FiveWin for Pocket PC

FWPPC is a library for the Harbour compiler which lets you create true Pocket PC 32 bit applications for Microsoft Windows Mobile (Pocket PC and SmartPhone). FWPPC is highly compatible with other FW versions (FW for CA-Clipper, FWH FiveWin for Harbour) though it is has been specially designed to be as small and light as possible.

With FWPPC you get very small, self contained 32 bit EXEs for Windows Mobile without requiring any external DLLs.

With FWPPC we include the latest binaries of Harbour itself built using the Microsoft free Pocket PC C/C++ compiler (ARM compatible processors). The Microsoft compiler (clarm.exe) also includes the linker (link.exe), the librarian (lib.exe) and the resources compiler (rc.exe). FWPPC has been developed using this Microsoft compiler.

With FWPPC and the Microsoft compiler, you do not need anything else to create true Pocket PC 32 bit applications. FWPPC uses standard Windows resources that you may build using your actual Borland Resources Workshop or you may use Microsoft Visual Studio resources designer.

Do not be confused about the requirement of a C compiler. Harbour creates the same Pcode as Clipper does, but instead of creating an OBJ file, it creates a C file with the Pcode equivalent registers. This approach gives Harbour the benefit of being an authentic multi-platform compiler, since there is a C compiler available for any possible platform that generates the right OBJ file for each platform.

Harbour for Pocket PC provides full DBFs and Indexes (NTXs, CDXs) support. You have all the Harbour functionality from the Windows Mobile operating system, and FWPPC provides you an easy to use GUI to develop professional applications.

FoxPro users:

Please download this full working customers management application, test it on your Pocket PC and review its source code to see how similar is to the FoxPro language you are used to! Using it as a model, you may develop your complete application in just few days!

FWPPC includes:

• The Harbour open source compiler binaries compiled with Microsoft Pocket PC compiler
• FWPPC complete sofware package (source code included)
• FW programming guide printed manual
• A FiveTech box and a CD

FWPPC (email version):

• You get exactly the same as explained above, except for the FiveTech box, the CD and the printed manual.
• It is delivered by Internet (FTP), and you receive the download instructions by email.
• It is cheaper and you usually get it in less than one hour since you order it.

Note: FiveTech Software does not charge any money for Harbour and its documentation.

What is FWPPC ?

FWPPC is a set of commands, classes and functions developed with the objective to obtain the highest power from the Microsoft Windows Mobile environment in conjuntion with Harbour, the open source Clipper language compatible compiler (http://www.harbour-project.org).

FWPPC is a library that you may link to your Harbour built application enabling the use of all these functionalities. This FWPPC release has been built using the Microsoft free Pocket PC C/C++ compiler in order to be used with Harbour also built with the same compiler.

FWPPC has been developed to keep the highestl compatibility with the original FW Library for Clipper, though it is smaller and lighter to consume the minimum resources on the Pocket PC and SmartPhone devices.

The set of classes of FWPPC are completely self contained. FWPPC provides the needed classes to create MS standard Windows, Dialogboxes, Menus, etc. The reasons why FWPPC has developed its own set of GUI classes are as follows:

• Full support of standard Windows resources: FWPPC allows you to use standard tools to design DialogBoxes, as Microsoft Visual Studio, Borland Resource Workshop offering you the capability of use visual design in the same way as C and C++ professional programmers do. Designing your dialogboxes in this way allows you to keep a total independency between the graphic interface design in respect to your applications source code. You will be able to easily modify your dialogboxes without the need to alter or modify its related source code.
• Simple and easy to use: The FWPPC commands and class sets have been specially designed to offer a great ease of use and require a minimum learning curve. FW has always been very popular for its power and easy of use.

These reasons show the enormous importance of using FWPPC to port your existing FW/FWH apps to Pocket PC and SmartPhone devices.

Installing FWPPC:

FWPPC is designed to be used with Harbour, the open source Clipper language compatible compiler available from www.harbour-project.org. Just click on the provided Harbour installation icon and it will be automatically installed.

FWPPC comes with its automatic installation process so you just need to select the install icon and you will be prompted for a few details in order to know the desti-nation path and components you wish to install.

As this FWPPC has specifically been built to be used with Microsoft free Pocket PC C/C++ compiler, it is required that you also install that Microsoft compiler on your computer. We do provide a free and small ready-to-use setup of the compiler (VCE.zip) to easy the setup process.

Using FWPPC:

Once you have installed Harbour, FWPPC and unziped VCE.ZIP at a vce directory, simply go to c:\FWPPC\SAMPLES directory and review Buildce.bat defined paths to be sure they match with your Harbour and Microsoft compiler installation selected paths. Then type:

Buildce.bat tutor01

This should call Harbour.exe to compile tutor01.prg, call clarm.exe to generate the required OBJ, call rc.exe to generate the resources RES file if exists and finally call link32.exe to build the EXE. This whole process is performed in an automatic way from Buildce.bat. Warning: the resulting EXE does not run on a Windows computer. It only runs on the Microsoft free Pocket PC emulator and at your Mobile device.

A first Hello World! Windows small dialog should shown on the screen. If not, please review the paths inside Buildce.bat again to asure they are the ones you have selected for your Harbour and Microsoft compiler installation.

Now, we do recommend to continue testing the different samples we provide on that directory.

To adapt your FW and Clipper make files, simply do the needed modifications inside them as shown inside SAMPLES\Buildce.bat file.

Develop on your PC

Microsoft provides a free Pocket PC emulator (ARM emulation) so you can develop your Pocket PC applications on your computer and test them on the emulator. Once they get ready, you copy them to the Pocket PC and use them (you may copy them using a memory card, or any other PC-Mobile connection resource). We provide you a direct link to download the free emulator, so you get sure you are using the right one.

Guidelines for Harbour and Clipper users:

FWPPC is contained into two libraries Fivece.lib and Fivecec.lib. Besides these, FWPPC provides an extensive set of header files (.CH extension) that implements all required xBase commands to create and manage all the different Windows objects.

In our samples directory ' \samples', we provide the file 'Buildce.bat'. This file shows the correct way to compile and link the applications developed with Harbour and FWPPC. As Harbour is fully Clipper language compatible, you will master Harbour coding since the very first moment you use it.

Important recommendations:

Please notice that Microsoft resources compiler (rc.exe) requires to be called previously to call link.exe, as the resultant RES file has to be provided to link.exe. Buildce.bat clearly shows its use.

Guidelines for FoxPro and dBase users:

FoxPro users will find Harbour and FWPPC very easy to use, so the learning curve is very small, and they will become fully productive in record time. FoxPro, Clipper and dBase share a common xbase syntax and concepts, they use the DBF files and similar indexes (CDXs). Though FWPPC is fully object oriented programming based, it uses high level xbase commands, that can be easily modified by the developer to match the FoxPro or dBase ones, thanks to the highly flexible Harbour preprocessor.

FWPPC demos:

You may download the following demos to be sure they properly run on your Pocket PC or your SmartPhone, before ordering it: fwce5.zip fwce6.zip fwce7.zip fwce8.zip fwce9.zip fwce10.zip tutor11.zip tutor12.zip.

FWPPC screenshots: