Programming...

[Moose or Chuck]

Alright. I need some help here. Can someone please give me a newsgroup addr., webpage addr., or the name of a good book for Pocket PC (eMbedded Visual Tools 3.0) programming? I've been looking for a week and haven't found anything that helped me. I'm starting to get a perpetual headache from my searching.

[Matt Keys]

I went searching around microsofts site, and I found this. not sure if you have seen it yet or if it might help you<br><br>http://www.microsoft.com/mobile/developer/gettingstarted.asp

[Moose or Chuck]

Thanks. I had seen that before and scanned through it quickly. The books they feature there are all for Int/Adv level users (which I am, obviously, not... yet). The only tutorial I found was the Hello World tutorial, which was only a "How to use the wizard" guide. I am search through more thoroughly, however, as I'm sure Microsoft has some free documentation on their product.

[Matt Keys]

I also am trying to learn to program and I seem to be stuck in your same situation. I will keep you posted if I find anything. I think I will check the book store. Or maybe there is a website for "learn to _____ for dummies"

[Matt Keys]

here are some links to a couple books that might be helpful<br><br>http://www.delet.ufrgs.br/~cpereira/temporeal_pos/www/WindowsCE.htm

[Dan East]

First off, where are you starting out from:<br>Do you have any programming experience in any language?<br>Programming in C or C++?<br>Windows API programming?<br>MFC (Microsoft Foundation Classes) Programming?<br><br>Basically at least 98% of Windows CE programing is just Windows programming.  The biggest difference is that you must use Unicode strings when calling Windows Functions.  Otherwise there are CE-Specific routines, such as enumerating CF cards, or accessing the SIP, but those only represent a very small portion that is unique to CE.<br>In other words, a generic, modern Windows programming book would be very helpful...<br><br>Dan East<br>Last modification: Dan East - 02/01/01 at 07:10:47

[Moose or Chuck]

I heard that CE is EXTREMELY similar to NT. But, basically, I have NO experience in C or VB. I don't want to waste $40 on a book that wouldn't be all that useful. So far, the CE books all are useless to me. But you think that a generic Windows programming book would be good. Any specific Titles that you enjoyed?

[Dan East]

Well, the only way NT and CE are more similar than CE and 95/98/ME, is that NT supports Unicode.  It does not require it - it can handle ASCII also.  CE requires Unicode.  That is the main reason I presume that NT is required for emulation.<br>I have some Windows books, but I haven't found anything helpful.  I have 17 years of programming experience, including gui on other platforms (Amiga, Unix's X Windows).  So adapting to Windows-specific programming was more a matter of finding the function calls to do what I wanted, than learning the overall logic and structure.<br>Personally, examples help me more than anything.  Embedded Visual C++ will create framework applications for you, which at least get you off to a good start.  There are also samples covering most all of the CE-Specific issues.<br>So, to start with, you need a book on C or C++ programming.  C++ builds off of C, and introduces the concept of the "class", which is used to combine data and the functions that manipulate that data into one neat package. You can program for Windows using C++'s Object-Oriented capabilities (the "class" ), using what is called MFC, or the Microsoft Foundation Classes. This provides an advanced, higher-level method of writing Windows software.  However, it can incur additional overhead, both memory and performance-wise, on top of standard windows API programming.  I use MFC for my "real" job, which is developing medical software for use on a myriad of CE devices, and on desktop machines.  Pocket Quake does not use MFC for several reasons, but primarily because the windows specific portion has a very basic scheme (no buttons, menus, dialog boxes, advanced controls such as trees, lists, tables, etc).  "Standard" applications, such as word processing, spreadsheets and the like, can benefit from MFC because it allows you to further encapsulate your code, and build off of smaller pieces of functionality.  I believe I would start with straight API programming, and once you've gotten your feet wet perhaps then move on to MFC programming.<br><br>Dan East<br>Last modification: Dan East - 02/02/01 at 05:52:29

[Moose or Chuck]

Alright. I downloaded nesCE source code and it helped me a little. I'm getting acquainted with the structure and functions, but since the program doesn't really display the bitmaps or graphics, really, it doesn't help me in my search to create the ultimate PPC video game . Just thought I'd let you know where I'm at now.

[Dan East]

If you want to create a "real" game, we're talking about something that takes full advantage of the resources of the device, you won't be using the Windows drawing routines - not even blitting.  You can do all your work in a proprietary fashion - whatever is most conducive to the type of graphics you are generating - then when the frame is built copy it directly over to the video RAM.  Basically, the minimum you need to use Windows CE for is to give you a process in which to execute, provide user input, and finally sound output.<br>iPaqs, and even the Casio devices, are capable of producing some incredible gaming experiences, considering the power they have compared to the majority of the home gaming platforms out there (except for the currently produced machines, PS2, N64, etc).  IMO, no-one has come close to producing a game that really shines on the Pocket PC platform.  Part of the problem is the lack of a substantial market (how many people own playstations compared to iPaqs?).  I wish some of these larger software companies would open their eyes, and devote the minimal effort required to port 2 and 3 year old PC games to the Pocket PC devices.  Or at least do like ID Software did and release the source so someone like me could do it for free. <br><br>Dan East

[Moose or Chuck]

Alright. I made a little quick game using one of those game maker languages a while back. Is there anyway to decompile that into C++ so I can see what it's doing in a real language? I doubt there is, but I'm hoping.<br><br>oh ya... Can I just get normal C++ code and just compile it in my embedded tools? Would there be any problems with that. Such as displaying on the screen?Last modification: Moose Master - 02/04/01 at 07:50:52

[Mark Rejhon]

If you're just making a Tetris like game, it's not that hard if you're already a programmer.<br><br>However, for a 3D game or a scrolling shooter, or anything that uses lots of graphics activity, you WILL need to know the unusually special techniques of directly accessing the screen.  For example, the pixels are arranged vertically, not horizontally!   It's as if X and Y are reversed, and you need to do "special commands" (GAPI) just to make pixels display faster.   It's a lot of learning to do, if you're not already familiar with DirectX or framebuffer API's.

[Moose or Chuck]

The main thing I want to know is, why is the framework "Hello World!" programming in eMbedded so long? Why can't you just write the text to the screen like you could with<br>printf ( "Hello World!" ) ;<br>(damn smilies, forgot to turn them off.)Last modification: Moose Master - 02/05/01 at 11:58:00

[Dan East]

Lesson 1:  :)  Windows CE has no console.  Until Windows CE 3.0, there was no support at all for the stdio routines.  Even with 3.0, if you printf, puts, etc, then it will go nowhere, as there is no console, shell, dos window, etc, to handle and display the text.  <br>In your sample app, the framework creates a window, and graphically draws the text "Hello World" into that window's device context.  As you can see, even the most basic of Window's applications have to do some message handling, window class registration, etc.<br><br>Dan East

[Moose or Chuck]

Alright, that helped a little.<br>I had noticed the part where it creates the small sized icon for the "task bar" in the Start Menu. I didn't realize you actually had to CREATE a window from scratch. I'll look over the code some more again, right after I finish designing my programming website for when/if I ever start to program CE.