1. Device vendors often have a virtual serial port connection which is
implemented on top of USB. I've covered this briefly in previous
messages.
2. You need a driver, just as on the desktop, for each USB device that
you
are going to connect to the USB port. You know, like when you plug in a
digital camera to the desktop, you have to have a driver for that camera
so
that the PC can do something with it. Windows CE is asking what driver
to
use for that PDA.
3. It depends on what the driver does. It might make the PDA look like a
serial device and, as I said, you could talk to it like it was a serial
port. Or, it might make the PDA look like a storage card, as though
you'd
plugged a Compact Flash or SD card reader device into the USB (as Steve
Maillet mentioned in another group where you posted this question). In
that
case, you might be able to simply copy files to the PDA. It's doubtful
that
such a driver already exists, though, as code is required on the PDA end
to
handle making it look like a storage device. You'd probably have to
write
the driver for the Windows CE.NET end for this.
At this point, I think you're over your head, and mine. Steve Maillet
suggested some other ways of doing things in one of your other target
groups. Have you thought about any of those? Maybe you should consider
hiring a suitable consultant to implement something for you, as this is
*not* going to be a matter is just plugging things together and using
Explorer to copy files without a lot of work under the hood. Or maybe
you
should forget about having USB as the only means of connection and put
network cards in the two devices...
Paul T.
message
Hi Paul,
1. What is virtual Serial communiction?
2. When I connect the PDA device to Wince device through USB
Cable,
Win CE device want the name of the driver. what is this driver name?.
3. How to find the driver name and if I'm able to find the drver,
can
I access the PDA device through the USB card?.
:
It's *theoretically* possible, but you'd have to build the entire
superstructure to allow it. No, you can't just run an HTTP server and
magically or automatically you can access it over USB. If you don't
have
virtual serial connections over USB already, forget about doing things
this
way or resign yourself to many months of effort.
Paul T.
message
Hi Paul,
The only communication available betwwen CE device and PDA
is
USB
connection. Through USB cable how can I transfer the file. Is it
possible
to
write HTTP or FTP server using this USB connection.
:
Sure. FTP, HTTP, etc. are both client/server protocols and can
transfer
files. They both use TCP. The easiest thing would be to have an
HTTP
or
FTP server on one or the other of the devices and just write your
program
to
use one of those protocols, which are well-wrapped, either in .NET
CF
itself
or OpenNETCF SDF. That saves you from writing two programs. If
you
don't
know who is going to contact who to make the transfer, then maybe
you
will
have to write both ends, but a file is just a sequence of bytes and
a
socket
is just a pipe into which you can pour bytes or pull bytes, so it's
not
magic.
Now, if you're actually asking, "Can I write a socket program that
actually
communicates over USB to transfer the files?", then I'd say no,
forget
about
that. The process of building a WinSock-compatible socket
structure
over
USB is too much of a pain; you'd be better off using the virtual
serial
port
scheme.
Paul T.
message
Hi Paul,
Is it possible to write a TCP/IP Client Server application in
windows
CE
device and PDA device to transfer file from PDA to Windows CE
Device?.
:
Most USB-equipped devices create a virtual serial port as one
method
of
communication off of the device. You'd have to consult the
documentation
for your device to find out if that's the case and, if so, what
COM
port
name is used for that virtual port.
Paul T.
Do you have any practical suggestion for the "serial port
emulation"
?
I woul like to communicate (between the PocketPC and the PC)
through
a
USB
connection using it like a serial connection, is that
possible?
My
application allready works fine with real serial
communication,
but
customers start complaining they could not find a PocketPC
with a
serial
port anymore (I think there are enough, but that's another
discusison
<g>)
regards,
Tony
"Paul G. Tobey [eMVP]" <ptobey no spam AT no instrument no
spam
DOT
com>
schreef in bericht
Well, you could a) use ActiveSync, b) use serial port
emulation,
on
both
ends, and write programs, again on both ends, to transfer the
data
via
serial. If neither of those sounds good to you, tell us why
and
that
might
illuminate what the right answer for you is.
Paul T.
"Chandra Murali" <
[email protected]>
wrote
in
message
Hi All,
I like to know how to transfer a file from PDA to an
Windows
CE.NET
device. Both these devices are connected through USB. File
in
PDA
have
to
bo
transferred automatically when the device is connected to
Wnidows
ce.NET
through USB cable.
