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FYP Final Report v1.0.0
Copyright and All Rights Reserved To: Pee-Lo Team @2003/04
54
4.3.3.1 About Microsoft .NET Compact Framework
The Microsoft .NET Compact Framework is the smart device development framework for Microsoft
.NET, bringing the world of managed code to devices. The .NET Compact Framework greatly
simplifies the process of creating and deploying applications to mobile and embedded devices,
while taking full advantage of the capabilities of the device.
The .NET Compact Framework implements a subset of the System.Windows.Forms and
System.Drawing classes, which allows us to construct a rich Windows CE-based user interface
for our device application. The form designer in Visual studio.NET manages much of the interaction
with these classes for us.
The .NET Compact Framework is much about XML Web Services. In the .NET Compact
Framework System.Web namespace, there have a scaled-down version of the capabilities and
functionality offered in the corresponding .NET Framework namespace. Most significantly, we can
create Web services clients but are not able to host XML Web Services under the .NET Compact
Framework.
These XML Web Service clients can be either synchronous of asynchronous. Creating an XML
Web Service client that targets the .NET Compact Framework is easy. The Visual Studio .NET IDE
does much of the work.
The .NET Compact Framework does not natively provide support for Bluetooth. We can access
most third-party Pocket PC implementation of Bluetooth via either serial port communications or
through a provider’s API.
The .NET Compact Framework does have a few limitations. It is documented in Appendix E.
4.3.3.2 Pocket PC Interfaces
The Pocket PC user interface is much different from the traditional desktop Windows user
interface, and the interface used in earlier windows CE palm sizes devices. All controls (such as
buttons, text edit boxes, and menus) are two dimensional, and all operations can be completed
with a single click, rather than double click. The “Start” button is located at the top of the screen
while an application’s menu appears at the bottom of the screen. The Pocket PC has no keyboard;
instead, the user interacts with the device using a stylus on the touch-sensitive screen. Text is
entered into a Pocket PC using one of three SIPs (Soft Input Panel):-
Keyboard: A keyboard displayed on the screen which allows ‘hunt-and-click’ data entry,
Character Recognizer: A panel that recognizes single characters written onto the screen,
Transcriber: An application that recognizes joined-up handwriting.
The first two SIPs described above occupy around one-third of the screen. Application will need to
ensure that all the information that required by a user to complete data input is visible above the
SIP in the top two-thirds of the display. Dialogs should be designed in the way that all controls are
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