Question

I have a smarthone application for controlling a device via Bluetooth. I’m now looking for a way to use the app on Windows XP/7 too. Any ideas if this is possible without too much modifications to the code? Especially i’d like to know the following:

1.) Is there a readily available smartphone emulator that can be deployed on Windows XP/7 and allows using bluetooth via a RS232 dongle? I’m looking for something like the emulator used in Visual Studio but standalone with an installer and legally deployable on Windows XP/7.

2.) Is there another way to install the runtime of the .NET compact framework on Windows and run smartphone software?

3.) Is there an easy way to convert a .NET compakt framework application to run with the .NET framework without changing too much code?

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

1. You can download the standalone DeviceEmulator 3.0 package and use that with the smartphone image of your choice.
2. You cannot install the Compact Framework on a desktop machine. It’s far too dependent on coredll.dll, plus there is no CF execution engine (mscoree) for the desktop.
3. It really, really depends on your app. Some convert fairly easily, others not so much. Most end up in the middle, but toward the “not so easy to port” side, especially if it wasn’t a design goal from the start of the code base.
   • The UI is probably unusable on the desktop simply due to the size/layout differences in the vastly different resolutions.
   • If you use any PocketPC/WinMo-specific APIs, then those will not port easily.
   • Your Bluetooth code probably won’t port because the desktop uses a totally different stack and the interface is unlikely to be the same