The H/PC shell is a user interface to the Windows CE operating system. The shell is based on the Windows 95 shell and provides many features familiar to Windows users, such as the desktop window, the recycle bin, the taskbar, and drag-and-drop capability. To program H/PC applications successfully, you must be aware of the graphical elements of the shell, as well as the shell-supported functions, structures, and messages. For example, you must program your application's user interface to work within the constraints of the shell's graphical user interface. For information on the graphical features of the shell and for guidelines on designing an interface, see Designing the User Interface for Windows CE and Designing the User Interface for an H/PC.
In addition to its familiar graphical features, the H/PC shell includes some functions and messages that are unique to Windows CE. These include the clipboard application programming interface (API), the WM_HIBERNATE message, and the notification API. For a list of the elements of these APIs, see Lists of Functions and Interfaces.