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Q192998: INFO: VBCE: Differences Between Emulation and the Remote Device

Article: Q192998
Product(s): Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows
Version(s): 
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbAddIn kbide kbToolkit kbVBp500 kbVBp600 kbOSWinCE100 kbGrpDSVB
Last Modified: 16-NOV-2001

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Windows CE Toolkit for Visual Basic 6.0 
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SUMMARY
=======

This article describes some of the differences between Windows CE Toolkit for
Visual Basic (VBCE) applications run in the emulator, on a desktop computer, or
on a remote device.

MORE INFORMATION
================

Fonts and Palette
-----------------

Font and palette issues can arise from differences between fonts and colors
available on the remote device and in the emulator. The emulator gets such
information from the Windows NT, Windows 2000 or WindowsXP operating system.

The emulator can display any font properly installed on the host desktop. The
remote device can only show the fonts available to it. Font substitutions will
be made based on family and spacing:

  Font name         Family     Spacing
  ---------         ------     -------

  Arial             san serif  proportional
  Courier New       serif      fixed
  Symbol            symbol     proportional
  Tahoma            san serif  proportional
  Times New Roman   serif      proportional

In Visual Basic, the default font is MS San Serif. It will display properly in
the emulator. However, the font does not exist on remote devices and will be
substituted with Arial. See the REFERENCES section below for more information.

As with fonts, any color available to the desktop machine can be displayed in the
emulator. However, the remote device has a more limited color palette and colors
will be mapped to the nearest similar color:

  Black / Silver
  Red / Maroon
  Green / Lime
  Olive / Yellow
  Blue / Navy
  Teal / Aqua
  Purple / Fuchsia
  White / Gray

Remote Tools
------------

Most remote tools shipped with VBCE only work on the remote device, not in the
emulator. The Windows CE Registry Editor and the Control Manager are the only
remote tools that work in both environments.

Application Manager (CeAppMgr.exe) cannot be used to install applications in the
emulator. The program resides on the desktop computer, and it is responsible for
adding and removing applications on the Windows CE device, as well as deleting
the application files from the desktop computer.

Windows CE Application Install Wizard (InstWzrd.exe) runs on the desktop computer
and creates an installation program for your application. The installation
program can be run from the development machine or other machines to install the
application onto the remote device.

Windows CE Heap Walker (ceheapwk.exe) enables you to view detailed information
about heap identifiers and processes that are running on the remote device. It
is also useful to determine if an application has memory leaks.

Windows CE Process Viewer (cepview.exe) displays a graphical view on the desktop
computer of Windows CE process and thread characteristics. The Process Viewer
enables you to view memory usage and search for memory leaks.

Windows CE Spy (cespy.exe) displays a graphical view on the desktop computer of
Windows CE system processes, threads, windows, and window messages running on
the remote device.

Windows CE Zoom (cezoom.exe) captures an image from the remote device and
displays it on the desktop computer.

Communications
--------------

Access to the serial ports on the desktop machine from the emulator requires a
special driver, WCEEMULD. This file is installed as part of the "Device Driver
Development Kit" (DDK), which can be installed during the Handheld PC Platform
SDK installation. Please see the REFERENCES section below for further
information.

The VBCE Winsock control does not function in the emulation environment. The
emulator does not support IRDA.

System
------

- Clipboard: The emulator environment shares the clipboard with the desktop
  operating system.

- Memory: Available memory values cannot be changed in the emulator.

- Object Store: The Object Store is the central container for all WCE files on
  both the remote device and emulator. In the emulator, you can choose a
  different Object Store to use.

- ControlBox: VBCE forms have a ControlBox property that enables display of the
  ControlBox in the upper-left corner of the form. The ControlBox will only
  display in the emulator, not on the remote device.

REFERENCES
==========

Windows CE Toolkit Help for Visual Basic 6.0

For additional information, please see the following articles in the Microsoft
Knowledge Base:

  Q158509 HOWTO: Install Additional Fonts in Windows CE

  Q187532 HOWTO: Use the Remote Tools Installed with VBCE

  Q193235 SAMPLE: VBCEComm.exe Uses the MSCEComm Control in Emulation

Additional query words: wce wince vbce type style color

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Keywords          : kbAddIn kbide kbToolkit kbVBp500 kbVBp600 kbOSWinCE100 kbGrpDSVB 
Technology        : kbVBSearch kbAudDeveloper kbWinCETKVBSearch kbWinCESearch
Version           : :
Issue type        : kbinfo

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