Building Data Collection Apps on PPC

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc (More info?)

Hi Folks

I need to develop 2 new data collection apps to be used on PPC. Don't really
know where to start with development, tools, languages etc.

Any recommendations on what works and what doesn't? I am very experienced
with VBA, and VB to a degree (Access Developer mainly) and I need to synch
the data collected to an Access back-end.

The mobile app needs to have a degree of intelligence for data checking and
business logic, as well as the ability to display graphics and images.

Any help or advice appreciated, I need to get on the case with this in the
next two weeks (developing between Xmas and New Year).

TIA

--
Kahuna
------------

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc (More info?)

Cheers Thanks Neil - I'll check those out.

--
Kahuna
------------
"Neil Smith [MVP Digital Media]" <neil@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:08rmr0leha89jnfajnbrrpge20o6r812cb@4ax.com...
> Really, probably you want to look at stuff like XSForms and XSDesigner
> first : http://www.grandasoft.com (also, it's free and quick to work
> with ;-)
>
> It will save you a lot of coding to get a working app. You may find
> some of the user-contributed databases & capture apps are already
> nearly there for you. Graphics and images are part of the XSForms spec
> and work fine.
>
> If you then decide it doesn't meet your needs, you've got a working
> protoype in much less time than coding a VB/DB solution on the PDA and
> figuring how to sync the data
>
> Have fun -
> Cheers, Neil
>
> On Sat, 11 Dec 2004 11:57:38 -0000, "Kahuna" <none@gonewest.com>
> wrote:
>
>>Hi Folks
>>
>>I need to develop 2 new data collection apps to be used on PPC. Don't
>>really
>>know where to start with development, tools, languages etc.
>>
>>Any recommendations on what works and what doesn't? I am very experienced
>>with VBA, and VB to a degree (Access Developer mainly) and I need to synch
>>the data collected to an Access back-end.
>>
>>The mobile app needs to have a degree of intelligence for data checking
>>and
>>business logic, as well as the ability to display graphics and images.
>>
>>Any help or advice appreciated, I need to get on the case with this in the
>>next two weeks (developing between Xmas and New Year).
>>
>>TIA
>

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.pocketpc (More info?)

SprintDB or XSForms? XSForms is very fast for developing data
collection apps for Pocket PC. It is very nice to work with and it has
great support forums. BUT, for my purposes, I needed more control over
the application so I choose SprintDB Pro and SprintDB Desktop
Companion. If you are familiar with MS Access VB coding then you will
understand the coding for SprintDB. SprintDB allows coding to control
events for form controls like: AfterUpdate, OnClick, etc. I did not
find similar functionality in the other database apps for Pocket PC.
SprintDB also has step-through debugging. One downside with SprintDB
is that I don't think you can communicate with your Access database in
"real-time", you have to collect your data and then synch the data to
the database. And yes, you can synch to a MS Access database.

r_z_aret@pen_fact.com wrote:
> On Sat, 11 Dec 2004 11:57:38 -0000, "Kahuna" <none@gonewest.com>
> wrote:
>
> >Hi Folks
> >
> >I need to develop 2 new data collection apps to be used on PPC.
Don't really
> >know where to start with development, tools, languages etc.
> >
> >Any recommendations on what works and what doesn't? I am very
experienced
> >with VBA, and VB to a degree (Access Developer mainly) and I need to
synch
> >the data collected to an Access back-end.
> >
> >The mobile app needs to have a degree of intelligence for data
checking and
> >business logic, as well as the ability to display graphics and
images.
>
> This is very much what our app does. So I hope you will check my
> signature for web site and contact info.
>
> >
> >Any help or advice appreciated, I need to get on the case with this
in the
> >next two weeks (developing between Xmas and New Year).
>
> If you are the only person who will be using the app, that might be
> enough time. If you need to deal with other folks and/or network
> problems (like dead spots in wireless access), you will need much
more
> time, because you will need extra code to handle real world problems,
> and will need extra time to recognize those problems.
>
> >
> >TIA
>
> -----------------------------------------
> To reply to me, remove the underscores (_) from my email address (and
please indicate which newsgroup and message).
>
> Robert E. Zaret, eMVP
> PenFact, Inc.
> 500 Harrison Ave., Suite 3R
> Boston, MA 02118
> www.penfact.com