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Workspace Creation (Windows CE 5.0)

In Platform Builder, you can create a workspace in the integrated development environment (IDE) or from the command line. You use this workspace to work on operating system (OS) designs and projects, which are contained in a workspace (.pbxml) file.

Regardless of what you use your workspace for, IDE workspaces and command-line workspaces each offer unique advantages:

  • IDE workspaces provide an easier method for learning how to use Platform Builder, and enable you to more quickly create and configure an OS design or project.

    You can perform any task that is possible in a command-line build environment by, from the Build OS menu, selecting Open Release Directory. This opens a command-prompt build window with the command-line build environment variables set for your OS design.

  • Command-line workspaces are easier to share in a source code control environment. Also, command-line builds are useful when you port Microsoft® Windows® CE to new hardware, such as when you create a board support package (BSP).

With either workspace type, your OS design is based on the core configuration, CEBASE, which contains functionality for both headless and display-based devices. For more information, see Catalog Item Management.

This functionality is sorted into a number of design templates that you can use to begin configuring your OS design using the New Platform Wizard. For more information about design templates that you can select, see Design Template Selection.

Regardless of which method you use to create a workspace, the Windows CE OS source code is organized into directory trees in your Windows CE installation directory. This directory is typically C:\WINCE500, referred to by the environment variable _WINCEROOT.

These directory trees, also known as dependency trees or deptrees, contain the source code necessary to create an OS design and are grouped into areas of functionality, such as DCOM or applications.

Each dependency tree has two sections: one contains public code, and one contains private code. These are contained in the %_WINCEROOT%\Public and the %_WINCEROOT%\Private trees.

The Public tree contains source code that can be modified and shipped in a product; the Private tree contains source code that generally cannot be shipped in a product.

For more information about the contents of your Windows CE installation, see Platform Builder Directory Structure.

See Also

Build System | Source Code Control | Workspace Creation in the IDE | Creating a Workspace from the Command-Line | Creating a Project

Last updated on Thursday, February 02, 2006

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