[Touch Diamond, MDA Compact IV General] low.flying.pigs:
Hello Blaustein / Klaus,

Many thanks for 4.12 Beta 2 and the source code. Appreciated as always.

For clarity I will address the other non Windows CE specific issues separately in due course.

To briefly address Windows CE specific issues and general feedback arising on forum to date since post 1976, and referring to attached mainly numbered screen grabs:

GCC running on Windows CE 5 Emulator:

Upon first running 4.12 Beta 2, it opens in landscape orientation as per 1 (4.12 Beta 1 same, whereas in 4.11 Final it was portrait as required as per 2)

Upon then double tapping the Application Title Bar (blue bar with GPS Cycle Computer text), GCC is maximised as per 3 in portrait orientation. Bottom buttons are now fully visible above the Windows CE Taskbar, (whereas in 4.11 Beta 1 these were not as per 4 with the Taskbar on, and 5 with the Taskbar off). It can be seen there remains a gap between the GCC display area and the bottom buttons. This because this area is incorrectly scaled. It can be seen more clearly in 6, the About Page. This effect is specific to Windows CE and does not occur in Windows Mobile.

Upon then tapping the Minimize button on the Title Bar , and then Maximising GCC, it can be seen GCC has now correctly scaled the display area as per 7 and 8.

When a GpsCycleComputer.dat file with 'App maximized' selected is used from a suitable system where it was accessible from the context menu, GCC starts landscape, then switches to portrait, then rescales as above ending as per 7 and 8. GCC 4.12 Beta 2 is then usable as is, as far as display is concerned. Given Windows CE usage on a actual device is not straight forward like Windows Mobile for an ordinary user, manually copying this file to the program directory is minimal effort in comparison.

Orientation and scaling require to be resolved so the above is unnecessary. Further, in order for GCC to actually display full screen on Windows CE, the Taskbar at the bottom and Title Bar will have to be handled by some means of which a number are available. Title Bar is not present at all in Windows Mobile, and Taskbar is implemented differently hence these are not handled by current 'App maximized' implementation.

It can be seen the basic display issues within the emulated environment are resolvable from within GCC internally requiring the application only to be run and nothing more, and there arising no need for command line parameters, or external manual or scripted workarounds etc.

GCC running on Windows CE 5: Notes:

Windows CE is essentially a trimmed and optimised Windows environment providing a full desktop complete with start button, recycle bin etc. It the underlying core on to which Windows Mobile is built and CE 5 is the core of Windows Mobile 6.0, 6.1 and 6.5. Unlike Windows Mobile however where there are no apparent current devices in manufacture using it, or current versions in development, Windows CE is still developed, the current latest version being 2013. Devices are still currently in manufacture using it and Windows CE 5 and 6 are often preferred for Personal Navigation Assistant devices amongst others for reasons of licencing cost, low hardware specification requirements, and not least providing the necessary functionality without requiring later versions. With the exception of TomTom and Garmin which utilise a Linux based OS and application on their branded hardware devices, many other PNA / PND devices run Windows CE and some run Android.

It can be seen that Windows CE 5 and devices that run it are not necessarily in any way to be considered 'old system'. In fact quite the contrary, by that logic Window Mobile and devices running it could be considered 'old system'. The underlying OS and it's support or development status is in any event irrelevant when it's only purpose is as a platform for the dedicated application(s) on the dedicated device to run upon.

Medion S3857 and S3867 are good examples of current Windows CE 5 devices, which by their nature inherently would be ideally suited to GCC.

There are differences between running any application in the full Windows CE emulated environment and on any given Windows CE based device. This is because Windows CE is entirely configurable by the Original Equipment Manufacturer as to what elements of the full Windows CE environment are incorporated in their ROM. This varies from device to device and manufacturer to manufacturer. Often included is nothing more than what is required for the device to boot and function, loading on startup the supplied main application(s), with the underlying OS ordinarily inaccessible having been disabled from normal end user access and / or stripped of anything non essential for the purpose the device is intended, generally preventing the ordinary user installing alternative software or using it as a general PDA device. In some circumstances it is notheless possible for such devices to have fuller functionality restored.

Once GCC runs correctly within the full emulated environment, device specific issues arising can then be addressed.

Applications that already run as required are simply already compatible.

Context Menus - Windows CE 5 or Windows Embedded CE 6

GCC context menus do not currently display within Windows CE 5 or 6. This because although Windows CE does in fact allow for context menus, these are implemented differently than in Windows Mobile. Essentially support for context menus has to be enabled within the application itself.

The Windows CE standard built in applications have them implemented. See attached screen grabs of them on the CE5 Desktop, Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer. It may be possible to implement Win CE context menus within GCC without adverse difficulty.

Further information and a coding example of how this may be achievable here. This may give some insight, but would obviously require some conversion to C# and adaption to the GCC code.

low.flying.pigs