2. Developing Mobile Applications
Tim Heuer
Immedient
Bert Solano

3. Agenda Mobile Overview VS .NET Features Data Storage Options
Tips and Tricks

4. CE Devices are available

5. Mobile vs. Wireless Mobile Architectures Wireless
Application can function in a vacuum
“Synchronize When You Can”
Wireless
Tethered to the data source, just like wired, only we use wireless
WiFi, CDPD, GPRS,
Prone to problems
Mobile Apps leverage Wireless
Wireless is NOT Mobile

6. Goal for a Mobile App
Can your user function from the bottom of the ocean? (… with a waterproof device)
Is your application as reliable as their paper notebook?
Take advantage of the internet, don’t depend on it.

7. Compatibility Challenges
Many different device types
Different form-factors
Human interface choices
Connectivity choices
WiFi Network Cradle Compact Flash
WWan Desktop Cradle Infra Red
On-device resources vary widely
ROM/RAM capacity
File system
Battery life

8. Mobile Development Environment
Single set of familiar productive tools for all development
Server components Rich client applications Mobile Web development Building Web services Consuming Web services
Easily take advantage of all Microsoft mobile platform assets

9. Mobile Development Approaches
Application on device
Device specific
Fewer devices
Offline options
Richest UI
Client Application
Application on server
Runs in browser
Many devices
Online only
Less UI choice
Easy to deploy
Web Application

10. Mobile Development Tools
Today
Visual Studio & NET Compact Framework
Client Application
Embedded Visual Tools
eVB and eVC++
Device-specific Active Server Pages
Visual Studio & Mobile Internet Toolkit
Web Application

11. Mobile Internet Toolkit
Components
Mobile controls
Mobile designer
Rich device identification
Rapidly develop Mobile Web Applications
Powerful and flexible
Easy to customize and extend
For future devices

12. Mobile Controls Render based on device capabilities
Automatically output multiple markup languages
Built upon ASP.NET control base classes
Common controls:
Label
TextView
Link
Calendar

13. .NET Compact Framework Smart Device Extensions
A subset of the .NET Framework
Same programming model
Same security as desktop programming model
Lightweight and Resource Efficient
RAM
Battery and CPU usage
Flash and ROM
Rich PocketPC Functionality
Windows Forms (WinForms)
ADO.NET Data Access
XML Web Services Client

14. Common Language Runtime
With Windows CE
Windows CE Device
Windows UI
Standard Windows look and feel
Forms-based UI
All the standard controls
Significant subset for small size
XML Web Services
Windows NT® network integration
Data Access
Local data (offline)
Remote data (online)
Simple structured files (text)
XML Web Services
Windows Forms
Data and XML
Base Class Library
Common Language Runtime
Take advantage of Windows richness

15. Device Compatibility .Net Compact Framework
Faithful implementation of Standard CLI
Core types and methods + device extensions
Subset of .Net framework appropriate to smart device development
Microsoft Full .NET Framework
Desktop
Microsoft .NET Compact Framework
Pocket PC (CE)
Microsoft .NET Compact Framework Smart Phone
ISO/IEC 23271:2002 / ECMA 335 Common Language Infrastructure
Microsoft Windows CE Extensions
IRDA, Barcode Scanner, etc

16. It’s All About Balance (Developer Perspective)
This is NOT the desktop, think 100mhz
Features
Amount of Data
Garbage Collection
Data Entry/Selection
Performance
Memory Usage
Data, Objects
Connectivity

17. Device Databases

18. Microsoft Strategy Scalable Solutions
Server, Desktop, Tablet PC
SQL Server }
MSDE
SQL Server CE
CE Platform

19. SQL Server CE (SQL CE) Database for the CE / Pocket PC Platform
Similar programming style to SQL Server
Limitations are more device then SQL/CE
1 Connection/ Database, (usually not a problem)
Multiple Databases per device
No Stored procs
Use cached DataCommands
Referential Integrity with cascading updates/Deletes
Stand alone, or replicate/sync with SQL Server
SQL Server not required, but best match
SQL Server CE 2.0 designed for .NET Compact Framework (System.Data.SqlServerCe)
Replacement of Pocket Access, just like DBF/Access

20. CE Data Access Storage Architecture
.NET CF / Managed Stack
VS .NET (VB.NET, C#)
Native/Unmanaged Stack
eVB 3.0
eVC 3.0
ADO.NET
Ethernet
SQL Server CE Data Provider
SQL Server Client Data Provider
TDS
ADO CE v3.1
Well Connected
CLR / .NET CF
OLEDB CE
OLEDB / Replication API
802.11b, CDPD, GSM, CDMA, TDMA, etc.
SQL CE Edition v2.0
Data Provider
Client Agent: Replication
and
RDA
IIS
Server Agent: Replication
and
Remote Data Access
OLEDB
QP/Cursor Engine/ES
OLEDB
HTTP
Storage Engine / Repl Tracking
Occasionally Connected
CLIENT
SERVER

21. Setting up SQL CE Replication
Basic Replication setup +
Install SQL CE Replication Tools
Test connectivity from device
Localhost won’t work
NETBIOS name may not work (WINS Resolution)
Test with IP or Fully Qualified Domain Name
If you don’t get this response from the DLL, don’t go any further

22. SQL / CE – Data Transfer Multiple Techniques
RDA system.Data.SqlServerCe.SqlCeRemoteDataAccess
Great for semi-connected environments, large data transfers
Merge Replication Over IIS
System.Data.SqlServerCe.SqlCeReplication
Great for managing concurrency
ADO.net System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand
Can call SQL Server directly, but not a great idea…* (*Not a Mobile Architecture)
Web Services
Great when concurrency isn’t an issue, or server isn’t SQL

23. Supported ADO .NET And XML Classes On .NET CF
XmlDocument
DataView
XmlReader
DataSet
XmlWriter
SqlDataReader
SqlCeDataReader
SqlDataAdapter
SqlCeDataAdapter
SqlCommand
SqlCeCommand
SqlConnection
SqlCeConnection
.NET Data Provider for SQL Server
.NET Data Provider for SQL CE
XML File

24. Parsing Exceptions public static void ShowErrors(SqlCeException se) {
SqlCeErrorCollection errorCollection = se.Errors;
StringBuilder exInfo= new StringBuilder();
Exception inner = se.InnerException;
foreach (SqlCeError err in errorCollection)
exceptionDetailStringBuilder.Append("\n Error Code: " + err.HResult.ToString("X"));
exceptionDetailStringBuilder.Append("\n Message : " + err.Message);
exceptionDetailStringBuilder.Append("\n Minor Err.: " + err.NativeError);
exceptionDetailStringBuilder.Append("\n Source : " + err.Source);
foreach (int numPar in err.NumericErrorParameters)
if (0 != numPar) exceptionDetailStringBuilder.Append("\n Num. Par. : " + numPar); }
foreach (string errPar in err.ErrorParameters)
if (String.Empty != errPar) exceptionDetailStringBuilder.Append("\n Err. Par. : " + errPar);
MessageBox.Show(exceptionDetailStringBuilder.ToString());
exceptionDetailStringBuilder.Remove(0, exceptionDetailStringBuilder.Length);

25. Mobile Application

26. Tips and Tricks Always think Performance, …always
Test performance on everything
Get the actual device
Design and Proof of Concept EVERYTHING
Get a wireless Lan for debugging
Reuse everything you can
Database optimization is KEY
Don’t assume flat is good. Balance of normalization is good
Don’t assume your .sdf needs to have the same structure as the server

27. Tips and Tricks This is NOT a 1.8GHZ Processor
Think 100MHZ
Be kind to your environment
Reuse Everything
Pre-Load Data
Use DataSets to cache data …more to come…
Save Forms that will be used again
Use a forms collection that caches forms
Toss objects that you don’t use often
Don’t try to load 9 MB of data onto a device with 8 MB of RAM
protected override void OnClosing(CancelEventArgs e) {
this.Save();
e.Cancel = true;
this.Hide();
base.OnClosing (e); }

28. Resources Newsgroups: http://www.gotdotnet.com/team/netcf SQL CE
microsoft.public.dotnet.framework.compactframework
SQL CE
Article on Setting up a sample Replication and RDA

29. Q & A