Determining the type of expansion card currently in use

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Hello all,

I'm working on a mobile application that uses an RFID chip reader, and
now has to support multiple readers. I've found the pattern example at
MSDN for bar code scanners to be an excellent analog (http://
msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa446489.aspx), and intend to model
my solution after that. However, it requires the ability to
distinguish between the different types of cards that may be plugged
in to the device.

I've found multiple articles regarding detecting the insertion/removal
of cards, but I feel that won't be sufficient for my situation. The
card is likely to have been inserted when the application isn't
running, so I need to be able to determine the installed card after
the fact.

This post:
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.dotnet.framework.compactframework/browse_thread/thread/b17ae0d508772609/d53e04dbcd13a987?lnk=gst&q=detect+card&rnum=11#d53e04dbcd13a987

....indicates that a potential source of information is the registry,
specifically the HKLM\Drivers\Active branch. I have confirmed that
there are two different entries that show up, one for each card. I
feel like this is probably workable, but as I'm very new to working
with hardware, I'm not sure if there are unforeseen pitfalls.

Is this the approach you'd take? Is there a better or more "proper"
way that I can determine the installed card?

The current version of my application supports a reader in a Compact
Flash form factor. The new card is Secure Digital. Neither have
storage, so they do not enumerate as directories.

I'm working on a Windows Mobile 5 PDA, using .NET Compact Framework
SP2.

Any help or advice is much appreciated!

Cheers,
Chris

.

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