Question

i am coming from an android developer pov.

I do have some query about win mobile 7.

My background app porting information:

My current android application does a polling of every 5 min, and it will retrieve its current location and then send it to the server. My application also does allows user to view member and then able to call and sms them by linking them to the caller and messaging application

1. Does windows mobile 7 allows background services like android alarmmanager which allows user to do a polling? Even when the application is being offed
2. Does windows mobile 7 allows passing of action to it’s native application such as calling and sms?

Answer 1

1) For background polling when the app is off, you have 2 different options using Background Agents. Here’s an MSDN article explaining how to use Background Agents.

You can use a Periodic Agent which the MSDN article desribes as

Periodic agents run for a small amount of time on a regular recurring
interval. Typical scenarios for this type of task include uploading
the device’s location and performing small amounts of data
synchronization.

Or you can use a Resource Intensive Tasks

Resource-intensive agents run for a relatively long period of time
when the phone meets a set of requirements relating to processor
activity, power source, and network connection. A typical scenario for
this type of task is synchronizing large amounts of data to the phone
while it is not being actively used by the user.

2) You can access the native applications for making a call and sms from your application. This is done via Tasks

For calling, here’s an MSDN article for How To Use The Phone Call Task.

For SMS, here’s an MSDN article for How To use The Compose SMS Task.