Windows Mobile 6.5.3 DTK In Visual Studio 2008 16th June 2010

I can’t believe how much of pain getting my core Windows Mobile 6.5 development enviroment setup could be. Here are the hoops I’ve had to jump through so far. I ran into two really annoying hurdles which I couldn’t find a solution for so I thought I’d note down what I did for any other people lucky enough to be in the same boat as yours truly. For the record, I’m trying to write my first 6.5 app for my HTC HD2. That is a WVGA phone which means it has a resolution of 480×800.

• Get and install Visual Studio 2008. The latest Microsoft MAPS Development & Design program that I’m a member of only has VS 2010 in it because I’m soooo cutting edge. 2010 doesn’t currently allow you to develop for WinMo 6.5 but only the shiney new (as in unreleased) Windows Phone 7.
• Download and install the Windows Mobile 6 Professional Refresh SDKs.
• Download and install the Windows Mobile 6.5.3 Professional DTKs.

Takes bloody ages to do all of that even though it only takes a few mouse clicks. I read that the difference between the “Standard” and “Professional” versions of the SDK and DTK are that the standard version is for non touch screen devices were as the professional edition is. Since I’m developing for a HTC HD2 which has a touch screen I went with the pro editions for both. So now that’s all done it should be a simple case of firing up VS2008, choosing new “Smart Device” project using the 3.5 compact framework and away we go. A-ha! Not so. The next screen lets you pick a target platform. There is no Windows Mobile 6.5 in the selection. This is were the workarounds kick in.

• Pick “Windows Mobile 6 Professional SDK” and leave the framework set to 3.5 compact. Well for my project I’m using the 3.5 framework. Choose what you like for that.
• Choose “Device Application” since I’m creating a new app from scratch.
• Now you’re presented with a form that looks like an older WinMo 6 device using the default “classic” skin and form factor.
• Not a biggy I hear you say, why not just pick the 6.5 form factor from the “Form Factor” property? Because it’s not there, that’s why!
• OK, ignore that for now, at least we can test run the WinMo 6.5 emulator right? Nope. Look at the emulator dropdown and you won’t see it.

What is going on? Well it seems a bunch of things have not been wired up correctly. Time to sort the mess out.

• On the main menu choose “Project->Change Target Platform”. In the dropdown choose “Windows Mobile 6.5.3 Professional DTK” and then OK.
• You’ll be told that your project needs to be saved and re-opened so OK that. Now when it opens you can see the 6.5.3 emulators in the dropdown. Hoora!
• For me and my HD2 development I chose the “Windows Mobile 6.5.3 Professional WVGA Emulator”.
• So now we head back to the form properties. When the target platform was changed and it re-opened the project it closed the default form window so I have to re-open that with a quick double click.
• Selecting the form and looking at it’s properties there is still no WVGA option. WTF? I know, that’s what I was like. Seems some silly sausage at MS made a typo. If you look at the Form Factor list you’ll see two entries titled “Windows Mobile 6.5.3 Professional Square”. How strange you say. Before we proceed make sure you don’t have either of the two identically named Square form factors chosen at this point. I’ll explain why later on.
• Let’s make things clearer for future projects. On the main menu do “Tools->Options->Device Tools->Form Factors”. Make sure the top dropdown says “Windows Mobile 6.5.3 Professional DTK”.
• In the list below the dropdown you’ll see the two Square entries. Select the first one and hit Properties. On the greyed out “Skin Defaults” area check to see if the width and height are 480×800. If not then check the second Square entry.
• Once you’ve found the right one, get out of the Properties panel and hit the Rename option and change it to be “Windows Mobile 6.5.3 Professional WVGA”.
• A nice little extra step here is to move out of the “Form Factors” sub category and go up one to the “Devices” area. I set the “Default Device” to be the “Windows Mobile 6.5.3 Professional WVGA Emulator” which means each time I create a new 6.5.3 project it will automatically select the correct emulator. I’ll still have to manually pick the correct form factor but I’m fine with that.
• Now close VS and re-open it. When you re-load your project and look at the Form Factor dropdown you should now see your renamed WVGA option.
• Note that if you had cheated and tried selecting the Square option we renamed earlier before you saved and restarted then you will still see the two Sqaure options. It’s very important that you don’t pick the Form Factor we renamed before we renamed it.
• That’s it. You now have a WVGA form to work with at design time and you can also test it in the 6.5.3 WVGA emulator all from within the VS2008 IDE.

So the process for creating a new HD2 application becomes:

• Open VS and create a new Windows Professional 6, Device Application.
• On the main menu choose “Project->Change Target Platform”. In the dropdown choose “Windows Mobile 6.5.3 Professional DTK” and then OK.
• Let it save and re-open the project and then manually re-open the design time form screen by double clicking the form CS file.
• Then change the Form Factor dropdown to the WVGA option we renamed earlied.
• Ready to rumble!

As you can see there are still a few steps to have to do each time but it’s not too bad now and only has to be done when creating a new project or converting an old one.