U2 Compact Framework

Brief introduction

Smart devices (such as cell phones, PDAs, and factory controllers using Windows®ce real time operating System) can be leveraged in Vis by a new UODONETCF.dll library, released with Universe Clients 10.3 Applications developed in UAL Studio. This article uses U2 uo.net to leverage existing pc-based applications written in C # and describes how to migrate applications to new, thin framework applications that can run on smart devices. The new smart device application uses most of the source code for the original program. This article describes how to develop new applications with Microsoft®visual Studio 2008 C #. NET Compact Framework and UO.NETCF library. You can also use other languages, such as Visual Basic or C + +.

Use case examples

The uniobject. NET Compact Framework is a persistent application environment. This means that once a smart device is connected to the U2 database, the interaction between the device and the database is no different from the interaction between the terminal and the database. The connection remains valid until the Uniobject method CloseSession () is invoked. The difference between a browser-based or web-based application and a UO. NET CF application is that each request for a browser or Web service requires a connection to the application and the database server.

The following is an example of a thin framework application use case. In this scenario, the warehouse keeper is managing inventory. The employee uses an application on a smart device to confirm that the item is printed with the correct barcode before it is counted in inventory.

Employee actions	Application response
The employee logs on to the smart device.	Connect to the U2 database.
The employee scans the barcode for the item.	To find the item, return the picture of the item.
The employee visually confirms that the returned picture matches the actual item.	Count into inventory and update the database.

Uniobject. NET Compact Framework Overview

Figure 1 provides a high-level schema view of applications that use the Uniobject. NET Compact Framework. In the diagram, each part of the architecture is briefly described.

Figure 1. Schemas for applications built on the UO Compact Framework

Visual Studio

Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 is an integrated development environment (IDE) that helps you develop smart device applications as easily as desktop applications. Smart Device Development in Visual Studio includes a set of project types and emulators for the development of Pocket PCs, Smartphones, and embedded Windows CE devices.

Windows CE

The. NET Compact Framework uses the Windows CE operating system for core functionality and several device-specific features. To run efficiently on smart devices, several types and assemblies were rebuilt, such as those used for Windows forms, graphics, drawings, and Web services, rather than from the complete. NET Framework. The. NET Compact Framework provides the following some of the Windo WS-CE Interoperability: