Blake's Nino Developer Page...

The purpose of this page is to provide a progress report, in essence, of my attempt to develop software for the Palm-size PC. I have a fairly strong background in C (I've programmed C professionally before), mainly under Unix and Borland C for DOS. My C++ skills are largely untested (as of today, 1/25/98...). I have never done any programming under any version of Microsoft Windows previously. This is where I am coming from. Below, you'll see where I'm getting to. I've got some project ideas that I think are pretty nifty--nothing too bold at first, that hopefully will come into fruition as May approaches (the Nino's release).

Hopefully this page will be of some benefit to anyone who is in a similar position. Please do not hesitate to e-mail me at blake@cfw.com to discuss any aspect of what I'm attempting. I might even be able to give a bit of sound advice! You never know....

I'm a little late in reporting it, but in the middle of last week I received the Microsoft Windows CE Programmer's Guide, an excellent if not absolutely necessary guide to programming Windows CE v2.0 devices (Microsoft Press, ISBN 1-57231-643-8). There is a small section that covers the specific issues pertaining to Palm-size PC programming (above that which applies to all flavors of WinCE v2.0). I ordered mine from Amazon.Com for ~$40 quite a while ago (it just recently came into print). I wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone who is considering doing any developing for WinCE v2.0.

I was just informed that Microsoft has placed the Microsoft Windows CE Platform SDK, PalmPC Edition (Preview Release) back online right here. The file has grown since it was placed online and then quickly pulled (44.5MB vs. 23MB). I am in the process of downloading it myself, so I'll have to report back on any findings of differences, etc. Definitely worth a download, especially if you have WindowsNT (becuase you can play with the PalmPC emulator). Should be interesting.

Well, I finally ordered the Microsoft Windows CE Toolkit for Visual C++. That, in conjunction with Visual C++ v5.0 (which I am currently using) should be all that is needed to start generating code for the PalmPC directly. Microsoft's price was $199. It occurred to me after I ordered that perhaps I could have gotten an educational discount (I work for the University of Virginia). Oh well.

Microsoft has just released their WindowsCE Toolkit for Visual C++ v5.0 / Visual BASIC v5.0 ($199). To quote Microsoft:

Two development toolkits for the Microsoft Windows CE 2.0 operating system are now available: the Windows CE Tookit for Visual Basic 5.0 and the Windows CE Toolkit for Visual C++ 5.0. The Windows CE Toolkit for Visual Basic enables developers to build applications and solutions for the Handheld PC, while the Windows CE Toolkit for Visual C++ can be used with Platform SDKs to create applications for the Handheld PC, Palm PC, and Auto PC.

See Microsoft's Press Release on the subject. I've been quite anxious to see just how limited the MFC under WindowsCE v2.0 is. Hopefully a large degree of core functionality will be present. At any rate, aside from the PalmPC itself (it's going to be painful to wait until May), this is the big piece that many have been waiting for. I'll put my order in shortly. Hopefully the Microsoft book on CE development (mentioned in a past dev news heading) will be published shortly and I can really get my hands dirty in actual CE 2.0 coding. With the Platform SDK's PalmPC emulator, you really don't need a tangible PalmPC to make progress on the development front. (I'm currently running the emulator supplied with the recently released "preview release" of the PalmPC SDK--but Microsoft pulled it off their site--I wonder why? At any rate, a "final" set of Platform SDK's is apparently bundled with the CE Toolkit.)

While in Richmond yesterday I managed to find the Microsoft Visual C++ MFC Library Reference parts 1 and 2. The price at Borders was $39.95 each. These go with Visual C++ version 5--I had only seen version 4 references circulating previously. These are pretty much required references if you intend to do any remotely serious MFC programming. (These run about 1400 pages each.)

Microsoft has just released the Microsoft Windows CE Platform SDK, Palm PC Edition (Preview Release) on this page. Here is a piece of their infoblurb which can be found there:

The Windows CE Platform SDK for Palm PC is designed to provide tools for building applications for the Palm PC. This Preview Release includes emulation support for Palm PC. The Windows CE Platform SDK for Palm PC does not include the cross-compilers needed for developing binaries that run on Palm PC devices. These compilers are included in the Windows CE Toolkit for Visual C++Ž 5.0 available from Microsoft, or in a C/C++ development environment that supports Windows CE. Remote Tools for Windows CE version 2.0 are included in this Preview Release of the Windows CE Platform SDK for Palm PC. These tools can only be used on a Windows CE version 2 device. The Palm PC Emulation Environment allows developers to build and test Windows CE applications on their Windows NTŽ Workstation as if they were running on a Palm PC device. This facilitates application development. The environments consist of an emulated shell and object store.

...I am going to break out the Windows NT Workstation v4 CDROM that came with MS Visual C++ v5 and install it tomorrow. This is a great step in getting what we need from MS as far as PalmPC development. With the mid-month release (scheduled) of the Windows CE Toolkit, it looks like the PalmPC itself will be the last piece that I get as far as getting some applications developed for the PalmPC (happily...sorta).

From Amazon.Com I ordered the Microsoft Windows CE Programmer's Guide which I found mentioned on the RoadCoders webpage (in my links section). Apprently it will not be set to ship until March 1 this year. I am assuming it covers WinCE v2.0. At any rate, it seemed like a must-have.

Wow. I sat down after glancing back over some key points in the Visual C++ book mentioned below and in less than 1 hour managed to create the entire user-input portion of the app I want to release first for the Nino. No specific formatting to the 240x320 screen or anything, but that is amazing. Even got an about-box custom bitmap thrown in there. Pretty slick for an hour's work. So far there's been no actual coding. That will come as the data is processed in this app, but even there I imagine the AppWizards in Visual C++ 5 will do most of the work for me. Again, wow.

Currently, I have made the purchase of two books in an attempt to get myself remotely up to speed with Win32 coding. One of the books, Programming Windows 95 buy Charles Petzold was highly recommend to me by someone online. While it seems to have garnered rave reviews from large publications, it is a book that teaches direct coding of Windows 95 in C. You're doing everything with this book--nothing is setup for you. The result is shorter .exe's, but you get the feeling you're reinventing the wheel to a degree.

Shortly after I ordered this text I discovered Microsoft Foundation Classes, or MFC. MFC is a system Microsoft setup designed to greatly shorten application development time. Heavily using C++'s class system, this object oriented approach, after short examination, is so clearly a very, very good way to do things that it really leaves you sitting in a certain degree of awe. I have gained an understanding of this system through the second book I purchased. This excellent book, Using Visual C++ 5 by Kate Gregory (it can be found at Amazon.Com here) is clear, concise, and logically put together. I feel, although I have yet to generate much code, that the first of my projects can be 90% completed using MFC before I have to write a single line of code. It is incredible. And what's more, programs written using MFC are easily ported to Windows CE. It's, apparently, almost an effortless conversion, once you've got the CE Developer Toolkit for Visual C++.

I'm quite pleased with the tools at the disposal of the Windows CE (or 95/NT) developer. This trip should be an interesting one indeed.

The Nino Development Page is now active.

Went to my local college bookstore and picked up a copy of Microsoft Visual C++ Professional v5.0 as a first step to ready myself for Nino software development. (It came bundled with Windows NT Workstation v4.0!) All I need now is the Windows CE toolkit ($199) and I'll have a full WinCE v2.0 development system. I'm sure my AMD K6-233 PC is up to the challenge.