About This Book

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[oR]

First, let me state what this book is not! This book does not look at user interface programming. Why not? I wanted to concentrate on the behind-the-scenes operating system facilities that are used to make really great applications. There are many good books on programming the user interface, and many of the principles and techniques are the same on Windows CE as for Windows NT/98/ 2000. The major difference is the smaller size of display, and knowing which user interface features are supported.

While many of these operating system features are similar to counterparts on Windows NT/98/2000 and often use the same API (Application Programming Interface) functions, the emphasis is different. Windows CE applications need to communicate. They need to communicate with other devices, to communicate with the Internet, to communicate with databases, and to communicate with server-side components. These are the areas on which I concentrate.

Also, these devices are smaller and have less memory in which to execute applications and to store data. Writing memory-efficient applications that can degrade gracefully in low-memory situations is essential. Data storage can be in files or in databases, and Windows CE provides unique techniques for both. These issues are covered in this book.

The techniques here can be used in nearly all Windows CE devices, including standard devices such as Pocket PC and Handheld PC, and customized embedded Windows CE devices produced by embedded developers. Probably 90 percent of the techniques here work in Windows CE 2.11 or 2.12. I have pointed out code that is specific to Windows CE 3.0 and Pocket PC in particular.

I have tried to provide plenty of code samples showing how to use the features being discussed. There is little or no user-interface code to get in the way of seeing the really important code. Feel free to take the code (it is on theCDROM) and incorporate it into your own applications. However, please, please, please add error-checking code. For the sake of brevity it is omitted from the source code samples, but it is essential in any production code.


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Windows CE 3. 0 Application Programming
Windows CE 3.0: Application Programming (Prentice Hall Series on Microsoft Technologies)
ISBN: 0130255920
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2002
Pages: 181

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