Category: OpenNETCF

A New Year a New Beginning

With a new year come new beginnings in both work and personal life.  Although there are not many significant changes in my personal life there are some new changes in my professional/work life.

After three years I’ve decided to leave OpenNETCF and pursue other opportunities.

Working with Neil, Chris and Alex was one of the best experiences I’ve had in my professional life. Being part of a team to help deliver some great products to the Windows Mobile, Windows Embedded and .NET Compact Framework developer community was fun. In the process becoming friends with three great and brilliant guys was a bonus.

As I leave OpenNETCF, there are some exciting things happening with things like Padarn and the Smart Device Framework so make sure you stay tuned to the OpenNETCF blog.

Here’s continued success to the OpenNETCF team and the products they create for the developer community!

Wceload Replacement

Have you ever tried to use wceload to install your application and had a complete headache to get it working?  Ever wish you could just get ride of wceload and have more control on your installation process?  If you did, you should definitely check out our new CAB Installer SDK which will help you install your applications with ease and more importantly give you the developer more control.

Check out Chris’ announcement post here and the CAB Installer SDK product page here.

This product is being sold under our new ‘Value Based Pricing Model’ which basically means you pay what you think it’s worth.  See here for more details on the new pricing model.

As always feedback is welcome!

New Mobility Chair for IAMCP Canada

Starting July 1, 2008 I will be the new Mobility Chair for IAMCP Canada.  What is IAMCP, it stands for International Association of Microsoft Certified Partners and is a worldwide organization made up of Microsoft Partners from around the world.

The International Association of Microsoft Certified Partners (IAMCP) represents Microsoft’s best of breed partners from around the globe. Our organization was formed in 1994 and provides Microsoft Partners a voice into Microsoft programs, to the IT community at large, as well as a vehicle to facilitate mutual growth and business development among partners. The non-profit organization is operated by an annually elected board of directors, an is funded through membership fees and sponsor grants.

So what does this all mean, well I pretty much be doing the same thing I’ve always done in terms of developers and Windows Mobile and now I can have some other partners along side of me doing the same thing.

It’s going to be fun with all the new competition and RIM right in my back yard 🙂

OpenNETCF Becomes Microsoft Gold Certified Partner

It’s my pleasure to announce that we have recently achieved Gold Certified Partner Level status within the Microsoft Partner Program in the Mobility Solutions and ISV Software Solutions competency. 



You can read the official press release here.


What exactly does this mean?  Well here is an excerpt from the partner web site:



Gold Certified Partners represent the highest level of competence and expertise with Microsoft technologies, and have the closest working relationship with Microsoft.


In my view it only means good things for our customers as this will allow us to strengthen our already existing relationship with various product groups within Microsoft.


Thanks goes out to all our customers who supported us through this process.


Here are some plaques we got for attaining the competency.


P1100011


P1100014

Task Manager 2.0

Back in September 2007 we released our first version of Task Manager (formerly called TaskManCF). 

Last week we released Task Manager 2.0.  A few major things we have added to this version:

  1. Changed the name from TaskManCF to Task Manager.
  2. Improved the UI for Windows Mobile Professional
  3. Ability to switch to application
  4. Ability to find an applications associate process
  5. Ability to kill all running applications

One of the more exciting things is we decided to get Task Manager logo certified and it is now we can proudly say Task Manager is “Designed For Windows Mobile 6”!.

Of course this does not mean it only runs on Windows Mobile 6, it also supports Windows CE, Pocket PC and Windows Mobile 5.  Only requirement is .NET Compact Framework 2.0 which can be downloaded here.

Here is a screen shot of Task Manager running on Windows Mobile 6 Professional device

Currently it does not support Windows Mobile Standard (aka SmartPhone) but if there is a need for it we can add that.

Go ahead and download the Evaluation version and let us know what you think and if you want other features added!

Exchange, WCF, Windows Mobile and .NET CF

From my recent DevTeach and EnergizeIT sessions I got a lot of interest in WCF Store and Forward feature in .NET CF 3.5 and I promised to put together a white paper on the topic. 

I just finished an article on Exchanging Data using Windows Mobile, Windows Communication Foundation, .NET Compact Framework and Exchange 2007 and posted it on our Community site.  It basically goes through some of the technical details with getting WCF and Exchange working using two sample applications, a Dispatch Sample and a Photo Sharing Sample.

Tech-Ed Developers 2008

With TechEd 2008 quickly approaching wanted to point out some sessions OpenNETCF partners (well one partner 🙂 ) will be doing related to Compact Framework and Windows Mobile

Building CustomDraw and OwnerDraw Controls Using the Microsoft .NET Compact Network (Alex Feinman)
Standard Windows controls allow a degree of customization that offers significant UI flexibility, while relying on proven and robust foundation of existing OS controls, such as TreeView, ListView. This session shows how to build such controls in managed code, using the .NET Compact Framework 2.0 or newer.

Using Microsoft DirectDraw in Windows Mobile Applications (Alex Feinman)
As GAPI becomes deprecated, the recommended approach to building high-speed, device-independent Windows Mobile applications is using DirectDraw API. This session provides information on DirectDraw for mobile devices basics, as well as common problems and pitfalls associated with using it.

Hope you are able to attend!

DevTeach Follow-Up

Just finished my session at DevTeach Toronto.  Thanks to all those that came out at 8am this morning to listen to me blab on Windows Mobile and Compact Framework.


Most demos were similar to my CodeCamp session with the exception of the WCF Demo.


The presentation can be found here and the code can be found here.


Here is a summary of the demos:


SMSInterception – Demo showing how to intercept a message, automatically respond to a message and call back the sender of the message.  Used the Cellular Emulator.

SNAPI – Demo showing some of the functionality of SNAPI, changing battery level, adding headset and detecting incoming calls.

WISPPic – Sample showing some of the WindowsMobile.Forms classes, selecting a picture and displaying it, and using the InkPicture class from Mobile Ink Library and articles can be found here.

WCFDispatch – Sample Dispatch application using Push Email for Windows Mobile and WCF Exchange Server Mail Transport for .NETCF 3.5.  There is a good article here on WCF for Compact Framework which I based WCFMessagingManger from, there is also a lot more info on WCF using Exchange. (Requires Smart Device Framework Community Edition)


If there are any followup questions email me at mark[dot]arteaga[at]opennetcf[dot]com.

DevTeach Toronto 2008

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DevTeach Toronto is coming up from May 12 – 16.  I’ll be doing the only Windows Mobile development session for the week.

Other than seeing the only session related to developing for Windows Mobile, there are a number of reasons why you should attend the event.

Here’s a few to start:
Keynote by Scott Hanselman, Microsoft
Scott Hanselman is one of the most prolific, renowned and respected blogger and podcaster about technologies. Scott is a hands-on thinker, a renowned speaker and writer. He has written a few books, most recently with Bill Evjen and Devin Rader on Professional ASP.NET. In July 2007, he joined Microsoft as a Senior Program Manager in the Developer Division. In his new role he’ll continue to explore and explain a broad portfolio of technologies, both inside and outside Microsoft. He aims to spread the good word about developing software, most often on the Microsoft stack. Before this he was the Chief Architect at Corillian Corporation, now a part of Checkfree, for 6+ years and before that he was a Principal Consultant at STEP Technology for nearly 7 years.

Silverlight 2.0 workshop
For the first time an independent conference is having a workshop on Building Business Applications with Silverlight 2.0.  Join Rod Paddock and Jim Duffy as they give you a head start down the road to developing business-oriented Rich Internet Applications (RIA) with Microsoft Silverlight 2.0. In case you just crawled out from under a rock, Microsoft Silverlight 2.0 is a cross-browser, cross-platform, and cross-device plug-in positioned to revolutionize the way next generation Rich Internet Applications are developed. Microsoft’s commitment to providing an extensive platform for developers and designers to collaborate on creating the next generation of RIAs is very clear and its name is Silverlight 2.0. In this intensive, full-day workshop, Rod and Jim will share their insight and experience building business applications with Silverlight 2.0 including a review of some of the Internet’s more visible Silverlight web applications. This workshop is happening on Friday May 16 at the Hilton Toronto.

Bonus session: .NET Rock host a panel May 14th at 18:00
This year the bonus session (Wednesday May 14 at 18:00) will be a panel of speakers debating the Future of .NET. Where is .NET going? How will new development influence .NET and be influenced by .NET? Join Carl Franklin and Richard Campbell from .NET Rocks as they moderate a discussion on the future directions of .NET. The panellists include individuals who have strong visions of the future of software development and the role that .NET can play in that future. Attend this session and bring your questions to get some insight into the potential future of .NET! This bonus session is free for everyone. Panelists are: Ted Neward,Oren Eini ,Scott Bellware

Party with Palermo, DevTeach Toronto Edition
Jeffrey Palermo (MVP) is hosting Monday May 12th in Toronto is acclaimed “Party with Palermo”. This is the official social event  kicking off DevTeach Toronto. The event is not just for the attendees of Toronto it’s  a free event for everyone. It’s a unique chance for the attendees, speakers and locals  to meet and talk with a free beer.   The event will be held at the Menage club  location and you need to RSVP to attend. Get all the details at this link:

Interested? You can register for Devteach at: http://www.devteach.com/

Toronto Code Camp Follow up

For those that attended my session this morning on Leveraging Windows Mobile API using .NET Compact Framework this morning thanks for coming out on a Saturday at 9am!

The presentation can be found here and the code samples can be found here.

Here is a summary of the demos:

GPS – Demo showing how to use the Fake GPS and GPS sample included in the Windows Mobile SDK

PocketOutlook – Demo showing how to use some of the classes in Pocket Outlook object model

SMSInterception – Demo showing how to intercept a message, automatically respond to a message and call back the sender of the message.  Used the Cellular Emulator.

SNAPI – Demo showing some of the functionality of SNAPI, changing battery level, adding headset and detecting incoming calls.

WISPPic – Sample showing some of the WindowsMobile.Forms classes, selecting a picture and displaying it, and using the InkPicture class from Mobile Ink Library

If there are any followup questions email me at mark[dot]arteaga[at]opennetcf[dot]com.