Chapter Overviews

Chapter Overviews

We ve divided this book into four parts to address the needs of developers and designers. Table 1 shows each part of the book along with its primary audience.

Table I-1. The Four Parts of Building Tablet PC Applications

	Content	Primary Audience
Part One	Introduction to Tablet PCs and how to design software for them	Designers/Developers
Part Two	The Tablet PC Platform SDK in detail	Developers
Part Three	Advanced Tablet PC topics such as how to update existing applications	Developers/Designers
Part Four	Appendixes, including the Building TabletApps library reference	Developers/Designers

Following is a brief overview of each chapter. For those of you in a hurry to skip some chapters, we identify some of the dependencies between chapters so that you will not get confused if you miss an important concept.

Chapter 1 The Tablet PC and Its Applications

We start by defining what a tablet computer is and is not, especially in contrast with other pen-driven devices. Then we recount the major milestone products, both hardware and software, that marked the history of tablet computing. The chapter ends with a description of the distinguishing characteristics of a Microsoft Tablet PC.

Chapter 2 Designing Tablet PC Applications

Microsoft invested heavily in user research to bring a compelling tablet computer to market. Chapter 2 presents the results of that research as a set of recommendations to help you build easy-to-use Tablet PC applications.

Chapter 3 The Tablet PC Platform SDK

This chapter contains an overview of the Tablet PC Platform SDK. It covers the various components that form the SDK and also introduces the managed API.

Chapter 4 Tablet PC Platform SDK: Tablet Input

We begin our in-depth adventure into the SDK with the Tablet Input API. The two objects that collect digital ink, InkCollector and InkOverlay, form the basis of our discussion.

Chapters 5 and 6 Tablet PC Platform SDK: Ink Data Management

We spend two chapters discussing one of the core areas of the Tablet PC Platform. The Ink Data Management API exposes the all-important Ink and Stroke objects, which we delve into extensively. We also explain how to accomplish everyday tasks with the Ink Data Management API, such as rendering ink, saving ink, and transferring ink to the clipboard.

Chapter 7 Tablet PC Platform SDK: Ink Recognition

One of the most popular features people associate with tablet computing is handwriting recognition. Although handwriting recognition is not a major focus of the Microsoft Tablet PC Platform, the SDK nevertheless supports recognition by means of a rich set of objects. We offer a survey of the objects in the Ink Recognition API and show by example how to apply them in common scenarios.

Chapter 8 Ink Controls

The Tablet PC Platform SDK comes with two ink controls: InkEdit and InkPicture. We explore how InkEdit is an enhancement over standard textboxes for tablet users. Finally, we end Part Two of the book by investigating how to use the InkPicture control.

Chapter 9 Updating Existing Applications

The Tablet PC Platform poses some unique challenges for developers and designers who plan to update an existing application rather than write a new one. In this chapter we offer advice, derived from our own experience in integrating the Tablet PC Platform APIs into existing applications, regarding how best to update your application.