Handheld PCs have emerged as a valuable tool for mobile data collection and productivity. However, lengthy development cycles have prevented many ideas for applications from reaching fruition. Potential entrepreneurs are frequently not professional programmers, but specialists in a particular field who recognize an opportunity and would like to take advantage of it. Fortunately software tools are available that enable even non-programmers to develop extremely useful handheld applications...

"The DataViewer is very fast and much better than a regular ListView, Grid, or ComboBox. Especially the ComboBox because you can display multiple columns with column headings in the simulated combo (scrolling both vertically & horizontally), yet you can choose what column to return to the TextBox (used to hold the selection) when the user selects a record from the list. The main principal behind the DataViewer is that you are not loading up the control with a copy of your data, which the control then displays. Instead..."

Every developer starting off with eVB wants to develop the perfect mobile application incorporating many user-friendly and powerful visual controls with an attractive and colorful interface and sophisticated features. In addition, everyone would like to do it in just “one hour” by clicking a property window and interfacing with the control using the minimum amount of code - the same way they used to do in the desktop VB environment.

This article demonstrates the use of the CryptoText encryption tools from TMG Development Ltd. We will collect customer data in an eVB application, and store it on the Pocket PC. On re-connecting the PocketPC to the office network we will upload the data to a backend server via an asp web page and the Microsoft XMLHTTP control. The data will be securely encrypted at the point of collection, and only decrypted on the server for storage in a back-end data store.

Have you have heard of companies like Garmin, Trimble, or Magellan, and/or wondered what all the hype in GPS was about? In short, Global Positioning Systems (GPS) provides a solution to reliably locate a point(s) on the Earth (on land or sea), navigate to and from locations, map areas, define boundaries and more. GPS is not new but it has only recently become reliable enough to utilize in commercial applications, making serious in-roads in the consumer electronics market providing concrete solutions for spatial awareness. As developers, it is important to realize that the market for great GPS applications (software) will grow - in direct proportion to world wide awareness of the benefits of GPS. This is the first in the series of five articles to jump start you in GPS/GIS application development.