisation of any other folder from the device.

  • Get the name of your executing .exe

    The Compact Framework doesn’t support Assembly.GetEntryAssembly to determine the launching .exe. You can instead P/Invoke the native GetModuleFileName function like so:-

    byte[] buffer = new byte[MAX_PATH * 2];

    int chars = GetModuleFileName(IntPtr.Zero, buffer, MAX_PATH);

    if (chars > 0)

    {

    string assemblyPath = System.Text.Encoding.Unicode.GetString(buffer, 0, chars * 2);

    }

    Where MAX_PATH is defined in the Windows CE headers as 260. The P/Invoke declaration for GetModuleFileName looks like this:-

    [DllImport(“coredll.dll”, SetLastError = true)]

    private static extern int GetModuleFileName(IntPtr hModule, byte[] lpFilename, int nSize);

    The function expects a HMODULE – a handle to a native module. However passing IntPtr.Zero here indicates we want the module which created the process which is our .exe. This code will always return the path of the calling .exe regardless of if it is in a utility dll, or even a GAC assembly located in the Windows folder.

  • Home and Visiting Clocks in Professional Edition

    In Professional Edition (Pocket PC) devices the Clock control panel allows you to set a home timezone and a visiting zone and lets you toggle between them. If you need to retrieve the current settings they are stored in the registry in a key called HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftClock in a binary value called “AppInfo”. Here is breakdown of that data:-

    00,00,00,00,31,00,00,00,55,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,80,01,00,00,be,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00

    The first 4 bytes contains an integer which is 1 if in the home zone, and 0 if visiting.

    The next 4 bytes always seems to be 0x31

    The next 4 bytes are the index into the timezone collection of the home zone (In this example 85 GMT)

    The next 4 bytes are unused

    The next 4 bytes indicate whether to use DST (In this example 1 true)

    The next 4 bytes are always 0x180

    The next 4 bytes are the index into the timezone collection of the visiting zone (in this example 190 – New Delhi)

    The next 4 bytes are unused

    The next 4 bytes indicate whether to use DST in visiting zone (In this example 0 false)

    I suspect that the unused values may be connected to the old Cities feature which was originally in the control panel but removed with PPC2003. You may be wondering how to get the timezone information at the specified indexes – in Windows Mobile they are not all stored in the registry as on other Windows CE flavours. They are accessible through POOM – IPOutlookApp.GetTimeZoneFromIndex, or in managed code in Mobile In The Hand.

  • SQL Compact 3.5 SP1 RTM

    To coincide with the RTM release of SQL Server 2008 the SQL Compact Team have delivered Service Pack 1 for v3.5. This includes Entity Framework support and a native 64bit version. Steve Lasker has the details:-

    http://blogs.msdn.com/stevelasker/archive/2008/08/07/sql-server-compact-3-5-sp1-released.aspx

    Meanwhile SQL Server 2008 RTM is available already online for both MSDN and TechNet subscribers.

  • APPA Mundi Awarded Microsoft Certified Partner Status

    APPA Mundi has received Certified Partner status within the Microsoft Partner Program along with the Mobility Solutions competency. This achievement showcases APPA Mundi’s expertise in creating mobile solutions based on Microsoft technologies.

    Read Full Press Release

    Microsoft Certified Partner - Mobility Solutions

    One of the reasons I have been busy lately and not blogging as feverishly as in previous months is that I have been, with my three MVP colleagues, busy building up our company – APPA Mundi Ltd. We all have a long history of working with Windows Mobile and we have combined forces to offer consulting, development and training services.