Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc.developer,comp.os.ms-windows.ce,comp.lang.basic.visual,comp.sys.handhelds (More info?)

Hi,

I am a complete newbie in Pocket PC application development. Right now
I am figuring out the technologies required to do the following.

1. I am planning to develop a Pocket PC application in either Vb.net
or embedded VB to collect information - mainly name, email address and
a scanned image of the driver's license. There will be 10,000 such
records.

a)Which will be the better option - embedded VB or VB.net?

b)If I decide to build the application in vb.net, do I have to buy
Visual Studio .NET 2003 and the .NET Compact Framework ? I read
somewhere to develop Pocket PC applications, Visual Studio 2003 is
required. Could some one guide me on the exact software required? It
will be very much appreciated..


2. I would like to store all the collected data on SQL Server CE on the
Pocket PC and transfer to SQL Server 2000 on a main server over a GPRS
connection from this vb.net/embedded vb application ie sync the sql ce
and sql server 2000 data. Is it possible to do that? Do I have to use
Winsock programming?


3. Will Sql server ce be able to handle 10,000 records of data? How
much memory will be required on Pocket PC to store this much amount
of data?

4. How can I scan a Photo ID(driver's license) from a Pocket PC in
vb.net/embedded vb application?

5. To use a GPRS connection, do i need a GSM/GPRS modem on the main
Server(containing SQL Server 2000) onsite? I assume all the Pocket PC's
come with GPRS connection.. Are there any other additional hardware
requirements?

I know these are a lot of questions..I will appreciate it very much if
some one could guide me in the appropriate direction..

Thanks in advance,
Ann

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc.developer,comp.os.ms-windows.ce,comp.lang.basic.visual,comp.sys.handhelds (More info?)

Similar questions are asked every few weeks, so google _will_ provide
useful info. Unfortunately, the questions are asked in enough
different ways that finding a good search string is tricky.

I just used google (http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search) to
look up
vb.net
in microsoft.public.pocketpc.developer and got 2010 hits. That would
be a _lot_ to wade through, but at least one of the first 5 answered
some of your questions. I then tried looking for
vb.net newbie
in the same newsgroup and got 53 hits, but the first few didn't look
useful. I then tried my usual recommendation
newbie
and got 660 hits. I'm quite sure you would find something useful
(mostly ignoring similar notes like this from me), but I wasn't
encouraged by a quick look. Finally, I tried
vb.net newbie
without restricting to any newsgroup and got 5230 hits. That would be
a _lot_ to wade through. But I took a quick look and think you will
quickly get enough leads and useful info to narrow down the search.

I'll try to provide some more specific answers below.


On 13 Apr 2005 16:37:11 -0700, nsajus@yahoo.com wrote:

>Hi,
>
>I am a complete newbie in Pocket PC application development. Right now
>I am figuring out the technologies required to do the following.
>
>1. I am planning to develop a Pocket PC application in either Vb.net
>or embedded VB to collect information - mainly name, email address and
>a scanned image of the driver's license. There will be 10,000 such
>records.

Microsoft has dropped support for eVB, so that is out if you want to
support any future devices.


>
> a)Which will be the better option - embedded VB or VB.net?
>
> b)If I decide to build the application in vb.net, do I have to buy
>Visual Studio .NET 2003 and the .NET Compact Framework ? I read
>somewhere to develop Pocket PC applications, Visual Studio 2003 is
>required. Could some one guide me on the exact software required? It
>will be very much appreciated..

I don't use VB, so I'm not the best source of info, but no one else
has answered so far. I'm quite sure you need Visual Studio 2003
Professional, which is definitely not free. You will also need the
appropriate SDKs (probably Pocket PC 2003 for now), and the Compact
Framework. I'm not sure how they are bundled. You can definitely get
answers by using


>
>
>2. I would like to store all the collected data on SQL Server CE on the
>Pocket PC and transfer to SQL Server 2000 on a main server over a GPRS
>connection from this vb.net/embedded vb application ie sync the sql ce
>and sql server 2000 data. Is it possible to do that? Do I have to use
>Winsock programming?
>
>
>3. Will Sql server ce be able to handle 10,000 records of data? How
>much memory will be required on Pocket PC to store this much amount
>of data?
>
>4. How can I scan a Photo ID(driver's license) from a Pocket PC in
>vb.net/embedded vb application?

If you want to take a picture, then several companies make cameras
that work with Pocket PC. If you want to scan the barcode, then
several companies make barcode scanners that work with Pocket PC.
Also, several companies make Pocket PCs with built-in scanners and/or
cameras. These are generally industrial computers, which are more
rugged and expensive. I know some of these can read 2D barcodes. I
don't know whether any of the add-in scanners can read 2D.

>
>5. To use a GPRS connection, do i need a GSM/GPRS modem on the main
>Server(containing SQL Server 2000) onsite? I assume all the Pocket PC's
>come with GPRS connection..

Definitely not true. Many Pocket PCs come with _no_ cell phone
capability. Only Pocket PCs that are Pocket PC Phone Edition come with
cell phone capability. I assume the technology depends on the carrier,
but I definitely don't know.

For your app, you might consider a Windows Mobile for Smartphone. The
are more like cell phones. I don't deal with Smartphone, so I can't
help more.

>> Are there any other additional hardware
>requirements?
>
>I know these are a lot of questions..I will appreciate it very much if
>some one could guide me in the appropriate direction..

Well, I am definitely biased, but honestly do believe that buying a
solution can often cost less than creating your own. In particular,
our app can do most of what you want. We haven't explicitly supported
cell phone connections. But we do support ftp, so any phone connection
that provides ftp support will work for us. We definitely support 1D
and 2D barcodes, pictures, and back-end databases. So I hope you will
at least look at our web site (please see my signature).


>
>Thanks in advance,
>Ann

-----------------------------------------
To reply to me, remove the underscores (_) from my email address (and please indicate which newsgroup and message).

Robert E. Zaret, eMVP
PenFact, Inc.
500 Harrison Ave., Suite 3R
Boston, MA 02118
www.penfact.com

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc.developer,comp.os.ms-windows.ce,comp.sys.handhelds (More info?)

Thank you so much Robert..That was extremely helpful..

Ann