Since the eBox is an x86 device, x86 CPU support must be installed with platform builder to use the eBox BSP and build the OS image for the eBox. By default, Platform Builder installation only selects and includes ARMV4 CPU support during installation.
While Platform Builder does not require VS2005 SP1 it is required to install SDK generated by platform builder for the OS design to support CE 6.0 application development using VS2005. Platform Builder will be installed is step 2 itself so no need to worry about installing it separately. So, let’s have a look at the proper installation sequence. This happened to me when I installed Windows CE and Visual Studio for the first time. The worst part is you might not even realize it that improper installation is what caused the problem. If done properly you should be up and developing in no time, but if you miss or skip a step it might not work properly. So, now that we have a brief about the tools we can move on to a little more tricky issue. The IDE provides a single integrated workspace in which you can work on both platforms and projects. Platform Builder comes with all the development tools necessary for you to design, create, build, test, and debug a Windows CE–based platform. Platform Builder for CE 6.0:- Microsoft Platform Builder is an integrated development environment (IDE) for building customized embedded platforms based on the Microsoft Windows CE.
Many forums do say that Platform builder is only compatible with Visual Studio 2005, so let’s stick with 2005.
You might wonder at this point why Visual Studio 2005? Well as far as I know I had some issues getting Platform Builder to work with higher versions of Visual Studio. Other built-in tools include a forms designer for building graphical user interface (GUI) applications, web designer, class designer, and database scheme designer. The integrated debugger works both as a source-level debugger and a machine-level debugger.
Visual Studio includes a code editor supporting IntelliSense as well as code refactoring. NET Compact Framework and Microsoft Silverlight. It can be used to develop console and graphical user interface applications along with Windows Forms applications, web sites, web applications, and web services in both native code and managed code for all platforms supported by Microsoft Windows, Windows Mobile, Windows CE. Visual Stusio 2005:- Microsoft Visual Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft. I got the CD’s when I took part in SPARK challenge.
So, where do we get these from? You can either buy the CD’s from Microsoft or download the tools from their website. 2: Software:- Here we will need two tools: Visual Studio 2005 and the Platform builder for CE 6.0 plugin. Two categories that we we need to see here are 1: Hardware:- For this there is really nothing much to discuss since it’s a choice that you will make when you start working with your projects, but for our discussion I will be using ICOP eBox 2300/4300. Before we start working with Windows CE let us have a look at what is required for the development. Last week I talked about what I have planned for the coming weeks, so here it is.