Pocket PC 2003 is the newest Pocket PC mobile software platform. Pocket PC 2003 makes great strides in wireless connectivity and messaging, enhancing a user’s ability to communicate via voice as well as to send, receive and manage data. Furthermore, the addition of “always-up-to-date functionality,” enhanced device management and security, a re-architected Pocket Internet Explorer, an image viewing application, as well as PIM enhancements, create an even richer set of core-applications and reflect our customers’ feedback.

Pocket PC 2003 also provides a superior software and hardware platform for developers. Pocket PC 2003 is a rich extensible platform for application development, combining a new operating system with the .NET Compact Framework and Microsoft’s Visual Studio .NET developer tools to provide a great platform for efficiently creating innovative applications and service solutions. Increased extensibility for ISVs, OEMs, and mobile operators combined with steadily increasing market acceptance of the Pocket PC make both the application possibilities more extensive and the platform more attractive to developers. In short, Pocket PC 2003 sets the stage for the next generation Pocket PC development platform.

• Develop .NET applications that span servers, desktops and now devices
  • .NET Compact Framework – The .NET Compact Framework is in ROM in all new Pocket PC 2003 devices (and can be installed in RAM in Pocket PC 2000 and Pocket PC 2002 devices).
  • Visual Studio .NET 2003 – The Pocket PC 2003 SDK integrates into the Visual Studio .NET 2003 IDE and can be used from both Visual Basic .NET and Visual C# .NET.
• Develop richer native applications utilizing new Pocket PC 2003 APIs and capabilities
  • New Core Operating System – Pocket PC 2003 devices run on Windows CE .NET 4.2. The new operating system enables devices to be more robust and run faster. Pocket Internet Explorer, the emulator technologies, networking services, Windows Media technologies are a few areas that have been extensively improved.
  • Device Configuration – The ability to configure Pocket PC (and Smartphone) is a powerful way of customizing devices remotely and locally. This ability is even available for Over The Air (OTA) scenarios and is XML-based.
  • Phone Edition Support – Improved support for telephony APIs, such as trapping incoming Short Message Service (SMS) messages.
• Build, test, and deploy applications faster
  • Emulator Enhancements – The emulation environment is much more robust and supports three modes: Pocket PC 2003, Pocket PC Phone Edition 2003 with support for a Radio, and Pocket PC Phone Edition 2003 with Virtual Radio. The emulator also has new features, such as virtual switch support, drive mapping, GAPI support, and performance improvements.

Developing native code applications for Pocket PC 2003

• eMbedded Visual C++ 4.0
• eMbedded Visual C++ 4.0 Service Pack 2
• Pocket PC 2003 Software Development Kit

Note: Please read the readme accompanying the Pocket PC 2003 SDK before installing these development tools.

For more information about eMbedded Visual C++ 4.0, see: http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/device/embedded/datasheet.aspx

Developing managed code applications for Pocket PC 2003

• Visual Studio .NET 2003
• Pocket PC 2003 Software Development Kit

Note: The .NET Compact Framework is in ROM in all new Pocket PC 2003 devices, and can be installed in RAM in Pocket PC 2000 and Pocket PC 2002 devices. Visual Studio .NET 2003 supports Pocket PC 2000 and Pocket PC 2002 development with the .NET Compact Framework out of the box, but for Pocket PC 2003 development with Visual Studio .NET 2003, you will need the Pocket PC 2003 SDK.

Microsoft ActiveSync:

Microsoft® ActiveSync® 3.7 is the latest synchronization software for Microsoft Windows® Powered Pocket PCs and Smartphones. ActiveSync 3.7 contains fixes making synchronization more trouble free than ever before and includes all the significant improvements brought to you in ActiveSync 3.5 and 3.6: it is easy to install and use while offering the best levels of reliability. If you had not already installed ActiveSync 3.5, ActiveSync 3.7 will also bring you up to date with compatibility to Microsoft Office XP and Windows XP.

For information on or to download ActiveSync 3.7, visit: http://www.microsoft.com/mobile/pocketpc/downloads/activesync37.asp

Migrating Pocket PC 2002 applications to Pocket PC 2003

Although most well behaved Pocket PC 2002 applications that have used documented APIs will run without recompile on Pocket PC 2003 devices, there are some changes to Pocket PC 2003 that developers should be aware of.

eMbedded Visual Tools 3.0 - When developing applications for Pocket PC 2003, you can no longer use the eMbedded Visual Tools 3.0. However, to target Pocket PC 2000 and 2002, you still need to use this toolset. Fortunately, as you may have to maintain and support existing applications, the new tools are designed to coexist with the old. Therefore you can keep eMbedded Visual Tools 3.0 installed when installing eMbedded Visual C++ 4.0 and Visual Studio .NET.

eMbedded Visual Basic 3.0 – The Pocket PC 2003 SDK does not support eMbedded Visual Basic development and Pocket PC 2003 devices do not include the eMbedded Visual Basic or ADOCE runtimes in ROM. However, well-behaved eVB applications will be able to run on Pocket PC 2003 devices supported by the following methods:

OEMs – can choose to put the eVB runtime into their ROM region in Pocket PC 2003 and therefore support eVB applications out of the box.

Application Developers – can choose to download the eVB runtime from http://www.microsoft.com/mobile/pocketpc/downloads/eVB/ and redistribute it with their application.

End Users – who try to run an eVB application that is not packaged with the eVB runtime on a Pocket PC 2003 device which does not have the runtime installed, will be faced with a prompt that points them to http://www.microsoft.com/mobile/pocketpc/downloads/eVB/ to download the eVB runtime.

Note: in order to make the eVB/ADOCE runtime operational on Pocket PC 2003 and support backward compatibility, it had to be rebuilt with the eVB controls and is now a 2.7MB file.

Ultimately, what this means is that existing eMbedded Visual Basic applications continue to run on Pocket PC 2003 devices so developers can continue to use eMbedded Visual Basic along with the Pocket PC 2002 SDK to target Pocket PC 2003 devices. However, eMbedded Visual Basic developers that wish to move forward can migrate to Visual Basic .NET and make use of the benefits of the new tools. The most significant changes, from a language perspective, are the fact that Visual Basic .NET is an object oriented, modern language and that code is built using common .NET Compact Framework class libraries such as System.Windows.Forms for Windows forms and System.Data for database management with common methods, properties and events. Visual Basic .NET code is JIT (just in time) compiled to native code on the device, thus providing much better performance than interpreted eVB code. Inherent support for common tasks such as strong types, using classes, calling XML Web Services and implementing structured exception handling fills gaps that eMbedded Visual Basic developers have had to address less efficiently before.

For more information about migrating from eMbedded Visual Basic development to Visual Basic .NET development, read the whitepaper on this topic at: http://www.microsoft.com/mobile/developer/technicalarticles/default.asp

eMbedded Visual C++ - If you need to develop unmanaged applications (native code) using C++ for Pocket PC, you need to stick with eMbedded Visual C++. You cannot use Visual Studio .NET 2003 to build native code applications for Windows Powered devices. If you are targeting Pocket PC 2003, you need to use eMbedded Visual C++ 4.0 with Service Pack 2 installed. You cannot use eMbedded Visual C++ 3.0 to develop, deploy or debug Pocket PC 2003 applications. However, as both toolsets can coexist, you can still maintain and support Pocket PC 2000 and 2002 applications on the same development PC.

For more information on what the upgrade to eVC 4.0 and Windows CE .NET means, please see the whitepaper "eMbedded Visual C++ 4.0 and Windows CE .NET" at http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/device/embedded/evcandcenet.asp