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I have been meaning to add some more SQL Server
for CE content for a while but my development PC has had the latest
CE ver 1.1 loaded. This presented a problem since I wanted to
do the tutorial with ver 1.0 as that is what most of you are running.
What needs be installed before this tutorial
To complete this tutorial I am using the following
configuration:
- Win 2000
- IIS 5 running
- eVB (eMbedded Visual Basic)
- SQL Server 2000 Developer Edition (this
is what I use on my development Desktop PC)
- SQL Server 2000 Windows CE Edition
- lastly but not least your Pocket PC docked
or attached via a wireless LAN
In my next tutorial you will be able to use
this configuration together with the RemoteDataAccess object
of SSCE (SQL Server CE Edition) to 'Pull' data from a remote
SQL 2000 database populating a local SSCE table. The actual code
to do this is pretty straight forward, however the tasks of setting
up both the remote SQL Server and IIS are critical. It's a bit
like a house of cards, missing one of these steps will cause the
whole thing to fail with some cryptic message which will have
you hankering after those DBASE days! Configuration is always
a pain but in the immortal words of 'Tony Soprano' - "What
you gonna do?'
Setting up SQL Server for CE
All the information in this section is contained
in the SQL Server help file ("C:\Program Files\Microsoft
SQL Server CE\sqlce.chm") - I will attempt to workflow it
in as simple a fashion as possible - if all else fails you may
have to RTFM - "read the manual".
To get it all hanging together just right
we need to configure both SQL Server and Internet Information
Server (IIS). What's IIS got to do with all of this you ask incredulously?
Communication between the SQL Server (SS) CE Client Agent (residing
on your Pocket PC) and SS CE Server Manager (residing on the SQL
Server) is handled using the HTTP protocol. If you stop to contemplate
this it's a very logical if not ingenious approach. SS CE uses
IIS to enforce access authentication and permissions in addition
to then using HTTP to transmit the data between the WINCE device
and the SQL Server.
I would encourage you if possible to set up
a development environment with Win 2000, IIS 5 and
SQL Server 2000 all on the same system. I have done this
and find that it makes trouble shooting connectivity issues and
permissions very easy. I then installed MS ActiveSync,
eVb and SS CE on this same PC for a complete SS
CE test box. Since RDA supports 802.11b I threw in an Orinoco
PC Card to make the whole thing wireless - but that's a topic
for another rainy day.
Configuring SQL Server 2000 - the shortcut
A shortcut to configuring the SS access permissions
is to use the 'SA' username to access the remote server from your
WINCE device. Make sure you have the SA user name and password
at hand. Since this is a test box - I'm not worried about restricting
permissions just yet and doing it this way skips some of the potential
permissions issues. You can always revisit this section and 'lock
it down'.
Now let's configure IIS
We begin by configuring the SS CE server
agent which is an ISAPI DLL.
1) create a directory which IIS will use for
the SS CE server agent, e.g.
c:\inetpub\wwwroot\northwind
2) grab the sscesa10.dll file from
it's default install directory:
c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server CE\Server
and copy it to the directory you created in step 1:
c:\inetpub\wwwroot\northwind
3) Open a command prompt and register the
DLL:
regsvr32 C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\NorthWind\sscesa10.dll
4) Now open the Internet Services Manager
to create the virtual directory:
Right click the web site you want to create the new virtual
directory in, in most cases using the 'Default Web Site' will
be the right place.
Choose New then Virtual Directory.
Click Next.
Choose an alias name, since we are using the Northwind
data call it 'Northwind'. Click Next and navigate
to the directory you created in #1: i.e. 'C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\northwind'
In the Access Permissions list check 'Execute' and
disable all the rest.
Click Next then Finish.
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