Applications and Services Development (Windows CE 5.0)

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The following operating system functionality is available for developing applications and services:

  • Active Template Library (ATL)
  • C Libraries and Run-times
  • Component Services (COM and DCOM)
  • Device Management
  • LDAP (Lightweight Database Access Protocol) Client
  • Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC)
  • Pocket Outlook Object Model (POOM)
  • SOAP Toolkit
  • Speech API (SAPI) 5.0
  • SQL Server CE 2.0
  • Standard SDK for Windows CE
  • Microsoft® .NET Compact Framework
  • XML

Active Template Library

Active Template Library (ATL) for Windows CE is a C++ template library designed to help create small, fast Microsoft® ActiveX® servers. An ActiveX server is a dynamic-link library (DLL) or executable (.exe) that contains one or more Component Object Model (COM) components. COM components can be anything from a simple dialog box to a full ActiveX control.

This Catalog item is only available in display-based OS designs.

C Libraries

The following table describes the Catalog items that you can add to your operating system. Note that the Full C Run Time Catalog item and the Standard String Functions Catalog item are not available in display-based OS designs.

Catalog item Description
C++ Exception Handling Supports compiler C++ exception handling equivalent to the desktop C++ compilers.
Full C Run Time Supports full ANSI C run time and is only available in headless OS designs.
Run-Time Type Information Supports compiler Run-Time Type Information (RTTI) equivalent to the desktop C++ compilers.
Standard IO Supports the standard input/output library.
Standard IO ASCII Supports the standard input/output ASCII library.
Standard String Functions - ASCII Supports the standard ASCII string functions and is only available in headless OS designs.

Component Services

The Component Object Model (COM) is a operating system-independent, object-oriented system for creating binary software components that can interact with other COM-based components in the same process space, in other processes, or on remote machines. To allow developers to manage the memory footprint of a Windows CE-based device, three levels of run-time support for COM-based applications are available. The following table describes each Catalog item.

Catalog item Description
Minimal COM Minimal COM implementation providing a baseline application programming interface (API) set for COM object creation. This Catalog item requires about 10–20K of memory and does not include Automation support.

This Catalog item is only available in headless OS designs.

COM Midrange implementation of COM and Automation that supports only in-process free-threaded objects. This Catalog item requires about 100–200K of memory.
Full COM Full-featured COM implementation equivalent to Microsoft Windows NT® 4.0 SP5 and Automation that supports in-process and out-of-process objects and all threading models. This functionality is equivalent to DCOM with the remoting functionality disabled. This Catalog item requires approximately 700K of memory.
DCOM Remote Access Full-featured COM implementation equivalent to Microsoft Windows NT® 4.0 SP5 that includes remote COM and Automation. This Catalog item requires approximately 700K of memory.
COM Storage Add-on Catalog item for COM, DCOM, or Minimal COM that provides structured storage functionality.

Device Management

The Device Management Catalog item for Microsoft® Windows® CE 5.0 allows you to install applications and software updates on the Windows CE-based device without involving the user. Device Management consists of the device management service, the client, and the Microsoft® Systems Management Server device proxy. The device client periodically polls a server for new application offerings or packages, while the Systems Management Server device proxy is a substitute between the Windows CE-based device client and the Systems Management Server server infrastructure.

LDAP Client

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) version 3.0 is used to access a directory that stores names, addresses, phone numbers, and other types of information. The LDAP API simplifies writing directory applications.

Microsoft Foundation Classes

Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC) for Windows CE is a comprehensive class library and complete object-oriented application framework designed to help build applications, COM components, and controls. You can create anything from a simple dialog box–based application to a sophisticated application that uses the full MFC document or view architecture.

This Catalog item is only available in display-based OS designs.

Pocket Outlook Object Model API

The Microsoft® Pocket Outlook® Object Model (POOM) API, for Outlook Mobile, allows user applications to access the Personal Information Manager (PIM) data stores and manipulate data. The data stores hold calendar, contact, and task data.

This Catalog item is only available in display-based OS designs.

SOAP Toolkit

SOAP is an XML-based protocol for object exchange and remote procedure calling. Microsoft® Windows® CE 5.0 provides functionality similar to the SOAP Toolkit version 2 on the desktop. It provides a layer that allows COM objects to use SOAP as the transport protocol for remote procedure calls and to interact with Web services.

Speech API (SAPI) 5.0

The Speech API (SAPI) 5.0 technology for Microsoft® Windows® CE is a subset of the Microsoft Speech Application Programming Interface (SAPI) version 5.0. SAPI 5.0 is a programming standard that provides tools and components to speech recognition and text-to-speech software applications. Speech recognition applications allow a computer to respond to spoken commands or to write text in response to spoken words. Text-to-speech applications allow a computer to synthesize a voice that speaks words that are in a string or text file.

SQL Server CE 2.0

Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2000 Windows® CE Edition 2.0 (SQL Server CE) extends Microsoft SQL Server to Microsoft Windows CE-based devices. SQL Server CE delivers relational database functionality, including a data store, a query processor, and scalable connectivity capabilities, all in a small footprint.

This Catalog item is only available in display-based OS designs.

Standard SDK for Windows CE

The Standard Software Development Kit (SDK) for Windows CE Catalog item includes a common baseline of Windows CE technologies to make it easy to port applications.

This Catalog item is only available in display-based OS designs.

Microsoft® .NET Compact Framework

This is a hardware-independent program execution environment for secure downloadable applications optimized for resource-constrained computing target devices. It offers a choice of languages, initially Microsoft Visual Basic® and Microsoft Visual C#®, and eliminates the common problems faced with language interoperability.

This Catalog item is only available in display-based OS designs.

XML

Windows CE supports Microsoft XML version 3.0 Service Pack 1 (SP1). The following table describes the Catalog items that you can add to your operating system.

Catalog item Description
Core Services and Document Object Model Provides the Document Object Model (DOM) for base XML functionality.
XML HTTP Implements the XML HTTP object.
XML Query Language Provides support for XML Query Language (XQL) and XPATH.
XML Stylesheet Language Transformations Provides Extensible Style Sheet Language Transformations (XSLT) that enables you to transform one class of XML document to another.
XML SAX Provides SAX2 support for event-based parsing of XML documents and includes MSXML Writer.
XML Minimal Parser Supports parsing based on Simple API for XML (SAX) for resource-constrained target devices.
XML Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension (MIME) Viewer Allows Internet Explorer to display XML documents without the need for writing script to output XML content to DHTML objects.

See Also

Windows CE Features | Applications and Services Development Catalog Items

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