PocketKiosk Builder v3.3 released

Askarya Technologies – May 22th, 2008 -- We have just released PocketKiosk Builder v3.3. For those who don't know, PocketKiosk Builder is a security tool which can lock down a Windows Mobile device. The tool overcomes the general purpose nature of Windows Mobile devices. It is especially useful to organizations as it helps them achieve higher user productivity levels by ensuring that only "allowed" applications run on the company devices. Moreover the software avoids accidental device data or system corruption by inexperienced users. It also reduces device maintainence activities. It ensure increased battery life by making sure unwanted applications don't run on the device. Please visit PocketKiosk Builder product page where you can download the fully functional evaluation copy.

Accessing Windows Mobile help (with peghelp)

Windows Mobile device comes with help information for the built-in applications. For e.g to see help for Solitare, first launch it, then tap on Start -> Help. A help tool peghelp.exe starts and shows the help information for Solitare. This is also called Context Sensitive help.

Basically, by going to Start -> Help, help for currently running application can be accessed. This of course works if the application has the associated help file.

Third party applications can also install their help material in html format on the device. Check this out for more details on how to do it.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/wce/maintain/cehelp3.mspx?mfr=true

CAB file installation failure when inf file contains negative registry values

Inf files are used to generate cab files containing files and registry settings which get deployed on the device when cab file is installed.

Problem: If a DWORD Registry value is set to a value greater than 0x7FFFFFFF, the cab file installation fails on the device. This is probably a bug in the cab wizard tool (cabwiz.exe).

For e.g. Installation will fail if following registry entry is specified in the inf file

HKLM,Software\MyApp,MyValue,0x00010001,-1

Here -1 is equal to dword 0xFFFFFFFF which is greater than 0x7FFFFFFF.

Workaround is to use a short int equivalent of the negative number, in this case 65535 and when the value is to be used by device side module, use short int to use this value as -1.

Switching views in Windows Mobile Calendar application

Default calendar application on your Windows Mobile device can show different views namely Agenda, Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Yearly appointments. You can tap on Menu -> View and then select one of these views.

A handy little trick is to repeatedly press hardware Calendar button to switch among these views. Note: You can use Buttons applet in Settings to assign any hardware button to Calendar application, even though there is generally one button preassigned to this application.

Not really a Windows Mobile tip but...

May be everyone in the world knows about it, even Pluto who lives next door.

I frequently need to look for "Microsoft ActiveSync" or other programs in the Start -> Programs list on my desktop PC. With the number of applications installed, this activity resembles a treasure hunt. Not only for ActiveSync, but you can sort the programs in the Start -> Programs list. Just go there and right-click and select "Sort by name". All programs are then listed alphabetically (folders first and then short-cuts). Really makes searching apps easier.

How to change scrollbars sizes on Pocket PC?

Don't you sometimes use fingers instead of stylus to work on your favorite PDA? Who wants to pull out the stylus for simple scroll up and down operations? lazy us... :)

Well, if you have fat fingers unlike me, you can increase the width of vertical scrollbar and height of horizontal scrollbar of your PDA. This makes it much easier to move around the windows with text or picture content.

Procedure:

1. Run your favorite Registry Editor and browse to the following key:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\GWE]
cyHScr=13 - Default height of horizontal scrollbar
cxVScr=13 - Default width of vertical scrollbar

I changed the above values to 23 and it makes is very easy to use the scrollbar in all applications. You can tweak it a value what you find most comfortable.

Increase or decrease system font size

Decreasing the system font size can show more content in the same screen area. Similarly you can increase the font size to increase the readability.

Go to Start -> Settings -> System tab -> Screen -> Text Size tab and move the slider around.

As mentioned there, the font size change is not guaranteed to work for all applications as many apps keep their own font values, overriding the system defaults. It also does not seem to work on text inside menus. The technique should however work on most microsoft inbuilt applications.