The Windows CE Technology Tutorial: Windows Powered Solutions for the Developer

In the opening chapter of The Windows CE Technology Tutorial, author Chris Muench writes, "Developing applications and systems for Windows CE has a lot in common with the art of creating and taking care of bonsai trees." Like cultivators of bonsai trees, Windows CE programmers try to create compact versions of something larger, and frequently expend extra effort in the process. Muench then proceeds to illustrate the bonsai-like elegance and compactness of Windows CE code, while simultaneously showing how to pack handheld applications with loads of functionality.

Windows CE provides a strategy for choosing between eMbedded Visual C++ and eMbedded Visual Basic and then explains how to use each. The discussion of software development under Windows CE--both for desktop applications and those that lack graphical user interfaces--reflects a great deal of practical experience, and on more than one occasion references to undocumented aspects of Windows CE and its development tools are included. The book is careful to document potential pitfalls in certain palm-size PC hardware platforms. Throughout this book, the reader is guided through the development of an application called the Pocket-CD-Manager--which includes ActiveX Controls, database access via ActiveX Data Objects for Windows CE (ADO for CE), ActiveSync, bitmapping tricks, Winsock over IrDA, a help file, an installation script, and an assortment of other features useful for various production applications. It's an effective teaching strategy that turns a fine tutorial into an excellent one. --David Wall

Topics covered: Developing software for palm-size PCs that run Microsoft Windows CE. Development platforms, integrated development environments, simulators, and languages are all compared. The book discusses pretty much the entire Windows CE capability set, including Component Object Model (COM) for Windows CE, graphical user interface (GUI) design, connectivity via TCP/IP and IrDA, bitmaps, sounds, and installation routines. The tutorial also contains a lot of information on the Windows CE hardware specification and Microsoft's Windows CE logo requirements.