September 2006 - Posts

• The Desiderata of Development - A Motto for A Modern Software World

  When solution delivery deadlines are looming it is all to easy to focus on the short-term detail of what is needed to meet the relevant quality bar for shipping.  As a result you often lose some perspective on the guiding principles of good software solution development. Today someone sent me a link to a blog article that sums up my philosophy towards solution development and programming, both perfectly and concisely. The principles are universal and transcend the technology and politics of project delivery.  Whether your coding comfort zone is in the world of mobile devices, web, components or COBOL development,  I urge you to take a look.   The article is here:  http://www.removingalldoubt.com/PermaLink.aspx/a32977e2-cb7d-42ea-9d25-5e539423affd   Read it. Think about it. Leave a comment.      Posted Sep 27 2006, 11:37 PM by rogerw with no comments Filed under: Programming, Development

• When The Batteries Run Out Part 2 - The Search For Active Sync Begins

  Well my trusty IPAQ 5550 s now rebuilt in under 3 hours. Having regularly synced my device helped as all my vital files were there - but ActiveSync didn't help my cause. Even though I renamed my device (Settings/About / Device ID under Windows Mobile 2003 SE) and ActiveSync had a partnership  of the same name it would not sync. The only answer was to delete the partnership in ActiveSync and re-create the Partnership. I'm assuming ActiveSync assigns a unique GUID or identifier for each parnership andFollowing that life was good and all  my files were restored. This was all much quicker than I expected but I'm still glad I have persistent storage under Windows Mobile 5. ActiveSync Backup Why did I not use the ActiveSync Backup feature to restore my files? Simple - my backup was too old as I hadn't run it regularly enough. The moral is clear.... Changes For Active Sync 4.0  On the subject of ActiveSync Backup - if you have devices running operating systems earlier than Windows Mobile 5 then Backup/Restore options will be available will be available. If you have Windows Mobile 5.0 you are out of luck - as Windows Mobile 5 based devices have persistent data storage there was considered to be no need for this form of backup. If you need software backup support for Windows Mobile 5 you need to rely on third party suppliers. Active Sync  synchronise via WiFi and ethernet DO NOT upgrade ActiveSync to version 4.0 as these features are no longer supported. Synchronising over WiFi and Ethernet was dropped because of known security concerns name ActiveSync synchronises data in clear text. This security exploit is detailed further at http://www.airscanner.com/security/activesync371.htm If you are using a device running Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition or a previous version of Windows Mobile, I suggest you wait until your OEM announces support for ActiveSync 4.0/4.1 before upgrading..  Posted Sep 12 2006, 11:13 PM by rogerw with no comments Filed under: Active Sync, Batteries

• When The Batteries Run Out....The Searching Begins.

  My trusty IPAQ 5550 is having a few challenges at the moment... I tried to charge it - honestly. It just woudl take a charge properly no matter what I connected it to. Sadly I forgot about it for a day or two as its no longer my main device and it had its revenge.... Both the main and expansion pack batteries are totally flat. The device desperately wants to reset but hangs part way through on the loader screen. I've left it charging all day but still the same result. I just know it needs a hard reset. As this is running the elderly Windows Mobile 2003 Premium device this means no persistent storage which means bye bye data and apps. The IPAQ 5550 has the fantastic IPAQ Backup utility and 16MB of non-volatile ROM to store it in. Why is it these applications always seem so much more appealing  after you've lost everything? There just never seemed to be the right time to back it up. In the end I had to hard reset the device which fixed the hanging. I can only guess that there was so little juice left I lost the backup battery as well and it got its device state totally confused. No apps or data means I have to reinstall re-install and resync everything. I don't know about anybody else but I install and run a lot of third party apps on my devices. They all seemed such good ideas at the time. This means: Remembering everything I had installed and whether I really needed it Finding every software installer for every app and device. Finding the unlock and registration codes so I'm not left with just the 30 day trial editions. Re-Partnering the device in ActiveSync with every PC I use Re-Pairing every bluetooth device I need to connect to Promising faithfully to charge it every day this time. Watch out for more updates on the trials and tribulations of rebuilding my trusty device. Its at times like these I appreciate all the virtues of my shiny htc Universal device with its WM5 persistent storage. Mind you its a good job it has persistent storage, as  with the MSFP (Messaging Security and Feature Pack) ROM upgrade installed and DirectPush email enabled,  my battery last no time at all. Battery life reduces so quickly on the HTC Universal that I sometimes have to revert to Flight Mode just to eek the battery life out. I do love the device for so many other reasons (the miniTablet format, the keyboard, the VGA screen) however, so I can forgive it slightly. Posted Sep 08 2006, 12:00 AM by rogerw with no comments Filed under: Mobile Devices

• Where Have All The WM5 Books Gone?

  I really needed to get some decent info on Windows Mobile 5 and Compact Framework 2.0 but there does not appear to be a single book written or planned to be written. All the usual sources (MsPress, APress, O'Reilly) all appear to have no current books or even plans to publish them. All the books I find are all How Tos or focus on Compact Framework 1.0 era technologies.  If you find one on Windows Mobile 5 development or Compact Framework 2.0 let me know so I can enlighten myself further. Posted Sep 07 2006, 11:32 PM by rogerw with no comments

• Windows Mobile Design & Architecture Patterns Arrive - At Last!

  Whilst researching material for an upcoming talk on Windows Mobile 5 development,  I came across the Windows Mobile Client Software Factory.   After a long time in the architectural and design patterns wilderness,  mobile apps now finally get decent patterns and design guidance for developers who need to build enterprise class mobile apps.  The Mobile Client Software Factory is produced by the Patterns & Practices guys at Microsoft. It has the following features: Composite UI Application Block and Data Access Application Block ported into the .NET Compact Framework Guidance Automation Toolkit I'm only partway to fully understanding it,  but theres a lot of really good stuff in there. For example, there is some good stuff for mobile developers including building asynchronous apps, developing for different device formats etc. You need to register in the community workspace at the link below to get it but its well worth getting into: Further  Details are at:  http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnpag2/html/mcsflp.asp Posted Sep 07 2006, 10:44 PM by rogerw with no comments