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.abx file: An absolute binary data format file. An .abx file is an image file that is generated by Romimage.exe that makes up the bits of the operating system image. See image file.
ACCEL data structure: A data structure that defines an accelerator key used in an accelerator table.
accelerator editor: A resource editor that allows you to add, delete, change, or browse the shortcut key assignments for your project.
accelerator table: A Windows CE resource that contains a list of shortcut keys and the command identifiers associated with them.
Action button: A hardware navigation control on a Palm-size PC that functions like the ENTER key on a keyboard.
Active Channel: A Web site that has been enabled for Webcasting to information-receiving applications.
active control: In an environment capable of displaying multiple on-screen controls, the control that will be affected by current cursor movements, commands, and text entry.
Active Desktop: A technology delivered in Microsoft Internet Explorer and Microsoft Pocket Internet Explorer that allows you to include HTML documents, ActiveX controls, and Java applets on your desktop.
active notification: The state of a user notification from the time the user is notified until the user handles the event. See also user notification.
active project: In Platform Builder, the project that will be built when you use the Build or Rebuild All commands. See also project.
Active Server Pages (ASP): An open application environment in which HTML pages, scripts, and ActiveX components are combined to create Web-based applications.
Active Template Library (ATL): A C++ template library used to create ActiveX servers and other Component Object Model (COM) objects. ActiveX controls created with ATL are generally smaller and faster than those created with the Microsoft Foundation Classes.
active window: In an environment capable of displaying multiple on-screen windows, the window containing the display or document that will be affected by current cursor movements, commands, and text entry. See also graphical user interface.
ActiveX: A set of technologies that enable software components to interact with one another in a networked environment, regardless of the language in which the components were created. ActiveX, which was developed as a proposed standard by Microsoft in the mid 1990s and is currently administered by the Open Group, is built on Microsoft's Component Object Model (COM). Currently, ActiveX is used primarily to develop interactive content for the World Wide Web, although it can be used in desktop applications and other applications. ActiveX controls can be embedded in Web pages to produce animation and other multimedia effects, interactive objects, and sophisticated applications. See also COM.
ActiveX client: An application or tool that calls an ActiveX object.
ActiveX object: An exposed object of the Component Object Model (COM).
ADC: See analog-to-digital converter.
address card: The fundamental unit of record in the Contacts database. Each address card contains information about an individual, such as name and address.
address mask: A number that, when compared by the computer with a network address number, will block out, or mask, all but the necessary data. For example, bits in the address corresponding to one in the mask are used, but bits corresponding to zero are ignored.
Address Resolution Protocol (ARP): A TCP/IP protocol for determining the hardware address, or physical address, of a node on a local area network connected to the Internet, when only the IP address, or logical address, is known. An ARP request is sent to the network, and the node that has the IP address responds with its hardware address. Although ARP technically refers only to finding the hardware address, and RARP, Reversed ARP, refers to the reverse procedure, ARP is commonly used for both senses. See also IP address, TCP/IP.
Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA): ANSI group X3T10's official name for the disk drive interface standard commonly known as Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE). Also called AT Attachment.
AFD: See Auxiliary Function Driver.
American National Standards Institute (ANSI): A voluntary, nonprofit organization of U.S. business and industry groups formed in 1918 for the development of trade and communication standards. ANSI is the American representative of the International Standards Organization and has developed recommendations for the use of programming languages including FORTRAN, C, and COBOL.
American Standard Code for Information Exchange (ASCII): A coding scheme using 7 or 8 bits that assigns numeric values to up to 256 characters, including letters, numerals, punctuation marks, control characters, and other symbols. ASCII was developed in 1968 to standardize data transmission among disparate hardware and software systems and is built into most minicomputers and all personal computers.
analog-to-digital converter (ADC): A device that converts an analog signal, such as sound or voltage, to binary code for use by a computer.
annunciator: An icon placed onto the taskbar to indicate that a user notification is active. Although taskbars can contain multiple annunciator icons for different applications, only one instance of an icon for any given application is displayed at one time.
ANSI: See American National Standards Institute.
apartment threading model: A threading model that can be used only on the thread that created it. See also free threading model and single threading model.
API: See application programming interface.
apogee: The point within the orbit of a satellite where the satellite is farthest from the earth.
application-defined message: A message created by an application to be used by its own windows or to communicate with windows in other processes. If an application creates its own message, the window procedure that receives the message must interpret it and provide the appropriate processing.
application notification: An application notification starts an application at a specified time or when a system event occurs. When an application starts as the result of a notification, the system specifies a command-line parameter that identifies the event that has occurred.
application programming interface (API): A set of routines used by an application to direct the performance of procedures by a computer's operating system. For computers running a graphical user interface, an API manages an application's windows, icons, menus, and dialog boxes.
application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC): An integrated circuit designed to perform a particular function by defining the interconnection of a set of basic circuit-building blocks drawn from a library provided by the circuit manufacturer.
Application Specific Standard Product (ASSP): A validation process to determine whether or not a processor supports a given version of Windows CE. The ASSP validation process is designed to certify that Windows CE runs the same way on an ASSP as it does on an internally tested processor.
application switch: A hardware navigation control intended to launch or reactivate software applications.
application wizard: A wizard that automatically creates a set of starter files for a new component in a Platform Builder platform. Examples include the WCE Console Application Wizard and the Static Library Wizard. See wizard.
argument of the perigee: The angle, as measured from the center of the earth, between the perigee and the ascending node of orbit of a satellite. The argument of the perigee must be a value between 0 and 2 pi radians. See also ascending node and perigee.
ARP: See Address Resolution Protocol.
ascending node: The point within the orbit of a satellite where the satellite crosses the earth's equatorial plane while travelling from south to north.
ASCII: See American Standard Code for Information Interchange.
ASIC: See application-specific integrated circuit.
ASP: See Active Server Pages.
ASSP: See Application Specific Standard Product.
asynchronous operation: 1. A process in a multitasking system whose execution can proceed independently, or in the background. Other processes may be started before the asynchronous process has finished. 2. A data transmission method that allows characters to be sent at irregular intervals over a line by preceding each character with a start bit and following it with a stop bit. Compare synchronous operation.
ATA: See Advanced Technology Attachment.
ATAPI: The interface used by the IBM PC AT system for accessing CD-ROM devices.
ATL: See Active Template Library.
ATL for Windows CE: The Active Template Library for Windows CE. See Active Template Library.
audio driver model: The basic interface layer between the audio device drivers and the upper-layer application programming interfaces (APIs) and applications.
authentication: 1. The process of verifying that a message comes from its stated source. 2. The process of verifying the identity or access level of a user, computer, or application.
Auto Indent: A Platform Builder feature that indents your source code using the default tab and indent sizes set on the Tabs tab. See also Smart Indent.
automatic update: An operating system image update mechanism, provided by the dial-up boot loader, that is designed to be used by users and field technicians. The operating system image is downloaded using a modem connection. See also factory update, user-initiated update.
Automation: A technology based on the Component Object Model (COM), that enables interoperability among ActiveX components, including OLE components. Formerly referred to as OLE Automation. See also OLE.
Auxiliary Function Driver (AFD): The Windows CE communication protocol manager.