Incorporating Wireless into WinCE application

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i am attempting to get a handle on options available for transfering data
between our network and the WInCE devices we are beginning to develop
applications for.
Applications are being created using VS.Net 2003 and targeted to the WinCE
device. actually, these are Symbol MC9000G scanners, and we are devloping in
VB.

I am wondering if it would be possible to have the program on the WinCE
device write data records directly to a database table which resides on our
network servers? We do intend to incorporate wireless network access if it
will add value to the applications. Currently, we have only ActiveSync as a
transfer mechanism.

applications we have written for earlier mobile devices have used the RAPI
interface to transfer database tables between the desktop and the mobile
devices. Can RAPI interface be used over a wireless(or even a wired)
network connection the same as it is used over ActiveSync?

i am sure i am overlooking other options. so anything anyone has to offer
would be appreciated
 
Yes, you might be able to connect directly to the database. If the database
is in SQL Server, you can do that easily from .NET CF. For other databases,
you'll have to see what the database vendor or a third-party can do for you,
or you'll have to do something like write a Web service with which to
communicate and which would do the database I/O for you.

Now that you know that you can do it, you probably should not do so, in this
case. How connected are these devices? Do they ever lose network
connectivity? Wireless is noted for dead zones. What happens when the
device is in one of those? Since you have to handle that situation anyway,
you should do your design on the basis of intermittent connectivity. There
are some application blocks that help with caching data until connectivity
is restored in OpenNETCF (www.opennetcf.org). Alternatively, you might use
MSMQ, as it was designed for this sort of situation. As another
alternative, you might use merge replication with SQL CE on the device and
SQL Server on the server. You might do the replication at the end of the
day when the devices are in for recharge or whatever and you can be
relatively confident that they are in contact with the server. Which of
these alternatives is the right one will depend on the pattern of data usage
(query, update, etc.)

Whether you can do ActiveSync wirelessly depends on the version of AS you
are using. Be aware that later versions do *not* support it, so it wouldn't
be a great idea to count on it.

Paul T.
 
thank you Paul, for such a thorough reply to my post. one point i could use
clarification on is in regard to the use of the RAPI interface: is RAPI
dependent upon ActiveSync? if so, then can i take it that using RAPI is not
an option for the transfer of data since the later versions of AS do not
support wireless connectivity?

once again, thank you for your help!
 
RAPI requires an ActiveSync-ish connection, yes. I've never tried to
reconstuct the low-level stuff under RAPI, so I can't say it's impossible.

Paul T.
 
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