Description:
This guidebook shows you how to be productive quickly using Visual Basic (VB) tools for the Windows CE platform. The book starts with a guide to installing and using the Microsoft VBCE Toolkit, and then outlines the major differences between ordinary VB development and the (restricted) CE version. After introducing a simple time-manager sample, Roof offers helpful tips for dealing with the reduced capabilities of hand-held devices. Next, Roof covers add-ons to the Microsoft VBCE. He explores ActiveX controls for Windows CE such as the grid, ListView, and TreeView controls. Later, he looks at database programming, using the Windows CE ADO CE SDK add-on. Roof spends a good deal of time on the different conventions of working with files in VBCE, illustrated with a simple editor. There are issues specific to the Windows CE platform, such as synchronizing data between desktop PCs and hand-held devices. He presents several solutions on this topic (including using the Internet to transfer data), and also includes a chapter on Microsoft's new HTML-based help system. The book finishes off with two nicely functional samples, an Inventory Manager (which uses bar codes) and a Note Manager (for organizing notes). Illustrated with plenty of screen shots, Professional Visual Basic Windows CE Programming delivers a useful guide to the exciting world of Windows CE development for the Visual Basic programmer. --Richard Dragan
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