Question

I have a VS2005 deployment & setup project, that makes use of the Tablet PC SDK 1.7 Merge Module, so users of Windows XP can make use of the managed Microsoft.Ink.DLL library. Now that we’ve moved over to Vista/VS2008, do I still need to install the TPC SDK (to get the merge module) or can I make use of something that Vista has?

Google seems plagued with vague references. If I add the merge module for SDK 1.7, how will this affect current Vista users (which will have the Tablet PC capabilities built-in)?

Answer 1

As usual, one of the trickiest aspects of Tablet development is deployment:

• Tablet functionality isn’t built into the Home Basic or Starter editions of Vista so if you want your program to work on those, you still need the MSM.
• You should be ok using merge modules on Tablet-enabled versions of Vista. I mean, it’s equivalent installing the MSM onto an existing XP Tablet that already had the components. It won’t add it if it’s already there.
• XP 2005 Tablet included TPC 1.7. These are also installed on Tablet-enabled versions of Vista too. If you stick with those core features, just installing the main 1.7 MSM everywhere’s probably cool. However, Vista also added new ink analysis capabilities, some stylus input APIs, and a new InkCanvas control so if you need any of these, are there additional merge modules you need to install if you want everything to still work on XP 2005.

So bottom line, if you care about XP and/or Home Basic Vista, you still need to deal with merge modules… stuff should still work on Vista. If you’re just targeting premium versions of Vista, you don’t need ’em anymore.