Example Listings
Bugs
Further Information

For those of us in the computer industry, there is an irresistible urge to get more "toys". The latest toy that I've been drooling over is one of several different Windows CE machines. I've had personal organizers in the past, but they didn't have nearly the horsepower of the new WinCE boxes. Add that to the fact that you can program them in Visual Basic and you can see what's at the top of my wish list. Professional Visual Basic Windows CE Programming, written by Larry Roof, is a good explanation of how to take your VB skills and apply them to the new WinCE platform to make some handy tools for yourself.

As the author points out in the first few chapters, writing a WinCE application has some differences from the traditional desktop application. For starters, the canvas you have is significantly smaller, which would at first imply that your applications had to be crammed into a tiny space using microscopic fonts. However, in a chapter at the beginning of the book, the author goes the other way and shows how to design applications that can be used by WinCE users who only have styluses and their fingers to use for input devices. These tips are probably the most useful ones in the book, especially for those of us new to WinCE programming.

After you get your environment set up (using Windows NT, which is required for WinCE programming), the author dives into the ActiveX controls you have on your palette. He also covers the controls used for accessing data. This is not database data; rather, it is data from the communications port, the file system, and a few other sources. The connectivity control you will find most useful is the Winsock control, since it gives you access to all the internet protocols that use Windows sockets to communicate.

Another chapter covers how Active Data Objects are used on the WinCE platform. If you're familiar with ADO from their use in Active Server Pages or VB 6.0, you'll cruise through this chapter. At last, you will be able to reuse some of your database knowledge between more than one platform.

The last two chapters in the book present complete applications: one is an inventory manager and the second is a note manager. Presenting full applications is useful for many people who might not see how to put all of the technologies presented together into a complete application. The applications are well-designed and easy to follow.

The Bottom Line
In closing, this book does a good job of introducing the WinCE platform to VB programmers with an average amount of knowledge of standard VB programming. While there is much more to the WinCE platform, this book will give you a good head start in your learning.