Mobile Development: developing nav application for windows ce 5 or later

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    • CommentAuthorasad86
    • CommentTimeDec 2nd 2011 edited
     
    I am trying to develop sat nav application using geobase dll and tutorials, i have installed visual studio 2005 furthermore installed geobase sdk. At the present moment i am following this tutorial, which gives me errors:

    http://dev.telogis.com/resources/view/a-simple-mobile-navigation-application-using-the-navigationmanager-class

    Error, i get is Null Exception for this code: nMan.SetGps(new GpsSimulator(nMan.Navigator.Directions, 2));

    I'm abit confused with sample data, where to put that at the present moment i have usa and uk sample data in data folder located geobase/resources/3.7 i think.

    most importantly, i have a question the files or sdk does this work for windows ce 5 or later. Can i develop sat nav application for windows ce 5 using geobase sdk. If so, how can i test it before purchasing a real device.

    I willl be grateful, if someone can help me.

    Regards

    Asad
    • CommentAuthorAlex H
    • CommentTimeDec 5th 2011
     
    Hi Asad,

    You'll be receiving that error because GeoBase isn't finding your Map Files - this means that when the NavigationManager tries to generate directions, it can't, as there's no streets to route on.

    If you want to check whether the map data is showing correctly, simply comment out the startRoute() call in the code, and the app will simply load up showing a basic map. If this just appears as a beige square, then your map data isn't being found.

    A few things to check...

    1) Did you add the conditional compilation symbol DESKTOP to your desktop project, as discussed under Create The Navigation Manager? If you're not sure how to do this, this article should help.

    2) This code tries to look for map data in a folder path created by combining the resourcePath and reposPath variables. Check that this is a valid path - if you are on x64, you may find that rather than "C:\Program Files\...", your path should read "C:\Program Files (x86)\..."

    3) Check that you've put your sample data in the right place. It should be in "C:\Program Files\GeoBase\GeoBaseResources\Data\gb.3.7\". See note about about the slightly different path on x64. You can check that your data is in the right place by starting our Map Explorer sample app, which should be on the Start Menu - if it shows map data, everything's in order.

    The GeoBase SDK can indeed be used to develop turn-by-turn navigation solutions using GPS on Windows CE/Mobile devices, and we have many clients who have used it for this purpose.

    In the absence of real hardware, the best way to test would be to use the Microsoft Windows Mobile emulator images which are supplied with the Windows Mobile SDK/DTK packages. You can find details on how to deploy to these emulators in our API documentation. In the absence of a real GPS, you can either use the GPSSimulator class we provide, or if you can obtain logs of a real-world data from an NMEA-compatible GPS device, use our NMEAGps class to read these in from text files. More details on both of these options are in our API Documentation.

    Thanks,

    Alex
    • CommentAuthorasad86
    • CommentTimeDec 5th 2011 edited
     
    Thanks Alex for your reply, i am getting some idea now but i still get errors maybe because we are using Windows 7 OS and Visual Studio 2008.

    If we make application in Windows Form Application then GPS AND DIRECTIONS everything works fine as it should be.

    But

    When we click File-New-Project-Windows Mobile 5 SDK then we get device showing up but no controls. We Add the reference unfortunetly no MapControl or anything appearing in Toolbox. During the whole weekend, i was try to get windows ce emulator work with VS while using internet tutorials to attach it but no luck.

    Secondly and importantly, i am looking hardware just like normal satnav windows ce device but i cant find exact device that is thin vehicle mountable from a supplier. I would be grateful, if you could recommend me any of your hardware partners. What is the technical system requirement for running GEOBASE on a device?

    Thirdly, if we're to use Windows Mobile 5 or 6...can we start our application when we power up the device???.

    Thanks

    Asad
    • CommentAuthorAlex H
    • CommentTimeDec 5th 2011
     
    Hi Asad,

    Our internal development environment for Windows Mobile is Windows 7 with VS2008, so this will not be the cause of your issue. I believe the problem you are having with the Toolbox is due to your project targeting .NET Compact Framework 3.5.

    The GeoBase Mobile controls (MapCtrl, etc) are targeted at .NET CF 2.0, and are also compatible with .NET CF 3.5 projects and devices.

    However, due to restrictions in Visual Studio, it is not possible to use the Windows Forms Designer and Toolbox to add our .NET CF 2.0 controls to a .NET CF 3.5 project.

    If your need to use GeoBase Mobile controls in a .NET CF 3.5 project, we would suggest one of the two following methods:

    1) Add the GUI elements in code, rather than using the Windows Forms Designer. This may not be practical for some more complex projects.
    2) Start a separate .NET CF 2.0 project, and layout your desired UI using the Windows Forms Designer, then build the project as a Class Library. You can then add it as a reference to your .NET CF 3.5 project.

    Alternatively, you may prefer to work entirely in .NET CF 2.0 (as in the tutorial you linked above), in which case the toolbox will work without problems.

    With regards to your difficulties with the Windows Mobile emulator images, I'd suggest asking around on the MSDN forums. We offer some advice on setting up the emulator to work with GeoBase (see this article), but this does need a working emulator as a starting point.

    GeoBase should work with Windows CE devices from any manufacturer. You can read our system requirements here.

    A quick bit of Googling shows it should be possible to start an app on Windows CE startup.

    Thanks,

    Alex

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