Re: Design process using Windows Embedded CE 6.0, VS2005, CoreCon and SDKs


"Oliver Schenk" <oliver.schenk@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:u%23KIwe9DJHA.5600@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I have been spending quite a bit of time recently trying to get my head
around just using VS2005 with Platform Builder and everything that goes
with WinCE6. Many things I have learned so far are from trial and error, by
reading blogs and MSDN.

I would like someone to verify the statements that I am going to make
here. They are a reflection of what I currently understand of development
for WinCE6.0.


1. Development with Windows CE 6.0 comes in two parts.

a. OS design
b. Application design

Probably in most cases, yes. There are few absolutes in embedded
development.

2. When trying to deploy a subproject that is part of an OS design it
requires the runtime image to be regenerated and reloaded each time.

Not necessarily. You might not include the output of the subproject in a
BIB file and, instead, arrange for the flat release folder to be the load
source for that DLL or EXE. In that situation, when the DLL or EXE is to be
loaded, and when it's not found built into the OS, the loader will get it
from the flat release folder, transporting it over the debug connection to
the device being debugged, where it will be loaded.

3. When debugging an OS Design the debugger can only be attached during
bootup when the new runtime image is downloaded.

Again, absolutes are almost never true. You can set up KITL so that it's
passive and won't attempt to connect to a debugger unless there's a crash.
In that case, the OS boots on its own with no intervention from PB but, if
there's a crash, it tries to connect via KITL to PB and can start debugging
the crash immediately. Generally, though, yes, you either are debugging
everything or nothing in the OS.

4. A runtime image loaded via VS2005 is not permanent.

That depends entirely on what is done with it. 95% of the time or more, no,
it's loaded into RAM and run from there. When the power goes off, it's gone.

5. The Tools > "Connect to Device ..." menu option in VS2005 is only
available in application design solutions and not in OS design solutions.

I don't know with absolute certainty, but that sounds right.

6. KITL is used when debugging projects in the OS Design phase.

Yes, Kernel Independent Transport Layer is used for kernel debugging,
generally.

7. CoreCon is used when debugging projects (managed and unmanaged) in the
application phase (once the SDK for the OS design has been installed).

Yes.

8. For WinCE6.0 to work with my eBox 4300 I need to install the BSP msi on
my PC so that VS2005 can include the eBox third party drivers, etc...

As always, "maybe". That's 99% of the time what you'll want to do, but you
could use the CEPC BSP as a starting point or you could build your own,
depending on where you're going (if the eBox is just the first prototype of
a custom-designed system that you will build, you might not want to start
with their BSP). You must have a BSP for your target hardware in order to
run Windows CE on it, so, if you can get one that exactly matches your
hardware, that's the right one to use.

9. The eBox 4300 comes with an SDK that I can install but if I modify the
OS design I need to create my own SDK.

Probably, yes. If your modifications are only for things like changing some
drivers adding new network adapters, etc., no, you don't have to regenerate
the SDK for that. If you change from a headed device profile (one with
display), to a headless profile (one without display), you'd certainly need
to regenerate the SDK so that only those API functions actually supported by
your device/OS are included.

Paul T.


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: OS Setup for Application Debug in VS2005
    ... You don't have KITL, generally, at least, in a Retail image. ... you'll want to generate an SDK for the device and install that SDK, ... Debugging on emulator works fine ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsce.embedded)
  • Re: OO Software Project Entropy Question.
    ... > intelligent engineers hardly take prior design as written in stone]. ... Without Agile practices, software engineering projects occupy a spectrum, ... Agile projects rise above that spectrum. ... Debugging pushes behavior back and forth, ...
    (comp.object)
  • Re: sysgen_capture and cloning questions.
    ... BSP, so it's easy to reuse those changes over and over in new designs (the ... making changes to the platform aren't ever the actual reason but in my case ... Putting a cloned item in the OS Design would only be ... Wouldn't that be the project root under pbworkspaces? ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsce.platbuilder)
  • Re: Design process using Windows Embedded CE 6.0, VS2005, CoreCon and SDKs
    ... CoreCon isn't used with Platform Builder for OS debugging. ... while I have a OS Design solution open in VS2005. ... you just directly install it. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsce.platbuilder)
  • RE: Recommended CE development platforms
    ... I'm not sure whether you want to design both H/W and S/W from your end. ... They have a line of boards with PXA processor and Wince 3.0, 4.X and 5.0 BSP. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsce.platbuilder)