What's New in Windows Mobile Version 5.0
This section describes the new features and major changes introduced for Windows Mobile Version 5.0.
Feature Support and Enhancements
Windows Mobile developers now have the choice of developing in either native or managed code, using Microsoft Visual Studio 2005. Windows Mobile Version 5.0 also introduces many new APIs and classes for both platforms.
New APIs for Native Developers
The list of new APIs in Windows Mobile Version 5.0 for native developers includes:
| Topic | Description |
|---|---|
| Direct3D Mobile | Direct 3D Mobile is a mobile device implementation of the desktop computer's Direct 3D API. Using Direct 3D Mobile, developers can use their existing desktop computer Direct 3D skills and code to produce rich three-dimensional gaming environments for Windows Mobile-based devices. |
| DirectDraw | Direct Draw provides mobile developers with a powerful replacement for the Game API (GAPI) allowing applications to take full advantage of hardware capability and performance in addition to providing support for drawing surfaces. |
| DirectShow | Direct Show is a mobile implementation of the desktop computer API and allows desktop computer developers to quickly use their existing skills to take advantage of their existing code investment. |
| GPS Intermediate Driver Reference | The GPS Intermediate Driver provides a very simple-to-use API for providing shared access to GPS data. Through the GPS Intermediate Driver, Windows Mobile greatly reduces the amount of code that is required to interact with a GPS device and allows multiple applications to interrogate the GPS device for configuration and positioning information simultaneously. |
| Uniquely Identifying a Device | For applications that need to uniquely identify individual devices, Windows Mobile 5.0 includes the GetDeviceUniqueID API. By using GetDeviceUniqueID, independent software vendors (ISVs) can now easily protect intellectual property by licensing a specific device. |
| Digital Rights Management | Windows Mobile 5.0 provides the File-Based Digital Rights Management (FDRM) API. FDRM Application Development provides a common programming interface across the different DRM engines that improves developer productivity and code portability. |
| ActiveSync Interaction | Developers can now start and stop the ActiveSync process from the device by using ActiveSyncStart and ActiveSyncStop. |
| QueryPolicy | Provides a simplified alternative to DMProcessConfigXML for developers to use to retrieve the value of an individual policy setting. |
| ExitWindowsEx | Allows an application to shutdown the device. On Pocket PC, an application uses ExitWindowsEx only to reboot the device. On Smartphone, an application uses ExitWindowsEx to either turn off or reboot the device. |
| DrawFocusRectColor | Uses the color and style of the current theme to draw the specified rectangle as if it has focus. |
New APIs for Managed Developers
The list of new classes in Windows Mobile Version 5.0 for managed developers includes:
| Topic | Description |
|---|---|
| Telephony | Windows Mobile Version 5.0 now exposes basic telephone behavior through the Microsoft.WindowsMobile.Telephony.Phone class. |
| Outlook Mobile | Windows Mobile Version 5.0 now exposes the Pocket Outlook Object Model to managed developers through a set of classes in the Microsoft.WindowsMobile.PocketOutlook namespace and assembly of the same name. |
| Messaging | In addition to providing access to PIM data, the Pocket Outlook Object Model provides managed support for both e-mail and SMS messages through Microsoft.WindowsMobile.PocketOutlook.EmailAccount and Microsoft.WindowsMobile.PocketOutlook.SmsAccount namespaces respectively. |
| Configuration Manager | Managed developers can now use the Microsoft.WindowsMobile.Configuration.ConfigurationManager namespace and assembly to set virtually all configurable aspects of a device by using XML. |
New features for both Native and Managed Developers
The list of new APIs and classes in Windows Mobile Version 5.0 also includes:
| Topic | Description |
|---|---|
| State and Notification Broker | Windows Mobile Version 5.0 introduces a new and very powerful facility called the State and Notification Broker. The State and Notification Broker provides a unified mechanism for storing device, application, and system-state information. |
| Picture Selection Dialog | As applications increasingly incorporate photos and graphics, these applications need an easy way to present a list of pictures to a user for selection. To address this need, Windows Mobile Version 5.0 provides a picture selection dialog. |
| Camera Capture API/SHCameraCapture | Application developers now have the opportunity to substantially enhance the user experience by integrating the capture of both still and video images directly into their applications. To enable application developers to easily provide this functionality, Windows Mobile Version 5.0 provides the camera capture dialog. |
| Pocket Outlook Object Model Enhancements | To further simplify the ways applications interact with the Pocket Outlook Object Model, Windows Mobile Version 5.0 provides several new features to both native and managed developer, including Contact Selection Dialog, Event Notifications, Custom Properties, and Mail Application Management features. |
In addition, there are a number of improvements in functionality of services and technologies associated with Windows Mobile 5.0. The Product Reference for Windows Mobile 5.0 section of the SDK documentation describes the improvements associated with each Windows Mobile 5.0 feature area.
Development Environment
You can develop managed code applications using Visual Studio 2005 and .NET Compact Framework. You can also develop native code applications using Visual Studio 2005. Many improvements have been made to the device emulators and IDE. For more information, see Development Tools and Resources. For information on migrating existing projects to the new development environment, see Migrating and Porting Applications.
Documentation
The Windows Mobile Help now contains task-based information to help you successfully develop, test, and deploy professional and robust applications for both Windows Mobile-based Pocket PC and Smartphone devices. For information about deployment, see Deploying Windows Mobile Applications.
In addition, the Developer's Reference section includes reference information for more Windows Mobile features.
Windows Mobile Help is updated monthly. For information about monthly updates to reference documentation, see What's New in Documentation.
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File Systems and Data Store
Windows Mobile now supported EDB. For more information, see EDB Reference.
Managed Code Development
The SDK includes the Microsoft.WindowsMobile class library. The library is designed to supplement the .NET Compact Framework class library, and provide the benefits of rapid application developement (RAD) for creating new mobile applications, and extending those that make up the Windows Mobile platform. For more information, see Managed Code and Support for Managed Code Development.
Internet Explorer Mobile
Internet Explorer Mobile has been updated to support the following:
- One column layout for Web pages
- Full screen view. This allows the browser window to use the entire display, which hides the title bar and soft keys.
- DWebBrowserEvents2, IWebBrowser, IWebBrowser2, and IWebBrowserApp interfaces. For more information, see Internet Explorer Mobile Browser Reference.
- HTML style object. For more information, see Style HTML Object.
Security
Windows Mobile-based Pocket PCs now support a one-tier security mode, which distinguishes between signed and unsigned applications. For more information, see Windows Mobile Device Security Model.
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