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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 43009 times]
Edited by Derek
  
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Spb
Kiosk Explorer
The Spb
Kiosk Explorer is Pocket Internet Explorer running in
kiosk mode. Spb Kiosk Explorer Builder allows you to customize
a lot of different options: such as: the start page, you
can hide any of the Pocket Internet Explorer toolbar buttons
and menus; you can hide the command bar completely and even
disable SIP auto pop-up.
Spb Kiosk
Explorer will be helpful for people who develop enterprise
Pocket PC based solutions using the web interface. These
can be either web solutions for wireless devices or local
Pocket PC solutions that use Pocket Internet Explorer as
interface.
Using Spb
Kiosk Explorer you can restrict user access only to your
website which will prevent employees using the Internet
for personal purposes. It is even more useful if you pay
for traffic. To do that you can remove the View menu to
prevent them from opening the address bar as well as removing
the favorites button. After that the user will be able to
use only links on your pages and will not be able to open
any unauthorized page.
Another
reason to use Spb Kiosk Explorer is the option of using
all the 240x320 screen area. The Pocket PC screen is not
that big - throwing away 16% of the screen area for the
Start menu and command bar is not trivial.
Spb
Kiosk Terminal
Using a
thin client is a very interesting approach for building
mobile enterprise solutions. It will only work if people
who use the devices have access to fast wireless network.
If they have, then using this approach can save a lot of
money. Instead of writing a Pocket PC application that will
synchronize data with a legacy system you could just change
the interface of the existing solution to display better
on the 240x320 screen. Then use the Terminal Service Client
to provide remote access to this application from wireless
mobile devices.
But very
often you need to run the Terminal Service Client in kiosk
mode. In allows you to use all the 240x320 screen area and
will prevent switching to other applications. This is done
using Spb
Kiosk Terminal. Running Terminal Service Client in kiosk
mode also provides an auto-connect feature. So the device
will always be connected to the server. This makes device
maintenance much simpler and cheaper.
Using
Spb Kiosk Engine for eVB programs
Spb
Kiosk Engine is specially optimized for using with eVB
programs. Let's take an eVB program, for example the "Shopping"
sample from the Pocket PC 2002 samples:
(<Windows CE Tools>\wce300\Pocket PC 2002\samples\evb).
Here is a screenshot of this program:
All we
need to run our eVB application in kiosk mode is to open
Spb Kiosk Engine Builder, choose the eVB application type,
enter the path to our eVB file and choose lock and unlock
codes:
Spb Kiosk
Engine Builder will generate a Pocket PC installer that
you should install over your eVB program (your can also
include generated CAB files in your installer). After that
your eVB program will run in kiosk mode and users will not
be able to run anything else. Here is a screenshot how this
sample application looks with Spb Kiosk Engine:
Using
Spb Kiosk Engine for .NET CF programs
Using Spb
Kiosk Engine with .NET CF applications (both C# and VB.NET)
is as simple as using it with native programs or eVB program.
Just run Spb Kiosk Engine, enter the path to your program,
choose lock and unlock codes. After that Spb Kiosk Engine
will generate a Pocket PC installer that you should install
with your application. After installing this generated Spb
Kiosk Engine runtime to a Pocket PC it will automatically
start your .NET CF program and will keep it in kiosk mode
so even after soft-reset this program will start automatically
and the user will not be able to switch to another program
(except after entering the secret unlock code).
Discount
for DEVBUZZ readers!
DEVBUZZ
visitors get a 5% discount for Spb Kiosk Engine, Spb Kiosk
Explorer and Spb Kiosk Terminal.
Click
here for information about other discounts on SPB products
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Using Spb Kiosk Engine for eVB and .NET CF Pocket PC enterprise applications
