How to Use the MSN Direct Development Tools

10/16/2008

This topic describes how you can use the MSN Direct development tools to simulate the receipt and handling of MSN Direct data for development and testing. By testing your MSN Direct enabled implementation, you can verify its functionality before you create the production-ready navigation device that connects to an actual receiver. For example, you can verify the pipeline of MSN Direct data from the receiver emulator to the target device, and also verify that different parts of each message are parsed and displayed correctly in the application user interface (UI).

After you set up and configure both the sample application and the MSN Direct receiver emulator, you can test and verify the pipeline of MSN Direct data from the receiver emulator to your sample application. When the MSN Direct data is received by the sample application through the serial connection, it parses the data and displays it on the application UI.

Note

Once you have built your production-ready MSN Direct application and want to use the development tools to test the data pipeline, use the following steps and simply replace instances of "MSNDirectApp.exe" with the name of your application .exe file.

Hardware and Software Assumptions

• Familiarity with the MSN Direct receiver emulator. For more information, see MSN Direct Receiver Emulator.
• Familiarity with the MSN Direct sample application. For more information, see MSN Direct Sample Application.
• You have a target device that uses an ARM microprocessor and that supports a run-time image based on Windows Embedded NavReady.
• You have a display monitor connected to the target device.
• You have an ARM-based board support package (BSP) that is selectable in the Catalog. For more information, see ARM BSPs or BSP Wizard.
• If the target device does not have a COM port, you have a USB-to-Serial converter that you can attach to the USB port on the target device.
• When you are using a target device to test MSN Direct on a run-time image that includes ActiveSync, you must use a serial null-modem cable to connect the target device to the development workstation that runs the receiver emulator. The end connector of the serial null-modem cable that you plug into the target-device slot must have the Carrier Detect (CD) pin removed from the Data Set Ready (DSR) line. This must be performed to prevent all serial interrupts from a standard serial null-modem cable from triggering ActiveSync to display a new connection dialog box. For more information, contact the MSN Direct team for information about the Hardware Reference Design Kit.

Steps

Step	Related information
1. Create an operating-system (OS) design based on the Portable Navigation Device design template. On the board support package (BSP) page, you must choose an ARM-based BSP.	Creating an OS Design Portable Navigation Device Design Template
2. Customize the OS design. In Platform Builder, on the View menu, choose Catalog. The Catalog is located in the right-side window in the Platform Builder IDE. Browse to Core OS\Windows CE devices\Applications and Services Development\MSN Direct\MSN Direct Sample Application. Right-click the Catalog item and choose Add to OS design. Browse to Core OS\Windows CE devices\Core OS Services\Serial Port Support. Right-click the Catalog item and choose Add to OS design.	No further information
3. Select a Debug or Release configuration as the active configuration for your OS design. Many tasks depend on the configuration that you select. You can define build settings by configuration.	Levels of Debugging Support Creating a Configuration
4. (Optional) Customize the settings for your OS design by using the Platform Settings dialog box and by setting environment variables. For example, you might want to enable KITL support in your OS design for debugging. For information about the settings that you can configure, see Platform Settings.	Modifying OS Design Settings Setting or Clearing an Environment Variable Environment Variables
5. Make sure that the target device allocates sufficient RAM to your run-time image by checking the final run-time image size estimate, which is visible in the status bar of the Integrated Development Environment (IDE). If you estimate that your final run-time image size will be 32 MB or larger, enable a larger run-time image size.	Enabling a Run-Time Image Size Larger than 32 MB
6. Build your OS design into a run-time image. From the Build OS menu, verify that Make Run-Time Image After Build and Copy Files to Release Directory After Build are selected. From the Build OS menu, choose Sysgen.	No further information
7. Connect a serial cable from the development workstation to the target device.	No further information
8. Turn on the target device so that it becomes active over the serial connection and Platform Builder can discover it.	No further information
9. Establish a serial connection between the target device and the development workstation. MSN Direct uses serial communications to send messages from the receiver to the sample application.	Configuring a Serial Remote Connection
10. Download the run-time image to the target device. Wait until all modules are loaded on the target device.	Downloading a Run-Time Image
11. Verify that you have downloaded your run-time image to your target device. If you have successfully downloaded your run-time image, the run-time image boots. The run-time image should continue to run on the target device as you complete the following steps.	No further information
12. On the development workstation, browse to %_WINCEROOT%\PUBLIC\SERVERS\OAK\BIN and configure the receiver emulator by editing Test.devicecfg.	Configuring the Receiver Emulator
13. Configure the COM port that the receiver emulator will use to send data to the MSN Direct sample application running on the target device.	Configuring the COM Ports for the MSN Direct Development Tools
14. Create a command prompt build window for the OS design that you created in step 1.	Creating a Command Prompt Build Window
15. On the development workstation, start the receiver emulator. Open the command prompt build window and browse to the Emulator directory, located at %_WINCEROOT%\PUBLIC\SERVERS\OAK\BIN. Type run. At this point, the receiver emulator is pushing simulated data from a .dat file to the specific COM port.	No further information
16. Run the MSNDirectApp.exe sample application on the target device. In Platform Builder, on the Target menu, choose CE Target Control to display the Target Control window. At the command prompt, type s MSNDirectApp.exe. When the sample application starts to run, its UI appears on the display connected to the target device.	No further information
17. In the sample application UI, choose Connect, type the name of the COM port you want to connect to, and then press ENTER. When the application connects to the receiver emulator, the string "No Radio" changes to "Connected", and messages sent from the receiver emulator are displayed in the window. To disconnect the application from the receiver emulator, choose Disconn.	No further information

See Also

Concepts

MSN Direct Services How-to Topics
How to Integrate MSN Direct into a Device