|
Development | .NET Compact Framework
Using Spb Kiosk Engine for eVB and .NET CF Pocket PC enterprise applications
Written by Vassili Philippov
[author's bio]
[read 42932 times]
Edited by Derek
  
Page 1
Page 2
Using Spb Kiosk Engine for eVB and
.NET CF Pocket PC enterprise applications
[Click
here for information about other discounts on SPB products]
There is
a growing trend for Pocket PC's to be used as special devices
in a very restricted way with many functions disabled and
with only one application executing - this is called kiosk
mode. A lot of vertical market applications require
kiosk mode. It can for example disable all games and other
entertainment programs on Pocket PC. This article describes
how to create eVB and .NET CF kiosk applications for the
Pocket PC using the Spb
Kiosk Engine.
Contents
What
You Need
"Happy Pocket PC User Story"
What is Kiosk Mode
Spb Kiosk Engine
Spb
Kiosk Explorer
Spb
Kiosk Terminal
Using
Spb Kiosk Engine for eVB programs
Using
Spb Kiosk Engine for .NET CF programs
Discount
for DEVBUZZ readers!
What
You Need
"Happy
Pocket PC User Story"
Here's
a fictional story of an average enterprise Pocket PC user
that rings true on many levels:
"It's already been three months that I've been working at
this real estate agency. The first day on the job I was
given a little computer called a Pocket PC. They taught
me the ABCs of using it, and especially the main program
I was supposed to use. It wasn't difficult to learn - it's
a program that really helps me in my contact with clients.
First of all, it provides access to our agency's database,
so I can get all the information we have in order to present
to a client. It's a very colorful program, with an easy
to understand "interface", as they say. I have no problems
using it.
But this isn't the point of my story. One day a friend of
mine asked me: "Hey Bob, I look at you and can't understand
why you drag your CD player all over the place with a ton
of CDs! Why don't you use your Pocket PC instead of all
this stuff?" At that moment it dawned on me that I had been
underestimating what my Pocket PC is capable of doing in
my personal life!
My friend helped me to transfer music from those CDs I used
to carry around and put them onto my Pocket PC. I can now
carry more music on a little memory card than I could ever
fit in my CD case. It's great to have so much music with
me! I don't always have the memory card with me though,
so I loaded up as many songs as possible into the main system
RAM. My Pocket PC runs a bit slower now but I don't mind.
I began to use my Pocket PC more and more to have fun. With
the help of my son, I installed a few mobile games and have
a lot of fun playing them. My son found them on a "warez"
site - I don't know what that is, but he said they were
free. I've also installed, and constantly use, some handy
applications for myself, such as a finance management program
for the whole family, a genealogy ("family tree") program,
a photo album, and a special house design program (my wife
is a house designer).
That special software for work functions a little differently
now than when I first got the device. It's a bit slower
now, and sometimes it stops working (along with the whole
device) and I get "out of memory" errors. When I called
tech support, they said that I shouldn't have installed
music and my own software onto it. It's a good thing the
boss doesn't know yet!"
It happens
all the time. The Pocket PC is a really nice device with
a lot of powerful features. There are tons of ways it can
be used. But what if you need only one of them? What if
you do not want your employees to use it for any other purpose
other than what it is supposed to be used for?
What
is Kiosk Mode
Have you ever seen a DHL man? They use special devices to
control mail delivery like this one. It is a special device
that can be used only for one purpose - to control mail
delivery. It saves them a lot of time for support. This
device is easy to use because it does not contain anything
except features that are really needed for work.
More and
more companies are using general Pocket PC devices instead
of special custom devices. They are cheaper and it is much
simpler to develop programs for them. They do not need the
other Pocket PC features aside from their custom program.
Ideally all other features like games, Windows Media Player,
Microsoft Reader, etc should be disabled. To do that the
application needs to run in kiosk mode.
We say that an application runs in kiosk mode if:
- The application runs in full
screen mode to prevent switching to other applications
using Start menu and Smart Minimize (X) button
- The application disables hardware
keys to prevent switching to other applications using
hardware keys
- The application is automatically
started after a soft-reset
- Other ways are used to prevent
switching to other applications
Spb Kiosk
Engine
The Spb
Kiosk Engine is a tool that will take your Pocket PC
application and will convert it to kiosk mode. After installing
Spb Kiosk Engine on your desktop PC you will see the Spb
Kiosk Engine Builder. It is a desktop PC program where you
can enter your settings and it will generate a Pocket PC
installer that will provide kiosk mode for your application.
It is very useful if you are going to deploy the Spb Kiosk
Engine to many Pocket PC devices. You do not need to customize
it on each Pocket PC device but just enter the settings
once and install the generated installer.
Spb Kiosk
Engine Builder provides the following options to customize:
unlock code, lock code, path to your application that will
be kept in kiosk mode and option whether to hide the command
bar or not.
The unlock
code is needed to switch kiosk mode off. For example it
can be used by the service team to make some reconfiguration,
etc. This code should be entered using hardware keys. Conversely
the lock code is used to lock the device again.
Spb Kiosk
Engine works with almost all types of Pocket PC applications
including eVC++ programs, eVB programs and .NET CF programs.
Next
Page
Back to .NET Compact Framework | [Article Index]
|
Using Spb Kiosk Engine for eVB and .NET CF Pocket PC enterprise applications
