Develop Bugs

Today plugins

Recently i was thinking about creating an app which would show me my remaining calltime with one of polish prepaid services. I imagine it would work like that:
1. receiving a specific text message with my account balance from my operator the app would capture it and store the value
2. after each call being made operator sends sms with call cost. this should be deducted from previously stored value. etc etc.
3. value should be displayed somewhere, like on today plugin...
seems simple, but theres a catch;] i can't code for WM5. i just got myself delphi 2006 today and i see it has limited CF support so i can create applicatons... but am i able to create Dlls? also i don't have clue about creating dll's at all, especialy those for WM5. is it even possible with .net? is there any chance for me?
i know, i know, i shoud start to use c++ long time ago, but i'm affraid it' might be a bit to late for me;]
ps. is there anything like WM5 sdk, any guide kit for programmers, specs of any kind? where to look for it? thanks for any help. please note, i'd like to become one of you guys, i could even be of some value;]

heard somewhere that today plugins
cant be written in .net
here is a link to the subject of today plugins
http://forum.xda-developers.com:80/showthread.php?t=234162&highlight=codeguru

thanks, gonna try it in a minute.
(today unbelievable happened - my wizards battery got empty )

interesting. i'll consider switching to c++. as far as i understand it's not normal C, its some kind of mobile oriented c? but no connection with .net? how does it work?

Ok.
C++ is an extension of C to include object oriented programming. The language is not specific for mobile devices, so any book / article on the subject will do for starters.
I taught my self C++ after learning Pascal (Delphi is for Pascal right?) in school and it was quite easy because the languages have similar structure.
Your second stop is to learn WIN32 programming. I don't know how Delphi deals with APIs and function exports (that's what you need for DLLs).
Basically WM programming is very similar to desktop windows programming, except for a few miner difference (like all APIs using only Unicode).
You can download a free development tool called eVC 4 from MS. It looks exactly like Visual Studio 6 if you have any experience with that.
Unfortunately system DLLs like plugins can not be written using .NET but if you search MSDN (I really don't remember the link), there is an article on how to use a basic C++ DLL for the plugin and delegate all the real functionality to a .NET DLL.
Good luck.

yes, delphi is much like pascal
i know it's not that hard if you mean the structure. i just don't know how to start. in fact i got myself evc yesterday, after what you say i'll take good lok at it as soon as i prepare some room on my HD.
Delphi does well with windows api - as far as i can tell, i played with theese a bit so it shouldn't be hard to catch up when starting with c++. other thing is i never did dll, although i know how it works in general, i also used other peoples dll's in my programs. will do i hope. also, Rudegar provided us with good tutorial/example on today dlls, so i hope i'll be able to expand it. the only thing, i'm a bit anxious. you say evc is good for starters? ok, going to give it a try.
what a week, four days, four new RAD environments already

delphi is object pascal which is an extention of pascal like c++ is of c
c programs should compile without any problems in c++

Hi,
I saw a way to develop today plugins in .net : http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnppcgen/html/TodayScrn.asp?_r=1
I did not try and I guess it will slow down the device as .net is not very fast, but you can try...
Good luck

GPS without GPS ("GSM-GPS")

I am going to propose some kind of challenge. Its a collaborative project. I am just dropping the seed of it and see if you want to join in.
There have been some tests on using GSM cells triangulation / fingerprinting that allow the phone calculating its current position.
A GSM tower database is needed for the different places it should work and then, with adequate software, a virtual COM port can give NMEA sentences (GPS-like position informatio) to any program in the phone (i.e. navigator, PocketMaps, position uploaders...) with a precision of 100m in town and up to 1 km in open country. (see article: http://www.placelab.org/publications/pubs/gsm-ubicomp2006.pdf).
To get the database up and running GSM-stumbling is needed. That is using a program that stores at regular time intervals a (true) GPS-derived position with the cell ID of the cells visible to the phone at that moment (cells from various providers... it is not necesary to be connected to them).
Artemis and trinity are ideal devices for GSM-stumbling.
Data gathered while stumbling could also be sent to OpenStreetMap to help them building their map.
Once the database is created, any PDA phone can enjoy the "GSM-GPS" service and use maps with a reasonable precision.
Even though I am a programmer, I have no experience in programming for Windows mobile, so it would be needed that an experienced developers get interested on this.
There is an opensource project that has quite succeded on this but the work is dying. It is written in java for Nokia phones. It is the origin of the previously mentioned article.
http://www.placelab.org
It could not get their PocketPC soft to run, but I believe that they would help in a project like this and would probably reactivate their site a little.
BENEFITS:
- Coarse GPS for Artemis while not much precision needed would allow to have GPS without draining the battery.
- Coarse GPS for phones without GPS.
- Possible derived softs using NMEA sentences (from real GPS or "GSM-GPS") that allow context behavioral changes of the phone (like comm mgr pro).
SOFWARE MODULES NEEDED:
- GSM-Stumbler (data logger of GPS NMEA sentences with Cell IDs)
- Some processing of data gathered to build local databases... Surely Placelab colleagues will help with that.
- Cells ID interpreter (translator, through the database, of Cell IDs and triangulation to NMEA sentences through a virtual serial port)
It should not be extremely difficult as most things have already be done or have been addresed in opensource projects.
(i.e. Comm Mgr Pro used cell IDs extensively)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=299070
... and the placelab team has solved most practical computational issues.
I am poining to this post from the developers main forum, so that probabilities to get a techie interested increase.
Thanks for reading. I hope this storming of ideas is useful for some of us.

This sounds like a great idea - have you tried the java client on your WM Device to see if it works (jsut in case) ?

neonkoala said:
This sounds like a great idea - have you tried the java client on your WM Device to see if it works (jsut in case) ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried to do it, but I am not proficient with java.
Besides, it is written to work in a "normal" (not pda-phone) pda, working by a Nokia phone running a special java plug-in to serve the cell-id via cable or bluetooth... So using the internal cell-ID would need at least a minimal re-programming gathering the cell-ID info and forwarding it to the rest of the software.
I think that looking to their software by "expert" eyes is the first thing to do.

there is a ppc software which does that
http://www.navizon.com/
have fun playing with it

there is abuilt in test mode called netmonitor in all old nokia fones.this displays gsm positioning but only in hex

fallenczar said:
there is a ppc software which does that
http://www.navizon.com/
have fun playing with it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am giving it a try... thanks! I will post with comments.
Its is a pity that this is not an opensource initiative, but looks pretty useful.

Search Ressources to Build "APP Store"

Hey Guys
Some Time ago, i had the idea to build something similar to apples app store for windows mobile, where everyone can upload .cab files and share them with others. The functions for a first release should be as follows:
- Upload .cab's with a desktop computer (or even directly with the ppc?)
- Possibility to write comments and rate the apps
- Download and install directly from ppc
I'm also a developer, but i never did something for WM, that's why i'm aksing you guys... I don't think that it is a complicated taks to do, but it's really hard to find informations about programming for WM in Visual C# or even Visual C++ with Visual Studio 2008.
I have a Rootserver with enough Harddisk Space and a great Internet connection, where the app could run on. So that's not a problem...
Is someone interested in doing such a thing?

believe it is already. think it's called jakal or something

hipey said:
believe it is already. think it's called jakal or something
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unknow to me :|
Your idea is a good one, we need someone creating this, in more i am sure you would get a lot of money by donating... To be honest, if i could programm, i would make it only for money

Gecko App Manager
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=436127

[SDK] Access G-Sensor / Accelerometer On HTC WM Devices

This code enables you to use the g-sensor on a HTC WM device, without any depencies og DLL's.
This can be compiled directly into you applications. (Less DLL clutter)
I made this by nitting bits and pieces of code together from the www.
The code runs pretty fast, but I would like to optimize it, to make it even faster.
Allso, this depends on a Timer to poll the Sensor.
I would rather have it event based or something.
Thats your job
Do whatever you want with this code.
It you make any enhancements though, please upload then to the XDA Developers website.

thanx for sharing! great job - I will look into.
Micha

WM sound generating question

Hi people!
I'm working on an emulator for WM platform. 95% of job is finished fine but I have a problem which I don't know how to solve.
Namely, I need to convert a small fragment of x86 code into ARM equivalent.
here it is:
Code:
__asm in al,61;
__asm and al,0xFC;
__asm mov BYTE PTR speaker,al;
and this one:
Code:
__asm mov al,BYTE PTR port
__asm shl al,1
__asm and al,2
__asm or al,BYTE PTR speaker
__asm out 0x61,al
This code is working with PC's 8253 timer chip and its 61h port. As the result we get sounds from beeper.
It is not a secret that WM devices don't have beeper
Does anybody know how to get sound from WM device which would emulate PC's beeper? I know that this question is not easy one but I hope that someone could help me.
A big thanks in advance.

You may have to do it from a much higher level by calling PlaySound() with a .wav resource of the sound you want.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa909766.aspx
I dont think you can get to the underlying hardware that easily.
By fiddling with the sound chip registers, it was possible to alter the frequency of the PC beep. Using PlaySound() this is not possible, you would need a separate wav file for each note.

Thank you, stephj for your answer
As you know, much higher level means, much slower execution A bad thing for emulation. Yes, I knew for this function but I hope that somebody could suggest something more faster.
I've tried with google to find anything about this topic and I found some articles from PocketPC (and even before) era but nothing more concrete. According to that articles, it is possible to emulate beeper on PPC but I couldn't find any code which talks about that.

I suggest that you go ask over at stack overflow, and I'm sure that you'll get your question answered in no time

It isn't a problem to ask but it is a big problem to get a good answer .
Not so many ppl understand low-level programming at all.
I still can't understand why PPC/WM programming is so poorly covered if we know that this platform exists for a very long time. It is almost impossible to find some article how to implement ARM mc in your programs.

Goshx said:
It isn't a problem to ask but it is a big problem to get a good answer .
Not so many ppl understand low-level programming at all.
I still can't understand why PPC/WM programming is so poorly covered if we know that this platform exists for a very long time. It is almost impossible to find some article how to implement ARM mc in your programs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
stack overflow contains the best of programmers
and I know, I wish I can learn low level programming some time in the future, stupid .Net and Java made everything so simple and stupid lol

Have a read of this: -
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/medmedia/archive/2007/01/03/windows-ce-audio-driver-samples.aspx
Your attention is drawn to the following sentence in the second paragraph.
That upper-edge is hardware independent, and all the hardware dependent code goes into the driver.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are that many different audio chipsets in WM devices, that only the sound driver knows how it really works and where it actually lives. It presents a standard interface to WM above it. If you did manage to find the port/memory addresses that map to the sound chip in your device, and managed to write some code that could force a sound out of it, it probably would not work on anything else.

thank you, stephj
I'm analyzing now some emulators to check how this problem is solved there. In any case, it is impossible to produce beep sound writing a value into registers which don't exist on WM platform
Unfortunately, a small piece of x86 code should be translated into a large C code with APIs.