Developer .NET UPDATE, June 17, 2003

Developer .NET UPDATE—brought to you by the Windows & .NET Magazine Network

http://www.winnetmag.com

This Issue Sponsored By

DevConnections--Fall 2003 Dates Announced

http://www.devconnections.com

DevConnections Tour--The Conference Comes to You

http://www.devconnections.com/tour

June 17, 2003--In this issue:

1. Developer .NET Perspectives

2. Announcements

3. Resource

4. Events

5. New and Improved

6. Contact Us

Sponsor: DevConnections--Fall 2003 Dates Announced

DevConnections = Microsoft ASP.NET Connections + Visual Studio Connections + SQL Server Magazine Connections + Microsoft Office System Conference. Four conferences for the price of one. Over 170 sessions to choose from.

Jump-start your fall 2003 training plans and secure your seat for DevConnections Fall, held Oct 13 - 15 in Palm Springs, CA. Don't miss this chance to get the latest roadmap from Microsoft, learn practical tips and insights that you'll use on the job immediately, and network with the top gurus in the industry.

Register now to receive the lowest possible registration fee plus access to all four conferences for one low price. Call 800-438-6720 or 203-268-3204 for more information.

http://www.devconnections.com

1. Developer .NET Perspectives

by Marquis Howard, [email protected]

http://www.microsoft.com/mobile/smartphone/getstarted/faq.asp

You can easily create a simple application that's compatible with smart devices such as a Pocket PC Phone. For simplicity, this application uses the emulator that Visual Studio .NET 2003 includes as an option for a targeted device. The data source is a DataTable (i.e., a table of in-memory relational data) that you'll create. You'll bind to a ListBox control and a Label control. The application's code demonstrates basic data binding in the Compact Framework.

Open Visual Studio .NET 2003 and select New, Project on the File menu. In the Project Type pane on the left side of the New Project dialog box, select Visual C# Projects. In the Templates pane on the right side, click Smart Device Application. Enter a project name in the Name text box. Click OK to bring up the Smart Device Application Wizard.

The Smart Device Application Wizard has two options: "What platform do you want to target?" and "What project type do you want to create?" Accept the default selections of Pocket PC and Windows Application, respectively. Click OK to create your new project.

You're now in Visual Studio .NET's Design window, which looks almost identical to the Design window for a regular WinForm application, with the exception of the form's size. The Design window automatically sizes the form to fit the targeted device, which in this case, is a Pocket PC.

From the Toolbox, drag a Label control and a ListBox control onto the form. As you might have noticed, the Toolbox you use to create Pocket PC applications has many of the same controls as the Toolbox you use to create desktop applications.

Now you need to add code to populate the ListBox control with days of the week. Double-click the form area (don't click near either of the controls) to open the code view and automatically add a handler for the forms load event. Copy and paste the following code into the Form1_Load method:

DataTable dataTable = new DataTable();
DateTime start = DateTime.Parse("6/1/2003");
DateTime end = DateTime.Parse("6/7/2003");
string currentDay = "";
string[] dateArray = null;

dataTable.Columns.Add("Day");
dataTable.Columns.Add("Date");

while(start {

currentDay = start.DayOfWeek.ToString() + "^" + start.ToString();

dateArray = currentDay.Split(new char[] {'^'});

dataTable.Rows.Add(dateArray);

start = start.AddDays(1);

dateArray = null;}

listBox1.DataSource = dataTable;
listBox1.DisplayMember = "Day";
label1.DataBindings.Add(new Binding("Text",dataTable,"Date"));

The last step before running the project is to look at the toolbars at the top of the Design window. You should see a drop-down box that contains a list of deployment devices. Make sure that Pocket PC 2002 Emulator (Default) is selected; if not, select that option.

Save your project and press F5 to run and deploy it. When you deploy a project to a device emulator, you need to be more patient than when you're deploying a local project because Visual Studio .NET 2003 needs to load the files into the emulator's virtual operating environment, then trigger the application to start.

With the form loaded in the emulator, you have a list box containing the days of the week. If you click any one of those days, the corresponding date is reflected in the label control by way of data binding.

That's all the steps you need to take to create a simple application for a smart device such as a Pocket PC or Pocket PC Phone. As you can see, using the Compact Framework to develop Pocket PC applications is similar to using the Windows .NET Framework to develop desktop applications.

Sponsor: DevConnections Tour--The Conference Comes to You

Can't make it to one of our major conferences? We will bring the conference to you. Join Paul Litwin and Carl Franklin for 2 days of solid, in-depth training in ASP.NET and VB .NET. Special keynote by Microsoft's Rob Howard.

Attend either the ASP or VB track for the entire two days or move from one track to the other as you desire. Don't miss this chance to get in-depth training from the experts in a highly interactive environment. Bring your questions and get the answers you need. You'll discover new tips and shortcuts to help you build better and more secure applications and web services faster.

Coming to a city near you. Get ready for the transition in development by learning from the best and keep your competitive edge.

Register today before these events sell out:

http://www.devconnections.com/tour

2. Announcements
(brought to you by Windows & .NET Magazine and its partners)

http://www.winnetmag.com/seminars

http://www.sqlmag.com/ssmu/seminars/index.cfm?event_id=54

3. Resource

http://www.winnetmag.com/forums/rd.cfm?cid=55&tid=59965

4. Events
(brought to you by Windows & .NET Magazine)

http://www.winnetmag.com/roadshows/security2003

5. New and Improved
by Sue Cooper, [email protected]

http://www.transcender.com

Sponsored Link: FaxBack

Integrate FAX into Exchange/Outlook (Whitepaper, ROI, Trial)

http://www.faxback.com/w2ksponorlink/

6. Contact Us

http://www.winnetmag.com/sub.cfm?code=wswi201x1z

Copyright 2003, Penton Media, Inc.