Introduction to the Programmer’s Guide

The Microsoft Windows CE Toolkit for Visual Basic 6.0 enables you to design a variety of applications using a subset of the Visual Basic object model and VBScript. Applications created with the toolkit run on the Handheld P/C (H/PC), on custom Windows CE-based devices, or within an emulator that simulates a Windows CE-based platform. In addition, this latest version of the toolkit now supports an H/PC that runs Handheld PC Pro Edition software.

The toolkit provides several options for application development. You can use the default forms package, which offers an object model similar to the model used by Visual Basic, or you can design an application without forms or other visible interfaces. In addition, you can use ActiveX controls to extend an application’s basic capabilities.

For the most part, developing Visual Basic applications for Windows CE is similar to developing standard Visual Basic applications. However, some key differences exist between the two development processes. For example, when you use the toolkit, you write code in an extension of the standard Visual Basic integrated development environment (IDE), but you do not create a stand-alone executable application. Applications created with the toolkit are interpreted at run time, which means that the toolkit compiles your code and form data into a file that is processed by the Visual Basic run time on a Windows CE-based device.

Another significant difference between Visual Basic and Visual Basic for Windows CE involves the debugging process. The Windows CE debugger is a separate tool that runs independently of the standard Visual Basic IDE. For more information about the debugger and its features, see Using the Debugger.

In addition to the debugger, the toolkit contains other tools that also run outside the IDE, such as the Control Manager, which helps you manage controls, and the Application Install Wizard, which helps you create installation applications. For more information about these two features, see Using the Control Manager and Application Wizard. The toolkit also contains Zoom, a tool to capture the screens of Windows CE-based devices, the Remote Registry Editor, a tool to manage registry settings, and the Remote Process Viewer, a tool to examine running processes. For more information on these tools, see Using Remote Tools.

In addition to the development environment, language features, and remote tools that constitute the toolkit, the Windows CE Toolkit for Visual Basic 6.0 includes this document, the Microsoft Windows CE Programmer’s Guide for Visual Basic 6.0. The Programmer’s Guide provides concise descriptions of toolkit features, such as forms, controls, and modules, and step-by-step procedures that show how to use the features in order to create applications. The Programmer’s Guide also contains brief examples and explanations of the sample applications included with the toolkit. In addition, a comprehensive reference supplements the guide. The reference provides quick access to the events, objects, functions, properties, and other language features you will need in order to write applications.

To use the toolkit, you should be familiar with the fundamental concepts of Windows programming with Visual Basic. If you are not, the first few sections of the Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Programmer’s Guide will provide the necessary background information. At a minimum, you should know how to start a Visual Basic project, add controls to a form, and write event-driven code.

Note Before you install the Windows CE Toolkit for Visual Basic 6.0, you need to install Microsoft Windows Visual Basic 6.0. In addition, your system should have at least 230 MB of free disk space. It also is recommended to have a Windows CE-based H/PC on which to test your applications.