Start a mobile application from the PC

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jimmy - 29 Mar 2007 23:47 GMT

Hello all,

I would like to start an application on a Pocket PC 2003 device when,
for example, the user presses a button in a .Net application running
on the PC. Its fair if the device has to be cradled, but I'd also
like ideas for when the device is not cradled.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
jimmy

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Paul G. Tobey [eMVP] - 30 Mar 2007 00:21 GMT

You're going to have to do something *very* custom for the not-cradled case,
to be general. While on the cradle, you can look up the functions in the
Remote API, or RAPI. It will allow you to launch a program that's on the
device under the control of a program running on the connected PC.
OpenNETCF, among other things, has a managed code wrapper for the RAPI API.
www.opennetcf.org. Since you're using an older device type, you could use
ActiveSync 3.8 and use RAPI over the network to do the same thing, too,
using the same API, but AS3.8 really isn't supported, because of security
problems, by MS any more. ActiveSync 4.x doesn't support network sync
between ordinary desktop PCs and devices.

For not cradled, you could create a server program running on the device to
which the PC could connect over the network (WinSock sockets-type
application), and send it a command to do something. There are standard
methods that you could use to create this server (make it use the Telnet
protocol and port, for example). This *will* be a security problem and
there's a problem knowing what the device's IP address is, particularly if
it's a phone. There are no good solutions for this problem (you could have
a server where a device calls up and registers its name and IP address any
time it changes and your PC program could do a lookup by name to find the
address, etc.), so I think you're going to have to provide some more details
about what's OK, what's not OK, where 'on the network' the device will be,
etc.

Paul T.

> Hello all,
>
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> Thanks,
> jimmy

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Neil Cowburn - 30 Mar 2007 11:42 GMT

Direct link the product Paul is talking about: the Desktop Communications
library -- http://www.opennetcf.com/sharedsource/communication.ocf

Signature

Neil Cowburn
Principal Partner
OpenNETCF Consulting, LLC.

Managed Code in the Embedded World

http://www.opennetcf.com/
http://www.smartdeviceframework.com/

> You're going to have to do something *very* custom for the not-cradled
> case, to be general. While on the cradle, you can look up the functions
[quoted text clipped - 33 lines]
>> Thanks,
>> jimmy

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chris-s@mailcity.com - 30 Mar 2007 09:07 GMT

> Hello all,
>
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> Thanks,
> jimmy

Following on from Paul's suggestion for the 'disconnected' method, you
could use a webservice and have an app running on the device which is
monitoring the webservice for an updated value. Might be a bit easier
to implement than a sockets based idea depending on your experience.

Of course, either disconnected solutions should work fine in the
'connected' scenario.

Chris

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jimmy - 30 Mar 2007 16:00 GMT

thanks to everyone.

i'll be using the the OpenNET Desktop.Communication solution to get
something working quickly, and then work on implementing one of the
disconnected solutions.

- jimmy

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