Windows Embedded Student Challenge (April 5, 2005)

Article
01/21/2022

Posted: April 20, 2005

Please note: Portions of this transcript have been edited for clarity

Introduction

James Z (Moderator):
Welcome to today’s chat. Our topic today is Windows Embedded Student Challenge Chat.

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
any other countries taking part ?

James Z (Moderator):
We are pleased to welcome our Experts for today’s chat. I will have them introduce themselves now.

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Hi, I'm Mike Hall, a Technical Product Manager in the Mobile and Embedded Devices Group - visit the blog at https://blogs.msdn.com/mikehall

Sue Loh [MS] (Expert):
Greetings, everyone! I'm Sue Loh, a developer on the Microsoft Windows CE team. I work on system performance, and various aspects of the kernel & file system. I hope we can answer a lot of your questions today!

ChipS_MSFT (Expert):
Hello! Welcome! I am Chip Schnarel, Director of Program Management for Windows CE.

JohnMarc_MS (Expert):
Hello everyone - I'm John Marcantonio, a Program Manager in the Windows CE Multimedia and Graphics team.

John Spaith [MS] (Expert):
Hi everyone! I'm John Spaith, a dev in the networking and services team.

KarelD_MSFT (Expert):
Hi, my name is Karel and I am developer in BSP team (board support team). I am porting Windows CE to new hardware and I am trying make it simpler for other.

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
ok, go for it... bring on the questions...

Start of Chat

Sue Loh [MS] (Expert):
Q: I got a PlatformNotSupportedException when i use SqlConnection.Open() method to connect to my db, i am sure the connection string is ok.
A: Hi deTrox, are you sure SQL is fully installed?

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Q: We uploaded a windows CE image into the flaskDisk, but after the reset, the old winCE image is restore! I want to make it parmanent, How can I do it?
A: This blog post explains how to replace the existing NK.BIN file on the eBox

Sue Loh [MS] (Expert):
Q: I think i installed all that contains 'sql' by platform builder
A: There is a version of SQL especially for CE that is not part of Platform Builder. You must install desktop SQL in order to get SQL-CE. Though it is possible you could use one of the underlying database APIs instead -- we have CEDB and EDB which you could use. What interface are you trying to use to access the database?

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Q: can someone help me please?
A: sure - what's the question ?

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Q: Hi, i wanted to ask you that if i want to integrate a text to speech API into the winCE OS, what measures do i need to take while building the OS image..The API has been developed on .NET
A: You need a speech engine in order to use speech on Windows CE - see the following blog post - https://blogs.msdn.com/mikehall/archive/2005/03/24/401858.aspx

Sue Loh [MS] (Expert):
Q: how to make E-box reset? For example, I install an app or driver onto the E-box, and need to reset E-box to let this driver run. In PDA, there is a soft reset button.
A: You can call KernelIoControl with IOCTL_HAL_REBOOT.

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Q: Can E-box do the same thing as PDA? How can I build the image to give the E-box this capability?
A: What specific PDA capabilities do you need from Windows CE ?

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Q: Can you tell us how can we write final report? I mean we don't know what should be contained in the document, and what form should the document be? We have seen the CSIDC's outline, but I think it's helpless.
A: Here's a link to how to submit the final report - https://www.computer.org/csidc/report.htm

KarelD_MSFT (Expert):
Q: and I found that there is COM2 on the board, but not export. how can i use the com2 port? (i really need use 2 com port)
A: I am not sure what do you mean by export. I assume that you managed add connector. Then you must make sure that your OS image contains registry entry for both serial ports. This should be defined in platform.reg. However I don't know your exact platform BSP. If it is derived from CEPC you have to set BSP_SERIAL2=1 to include this. Best way how to address this is check your regini.ini in flat release directory.

Sue Loh [MS] (Expert):
Q: I use a SqlConnection & SqlAdapter & DataSet in C# and via ethernet to connect a sql server 2000 server. my code is ok on my emulator.
A: Your code works fine in the emulator, but not on the ebox? Then it is probably a problem with your operating system configuration. Have you added all the same things to the catalog for the ebox project, that you added to the emulator project? Maybe you are missing the database component.

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Q: I´m getting a problem with Smart Device Authentication Utility: When i try to connect i got a Unknown Exception: deviceSystemIo.FileNotFoundException related to PubKey.blb. I can connect via Platform Builder and via Evc4 (SP4), but not with Visual Studio
A: There's a tutorial that walks through the steps of using Platform Builder and Visual Studio - https://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/Aa459145

James Z (Moderator):
Remember to use the "Submit a Question" radio button to ask the experts a question.

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Q: How do we get Platform builder? ... We tried to download it but it seems unavailable. Further, we and perhaps other Indian teams haven't recieved e-boxes yet
A: Platform Builder can be downloaded from https://www.microsoft.com/windows/embedded/eval/trial.mspx - what problems are you having downloading the tools ? - plus, I've heard that the boards are through indian customs and should be delivered any time now.

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Hi, every experts of MS.i have a question about the display. When i want to display a button or a check_box ,after i call the "ShowWindow" function,why the system will earse all of the window then paint the component? i mean the screen will fresh .

David Franklin [MS] (Expert):
Q: Hello, experts! Because we're going to use touch screen, How can I want to get rid of the mouse cursor.
A: Sure. Use HideCursor( long HideCursor ) to show or hide the cursor. See https://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms937199

Sue Loh [MS] (Expert):
Q: how to use "CeDeleteDatabase" to delete a database?
A: You can only use it with a CEDB database. Are you working with CEDB? I think there is a code sample in our docs -- I am looking for it right now.

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Q: Hi, every experts of MS.i have a question about the display. When i want to display a button or a check_box ,after i call the "ShowWindow" function,why the system will earse all of the window then paint the component? i mean the screen will fresh .
A: What type of application are you writing, Win32, MFC, or C#/VB ? - is the control created and you are just changing the state of the control from hidden to visible ? - you might be able to handle WM_ERASEBKGND to stop the redraw of your windows client area.

KarelD_MSFT (Expert):
Q: Are there any video capture drivers for Windows CE? Or is there a way/code to capture video frames manually from a webcam? I haven't been able to figure it out. Microsoft states that there is very limited support for such endeavours.
A: We plan to add support in future version. However this doesn't mean you can't write your own driver which will capture video frames from webcam. Simply try to write USB class driver which will communicate with webcam (you will need HW datasheet for camera). I remember somebody did it here in Microsoft one or two years ago. Generic model support is important only when you want to have "independent" video application (running over different hardware).

Sue Loh [MS] (Expert):
Q: i use visual studio to deploy my project on ebox & emu, but got the PlatformunSupportedException on ebox
A: I'm not talking about the visual studio project actually, but the "platform" project that you create in Platform Builder, to make the Windows CE image that you load onto the ebox. I think your ebox operating system must be missing a database component.

KarelD_MSFT (Expert):
Q: I recently read a book bout the structure X86 CPU. It says the IO port 03F8~3FF is for COM1, and 2F8~2FF is for COM2. Why in the platform.reg is: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\BuiltIn\Serial]
"SysIntr"=dword:13
"IoBase"=dword:02F8
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\BuiltIn\Serial2]
"SysIntr"=dword:14
"IoBase"=dword:03E8
A: We expect COM1 is used for serial debug output. However if you need to use it for Windows CE OS simply modify registry (it is platform). However you have to stub serial debug output in OAL code (to avoid conflict).

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Q: plsease, what do you mean whit this: "This blog post explains how to replace the existing NK.BIN file on the eBox" (...the image uploaded is not permanent...)
A: The eBox boots from a compact IDE flash module which contains an existing NK.BIN file - if you download a Windows CE O/S image that contains support for the Hard Disk then copy the new nk.bin image from the '\release' folder on the eBox to the hard disk folder on the ebox, this will overwrite the exiting nk.bin file.

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Q: mikehall_ms : the application'type is MFC ,the screen keep on freshing and freshing.
A: what message handler are you using to enable the control ?

James Z (Moderator):
Use the "Submit a Question" radio button to ask the experts a question.

David Franklin [MS] (Expert):
Q: Hi, every experts of MS.i have a question about the display. When i want to display a button or a check_box ,after i call the "ShowWindow" function,why the system will earse all of the window then p
A: Hi Kevin, you can use clipping regions to restrict what portion of the screen is erased and then redrawn. Set the clipping region to be the bounds of the UI control and then only that part should refresh. See here for details: https://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms926130

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Q: Is it possible to write ASP code being executed on device that WRITES to an XML file on the device?
A: You can write ASP or ISAPI extensions, or even SOAP (XML Web Services) for Windows CE

Sue Loh [MS] (Expert):
Q: how to use "CeDeleteDatabase" to delete a database?
A: There is some useful information at https://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms900317

David Franklin [MS] (Expert):
Q: Can somebody help us get a speech Engine for our project...we wish to do text to speech
A: You can use the Speech API (SAPI 5.0) for doing text-to-speech. Look here for a sample application that you can use as a starting point: https://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms862686

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Q: we want to put in on a Wi-fi card(is there any PCMCIA slot?, we havent rec'd the eBox)..Do i need to write the device driver to put in on the OS image or can i get it from somewhere??
A: No, there isn't a PCMCIA slot - you might want to use a wireless ethernet adapter.

KarelD_MSFT (Expert):
Q: If the corporation of the set provides the drive for windows CE,could I just install it ,or could I use PB to compile it to the OS? By the way ,how could I migrate the API of the certain device to winCE OS!
A: Answer depends on form in which you get a driver. Generally if you get source code you should add it to source tree and compile it there. If you get DLL simply put it to release directory, modify platform.bib and platform.reg (another simple place where to put DLL is platform\\files subdirectory). To find how to write device drivers please check documentation. Generaly - Windows CE has simple stream device model, but some devices uses specific extensions.

James Z (Moderator):
Please use the Submit a Question radio button to ask the Experts a question.

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Q: Is there any good sample on Custom ListView control. I made one, but i feel it is poor
A: You might want to check out www.codeproject.com - there are a number of cool custom controls for .NET over there !

KarelD_MSFT (Expert):
Q: Thanks ,KarelD_MSFT ! I have modified the platform.reg file like this
A: I hope this help. :)

Mikethom_MS (Expert):
Q: mikehall_ms :we wanna embed a WebBrowser in our application, can we use some plug_in component ? someone said that we can use IWebBrowser, but i can't totally understand how to use it. PLZ show me some article. THX
A: If you look at the public\IE tree you will find several example on how to host the browser control in your app. IESIMPLE is likely to be easier

Sue Loh [MS] (Expert):
Q: I have read the https://www.computer.org/csidc/report.htm, but I don't know, Must we follow the Final Report Outline of CSIDC or we can write as we like?
A: You need to follow the CSIDC outline.

John Spaith [MS] (Expert):
Q: mikehall_ms :we wanna embed a WebBrowser in our application, can we use some plug_in component ? someone said that we can use IWebBrowser, but i can't totally understand how to use it. PLZ show me some article. THX
A: The easiest way is to use MSXML and the XMLDOM.save() method. (.NetCF won't work in ASP) MSXML is available via an activeX object (var doc = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM");) in ASP pages on CE. There is no built-in way to write generic data to files from ASP pages since Windows CE does not have the Filescript ActiveX object that is supported on the desktop (so you got lucky that you're writing XML and MSXML has it built in). You could write your own C++ implementation of a generic file outputter in ASP using C++ & COM but this is kind of hard.

KarelD_MSFT (Expert):
Q: how do you get the comm control workin in wince?
A: I am not sure if there is one. We are using standard serial API similar (or same) as desktop OS (NT, 2000, XP) so in worst case you can write your own.

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Q: mikehall_ms :we wanna embed a WebBrowser in our application, can we use some plug_in component ? someone said that we can use IWebBrowser, but i can't totally understand how to use it. PLZ show me some article. THX
A: Here's an article that gives step by step instructions to embedding the internet explorer in your application https://blogs.msdn.com/mikehall/archive/2005/02/20/377162.aspx

Mikethom_MS (Expert):
Q: I wanna embedded a media player in my app, how can i do that?
A: There is a public sample for host a media control in public\directx\sdk\samples\wmp

ChipS_MSFT (Expert):
Q: How can i add speech examles in the platform builder to my project? There is a speech engine example as well. How can i use this?
A: Although Windows CE v5.0 supports access to speech through the standard interface layer (SAPI), it does not include a speech engine. It does include a null engine, but it does not actually recognize anything. It is there for testing and as an example of how to interface the engine to SAPI. You would need to get a text to speech engine from a third party. I cannot name one off the top of my head, but you might start your search at the Microsoft Embedded website, www.microsoft.com/embedded.

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Q: Hi,every exper of MS: we have already develop a MFC app. But we wanna use the Sound Command which is a speciality of SmartPhone. I have TWO questions. 1) can we use Sound Command in WinCE 5.0? 2) how? i mean some specific article
A: yes, Windows CE supports the sndPlaySound API - you can call this directly from your MFC application.

John Spaith [MS] (Expert):
Q: Beyonde the Help, where can i find some samples of code to use ASP, XML, XSL with Windows CE. How can i have XSL support in Windows CE, i know that CF doesn´t have the XSL classes, what can i do?
A: You may be able to get samples from WinXP/IIS and have them (after some porting) just work with Windows CE. Our MSXML was ported from the same MSXML on the desktop and CE's ASP was inspired by it. I'm sure there's a lot more samples showing people how to do stuff on WinXP than on CE.

Mikethom_MS (Expert):
Q: Can microsoft provide a camera driver or sample code for wince?
A: Ivan will be hosting the chat on his blog latter and will provide camera driver information there.

KarelD_MSFT (Expert):
Q: Thanks ,KarelD_MSFT ! I have modified the platform.reg file like this: However, if i add more serial instances(two or three instances) to the OS image, the com1 can't work again? Where can I modified in OAL?
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\BuiltIn\Serial] "SysIntr"=dword:14 "IoBase"=dword:02F8
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\BuiltIn\Serial] "SysIntr"=dword:14 "IoBase"=dword:03F8
A: Problem is in SysIntr (and interrupt sharing). For your BSP this value is 16 + IRQ.

John Spaith [MS] (Expert):
Q: Beyonde the Help, where can i find some samples of code to use ASP, XML, XSL with Windows CE. How can i have XSL support in Windows CE, i know that CF doesn´t have the XSL classes, what can i do?
A: Also check out in your Platform Builder install %_WINCEROOT%\public\servers\sdk\samples\http\asp for a very simple sample of using ASP pages that was written explicitly for CE. No XML in this sample, though.

Sue Loh [MS] (Expert):
Q: We still havent receivd the kits!! They seem to be stuck in Delhi.... Is there a possibility to get a copy of Windows CE so that we can work on it?
A: Sorry for all the problems. You can download an evaluation edition of Platform Builder (plus the operating system) from https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=486E8250-D311-4F67-9FB3-23E8B8944F3E&displaylang=en -- you can use the emulator until you receive the ebox.

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Q: i open a new form by Form2 frm = new Form2();
A: and you need to display the form by calling frm.ShowDialog( );

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Q: (#)THX a lot mikehall_ms .
A: pleasure !

John Spaith [MS] (Expert):
Q: so to write files on the device the best way would be using ISAPI, than ASP?
A: Yes - if you have to write generic data to a device it's probably easier using an ISAPI extension than using ASP and having to write a COM object. I've done some newsgroup posts about how hard it is to implement the FileSystem object - though it's not impossible (https://groups-beta.google.com/group/microsoft.public.windowsce.embedded/browse_frm/thread/30ad3aa230ce515b/c5a85dfd6904a1e2?q=spaith+FileSystem+object&rnum=2#c5a85dfd6904a1e2)

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Q: I cant understand that : If SAPI exists, why i have to use a speech engine?
A: SAPI is just the speech API's on the platform, you still need a speech engine - ScanSoft have such an engine - https://blogs.msdn.com/mikehall/archive/2005/03/24/401858.aspx

Mikethom_MS (Expert):
Q: I wanna make a custom panel control on .net cf, but i can not add controls to the panel. what should i do?
A: A assume you are asking about a control panel applet. An applet needs to exposrt certiain APIs that are called from native code. You could have a small CPL that would just launch a CF app if you wanted. The one of the comm applets was doing this. The source to the applets can be found in the public\wceshellfe dir

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Q: frm.show(); but it is very slow. what should i do to make it faster?
A: ah, now there's the question... there are a number of Visual Studio articles that describe how to make a form load quicker including - https://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/Aa446535

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Q: Why microsoft doesn't provide tts speech engine for win ce? I think it is very necessary! Is there one I can use?
A: Yes, ScanSoft have a speech engine for Windows CE https://blogs.msdn.com/mikehall/archive/2005/03/24/401858.aspx - there may also be an evaluation of the product - check the web site for more information.

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Q: (#), mickhall_ms: sorry that i did't express it clearly, i mean how can the device recognise My voice . I know that in the SmartPhone OS, i can mark a particular program by read some words. How can i realize it on WinCE? THX
A: You need a speech engine to make this work - Windows CE ships with the speech API's, but not the engine - check out the following blog post - https://blogs.msdn.com/mikehall/archive/2005/03/24/401858.aspx

Mikethom_MS (Expert):
Q: Most automotive controllers do not come with special Windows CE drivers, from what I have seen. Do I have to write these drivers myself as well, or is something out there already done? Does Microsoft have a list of supported controllers already?
A: Here is a list of drivers supported today. You can always write your own as well. https://msdn2.microsoft.com/embedded/Aa714513

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Q: Would a Matlab generated Standalone exe file work on windows CE.... it basically is used for reading, analysing and writing .wav files....
A: if this is a desktop application then no, the application will not run on Windows CE - the architecture of the operating systems is completely different - the desktop application will need Kernel32, GDI32, and User32 (plus a bunch of other components), none of these exist on Windows CE

KarelD_MSFT (Expert):
Q: can any experts help us in programming the parallel port?
A: There is parallel port driver. But it isn't used often. You can find source code in public\common\oak\drivers\parallel.

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Q: (#),mickhall_ms, do you mean it is also a part of TTS? i thought they are total different
A: Windows CE only exposes the application level Speech API's for text to speech and speech recognition you still need a speech engine

Sue Loh [MS] (Expert):
Q: How do i transfer files (eg. text,exe ) from my hard disk to my wince emulator...
A: You have a few options. You can transfer the file using the Remote File Viewer from the Tools menu. If you have the release directory file system (relfsd) included in your configuration, your release directory from your PC will show up as "\release" on the device. You can read and write files directly from \release.

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Q: No No, I meant that the System.Windows.Form.Panel, i wanna make a custom control like that, but i can not add other controls into the this panel I use public class CustomPanel:Control {....}
A: This is just a control, right - so this won't contain other controls - you should take a look at some of the container samples on CodeProject - https://www.codeproject.com

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Q: We need Wi-Fi access. 1. How can we detect the connection is active and 2. How do we give the Ebox Wi-Fi access
A: The eBox has wired ethernet - the easiest way to provide wireless ethernet is to use a wireless ethernet adapter.

Sue Loh [MS] (Expert):
Q: what is the max size of nk.bin?
A: There isn't exactly a max size for nk.bin. You certainly can't exceed 128MB since that's all the RAM the ebox has to run your image from. You are more likely to run into limitations on the DLLs that can run from various places -- for example the "MODULES" section of ROM overflows at 32MB. Does that answer your question or do you still need more information?

ChipS_MSFT (Expert):
Q: (#),mickhall_ms, do you mean it is also a part of TTS? i thought they are total different
A: There are many different TTS and speech recognizer engines out there, each with their own capabilities and interfaces. SAPI, Speech APIs, is a middleware layer that unfies the interface to the underlying engine so that the application does not need to know which engine it is.

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Q: Should I write the Device Driver myself and migrate it to the OS?
A: what is the driver you need ?

KarelD_MSFT (Expert):
Q: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\BuiltIn\Serial]
"SysIntr"=dword:13
"IoBase"=dword:02F8
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\BuiltIn\Serial]
"SysIntr"=dword:14
"IoBase"=dword:03F8
A: Looks fine. Code for serial debug output is located in platform\common\src\x86\common\other. But there is probably other way that stub code. I don't know exactly but there should be some command line parameter for loadcepc which disable serial debug output.

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Q: Do i have to think about anything special in order to get .NET Framework 1.1 Windows Forms applications to run on Windows XP Embedded? I can run Console Apps, but running Windows Forms apps caouses a JIT error.
A: This sounds like you're missing some dependencies - start with the same application and use WinLogon, make sure this works - you can also use FileMon to determine which components are missing from your image (from sysinternals.com)

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Q: So no win32 exe file will work on WinCE????
A: no desktop application will run on Windows CE - if you have source you will need to recompile the application for Windows CE

Mikethom_MS (Expert):
Q: We want to connect two device to EBox with COM1 & COM2, but ebox only have com1. How can we slove this conflict?
A: There is a com2 header inside the box right by the power switch. You should be able to crack the box open and connect up the header for the second port

ChipS_MSFT (Expert):
Q: So no win32 exe file will work on WinCE????
A: That is correct. The desktop and Windows CE .exe formats are different. Windows CE is a indepently developed kernel that works differently and within tighter resource constraints. Since Windows CE supports ARM, SH and MIPS processors in addition to X86 the format needs to encompass those as well.

KarelD_MSFT (Expert):
Q: about the paralel port: can we get some examples on using the driver? (it would save us a lot of time)
A: I am afraid we don't have any handy. But if you want to use parallel port to connect some device other than printer I would start with direct hardware access (you should clear IMGNOTALLKMODE flag). In parallel I would write my own parallel driver (it is much simpler on CE compared to other OSes, it is more similar to write DLL).

KarelD_MSFT (Expert):
Q: I modified like that:Is it right? Where can modified the "interrupt sharing"? [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\BuiltIn\Serial]
"SysIntr"=dword:13
"IoBase"=dword:02F8
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\BuiltIn\Serial]
"SysIntr"=dword:14
"IoBase"=dword:03F8
A: Ignore interrupt sharing for now (COM1 and COM2 doesn't share interrupt)

Sue Loh [MS] (Expert):
Q: how can we use windows CE test kit to find out the hot spots that are causing probs??
A: What do you mean by "hot spots"? Performance problems? Or failures? CETK contains a lot of tests for different areas, so you may need to figure out what tests cover the area you're having problems with.

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Q: Is there any advantage of using native code instead of managed with respect to web services
A: You can only "BE" a web service in native code on Windows CE - consuming Web Services in managed code is sooooooooo much easier than native code

James Z (Moderator):
Thank you Windows Embedded Student Challenge Chat for joining us today. Just about 3 minutes to go, time for just a few last questions to be answered.

Mikethom_MS (Expert):
Q: I wanna start ebox and I run my app as the windows shell (take the place of the explorer.exe), how can i do that?
A: If you look at the regsitry you will see some 'Init'\Launchxx keys. This is where the explore will get launched. You can remove that from there and replace it with your own app. IF you just want a full screen app there should not be much left to do. If you want to act more like the shell then you will have to register yourself like a shell. See the source code in the public\shell dir

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Q: So say i've got c++ source code... how do i compile it for windows ce?? I cant use vc++.net right? embedded vc++? anylinks to download it?
A: you need to use eMbedded Visual C++ 4.0 SP4 - https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=4A4ED1F4-91D3-4DBE-986E-A812984318E5&displaylang=en

KarelD_MSFT (Expert):
Q: So say i've got c++ source code... how do i compile it for windows ce?? I cant use vc++.net right? embedded vc++? anylinks to download it?
A: You can compile it from PB (there is C++ compiler).

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Q: I can not download the speech engine at ScanSoft.How can I download it??
A: you will need to ping ScanSoft to get more information about their engine

KarelD_MSFT (Expert):
Q: Thanx very much, KarelID_MSFT!I will have a try!
A: You are welcome :)

Mikethom_MS (Expert):
Q: why on the nk.bin which I build using PB 4.2, the MFC program can be run,but if we use PB 5.0 to build,it says "LINK: fatal error LNK1104: cannot open file 'mfcs42d.lib' " when I run the same program?
A: Maybe the path specified for the links is incorrect and therefore not finding the required lib. Have a look at the full link info to see where it is trying to include info from.

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Q: why on the nk.bin which I build using PB 4.2, the MFC program can be run,but if we use PB 5.0 to build,it says "LINK: fatal error LNK1104: cannot open file 'mfcs42d.lib' " when I run the same program?
A: mfcs42d.lib is a desktop MFC library - the Windows CE MFC library is called MFCCE400.dll - you need to use eMbedded Visual C++ 4.0 SP4 to write your MFC applications for Windows CE - https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=4A4ED1F4-91D3-4DBE-986E-A812984318E5&displaylang=en

mikehall_ms (Moderator):
Q: Anyone who got Windows XPe to run with .NET Framework 1.1?
A: yes, use WinLogon to make sure your application works - don't start with minlogon

Corey Burke[MS] (Expert):
Q: We need Wi-Fi access. 1. How can we detect the connection is active and 2. How do we give the Ebox Wi-Fi access
A: Windows CE does not support USB WiFi dongles natively since there is not a well-defined specification for doing so. Most WiFi dongle have their own interface and so the manufacturer would need to supply the drivers for CE. I recommend the approach that Mike suggested earlier. Use a WiFi to Ethernet bridge like https://www.linksys.com/en-us/smartwifi?icid=global-header-smart-wifi-link. To determine if the device is connected, you could start a thread that pings a well known server. An alternative approach would be to use a USB Bluetooth dongle and the PAN profile.

John Spaith [MS] (Expert):
Q: do you have any sample codes about the bluetooth that we could study?for example,to build a server on the PC through winsock
A: We have tons of Bluetooth sample code shipped in %_WINCEROOT%\public\COMMON\oak\drivers\bluetooth\SAMPLE.

James Z (Moderator):
Q: We need Wi-Fi access. 1. How can we detect the connection is active and 2. How do we give the Ebox Wi-Fi access
A: Thank you Windows Embedded Student Challenge Chat for joining us today. This chat is now over.

ivanjo_ms (Moderator):
The next chat is tomorrow at 5:00 pm pacific time. Pls ask us more questions then. Thanks!!

John Spaith [MS] (Expert):
Q: do you have any sample codes about the bluetooth that we could study?for example,to build a server on the PC through winsock
A: I'm not sure how XP Bluetooth support works - this code is only developed and tested against Windows CE BT stack.

Top of Page

Share via

Windows Embedded Student Challenge (April 5, 2005)

Additional resources